Some Oregon baristas are baring some skin to get ahead in the coffee business.
Patrons at Coffee Nation in Salem, Ore., now get cleavage with their caffeine, as servers have taken to wearing bikini tops for the summer, the Statesman Journal reports.
Owners Adam Marshall and Steven Rotan came up with the idea in January as a way to lure customers to their drive-through coffee stand despite a median that blocks left-turn access.
"It's really worked," said Marshall, 28. "Our profits are going up every day."
Unlike Seattle's Cowgirls Espresso chain, whose baristas wear bras and pasties year-round, the staff of Coffee Nation will sport bikinis only through the summer. Hawaiian Tropic suntan lotion has sponsored the seasonal campaign.
Thus far, the paper reports, the staff and customers couldn't be happier.
"I love it," said Carmel Rotan, 22, who is married to Steven Rotan. "It makes for a fun atmosphere. The customers really like it."
On May 11, she wore a pink and brown bikini top with brown shorts as she served drinks, the paper said. With this new uniform, tips have increased three-fold — from $25 a day to upwards of $80.
The busty look has been great for business too, the owners said. Sales have doubled to $1,000 a day.
Through a Martini Glass Brightly
Manhattans and martinis and old-fashioneds. Oh my!
More than a hundred people gathered in downtown New York Monday to celebrate the 201st birthday of the life of the party — the cocktail.
But how to pay tribute to the invention that has been both revered and despised since its first mention in a Hudson, N.Y., newspaper in 1806? With cocktails, of course.
Click here to read more about the cocktail's history.
Mixologists and cocktail aficionados imbibed historic creations such as pisco punch as well as more modern inventions like the ladykiller created especially for the party.
In lieu of gifts, partygoers were asked to donate money — to help find a permanent home for the Museum of the American Cocktail in New Orleans.
Maybe That Rabid Bat Wasn't the Best Teaching Idea
RIVERTON, Wyo. (AP) — Catching a bat in a school basement and keeping it as a classroom pet is a great way to learn — about rabies.
Two staff members at Trinity Lutheran School are getting a months-long series of rabies shots after a bat kept in a locked terrarium tested positive for the disease.
On May 9, middle school teacher Steve Coniglio used a stick and a bucket to capture the bat, which died two days later.
The bat had been displayed in classrooms and students gave it crickets, but Susan Tucker, head teacher at the central Wyoming school, said Coniglio made sure students did not handle the animal.
State and county health officials on Tuesday interviewed all 95 staff members and students at the school and decided that Coniglio and a teaching assistant who cleaned the cage after the bat died needed to be treated as a precaution, said Marty Stensaas, manager for Fremont County Public Health Nursing.
The vaccine was also available in case parents wanted their children to get the roughly $3,500 series of shots.
Rabies is a viral disease most often transmitted through the bite of an infected animal. It attacks the central nervous system and, if untreated, can lead to anxiety, confusion, paralysis, hypersalivation, difficulty swallowing and fear of water. Death usually occurs within a week after symptoms begin.
The disease has been discovered in skunks, raccoons and a horse in Fremont County over the past few years.
Next Time, Choose a Less Conspicuous Getaway Car
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Evonne D. Maurice apparently wanted to get away in style.
The 22-year-old pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to trying to rob a bank at a drive-up window while traveling in a hired limousine.
Authorities said Maurice had a limousine take her to a Citizens Bank branch in Cranston and told the driver she needed to withdraw cash to pay for the ride.
Then she walked up to the window and handed the teller an envelope with a note demanding money and saying there were two bombs in the bank.
The teller triggered an alarm, and Maurice got back in the limo without any money and was driven away. The driver was unaware of the Dec. 1, 2005, robbery attempt, prosecutors said.
Maurice was arrested in Tampa, Fla. Prosecutors said she told police there that she robbed banks to pay the drug-dealing debts of her and her boyfriend.
The Westbrook, Conn., woman faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
An attorney for Maurice did not immediately return a call for comment Wednesday.
'Bout Time They Got a Mascot
PITTSBURGH (AP) — More than a century after Carnegie Mellon University opened its doors, the school is getting an official mascot.
Students have been donning a Scottish terrier outfit for football games and parading around the sidelines for years as an homage to founder Andrew Carnegie's Scottish roots.
But the Scottie mascot wasn't official until Wednesday.
The university announced its choice after a committee surveyed students and alumni: 78 percent of students favored the terrier, and a full quarter of the alumni surveyed thought the Scottie already represented the school.
Compiled by FOXNews.com's Sara Bonisteel.
Got a good "Out There" story in your hometown? We would like to know about it. Send an e-mail with a Web link (we need to authenticate these things) to outthere@foxnews.com.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox