NEWSQUIRKS

Curses, foiled again

Responding to reports of a man and a woman slashing tires at an apartment complex, Atlanta police arrested the woman, but the man escaped. A few minutes later, he returned to the scene and approached television news reporter Amanda Cook during her on-air report, claiming to be a witness to the crime. Cook’s photographer recognized him as the suspect, and police arrested him. The man, who is married to the woman, apparently wanted to appear on camera to blame the incident on her. “He did tell us that his wife takes a lot of Xanax,” Cook reported, “and sometimes she goes crazy.” (Atlanta’s WSB-TV)

Current events

Millions of tons of debris washed out to sea by Japan’s March 11 tsunami are moving across the Pacific Ocean and could start washing up on California, Oregon and Washington beaches in 2013 or early 2014. “The area north of Tokyo was basically shredded,” said Seattle oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer, who estimates the debris — everything from furniture to roofs to pieces of cars, even tractor-trailers — is moving east at roughly 10 miles a day and is spread over an area about 350 miles wide and 1,300 miles long. Lots of the flotsam will break up and sink, but some won’t, Ebbesmeyer predicted, pointing out, “Things float a lot longer than you think.” (California’s San Jose Mercury News)

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