CHESHIRE, Conn. The Connecticut Department of Development Services has placed an employee on administrative leave after prescription pills were found in a cake served at a home for disabled people.

VAIL, Colo. A guy who dangled upside down from a ski lift with his bare bottom exposed probably doesn't want to hear any "ski bum" jokes.

VAIL, Colo. A guy who dangled upside down from a ski lift with his bare bottom exposed probably doesn't want to hear any "ski bum" jokes. Officials at Vail Resorts in Colorado say the 48-year-old man was trying to get on the Blue Ski basin lift on New Year's Day. They haven't said what went wrong.

ST. PAUL, Minn. A scorned 21-year-old told her ex-boyfriend that he couldn't prove she was the one who vandalized his apartment on three occasions - but then, police said, she posted a picture of the damage on MySpace. The woman was charged with two felonies for the vandalism.

OGDEN, Utah Talk about deep cleaning. An woman was recovering after spending more than a day lodged inside a vent at her home after falling in while vacuuming it. Ogden police Lt. Scott Sangberg said they came to the 55-year-old woman's house after family members called police to say they hadn't heard from her in more than a day.

McMINNVILLE, Tenn. Jolene Solomon is beginning the new year with her life, her mule named Lou and little else. The Southern Standard in McMinnville reported Solomon had just finished eating supper on New Year's Day when Lou's braying and acting up got her attention.

The Burlington Liars Club in Burlington, Wis., revealed its 2008 Champion Lie on Monday as part of an annual contest.

MILWAUKEE A whopper about a devious baby and his diapers is the top lie of 2008, an organization of champion fibbers declared Monday. The Burlington Liars Club bestowed its top award for this line: "My grandson is the most persuasive liar I have ever met. By the time he was 2 years old he could dirty his diaper and make his mother believe someone else had done it."

COLONIE, N.Y. Police are puzzling over what would motivate a father and son to haul off six tombstones from a monument company in suburban Albany. Town of Colonie Detective Lt. John Van Alstyne said he's not sure what kind of aftermarket there might be for the hefty granite grave-markers.

MONTERREY, Mexico Police say a woman who begged from a wheelchair was caught running from a crime scene on foot in Monterrey, Mexico. Police spokeswoman Sidlayin Robles says 30-year-old Ana Victoria Perez fled on foot after she and her husband allegedly threw a stone through the front window of a furniture store.

JACKSON, Ohio Police say an angry 4-year-old Ohio boy grabbed a gun from a closet and shot his baby sitter. Nathan Beavers, 18, was hospitalized Sunday with minor wounds to his arm and side after the shotgun attack. Police say another teen was also injured.

PAW PAW, Mich. Paw Paw's police chief said a heart found at a car wash in the southwestern Michigan village belonged to a deer. Investigators had been trying to determine the organ's origin since Dec. 15, when the owner of Soapy's Car Wash found it in the corner of a manual wash bay.

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. A man who allegedly squatted in the attic of a Pennsylvania family's home over Christmas and helped himself to their belongings is "sorry and upset" it happened, his lawyer said Monday.

ASHLAND, Ore. Art was laced up with political statement as a gallery opened an exhibit with a paint-splattered fundraiser that featured a "shoe throw" at an image of President George W. Bush.

HERMAN, Minn. Deputies investigating a sewer problem at a Minnesota home smelled something amiss - a strong odor of marijuana. Grant County Sheriff Dwight Walvatne said deputies went to the home in Herman this week intending to cite the owner for failing to connect to the city's main sewer line, in violation of a public health ordinance.

VASSALBORO, Maine A one-time motel in a small central Maine town could soon be offering an eye-opening way to start the day - topless coffee shop waitresses. The Vassalboro Planning Board on Tuesday will consider a business permit request for a topless coffee shop on busy Route 3.

JACKSONVILLE, N.C. A man who police said was shot by his stepfather ended up in the same jail with him after officers discovered outstanding arrest warrants against the victim. Police told The Daily News of Jacksonville that 37-year-old Richard Hayes shot his stepson Thursday night.

