North Pole Elects Santa Claus

Santa Claus has been chosen to represent the people of North Pole. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports that a man whose legal name is Santa Claus won a write-in campaign for an open City Council seat in the 2,200-person Alaska town. He began campaigning in his red velvet suit just two weeks before the election, in which he received 58 votes and a seat on the six-person council. No official candidates had filed for the two open council positions. Claus—who was living in Nevada when he changed his name from Thomas O'Connor a decade ago—tells Reuters that he's an advocate for programs that help at-risk children and that state lawmakers tend to pay attention when they get a call from "Santa Claus from North Pole." (More Santa Claus stories.)