ODDLY ENOUGH

ODDLY ENOUGH

Women want more bathrooms at Grand Rapids hall

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.

Intermissions at a Grand Rapids theater have their own drama: Critics say there aren’t enough bathrooms for women.

The executive director of Broadway Grand Rapids says women are missing part of the second act at DeVos Performance Hall. Mike Lloyd says it’s become a “real bottleneck.”

Broadway Grand Rapids brings popular touring shows to the city. Lloyd says DeVos Hall should convert all men’s bathrooms to women-only and then build bathrooms for men in a cloak room.

Richard MacKeigan, general manager for the company that runs DeVos Hall, says there’s no quick, inexpensive fix. He says men’s bathrooms sometimes are posted for women only during shows that mostly attract women.

Memphis man’s restitution is reduced by 50 cents

MEMPHIS, Tenn.

A man convicted in a Memphis bank robbery has won a small-change victory from an appellate court.

In a ruling announced Thursday, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals left intact the conviction and the 52-month sentence of Calvin Rene Calhoun Jr.

Calhoun was charged in the robbery of a Regions Bank office in Memphis two years ago. Calhoun pleaded guilty and was sentenced.

While the appeals court upheld the federal district court, it did remand the case for two minor corrections. One reduces the restitution Calhoun must make by 50 cents, to $4,259. That’s the value of cash burned when a dye pack exploded as he fled the bank. The judge didn’t mention 50 cents orally at sentencing.

Russian judge fired after falling asleep in court

MOSCOW

A Russian judge has been fired after he caught 40 winks in court and then sentenced an outraged defendant to five years in prison.

Judge Yevgeny Makhno of Blagoveshchensk City Court in Russia’s Far East was forced to resign Friday for obviously falling asleep several times while trying a businessman on charges of fraud.

The case became a national scandal after the defendant’s lawyer posted several videos online of Makhno asleep in court. The videos were then shown on state television.

Makhno claimed that he was not sleeping, but listening with his eyes closed, reports said. But since a higher court decided not to punish him, Makhno only has to take an exam to be reinstated.

The defendant will be given a new trial.

Associated Press