OFFBEAT

Lyndsey Sherrod Bates is married to the chief deputy sheriff's son, but Lt. Donny Shaw, a Madison County sheriff’s office spokesman said that relationship didn't affect the investigative process.

A necropsy conducted on the dead cats showed starvation as possible cause of death, since no food was found in the cats' stomachs and intestinal tracts.

Colorado police are currently holding a woman in custody after she reportedly attempted to drive her car off of a cliff with her four children.

Angel Esteban Felix Rodriguez, 24, walked into a police precinct on Wednesday evening and confessed to murdering his 21-year-old girlfriend.

An unidentified man had to be rescued by approximately 25 firefighters after falling down an elevator shaft while on a motorized scooter in Canada.

The dog’s owner said he had no idea from where the dog got the Nintendo video game as he did not own one.

A 73-second video showed a snake catcher initially trying to pick up the giant reptile with his bare hands. However, he later used a snake hook to avoid getting bitten.

The toddler's father forgot to let her out of the car once they reached her kindergarten because he became busy playing a game on his mobile phone.

The husband got his relative's pet dog home and forced his wife to have sex with the canine three times in a span of two weeks.

During the trial, the man told the court that he decided to meet the girl only to check if she was real and was only passing the time by messaging her.

“This is not ok! A women left another women wounded and bleeding because her savage dog attacked her and she ran away like a coward!" a family friend of the elderly woman wrote on Facebook.

After killing the customer in 2005, the employee moved to South Australia and her identity remained a mystery for almost 11 years.

The man was angry that his neighbor had beaten his pet dog for defecating in front of the latter's house.

The woman was found dead in the bathtub "holding her mobile phone plugged into the socket" in one hand "and in the other, she had a bath plug."

Tyree Smith, the Florida man charged with killing a Connecticut homeless person using an ax and then eating portions of his victim's brain and eyeball, has pleaded not guilty to murder. The Connecticut Post reports that Smith also waived his right to a probable cause hearing by answering Judge Robert Devlin's questions with simple yesses and nos.

The Fluffington Post and reporter Michael Nunez are deeply involved in a scandal involving cats. Here's the breakdown.

A new internet meme has emerged: breading cats. To execute the meme, take a super cute cat, put its head through a piece of bread and enjoy. The Fluffington Post, world leader in fluffy animal news, failed to report on the trend, instead opting for coverage dogs wearing goggles.

An Oregon judge has ordered David Allen Canterbury, a would-be Jedi, to 45-days in prison for assault and a mental health evaluation after he attacked toy store customers with a pair of light sabers.

It is the opinion of the English Wikipedia community that both of these bills, if passed, would be devastating to the free and open web.

Today is a huge shopping day, as you can tell by the throngs at Walmarts, Sam's, Costco, Macy's, Target and the like. Even considering that the Mayans say the world is supposed to end on Dec. 21, 2012, I still need the perfect day-planner.

Today is a huge shopping day, as you can tell by the throngs at Walmarts, Sam's, Costco, Macy's, Target and the like. Even considering that the Mayans say the world is supposed to end on Dec. 21, 2012, I still need the perfect day-planner.

The great Norwegian butter shortage got me to thinking that shortages of 2012 might be just the ticket to send my faithful readers off to a rockin' New Year's Eve celebration. For sure, Lady Gaga will make it seem alright, though.

The great Norwegian butter shortage got me to thinking that shortages of 2012 might be just the ticket to send my faithful readers off to a rockin' New Year's Eve celebration. For sure, Lady Gaga will make it seem alright, though.

A middle-aged man, who fell onto the subway tracks at Lincoln Center and was hit by a train, is alive at Cornell hospital.

Car thefts occur about every 33 seconds in the United States. A victim and expert discusses the emotional effects of losing a personal vehicle.

Santa is done. Surrounded by elves, the exhausted portly one spoke of his first round-the-world trip in his new high-tech sleigh.

Santa's high-tech sleigh developed significant problems, according to the Claus, when interviewed at the Killarney Rose, in the Wall Street area late tonight. NORAD is covering for him, pretending he's on track, while the elves frantically try to reboot the new system.

NORAD, the folks that keep the upper atmosphere safe by tracking everything that is up there so we can shoot down the bad guys, is tracking Santa this year, and you can follow him on his cheerful rounds here. Santa will also be able to tell who has been naughty and who has been nice thanks facial-recognition software tied to the information in the cloud. Ho...Ho...Ho.

It often seems these days that in all walks of life, whether in politics, business, sports, arts, and, yes, journalism, character too often gives way to popularity, to fame, to money, or to power. Character is an individual thing.