In the news
George Bell, a diver wearing a Santa Claus suit, answered questions via an underwater microphone about coral reefs and reindeer in a 212,000-gallon tank holding thousands of reef fish during the annual “Scuba Santa” show at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.
Dick Galbraith, who originally lost a coin toss in what was thought to be a tied race for a seat on the Heyburn, Idaho, City Council, was declared the winner after a recount showed he actually won by a single vote, 113-112.
Edouard Philippe, the prime minister of France, said he will “assume responsibility” for spending $414,000 on a private plane to fly himself and his 60-member delegation back to France from New Caledonia, a French territory in the South Pacific.
Robert Gray Jr., 55, whose medical conditions bar him from holding a pilot’s license, pleaded guilty to flying without a license, telling federal investigators that his prosthetic leg got caught in his aircraft’s brake, causing a crash as he landed at an airport in Suffolk, Va.
Guilherme Assuncao, 23, a grocery store worker in Watertown, Mass., mesmerized his boss and customers when, volunteering to do a sound check for a store event, he broke into operatic renditions of popular Christmas music, including “O Holy Night.”
Jason Mikesell, the sheriff of Teller County, Colo., said a couple was arrested when they arrived at a prearranged meeting to buy an SUV that Mikesell had listed for sale on Craigslist and they offered to trade about 4 pounds of illegal homegrown marijuana for it.
Tom Ahart, a school superintendent in Des Moines, Iowa, and his wife, Jami, became temporary legal guardians of a 17-yearold Guatemalan so that she could stay in the U.S. to earn her high school diploma after her parents were forced to leave because they were illegal aliens.
Michael Clough, assistant director of a natural history museum in Marlboro, Vt., said a snapping turtle named Basil will get a custom-made tank for Christmas thanks to a family that matched the $4,000 already raised toward the project.
Robert Voorhees, a police officer in Hopewell Township, N.J., fastened a rope to himself and crawled across a partially frozen pond to rescue a dog that had fallen through the ice and couldn’t crawl out, with the two being pulled to safety by other officers.