FBI charges passenger for in-flight grabbing

You need to keep your hands to yourself when you fly – it’s just that simple. Not only is it smart and appropriate, but it’ll keep you out of trouble. Well, that’s what Alpharetta, Georgia resident Ranchhodbhai Lakha learned the hard way.

This 61-year-old passenger faces a variety of sexual assault charges because he allegedly groped a 20-year-old woman on a flight from Dallas to Atlanta. On September 28, 2010, according to an Associated Press report, Lakha touched her while she slept, below her waist. She woke up during the act, and told Lakha to stop doing it. He tried again, and the woman notified a flight attendant.

The worst part: according to an FBI investigation, Lakha may have a history of this.

[photo by banspy via Flickr]

New York: best and worst city in schismatic survey

If you want to travel like a local, then it makes sense to know something about your destination … and isn’t the best city to live attractive? It’s the kind of place you’d want to explore and see why it’s so loved. And at the same time, you’d probably want to avoid the worst of the worst – who would want to go there?

Well, a new Harris Interactive poll makes this thinking hard to execute, USA Today reports. According to 2,620 Americans, the best and worst are exactly the same. Asked the city in or near which they’d most like to live, New York came out on top. This hasn’t changed (except once) since Harris began posing the question in 1997.

Now, the other side of the issue, what is the most loathed city in America? Well, it seems to be New York. San Francisco and Los Angeles also made both lists.

To see the top and bottom 10, take a look below:
Top of the heap:
1. New York
2. San Diego
3. Las Vegas
4. Seattle
5. San Francisco
6. Los Angeles
7. Nashville
7. Atlanta (a tie)
9. Denver
10. Boston

Bottom of the barrel
1. New York
2. Detroit
3. Los Angeles
4. Chicago
5. Houston
6. Miami
7. Washington
8.San Francisco
9. Dallas
10. Phoenix (tied with New Orleans)

[photo by Francisco Diez via Flickr]

Veterans blocked from Wolfgang Puck restaurant in Dallas

Okay, it has to be hard to turn a nonagenarian away from a restaurant, right? How about one who’s a decorated World War II hero who spent two years in a POW camp and five of his buddies? Well, this is what happened at the up-market Five Sixty restaurant, a Wolfgang Puck property in Dallas.

Their transgression: failing to meet the dress code.

The vets were holding their annual reunion; they were survivors of the “Black Thursday,” a 1943 German bombing mission. If bending the rules is ever warranted, these are the guys who have earned it. Yet, clad in baseball caps, shorts and POW t-shirts, they weren’t able to strike the necessary pose to get in.

According to USA Today:

“I figure if I spent two years in a POW camp, I could have handled the privilege of sitting in that fancy restaurant a few minutes,” said 93-year-old Jay Coberly, a member of the Second Schweinfurt Memorial Association and a bombardier with the decorated 8th Army Air Force, known as the Mighty 8th. “We’ve been all over the country, and we’ve never had this kind of problem. Dallas must be a first-class town.”

The restaurant has, unsurprisingly, taken action, sending the vets two bottles of Scotch, a written apology and an invitation come back to Five Sixty. The group isn’t going to take the offer, though, reports USA Today: “We were humiliated once,” she said, “so I don’t think they have any interest in stepping back in there.”

[photo by respres via Flickr]

Getting drunk: Twenty cities that don’t know how to handle their liquor

California loves to get wasted! San Diego and San Jose are the top two cities that drink stupidly, according to a survey by Insurance.com. They lead the country in alcohol-related driving violations, a dubious distinction to say the least. So, if you step into the crosswalk in these two spots, take an extra second to look both ways.

The reasons for hitting this list vary and include proximity to colleges and nightlife, and the presence of stringent enforcement may play a key role, the survey finds. If you think a lack of enforcement puts a city at the top of the list, remember that slapping the cuffs on a lot of people increases the instances of drunk driving, which actually pushes it up. Insurance.com explains:

San Diego most likely tops the list because its police departments are aggressive in making DUI arrests, and officers there arrest lots of drunk drivers, says Mark McCullough, a San Diego police department spokesperson specializing in DUI issues.

To pull the list of 20 drunk driving metropolitan areas together, according to Insurance Networking News, Insurance.com analyzed “percentage of its car insurance online quote requests for which users reported alcohol-related driving violations.”

So, who made the top 20? Take a look below:

  1. San Diego, CA
  2. San Jose, CA
  3. Charlotte, NC
  4. Phoenix, AZ
  5. Columbus, OH
  6. Indianapolis, IN
  7. Los Angeles, CA
  8. San Francisco, CA
  9. Austin, TX
  10. Jacksonville, FL
  11. San Antonio, TX
  12. Dallas, TX
  13. Houston, TX
  14. Fort Worth, TX
  15. Memphis, TN
  16. Philadelphia, PA
  17. New York, NY
  18. Baltimore, MD
  19. Chicago, IL
  20. Detroit, MI

Boston got lucky on this one. It was excluded because of a lack of data – not because the drivers there are absolutely nuts.

Disclosure: I learned how to drive in Boston.

[Via Insurance Networking News, photo by davidsonscott15 via Flickr]

The sexiest city in the United States is …

Don’t waste your time looking at the coasts, if you have a map in front of you. And skip the big cities and clichés – you won’t find Las Vegas at the top. Austin, Texas is the sexiest city in the country according to a survey by Men’s Health Magazine. A number of factors contributed to the win, including birth rates, condom sales and the rate of STDs … not to mention sex toy sales.

Texas came out looking pretty good, with Dallas, Houston and San Antonio also getting props behind winner Austin. In all, seven of the 15 sexiest cities were in Texas. It must be the heat, because colder cities didn’t fare as well. It isn’t hard to be too sexy for Portland, Maine, which finished last, and Burlington, Vermont.

Some of the likely suspects failed to deliver. Vegas came in at #70, with New York following at #73. San Francisco was #74, with Miami #88.

[photo by Steve Zak Photography]