In 2019, knife crime in England and Wales hit record highs with police counting 44,000 offenses over a year span, half of which were stabbings. In an effort to help (and also probably to, ahem, get some press), UK cutlery brand Viners is now selling a line of knives with squared-off tips. From Insider:

Due to be released later this week, (a Viners press release states that the line) has been "repeatedly tested to ensure the tip does not pierce skin intentionally or otherwise."

"With knife-related crime incidents at a record high and a reported 285 fatalities in the last 12 months alone, the UK government has taken the decision to reclassify kitchen knives as an offensive weapon with the new Offensive Weapons Act 2019, leading some retailers to remove single knives from sale in retail stores," a press release for the knife collection stated.

"The new Assure collection from Viners has been created in response to this new legislation, with the team extensively testing a new shape knife that is highly functional for the modern cook but shaped to reduce and prevent injuries, accidents and fatalities."

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TV-talking lawyer of Stormy Daniels vs. Donald Trump fame is now in federal custody

For decades, the "bystander effect" (previously) has been a bedrock of received psychological wisdom: "individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim when other people are present; the greater the number of bystanders, the less likely it is that one of them will help." Read the rest

A Georgia man is accused of mailing a holiday card stuffed with illegal drugs to a lady friend in jail. The gentleman who mailed the card ended up getting a surprise all-expenses-paid holiday for himself in jail, officials in Georgia say. Read the rest

The FBI is seeking help from the public to catch the appropriately nicknamed “bad wig bandit” who is blamed for a series of bank robberies in North Carolina. Read the rest

Gregory Priore -- former archivist for Pittsburgh's Carnegie Library -- has pleaded guilty of stealing $8m worth of rare texts from the collection over a 25 year period, fencing them through John Schulman's Caliban Book Shop (Schulman has also pleaded guilty, and admitted to forgery as well). Read the rest

In Tampa, Florida, a man pleaded guilty to participating in a scheme to that trafficked live water monitor lizards from the Philippines to the United States. Read the rest

A man in Nevada is accused of running a homemade gas station in a backyard. Read the rest

Video taken of Jeffrey Epstein's cell on the night of his first suicide attempt was deleted by mistake, according to federal prosecutors

Just keeps getting weirder, doesn't it. Read the rest

In New Jersey, a woman who apparently lost her temper over having to wait in a long line at a New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission office snapped into a violent rage, smashing computer equipment, assaulting two staffers, and kicking police officers when they tried to arrest her, authorities say. Read the rest

Be careful what you wish for. In Kentucky, authorities have arrested a man they say expressed a desire to go to jail to support his jailed girlfriend. Read the rest

She has been charged with battery of a person over 65.

BREAKING: Harvey Weinstein has been charged in Los Angeles with NEW rape and sexual assault charges.

Disgraced movie mogul and accused serial sexual abuser Harvey Weinstein is having an extremely bad day. Read the rest

"If we were serious about crime, we’d take most of the cops off the streets and replace them with accountants": this, from the introduction to CZ Edwards' amazing Twitter thread about the nuts-and-bolts of money-laundering and how it applies to modern geopolitics, including Trump's assassination of an Iranian government official and the role that Trump's real-estate, failed businesses and casinos played in the global money-laundry, without which most serious crime would collapse. Read the rest

The bird seed in our feeder began disappearing overnight, no matter how full it was. I set up an infrared camera to see what was devouring so much seed in such a short amount of time. Here are the culprits! Read the rest

A post by the Sand Springs Police Department on Facebook kind of says it all: “OK 2020, it only took you 4.5 hours to get weird. Let’s slow down on the carjacking-goatnapping calls for the remainder of the year.” Read the rest

In Las Cruces, New Mexico, police say they collected DNA from the spot where a suspect face-planted into a door while trying to escape. Read the rest