NO DRIVER LICENSE, FAILURE TO YIELD -- BAD DOG!

Police in Azusa, Calif., said Charles McCowan stopped at a mini-mart Feb. 20, leaving his 80-pound boxer, Max, in the passenger seat of his pickup. When McCowan came out, the truck and Max were gone.

McCowan called police, assuming the truck had been stolen. Officers found the pickup in a fast-food parking lot across the street.

A security video shown Feb. 21 on KCAL-TV showed the truck rolling backward out of the store lot, across the street and out of view.

Police said that Max had knocked the vehicle out of gear and it rolled backward. Both Max and the truck were unhurt.

Even the tap water is high-end

Los Angeles has the tastiest tap water, according to the world's largest and longest-running water-tasting contest.

The 18th Annual Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting was held Saturday, with more than 120 waters competing for top honors.

Sparkling, tap and bottled water from 19 states and nine countries, including New Zealand, Romania, Macedonia and the Philippines, were judged by 10 journalists and food critics.

Judges graded on taste, odor, mouthfeel and aftertaste -- and they checked to make sure nothing was floating in the water.

The 2008 title for best municipal water is shared by Clearbrook, British Columbia, and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which serves Los Angeles.

Los Angeles has won the title several times, event producer Jill Klein Rone said. "It means they give special care and attention to their water and how it is processed."

Storm-tossed dog makes it home

Every day since a tornado damaged Tim and Katresa Harris' home in Gassville, Ark., they have checked to see whether their dog, Pongo, made it back.

On Feb. 22, nearly three weeks after the storm, he was back -- hungry but healthy.

The 9-year-old basset hound-blue heeler mix had been missing since a tornado hit the Gassville area Feb. 5. He apparently ran off after the tornado broke open a fence.

The family would go to the home, which is being repaired, to see whether Pongo returned and to put out food. They also made posters with a picture of Pongo and checked animal shelters.

The Gassville tornado was one of a swarm that killed more than 50 people across the South. Pongo was one of at least 30 animals in Baxter County reported missing afterward, according to the Humane Society of North Central Arkansas.

Are you sure you want fries with that?

A Detroit-area restaurant owner thinks he has broken the world record for "largest hamburger commercially available."

After 12 hours of preparation and baking, the 134-pound burger emerged Saturday at Mallie's Sports Bar and Grill in Southgate, Mich.

The Absolutely Ridiculous Burger, made with beef, bacon and cheese, was delivered on a 50-pound bun. It sells for $350, and orders require 24 hours' notice.

Flipping the burger required three men using two steel sheets.

Owner Steve Mallie's creation would outweigh a 123-pound burger made last year by Denny's Beer Barrel Pub of Clearfield, Pa., but authentication is pending.

Turned out to be a warped record bid

A $3 million bid for a huge record collection offered on eBay was apparently a fraud.

An agent for the sale, J. Paul Henderson, said an eBay executive notified him Feb. 22 that a bid of $3,002,150 for nearly 3 million vinyl albums, singles and CDs was not legitimate and that the bidder's account had been suspended, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.

Paul Mawhinney, 68, of Ross Township near Pittsburgh, said he began collecting the records when he opened his record shop, Record Rama, in 1968. He closed it Feb. 21.

"I am legally blind," he said. "I had a couple of strokes a few years ago ... and it's time at my age to think about doing something else with my life."

Mawhinney said Saturday that he had contacted six other eBay bidders and three others who approached him independently.

"It's still going to happen," he said.

Not exactly buried treasure

An 8-year-old boy and his friend, searching for buried treasure in Pace, Fla., found a live World War II-era hand grenade.

Sidney Mathis and his friend had found nails, bolts, a toy car and the grenade in a field near their home Feb. 14.

Sidney's father, Chris Mathis, arrived home to find the boys about to put the grenade into a bucket of water. He grabbed it and drove away from the apartment complex, holding the grenade out the window.

Then he had second thoughts.

"I hit a bump, and that's about the time I realized moving the grenade wasn't the brightest thing to do," he said.

Two members of an Air Force explosives unit from nearby Hurlburt Field in the Florida Panhandle took the grenade and destroyed it the next day.