WEIRD NEWS

Christie’s says “The Rock,” an egg-sized white diamond billed as the largest of its kind to go up for auction, has sold for more than 21.6 million Swiss francs ($21.75 million), including fees — though at the low end of the expected range.

Monroe County Sheriff's Office said a woman who a deputy attempted to stop for speeding, but who continued driving said when she was arrested that it was on her "bucket list."

A woman has been arrested months after threatening to blow up her son’s high school unless cafeteria workers started giving him more food, officials said.

In a small town in northern Mexico, the way in which hundreds of birds known as yellow-headed thrushes died, was recorded after they crashed into the ground at full speed.

A Broward County cook says he lived a nightmare recently when police mistook him for a fugitive with the same name, similar looks and almost the same birthday.

Newly released 911 calls describe the shock in Deerfield Beach on Monday afternoon as a man police say is Cleveland Browns defensive tackle Malik McDowell was spotted walking naked near a children’s learning center.

Palm Beach Police say someone placed fliers over the weekend on New York-licensed cars parked on the wealthy island reading, “If you are one of the those ‘woke’ people --- leave Florida. You will be happier elsewhere, as will we.”

Just after storms moved through Texarkana last week, the skies opened up again and rained fish for a few minutes.

The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office posted video a deputy captured on patrol showing falling snowflakes bathed in the light of a lamppost in a store’s parking lot. Only 12 hours earlier, the temperature had been 75 degrees Fahrenheit, the post said.

Florida authorities said they found cocaine and methamphetamine wrapped around a man’s penis during a traffic stop, but the man denied the drugs were his.

A Tennessee appeals court has granted a new trial for a Black man who was convicted of aggravated assault by an all-white jury that deliberated in a room containing Confederate symbols.

A man disrobed — at least partially — during Tuesday’s Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce meeting that was held on Zoom.

The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum launched a bobblehead of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, saying there have been “customer requests from both sides of the aisle.”

This momma bear was curious as to what was happening in a Central Florida home and wanted to get a closer look.

As seen in a video going viral online, Eugene Bozzi of Mount Dora used a bulky recycling bin to help scoop up the hissing alligator as neighbors cheered him on.

Palm Beach County Fire Rescue says firefighters responding to a Lake Worth field found a horse with its hind legs stuck in the ground.

The Florida Highway Patrol alerted drivers Tuesday of a crash that spilled cow manure over a stretch of I-95 in Brevard County.

Lightning struck again and again near the sand and water, pictures from the Clearwater Police Department show. Beachgoer were warned to seek shelter.

Officials originally identified the holes as sinkholes, a common geological occurrence in Florida, but later engineers said the holes are considered “depressions.”

The Peter’s rock agama is another non-native reptile species calling South Florida home, and their skills as agile hitchhikers have scientists concerned.

A married couple has pleaded guilty to using doughnuts and pastries to lure black bears in rural Florida, allowing packs of dogs to attack them and then posting the gruesome videos on social media.

Two men who relocate gopher tortoises are suing Florida’s wildlife commission.

A federal court has upheld a Florida city’s decision to issue nearly $30,000 in code violation fines to a homeowner whose lawn was overgrown.

A popular Twitter account that notified followers when Publix chicken-tender subs were on sale has been abandoned after lawyers for the Florida-based grocery chain apparently objected.

It’s not unusual for rocks and other debris to crash through a windshield and injure a driver or passenger — but a turtle?

Los Angeles writer and comedian Jensen Karp discovered shrimp tails in his box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal, sparking a debate with General Mills. LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Cinnamon Toast Crunch is already a well-known cereal, but now it’s making headlines for something more salty than sweet — a man has allegedly discovered shrimp tails inside of a box of the cereal while pouring himself a bowl. According to Los Angeles-based writer and comedian Jensen Karp, he discovered what appear to be shrimp tails tossed in cinnamon sugar, as well as dental floss, black unidentifiable objects, and more inside of a family-pack box of General Mills Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal. In a tweet he shared on Monday, he wrote, “Ummmm @CTCSquares - why are there shrimp tails in my cereal? Ok, we’ll after further investigation with my eyes, these are cinnamon coated SHRIMP TAILS, you weirdos.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – A wax figure of Donald Trump has been pulled from the display of Louis Tussaud’s Waxworks in San Antonio after visitors kept vandalizing it, according to the San Antonio Express-News. “When it’s a highly political figure, attacks can be a problem,” said Clay Stewart, the regional manager for Ripley Entertainment, which owns the Louis Tussaud’s Waxworks in San Antonio, told the newspaper. “We’ve always had trouble with the presidential section because no matter what president it was – Bush, Obama or Trump – they’ve all had people beat them. In a statement, Suzanne Smagala-Potts, public relations manager for Ripley Entertainment Inc, said having to remove and repair waxworks was not uncommon. Ad“When a wax figure has been damaged, we will remove the figure from public display and send it to our talented team of artists for repair,” Smagala-Potts said.

