In the news
Mohamed Khayrow, director-general of Somalia’s Ministry of Religious Affairs, said the government of Somalia has banned Christmas and New Year’s celebrations, calling them “contrary to Islamic culture” and citing such festivities as potential targets for terrorists.
Adrian Adams, a Jefferson Parish, La., judge, decided that Vintage Church in Metairie, whose neighbors have complained that loud music and amplified sermons during Sunday outdoor services disturb their sleep and rattle their windows, can be cited for violating a noise ordinance, something the church had argued violated its religious rights.
Michael Cunniff, the Air Force brigadier general who leads New Jersey’s National Guard and who had been reprimanded by the Pentagon over his extra weight, has passed a fitness test and met Gov. Chris Christie’s 90-day deadline to slim down.
Scotty Moree, a deputy in Rogers County, Okla., pulled over a car driven by an Arizona couple to write a warning citation for improperly signaling a lane change, but instead arrested them after his dog alerted him to four Christmas gift boxes in the trunk that held 8 pounds of methamphetamine.
Susan Layne of Portland, Ore., has sued the drunken driver who struck her in a crosswalk, seeking $4,600 for destroyed designer items she had with her or was wearing when she was hit, including a Chanel handbag and Prada boots.
Ashton Funk, 34, of Northfield, N.J., is facing the loss of his $78,096-a-year job as a firefighter and lifeguard after he was convicted of shoplifting $7.98 worth of items from a convenience store.
The Rev. Canon Andrew Todd, a vicar at St. Francis de Sales Oratory in St. Louis, said a thief stole from the church an ornate, hand-carved, century-old confessional door worth thousands of dollars.
Leroy Hebert, 27, of Lafayette, La., accused of stealing a cellphone at gunpoint, was arrested after police pretended to be a woman and used a dating app to arrange to meet him at a hotel.
Isabelle LaPeruta, 7, who called 911 in a panic saying that she had destroyed the magic of Christmas because she had accidentally touched the Elf on a Shelf in her family’s Old Bridge, N.J., home after a ball she threw sent the toy to the floor, apologized to the officer who responded and promised not to call 911 again.