Confiscated cold cuts

A pair of Oct. 27 confiscations along the Texas-Mexico border put agents with the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol on their way to a pretty good sandwich tray. Shortly after midnight, border agents confiscated 44 large rolls of Mexican bologna from a driver ­trying to cross into Texas at El Paso. The USDA prohibits travelers from bringing most meats across the border, and cheeses must be properly declared. According to agents, the bologna trafficker hid the 484 pounds of culinary contraband in his truck’s toolbox and under some blankets in the cab. Hours later at a nearby crossing, agents discovered a woman hiding 285 pounds of cheese in her SUV.

The $6 lawsuit

Two Californians are suing “Italy’s #1 Brand of Pasta” because, well, it’s not made in Italy. Matthew Sinatro and Jessica Prost spent a combined $6 on Barilla pasta products that bear the “Italy’s #1” slogan but were manufactured in Iowa and New York. The lawsuit claims the duo was duped by the company’s deceptive marketing and would have bought less expensive pasta had they known the angel hair and spaghetti were American-made. Barilla lawyers moved to dismiss the case, saying Sinatro and Prost’s $6 loss wasn’t enough to prove financial harm, but a judge rejected that request Oct. 17. —Elizabeth Russell

Nonstop flight

Preliminary evidence shows a young migratory bird has recently set a record for longest continuous flight. According to Australian bird ecologist Eric Woehler, a young bar-tailed godwit managed to fly at least 8,435 continuous miles over the Pacific Ocean while migrating from Alaska to the Australian island of Tasmania between Oct. 13 and 24. Before the 11-day journey, researchers tagged the 5-month-old bird with a GPS tracker and tiny solar panel to follow its movement.

Don’t “Dew” this at home

There had to be a better way to resolve this family dispute. A 64-year-old woman in Gastonia, N.C., drew the attention of authorities when she unloaded her revolver into her father’s cache of Diet Mountain Dew cans in her backyard. According to police, the woman said she shot the cans because she’d had enough of her father drinking the soft drink. Police issued the woman a citation for discharging a firearm within city limits and urged residents to resolve their domestic grievances without resorting to guns.

Struck silver

If only all flat tires could be so lucrative. A Canadian man driving into Kingston, Ontario, suffered a tire blowout Oct. 17 after hitting something in the road. Once he pulled over and inspected his tire, Tommy Sondy went searching for the road hazard that punctured his tire. That’s when Sondy found a 100-ounce silver bar lying in the roadway. “I couldn’t believe it did that to my tire,” Sondy told The Kingston Whig Standard. “I must have hit it at a weird angle.” Rather than pocket the precious metal, Sondy turned the bar in to police.

Tumbleweed trouble

Tumbling tumbleweeds have left one older Colorado couple stranded in their El Paso County home. Homeowner Marlies Gross said strong winds on Oct. 22 and 23 deposited enough tumbleweeds to make their driveway impassable. Worse still, the plant debris piled up around her home blocking most of the exits. “I opened the front door and it’s whole tumbleweeds,” she told KRDO. Gross and her husband weren’t alone. El Paso County officials said they’d received numerous requests to clear tumbleweed piles from blocked public roads, but noted property owners will have to deal with pileups on their own property.

A unique portrait

In a tribute to her helpful teenage son, a mom baked a meatloaf that looked just like him. Well, almost like him. Melissa Suriano of Mesick, Mich., said her 17-year-old son Collin deserved the entree because he’d been extra helpful around the house after she started a new job. He also helps look after his special-needs brother and recently organized the family’s basement. For the meatloaf ­portrait, Suriano used shredded cheese for hair, green olives for eyes, and diced onion for teeth. In an interview with Fox News, Collin described the baked homage as “weird, but it’s a good weird.”