New York City Mayor Eric Adams named former schoolteacher Kathleen Corradi to a new position on April 12, United Press International reported. Corradi is the rat czar (officially, director of rodent mitigation) of the Big Apple. Adams said it was "clear we needed someone solely focused on leading our rat reduction efforts across all five boroughs." In 2022, rat sightings in the city increased by 74% over the previous year. Requirements for the job included being "highly motivated and somewhat bloodthirsty" with a "swashbuckling attitude, crafty humor and general aura of badassery." "I look forward to sending the rats packing," Corradi said. [UPI, 4/13/2023]

Eyewitness News

Although he is no longer governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger still performs his civic duty -- in this case, filling a huge pothole in his Brentwood neighborhood with concrete. The Associated Press reported that on April 11, the Terminator himself, along with a helper, used a shovel and packaged concrete to fill a hole in the street. "Today, after the whole neighborhood has been upset about this giant pothole that's been screwing up cars and bicycles for weeks, I went out with my team and fixed it," he tweeted. "This is crazy. For three weeks I've been waiting for this hole to be closed." Arnold's heroics may have been misguided, however; according to a statement from SoCalGas, the "pothole" actually was an active work trench for a project to be completed in May. [Associated Press, 4/12/2023]

Cleaning Up

Police in Boardman, Ohio, are still on the lookout for a robber who broke into a Bed Bath & Beyond store early on April 8, WFMJ-TV reported. Surveillance cameras captured a "stocky male" throwing a rock through a window at the store, then heading to a stockroom in the back, where he filled four shopping carts with 33 Dyson vacuum cleaners. The vacuums were valued at between $500 and $750 each, for a total loss of $17,000. Because there are no surveillance cameras outside the store, authorities didn't get a picture of the getaway vehicle. That sucks. [WFMJ, 4/11/2023]

Recent Alarming Headline

In 2008, an enormous sinkhole appeared in Daisetta, Texas, NPR reported. At that time, it grew to a cavity about 900 feet across and 260 feet deep, then stabilized. Over the years, it became a sort of recreational area, where people fished and alligators lazed. But on April 2, the hole began expanding. "My neighbor came over and said he kept hearing popping sounds like a gunshot," said Tim Priessler. "We went to the backyard, and there were buildings falling in. It was like a movie. You can see cracks forming in the ground." Since then, a vacant building and several storage tanks have sunk. The EPA and city officials are working to find out what has caused the sinkhole to shift, but as of April 10, no evacuation orders had been issued. [NPR, 4/11/2023]

Least Competent Criminal

Seems like it would go without saying, but you might want to assemble an item you just stole away from the store's parking lot. On April 3 in Flagler County, Florida, Patrick Vandermeyden-Miller allegedly walked out of a Target store with an electric scooter he had not paid for, WESH-TV reported. Deputies were called to the scene, where they found Vandermeyden-Miller near a cart rack, putting together the scooter. He also had drug paraphernalia in his pockets. He was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and petit theft. [WESH, 4/6/2023]

News You Can Use

Darryl Pitt, chair of the meteorite division at the Maine Mineral and Gem Museum in Bethel, has an offer Mainers won't want to refuse: If you're the first to find a big (the size of a softball or bigger) space rock from a recent meteorite crash, the museum will pay you $25,000. The fireball was seen in the sky around noon on April 8, and NASA reported that "signatures consistent with falling meteorites" were registered by radar. The rocks probably fell to Earth in a remote wooded area near the border with Canada; NASA estimates the largest specimens will be found near Waite, Maine. Good luck! [AP, 4/12/2023]

But Why?

Late on April 7, Boris Richard, 21, made an "unauthorized entry" into the embalming room at the Smith Funeral Home in Monroe, Alabama, The Smoking Gun reported. Richard, who is an "unofficial" worker at the home, used his phone to FaceTime with a friend as he looked over several "post-autopsy" corpses resting there, police said. Richard declined to answer any of the officers' questions and was released on a $1,500 bond. [Smoking Gun, 4/12/2023]

The Neighbors

A feud among neighbors in China's Hunan Province that had been brewing since April 2022 recently came to a deadly head, Fox News reported on April 10. The original feud started when Mr. Gu cut down Mr. Zhong's trees without his permission. Mr. Gu was further inflamed when Mr. Zhong's wife towed away the cut trees, so he sneaked onto Mr. Zhong's property during the night and shone a flashlight at Mr. Zhong's chickens, causing 500 birds to rush into a corner and trample one another to death. To add insult to injury, Mr. Gu returned on a different night and employed the same tactic, causing another 640 chickens to die. A court ruled on April 4 that Mr. Gu had intentionally caused Mr. Zhong to suffer property loss to the tune of about $2,000. He was sentenced to six months in prison and one year of probation. [Fox News, 4/10/2023]

Is That a Knife in Your Head ...