MIAMI – Is it getting hot in here, or is it just the Miami-Dade County Twitter page? In the latest attempt to promote mask-wearing to stop the spread of COVID-19, the county government is turning up the heat with a slightly suggestive animated ad. “Wearing a mask on the outside says a lot about who you are on the inside,” the tagline reads. Good one, Miami-Dade County! If double entendre is the secret to getting South Florida safely get through this pandemic, keep it coming.

The Florida Highway Patrol is alerting people in the Tampa area to be on the lookout for a runaway goat. But the agency is being extra careful to let people know they’re not talking about Tom Brady. Hillsborough: Use caution in the area of WB I-4 at US-301 as Troopers and @HCSOSheriff units are trying to apprehend a runaway GOAT (not @TomBrady). pic.twitter.com/0HqZYKqkQA — FHP Tampa (@FHPTampa) February 22, 2021Of course, Brady is the undisputed G.O.A.T. We’re not sure how well Tom would fare as a runaway goat anyway, given that scrambling from the pocket has never been his strong suit, plus the way he wobbled off the Bucs’ championship boat parade.

PASCO COUNTY, Fla. – A 22-year-old man from Port Richey is making sure no one takes the “Florida man” title from him. Matthew Leatham, who has the shape of the state of Florida tattooed on his forehead, was arrested early Sunday morning after he called 911 two times to find a ride home, WTXL reported. According to a criminal complaint, Leatham cursed at the dispatcher during the calls. It’s unclear why he decided to call 911 for a ride home or where he was when the calls were made. Regardless, officers did not give Leatham a ride home, and instead gave him a ride to the Pasco County Jail, where he was booked on charges of misuse of the 911 system and possession of marijuana.

This Sept. 13, 2017 photo shows chickens in Key West, Fla. Key West is considering a law that would make it illegal to feed the chickens that freely roam the Southernmost City. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)Feral chickens run free in Key West, just one of those things that keep the Southernmost City charmingly weird. It’s a heated thing on both sides.”The city's wild chickens don’t need help finding food, Tom Sweets, executive director of the Key West Wildlife Center, told the newspaper. “I’ve never seen a skinny chicken in Key West unless it’s sick or injured. They’re quite capable of taking care of themselves.”The wildlife center says it doesn't remove healthy Key West Chickens, but it did take in about 1,500 injured, sick, and orphaned chickens last year.

BOCA RATON, Fla. – A South Florida man who managed to get back his prized comic book collection after it was stolen from his storage unit is now selling it off for big bucks. Comic books have been Randy Lawrence’s passion since he was a boy, and now they have built him a nest egg. Lawrence found out Weisbauer’s father had a storage unit just feet away from his. He hired an attorney who managed to get the father to return the rest of the books in January of last year. One comic featuring Batgirl has already sold for $132,000.

Someone etches the word "Trump" into the skin of a manatee in Florida. HOMOSASSA SPRINGS, Fla. – State and federal wildlife officials are investigating reports of a manatee found with “Trump” drawn on its back in a Florida river. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission say the aquatic mammal was spotted over the weekend in the Homosassa River in Citrus County. Wildlife officials are looking for any information regarding the animal’s harassment. A nonprofit group that protects endangered animals is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to a conviction in the case.

PALMETTO BAY, Fla. – Video on social media showed what looked like a military tank driving around a Palmetto Bay neighborhood on Sunday. Commenters on the Cutler Bay Social Facebook page wondered if the tank was part of a military operation. But a spokesperson with the Florida National Guard said the tank was not part of its fleet, and military experts said the tank appeared to be a British combat vehicle. The matter was cleared up by Miami-Dade Police, which issued a statement that read:“Miami-Dade Police Department, Village of Palmetto Bay units received reports of a military-style vehicle observed on the Village roads. “It’s a poor choice of timing to have military equipment like that in a residential neighborhood,” resident James Woodard said.

