The head of U.S. Navy intelligence has for more than two years been prohibited from accessing classified information (as the Pentagon disclosed to the Washington Post in January). Vice Admiral Ted Branch came under investigation in 2013 in a corruption scandal involving a foreign defense contractor and various Navy personnel and might have been suspended from all duties — except that, given the political gridlock in Washington, no consensus candidate has emerged. No charges have been filed against Branch, but before he enters any room at the Pentagon, classified material must be stowed away.

New world order

After notable successes in the United States, Latin America claimed in December its first transgender pregnancy after Ecuadorean Fernando Machado announced he was expecting a child with his partner Diane Rodriguez. Fernando used to be "Maria"; Diane used to be "Luis"; and though both undergo hormone therapy, they have retained their birth organs.

A real gamble

Overexcited police departments occasionally feel the need to safeguard towns by zealous enforcement of anti-gambling laws. In November, police in Altamonte Springs, Fla., raided the Escondido Community Clubhouse, formally shutting down the retirement village's games of bingo, bunco, penny poker and — most controversially — the weekly sessions of the culturally venerated mahjong. Although none of the games is illegal under state law, advertising for-money games is, and the notices in the Heritage Florida Jewish News were such attention-getters that the pots for the games often grew to exceed the $10 legal maximum. (Given mahjong's sociological significance, news of the bust was even reported in Jerusalem's Times of Israel.)

It pays to behave

On the heels of a similar program in Richmond, Calif., Washington, D.C.'s D.C. Council authorized funding in January to pay stipends to notorious criminals if they stop committing crimes. Police would identify up to 50 residents likely to violently offend again in 2016 and offer them periodic cash payments plus special training and educational benefits — as long as they stay out of trouble. Officials in Richmond (once overwhelmed by gun deaths) say their program, commenced almost 10 years ago, has produced a 76 percent drop in gun-related crime.

Fast food, not fast thinking

About a decade ago, several fast-food restaurants were plagued by a prank phone caller, posing as law enforcement requesting investigative help, asking managers to strip-search employees for "contraband" and to describe the searches in real time to the caller. (A suspect was arrested, and the calls stopped.) Managerial judgment was also on display at a Morro Bay, Calif., Burger King in January when a prank caller somehow convinced BK employees to begin shattering the store's windows because of a purported "gas leak." Several windows were smashed in, and an investigation of the call is ongoing.

Well, that's awkward

In January, Israeli television journalist Eitam Lachover became the latest to be injured in a high-profile test of a "protective" vest when he volunteered to be stabbed on camera for a news segment. Vest company officials' faces turned quickly sour as the blade penetrated the vest (though the wound was described as "light").

Age-old prank fails

Will Lombardi, 19, was charged with arson in Northampton, Mass., in January after he acknowledged that "probably" he was the one who left a flaming box of excrement on the front porch of the family with whose daughter he was feuding. The fire was supposed to alarm the victim, who would try to stomp it out, thus spreading the feces and soiling the stomper's shoes. In this case, however, the fire had spread a bit. (Bonus: Lombardi used a box with his name and address still readable.)

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