You've Got To Be Kidding — That's Outrageous!

Don’t Let Them Eat Cake

Arnold Abbott, 91, and two pastors face up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine after being arrested for trying to feed the homeless, in violation of a new Fort Lauderdale, Fla., ordinance that aims to strictly control outdoor food distribution. A county judge ordered the city to temporarily stop enforcing the law and all parties to mediate the arrests.

There’s (Really) No Place Like Home

Diane Andryshak returned from running errands to find that her husband, James Rhein, had knocked down their house in Middletown, N.Y., without a permit — and without her consent. The house was under renovation, and Rhein claimed it was beyond repair. Police charged him with criminal mischief.

Must Be a Mets Fan

Andrew Rector, a 26-year-old Bronx resident, sued ESPN for $10 million after it zeroed in on him sleeping during a national telecast at Yankee Stadium, alleging, among other things, “mental anguish, loss of future income and loss of earning capacity.” ESPN announcer Dan Shulman had referred to Rector as “oblivious.”

You’re Saying That Was Wrong?

Wade H. McCree, a Michigan circuit court judge who was having an affair with a woman while overseeing her child custody case, is immune from a civil lawsuit filed by the child’s father, a federal appeals court ruled. Still, the state Supreme Court removed McCree from the bench.

There Oughta Not Be a Law

Matt Molinari and Eric Schnepf, both 18, were hoping to make some cash by shoveling snow in Bound Brook, N.J., but police stopped them for soliciting without a license.

If Only Flu Season Could Be Predicted

Suffering flu symptoms on Christmas Eve, Jim Burton of Clarke County, Va., found a doctor who would see him — but not the Tamiflu he prescribed. Just when we needed the most-prescribed flu medicine, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists placed Tamiflu on its shortage list.

Putting the ‘Beat’ in Police Beat

After stopping 76-year-old Pete Vasquez over a misunderstanding about his car inspection sticker, Nathanial Robinson, 23, of the Victoria, Texas, police department threw the older man against the hood of his cruiser, tackled him to the ground and used his Taser on him — twice. Robinson was fired.

Bureaucracy Never Buckles

More than 25 years after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began reviewing its longtime opposition to mandatory seat belts on school buses, two elementary school students and a teacher’s aide died when two buses collided in Knox County, Tenn. Two months later, the NHTSA doubled down on its review.

It Only Hurts When I Work

Weeks after filing a lawsuit in which he claimed to have sustained “serious, permanent and debilitating injuries” from a car accident, Glenn Taylor of Highland, Utah, was filmed pushing over a 2,000-pound boulder in Goblin Valley State Park. The video rapidly went viral after the Salt Lake Tribune posted it on YouTube.

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Are You Going to Eat That?

Starting July 1, residents of Seattle will be fined if they throw food in their garbage. Since Jan. 1, city sanitation workers have merely been slapping red tags on the garbage cans of violators. The objective is to encourage residents to compost and to achieve the goal of recycling and composting 60 percent of waste by year’s end.

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