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Principal dresses as Lady Gaga for bet

DORCHESTER, Mass., June 21 (UPI) -- The principal of a Massachusetts elementary school said he dressed as Lady Gaga to make good on a deal with students to read a total of 10,000 books.

Justin Vernon, principal of the Roger Clapp School in Dorchester, said he bet his kindergarten through fifth grade students at the start of the school year he would dress as Lady Gaga and milk a cow if they collectively made their way through 10,000 books, WHDH-TV, Boston, reported Wednesday.

Vernon said the students picked his punishment for losing the bet.

"Of course they wanted to yell out the most ridiculous thing possible. So milking a cow came out, dressing like Lady Gaga, there were other options that came out but this is the one that stuck," Vernon said.

Parents said the bet did wonders for their children's interest in reading.

"My daughter's reading went through the charts because of it," parent Theresa Davis said.

Woman blames GPS for golf course driving

NORTHBRIDGE, Mass., June 21 (UPI) -- A Massachusetts woman accused of drunken driving blamed her GPS device for leading her into a golf course sand trap.

Northbridge police officer Randy Lloyd said Patricia Maione, 46, who is accused of driving onto the Fletcher Street golf course at 45 mph about 5:45 p.m. Monday and becoming stuck in a sand trap, told him her GPS had told her to turn left, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette reported Wednesday.

"She stated that this left brought her into a 'cornfield' and once she was in the 'cornfield' she kept driving trying to get out of her 'cornfield,'" Lloyd said in his report of the incident.

"Ms. Maione stated that she did not even like golf."

Lloyd wrote Maione's speech was slurred and she failed a field sobriety test. He wrote she admitted to drinking a half a liter of vodka at about 10 a.m.

Police said a large Burger King cup containing an alcoholic beverage was found in Maione's car.

Maione was arrested and charged with driving with a suspended license, fourth-degree drunken driving, negligent driving and driving with an open container of alcohol in the car.

Police said she is also facing drug, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest charges from two previous cases.

Reporter mistakes sex toy for mushroom

LIUCUNBU, China, June 21 (UPI) -- A Chinese news station said a strange object reported to be a rare double-headed mushroom turned out to be a discarded sex toy.

The Xi'an news station, based in the city of the same name, said reporter Yunfeng Ye was sent to the village of Liucunbu when the object was unearthed by workers drilling a new well shaft, ABC News reported Wednesday.

Ye and a villager identified the object as a type of lingzhi, a rare shelf fungus that was once believed to be the secret to immortality.

However, many viewers immediately recognized the object as a sex toy designed to mimic female genitalia.

The Xi'an news station posted an apology online the following day.

"Our program last night made everyone laugh," station officials wrote in apologizing for the "uncomfortable and misleading" report. "Our reporter is very young and sheltered."

Roulette wheel hits seven 19s in a row

LAS VEGAS, June 21 (UPI) -- Experts said a Las Vegas casino's roulette wheel beat odds of 114 billion to 1 when it hit No. 19 on seven consecutive spins.

Web site Beyond the Best said the phenomenon, which was photographed by visitors to the Rio at 8:32 p.m. Monday, surpassed the 114 billion to 1 odds and the event was made even more unlikely when the streak-breaking number, a 15, was followed by another 19, the Las Vegas Sun reported Wednesday.

Officials with Caesars Entertainment, owner of the casino, said they were unaware of the event.