AM Prep-Kickers

Half a house for half a million dollars: Home crushed by tree hits market near Los Angeles

MONROVIA, Calif. (AP) — Newly listed for sale in Southern California’s notoriously pricey realty market: half a house for half a million dollars. The one-bedroom, one-bathroom bungalow in a suburb northeast of Los Angeles was crushed by a tree in May. Two renters and two dogs were inside at the time, but there were no injuries. Nonetheless, the house in Monrovia was badly damaged and most of its roof was mangled. Now, with its missing walls and ceilings, what’s left of the property is up for sale just a dollar shy of $500,000. Listing agent Kevin Wheeler quipped to the LA Times that it’s an “open-concept floor plan.”

From attic to auction: A Rembrandt painting sells for $1.4M in Maine

THOMASTON, Maine (AP) — A Rembrandt discovered in a Maine attic has sold for $1.4 million. The 17th century “Portrait of a Girl” by the Dutch artist had a note on the back of the frame saying it was loaned to the Philadelphia Museum of Art for an exhibition in 1970. Kaja Veilleux, appraiser, auctioneer and founder of Thomaston Place Auction Galleries, said he discovered it when he was asked to go through stacks of art in an attic in Camden, Maine. An auction by Thomaston Place Auction Galleries yielded a fierce competition on Aug. 24. A European collector placed the highest bid.

Ultra swimmer abandons attempt to cross Lake Michigan again

GRAND HAVEN, Mich. (AP) — An ultra swimmer’s attempt to cross Lake Michigan appears to be over. Jim Dreyer was back on shore Wednesday, according to his online tracker. Dreyer, who is nicknamed The Shark, began swimming Monday night in Grand Haven, Michigan. His goal was to get to Milwaukee in Wisconsin, more than 80 miles away. The 61-year-old Dreyer has now tried four times since 2023 to cross Lake Michigan. He did it more than 20 years ago, back in 1998.

She made ‘very demure’ go viral. Now she wants to trademark its use

NEW YORK (AP) — “Very demure, very mindful” has become the latest vocabulary defining the internet’s summer. And TikTok creator Jools Lebron is now working to trademark uses of her now-viral words. Lebron filed to trademark “very demure very mindful” for various entertainment and advertising services last week with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Two filings are under her legal name, a representative for Lebron confirmed. The filings are still pending applications — so no trademark is final at this point, and it could be a while before anything is set in stone. But the move is particularly notable after several other individuals separately tried to register demure-related trademarks in an apparent effort to capitalize on the success of “demure,” causing outrage among Lebron’s fans.