A Texas mother says she’s outraged after learning that her 7-year-old son’s teacher makes students “pay” to use the bathroom. "I was absolutely appalled," Sonja Cross told NBC 5. "I could not believe it." The J.O. Davis Elementary teacher requires students to pay for trips to the toilet with “Boyd Bucks,” fake money the first-year instructor uses to reward the children for good behavior. Cross said she found out about the unusual system after her son wet his pants during school because he didn’t have enough “Boyd Bucks” for a bathroom run.

Despite strong outcry against it from the adult film industry, a measure requiring porn performers to wear condoms on set was passed by LA County voters, with 56% of the vote. The "Safer Sex in the Adult Film Industry Act'," in addition to mandating condoms, will require porn producers to apply for a permit from the LA County Dept of Public Health to shoot sex scenes. The fee will finance periodic inspections of porn filming, and violations will be subject to civil fines and criminal misdemeanor charges. 1.2 million people thought this was a good idea.

LAGUNITAS, Calif. - Four decades ago, Hoffman started some home improvements on his house in the wooded hills of the Marin County town of Lagunitas. He harbored ideas and theories of how people could live more sustainably. He started building. “I guess you could say I had a vision,” said Hoffman. “I had a dream.”

But Hoffman’s vision had one very fatal flaw. He never got permits for any of his projects. His fines have run up to over $200,000, and he’s been ordered to tear down all 30 of his illegal structures by Aug. 1.

Law enforcement agencies in the U.S. made more than 1.3 million requests for consumers’ cellphone records in 2011, an alarming surge over previous years that reflected the increasingly gray area between privacy and technology. Cellphone carriers, responding to inquiries from a member of Congress, reported responding to as many as thousands of police requests daily for customers’ locations, text messages and call details, frequently without warrants.

Officials in Burnsville, Minn., have brought the full force of the law to bear upon Mitch Faber, who was arrested, forced to pay a high bail and released under electronic monitoring and only on condition of drug testing. Faber has been charged with the crime of not putting proper siding on his house.