In the news
Don Young, 84, a gruff, no-nonsense Alaska congressman in his 23rd term who once called the state’s lieutenant governor “Captain Zero” and told a female colleague she didn’t know what she was talking about, is now in charge of ensuring civility in the U.S. House because he’s its longest-serving member.
Eddie Calvo, the governor of Guam, caught on early that something wasn’t right but finished a call, purportedly from the Ukraine prime minister’s office regarding the threat posed by North Korea, that actually came from two Russian comedians who posted a tape of the call on social media.
Jade Eastman, 10, won a gift bag from a supermarket, beating two 12-year-old competitors to take first place in a grilled-cheese-sandwich cooking contest held during an annual agricultural trade show in Augusta, Maine.
Mick Ruis, a developer in Whitefish, Mont., gave the green light for crews to demolish a commercial building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright after a Chicago-based conservancy group missed a Wednesday deadline to find a buyer willing to pay $1.7 million for the historic building.
Gavin Becker enlisted his family’s help to write “Marry Me” in 25-foot letters using a snowblower on the frozen Eight Crow Wing Lake near Nevis, Minn., and then rented a plane to fly his girlfriend, Olivia Toft, over the handiwork and hear her say “Yes.”
Daniel O’Malley, 49, of Worcester, Mass., and Kara Kelleher-Mahunick of Holden pleaded innocent to armed robbery and other charges after police said they used a dating app to lure a Rhode Island man to a motel to rob him.
Speck Mellencamp, 22, a son of rocker John Mellencamp, who police said got into a fight with his brother, Hud, outside a restaurant in Bloomington, Ind., pleaded guilty to public intoxication and was sentenced to six months’ probation and 25 hours of community service.
Eric Thornton said an owl swooped down as he left his town house in midtown Atlanta, cutting his head and making him the third person to report an owl attack since Dec. 23.
Trameka Brown-Berry, whose 9-year-old black son attends a private school in Wauwatosa, Wis., called it shocking for a teacher to ask fourth-graders in a homework assignment to list three good reasons for slavery and three bad ones, saying people aren’t asked to give three good reasons for rape or the Holocaust.