Brickbats

Illinois Lottery officials say they don't have the legal authority to pay their big winners right now because the state legislature hasn't passed a budget yet. They do, however, apparently have the authority to continue to sell lottery tickets.

Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey has taken Officer Matthew Zagursky off the street and confiscated his weapon. Zagursky was caught on video telling a driver he would have his vehicle towed if the driver didn't buy tickets to a police union fundraiser.

The Israeli government has ruled that Heinz must call its ketchup "tomato seasoning." Acting on a complaint from a local competitor, the government ruled that Heinz doesn't have enough tomato concentrate to be labeled ketchup under Israeli law.

Police in Leicestershire, England, refused to fully investigate burglaries in homes with odd-numbered street addresses for three months. They say the move was a cost-cutting measure that had no impact on crime rates or public satisfaction. Officials are now reviewing the experiment and say they may roll it out to the entire West Midlands area.

Some professors at Washington State University have told students they will be punished, perhaps even failed, for using "oppressive and hateful language," including the term "illegal alien." And at least one professor has told white students he expects them to "defer" to nonwhite students in class.

The British Information Commissioner's office has ordered Google to remove nine stories about a "right to be forgotten" ruling from its search results. The stories describe a previous order to remove stories about a criminal offense committed by an individual.

After Josten Bundy pleaded guilty to assaulting his girlfriend's ex-boyfriend, Smith County, Texas, Judge Randall Rogers sentenced him to probation, contingent on Bundy and the girlfriend getting married. If they didn't, Rogers said Bundy would have to spend 15 days in jail. The couple then wed.

A Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, judge has fined Kimberly Bracken $300 for interfering with police officers by watching them make an arrest.

A British member of Parliament says new anti-terrorism powers the government plans to adopt should be used on Christians who teach that gay marriage is immoral. Mark Spencer, a Tory, wrote to a constituent that the new law will "guarantee" free speech.

Officials in Lincoln, Nebraska, have apologized for falsely labeling Shayla Funk a criminal on TV and online in a Crime Stoppers segment. But they're still appealing a judgment of more than $250,000. A city attorney admits police made statements that were untrue and defamatory but insists those statements are privileged because cops made them in an attempt to solve a crime.

A court in Sudan has sentenced a woman to 20 lashes and a fine for dressing indecently. Specifically, she wore pants.

An Australian man spent four months in jail for possession of meth before tests showed it was actually innocuous Epsom salts.