GRAND HAVEN, Mich. – A man who sued his parents for getting rid of his pornography collection has won a lawsuit in western Michigan and can seek compensation. U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney ruled in favor of David Werking, who said his parents had no right to throw out his collection. He lived at their Grand Haven home for 10 months after a divorce before moving to Muncie, Indiana. “There is no question that the destroyed property was David’s property,” Maloney said Monday. Werking's parents said they had a right to act as his landlords.

SARASOTA, Fla. – A Florida man has found a badly decomposing body inside a trash can. The unidentified man told the Manatee County Sheriff’s office he’d been holding the 55-gallon container for a friend who promised to retrieve it later. But the friend never returned and after about two months, the man smelled a foul odor and opened the container. The sheriff’s office is investigating the identity of the remains and how they died. An autopsy is scheduled for Wednesday.

TAIPEI – Lawmakers in Taiwan got into a fist fight and threw pig guts at each other Friday over a soon-to-be enacted policy that would allow imports of U.S. pork and beef. Legislators from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party attempted to stop them, resulting in chaos and an exchange of punches. People hold a pig model with a slogan "Betraying pig farmers" during a protest in Taipei, Taiwan, Sunday, Nov. 22. Thousands of people marched in streets on Sunday demanding the reversal of a decision to allow U.S. pork imports into Taiwan, alleging food safety issues. “You have blocked Premier Su from reposting to the parliament for 12 times, ” said Hsu Sheng-chieh, a DPP legislative member.

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – A mother made her 2-year-old son smoke THC from a vape pen on more than one occasion because she believed the marijuana would help him eat and sleep more, according to the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office. The woman said Clarisse would let her housemates watch the boy even though they were known to drink excessively, records show. In a separate Snapchat video, Clarisse smokes the vape pen while lying next to the toddler, the report said. Deputies said from there, Clarisse would put the vape pen in the boy’s mouth so he would smoke it in order to help his sleep schedule and appetite. Clarisse was arrested Tuesday on a child neglect charge.

A woman walking a Florida beach thought she had come across a decapitated body. Thankfully, it just turned out to be the type of figure you’d see showing off clothing from a store window. The headless mannequin spotted on Perdido Key near Pensacola was covered with barnacles and other sea life, according to Ocean Hour, a nonprofit that organizes beach clean-ups. Way too long!” the nonprofit wrote. “We are glad it wasn’t a real body!”

COCOA, Fla. – Need any more evidence that it’s Friday the 13th in the year 2020? A driver in Central Florida ran over a gator on U.S. 1 overnight. Luckily, the driver and the alligator are OK, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is finding the gator a “safer place to roam,” police in the city of Cocoa say. The things that go bump in the night: patrol officers rescued this little guy as he wandered into dangerous territory. He was fine and the driver was not injured.”Be careful out there!

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Kentucky woman is sending out what she calls an “urgent plea” after a box containing her mother’s cremated remains went missing after she mailed it to her sister in Florida. Amy Redford says she mailed the package on Sept. 9. It was in a box with a bright red label saying, ""CREMATED REMAINS." Redford says the tenant realized the box wasn’t hers and put it outside for the carrier to take. Then it went missing.

OPA-LOCKA, Fla. – You may be able to start wearing “saggy pants” in Opa-Locka again. Read Opa-Locka’s ’Saggy Pants’ OrdinanceIn the city’s current code of ordinances, Sec. 16-33 states rules and regulations on the “ban on wearing saggy apparel in public facilities.”(a) It shall be unlawful for an individual (male or female) to wear saggy pants or slacks apparel wherein underwear or under garments are exposed in city buildings and parks. Females, as well, shall also be banned from wearing saggy shirt or blouse apparel. Neither males nor females shall wear saggy apparel such as to constitute indecent exposure.

