Discarded NYC theater prop sparks bomb scare

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City playwright who directed a show called the "American Suicide Bomber Association" unwitting sparked a bomb scare when he threw a prop from the production into the trash at his home.

Playwright Ethan Fishbane tells The New York Post (http://bit.ly/16Pymas ) he wasn't thinking when he discarded the fake bomb while cleaning out his Manhattan apartment Tuesday.

A building superintendent saw the prop the next morning and called police.

That brought out the bomb squad.

It didn't take long for investigators to figure out what had happened.

Fishbane says he was stunned when officers knocked on his door, but he praised the department for its quick response, saying it was "wholly appropriate."

The 23-year-old wrote the play while attending New York University's Tisch School of The Arts.

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Information from: New York Post, http://www.nypost.com

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Scratch-and-sniff cards prompt natural gas scare

GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) — Those scratch-and-sniff cards the energy company sends to customers to teach them to recognize the artificial smell added to natural gas? Turns out they work pretty well.

Energy West general manager Nick Bohr tells the Great Falls Tribune (http://gftrib.com/18u3gYG ) that workers recently discarded several boxes of expired scratch-and-sniff cards in Great Falls. But when the garbage truck picked them up and compressed the load Bohr says "it was the same as if they had scratched them."

The resulting odor prompted numerous false alarms and building evacuations as the garbage truck traveled through downtown Great Falls on Wednesday morning, leaving the smell in its trail.

Bohr says the company apologizes for the disruption.

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Information from: Great Falls Tribune, http://www.greatfallstribune.com

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