Watercooler news from The Associated Press

Odd News

15 sets of twins are graduating from one New York high school

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (AP) — A high school in the suburbs of New York City will be seeing double on graduation day this weekend: Among the nearly 500 students in its graduating class, 30 are twins. It’s a tight knit group. Some of the students at Long Island’s Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy High School have […]
4 months ago

Boy struck by lightning in New York City’s Central Park says he feels lucky

NEW YORK (AP) — A 15-year-old boy says he feels “pretty lucky” after being struck by lightning in Central Park on Thursday when a round of thunderstorms swept through New York City. Yassin Khalifa, a high school sophomore, told WABC-TV he was in the park with friends enjoying a picnic when the storm suddenly rolled […]
4 months ago
In this image provided by the Alpine Rescue Team, lamps are illuminated on a ridge as Alpine Rescue...

Men hit by lightning plucked from mountain in a record-high Colorado helicopter rescues

Rescuers fetched two men struck by lightning from a Colorado peak in what they believe were the highest helicopter rescues on record in this mountainous state. One man remained hospitalized in fair condition Friday while the other was treated at a hospital and released. The rescues happened late Thursday near the summit of Torreys Peak, […]
5 months ago

Not-so-hot pursuit of burglary suspect sees police cars chase tractor excavator at walking pace

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Police in South Carolina engaged in a not-so-hot pursuit as they chased a tractor excavator down a main highway for more than an hour at the speed an average adult walks. The chase reached speeds of 3 mph (4.8 kph) early Sunday morning in North Charleston, police said. Officers on […]
5 months ago
FILE - Nicole Daedone, center, founder and former CEO of OneTaste, departs Brooklyn federal court o...

Leaders of ‘orgasmic meditation’ wellness company convicted in forced labor trial

NEW YORK (AP) — The leaders of a sex-focused women’s wellness company that promoted “orgasmic meditation” have been convicted of federal forced labor charges. A Brooklyn jury on Monday found Nicole Daedone, founder of OneTaste Inc., and Rachel Cherwitz, the California-based company’s former sales director, guilty of forced labor conspiracy after deliberating for less than […]
5 months ago
In this image taken from June 8, 2025, video by the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office in Rutherfor...

A runaway pet zebra has been captured in Tennessee

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) — A runaway pet zebra that was on the loose for more than a week in Tennessee and became an internet sensation in the process was captured Sunday, authorities said. Ed the Zebra was captured safely after being located in a pasture near a subdivision in the Christiana community in central Tennessee, […]
5 months ago
FILE - Hundreds of people gather to watch the 3rd Annual Sharpening of the Lake of the Isles Pencil...

Why a Minneapolis neighborhood sharpens a giant pencil every year

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Residents will gather Saturday in a scenic Minneapolis neighborhood for an annual ritual — the sharpening of a gigantic No. 2 pencil. The 20-foot-tall (6-meter-tall) pencil was sculpted out of a mammoth oak tree at the home of John and Amy Higgins. The beloved tree was damaged in a storm a few […]
5 months ago
Lucy Trout, from Olympia, Wash., watches as an abandoned ship is transported to shore on Wednesday,...

Flying boats make for a rare sight as Washington clears an island of derelict vessels by helicopter

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — As the owner of a marina, Kate Gervais is used to seeing boats in the water. But for the last couple of days, she’s been seeing them in the air. The Washington Department of Natural Resources this week used one of its firefighting helicopters to haul abandoned boats off an uninhabited […]
5 months ago
Workers install a restroom at the Welk Homestead State Historic Site near Strasburg, North Dakota, ...

North Dakota’s historic sites will finally have toilets that flush

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Lawrence Welk didn’t have a flush toilet where he grew up, but visitors to his childhood home in rural North Dakota now do. The bandleader’s childhood family home marks the latest step in the State Historical Society of North Dakota’s nearly completed goal of installing flush toilets at its dozen most […]
5 months ago

Millions of honeybees abuzz after truck overturns in Washington state

BELLINGHAM, Wash. (AP) — There was a buzz in the air Friday in northwestern Washington state as about 250 million honeybees escaped a commercial truck that overturned. The truck hauling an estimated 70,000 pounds (31,751 kilograms) of honeybee hives rolled over around 4 a.m. close to the Canadian border near Lynden, the Whatcom County Sheriff’s […]
5 months ago
A periodical cicada flies up from the grass pursued by a cardinal, Friday, May 23, 2025, in Cincinn...

AP PHOTOS: Cicadas swarm parts of US as the screaming insects emerge in Brood XIV’s 17-year cycle

CINCINNATI (AP) — Another cicada invasion is here. The large Brood XIV, which emerges every 17 years, is making for a spectacular natural event as billions of periodical cicadas emerge across parts of the Eastern U.S., including in Georgia, southern Ohio, Kentucky, Cape Cod in Massachusetts, and Long Island, New York. When spring warms the […]
5 months ago
This May 24, 2025, photo shows Kell Morris, upper right in a brown hat, trapped under a 700 pound r...

Alaska man unscathed after being pinned for three hours by 700-pound boulder in glacier creek

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska man who was pinned facedown in an icy creek by a 700-pound (318-kilogram) boulder for three hours survived the ordeal with only minor injuries, thanks in part to his wife’s quick thinking and lots of luck. Kell Morris’ wife held his head above water to prevent him from drowning […]
5 months ago
This undated photo provided by Annique Dunning, executive director of Sherwood Forest Plantation, s...