POINT LOOKOUT, N.Y. He meant to shoot the ducks. A Long Island man is facing charges including reckless endangerment and assault after he shot another hunter while out duck hunting on Saturday.

GREELEY, Colo. A Colorado man sorting through his late grandfather's belongings found a bombshell, sort of: A live mortar round from the Korean War era. A bomb squad detonated the shell at an undisclosed site. No one was hurt. Police said Monday the grandson discovered the shell in a firearms cabinet at his grandfather's home just outside Greeley on Friday.

NEW YORK A federal judge in Brooklyn has rejected a Liberian woman's religious reasons for smuggling endangered monkey meat into the country.

NEW YORK MILLS, Minn. A tricky question of morality is this year's brainteaser in the annual philosophy competition called the Great American Think-Off.

KENNEWICK, Wash. A man in Washington state who reportedly told police he was trying to deter a friend from driving drunk by blasting the friend's windshield with paintballs wound up in jail.

BLUE ASH, Ohio An 89-year-old Cincinnati-area woman arrested for confiscating the neighbor kid's football is now suing the boy's parents.

DETROIT James Howarth is a little confused by two letters he has received from the Internal Revenue Service.

OZELLO, Fla. A Florida couple who said they wound up in a Cuban jail after their boat was badly damaged in a storm is back home. Robert Vassallo on Friday said he and his girlfriend, Angellette Smith, flew into Miami New Year's Eve. The couple said they had been sailing around the Caribbean when they encountered rough waves, and their boat washed ashore and sustained damages.

LONDON A mixed-race British couple has defied the odds - twice - by producing two sets of twins in which one sibling appears to be black and the other white. Dean Durrant's newborn daughter Miya has dark skin like him. Twin sister Leah has fair skin like her blue-eyed, red-haired mother, Alison Spooner.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. There used to be a time when people who called Linda Jahraus' home in Laguna Beach, Calif., were actually wanting to speak to her or her husband. But for the past several months, the majority of callers have been trying to reach an Alabama unemployment hot line. The call confusion has added to the frustrations of the state's unemployed and has left at least two California households hoping for a little less ringing in the new year.

TELLURIDE, Colo. Porcupines are becoming a prickly pest for Telluride-area residents. Residents said the rodents are chomping on the bark of spruce trees, yard trees, and have killed 50-foot-high native trees. The damage is estimated at more than $100,000 in the Mountain Village above Telluride.

BISMARCK, N.D. Police get calls about drunken drivers all the time, but rarely do they come from the alleged offender.

BISMARCK, N.D. Police get calls about drunken drivers all the time, but rarely do they come from the alleged offender. A 17-year-old girl in Bismarck called 911 on New Year's Eve "to report herself driving under the influence," police Lt. Randy Ziegler said. "I've never heard of such a thing happening, and neither has anyone here."

ROCHESTER, Mich. They're twins, all right, despite what their spanking new birth certificates say. Tariq Griffin entered the world at 12:17 a.m. on New Year's Day at Crittenton Hospital in Rochester, Mich. Twin brother Tarrance was born a bit earlier - 26 minutes to be exact.

ERWIN, Tenn. Authorities in northeast Tennessee have arrested a man and charged him with possession of stolen property after grave decorations were found at his home, next to a cemetery. The Johnson City Press quoted Unicoi County Sheriff Kent Harris saying the man told investigators the decorations were blown onto his property by the wind.

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah Police said a West Valley City woman tried to avoid a drunken driving arrest by putting her daughter in the driver's seat before police arrived. Charges filed this week in 3rd District Court say the woman drove recklessly on Nov. 28 through a Costco parking lot in West Valley City. Authorities said she hit a curb and blew out a tire in the process.

NEW YORK He's the king of couch potatoes. A Manhattan man has won his second couch potato contest. Stan Friedman, 47, a research librarian, needed 18 hours, 48 minutes and 17 seconds of sports-watching time to outlast the competition at the second annual ESPN Zone Ultimate Couch Potato Competition.

