Dateline: Sweden— A high-profile member of Sweden’s parliament brushed off ethics complaints, saying he did not accept an all-expense paid trip to Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands. Instead, he blamed it all on his transvestite alter ego. Centre Party member Fredrick Federley admitted to the newspaper Aftonbladet that his trip in January was paid for by 10 different companies, including budget airline Norwegian. Asked by the newspaper why he accepted the gift, despite claims he generally refuses such offers, Federley said, “Well, this was pretty much tied to my drag personality, Ursula. It’s not me as a member of Parliament doing this; it’s more a case of me traveling as my drag personality.” Federley has not made any secret of his cross-dressing and recently arrived as Ursula at the Swedish Mr. Gay competition. So far, Federley seems unconcerned about the allegations of political impropriety. “Maybe this will mean more publicity for Ursula, which in turn will lead to more work,” wrote Federley on a gay community blog recently. Dateline: New York— A Brooklyn woman claims she was busy buying some milk when a coldhearted mugger stole the coat right off her doggie. Donna McPherson, 42, told the New York Post she popped into Ace Supermarket in Park Slope “for two minutes.” She left her 10-year-old West Highland Terrier Lexie tied up outside. When McPherson returned, she found the little white dog naked and shivering. His green wool coat, complete with leather trim and matching leather belt, was gone. “How could anyone steal a coat off someone’s back in the freezing cold?,” McPherson was quoted as saying in The Post . “I asked him, ‘Where’s your coat?’ like he could answer me. I looked all over and could not find it.” Fortunately, said McPherson, Lexie was wearing an inexpensive $25 coat and not his pricier Burberry. Dateline: Michigan— According to the Flint Journal , police in Genesee County responded to a call of a man who was allegedly carjacked at gunpoint. The man told police his 2003 Chevy Malibu was stolen when he tried to buy crack cocaine with a credit card just before midnight on the corner of Wolcott Street and University Avenue in Flint. To make matters even worse for the victim, the car in question had already been reported stolen out of Lapeer, a small town about 50 miles northwest of Detroit. The carjacked crack buyer with the credit card was listed as the alleged suspect in the original stolen vehicle complaint out of Lapeer. After losing out on both the crack and the car, the man was taken to Genesee County Jail. Dateline: Wisconsin— The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that a 21-year-old thought it would be “funny” to wear a ski mask rob his 37-year-old mother. Things got significantly less funny for the young man when his mother pulled out a handgun and shot him in the groin. According to the man’s statement to police, he “pretended” to rob his mother behind their house as she returned from shopping around 9 a.m. In response, she pulled out a .357 caliber revolver and fired several shots, hitting her masked son at least twice. The man’s injuries are serious but not life-threatening. Police are now investigating whether or not the man, who has a police record for drug- and weapons-related offenses, was trying to rob his mother for real and only made up the joke story after he took a bullet or two below the belt.
Compiled by Devin D. O'Leary. E-mail your weird news to devin@alibi.com.
