A suburban Denver 4-year-old came home from school disappointed, with untouched Oreos and a note from her teacher.

Denver news station KMGH-TV reports (http://bit.ly/1P6770A ) that preschooler Natalee Pearson told her mom Friday that she wasn't allowed to eat the cookies in her lunchbox.

Some companies boast of making beer with spring water from majestic mountains.

They won't be competing in the upcoming Pure Water Brew Challenge, in which an Oregon wastewater treatment operator has asked home brewers to make great-tasting beer from hops, barley, yeast and the key, not-so-secret ingredient: treated sewer water.

They have been spotted frequenting the roof of a bar, roaming a park and "chilling" right outside a house.

Smaller than wolves and members of the dog family, at least five Coyotes have been reported across New York since the start of the year, mobilizing police and attracting bemused press attention.

Imagine you're the head of a U.S. fast-food chain in Japan that has been scandalized by a tooth-in-french-fries disaster. How do you repair the damage? Bow deeply -- and be convincing.

So it was for Sarah Casanova, the Canadian president of McDonald's Japan, whose less-than-textbook corporate mea culpa this month was an attempt at the tightly choreographed script routinely used by crisis-hit organisations.

A London borough -- aptly named Barking and Dagenham -- unveiled plans on Tuesday to crack down on irresponsible dog owners by checking their pet's poo against a DNA database it will build up.

The local authority is encouraging owners to enter their dogs in the database by taking them to the vet for a cheek swab, warning that the area's 27 parks will be out of bounds for any animals that are not registered.

The All England Lawn Tennis Club has confirmed fans won't be allowed to take the sticks -- which help users take self-portrait photos that have become increasingly popular on Twitter and other forms of social media -- into their Wimbledon headquarters in south-west London during the Grand Slam tournament.

In its guide for ticketholders, the AELTC -- often accused of being hidebound for its insistence that players at Wimbledon still wear predominately white clothing -- said it was merely following an increasing trend.

A burnt bowl of macaroni and cheese forced a brief evacuation at the Iowa Capitol.

Iowa Department of Administrative Services spokesman Caleb Hunter says somebody's lunch burned in a microwave Monday behind the Senate Chambers on the second floor of the Capitol. He says the smoke prompted a short evacuation of the entire building during the morning.

There's something about a British general election that brings out oddballs, loons and eccentric buffoons who dream of making it to parliament.

In the run-up to polling day on May 7, Britain's stuffy politicians are sharing the hustings with quirky candidates poking fun at the whole election ritual.

A court in southern Russia has sentenced three young women to brief jail terms for making a video showing them twerking next to a World War II memorial.

Russia celebrates the 70th anniversary of the Allies' victory in the World War II next month, an emotionally charged holiday the Kremlin has been using for propaganda purposes.

Quack! Quack! A duck call ringtone helped a Louisiana firefighter rescue six ducklings from a storm drain.

Spokesman Chad Duffaut of St. Tammany Fire District #1 says even with realistic quacking sounds coming from his cellphone, it took Firefighter Cody Knecht about 90 minutes to catch the first four baby mallards in the southeast Louisiana community of Slidell.