brickbat

Officials at Jefferson Elementary School in Ionia, Michigan, suspended 6-year-old Mason Jammer for making his hand into the shape of a gun and pointing at another student.

Los Angeles officials say they don't know how many unlicensed dogs the city has. But if all pet owners paid a $15 fee for a sterilized dog or $100 to $220 for an unfixed dog, the city could reap millions of dollars. Officials have ordered the Department of Animal Services and the Department of Water and Power, which keeps a database of homes with dogs for meter readers, to team up and ferret out as many unlicensed dogs as they can.

In Philadelphia, nine city workers have been charged with stealing from elderly and disabled residents. They were part of an effort to help blighted areas by making small repairs and clearing the yards of people who could not do so. They did that, police say—but they also stole handguns, cash, silverware, and furniture.

In Vancouver, Washington, a SWAT team responded to a call that shots had been fired at a local elementary school. When the officers got there, they found that the "shots" had been fired by a second-grade boy wielding a bright orange cap gun.

Customers loved Cody, the black Labrador mascot of a Clearwater, Florida, gas station. But the Florida Department of Agriculture told the owner that if he didn't get rid of the dog, it would declare all of his food products unfit for consumption. The store didn't sell deli items or hot food—only chips, candy, and bottled or canned drinks—so it is unclear how the dog could have contaminated them.

Saudi Arabia's religious police are stepping up their efforts to find and punish witches. The Los Angeles Times reports that anyone who acts oddly may be accused of witchcraft. Among those who have been convicted is Muhammad Burhan, who was lashed 300 times and spent more than 40 months in prison before being deported. Officials believed a phone booklet he carried, containing writing in the alphabet of his native Eritrea, was a sign of witchcraft.

In Solano County, California, a bailiff handcuffed Calvin Jones and took him to a secure room on a Friday morning—and forgot about him. Jones was still there more than 10 hours later, when a night janitor found him and called sheriff's deputies to pick him up. The courthouse had closed for a long weekend, so if the janitor had not found Jones, he likely would have remained in that room until the courthouse reopened four days later.

In the United Kingdom, the Human Genetics Commission, a government advisory panel, reports that police routinely arrest people to add their DNA to a national database. The database includes 1 million people who have not been convicted of any crime.