Curses, foiled again

Brier Cutlip, 22, and Paul Bragg, 25, were arrested for firearms possession, a felony parole violation, after sheriff’s deputies in Randolph County, W.Va., found two rifles in Cutlip’s truck. The deputies thought to look for incriminating evidence because the two men showed up at their parole meetings together dressed in blaze orange. WBOY-TV News said the men admitted hunting earlier that day.

Community investments

Hoping to capitalize on their success, Somali pirates have set up an exchange to sell shares of their raids to investors. Operating mostly out of Haradheere, sea gangs have made tens of millions of dollars from ransoms, according to Reuters, and their success is attracting Somali financiers in other nations to back their sea raids. “The shares are open to all, and everybody can take part, whether personally at sea or on land by providing cash, weapons or useful maters,” a pirate named Mohammed explained, adding, “We’ve made piracy a community activity.”

Finders keepers

Jesus Leonardo, 57, told the New York Times he makes more than $45,000 a year by cashing in winning tickets on horse races that betters throw away. “It is literally found money,” he said, explaining he spends more than 10 hours a day at a New York City off-track betting parlor. “This has become my job, my life. This is how I feed my family.”

Jolting news

The Brazilian Coffee Industry Association (ABIC) has intensified its crackdown on rogue roasters, who cut corners and costs by adulterating their products. “The most common thing is to find wood from the (coffee) tree and shells from the beans, but you can also find corn or caramel, which is much cheaper than coffee,” Almir Jose da Silva, ABIC’s chairman, told Reuters. “These coffees can make you feel unwell in the stomach or make you burp a lot.” Brazil is the world’s number one coffee grower and number two consumer, and since most of the exported coffee is raw beans, the tainted coffee is largely a domestic problem. Noting that the ABIC ousted 10 members this year for deliberately bulking up their products, Silva said the crackdown is aimed at thwarting efforts to recruit new coffee drinkers. “Quality is what develops consumption,” he said.

Like shooting pork in a barrel

Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.) earmarked $100,000 of taxpayer money to go to the library in Jamestown, S.C., which is in his district. But Congress mistakenly designated the money for Jamestown, Calif., a town that doesn’t even have a library. “That figures for government, doesn’t it?” Chris Pipkin, who runs the one-room library in Jamestown, S.C., told the Washington Times. Pipkin added that he had requested only $50,000 to buy computers and new bookshelves, but Clyburn’s office told the paper the congressman decided to double the request after visiting the library and finding books strewn on the floor because of the lack of shelving.

Compiled from the nation’s press by Roland Sweet. Authentication on demand.