UPI NewsTrack Quirks in the News

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Boy, 4, falls three stories, lands on feet

AURORA, Colo., March 4 (UPI) -- A Colorado mother said her 4-year-old son survived a three-story fall with only minor injuries, landing on his feet.

Jessica Hayes of Aurora said her 4-year-old son, Dylan, climbed atop her couch to talk to her downstairs neighbors through the window and fell through the screen, KCNC-TV, Denver, reported Monday.

"I was terrified," Hayes said. "I didn't know what I was going to see when I got down to the ground floor."

The mother said she was shocked and relieved to discover Dylan had landed on his feet on the rocks below.

"I feel beyond lucky. There must have been something watching over Dylan that day," she said.

Dylan spent about 20 hours in the hospital and wore a neck brace as a precaution, but doctors said he did not appear to have any serious injuries.

Boy, 7, suspended over pastry shape

BALTIMORE, March 4 (UPI) -- A Maryland father said it was "insanity" to suspend his 7-year-old son from school for chewing his breakfast pastry into the shape of a gun.

Josh Welch, a second-grader at Park Elementary School in Baltimore, said he was trying to chew his breakfast pastry into the shape of a mountain during breakfast at the school Friday, WBFF-TV, Baltimore, reported Monday.

"It was already a rectangle and I just kept on biting it and biting it and tore off the top and it kinda looked like a gun but it wasn't." the boy said. "All I was trying to do was turn it into a mountain but, it didn't look like a mountain really and it turned out to be a gun kinda."

However, he said he knew he was in "big trouble" when a teacher saw what he created.

B.J. Welch, the boy's father, said he was shocked when Josh was suspended for two days.

"I would almost call it insanity. I mean with all the potential issues that could be dealt with at school, real threats, bullies, whatever the real issue is, it's a pastry ... ya know?"

The school sent a note home with students Friday afternoon.

"A student used food to make an inappropriate gesture," the note read.

Fake bishop gets into Vatican meeting

VATICAN CITY, March 4 (UPI) -- Italy's ANSA news agency said a man posing as a bishop managed to enter a pre-conclave meeting of cardinals at the Vatican before being ejected.

The news agency said the man, reportedly Australian, dressed in a bishop's outfit comprised of a shorter-than-usual cassock, an unusual crucifix chain and a purple scarf worn to look like an Episcopal sash to get into the Monday meeting.

The meeting of more than 100 cardinals from around the world precedes the upcoming secret meeting of the conclave to elect a new pope.

The man was eventually discovered and ejected in view of journalists, ANSA said.

Police dog locates gun, fires round

LAWRENCE, Mass., March 4 (UPI) -- Police in Massachusetts said a tracking dog managed to locate a stolen gun buried in a snow bank and accidentally fired off a round.

The Essex County Sheriff's Department said an officer heard gunshots coming from in front of a city barn around 2 a.m. Saturday in Lawrence and chased a gray Honda Accord with three males inside, The (North Andover) Eagle-Tribune reported Monday.

Officer Jess Hart said the vehicle "fled at a high rate of speed" and he spotted Jose Calderon, 28, jump from the back of the car and begin "burying something in the snow."

Ivan, a police dog handled by Lt. John Pickles of the Essex County Sheriff's Department, located the Ruger handgun in a snow bank and accidentally discharged the weapon with his paw. No one was injured, police said.

The gun was determined to have been stolen Oct. 2 in New Hampshire.

Calderon, Alexander Gonzalez, 21, and Jorge Henriquez, 26, were arrested and charged with unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition, receiving a firearm with a defaced serial number and receiving stolen property. Calderon was also charged with discharging a firearm within 150 feet of a highway and carrying a firearm without a license. In addition, Henriquez was charged with speeding.