Funny/Not funny

Funny:

From the Dome.

All this time, we thought Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory was running for governor. Turns out, according to his first news release, he's running for "governer."

Update: Victoria Smith, McCrory's campaign manager, just told Dome that they believe someone hacked into their system and inserted the misspelled word in the news release sent by e-mail to reporters.

"There's no way that this was misspelled," Smith said. "I'm going to have to look into this."

Not funny:

With its biggest performance of the year fast approaching, N.C. Central University's marching band has been crippled by the theft of at least two dozen instruments.

Fourteen sousaphones and a selection of other instruments were stolen from the band room in at least two thefts stretching back to November, said Jorim Reid, NCCU's band director. The instruments were taken from locked rooms, and the thieves left the sousaphone cases, so it wasn't immediately apparent that the instruments were missing, Reid said.

Now, with the high-profile, annual Battle of the Bands showcase set to start Jan. 26 in Atlanta, Reid is trying to patch his band back together. The loss of sousaphones, in particular, is a blow to a 180-member band that relies heavily on the large brass instruments. There are 16 sousaphone players in the band.

Anyone with information about the thefts is asked to call NCCU Detective A.J. Carter at 560-5397, NCCU Detective Billy Boyd at 560-7365 or CrimeStoppers at 683-1200. CrimeStoppers pays cash rewards for information leading to arrests in felony cases and callers never have to identify themselves.

Seriously, what the hell are you planning to do with the sousaphones? Every pawn shop up and down the east coast is going to know they're stolen. Just drop them off back at the football stadium at midnight and make everyone's life easier.