UPI NewsTrack Quirks in the News

GOP Rep. told to take down 'failometer'

WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- House Republican leaders have told Rep. Steve Stockman to take down from a hallway a 10-foot wide sign critical of President Barack Obama.

Stockman, R-Texas, called the sign an "Obama Failometer" and said it was "an objective, mathematical measure of Obama's failure to create jobs."

A spokesman for House Sergeant at Arms Paul D. Irving told the Houston Chronicle the sign -- mounted with adhesive tape in a corridor of the Cannon House Office Building -- violates House Office Building Commission policy. House GOP leaders told Stockman Tuesday to take it down.

For the time being, the sign is being stored in Stockman's office, the Chronicle said, but Stockman said in a statement "it will be back somewhere, and bigger."

"Tearing it down created more labor than Obama has," he said.

Stockman -- who gained attention this week when he invited rock musician and gun activist Ted Nugent to be his guest at the State of the Union address -- has invited Obama to come to Texas so he can show the president "how to create jobs," the newspaper said.

Boy, 3, allowed to use gas pump

LANCASTER, Pa., Feb. 13 (UPI) -- The Pennsylvania mother of a 3-year-old who sprayed himself with gasoline was charged for letting him use the pump unsupervised.

Police said they responded to a Giant gas station in Lancaster on a report from witness Gregory McCarter, who said he saw a woman show the toddler how to use the gas pump and then allowed him to use the pump unsupervised, leading the child to spray himself with gas when removing the pump, The Smoking Gun reported Wednesday.

Investigators reviewed surveillance footage of the incident, which "showed the toddler spraying himself with gasoline as he removed the pump," the police report said.

Theresa A. Moran Camara, 46, was charged with endangering the welfare of a child.

Couple cited for parking lot sex

INDIANAPOLIS, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- Indianapolis police said an officer interrupted a newlywed couple having apparent sexual intercourse in the parking lot of a motel.

The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said an officer patrolling a Westside area spotted activity in a car parked at the edge of a motel lot just prior to 1 a.m. Wednesday, the Indianapolis Star reported.

"I observed two people in the car," Officer Brady Ball wrote in his report of the incident. "I observed a woman straddling a man. She was on top of the man and moving up and down on him with both people in the driver's seat."

The officer said he turned his spotlight on the couple and saw they were both exposed below the waist when they quickly changed positions.

"I told them each to put on and pull up their pants," the officer wrote.

The report said the man, 20, and woman, 28, said they were newlyweds having a spontaneous sexual romp in the parking lot.

The officer "issued them both a summons for indecent exposure, engaging in sexual intercourse in public and appearing in a state of nudity in public," the report said. "They were instructed to either leave the property or get a room. The couple left the property."

Ill. school district drops health foods

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill., Feb. 13 (UPI) -- A suburban Chicago school district said it is dropping nutritious foods, including baked fish and black bean burgers, from school lunch menus.

Coletta Hines-Newell, food service manager for Arlington Heights School District 25, which serves elementary and middle schools, said "nutrient rich" foods, including grilled salmon, baked fish and black-bean burgers will no longer be offered because they proved unpopular since being introduced a year and a half ago, the Chicago Tribune reported Wednesday.

"It makes me sad," Hines-Newell said. "You want to run the best nutritional program, but you also want to run a business that is self-sustaining."

Hines-Newell said she is hoping to reintroduce the healthy menu items as a once-a-week option next school year.

"I believe the changes we did are the right changes for the health of our students," Hines-Newell said. "We need to be feeding our children the right things."

While kid favorites such as hot dogs, pizza and chicken nuggets are back on the menu, students looking for something a bit more healthy will still have items like turkey sandwiches or hummus on flat bread to pick from, she said.