Week in Review, Jan. 24

A mysterious blob invaded the sewers outside a Lewiston pizza parlor (1) and reported criminal activity involving a butcher knife was actually a police training (2). The Federal government was beginning a program to monitor all farm animals in the US, except pigs (3). A book based on the Three Little Pigs was deemed too offensive (4).

An ad about horses misled readers (5), two horses, originally destined for the slaughterhouse, went to Graceland instead (6), and the Green Elephant served vegetarian food, the kind of cuisine perfected over two millennia of Buddhism (6). A high-spirited women received Hershey's bars after a newspaper story described her love of chocolate (7).

Despite plans to stop plastic bag distribution at Whole Foods (8) , some customers said plastic was fantastic (9). Starbucks was about to introduce a $1 coffee (10) and $20,000 coffee bars were installed (11). A diner found a pearl in an oyster (16), a legislator introduced a breakfast bill (13), and winter farmers markets proliferated in Portland (14) and in the Midwest (15). In Ohio, beet juice was used to prevent icy roadways (16).