Harrison Ruffin Tyler, preserver of Virginia history and grandson of 10th US president, dies at 96

CHARLES CITY, Va. (AP) — Harrison Ruffin Tyler, the last living grandson of U.S. President John Tyler born 83 years after his grandfather left the White House in 1845, died. He was 96. The cause of Tyler’s death on Sunday was not immediately released. John Tyler was 63 years old when Harrison Tyler’s father, Lyon […]
5 months ago
Duaa Siyah Ouznali, 13, of San Diego, reacts after correctly spelling her word as she competes duri...

To win the Scripps National Spelling Bee, contenders must also master geography

OXON HILL, Md. (AP) — Rudveep Randhawa’s three kids competed in eight consecutive Scripps National Spelling Bees from 2016 to 2024, with four appearances by daughter Aisha and two each by daughter Lara and son Avi. Yet when Avi’s spelling journey concluded in last year’s semifinals, Randhawa, a pediatric endocrinologist who goes by “Dr. Happy,” […]
5 months ago
FILE - The sun sets as seen between buildings along 42nd Street in New York, May 30, 2023. (AP Phot...

What is Manhattanhenge and when can you see it?

NEW YORK (AP) — Twice a year, New Yorkers and visitors are treated to a phenomenon known as Manhattanhenge, when the setting sun aligns with the Manhattan street grid and sinks below the horizon framed in a canyon of skyscrapers. The event is a favorite of photographers and often brings people out onto sidewalks on […]
5 months ago
In this screengrab taken from a video posted on Oliver Widger's Instagram account on Saturday, May ...

An Oregon man who quit his job to set sail with his cat arrives to cheering fans in Hawaii

HONOLULU (AP) — An Oregon man who quit his job at a tire company and liquidated his retirement savings to set sail for Hawaii with his cat, Phoenix, reached his destination Saturday, welcomed by cheering fans at the end of a weekslong journey that he documented for his mass of followers on social media. Oliver […]
5 months ago

Pregnant news anchor stays on air during labor. ‘If I disappear, that’s what’s going on,’ she says

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Local news co-anchor Olivia Jaquith went ahead with a three-hour morning newscast even after her labor contractions began and her water broke, keeping viewers updated about the coming birth of her first baby. “We do have some breaking news this morning — literally,” co-anchor Julia Dunn said at the top of […]
5 months ago

Jury convicts New York-Paris flight stowaway who slipped past gate agents

NEW YORK (AP) — A jury on Thursday convicted a woman who sneaked onto a flight from New York to Paris without a boarding pass by slipping past security and airline gate agents at John F. Kennedy International Airport last year. The short trial of Svetlana Dali concluded with a guilty finding on a stowaway […]
5 months ago

An ex-Harvard Medical School morgue manager admits his role in the theft of human remains

SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) — A former Harvard Medical School morgue manager has admitted his role in the theft and sale of human body parts — including hands, feet and heads. Cedric Lodge, 57, of Goffstown, New Hampshire, pleaded guilty Wednesday in Pennsylvania to interstate transport of stolen human remains, federal prosecutors said. He could face […]
5 months ago
FILE - The Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News building in Philadelphia is shown in a file photo f...

Fictional fiction: A newspaper’s summer book list recommends nonexistent books. Blame AI

NEW YORK (AP) — The recommended reading list contained some works of fiction. It also contained some works that were, in fact, actually fictional. The content distributor King Features says it has fired a writer who used artificial intelligence to produce a story on summer reading suggestions that contained books that didn’t exist. The list […]
5 months ago

Loose pet kangaroo keeps police hopping — again — in a Colorado town

Chasing a loose kangaroo is getting to be part of the job for police in a southwestern Colorado town. Irwin, the pet kangaroo, wasn’t difficult to nab when he got loose last fall in Durango, Colorado. Still quite young at the time, he leapt into a bag similar to a mother kangaroo’s pouch. On Monday, […]
5 months ago
Hundreds of chicks mill around a stall at First State Animal Center and SPCA on Friday, May 16, 202...

Shipment of thousands of chicks found abandoned in USPS truck now overwhelming an animal shelter

CAMDEN, Delaware (AP) — A Delaware animal shelter is trying to care for and rehome thousands of chicks that survived being left in a postal service truck for three days. Trapped in a warm enclosure, without food and water, thousands died before they were discovered. Involved parties are still awaiting answers as to how 12,000 […]
6 months ago
Raphael Quenard, left, and Hugo David, right, pose with a person dressed in bird costume upon arriv...

Bird man on red carpet leaves Cannes squawking

CANNES, France (AP) — Stars in glamorous gowns often peacock on the Cannes Film Festival red carpet, but one attendee Saturday night literally came as a bird. Ahead of the the premiere of Lynne Ramsay’s “Die, My Love,” with Robert Pattinson and Jennifer Lawrence, a man came fully dressed as bird, complete with a beak […]
6 months ago
Heather Donahue, the star of the The Blair Witch Project, pauses on a walk to watch a songbird,Tues...

Still finding trouble in the woods: ‘Blair Witch Project’ star at center of Maine road dispute

FREEDOM, Maine (AP) — Heather Donahue is walking through the woods once again. The star of the successful low-budget horror movie “The Blair Witch Project” has an on-screen history of getting into scary situations in a forest. But this time she is merely picking up an old soda can someone carelessly left on a trail. […]
6 months ago