Odds ‘N’ Ends: 14 tons of spilled Oreo cookies snarl Ill. traffic after trailer overturns

By The Associated Press

MORRIS, Ill. – Got milk?

Police say a trailer loaded with 14 tons of double-stuffed Oreos has overturned, spilling the cookies still in their plastic sleeves into the median and roadway.

Illinois State Police Sgt. Brian Mahoney says the truck’s driver was traveling from Chicago to Morris on Interstate 80 around 4 a.m. Monday when he fell asleep at the wheel and slammed into the median.

“The boxes came out of the trailer and boxes were ripped open,” he said.

Mahoney says no charges have been filed but both lanes of traffic remain closed while authorities remove the cookies.

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Former Dutch queen wanted pardon or cake for prisoners, biography says

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands – When she left the throne in 1980, Queen Juliana of the Netherlands wanted to mark the occasion by having a serving of cake given to all prisoners in the country, according to a book published Monday.

Mass pardons during major events were once common among European royalty, and Queen Juliana wanted to do that for all petty criminals when she abdicated to her daughter, Queen Beatrix.

When the Cabinet told Juliana such a pardon was impossible in the modern era, she had difficulty accepting it, and asked whether all prisoners could at least be served cake instead.

“An outstanding idea, your majesty,” responded then-Vice Prime Minister Hans Wiegel. “And we’ll write a message in whipped cream on each cake: ‘and many more years’.”

The idea was scrapped. Queen Juliana died in 2004.