Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe 50 students suspended in attendance scam BERKELEY, Calif., April 19 (UPI) -- As the result of an attendance scam 50 Berkeley, Calif., high school students face suspension, officials say. Advertisement By paying for an administrative password to attendance software called PowerSchool, Berkeley High School students were able to manipulate attendance data. The scheme allowed for students to skip classes without their parents being informed -- until spring break began April 2 and administrators discovered the breach. It took 50 to 80 hours for the school's attendance team to determine the magnitude of the scam, The Berkeley Voice reported. The administration plans to suspend 50 students, including the four who allegedly obtained and sold the passwords. Berkeley High School employs a dean of attendance and three clerical workers to keep tabs on some 3,200 students. Principal Pasquale Scuderi called the scam a "teachable moment" -- one nearly impossible to skip, it seems. Advertisement Dogs go to jail in Florida PUNTA GORDA, Fla., April 19 (UPI) -- Three dogs are now among the inmates of the Charlotte County, Fla., jail, part of a "cell dog program" aimed at calming the jail population. Oscar, Toby and Shila -- each a mixed-breed dog restored to health after being abandoned at the Suncoast Humane Society -- went to jail Wednesday to be cared for by inmates for about two months until they are adopted, WFTX-TV, Fort Myers, reported Thursday. "They get obedience trained, and they get brought back to good physical health," said Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Cameron of the dogs. "Each dog is assigned two inmates, in case one of them gets out early." The program is designed to have a therapeutic effect on the inmate population. "It has a calming effect in the facility, and it gives the inmates something very good to give back to society," Cameron said. One inmate had a different take on his new friend. "It's really all about the dogs," said inmate Mark, who is Shila's new caretaker. "It's about giving the dogs a second chance, a new home and keeping them from being put to sleep." Spanish 'Smurfs' town attracts tourists Advertisement JUZCAR, Spain, April 19 (UPI) -- The mayor of a small Spanish town said the village has seen a dramatic increase in tourism since its homes were painted blue for last year's film "The Smurfs." Mayor David Fernandez Tirado of Juzcar said his village has received about 125,000 visitors since the film came out last summer and residents voted in December 2011 to keep the village blue to spur tourism, The Telegraph, Britain, reported Thursday. "The number of visits is not going down," Tirado said. "Apart from colder, wintry days, it's been quite the opposite -- it's continuing to spark a lot of interest." The village was painted blue in 2011 to film scenes for "The Smurfs" and villagers are now holding weekly "Smurf markets" to sell Smurf-related souvenirs and foods. Tirado said the blue color of the village's houses might not be permanent. "We'll see how everything is going in a while," he said. Italian library shut down over book thefts NAPLES, Italy, April 19 (UPI) -- Italian police shut down one of the country's largest libraries to investigate the thefts of thousands of antique books. The Girolamini Library in Naples was shut down Thursday while police look into the disappearances of thousands of books during the past few weeks, ANSA reported Thursday. Advertisement The library, which opened its doors in 1586, counts 5,000 tomes from the 16th century among its collection of about 160,000 books.
