QUIRKY WORLD ... Scratchcard players hope for smell of victory

USA: Lottery ticket buyers in New Hampshire who dream of bringing home the bacon now can smell it, too.

The state lottery has released its first scratch-n-sniff ‘I Heart Bacon’ ticket this month, which features a $1,000 (€865) grand prize.

Lottery Commission executive director Charlie McIntyre says players “will think it’s time for Saturday morning breakfast”.

To promote the ticket, the New Hampshire Lottery will be driving a ‘bacon truck’, handing out free applewood smoked bacon samples and tickets at stores in Keene and Durham, the state welcome centres in Hooksett, and the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester.

You’ve the right to say yes

USA: A Texas police officer arranged for colleagues to pull over his girlfriend so he could propose in an elaborate ruse caught on dashboard camera.

KHOU-TV reported that Sara Wolff said “yes” to Galveston police officer Gregory Parris and that they would marry in July.

The patrol car video shows a car with sirens blaring stopping Wolff’s vehicle. That officer tells Wolff she has a broken taillight and that she also faces outstanding warrants. The unwitting Wolff starts to cry.

Parris, who was watching the whole episode from another patrol car, then drives up and walks toward his girlfriend. Her tears turn to laughter as he gets down on one knee, produces a ring and asks her to marry him.

She says the officers involved “deserve Academy Awards”.

Gutter swipe

SCOTLAND: Two monkeys have been stolen from their enclosure in a garden.

The common marmosets were taken from the Balmakeith Drive area of Nairn in the Highlands. They were stolen shortly after a man went to the house offering to clean the gutters and expressed an interest in buying the animals. One of the monkeys is 11 weeks old, while the other is 12 months old.

The man is described as white, in his late 20s, short, of medium build, with a roundish face, no facial hair, well presented and with no distinctive accent.

Owl on the prowl

USA: A jogger first thought he’d been hit by lightning when a mystery force knocked him off course.

However, when Ron Jaecks, 58, of Salem, was struck a second time, he saw a large winged animal he thought was a massive bat.

Willamette University biology professor David Craig told the Statesman Journal the attacker was likely an owl.

Great horned owls nest in January and are known to attack anything they think threatens their nest.

A sticky situation

USA: A mysterious sticky substance has been found on about 300 seabirds in the San Francisco Bay area in the past few days.

California department of fish and wildlife authorities were expected to conduct necropsies and laboratory tests Tuesday to try to uncover the source of the greyish gunk, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

About 100 birds have died so far, says wildlife officials.

Officials believe the substance was dumped into the San Francisco Bay. It is not a public health or safety risk to humans.

Fish and wildlife spokesman Andrew Hughan said the substance killed the birds by sapping their ability to insulate themselves against the cold, and they froze to death.

International Bird Rescue interim executive director Barbara Callahan said the goo is likely a man-made product, meaning a pipeline burst or something was intentionally used to foul the East Bay.

Lizard law

USA: Idaho legislators worried that special recognition of the Idaho giant salamander could lead to federal protections have rejected a student’s request that it be named the state amphibian.

The House State Affairs Committee voted 10-6 on Monday against 14-year-old Ilah Hickman’s plan. It was her fifth attempt in as many years to persuade them.

“I was kind of disappointed, but either way I’m going to come back next year and push it again,” Hickman told The Spokesman-Review.

An Idaho attorney general’s opinion told lawmakers approving the salamander as a state symbol wouldn’t do anything in the way of encouraging federal protections. But lawmakers remained wary.

“My whole concern is potential federal overreach,” said Republican Don Cheatham. “In north Idaho, we have the water litigation going. I just am in fear that something could be impacted if it became an endangered species.”

Democrat senator Janie Ward-Engelking co-sponsored Hickman’s bill and said designating a state symbol had nothing to do with endangered species.

Frank Lundberg, a herpetologist, testified in support of the bill and was disappointed after it failed. “It is a mistake to ever overestimate the ignorance of the Idaho legislature,” he said.