In every year, there are those huge news stories that make Page One, launch debate and get the news anchors in a 6 o'clock lather.

Then there is everything else, of course, which can be much more interesting.

Yes, for a 15th straight year, in a rite we reserve for the blah-laden dearth of January, it's time for Ummy!, our annual tribute to some of this area's and Illinois' less-ballyhooed - yet highly creative - adventures in news-making.

We offered the first batch Tuesday.

And today?

These are the year's best stories meritorious of Ummy!

• Hottest lunch

In Normal, an apartment sustained $8,000 in smoke damage when a pit bull jumped up on the stove to eat the cat's food, accidentally punched on the gas burner and set the house on fire.

• Most 'dangerous' name

In Springfield, after being told by an Illinois Secretary of State employee at a driver's license renewal outlet that his was a "dangerous" name in America, a Chinese immigrant, Fuk King Kwok, had it officially changed to Andy Kwok. "Before I came to United States, no problem," Kwok told the AP. "But … here, sometimes I get embarrassed, you know?"

• Top means-justifying-the-end routine

In Bloomington, a man who needed money to bail his girlfriend out of jail robbed a bank and got caught, landing himself in jail, broke, with his girlfriend, who also had no money.

• Largest feat

After a reported sighting, zoological officials began looking for Bigfoot at Funks Grove, north of McLean. Yet, by year's end, they had not found him or any further trace of his size 24 foot.

• Truest sole mate

At a department store in Bloomington, a man who was asked to leave because he was "acting strangely around the shoes" explained to police that he was not trying to shoplift the shoes. He was only trying to "talk to them."

• Oddest police beat(ing)

At a tavern in Decatur where officers were called to investigate an alleged bar brawl, a man told police he distinctly remembered being beaten but he had had too much to drink to remember to report it.

• Most unusual 'detour'

Workers programmed the wrong toll-free telephone number on an overhead, flashing electronic sign along Interstate 74 southeast of Bloomington. Motorists seeking information on an alternate route were directed to a telephone line that began, "Hey there, sexy guy … welcome to a new way to live … one-on-one, with hot girls …"

• Shortest fire run

In Cropsey, fire department personnel didn't have too far to rush to put out a raging fire at a machine shop. The fire was next-door, two feet from the fire station.

• Biggest boob

In Normal, police discovered at least part of the reason why one woman was so busty - she kept all of her drugs and paraphernalia inside her brassiere.

• Most dogged guard

In East Peoria, a resident called police when his new pit bull would not allow him to enter his own house.

• Oddest mayoral order

At a city council meeting in Spring Valley, an alderman became so upset during a discussion on utility taxes, the mayor ordered him handcuffed by sheriff's police and had him hauled off to jail so he could cool down.

• Best dope

At a former tanning salon in Bloomington, a maintenance man doing routine work on the building walked in and made history. He found hundreds of marijuana plants under grow lights, with a street value of nearly $1 million, the biggest such bust in recent times.

• Worst turn

At the University of Illinois in Urbana, a sophomore from Naperville who sleepwalked across his fraternity house shattered a kidney, bruised a lung, injured his spleen and sustained eight broken ribs when he took a wrong turn and walked out of a third-floor window.

• Biggest news hog

In Bloomington, a man who made hog calls at a woman on her front porch was arrested because it violated the conditions of a court-ordered restraining order against him.

• Shortest police investigation

Responding to a call, Streator police were dispatched to investigate the report of a stolen garage door in a residential neighborhood. After an investigation, it was discovered, however, that the garage door was simply in the open position, and not in fact missing.

• Worst upgrade

In DeWitt County, after an eight-mile stretch of blacktop was resurfaced with a material containing especially sharp shards of a coal-fire byproduct called boiler slag, a new problem developed - 175 tires went flat.