Donald the Duck, a mallard who lives in Saint-Nolff, France, is infamous among residents because he seems to live a perfectly normal life with the blade of a knife stuck in his head, Oddity Central reported. While Donald could swim and eat without trouble, members of the Pinocchio et Sauvageons society decided it should be removed. On March 31, rescuers managed to catch him, and the surgery was a success, with Donald flying the coop as soon as the door was open. Authorities are now trying to discover who stabbed Donald. [Oddity Central, 4/7/2023]

Good Grief!

Bayley, a mini "sheepadoodle" dog with her own Instagram account, is famous because she looks remarkably like Snoopy, the cheeky beagle in the comic strip "Peanuts." Bayley has more than 240,000 followers on social media, People reported. Bayley's black eyes, nose and big, floppy ears make her a dead ringer for the beloved comic character, even though they are not the same breed. Now Bayley's owner just needs to get a small, yellow bird to round out the cast. [People, 4/12/2023]

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Tony Saunders of Steelton, Pennsylvania, led state troopers on an odyssey on April 4, WTAJ-TV reported. Early that morning, officers stopped Saunders on suspicion of a burglary the day before. In the trunk of his BMW, he had a dead deer; when a trooper went to open the rear door, Saunders sped away and eventually got stuck on railroad tracks. He left the car and ran into a wooded area. Later that day, a school bus was reported stolen from Abbottstown, and again, police gave chase. Saunders finally ran away from the bus and through parking lots, shedding his clothing as he fled. He was nude when arrested. At some point, he had transferred the dead deer into the school bus; he told them he was going to use it for garden fertilizer. He faces multiple charges. [WTAJ, 4/4/2023]

It's Come to This

"There will be no plans to hunt eggs again." So proclaimed Jessica Baer, the assistant manager of The Greene in Beavercreek, Ohio, after an Easter egg hunt went awry there on April 2. The Dayton Daily News reported that the activity, which was planned as a well-choreographed event for children, was ruined when people didn't listen to directions. Instead, during the time period restricted to 1- and 2-year-olds, adults ran out to hunt eggs, which prompted a free-for-all. Some people even allegedly pushed children out of the way or knocked them over. "This is absolutely unacceptable behavior," officials said. "We feel the community will be better without the hunt." [Dayton Daily News, 4/3/2023]

Unclear on the Concept

Siva Moodley, a pastor at The Miracle Centre near Johannesburg, South Africa, died on Aug. 15, 2021, Oddity Central reported. But until recently, his body lay at a funeral home -- for almost 600 days -- because his family members were convinced he would come back to life. The mortuary couldn't move forward on a burial without consent from the family, who at first came to the facility to pray for his resurrection. "He was a well-known man and does not deserve this kind of treatment," the mortuary owner said. Finally, he took legal action to further the pastor's burial. In response, the Gauteng High Court authorized a mandatory burial or cremation, and on March 16, Moodley was finally laid to rest. [Oddity Central, 3/31/2023]

Compelling Explanation

In Dallas, grocery worker Coby Todd, 21, is sure that a "mischievous child ghost" pushed a shopping cart into his car as he was leaving work, Fox News reported on March 30. The day before, Todd had gone "ghost hunting" at a home in Frontier Village, Texas, and had sensed the presence of a "little boy" spirit, he said. He thinks the spirit followed him home and to work the next day. "Maybe he was trying to play with me," Todd said. He checked out the store's security footage to see who might have pushed the cart, and it does appear to suddenly turn and roll on its own toward Todd's car. The damage amounts to about $25,000, and Todd said "it upset me. It's not fake." [Fox News, 3/30/2023]

Parenting Goals

TikTokker Will Meyers posted in early April that he had to "go pick up my kid from school today because I made a big mistake," the Daily Mail reported. As Meyers packed his son's lunch that morning, he loaded in a can of Guinness -- because the black can looks a lot like Liquid Death sparkling water. "It looks like sparkling water, but it's definitely not sparkling water," Meyers said. Other parents weighed in, with one admitting they sent "two packs of cigarettes in a bag of paper plates and napkins to my daughter's class." A teacher soothed the guilty parents, saying it's a common mistake. [Daily Mail, 4/3/2023]

Suspicions Confirmed

The Environmental Protection Agency released the findings of a study on April 4 revealing that more than 9 million lead pipes carry water into homes across the United States, the Associated Press reported. The survey also ranked the states in order of how many lead pipes are still in use; Florida was first, with more than 1 million pipes underground. Erik Olson of the environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council was surprised at Florida's position on the list because lead pipes were installed mostly before Florida's population rapidly grew. "We look forward to hearing an explanation," he said. The survey will be used to distribute funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. [AP, 4/4/2023]

