"crime" news and stories

How much is a black truffle worth? At $30 an ounce, a slim shaving can make decadent a dish as simple as scrambled eggs or plain old linguine. Right about now, a kilo of the fungi that looks like coal could soon land a muck-digger a cold 800 Euros at France's biggest market, Richerenches -- that's more than $1,000, twice what it was worth a decade ago. But word is that stocks are low and prices are inching ever higher. And to one Frenchman, a good truffle is worth a life.

Just before Christmas, farmer Laurent Rambaud was charged with shooting down a would-be truffle thief. "Black diamond" bandits are so often expected that one hunter sleeps with a rifle across his legs and another considered implanting GPS chips into his stock, reports the Global Post. The paper notes that climate affects truffle accessibility (ideal conditions call for light summer rains), as does construction, which "paves over rare hunting grounds." And "few young people take the time to learn the skills of unearthing truffles."

The trick is getting a good pig or canine to sniff out the goods from underneath oak trees as they mature from November to March, but it can take time to properly train your sniffers and longer to find the right oaks. And so goes high-class pick-pocketing. But, ye have been warned.

This week's Philadelphia Weekly, one of the city's two alt-weekly papers, features a fascinating story about a chef who decided to take a job in a juvenile day treatment facility, teaching kids to cook.

The author, a teacher who hailed from RI's Johnson and Wales Culinary Academy, isn't exactly a wuss (he had a rough childhood, barely making it out of high school, and as a line cook, once was the victim of a stabbing), but his challenges are immediate and immense.

The kids were the products of all sorts of difficult upbringings, and often brought their fears, anger, and frustration into the cooking classroom. Several admit to drug use (the author cites a study: "between 2002 and 2004, at least one in every six full-time food service workers used illicit drugs in the month prior to the survey, while 12.1 percent of restaurant industry workers had used alcohol heavily.") And upon the presentation of a hummus platter with pita and roasted red peppers, one boy yelled, "That's rich people food, and I ain't eatin' it!"

The story is definitely worth a read - it's a testament of the combined power of dedication, determination, and the joys of cooking and food.

Remember when students took apples to their teachers?

Yeah, me neither.

Whatever that whole thing was about, there's a new way for students to bribe their way to an A -- cookies, and not just a nice batch of chocolate chip cookies, but cookies laced with marijuana.

Apparently, a high school senior in Wilmington, North Carolina baked cookies made from dough that had been mixed with marijuana. The student's Spanish teacher ate one of the cookies, and claims to have hallucinated, experienced an increased heart rate, and higher blood pressure. The teacher might have been mistaken except that the student actually referred to the cookies as "weed cookies."

The student has been expelled from school.

So much for bribing the teacher for grades.

Source

It may not sound like a big deal -- people stealing a pizza here and there every day -- but this was an armed robbery by an 11-year-old boy.

An order was placed via cell phone, and when the delivery person arrived, the boy took the entire order. When the driver protested, the boy pulled out a handgun then took off with the $35 takeout dinner of pizzas, Buffalo wings and cheesy bread.

Seems a waste that he's made himself a felon for only $35, but then again, he also tried to take off with the $250 bag that keeps the orders warm.

Source

First blueberries, now this?

Apparently, taste-testing one or two grapes in the produce section before you buy them is fine. More than that, though, and it's considered stealing.

When Tameca Griffin was asked by a female police officer to stop snacking on grapes that she had not yet paid for in a St. Paul, MN Rainbow Foods store, she lashed out, chest-butted the officer, and screamed. According to reports, Griffin also punched the officer in the face, pulled out some hair, and possibly caused a concussion.

Griffin is charged with fourth degree assault.

So maybe it wasn't just because she was eating the grapes, though a police spokesperson doesn't know how many grapes Griffin had actually eaten.