weird news

weird news

A 9-year-old boy has convinced the leaders of a small northern Colorado town to overturn a nearly century-old ban on snowball fights, and he already knows who his first target will be his little brother.

Dane Best, who lives in the often snow-swept town of Severance, presented his arguments at a town board meeting on Monday night, and members voted unanimously to lift the ban.

"I think it's an outdated law," Dane said in the lead-up to the meeting. "I want to be able to throw a snowball without getting in trouble."

Dane's mother, Brooke Best, told The Greeley Tribune that her son had been talking about snowballs since he found out about a month and a half ago that it was illegal to throw them within town limits. The last time it snowed, Dane said he and his friends looked around for police and joked about breaking the law.

Kyle Rietkerk, assistant to the Severance town administrator, said the rule was part of a larger ordinance that made it illegal to throw or shoot stones or missiles at people, animals, buildings, trees, any other public or private property or vehicles. Snowballs fell under the town's definition of "missiles."

A Utah man has been charged with sexual assault and kidnapping after authorities say he hammered a tool resembling an ice pick through another man's penis during an argument.

The 45-year-old Jason Dee Maughn was scheduled to make a court appearance yesterday in Salt Lake City. Online court records don't list an attorney.

Court documents show that Maughn is accused of putting a gun to the victim's head and handcuffing him to a chair on August 30. The victim told police that he was given a choice of being killed in the desert or having a nail driven into his penis. He says he went to the hospital the next day for treatment after Maughn took the handcuffs off.

The charging document describes the case as domestic violence and says the men lived together, but doesn't explain their exact relationship.

-

The prince in the "Nutcracker" had a special present for his favourite ballerina during a performance of the holiday classic in Kansas.

The Wichita Eagle reports that Allison Evans was playing the Dewdrop Fairy in the Metropolitan Ballet production Sunday in Wichita when her boyfriend, Dalton Rupp-Meinert, dropped to one knee and proposed. The moment was captured on video.

Even though he had never danced ballet in his life, Rupp-Meinert broached the idea with choreographer Jill Landrith before rehearsals began this summer. They hatched a plan to make him the prince. Evans says she thought the decision was "hilarious."

Rupp-Meinert says the thing that made him the most nervous was remembering the choreography, not the proposal. The crowd included about 40 to 50 of their relatives and friends.

The California Highway Patrol says it may have used the Autopilot system of a Tesla to stop a car after its driver fell asleep.

The CHP says officers attempted to stop the Tesla Model S, which was doing about 70 mph (113 kph) on a highway early last Friday in the San Francisco suburb of Redwood City. After the driver didn't respond to lights or sirens, the officers say they pulled alongside and realised he was asleep.

They pulled in front and began slowing to a stop, hoping the Tesla's driver-assist program was on and would do the same. Authorities say the tactic worked.

Alexander Samek of Los Altos was awakened and arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence. It's unclear whether he has a lawyer.

Tesla hasn't confirmed whether the car was using Autopilot.