ODDLY ENOUGH

ODDLY ENOUGH

Unusual ‘Beauty and the Beast’ phone case goes viral

SALT LAKE CITY

Disney-loving Mormons are buzzing over a phone case made by an Australian company that features the characters from “Beauty and the Beast” in front of the Mormon temple, which the Hong Kong designer thought was a castle.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports Katie Hoyos, a mother of four boys, is a megafan of the 1991 animated classic and a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She posted a photo of the case on Facebook. The post has since been shared thousands of times on the social media site and made the rounds on Reddit.

Hoyos says she’s a bit baffled by the attention and says she never intended for her or the image to go viral.

Pinky Beauty Australia, which manufactured the case, says it has sold out since Hoyos’ post.

Family sickened from eating meal of wild ‘vomiter’ mushrooms

ANNANDALE, Va.

Members of a family in northern Virginia fell ill and needed hospital attention after eating a meal containing wild mushrooms picked near their apartment complex.

The Washington Post reported Aug. 22 that they experienced vomiting and stomach pains a few hours after eating the mushrooms.

Fairfax County Fire officials say poison control and crews from the fire department scoured around the Annandale apartment complex, finding mushrooms in a courtyard in a bid to identify them. For confirmation, they sent pictures of the mushrooms to family members as they were being treated at a hospital.

The mushrooms are known as “Chlorophyllum molybdites” or green spored Lepiota – also called the “vomiter.”

Officials say the mushrooms are a severe gastrointestinal irritant when eaten, but do not cause liver failure or death.

Troopers cite 10 sports car drivers for going too slow

HAMDEN, Conn.

State police in Connecticut usually pull over cars for driving too fast.

But on Aug. 19, troopers stopped and ticketed 10 cars for going too slow.

Police received several calls from angry motorists about what were described as high-performance, racing-type cars slowing traffic to a crawl on the Wilbur Cross Parkway in New Haven and Hamden.

Police say the lead car was filming the other cars, which were blocking both lanes of the highway so no other vehicles could pass.

All 10 vehicles were pulled over and the drivers were issued infractions.

Drivers who had been stuck in the backup thanked troopers verbally and by honking their horns.

Associated Press