Open Thread

From Florida’s Lake City Reporter: A Lake City man was arrested Sunday afternoon for a window sticker that a deputy alleged violates a state obscenity law. Dillon Shane Webb, 23, of Southeast Dan Court, faces charges of possession of obscene material, a first-degree misdemeanor, and resisting arrest, also a first-degree misdemeanor, after he refused to remove a sticker on his …

The Associated Press reports: Sheriff’s officials say a Florida woman pulled a small alligator from her yoga pants during a traffic stop. The Charlotte County sheriff’s deputy stopped a pickup truck Monday afternoon after it ran a stop sign and 22-year-old driver Michael Clemons told him he and his 25-year-old passenger Ariel Machan-Le Quire were collecting frogs and snakes under …

Jacksonville’s ABC News affiliate reports: A Florida man accidentally shot himself while grocery shopping at a Publix in Pasco County over the weekend, authorities said. The incident happened sometime Sunday afternoon at the Publix near Collier Parkway and State Road 54 in Land O’ Lakes, according to the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office. In a tweet, the Sheriff’s Office said the …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Singer/actress Diana Ross said she was “violated” by an aggressive pat-down from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the airport security checkers who screen passengers for contraband. Ross, who was in New Orleans to perform Saturday night at the annual Jazz & Heritage Festival, complained on Twitter about her treatment at the airport. She said the city treated …

Deadline Hollywood reports: Disney/Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame has moved up the offshore chart again, overtaking Avengers: Infinity War as the No. 3 highest grossing movie ever at the international box office. Friday’s overseas take was $88.2M, lifting the running cume to $1.4B. With the domestic Friday included, Endgame has a global total of $1,914.5M as it hammers its way to crossing …

High Times reports: Another Florida man is under arrest after being too welcoming and inviting toward the police. Bunnell, Florida resident Arthur Carracino just really wanted a pair of Flagler County Sheriff’s deputies to check out his home-grown cannabis plant and smoke a bowl with him. Almost reluctantly, officers ended up arresting Carracino for growing cannabis, which is against the …

NBC News reports: A Florida man wearing a blue bonnet and a long dress with flowers on it is accused of stealing $450 worth of baby formula from a Cape Coral Publix. A witness told police she saw a man in his 50s wearing a bonnet, a dress, a black jacket and white sneakers ride around a Publix on Santa …

Orlando’s ABC affiliate reports: A Florida man involved in a shootout with police is asking for all his charges to be dismissed. Neighbors called police after a disturbance between Laforrest Gray and his wife, but he said it was all part of their sexual role-playing. “I am an artist, not a criminal,” Gray wrote in a letter to a judge. …

Jacksonville’s ABC affiliate reports: A Florida man thrown out of a Tampa-area library for being drunk was arrested after telling police his name was Jason Bourne, authorities said. Jonathan William Chapman, 45, was under the influence of alcohol and refused to leave the library despite multiple requests from library staff that he go, according to the report. When police arrived, …

Tampa’s ABC affiliate reports: Deputies in Charlotte County are looking for the Florida man who broke into the business office of Custom Pools by Precision on Tamiami Trail in Port Charlotte on Saturday, April 27. Once inside, the man made himself at home, using the computer to surf the web and helping himself to a drink out of the fridge. …

Billboard Magazine reports: Taylor Swift toppled multiple YouTube records with the debut of her new music video for “ME!” featuring Panic! at the Disco’s Brendon Urie. According to a release from YouTube sent on Saturday (April 27), Swift’s “ME!” video clocked in a record-breaking 65.2 million views within the first 24 hours of its release on April 26. YouTube confirms …

CBS News reports: The Australian government wants to kill two million feral cats by next year — and it wants to do it by airdropping poisonous sausages. There are currently an estimated 2 to 6 million free-roaming cats across the country, and officials say they are threatening native wildlife populations. According to the Australian government, the goal is to “reduce …

Orlando’s NBC affiliate reports: An apparently hallucinating Florida man used a bedpost to attack a mattress where he thought a man was hiding.  His girlfriend told deputies Oquendo thought she was cheating on him with a man he thought he saw in the mattress at their Fort Walton Beach home. She said Oquendo hit the mattress with a bed post, …

Deadline reports: It is a small moment but a milestone nonetheless in such a global appeal blockbuster. Avengers: Endgame introduces the first openly gay character to ever appear in a Disney/Marvel movie. That character isn’t a superhero, and he is played in an early scene by Joe Russo, who co-directed with brother Anthony Russo. The character is an average guy …

Slate reports: A flock of cassowaries — birds the size of human beings with talons like a velociraptor’s – will be available via auction in Florida this Saturday. These birds need a new home because one of them killed their owner when he fell between their cages on April 12. Reporting on the impending murder bird sale for the New …

New from our pal Matt Baume: Remember the time RuPaul went over to LL Cool J’s house to teach him about drag? Strange as it sounds, this was an actual episode of primetime TV that aired in the mid-90s, at a time when many people dismissed drag as a punchline. The episode helped break down outdated rules about who’s supposed …

USA Today reports: A Florida man was arrested for allegedly impersonating a police officer after he tried to pull over a driver who was a real detective. According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, Matthew Joseph Erris, 26, activated red and blue lights on the grill of his 2007 SUV on April 17 to pull over a vehicle. Erris didn’t …

The BBC reports: Swiss scientists say there is a higher amount of bacteria lurking in beard bristles than in the fur of your dog. Researchers from the Hirslanden Clinic in Switzerland took swabs from the facial fuzz of 18 men and the necks of 30 dogs, across a range of breeds – that’s the dogs, not the men, by the …

Playbill reports: In celebration of the one-year anniversary of Lincoln Center Theater’s My Fair Lady on Broadway, NBC Nightly News gave viewers a brand new view: a 360-degree look at a live performance. In the video, viewers can navigate around the stage during the Act 2 opener “Embassy Waltz.” The number features choreography by Christopher Gattelli in the production directed …

The Tampa Bay Times reports: Wearing a baseball cap, gloves and, it seems, nothing else, a Florida man burglarized a Little League concession stand in Dunedin earlier this month. The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office is now asking for help in identifying the man, who Greater Dunedin Little League president Susan Semitecolos said caused about $5,000 in damages. According to the …