Florida named strangest state for news

After analyzing nearly 2,000 Associated Press new stories released in 2009, the state of Florida

was the runaway winner of Tableseed.com's strangest state award.

Cape Haze contributed to Florida's No. 1 ranking with this gem:

Man runs out of gas after robbing gas station, a story courtesy of the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office.

Other Lee County stories included this trio from Cape Coral:

Shoplifter gets run over twice by her getaway car

Patient accused of biting off doctor's fingertip

Florida man accused of making boy drive on beer run

Naples led all Collier County areas with five weird cop stories:

Cops lose 2-gram bag of cocaine used to train dogs

Woman jailed after man complains about her cooking

Woman allegedly runs over husband after argument

Police: Man swallows stolen earrings at Florida mall

Police: Florida woman practiced dentistry in garage

The three strangest U.S. cities last year were New York; Lincoln, Neb.; and Madison, Wis.

The rankings were calculated by collecting all of the AP's strange news stories, segmenting them by the

location, counting the number of stories in each state and adjusting for population.

A sampling of the 169 strange stories out of Florida this year were:

Man calls 911 after eatery runs out of lemonade - Boyton Beach

Florida lotto winner seeks to open a nude dude ranch - Brooksville

Dead shark left in Miami street after failed sale - Miami

Man wearing sleeping bag as cape attempts robbery - Gainesville

Man allegedly flings jellyfish at teens at beach - Madeira Beach,

New York City easily won the strangest city crown. Strange news stories out of New York included:

Businessman accused of demanding dentures with gun

Turtles crawl on runway, delay flights at JFK

Goat wanders into nursing home in the Bronx

The 20 strangest cities according to Tableseed.com's rankings:

1. New York City

2. Lincoln, Nen.

3. Madison, Wis.

4. Philadelphia

5. Chicago

6. Cinncinnati

7. Boston

8. Detroit

9. Dallas

10. Pittsburgh

11. Columbus

12. Salt Lake City

13. Des Moines, Iowa

14. Portland, Ore.

15. San Antonio, TX

16. Cleveland

17. Sheboygan, Wis.

18. Fairbanks, Alaska

19. Denver

20. Tampa

The full rankings can be found at www.tableseed.com/strange/

nnn Contact Information nnn

For more information on this story, contact:

Aaron Quinn

Email: aaron@tableseed.com

Phone: (888) 345-9376

Website: www.tableseed.com

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