CANBERRA, Australia - An environmentally friendly paper manufacturer has stumbled upon an unlikely way to put an unwanted natural resource to good use. The company has created its first batch of paper from marsupial manure.

Land owners around the Tasmania state town of Burnie helped scrape together 55 pounds of kangaroo and wallaby dung for the local business, Creative Paper Tasmania, to make the unique paper pulp.

Don’t be so happy

to get her number

DETROIT - Detroit is a chilly town - in more ways than one.

The Motor City produces the most calls to the Rejection Hotline, a free telephone service that allows uninterested objects of affection to blow off come-ons.

It works like this: You’re asked for your telephone number by someone in which you have no interest. You might sound receptive by responding, “248-262-6861.”

When that number is dialed, this is what they get: “The person who gave you this number did not want you to have their real number. Maybe the idea of going out with you just seems as appealing as playing leapfrog with unicorns . ... Do your best to forget about the person who gave you this number because, trust us, they’ve already forgotten about you.”

Talk about the

phantom of the opera

NEW RIEGEL, Ohio - The police chief woke up in the middle of the night to discover a man playing Beethoven on his piano.

Chief Steve Swartzmiller grabbed his gun and went to investigate the noise. He found 19-year-old Shawn Chadwell drunk at the keyboard.

Swartzmiller said Chadwell had been looking for a friend’s house when he mistakenly wandered in. He was charged with underage drinking and burglary.

Think they read Clifford the Big Red Dog?

GRAFTON, Wis. - Young children learning to read get together once at week at a Grafton library with dogs to practice. The Ozaukee Humane Society program, inspired by a similar one in Utah, pairs 11 children in first through fifth grade with three dogs at the USS Liberty Memorial Public Library.

“I think he gets as much out of it as the kids,” one dog owner said of her golden retriever. “He seems to love being read to. Kids invariably turn the book toward him so he can see the pages.”