Obnoxious peafowl

There’s a light at the end of the tunnel for Miami residents victimized by roving ostentations of peacocks. For 20 years, a Miami-Dade commission law made the peafowl throughout the county virtually untouchable. Since the county stepped in to protect the birds, the peacocks abused residents’ cars and set entire neighborhoods on edge under the cacophony of yearly mating seasons. But on Feb. 1, county commissioners voted to allow cities in Miami-Dade to make plans to remove the birds provided they do it humanely. The vote was a victory for Commissioner Raquel Regalado whose district includes parts of Coral Gables and Miami where the large birds roam freely. “They get very aggressive,” Regalado told the Miami Herald. “They lay their eggs, they build their nests, they peck the cars.”

Blue box bandits

After a series of brazen attacks on the mail, officials in Jefferson Parish, La., say the blue U.S. Postal Service mailboxes are no longer safe to use. According to a sheriff’s office spokesman, thieves have targeted the ubiquitous blue boxes to steal checks and money orders. In one recent arrest, deputies confiscated nearly $200,000-worth of checks and money orders from a suspect they say operated with a stolen key. With the possibility of several groups still operating theft rings, the sheriff’s office advised residents to walk their letters into the post office rather than use the blue collection boxes.

Chump change

A Dutch company putting the finishing touches on Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ new mega-yacht has run into a problem getting the 417-foot vessel out to sea. Officials in Rotterdam will need to deconstruct the city’s iconic Koningshaven Bridge, despite its 130-foot clearance, for the boat to reach open water. Bezos has pledged to pay for the extra work, adding to the roughly $500 million price tag. Shipbuilder Oceanco expects to turn the vessel over to Bezos this year.

Special delivery

After arresting a DoorDash driver with outstanding warrants on Jan. 25 in the middle of a food run, police in Sioux Falls, S.D., felt obliged to complete his order. After officers made the arrest, Officer Sam Clemens made certain to drive the Arby’s order to customer Anastasia Elsinger, apologizing for the delay. “This isn’t normal by any stretch,” he said. “It’s not like we have officers that are out delivering food but the little things like this, going above and beyond, helping people out.”

A real record-setter

David Rush had a big year in 2021. The Idaho man claimed 52 Guinness World Records during the year, averaging one new world record per week. In an interview with NPR, Rush said he strives to set records in order to inspire students to endeavor difficult things, especially related to science and technology. Between his gigs as a guest speaker and author, the serial world record setter has broken over 200 Guinness records in his life. Rush started 2021 by claiming the record for most wet bars of soap stacked before moving on to other feats like slicing kiwis with a samurai sword while standing on a Swiss exercise ball.

Dead letter

A letter delivered to Lithuanian Genovefa Klonovska in January felt old. It looked old too. And then there was the 1970 Polish postmark on the face of the letter. “I thought that someone was pranking me,” Klonovska told Reuters. Instead, the Lithuanian woman had finally received a letter a childhood pen pal had sent a half century before. According to officials at the post office in Vilnius, the letter was found with 17 others inside a wall as workers demolished the old post office building.

Apologetic burglar

A pair of New Mexico homeowners were shocked to find an armed burglar in their home after returning to the house in late January. According to a Santa Fe County Sheriff’s report, the homeowners said the man was armed with a scoped AR-15 and had slept, bathed, dined, and swilled a few beers before they arrived on the scene. But rather than create a confrontation, the couple said, the intruder began apologizing for the disturbance, offered them $200 to fix the window he broke, and told them he was on the run from someone. The couple told police nothing besides food and beer had been taken, and by the time authorities had arrived the man had disappeared.