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Couple busted for faking illness

RAGUSA, Italy, Nov. 12 (UPI) -- Authorities in Italy said a couple in their 60s were arrested for allegedly faking illness and blindness to collect nine years worth of disability benefits.

Finance police said the Ragusa couple, a 60-year-old woman and a 62-year-old man, collected more than $230,000 in disability benefits in nine years by claiming they had both been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, the Italian news agency ANSA reported Monday.

The couple claimed the disease left the wife completely blind and the husband unable to walk.

However, police said they filmed the couple living a "normal" life, including going on a shopping trip where the man was seen walking and the woman was seen checking her appearance in mirrors.

The man and woman were each charged with aggravated fraud.

Man uses flying boat to track reindeer

PARKALOMPOLO, Sweden, Nov. 12 (UPI) -- A Swedish man said he converted his rubber boat into an aircraft so he could keep tabs on his herd of reindeer.

Stig Nordspets, 56, of the small Parkalompolo community in northern Sweden, said he learned about an Italian man who made a similar aircraft from a rubber boat and decided to make his own, The Local.se reported Monday.

"Those who want to track them from above normally do so from a hydroplane, but no one that I know of has ever used a flying rubber boat before, so I thought, 'Why not?'" Nordspets said.

Nordspets said he is on the lookout for other unconventional aircraft and is considering buying a small gyrocopter.

Man was hit by police car, then got a bill

NEW YORK, Nov. 12 (UPI) -- The New York Police Department said a pedestrian should not have been billed after he was struck by a patrol car.

Jesse Zorski, 25, said he received a bill for $1,028.08 to cover damage to a cruiser that hit him while he crossed a street April 12, The New York Daily News reported Monday.

Zorski, who was not seriously injured, disputes the police department's assertion that the car had the right of way. He said he had a green light to walk.

Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said the bill "should not have been sent."

"We're examining safeguards to make sure similar letters are not sent in the future," he said.

The city Law Department said the case has been withdrawn.

Guardsman surprises wife at marathon

SAN ANTONIO, Nov. 12 (UPI) -- A Texas National Guard sergeant says he surprised his wife at the finish line of a San Antonio marathon 11 months after the couple last saw each other.

Jonathan Gillis, 32, said his original plan to surprise his wife, Giselle, 27, at the finish line of the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Sunday involved keeping his infantry company's early return from Afghanistan a secret, but he had to make his plan more involved when some of his colleagues posted about the week-early return on Facebook, the San Antonio Express-News reported Monday.

Gillis said he told his wife he would be stuck in Afghanistan for a few extra days to have his wisdom teeth removed and he kept a low profile after arriving in town Friday.

Gills said romantic surprises are his specialty. He said he proposed to Giselle during a skydiving lesson in San Marcos.

"I jumped out first, landed first and as she burned in, I dropped to a knee and popped the question," he said. "Of course, through tears of joy, she gave me a 'Hell, yes.' "