STATUS UPDATES
A week in which bus seats became burkas, peanut butter spread chaos and perogies caused indigestion
THREATENING Perogies. A Pennsylvania celebration of the food is on the defensive after a lawsuit threat over the name “Pierogi Festival.” Lawyers for the Whiting Pierogi Fest in Indiana demanded the Edwardsville Hometown Committee stop using the name or pay royalties.
INFLUENCED A young actor from the acclaimed 2002 movie City of
God. Brazilian police said Ivan Da Silva Martins is a suspect in the killing of an officer in a shantytown, or favela. Martins, 34, is thought to control drug trafficking in the Vidigal favela, the BBC reported.
INVENTIVE Inmates in an Alabama jail. The guests of the Walker County Jail used peanut butter to change the number on a door. A new guard got confused, thought the door was an inmate’s cell door, and opened it, officials said. All were apprehended within days. ENTERING THE SPOTLIGHT WNBA athletes. This fall, for the first time, players in the league will be added to the NBA Live 18 video game. There’s a mode where gamers can pit two WNBA teams against each other with authentic jerseys and rosters, The Associated Press reported.
PROTECTING The planet from alien forms. This is part of a new job, posted by NASA. The position of planetary protection officer involves preventing alien contamination during missions and keeping the Earth free of foreign micro-organisms. The pay range starts at $124,406 (U.S.).
MISLED A Norwegian antiimmigrant group. It posted alarmist comments about six women in burkas on a bus. Except the photo was actually of bus seats. Prankster Johan Slattaviksaid he wanted to distinguish “blind racism” from legitimate criticism of immigration.
DESTRUCTIVE The youth wing of a Catalan political party. The CUP group vandalized bikes, following their slashing of a tour bus in Barcelona (on which they sprayed “Tourism kills neighbourhoods”). The youth wing called the acts “a response to the violence we face every day.”
STEALING THE SCENE Turkmenistan’s media-friendly president. Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov appeared in a video in a commando outfit and sunglasses, firing guns at targets and throwing knives, the BBC reported. The video shows him calling in a helicopter strike.