MORNING PREP - MORNING PREP - MORNING PREP - MORNING PREP
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! KICKERS !
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SUPER BOWL-ART BET
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Even art museum directors are getting into the Super Bowl trash talk. Indianapolis museum director Maxwell L. Anderson and John Bullard, of the New Orleans Museum of Art, have been trading online barbs. Now, they've placed a bet on Sunday's game between the Colts and the Saints. A Colts victory would bring "Ideal View of Tivoli" by Claude Lorrain to the Indianapolis museum. If the Saints win, the Indianapolis museum will lend "The Fifth Plague of Egypt" by 19th-century landscape painter J.M.W. Turner to the New Orleans Museum of Art. The Super Bowl painting exchange will last for three months.
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VIRGINITY AUCTION
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A 19-year-old New Zealand student is auctioning her virginity online. "Unigirl" says she's received a top bid of $32,000. Prostitution is legal in New Zealand and police say Unigirl hasn't broken any laws. But officers warn she could be putting herself in danger. In an online posting, Unigirl says she had more 1,200 bids for her first sexual experience. The operator of the New Zealand auction Web site confirms Unigirl is a member. Her real name hasn't been released. Unigirl describes herself as attractive, fit and healthy. She says she'll use the money to pay her college tuition.
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FLAT TIRE BUST
HICKORY, N.C. (AP) — Calling the cops for help isn't the brightest idea -- after robbing a convenience store. Police in Hickory, N.C. say the two robbery suspects called police to help to change a flat tire. Hickory Police spokeswoman Libby Grigg says the men knew officers carried lug wrenches in their patrol cars. Authorities say the responding officer recognized the men from the convenience store surveillance videos. James Jennings and Mark Franklin are now charged with robbery with a dangerous weapon.
HOV MANNEQUIN
ISLANDIA, N.Y. (AP) — This passenger isn't much for chitchat. A sheriff's deputy on New York's Long Island pulled over woman who was driving in the HOV lane. The deputy was suspicious of the woman's passenger, which turned to be a real dummy. It was a mannequin, wearing sunglasses -- and that was the tipoff. It wasn't sunny. The woman got a $135 ticket.
NO ORDINARY MELON
WENATCHEE, Wash. (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 Center) 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.
MARIJUANA TAX
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The government should get its cut from pot sales. That's what a California lawmaker wants. Democratic state Sen. Ron Calderon is proposing that all marijuana growers and sellers be licensed in the state. He says that way cash-strapped Cali could collect sales tax on pot. While legal medical marijuana dispensaries are supposed to pay sales taxes, officials say many don't. The measure would also apply to illegal pot sales. The lawmaker estimates taxing pot could bring in $168 million.
by Jamie Friar
