WRONG HOUSE
GAITHERSBURG, Md. (AP) - Bob and Joanne Breiner got quite a scare when they returned to their suburban Washington home. A stranger was sleeping in their bed. They quietly got their 16-year-old son out of the house and called the cops. Officers shook the man awake, who explained he had stumbled into the wrong home after too much booze. The Breiners have decided not to press charges. They even gave the white bearded stranger some leftover ribs and soup after learning he had recently lost his job. Joanne Breiner says they're grateful and lucky nothing serious happened. But she says finding a stranger in their bed was weird beyond imagination.

ECONOMY-CUTBACKS
UNDATED (AP) - Times are tough -- but not too tough to cut the doughnuts. At Quality Environmental Professionals in Indianapolis, CEO Deb Peters is looking for ways to trim costs. Company workers are mowing the firm's lawn and doing other yard work, saving seven-grand. But eliminating the doughnuts at the monthly staff meetings was going too far. Peters tells The Wall Street Journal some employees agreed to work a couple of extra hours a week to pay for the goodies.

GAMBLING SALONS
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - It may soon be easier for high-rollers to drop big bucks in Vegas. Nevada state gaming regulators have endorsed the idea of easing rules for casinos to operate private gambling salons. The high-rollers are known as whales on the Strip. Hundreds of thousands of dollars can be on the line when the whales roll the dice or draw a card. Under the proposed rule change, a gambler with $300,000 in cash could play in a private salon. That's down from the current requirement of a half-mil. The new whale rules could be up for final approval when the state Gaming Control Board meets next month.

TWO LOTTERY WINS
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Arthur Watkins is going to remember 2008 as a great year financially. The Kansas City man has hit Powerball payouts twice this year. Yesterday, Missouri Lottery officials announced Watkins won just over $200,000 in a drawing late last month. That's on top of the 200-K he won in May. He bought both winning Powerball tickets at the same K.C. grocery store.

SPAIN-BEER
MADRID, Spain (AP) - We'll drink to that! Spain's soccer team will get to toast their European Championship -- with beer. Each of the Spanish players will get his weight in beer from sponsor Cruzcamp. Goalkeeper Pepe Reina will have the most to drink, 211 pounds worth of suds. The heady reward comes after the Spanish team went 44 years without a major title. In all, the 23 players will get the equivalent of 5,200 bottles of brew.

MONSTER SQUASH
NEW YORK (AP) - It's a squash that -- well -- just might squash you. Gardener Rolan Udugampola has grown a 5-foot-3-inch tall yellow squash in his New York City backyard. He says the monster veggie is taller than his wife and tastes good, too. And it's not just his green thumb that makes for giant yellow squash. The Staten Island gardner credits free compost from the city's Sanitation Department. He says the fertilizer is amazing.

by Jamie Friar

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)