Special guard duty

Colorado rancher Don Gittleson has tried electric fences to protect his cattle. He’s tried keeping watch into the early hours of the morning. Now he’s ready to try guard donkeys. The cattle rancher said he’s had to get creative to protect his Jackson County, Colo., herd from wolves. “What we want to create in the minds of the wolves is a possibility that if you come into the cows, you could be killed or you could be injured,” Gittleson said. And since federal law prevents ranchers from shooting gray wolves, he thinks guard donkeys might be the answer. Gittleson said he learned the trick from other cattle ranchers who had success using fearless donkeys to fend off wolf attacks—a growing concern as Colorado introduces the endangered gray wolf into northern ranching regions.

Pass it on

For just $1,500 National Park lovers can get an annual pass to Yellowstone National Park. The catch: The so-called inheritance pass can’t be used until the year 2172. A charitable group that fundraises to support the park devised the scheme to celebrate the park’s 150th anniversary. According to the group, Yellowstone Forever, park lovers can buy the $1,500 pass this year and hand it down to ancestors to use in 2172. Currently, annual passes to Yellowstone run $70, making the future $1,500 pass a bargain at historical rates of inflation. Yellowstone Forever officials say the proceeds from the sale of the inheritance pass will be spent on park improvements.

Airport Karen

Noise complaints to the Dublin Airport Authority grew by more than 100 percent in 2021. But an airport official told Ireland’s Independent newspaper that almost all of the complaints came from one individual. According to airport officials, more than 90 percent of noise complaints came from one person who lodged an average of 34 noise complaints every day. The prolific complainer increased his complaints from 6,227 in 2020 to 12,272 complaints in 2021.

Kindergarten happy hour

According to school officials at Grand River Academy, a Livonia, Mich., charter school, a handful of young students accidentally had margaritas at snack time in April. One student brought a bottle of Jose Cuervo ready-to-drink margaritas and started passing out Dixie cups with the tequila beverage to classmates. Dominique Zanders told Detroit’s Fox 2 that her daughter had several sips before the alcohol was discovered. “She felt woozy, a little dizzy.” School officials alerted parents about the incident and apologized.

Braiding now legal

Idaho residents will no longer be risking their freedom by braiding hair after Gem State Gov. Brad Little signed a bill into law in April exempting African hair braiders from state licensure. Previously, braiding hair in Idaho without a cosmetology license could earn stylists a misdemeanor charge with fines up to $1,000 per offense. According to the Institute for Justice, earning an Idaho cosmetology license requires at least 1,600 hours of classes and training and costs more than $16,000 and African hair braiding isn’t even part of the required curriculum. Faced with a lawsuit from the public interest law firm, Idaho legislators drafted and passed the bill exempting African hair braiders from the state’s license regime in just over two weeks.

Concealed weapon

Transportation Safety Administration officials detained a man in Logan International Airport in Boston April 5 after attempting to pass through security with a cane sword. According to a TSA spokesman, the passenger said he had no idea his cane concealed a sword, surrendered the object, and continued his travels. TSA officials say they frequently see concealed blades at airport security. On April 7, agents found a dagger concealed in a hairbrush in the luggage of a passenger at Ithaca Tompkins Regional Airport in New York.

A whopper of a Whopper

Four Florida Burger King customers say the only Whoppers found at the fast food restaurant are the lies told about the chain’s burgers. The four customers filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida March 28 alleging the company employed false advertising to make their Whopper sandwiches appear bigger than they really were. According to the complaint, the famous menu item appears 35 percent larger in advertising than in real life. It’s not the first time Burger King has been accused of sandwich inflation. In 2010, the United Kingdom’s government dinged the chain for advertising a chicken sandwich that appeared much larger in ­television ads than in reality.