SAN DIEGO They could be the next stars of "The Biggest Loser." Seven elephants at the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park have lost a combined total of 11,314 pounds ever since zookeepers enforced a nutrition and exercise regiment for them in 2000.

MIAMI State troopers are looking for a charity to take thousands of shoes that were dumped on a Miami expressway, tying up rush hour traffic. Lt. Pat Santangelo says the Florida Highway Patrol received a call about the shoes Friday morning.

NEW YORK MILLS, Minn. A tricky question of morality is this year's brainteaser in the annual philosophy competition called the Great American Think-Off.

KENNEWICK, Wash. A man in Washington state who reportedly told police he was trying to deter a friend from driving drunk by blasting the friend's windshield with paintballs wound up in jail.

KENNEWICK, Wash. A man who reportedly told police he was trying to deter a friend from driving drunk by blasting the friend's windshield with paintballs wound up in jail. In the words of Kennewick, Wash., police Sgt. Ken Lattin: "This is a very creative way to prevent someone from drinking and driving, but not legal or safe."

BLUE ASH, Ohio An 89-year-old Cincinnati-area woman arrested for confiscating the neighbor kid's football is now suing the boy's parents. Edna Jester filed a lawsuit in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court claiming she has suffered emotional distress because footballs and other playthings belonging to her next-door neighbors keep landing in her yard.

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. Police say a woman taking a driving test ended up pinning a bystander after losing control of the car on a snowy Westchester County road. New Rochelle police said the 23-year-old driver rounded a corner Wednesday morning, lost traction and trapped a man cleaning snow off his car. Lt. George Marshall says the examiner tried to use the test car's secondary set of brakes, but they failed.

YPSILANTI TOWNSHIP, Mich. State troopers and road crews had to scramble when a tractor-trailer crashed and spilled its load of eggs on a Detroit-area freeway. Trooper Jim Smiley says eastbound Interstate 94 in Washtenaw County's Ypsilanti Township reopened about 1 a.m. Thursday after being shut down for six hours.

RACINE, Wis. This alleged grocery thief apparently has a taste for finer cuisine. Racine police said 43-year-old Brian A. Rubenstein tried to steal $625 in groceries, including $365 in lobster and $213 in ribeye and beef roasts. Police said the Kenosha man was arrested Dec. 23 after store employees caught him walking out with a loaded cart.

MCDONOUGH, Ga. For millions, New Years is marked by the descent of the giant crystal ball in Times Square. For others, it's a giant acorn or peach. But perhaps the most savory countdown is in McDonough, Georgia, where thousands gathered Wednesday to watch a giant chicken nugget drop into a vat of dipping sauce.

PORTLAND, Ore. The Multnomah County Sheriff's Office said an 88-year-old woman fended off a naked intruder by grabbing the man's crotch and squeezing. Deputy Paul McRedmond said the man got into the house Tuesday through a sliding door. He backed the woman into her living room and pushed her face down onto a chair.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A former Fort Lauderdale city commissioner who helped create a program to combat bicycle theft had his own bike stolen while trying to help people involved in a vehicle crash.

SARASOTA, Fla. Authorities said a Sarasota man about to be pulled over by police tried to lure officers away by making a fake 911 call. Officers said they were following a 28-year-old man's car Monday to make a traffic stop when they got a 911 call for an armed robbery happening several blocks away.

ATHENS, Ala. You can call it a case of creative drug-dealing. Athens police have a 38-year-old man in custody for allegedly accepting gift cards for payment for crack cocaine and prescription drugs. Police Captain Marty Bruce, a spokesman, said the man was arrested Monday night. He was charged with possession of a controlled substance.

BOSTON There were 124 passengers on Northwest Airlines Flight 59 when it left the Netherlands. There were 125 when it landed in Boston.

ROME Some women in Naples said they won't make love if their men shoot off dangerous fireworks on New Year's Eve. "Se Spari, Niente Sesso" (If you shoot, no sex), as the reported group calls itself, claims to have signed up hundreds of women in the Naples area to combat celebrations that injure or maim hundreds each year.