The Open Organization Of Lockpickers (TOOOL) Growing in Popularity

In a little town in the Netherlands known for prostitution and pot, a new sport is emerging. Over the past five years lock picking championships have become increasingly popular in Amsterdam. In everything from padlocks, mechanical locks, to freestyle-where athletes choose from an array of locks and use any tools they like-competitors race to be the first to finish picking their assigned lock. Contestants say they get a thrill out of solving the puzzles locks present without any danger of being charged with burglary. But unlike burglars, people participating in TOOOL must follow the cardinal rule of not damaging the locks they pick in any way.

Bridge Workers Plead Guilty for Stealing Scrap Metal

Former Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) employees, Richard Stewart, 42, of Saugus, and Joseph Falzone, 43, of Nashua, N.H., pleaded guilty in Middlesex Superior Court last week for steeling over 2,000 feet of cast iron from the Longfellow Bridge. The metal, which will cost nearly one million dollars to replace, was sold at the scrap yard for twelve thousand dollars. They used a dump truck to remove 357, 350 lb. lengths of the metal from a DCR yard in Stoneham, where it was being stored for refurbishing. Stewart and Falzone, on numerous weekend dates in July and August, using their access to the DCR Stoneham facility while also utilizing a DCR truck and bobcat, removed the decorative coping and brought the materials to a scrap metal yard in Everett.

Investment Fund Manager Found Dead

Massachusetts investigators found James S. McDonald, president and chief executive of investment management firm Rockefeller & Co., dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. A spokesman for the Bristol district attorney’s office says the 56-year-old McDonald was found in his vehicle at about 3 p.m. Sunday behind a car dealership in Dartmouth. The spokesman, Gregg Miliote, said it appears McDonald shot himself but the death is still under investigation. McDonald had been president and chief executive of the New York investment manager since 2001. The company was started in 1882 by John D. Rockefeller to manage the family’s assets. McDonald, a New York City resident, was also on the boards of NYSE Euronext and CIT International.

Baby to Visit Every Major Ball Park in America

A Washington D.C. baby is close to achieving what most beer bellied baseball enthusiasts only dream of-visiting all 30 major league ball parks-and she’s not even a year old. The baby’s parents, Judy and Roberto, were laid off from their clerical jobs earlier this summer, and they decided to take a cross country trip in search of work opportunities and fun. They are calling their road trip “30 ball parks and a baby.” Baby Sophia stopped at Fenway last Thursday, which is number 27. Her last stop will be in Baltimore after a Mets and Phillies game. Baseball may not be little Sofia Coquis’s passion, but the sights and sounds surrounding her at ball games keep her occupied while her father enjoys the games. “It has to do with our personality. We love to travel and be on the move. So does she,” Roberto said.