Least Competent Criminal

Channing Vanderbilt, 31, was arrested in Chandler, Arizona, on April 3 after a shooting that killed a 58-year-old man, AZFamily reported. When officers responded to the scene, the man's wife said Vanderbilt had approached them as they were retrieving their mail and opened fire. Oddly, Vanderbilt was also still at the scene, pretending to be a bystander. He denied being involved in the shooting and said he was picking up shell casings as "souvenirs." He was charged with first-degree murder and other offenses. [AZFamily, 4/4/2023]

Bright Idea

Here's a new thing to worry about: super pigs. Starting in the 1980s, Canadian farmers bred domestic pigs with wild boars, resulting in "super pigs" that are a headache for wildlife and crops, Yahoo! News reported. Now, the hybrids, which sometimes grow to 600 pounds, are moving south into the United States. "They are the worst invasive large mammal on the planet. Period," said Ryan Brook, a wildlife researcher at the University of Saskatchewan. The pigs feed on agricultural crops but also damage the soil by digging in it. They eat reptiles, birds and even white-tailed deer, and they contaminate water. While some have suggested hunting as a way to control their numbers, Brook said, "You simply can't BBQ your way out of a wild pig problem." Officials in Montana have introduced the "Squeal on Pigs!" campaign encouraging residents to report feral swine, and North and South Dakota have reported possible populations. Soo wee! [Yahoo! News, 4/3/2023]

Awesome!

-- In Australia, artist Dani Reynolds has overtaken a record previously held by actress Drew Barrymore for the world's widest wig, NDTV reported on April 4. Reynolds worked with another artist, Meg Wilson, to create the 8-foot-6-inch hairpiece using synthetic hair, a bike helmet, PVC pipes, pool noodles, cable ties and aluminum rods -- plus two giant pink bows. Reynolds said the biggest challenge was making sure the wig was balanced: "Not having a background in structural engineering or props-making made this quite a difficult task," she said. The enormous wig took the women about two months and $2,700 to complete. [NDTV, 4/4/2023]

-- In Caledonia, Michigan, Andrew Clark comes from a long line of Y chromosomes, WZZM-TV reported. For the past 138 years, there have been no girls born to his family -- until St. Patrick's Day, when Clark and his wife, Carolyn, welcomed Audrey Marie. All the way back to 1885 and Clark's great-great-grandfather, only sons have been born to the family. "It was just joy, you know, just that she was here and healthy," Carolyn said. "It made it even more special that it was a girl." [WZZM, 4/2/2023]

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Pastor John Lindell of the James River Church in Springfield, Missouri, claimed on the congregation's livestream on March 15 that a "creative miracle" had taken place the day before at the church's Joplin location, the Springfield News-Leader reported. Lindell explained that "prayer team members" had prayed over Kristina Dines, who had had three toes amputated after her husband shot her in 2015. "As the ladies prayed for Krissy ... all three toes grew, and by that point, were longer than her pinky toe," Lindell said in the livestream. "Within an hour, nails began to grow on all the toes," he added. While Dines hasn't commented to the paper, she said in a video on Twitter that she saw the toes reforming. "Listen, do you understand? I can stand on tippy toes. No, I couldn't do that (before) because I didn't have toes to tippy on," Dines said. During the livestream, Lindell also suggested to parishioners that other miracles are coming: "... some people in this room -- you're gonna raise people from the dead. It's going to happen." Stay tuned. [Springfield News-Leader, 3/22/2023]

Weird Science

Australian company Vow has wowed the science world with a meatball made of meat cultivated from the genetic sequence of an extinct mammoth, the Associated Press reported on March 29. "This is not an April Fools' joke," said Tim Noakesmith, founder of the company. Using publicly available genetic information from the mammoth, along with data from the African elephant, Vow grew the cells in a lab. The large meatball -- somewhere between the size of a softball and a volleyball -- was displayed at the Nemo science museum in Amsterdam. "We wanted to get people excited about the future of food," Noakesmith said. "We thought the mammoth would be a conversation starter." People who were there as it was being cooked said it smelled good. [Associated Press, 3/29/2023]

News That Sounds Like a Joke

Here's an item you can share at this weekend's cocktail party: The animatronics at your local Chuck E. Cheese may be powered by a 3.5-inch floppy disk. Of 600 restaurants around the world, about 50 still use the floppies, BuzzFeed News reported. In related news, a robust subculture of Chuck E. fans builds and restores the iconic animatronics at home, and vintage memorabilia has a strong market online. Here's the less cheery news: Subway trains in San Francisco run on floppies, and Boeing 747s and 737s get their updates on the '80s-era medium, too. [BuzzFeed News, 3/7/2023]