An Australian returned home and was surprised to discover that his kitchen ceiling had collapsed under the weight of two large pythons apparently fighting over a mate. David Tait entered his home in Laceys Creek in Queensland state on Monday and found a large chunk of his ceiling lying on his kitchen table. The snakes have an estimated combined weight of 45 kilograms (100 pounds). “I would assume that it was two males fighting over a female that was nearby in the roof,” Brown said. The males were returned to the wild, but the suspected third snake hasn't been found.

BROWARD COUNTY, Fla. It was literally kangaroo court on Wednesday when a Fort Lauderdale man entered a plea of not guilty in connection with misdemeanor charges he is facing for housing a kangaroo in his home. The kangaroo, named Jack Jack, escaped from his home just off of North Andrews Avenue and 15th Street in mid-July. Free Jack Jack on GoFundMe was to help Macias be able to move to a zoned area so he could keep the kangaroo. He said he would use the money to move to a new place where he could keep Jack Jack legally and pay for the proper licenses and permits. His lawyer, Steven Schaet, submitted to the court a written plea of not guilty.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A kangraroo was on the loose in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday morning in case you thought 2020 couldnt get any stranger. Viewer Doug sent us the video above, which comes with commentary appropriate for the situation:Yo, thats so crazy. This is South Florida.Fort Lauderdale police and Fish & Wildlife Conservation were on the scene. Check back and watch Local 10 for updates. Click here to get breaking news updates sent straight to your email inbox.

FORT MYERS, Fla. A woman in route to get her morning coffee was jolted awake with pounding on her front door she later discovered to be two alligators fighting in front of her home in Florida. The video of the surprising encounter in Fort Myers was posted on Facebook last week by Susan Geshel. 6:45 AM today We heard a loud pounding ON our front door Two huge alligators are fighting ! They made a mess on the front door, Geshel, who has never seen alligators on her property in Fort Myers, said. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Spokeswoman Melody Kilborn said the fighting alligators were reacting to being in a confined space.

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. Hollywood police have arrested a man who they said confessed to following women throughout the city in an attempt to conduct lewd acts toward or with, authorities announced on Friday. The victim told Local 10 News that she kept running, but went a bit faster when she saw that the had man made a U-turn. Hollywood police say James Ducker, 32, tried to lure women into his blue Chevrolet Malibu. (Hollywood Police Department)Police said Ducker confessed to following women for several blocks and maneuvering his car to block or stop his victims. Anyone who believes they have been victimized by Ducker is asked to call the Hollywood Police Department.

KEY LARGO, Fla. A Key Largo man was arrested Thursday night after a domestic dispute led to his girlfriend falling from the hood of his moving GMC pickup truck, authorities announced on Friday. According to Monroe County Sheriffs Office spokesman Adam Linhardt, witnesses called 911 after seeing the 29-year-old victim falling from the hood of the truck and Luna fleeing the scene. Linhardt said Luna drove with his girlfriend on the hood of his truck until the 900 block of Lobster Lane, when she fell off, landing on the ground unconscious, but breathing. Witnesses told deputies that Luna initially got out of the truck after his girlfriend fell, but then got back inside and drove away. Linhardt said Luna confessed to drinking alcohol before the incident and told deputies that he had a medical marijuana card and THC cartridges in his pocket.

There are things that are sacred in this world, and one of those things is pizza -- and the toppings we choose to put on that pizza. Kiwi may be sweet, but when was the last time you heard of kiwi getting incorporated into a savory dish, let alone being used as topping on an innocent pizza that didn’t ask for any of this nonsense? The photo of the kiwi pizza was tweeted out in January and it went viral immediately -- with most people equally (or if not more) grossed out by this flavor combination. People compared it to a petri dish, called it a “travesty” and blamed pineapple on pizza for this cooking crime. Let’s just hope this was a one-off experimentation and kiwi pizza doesn’t start showing up at our favorite pizza chains.

MIAMI, Fla. – Joe Exotic has arrived in Miami. A 16-foot mural of the “Tiger King” documentary subject has been painted in the Wynwood neighborhood. It’s worth noting that this is in Wynwood (the artsy Miami neighborhood), not Wynnewood, the city in Oklahoma where Joe Exotic’s infamous zoo was located. The “Tiger King” documentary about that case and the wacky world of big cat breeding has been watched by millions on Netflix. ALSO SEE: The ‘Tiger King’ reunion special is out and it’s as bonkers as you’d hope