“A home repairman faces felony theft charges and up to three years in prison for swallowing a homeowner’s diamond ring while on the job. Wilfredo Gonzalez-Cruz, 30, of Chicago allegedly downed the ring to try and hide it from the owners of the house he was working on, according to Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez. Prosecutors say Gonzalez was remodeling a home on Friday in Cicero when he asked to use the bathroom. After, a homeowner noticed her diamond ring was missing. She told her husband, who confronted Gonzalez, who denied taking the ring. The two began to struggle, according to Alvarez, and Gonzalez took the ring that he had hidden on himself and swallowed it. Police showed up and took Gonzalez to a local hospital. X-rays of Gonzalez’s stomach showed he swallowed the ring, prosecutors said. Gonzalez was given medication to “force the expulsion of the ring” and was then put in a rubber room with bedpans.” w/ photo

“The tree sits just this side of the Badger Springs exit past Sunset Point; a 20-foot-high, bushy juniper tree that is different than most. Every year it’s decorated for Christmas and Independence Day. Right now, it’s covered with several American flags and yellow ribbons. It also has its own water system set up underneath, with several large drums and a pipe to feed it water. That’s where the tree gets its name — the mystery tree. A mystery person or people decorate it every year, but it’s also a mystery because it manages to have survived several wildfires over the years. “It’s survived wildfire after wildfire” says ADOT engineer Greg Gentsch. “We’re just happy it’s still here.” Just last week, another wildfire sparked about 200 yards to the south of the tree. It shut down the highway and quickly crept toward the tree. When it was over, everything around it burned but the tree survived again without a scratch on it. Maybe it’s the rock formations around the tree, a strange wind current or someone, or something, watching out for it.” w/ photo + video

“A stretch of Interstate 45 in Houston has reopened after being closed for hours following a wreck that left one end of a truck bed teetering against an overhead sign. Authorities say the highway reopened early Wednesday. The driver wasn’t harmed in the accident late Tuesday afternoon when the truck’s empty bed lifted while traveling and smashed into the overhead structure. Houston police aren’t sure why the truck bed’s hydraulic arm engaged.” w/ photo + video

“A well-known Stellenbosch artist and musician has told how he thought his neighbor was joking when he received a call to say he should come quickly as his dog was ‘running about in the street with a knife in her head’. Vernon Swart said it transpired that his 6-year-old German Shepherd and terrier cross, Bella, had foiled a robbery during which she was stabbed in the head. Swart, known for his nude studies and landscapes as well as being the drummer for Valiant Swart, said he thought it was “absurd”. He then went outside, to see the police ‘come charging, guns drawn’. “Bella then attacked them,” he recounted, while she lay quietly in front of the fireplace in their house in Dennesig Street, Stellenbosch. The neighbors had called the police as they had trespassers on their property. The suspected robbers never got into Swart’s home, but must have been in the yard.” w/ photo

“When life gives you rain, make a rainwater raft. That’s what this man did in Port Richie, Fla. Shelby Roach says he grabbed his swimming shorts and a pool float, and took advantage of some minor street flooding. He hopped out after a few seconds, perhaps not wanting his lazy trip to end at a busy intersection.” w/ photo + video

“A Chinese man has chosen dancing carrots over dazzling carats when he proposed to his long-term girlfriend – while dressed as a vegetable. Kooky character Pang Kun dressed up as his favorite vegetable and was joined by another 49 bright orange carrots wearing sunglasses to pop the question to his partner Zhao Xinyu. After meeting Zhao at the local shopping complex in Qingdao, Pang excused himself to the bathroom and quickly changed into his suit. When he returned his was joined by pals and they all started bopping away to music – much to the amazement of Pang’s girlfriend. When they finally stopped for a breather, a hush descended over the crowd and a recording of Pang’s voice was played over the loudspeaker… According to Pang he had spent three weeks planning the stunt, which cost him $14,158. Let’s hope they live happily ever carrot… oops we mean after.” w/ photos

“It’s easy to see how one might confuse an official Olympics event with a Redneck Olympics event. Well, the U.S. Olympic Committee doesn’t want to leave any room for doubt, which is why it is threatening legal action against Redneck Olympics organizer Harold Brooks just days after the conclusion of the inaugural competition in Hebron, Maine. (The Summer Redneck Games have been held annually in East Dublin, Ga., since 1996 and had the foresight to avoid using the word “Olympics” in their name.) Brooks told the Sun Journal he received a phone call Monday from the USOC’s legal office, telling him he would face a lawsuit if he refused to change the name of his event. Brooks explained to the legal representative that “I’m not basing it on your Olympics, I’m basing it on the Olympics in Greece.” w/ photo + video

“A Koala with a serious slobbering problem could be saved with a treatment usually reserved for human cancer patients. The two-year-old koala, named Sprinkles, suffers from a rare disease called sialosis that causes excessive drooling. Brisbane Veterinary Specialist Centre’s Dr Rod Straw says despite her playful name, life is not much fun for the young female, who can’t survive in the wild. “The saliva drools out of her mouth, leaves wet skin, bacteria breed in it, and it causes inflammation of the skin and that’s been a real problem for her,” he said. But crucially, the condition, which also occurs in humans, stops her from eating normally. “She needs help to maintain her weight, they’ve got to be very careful of what she gets fed and what leaves she eats and so on,” Dr Straw said.” w/ photo

“No height is too perilous for this cute rodent who loves to spin around the rope. Her antics certainly thrilled photographer Mirko Waltermann, who took the pictures at his home in Hamm, Germany. While setting up the photo shoot Dolly was so eager to start the shoot that she began running around her cage in anticipation. Bringing the energy to the camera, Dolly made sure she pulled off her routine to perfection by spinning around the rope with high speed stunts. We even think that she might have a chance a snaring a lead role in the next Alvin and the chipmunks film. Mirko is a specialist in high-key lighting and says he enjoys photographing anything from fashion to animals.” w/ photo

“Few things in France are treated with the reverence and respect of bread in general and the baguette, the long wand of dough made from a recipe defined in French law, in particular. It is a bread on to which some still trace the sign of the cross before cutting into it every morning for breakfast, when it is mostly spread with butter and jam. But now one entrepreneurial baker has come up with an idea that sounds as sacrilegious as putting Dom Pérignon in wine boxes: selling baguettes in a vending machine. Jean-Louis Hecht has taken advantage of the August holiday period, when many of France’s 33,000 boulangers shut up shop, to install Paris’s first 24-hour automated baguette dispenser. “This is the bakery of tomorrow,” Hecht told the Associated Press. “It is answering a real need. People who work at night or early in the morning can get their fresh bread. To me it’s a public utility.” So far Hecht has only installed two machines, one next to his baker’s shop in Paris’s 19th arrondissement and a second in the north-eastern town of Hombourg-Haut, close to the German border, where he also has a shop. The baguettes are partially cooked before they are put in the machine, then finished off when ordered and delivered crisp and steaming for $1.40 each.” w/ photo