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The skinny

By TIMES WIRES
Published June 6, 2007

BREAKING NEWS

RESEARCH FINDS WHO IS BIGGEST LATE-NIGHT BUTT

It's always good to see the results of really important studies. For instance, the Center for Media and Public Affairs released a hard-hitting report on who the biggest target of late-night TV talk show jokes was in 2006. Any guesses? Turns out, they like poking fun at President Bush, the winner for the fifth consecutive year. Bush was mentioned in the monologues of Jay Leno, David Letterman, Conan O'Brien and Jon Stewart 1, 213 times. A closer look at the numbers shows Bush has been targeted 4, 158 times in the six years of his presidency, which is less than Bill Clinton (4, 234) was skewered over his first six years in office.

The top 10 late-night joke targets of 2006:

TICKETING TICKETERS

City sends out illegal patrol cars

It isn't often you see the parking meter attendants getting tickets. But it seems there was a problem with the shiny new minitrucks, above, they were using in Huntington, W.Va. They aren't street legal. The city bought the cart-like trucks to cut down on maintenance costs. (But not its carbon footprint: The old ones were electric, these are gas. Harumph.) Anyway, they are strictly off-road vehicles and cannot be registered for street use. So now the city has to figure out what to do with the two vehicles, which cost about $9, 600 each.

JEEPERS, CREEPERS

Police reminder: Nudity is not funny

The good people of Covington, La., are having a little trouble taking their friendly neighborhood naked peeping Tom seriously. "Some people just think he is funny. You know, a guy running around in a ski mask and nothing else. People just think that's funny, " Covington police Lt. Jack West said. Cops, being professionals when it comes to determining such things, think he is the same man who did the same thing last year. But this year, Tom is making sexual comments, which he didn't do last year. Police say sometimes peepers get more aggressive over time. Like, if people don't take their peeping seriously enough.

TAKE A STICK DAY

Cop cuts his hours, with a sharp knife

Ever have a day that you feel like you were willing to do anything to not go to work? Behold the 44-year-old police officer in Japan who apparently stabbed himself in the stomach to get some time off, according to Britain's Sky News. The wound was not life-threatening, and police figured it out when the story didn't add up. "He became very busy, he felt like he couldn't handle the work he had to do, " said a police spokesman.

Compiled by staff writer Jim Webster from Times wire services and other sources.

[Last modified June 6, 2007, 01:02:52]