A US politician has repaid the government $40,000 dollars from his personal account for redecorating his congressional office in the style of the TV show Downton Abbey, according to financial records reviewed by the Associated Press.
Illinois Representative Aaron Schock paid $35,000 earlier last month to the owner of the decorating firm, Euro Trash, and $5,000 more on Thursday, the records showed.
A spokesman for Schock, 33, a rising star in the Republican Party, said his payments made good on an earlier promise to personally shoulder the costs of the office renovation.
Botched car robbery goes viral
A would-be car thief who knocked himself out trying to break into a Mercedes has become an international laughing stock after video footage of the botched robbery went viral.
More than two million people have watched the CCTV images of the attacker unsuccessfully throwing a stone at the car window outside The Pheasant pub in Drogheda, Co Louth.
When he fails to smash the screen he walks off before returning with what appears to be a concrete block which he launches at the luxury coupe but the makeshift missile rebounds, striking him in the head and knocking him dazed to the ground.
Bondage for beginners on ITV
ITV could be disciplined after communications watchdog Ofcom launched an investigation into This Morning’s Fifty Shades Of Grey-inspired report on “bondage for beginners”.
The show, presented by Phillip Schofield and Christine Bleakley, featured an interview with a “sex expert” about a range of sex toys including an eye mask, a leash and collar and a bodywand.
A spokesman for Ofcom said it had received 120 complaints about the issue and an investigation had opened into whether the item was suitable for broadcast before the watershed.
Round-the-clock lambing time
If you want to experience the round-the-clock working that comes with lambing time, one farm and visitor attraction has been using Twitter to keep everyone informed about the life-and-death dramas of the latest arrivals.
Cannon Hall Farm, near Barnsley, has been welcoming lambs at the rate of around 20 a day over the past few days and one of the brothers who runs it, Robert Nicholson, has been letting armchair farmers share in the hard work.
A Nicholson has been keeping the South Yorkshire farm’s 15,000 Twitter followers up to date with messages like: “Right that’s it I’m exhausted. Here is a photo of the quads. They have all fed and are doing well.”
Together hand-in-hand till the end
A US couple died holding hands at the end of a marriage lasting 67 years. Floyd and Violet Hartwig’s daughter, Donna Scharton, said that once the family sensed the couple were close to death, they pushed their two hospice beds together, gently joining their hands. Floyd went first, followed by Violet five hours later, at their home in central California, as they had wished.
Ms Scharton said her parents’ romance sparked at a dance hall when Floyd, a decorated navy sailor, was home on shore leave. They went on to have three children, four grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. Scharton said that people often commented on her parents’ connection. Cynthia Letson said that once her grandfather passed, the family told her grandmother that she could go too.
Egg knocks woman unconscious
Seattle police say a woman was knocked unconscious when she was pelted by an egg in a so-called drive-by egging.
The egg hit the woman right behind the ear and knocked her out, detective Patrick Michaud said. Her friends caught her before she fell to the ground and drove her to a local hospital.
Police say the woman and her friends were standing outside a bar in the Crown Hill neighbourhood when someone in a passing truck threw a volley of eggs at them.