BRAZIL-SHORT DRESS
SAO PAULO (AP) - A mini-dress has gotten a Brazilian university student kicked out of school. The university (Bandeirante University) says 20-year-old Geisy Arruda disrespected "academic dignity and morality." She was heckled by hundreds of fellow students for wearing a short, pink dress to class last month. Arruda was escorted off of campus by police, after putting on a professor's white coat. In newspaper ads defending their actions, university officials accuse the young woman of posing for pictures and provoking students.

TOPLESS COFFEE SHOP
VASSALBORO, Maine (AP) - Topless in a trailer. That's the new enterprise Maine businessman Donald Crabtree has in mind. His topless coffee shop burned down in an arson fire in June. Now, he wants to reopen in an office trailer. The topless java joint upset many people in the small town of Vassalboro. Crabtree tells a local paper (Kennebec Journal) he'll go before the planning board tomorrow to seek a new business permit. He says his topless trailer would be a way to save money until he can move into a newer building.

WEBCAM-ANTS
MYERSVILLE, Md. (AP) - Lots of folks have Webcams these days. But that wasn't the case when Steve Chambers bought a Quikcam in 1994. He wasn't sure what to make of online streaming video. So, he pointed his Webcam at an ant farm. Now 15 years later, more than 1.2 million visitors have watched the industrious insects at StevesAntFarm.com. He says the online ant farm gets people thinking about when they were kids. The Maryland man does more online than just gaze at ants. He's also the designer of the NASA.gov Web site.

REACHING 108
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) - Trudie Martin was first pulled over for speeding at age 75. And that was more than 30 years ago. Martin turned 108 on Oct. 19th. She won't take any of those old people vitamins, either. Martin prefers the "active lifestyle" formula. As for her diet, Martin tells North Carolina's Winston-Salem Journal that she eats anything she wants. And with plenty of salt. She says, "You live until the Lord calls you home."

COED DORM ROOMS
ASHLAND, Ore. (AP) - Montique Holman and Stephen Williams live together on the campus at Southern Oregon University. But they're not an item. They're roommates in SOU's coed dorm, Diamond Hall. Students say a coed makeover has had an unexpected perk, better bathrooms. No more common baths with a bunch of toilet stalls and showers. To meet the state building code, the potties and showers are in separate lockable rooms. But it doesn't make much sense to Holman, a junior. She tells a local paper (Daily Tidings), that if they can share a bedroom, they can share a bathroom, too.

SLEEPING THIEVES
POMONA, Calif. (AP) - Police in Southern California report they caught the crooks napping -- literally. Authorities in Pomona say they found four suspected bandits snoozing in a garage. Officers made the discovery while investigating the rip-off of electronics from a nearby home. Police say that some of the stolen items were in the suspects' pockets. The four men are scheduled for a court appearance tomorrow.

by Jamie Friar

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)