Teacher Steals Little Girl's Coat, Sells In On EBay. This Teacher Isn't Underpaid Either, She Makes $69,000 A Year

A Hillsboro mother found her daughter's missing winter coat on eBay, and now a teacher at the girl's elementary school faces charges of theft and computer crimes.

Elizabeth Logan, 41,is on paid administrative leave from Jackson Elementary. She denies stealing the coat, saying she got it from a lost-and-found, Cmdr. Chris Skinner said.

The mother searched the school's lost and found for the coat, then decided to turn to eBay for a replacement. After finding a seemingly identical coat, she noticed that the seller was from Hillsboro.

The mother alerted another bidder that the coat might be stolen, and the other bidder relayed the information to the seller, Logan. Skinner said Logan asked the other bidder to outbid the girl's mother.

Why It's Cheaper To Buy Tomatoes In A Supermarket Than Grow Your Own.

The $140 Homemade Scarf

During the late 19th century, piano manufacturing was one of New York City’s largest industries. Every right-minded American family, it seemed, wanted to fill its home with music. The advent of the player piano — a music-making machine that required zero talent — drove the boom even further. By the 1920s, some 300,000 pianos were being sold in the United States each year, roughly two-thirds of them player pianos.

But a pair of newer technologies, the radio and the phonograph, soon began to drive the piano into a deep disfavor that continues to this day. Last year, Americans bought only 76,966 pianos. That’s a decrease of 75 percent over a period in which the population more than doubled. As much as people may love music, most of them apparently don’t feel the need to make it for themselves. According to Census Bureau statistics, only 7.3 percent of American adults have played a musical instrument in the past 12 months.

Stay-at-home mom's work worth $138,095 a year

NEW YORK (Reuters) - If the typical stay-at-home mother in the United States were paid for her work as a housekeeper, cook and psychologist among other roles, she would earn $138,095 a year, according to research released on Wednesday.

This reflected a 3 percent raise from last year's $134,121, according to Salary.com Inc, Waltham, Massachusetts-based compensation experts.

The 10 jobs listed as comprising a mother's work were housekeeper, cook, day care center teacher, laundry machine operator, van driver, facilities manager, janitor, computer operator, chief executive officer and psychologist, it said.

Keys to maximum-security prison in Iowa are sold on EBay

ANAMOSA, Iowa (AP) - A 135-year-old penitentiary changed some of its locks after keys to the maximum-security prison were apparently sold on EBay.

The keys belonged to a locksmith who retired from Anamosa State Penitentiary in 1974. He died two years later and when his wife died last year, an auctioneer was hired to sell off the estate, which included the keys. Someone bought the keys and put them on EBay. Most appear to be antiques.

Jerry Burt, the prison's warden, said prison staff members told him about the keys after they attended the auction, not knowing the keys were there.

Man Ran Secret Bank From His Washington Home

A man operated a "warehouse bank" out of his suburban home in Washington, taking at least $28 million from people around the country who wanted a discrete bank account, according to court documents.

An IRS investigator said Robert Arant had hundreds of customers, many of whom apparently used his bank, Olympic Business Systems LLC, to conceal assets for the purpose of evading taxes.

On his now-defunct Web site, Arant advertised his services to those "who would rather not deal directly with the banking system," court records said.

Arant took customers' money -- promising to keep their identities private -- and pooled it in six accounts at Bank of America, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo Bank, IRS agent Susan Killingsworth said in court papers.

The $67 Million Pants: Washington, D.C., Lawyer Sues Dry Cleaners for Lost Trousers

A Washington, D.C., dry cleaners says its their business a long-time customer is taking to the cleaners. A $10 dry cleaning bill for a pair of lost trousers has ballooned into a $67 million civil lawsuit.

Plaintiff Roy Pearson -- himself a local judge in Washington D.C -- says in court papers that he's been through the ringer over a lost pair of prized pants he wanted to wear on his first day on the bench. He says in court papers that he has endured "mental suffering, inconvenience and discomfort.''

He says he was unable to wear that favorite suit of his first day of work.

10 Most Outragreous Frivolous Lawsuits

1. 1991, Richard Overton sued Anheuser-Busch for $10,000. He claimed to have suffered emotional distress, mental injury, and financial loss because drinking beer did not make his fantasies of beautiful women in tropical settings come to life, as he claimed it had advertised, driving him to buy and drink more Bud Light. The case was dismissed.

2. 1995, Robert Lee Brock sued himself for $5 million. He claimed that he had violated his own civil rights and religious beliefs by allowing himself to get drunk and commit crimes which landed him in the Indian Creek Correctional Center in Virginia, serving a 23 year sentence for grand larceny and breaking and entering. What could he possibly have to gain by suing himself? Since being in prison prevented him from having an income, he expected the state to pay. This case was thrown out.

Mathematicians Discover A Formula For Perfect Beer Foam

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A mathematical formula can now predict how the frothy head on a beer changes over time, a finding that may have a wide range of commercial uses beyond pulling the perfect pint, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.

The formula explains how the tiny bubbles that make up foam grow -- an explanation that could lead to the development of products such as metal shrink wrap.

World's Most Expensive Train ($20000 Per Person)

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Once considered the preserve of scruffy backpackers, hardy adventurers, and vodka swigging businessmen, a new train on Russia's Trans-Siberian route aims to lure wealthy tourists with luxury.

Robber Flushed Money Down The Toilet. Literally

CANTON, Ohio -- A sheriff said the evidence was exactly where a bank robbery suspect claimed it would be -- a toilet.

The suspect, who investigators believe took part in robbing the Bank of Magnolia on April 20, cut up stolen money stained red by an exploding dye pack and flushed it down a toilet at his parents' home, Stark County Sheriff Tim Swanson said.

Acting on a tip, sheriff's deputies arrested the suspect on Monday while he was playing cards at a bar. The suspect told deputies where they could find the money, Swanson said.

Deputies with a search warrant removed the toilet from its plumbing and found shredded U.S. currency in the toilet trap, Swanson said.

The suspect was being held on a charge of aggravated robbery, a county jail officer said. Bond was set at $50,000.