In the news
Chris Swallow of London’s Fire Brigade said firefighters, told to “bond” with Jessie, an escaped pet parrot that spent three days on a neighbor’s roof, instead “discovered that she had a bit of a foul mouth and kept swearing” at her would-be rescuers before flying down on her own.
Kevin Brooks, 27, of Springfield, Mo., accused of aiming a rifle at an anti-abortion protester as he and a woman waited for an abortion clinic in Granite City, Ill., to open, denied the allegation, saying the weapon was unloaded and that he only lifted it up for the man to see.
Joshua McCall, a Transportation Security Administration officer at New Jersey’s Newark airport, drew attention for a video on social media in which he showed off his dance moves after a boy, passing through security with his family, challenged McCall to a dance-off.
John Caver, 77, of Selma, Ala., faces up to 20 years in prison after being convicted of shooting and wounding his adult son as they argued over chicken wings while watching football together in 2016, prosecutors said.
Thomas Tramaglini, the school superintendent in Kenilworth, N.J., accused of repeatedly defecating on another high school’s track, will receive more than $100,000 from his district, including his salary until he resigns in September, as well as severance pay and payment for unused vacation days.
Sophie Hayes, a London police detective, called the case a “true example” of cooperation between investigators and scholars when a 12th-century statue of Buddha discovered at an arttrade fair was returned to a museum in India 57 years after it was stolen.
Brad Heflin, 40, pleaded guilty to his fifth drivingwhile-intoxicated charge and was sentenced to six years in prison after police in Gulfport, Miss., pulled over his vehicle and found him with a blood-alcohol level of 0.22 percent and a bottle of whiskey on the passenger seat.
Brandon King, 29, is facing jail time after pleading guilty to several misdemeanor counts filed after his pickup hit a horse-drawn buggy near Sheridan, Mich., killing three Mennonite children.
Kevin Gargan, a firefighter in Gloucester, Mass., said a man arrived at the fire station, saying, “I have a funny story,” after he accidentally dropped his wedding band into a boot as he made a donation during the department’s benefit drive for young people with muscular dystrophy.