Call it snowball diplomacy.

In a combination of civics and winter sports that has charmed the country, a 9-year-old Colorado boy went before his town council this week to argue for the right to bean his little brother with a snowball.

Chapter 2, Section 13 of Severance’s original town charter prohibited the throwing of projectiles – even the frozen variety. (The charter was updated in 2007, but the status of snowballs was reportedly uncertain.)

“I broke the law a lot,” Dane Best told NBC News.

Armed with a PowerPoint presentation, Dane made his case. “Today kids need reasons to play outside,” he said. “The children of Severance want the opportunity to have a snowball fight like the rest of the world.”

The council voted unanimously in favor of wintry mayhem to cheers, and Dane threw out the first entirely legal snowball in Severance in almost 100 years.

“You can change laws,” Dane says of his first foray into local government. “It doesn’t matter how old you are. You can have a voice in your town.”

Not only did Dane have a target in mind – his 4-year-old brother – he also has his sights set on another regulation he thinks has outlived its purpose, he told The Associated Press. The town defines a “pet” as a cat or a dog. Dane has a guinea pig.

Here are our five stories for the day, including three different takes on the complexity of crossing cultures and borders.