The world's tallest sunflower blooms in an Indiana backyard as a tribute to Ukraine
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) — When Alex Babich looks up at the 35-foot sunflower towering over his Fort Wayne, Indiana, backyard, he sees more than just a plant. He sees a tribute to his roots. Nicknamed “Clover,” the sunflower was recently confirmed by Guinness World Records as the tallest ever recorded. Babich immigrated to the U.S. from Ukraine at 14 following the Chernobyl disaster. He began growing sunflowers seven years ago as a symbol of love for his homeland. As Ukraine's national flower, the sunflower is a reminder of where Babich came from and a legacy he hopes to leave behind.
Meth burn by FBI smokes out Montana animal shelter
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Workers at a Montana animal shelter were evacuated and sent to the hospital after smoke from two pounds of methamphetamine incinerated by FBI agents started to fill the building. City of Billings Assistant Administrator Kevin Iffland said the incinerator is primarily used to burn the carcasses of animals euthanized by animal control officers. But every couple of months law enforcement officers use it to burn seized narcotics. Iffland says fourteen workers from the Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter went to the hospital as a precaution following Wednesday's smoke incident that happened when the exhaust system didn't work as usual. He says some of the shelter workers reported feeling unwell.
John Daly makes a 19 to set wrong kind of PGA Tour Champions record
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — John Daly is in the PGA Tour Champions record book for the highest score on a hole. He made a 19 in the first round of the Sanford International. Daly hit seven straight balls into a hazard at the par-5 12 hole of Minnehaha Country Club. The previous record for a single hole was 16. Daly even broke his own record. It was in 1998 at Bay Hill when he hit six consecutive shots into the water on the sixth hole and made 18. On Friday, the 59-year-old Daly wound up with an 88. His high score on the PGA Tour was a 90.
Humpty Dumpty caper at New Jersey mini-golf course sparks police investigation
CAPE MAY, N.J. (AP) — Humpty Dumpty took a big fall, and now police are hoping to crack the case. A colorful statue of the nursery rhyme icon was forcibly removed from a structure at a miniature golf course in Cape May, New Jersey, on Sunday and dumped down the street. Police say they’re looking for two men who are seen on video stopping at Ocean Putt Golf at around 4 a.m. Video shows one of them grabbing and rocking the statue back and forth and pulling it off its foundation before walking off with it. Police are asking for the public's help in identifying the two men.
How to use 8 arms? Octopuses tend to explore with their front limbs
WASHINGTON (AP) — Scientists have discovered that octopuses don't have a dominant arm, but they more often use their front arms for tasks. A study published Thursday in Scientific Reports analyzed videos of octopus movements in the wild. The three species of octopuses studied use their front arms about 60% of the time. The back arms are more often used for movement. The study is the first large analysis of octopus limb actions in the wild. Octopus limbs are complex, with each arm containing 100 to 200 sensory suckers, acting like a human's nose, lips, and tongue.
The adventures of Emil the moose keep a corner of Austria on its toes
VIENNA (AP) — For weeks, sightings of a rare immigrant have been keeping a corner of Austria on its toes. A moose that has come to be known as Emil appeared nearly three weeks ago in Lower Austria, a province in the country’s northeast that surrounds Vienna, and it doesn’t seem to be in any hurry to leave. It’s been an eventful few days for Emil. The moose showed up late last week in a suburb of the provincial capital, St. Pölten. On Saturday evening, he found his way onto the tracks at its main railway station — prompting a several-hour closure of the Vienna-Salzburg main line, which passes through the city.
59-0. 49-0. 48-0. Those were some halftime scores across college football on a romp-filled Saturday
Week 2 in college football had some seriously one-sided scores. There were eight games decided by at least 60 points, the most on a single day in the AP poll era that dates back to 1936. These were halftime scores from Saturday afternoon: Minnesota led Northwestern State 59-0, Florida State led East Texas A&M 49-0 and Texas Tech led Kent State 48-0. According to Stats LLC, that made Saturday the first day since Sept. 10, 2016, that three major college football teams had leads of 48 or more points by halftime on the same day. And the routs kept coming.
Venice Film Festival, by the numbers: From standing ovations to Campari spritzes
VENICE, Italy (AP) — From a record-breaking standing ovation to the ever-present Campari spritzes to even on-screen subtitles, the 2025 Venice Film Festival was a bounty of interesting numbers. After 10 days and dozens of red-carpet premieres, the 82nd edition came to a close Sunday. While cinema is focused on the qualitative, a quantitative look can tell a story of its own. There are, after all, plenty of fascinating figures beyond the celebrity kind to be found on the Lido. From 1,936 feature films submitted, only 21 films made the cut for the main competition. The shortest of those was 90 minutes and the longest, 156.
Ned is a perfectly nice snail, but a rare shell means a doomed love life
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — If you have trouble finding dates, spare a thought for Ned, a perfectly nice snail with dire romantic prospects. Only 1 in 40,000 common garden snails have shells that coil to the left like Ned’s, instead of the right. Their shells have to match to mate, which means Ned faces a life of celibacy unless another left-coiled snail is found. A New Zealand woman discovered Ned in her garden in August and began a campaign to find a match, but hasn't found one so far. New Zealand’s strict biosecurity controls rule out long-distance love, though a successful campaign for a British lefty snail a few years ago gives hope for Ned's quest.
'Legend dairy' man carries ice cream and dry ice up Colorado peak as treat for other hikers
DENVER (AP) — Hikers who climbed one of Colorado's tallest mountains got more than a sweeping view at the top. A man in an ice cream costume was handing out frozen treats. No one seemed to know the man who carried the ice cream sandwiches and bars and dry ice up Huron Peak over the Labor Day weekend. But word of him spread quickly to hikers still making their way up the more than 14,000-foot peak. Photos on social media show hikers with broad smiles posing with the man, who was sitting in a camping chair and wearing sunglasses with a fake mustache. Some called him a hero. One called him “legend dairy.”
