Dateline: North KoreaTales of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un’s bizarre behavior are common and often hard to confirm. But a recent report, originating on South Korea’s state-run KBS television, seems legitimate. Apparently the country has now issued an official directive banning anyone who is not the leader of North Korea from using the name Kim Jong-un. The name cannot be used for newborns, and anyone who already shares the name must change it on their birth certificates and residence registrations, KBS reported. South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which deals with North Korea, could not immediately confirm the report, but said it was “highly possible” since Jong-un’s father and grandfather issued similar bans on their own names. Dateline: OhioAround 4am on Saturday, Nov. 29, a police officer spotted a vehicle driving with its right front tire off the roadway in the Cleveland suburb of North Ridgeville. The officer followed the vehicle and watched as the tire fell apart, eventually “tearing off the rim and rolling into the grass,” according to the police report. The driver continued, however, “leaving gouge marks in the roadway.” When Officer Matthew Downing pulled the car over, he noticed that the driver, 24-year-old Jessica Sorensen, was exhibiting “signs of impairment.” Officer Downing asked Sorensen how much she had to drink. Her response: “Gobble gobble turkey.” The nonsensical reply got her arrested on drunk driving and unsafe vehicle charges.Dateline: MichiganPolice in the Detroit suburb of Farmington Hills are on the lookout for a 5,000-to-10,000-pound bridge that went missing sometime last month. Robert Cortis explained to police he stopped by his family’s property on Gill Road near 8 Mile with plans to move the bridge. “It was gone,” Cortis told WXYZ-7 News. Cortis said the 40-foot wood-and-steel bridge had sentimental value, having been constructed by his father and uncle decades ago. Cortis had planned to relocate the bridge to his catering business for use in wedding photos. Cortis is asking the person or persons who took the bridge to return it, no questions asked. “If we can get it returned, the police investigation is over,” said Cortis. “If not, it continues on.”Dateline: FloridaA federal lawsuit filed in Miami claims that a for-profit college falsified documents, coached students to lie on financial forms and used strippers as admissions officers. The Florida attorney general’s office announced earlier this month it was joining the lawsuit against the now-shuttered FastTrain College and its former owner, 56-year-old Alejandro Amor. Amor, of Coral Gables, was criminally indicted in October and faces pending charges of conspiracy and theft of government money. The lawsuit claims FastTrain bilked the US Department of Education out of millions of dollars with falsified grant applications. The school allegedly encouraged students to fake high school diplomas in order to obtain government funds. On at least one of its seven campuses, FastTrain is alleged to have “purposely hired attractive women and sometimes exotic dancers and encouraged them to dress provocatively while they recruited men in neighborhoods to attend FastTrain.” The school was shut down in June 2012.Dateline: HawaiiA cat who went missing as his family moved from Virginia to Hawaii was discovered 36 days latter, packed away in a cardboard box. Owner Ashley Barth said her cat Mee Moowe disappeared back in September when movers arrived to pack her family’s belongings for the big move. “It was heartbreaking,” Barth told reporters. “My girls were devastated trying to tell me I couldn’t leave without Mee Moowe.” More than a month later, the family’s possessions arrived in Hawaii. Shortly after that the family heard a faint “meow” from one of the boxes where the cat had evidently hidden out during the packing process. Mee Moowe had lost half her body weight after 36 days without food or water. However, “she came right up to my daughters and right to me and wouldn’t let us leave her side.” The cat is being treated for symptoms of dehydration and starvation and is expected to recover. Unfortunately, the pet will have to spend the next three months in quarantine at a vet’s office in Hawaii since it arrived without proper paperwork and vaccinations.
Compiled by Devin D. O'Leary. Email your weird news to devin@alibi.com.
