Offbeat News

Jen Chaney Special to the Washington Post Aug. 26, 2005 05:10 PM WASHINGTON - VHS - the beloved videotape format that bravely won the war against Betamax and charmed millions of Americans by allowing them to ...

A man test-fitting a $17,000 artificial leg ran off without paying the bill, police said.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia) - Peter Symons noticed something odd about a postcard he received in the mail from Florida.

A deputy warden at the Ross Correctional Institution was suspended for five days last month after he mistakenly showed inmates a sexually explicit television show.

Authorities are investigating how a male prisoner managed to lock himself up with eight female prisoners at the Wilson County Jail.2.7

Some folks who saw this story wanted to know: is this dog for real? A reporter with WFMY News 2 sister station 9News paid another visit to Sheba the Wonder Dog.1.3

A Pine Hall man is in Baptist Hospital, recovering after an attack involving a butcher knife.2.7

Bryan Abrams, a former singer with the 1990s boy band Color Me Badd, is being sued for $16,000 that his ex-wife alleges he owes in back child support.2.7

A teen actress who apparently ran away from home spent nearly two weeks sleeping at a park and at ... A member of the family told the Victorville Daily Press the actress had been having problems at home.2.9

Police responding to noise complaints halted a recital by private music teacher Mike Smith's 25 guitar students.3.1

Comedian Chris Farley was a motivational speaker, a rabid fan and a topless dancer on "Saturday Night Live." On Friday, the late comic was the toast of his castmates as they honored him with a star on the ...2.7

Police officers responding to a call at an abandoned funeral home made a gruesome discovery.2.7

Two former members of the band are suing Axl Rose over copyrights. Los Angeles, CA -- Welcome to the legal jungle.4.7

A lawsuit was filed Thursday against Eminem, his bus driver and tour bus company seeking unspecified damages for a July accident involving seven vehicles in western Missouri.

German police have arrested a 31-year-old man they caught vandalizing two cars by scratching large penis-shaped gouges into them and said they believe he may be responsible for similar markings found on ...

ATLANTA - Daniel Fletcher has found a way to transform dark meat chicken into white, a scientific advance some purists say has gone too far.2.7

The Cottage Grove police chief has agreed to resign over his leaving the scene of an accident after rolling his vehicle in Lakeville.2.7

Tom Straub's greatest fear never materialized last month, when 10,000 bicyclists passed through here on Iowa's annual 500-mile bike ride across the state.2.7

The handlers of a smoking chimpanzee in a zoo in northwest China are trying to get her to kick the habit.The 26-year-old female chimpanzee has been smoking for 15 years.2.7

The campus newspaper at Southern Illinois University plans an apology for an elaborate hoax that apparently fooled everybody -- even the reporters.3.3

"Hairy backs" could be seen all over the place at a minor league baseball game in Virginia.2.7

Country music's "Redneck Woman" promises to keep her can of Skoal in her back pocket from now on.4.7

The mayor of one Budapest district wants female City Hall staff to wear miniskirts only if they have "completely perfect legs" and the skirts are no shorter than 2-3 centimetres above the knee.3.1

A seafood shop owner who received a yellow-spotted lobster in a shipment has donated the rare find to a Boothbay Harbor aquarium.3.1

Internet shoppers will get a chance to add an unusual item to their wardrobe: the flamboyant swan dress worn by Icelandic singer Bjork to the 2001 Oscars ceremony.2.7

LONDON - At London Zoo, you can talk to the animals - and now some of them talk back.4.7

Postal workers who thought their coffee tasted funny had their suspicions confirmed after they set up a video camera in their break room.4.1

A California couple whose home was wrongly identified on Fox News as belonging to an Islamic radical has faced harassment since the report aired August seventh.

Ann Oldenburg USA Today Aug. 26, 2005 09:01 AM NEW YORK - If you were thinking that after five months in a federal prison in West Virginia and almost six months under house arrest at her estate in Bedford, ...2.7

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. Fighting for its survival, the Miss America beauty pageant is taking to the road, hoping to reinvigorate the tired franchise by finding a new city and arena.3.2

MUNCIE, Ind. - Beer drinkers in this college town will have to settle for bottles or cans -- more than a dozen liquor stores have quit selling kegs.4.2

Ashlee Simpson, who was busted for a "Saturday Night Live" lip-synch gone awry, will perform on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" this fall, says her manager-father, Joe Simpson.4

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats are trailing opposition leader Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats in all the leading opinion polls ahead of a September 18 general election.3.3

Forget the sweet scent of roses - Melbourne's Royal Botanic Gardens was suffused with an unusual stench on Friday, as the gardens' foul-smelling tongue orchid flowered for the second time in 30 years.4.8

Diners who can't finish that bottle of wine at dinner might not have a problem anymore.2.7