Saw That Coming

The Irish Times reported that The Virgin Mary, the only alcohol-free bar in Dublin, closed its doors for good on March 27. But Dubliners, do not despair! The bar's owners said the closing "marks an exciting new chapter for us," as they will provide a mobile experience all around the island. "IRELAND GET READY TO DRINK DIFFERENT!" a social media post read. Slainte! [Irish Times, 3/28/2023]

Great Art

-- As you drive along the EastLink toll road in Melbourne, Australia, you might be tempted to spend the night at the Hotel EastLink, Oddity Central reported. But it's literally impossible to get a reservation there, because it's not really a hotel. It's a sculpture that was unveiled in 2007 by artist Callum Morton. At only 20 meters tall, the "hotel" isn't exactly a high-rise, and it sits in the middle of an empty field. But it fools passersby with lights that come on at night in the "rooms" -- enough that people try to call for reservations. "Putting something in a space that is slightly beguiling or is a little bit strange ... changes the way people think about art or practice," Morton said. [Oddity Central, 3/27/2023]

-- Wilma Flintstone, eat your heart out. French luxury brand Coperni has revealed a fall 2023 limited-edition handbag that'll put buyers back $43,000, Oddity Central reported on March 24. The Mini Meteorite Swipe Bag is made of a meteorite that fell to Earth 55,000 years ago. It weighs about 4 1/2 pounds empty, is too small to hold much, is nonrefundable and will take about six weeks to arrive. So yeah -- maybe yabba dabba don't? [Oddity Central, 3/24/2023]

Compelling Explanation

Springfield, Missouri, real estate agent Clifford Craig Edwards, 52, got caught up in the wild and crazy atmosphere of spring break in St. Petersburg, Florida -- at least that's what he told police after he was arrested on March 16 for felony criminal mischief, The Smoking Gun reported. Edwards was spied by the owners of a van standing near their vehicle and "making motions." When they confronted him, he laughed and ran away. The owners discovered their car had been vandalized with a butter knife, causing "extensive paint damage" to the tune of $1,000, police said. Edwards had put his number down on a wait list at a nearby restaurant, so police got in touch with him; that's when he said his actions were a "spring break mistake." He was released on a $2,000 bond. [Smoking Gun, 3/20/2023]

Wait, What?

Researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden have found that using mindfulness to treat social anxiety is more effective when combined with sniffing body odor, Sky News reported. The body odor for the study was collected from people watching films, but it didn't matter whether they watched comedy or horror. Women who participated in a mindfulness session while exposed to the odor saw a 39% reduction in social anxiety, while those who did mindfulness alone saw only a 17% reduction. The scientists aren't sure why human sweat affects the response to the treatment. [Sky News, 3/26/2023]

The Entrepreneurial Spirit

"Sammie," a housekeeper in Tampa, Florida, is cleaning up with a twist on the usual duties of the job, the New York Post reported. She makes $300 an hour -- before tips -- to tidy up a home while topless. "Today I cleaned five houses ... I have a security guy who sits out in the car and waits for me just in case something happens," Sammie said on a TikTok video. With tips, she made more than $2,000 that day. "If you think you needed a sign, this is your sign," Sammie advised. "Topless maid cleaning service for the win." One commenter noted that the security guy had the sweetest deal: $800 to sit in the car. [NY Post, 3/7/2023]

Smooth Reaction

On March 24, a sheriff's deputy from Chisago County (Minnesota) pulled over a driver who had been speeding through Franconia Township, WFLA-TV reported. When the officer asked for the driver's identification, he was handed a driver's license and a "Get Out of Jail Free" card from a Monopoly game. "Unfortunately the state of Minnesota does not recognize this as a valid document," the sheriff's office posted on its Facebook page. "Points for the effort and humor though!" The driver was issued a "verbal warning" and allowed to proceed. [WFLA, 3/29/2023]

It's a Mystery

For about two weeks, the Highland Park neighborhood in Los Angeles has been inundated with Uber Eats deliveries that the residents didn't order, KTLA-TV reported on March 19. One man reported receiving 13 deliveries in one day. "It was bag after bag after bag, sometimes three at a time, 3 in the morning, 5 in the afternoon," said William Neal. He said the food was "a nice treat at first," but that he had been trying to find places that would accept donations of the food. Other delivery services have also been involved; Uber told the Los Angeles Times it is investigating the source of the mysterious deliveries. [KTLA, 3/19/2023]

Send your weird news items with subject line WEIRD NEWS to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com.