Man pulled snake out of bush, turned out to be 18 feet 8 inches long

Florida - The South Florida man who caught and killed the longest Burmese python ever found in Florida gets to keep the snakeskin. Jason Leon of Palmetto Bay saw a few feet of the snake sticking out of some bushes alongside a rural Miami-Dade County road on May 11. When Leon pulled the snake out into the open, it turned out to be 18 feet 8 inches long. Leon killed the snake with a knife when it began to wrap around his legs. He reported his find to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. More

High school seniors release 10,000 crickets into halls, banned from graduation

Kentucky - Punishment by the administration of East Carter High School in Grayson, Ky., is deemed too extreme by classmates, parents - and even a state senator. But Principal Larry Kiser says the critters were expensive to clean up after. High school seniors were banned from graduation after releasing 10,000 crickets into its halls as a prank. East Carter High School in Grayson, Ky., stopped seven students from attending Saturday morning`s celebration because of the cost of the cleanup. More

Armed Forces Day - Saturday, May 18, 2013

SA - For most Americans in the United States, Armed Forces Day is not on the lists of likely holidays to honor the country`s military in celebrations of Memorial Day or Veteran`s Day. Sadly, most Americans may not even realize that Armed Forces Day is even a legitimate holiday. Armed Forces Day was established to be celebrated on the third Saturday in May. It started during Harry Trumans administration when he led an effort to consolidate the various holidays supporting each separate branch of the military into a simple unified holiday to honor the four branches together. The actual initiation of this day occurred on August 31, 1949, when Trumans Secretary of State announced the establishment of a joint Armed Forces Day to take the place of the former tradition of having separate days to honor the men and women in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force. More

Mom Forces Bullying Daughter To Wear Thrift Store

MURRAY, Utah - A Utah mother is giving her daughter some tough love after learning she was bullying a classmate. Kaylee, a fourth grader, was teasing a fellow student about her clothes, so her mom Ally decided to give her a taste of her own medicine. Ally got an email from a teacher on Wednesday saying that her daughter had been relentlessly teasing another student about her clothes for the last three weeks. So Ally decided to let Kaylee know what it feels like to be judged on what you wear. She went out to a thrift store and picked out some clothes for Kaylee, then made her wear them to school on Thursday and Friday. More

Dog helps save owner stranded for days after car accident

Australia – A dog helped save his owner’s life after the man was trapped following a car  accident on a remote property in Australia.
Herbert Schutz, 76, drove his car into a tree near Rylstone Friday. When  he tried to escape the wreckage, the car rolled on top of him, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.
Schutz was rescued Monday night by his neighbors after his daughter – who  grew concerned when she was unable to reach him – contacted them.
Schutz was found covered in hair from Australian Kelpie, Boydy, whose body warmth helped Schutz battle temperatures as low as 39 degrees F in  the four days he was trapped without food or water, the Sydney Morning Herald  reports. More

Elementary school adopts all-vegetarian menu, offers kids beans, tofu wraps

NEW YORK – A New York City elementary school has adopted an all-vegetarian menu, serving kids tofu wraps and veggie chili.
Public School 244 is the first public school in the city to go all-veggie.
The animal-welfare group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) says it might be the first all-veggie public elementary school in the nation.
Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott says he’s proud of the “trailblazing” school.
The Queens school has 400 students in pre-kindergarten through third grade. More

Air-breathing, predatory fish has officials on alert

New York – Environmental officials in New York City are warning the public to be on the  lookout for an aggressive, air-breathing fish that may be invading the city’s  waterways.
MyFoxNY.com reports the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation  (DEC) is asking fishermen in the Harlem Meer to be on the lookout for the northern snakehead fish, a predatory creature native to Asia.
The station reports a local man named Miro Zic claims to have caught one of  the fish in October, but the DEC has not confirmed that catch. A snakehead fish was confirmed caught in the area in 2008.
The fish, which is native to Russia, China and North and South Korea, can destroy an ecosystem if it is allowed to flourish.
The fish can breathe air and  survive on moist land for several days if it needs to. More