■UNITED STATES
Bank stumps armless man
A man in Tampa, Florida, who sought to cash his wife’s check at her bank ran into a problem: the teller wanted his thumbprint. Problem was, Steve Valdez has no arms. He went into a Bank of America branch to cash the check at his wife’s request, the St. Petersburg Times reported on Thursday. The teller told him that without an account at the bank, he would have to give a thumbprint to cash a check. Valdez, 54, uses prosthetic arms since he was born armless. “She said, ‘Obviously you aren’t going to be able to give us a thumbprint,’” Valdez said. He showed the bank teller two picture ID cards to no avail. Valdez did neither and left. “That’s just shocking to me. This can’t have been the first time this has ever come up,” Valdez told the newspaper. Bank of America has apologized.
■UNITED STATES
Pinky lost in health protest
California authorities say a clash between opponents and supporters of health care reform ended with one man biting off another man’s finger. Ventura County Sheriff’s Captain Frank O’Hanlon said about 100 people demonstrating in favor of health care reforms rallied on Wednesday night on a street corner in Thousand Oaks. One protester walked across the street to confront about 25 counter-demonstrators. O’Hanlon says the man got into an argument and fist fight, during which he bit off the left pinky of a 65-year-old man who opposed health care reform. A hospital spokeswoman said the victim had Medicare.
■UNITED STATES
Crash costs woman her nails
A Salt Lake City woman who held a record for her long fingernails before they broke off in a car crash says it was the most dramatic event of her life. But Lee Redmond, who lost the fingernails in February, says it’s now much easier to do things and her hands seem to fly with the weight of the nails gone. The 68-year-old won’t grow her nails out again, saying it took 30 years the first time and she may not live for another 30. Redmond hadn’t cut her nails since 1979 and entered the Guinness World Records book in 2002 for longest fingernails on a woman. The Guinness Web site says her nails measured a total of more than 8.53m long last year, with the longest nail on her right thumb at 88.9cm.
■UNITED STATES
Builders find skeleton
Construction workers installing support for a new deck at a home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, dug up the concrete floor of a shed and found a skeleton buried there with a gun that appears to be about 100 years old. Police spokesman Frank Pasquarello says the items found on Thursday afternoon may be from a market on the property. Forensics examinations are expected to reveal the age and gender of the remains.
■UNITED STATES
Frog found in Pepsi can
A Florida man who cracked open an ice cold can of Pepsi did find the dismembered remains of a frog, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Thursday. “It has been verified, and it was indeed a frog,” Charles Watson, a FDA spokesman. Fred DeNegri of Ormond Beach told CNN that he was taken aback by the “disgusting” blob in his drink.
■UNITED STATES
Smelly proposal a stinker
The proposal to bar smelly people from Honolulu buses failed to pass the Honolulu City Council. Lawyers from the city and the American Civil Liberties Union said it was vague and could lead to unconstitutionally subjective judgments.
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