Couch surfing

GRAND JUNCTION, Colorado (AP) — Crane Sorensen is a surfer, but he’s not riding the waves. He’s a couch surfer, seeing the world while crashing on the couches of strangers.

The 26-year-old Grand Junction man is a member of Couchsurfing.com. It’s a social networking site that connects travellers with people willing to host them for free. He says on a recent trip to Russia he rang in the New Year drinking vodka with his hosts and setting off fireworks.

Sorensen tells The Daily Sentinel he’s provided shelter for everyone from an indie band making their first American tour to students from Colorado State University.

Take a pee

GRAND JUNCTION, Colorado (AP) — Pee in a cup and bribe the tester. A Colorado parolee is charged with doing just that.

Authorities say Chad M Thomas tried to pay a state worker so he wouldn’t flunk a urine test for smoking pot. Prosecutors say Thomas offered the state worker 300 bucks to allow him to use a so-called “Whizzinator”. It’s a device to cheat on drug tests by using someone else’s urine.

Authorities say Thomas also claims to have a medical marijuana card. He now faces felony bribery charges.

Beak fix

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska dentist has given a bald eagle a unique beak — using a temporary crown, sticky poster putty and yellow highlighter.

The bird was found in December with severe damage to its beak, apparently from fishing line that wrapped around it and started cutting into it.

Cindy Palmatier at the Bird Treatment and Learning Centre says staff there decided to turn to dentist Kirk Johnson, who thought of patching up the beak with the same material used to make temporary crowns for people, according to KTUU-TV.

The “crown” is being held on with poster putty, and Johnson coloured it in using highlighter to give it a yellow tint.

The bird centre says the eagle is doing just fine but won’t be able to return to the wild.

Nowhere to run

RIVERTON, Wyoming (AP) — Police say a man suspected of stealing a bottle of Schnapps from a Wyoming grocery store didn’t have the best escape route planned.

Riverton police say the 26-year-old ran out of the store after grabbing the bottle of liquor and a package of cough drops Wednesday and hid in a nearby building, which happened to be the police station.

Police say the man then ran out of the police station, but not before a dispatcher had spied him on the station’s surveillance camera and alerted officers.

The man, who police say was drunk, was caught soon after. He was taken into custody on preliminary charges of resisting arrest and shoplifting.

Emergency?

SYRACUSE, New York (AP) — Call a cab for a ride? No, call an ambulance.

Ambulance company officials say there’s a growing problem of ambulance abuse. One man in suburban Syracuse called for an ambulance 140 times last year — and he wasn’t even sick.

American Ambulance Association President James Finger says the problem exists throughout the country. Sometimes people are just looking for a little company. Other times they need a ride. Some states require that ambulance crews transport anyone to a hospital, even if he or she looks like they don’t need medical attention.

Stuffed melon

WENATCHEE, Washington (AP) — There was something rotten about the cantaloupe. Guards at a county jail in Washington state took a close look at a donated melon. Stuffed inside, jail officers found tobacco and a baggie full of oxycodone pills.

Jail Administrator Phil Stanley says there was a noticeable cut around the top of the ‘lope. The jail (Chelan County Regional Justice Centre) routinely receives surplus food from local grocery stores. Authorities say security video from one of the stores shows two young women dropping off the doped-up cantaloupe.