News of the Weird: A new definition of 'public art'

Paavo Arhinmaki, 46, the deputy mayor of Helsinki, Finland, was caught in the act on June 23 as he and a friend spray-painted graffiti in a railway tunnel in the capital city, the Associated Press reported. The Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency said the cost to clean up the graffiti would be about $3,800, but it's not clear if the deputy mayor will face charges. "I have committed a crime and bear full responsibility for it," Arhinmaki said, calling his actions "stupid fooling around." However, he is refusing to resign his position.

Tristan Stetina, 19, was charged with fifth-degree assault after an incident at a restaurant in Mankato, Minn., on June 23, KSTP-TV reported. Police officers were called to the business after Stetina allegedly "began yelling and throwing Skittles at employees and customers." One victim said she experienced stinging on her back after being hit with one of the candies. Officers found Stetina nearby and placed him under arrest. Because he resisted, he also was charged with obstruction of the legal process and disorderly conduct.

Harvard Business School professor Francesca Gino, who researches dishonesty and unethical behavior, is in the hot seat with her administration for submitting research that falsified results. NPR reported on June 26 that several people have alleged that Gino changed data in at least four papers about her studies. She has been placed on administrative leave while the situation is investigated. For her part, Gino did not confirm or deny the claims, but said she is "limited into what I can say publicly. I want to assure you that I take (the allegations) seriously and they will be addressed." Investigators said they found incidents of fraud spanning more than a decade.

When Oak Park and River Forest High School in Oak Park, Ill., underwent a cybersecurity audit, TechCrunch reported, the vendor mistakenly reset every student's password, which prevented students from being able to log into their accounts. Naturally, the school wanted to rectify the situation, so on June 23, they sent parents an email: "To fix this, we have reset your child's password to Chngeme! so that they can once again access their account. We strongly suggest that your child update their password to their own unique password as soon as possible." What could go wrong? Just about everything, actually. It took school administrators a day to realize that they had just made every student's account vulnerable to hacking, whereupon they promised to send "a special password process that will be unique to your specific student."

A New York City art collective called MSCHF created a teeny, tiny handbag — so small that it can't be seen by the naked eye — that sold for $63,000 at auction on June 28, CNN reported. The neon green bag, measuring less than 0.03 inches wide, is fashioned after an iconic Louis Vuitton bag called the OntheGo tote, but it was not sanctioned by the designer. It was made using technology that prints 3-D micro-scale plastic parts and came with a microscope so the owner can see it.

Send your weird news items with subject line Weird News to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com.