In the news
Kelda Roys, a former Wisconsin legislator who is running for governor, posted an online campaign video touting her efforts to pass legislation to ban the chemical bisphenol A from baby bottles and spill-proof cups as she breastfeeds her 4-month-old daughter.
Chris Blinston, a tattoo shop owner in Coral Springs, Fla., said he and other artists worked extra hours to meet the demand for free tattoos offered in exchange for donations to benefit the high school in nearby Parkland where 17 people died Feb. 14 in a mass shooting.
Leslie Gibson, a Republican and the only declared candidate for the Maine Legislature’s 57th District seat, is being criticized for using Twitter to attack two students who survived the shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla., calling one a “skinhead lesbian” and the other a “bald-faced liar.”
The Rev. Bernice King, 54, the surviving daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., had a private audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Monday where she presented the pontiff with the sixth volume of the slain civil rights leader’s published papers.
James Tauzin, 39, of Long Beach, Miss., described by sheriff’s deputies as a caregiver, faces two felony counts after being accused of throwing a 61-year-old man to the ground twice, breaking first an arm and then a hip, and refusing to allow the man to call for help.
Ben Jaffe, creative director for the Preservation Hall Jazz Band in New Orleans, said an anonymous tip enabled the group to recover its brass sousaphone, a big brass wraparound tuba that was stolen Feb. 26 and now needs some “tender loving repairs.”
Joe Legge, spokesman for Walker County, Ga., said vandals overturned several transformers filled with oil and cancer-causing chemicals, which leaked into a nearby drainage ditch in Rossville before being contained by emergency workers.
Randy Hames, 75, an attorney in Cullman, Ala., faces human trafficking charges in addition to stalking and promoting prostitution counts after investigators said two women complained that he asked for sex in place of rent payments.
Ahmed Alaklouk, a Saudi Arabian citizen living in the U.S. on an expired student visa, was arrested on federal weapons charges after authorities in Indianapolis discovered an AR-15-style rifle and six handguns in his truck on the day of a Jan. 20 women’s march event.