Brickbats

Terry Colon

Gale Griffin and Wendell Harvey spent two and a half months in an Arkansas jail after drug field tests falsely showed that the baking soda they had in the truck they were driving was cocaine. The duo was eventually freed after a public defender insisted on an actual lab test. But they say their truck was damaged when they got it back and that the arrest cost them their security clearance, which means they can no longer do their job transporting explosives for the government.

Just three months after the Rio Olympics ended, the $19 million golf course built for the games is rarely used, and the company responsible for its upkeep has not been paid by the government for two months. Few Brazilians golf, but organizers of the event said building the facilities could help make the game more popular.

Venezuelan soldiers raided two warehouses, seized nearly 4 million toys, and arrested two executives who are accused of hoarding the toys to sell them at higher prices at Christmas.

The good news is that the Tomah, Wisconsin, Veterans Affairs Medical Center is offering free screenings for hepatitis and HIV to 592 veterans. The bad news is that it's doing this because a V.A. dentist did not properly clean equipment between patients.

The Illinois Human Rights Commission has upheld an $80,000 judgment against the Christian owners of Timber Creek Bed & Breakfast for refusing to host a same-sex marriage celebration on their property.

A student at California's Orange Coast College recorded psychology professor Olga Perez Stable Cox going on a tirade during a recent class on human sexuality, deeming the election of Donald Trump "an assault." Now, the union that represents the professor is warning of legal action against the student.

In her will, Dolores Hope directed that the home she shared for many years with her husband, actor Bob Hope, be sold and the proceeds given to a charity they founded. Linda Hope, their daughter, wants to do that. But she's fighting an effort by Los Angeles City Councilman David Ryu to have the property declared a cultural landmark.

Jimmie Thorns has resigned from the Louisiana Tax Commission after a local TV station found he has not paid property taxes on a business property in New Orleans for some 30 years. Thorns currently owes $140,000 on the property.

Stockholm officials insist the city's "gender equal" snow-clearing rules are not why major roads remained blocked and buses had to be canceled after a recent snowfall. The rules call for sidewalks and bicycle lanes to be given priority over streets because women are more likely to bike or walk than men.

Florida's Silver Trail Middle School suspended an 11-year-old girl for six days after she brought a child's butter knife to school and used it to slice a peach at lunch. The Pembroke Pines Police Department was called in and its findings turned over to local prosecutors to decide whether to file criminal charges against the student.

In England, Ashley Tofte and Jade Bunce came home to find their doormat missing and a note from the Dacorum Borough Council saying it had been removed because the group has a "legal duty to keep areas clear of hazards and combustible materials." The council then demanded 40 pounds for the return of the doormat.