oddly enough

oddly enough

Detergent thefts baffle authorities in Colorado

DENVER

Authorities are hoping suspects come clean after a rash of thefts of laundry detergent and expensive face lotion across Colorado.

KCNC-TV reported Wednesday that supermarkets are installing more surveillance cameras to combat the rising tide of thefts. They also are hiring undercover agents.

Authorities believe thieves are targeting those products because of high prices.

Police have surveillance video of a suspect in Fort Lupton getting away with more than $8,000 of detergent from six different stores.

Detergent thefts also have been reported in other parts of the country. Tide in particular has been used as currency for drugs. Experts say it is well-suited for resale on the black market.

$600 lost at courthouse was claimed by wrong man

PITTSBURGH

Deputy sheriffs say $600 lost by a man who went to a western Pennsylvania courthouse to pay child support has been “found” — illegally — by the wrong man.

Allegheny County sheriff’s Lt. Jack Kearney says a man forgot the envelope containing the money when he emptied his pockets to go through a metal detector at the courthouse in Pittsburgh on Friday.

About 90 minutes later, another man approached a deputy manning the detector and claimed to have forgotten the money.

Only trouble is, the man to whom the money really belonged returned later to claim it, only to learn that it already was claimed by the other man.

Deputies are reviewing court logs and surveillance video to determine who illegally claimed the money.

That person could be charged with theft.

Weather service notes nuke-effect snow in W. Pa.

SHIPPINGPORT, Pa.

You could even say it glows?

Well, not quite, but the National Weather Service says a nuclear-power plant was partly responsible for a narrow band of snow that fell on parts of western Pennsylvania on Tuesday night.

Meteorologist Lee Hendricks says steam pumped into the air from two cooling towers at the Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Station and three similar towers at the coal-fired Bruce Mansfield Station next to it created the snow. That happened because the steam was released into very cold, dry air above the power plants, both owned by Akron-based FirstEnergy. Hendricks says the plant-fueled snow is similar to lake-effect snow.

Areas due east of the power plants — which are about 30 miles northwest of Pittsburgh — reported 1 to 3 inches of snow.

Associated Press