VALPARAISO, Ind. (AP) – A house estimated to be worth $121,900 was erroneously valued at $400 million.

Now officials say the glitch has resulted in budget shortfalls, and could lead to possible layoffs in municipalities and school districts.

An outside user of Porter County’s computer system may have triggered the mess by accidentally changing the value of the house, said Sharon Lippens of the county’s information technologies and service department.

County Treasurer Jim Murphy said the home usually carried about $1,500 in property taxes; this year, the owner was billed $8 million.

Lippens said her agency identified the mistake and told the county auditor’s office how to correct it. But the $400 million value ended up on documents that were used to calculate tax rates.

The homeowner, Dennis Charnetzky, declined to comment about the situation to The Associated Press on Friday.

Most local officials did not learn about the mistake until Tuesday, when 18 government taxing units were asked to return a total of $3.1 million of tax money.

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SHANGHAI, China (AP) – Nothing says I love you on Valentine’s Day like a box of candy and a bouquet of roses. Err, make that noses.

China’s obsession with plastic surgery is finding an outlet in couples who are going under the knife to get matching noses or eyes as a sign of their love for one another, the official newspaper China Daily reported.

“I suggested it as a way of celebrating our relationship and bringing us closer together with a special kind of bond,” Liu Yan, 24, was quoted as saying of the nose jobs she suggested to her 28-year-old boyfriend.

Liu said her boyfriend “loved the idea” and readily paid the $1,200 cost of surgery.

“We’re very happy with the results,” Liu added.

Business at Shanghai’s ever-growing number of plastic surgery clinics has risen by up to 30 percent since the beginning of the month, fueled both by Valentine’s Day and the recently concluded lunar New Year, when young people typically receive job bonuses and cash gifts from older relatives.

Some clinics advertise special Valentine’s Day packages. ConBio Plastic and Laser Surgery Hospital, a Chinese-U.S. joint venture, is offering a 20 percent discount from Feb. 14-17, said a manager at the clinic, who identified himself only as Mr. Chen.

“You can also get some free roses,” he said.

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WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) – Residents of the small New Zealand district of Cardrona have voted unanimously to retain the area’s “bra fence” – a farm fence out in the country with hundreds of discarded women’s brassieres tied to it.

The fence has attracted worldwide attention since it was started by four local women at Cardrona on South Island on New Year’s Day 2000 to mark the “liberation” of the new Millennium.

Thousands of tourists now stop to photograph it each year.

A dispute over the future of the fence, with hundreds of bras tied to it, has been brewing for more than a year after a sole objector demanded it be removed.

American Andre Prassinos, who lives part of the year in nearby Wanaka township, started his solo campaign against the fence last year, saying it was a “potential traffic hazard.”

Since he lodged a fresh complaint with the local council last week, Cardrona Valley ratepayers and residents have come out in unanimous support of the “iconic” bra fence, said association chairman John Scurr.

“We don’t want it getting higher, longer or suddenly being filled with boots and knickers as well. But it should stay because it’s become part of the valley,” Scurr told the Southland Times newspaper.

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LOST BRIDGE VILLAGE, Ark. (AP) – After posting the Ten Commandments in his yard, Dean Pride discovered his village has an 11th commandment: no yard signs.

Pride says he simply wanted to discourage burglars after some of his neighbors’ houses were broken into. His sign underlined the commandment “thou shall not steal.”

“I’m trying to deter people from breaking into my home in a positive manner,” Pride says. “I’m going by a morality positive approach.”

Pride, who is Buddhist, says the idea came from his partner, Jeanne Allen, who is a Christian.

Pride put up the sign in August and recently received a letter from the village’s property owners association outlining the covenant on signs.

“We had some residents who lodged complaints about Pride’s sign,” said Steve Herwig, president of the Lost Bridge Village Board of Trustees. “We’re not trying to pick on anybody.”

Herwig says the board allows professional security signs, real estate and construction signs, house number signs, and temporary directional signs for garage sales, parties, open houses, political campaigns or other events.

Pride admits the sign violates the covenant, but says he drove through the village and photographed several prohibited signs in other yards. He says the covenant is not being enforced equally. Herwig says Pride can appeal to the board.