An Austin man who admitted that he stole a statue of the Virgin Mary and painted it to look like a clown is now expected to receive a suspended jail sentence and be ordered to perform community service. Briceson Bryan pleaded guilty to gross misdemeanor theft on Friday in Mower County District Court after admitting that he stole the statue from Calvary Cemetery on July 29.

An attorney for a man accused of illegal drug possession has requested the court to subpoena a police department dog with a bachelor degree to serve as a defense exhibit. According to him, the police chief who took part in the traffic stop and search of his client holds his diploma from the same online school from where Rocko the dog got his. In the documents filed with Seneca County Common Pleas Court, defense prosecutor Gene Murray wrote, the issue gives "one pause, if not paws, for concern" about what it takes to get the degrees from the school based in the Virgin Islands, according to AP reports.

Picky travelers keen on comfort have rated a former flop house as one of the five best hotels in America for 2007. The 28-room Mansion on Delaware Avenue earned the Zagat guide's highest ranking for service and tied for the second-highest ranking for room quality in a hotel with under 100 rooms. The Mansion was the only urban hotel in the U. S. to earn high rankings from travelers responding to Zagat's survey.

Some members of Poland's Parliament have introduced legislation making Jesus Christ king of the country. While the nation is overwhelmingly Catholic, some clergy have criticized the bill saying it's not needed.

Come Christmas and one can find the Virgin Mary, the three kings and a few wayward sheep as the traditional Christmas nativity scene. But the nativity scenes in Spain have a smartly dressed peasant squatting behind a rock with his rear-end exposed. The statuettes of "El Caganer," known as the great defecator in the Catalan language, can be seen on the mantelpieces of collectors, throughout Spain's northeastern Catalonia region.