In Italy, the city of Venice can't decide whether or not it likes Santiago Calatrava's new bridge. In Montgomery, Alabama, litigious quilters and their dealers sewed up their differences out of court. In New York, artist John Chamberlain and onetime Andy Warhol assistant Gerard Malanga look likely to go to court over an artwork that may or may not be by Warhol. London city officials were disappointed by the inclusion of Michael Harvey's painting of a serial killer in a promotional video for the city's cultural programs, shown in Beijing during the Olympics. India's first contemporary art museum threw open its doors.

In Stamford, Connecticut, a thief (or thieves, considering the booty's weight) reached new heights of audacity, and perhaps irony, by making off with a lifesize sculpture of a policeman. And the poor, bronze fellow was on community watch at that, stationed at a street corner, caught perpetually in the act of writing a ticket. That, folks, is proof of public art's appeal.