The Department of Homeland Security has announced in a solicitation to drone manufacturers that it will begin testing "Robotic Aircraft For Public Safety" at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, indicating that small spy drones will be used to keep tabs on Americans in the near future.

DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano told a House Committee on Homeland Security that the federal agency was "looking at drones that could be utilized to give us situational awareness in a large public safety [matter] or disaster."

This represented an about-face of sorts for the agency, which had previously been reticent about the idea of using surveillance drones to spy on the public.

The drones are set to be used for applications such as "law enforcement operations, search and rescue, and fire and hazardous material spill response" and will fly for 30 minutes to two hours at a time, weighing around 25 pounds so they can be launched by hand.

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A wheelchair request can put you at the front of a long airport line.

Or, at least, that’s the angle some fully-abled passengers are using to cut through the winding queues at airport security checkpoints, the New York Times reported. According to the 1986 Air Carrier Access Act, airlines are required to accommodate disabled travelers — who need not show any proof of disability — free of charge.

Wheelchair attendants — whose salaries range between $9 and $14 an hour, with tips, help to maintain a "don’t ask, don’t tell" policy regarding the line-hopping strategy in hopes of bolstering their paychecks, the Times reported.

The tactic even spawned a new term among flight attendants: "miracle flights." Where passengers use wheelchairs to board but abandon them when their planes land.

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A Florida man died Friday night after consuming "dozens of roaches and worms" during a contest held by a pet store, police report.

Edward Archbold, 32, collapsed after winning the repulsive contest at Ben Siegel Reptile Store. Archbold, who was competing for a free python, was stricken outside the Deerfield Beach business, according to the Broward County Sheriff's Office.

Investigators reported that Archbold "wasn’t feeling well and began to regurgitate" shortly after the contest's conclusion. "He had consumed dozens of roaches and worms," a sheriff’s spokesman noted.

The roach-eating contest was part of the reptile store's October 5 "Midnight Madness" sale. Contestants had four minutes to devour most discoid roaches, which can grow up to three inches long. "Oh yeah, any vomiting is an automatic DQ," the store cautioned in a Facebook post prior to the revolting competition.

Another promotional piece

referred to the upcoming event as "the soon to be infamous 'Eat Bugs For Balls Contest.'" The python for which Archbold competed is known to curl up into a ball as a defensive reaction.

In a Facebook update yesterday, the store stated that, "Although we just met Eddie the night of the sale, we all liked him right away. All of us here at Ben Siegel Reptiles are sad that we will not get to know Eddie better, for in the short time we knew him, he was very well liked by all."

Asked about the python won by Archbold, the store reported on its Facebook page that, "The snake is being held in his name and is full property of his estate

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In an ironic twist of fate, an actor on his way to the Hamptons International Film Festival to see a film about his life as an illegal immigrant was picked up by federal immigration officials.

Customs and Border Protection agents took Praq Rado, a 31-year-old Albanian-born actor who has lived in America for 11 years without documentation, into custody on Thursday while he was on board an Amtrak train in Buffalo, the agency confirmed on Sunday afternoon.

Rado is the lead actor in the 24-minute film that tells the story of his immigration journey, including how he escaped from Albania, without papers. He was thrown overboard from a ship off the Italian coast and made his way to shore.

In America, he struggled to survive and find work without a Social Security number, taking jobs as a go-go dancer at a gay bar in the East Village. He ended up becoming a successful model and transitioned to acting.

After Customs and Border Protection have completed paperwork in Buffalo, Rado will be sent to a federal detention center to await a deportation hearing.