In the news
Justin Fleetwood, a tattoo artist in Springfield, Mo., said he hopes other tattoo artists will join him in offering free cover-ups of racist tattoos to people who’ve had a change of heart, adding he’s been surprised by the amount of interest in his offer.
Ginger Tastet, the litter coordinator for Tangipahoa Parish, La., said the parish is going to crack down on enforcement of its litter ordinance after the Parish Council changed the law to punish litterers with both a fine and trash pickup duty, rather than one or the other.
Mark Siddall, a curator at the American Museum of Natural History, estimated that a 1.93-pound, 8.66-inch oyster found in New York Harbor, which naturalists say may be the biggest found there in 100 years, is probably about 30 years old.
Christian Devaux, 25, of Tolland, Conn., faces charges including illegal discharge of a firearm and making a false statement to police, with authorities saying he first told them shots he fired in his home came during an attempted breakin but later said he believed the intruder was actually a ghost.
David Rahinsky, the police chief in Grand Rapids, Mich., said officers followed department policy when they handcuffed 11-yearold twins and a 17-year-old friend at gunpoint while responding to a report of youths with a handgun, and that the cuffs were removed when no gun was found, although the twins’ mother has said the boys, who are black, were racially profiled.
Joel Robideaux, the mayor of Lafayette, La., where the president of the local public library board resigned amid debate over plans to hold a “Drag Queen Story Hour,” has said he may seek to cancel the program, although the Delta Lambda Phi social fraternity from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette was still going ahead with the plan.
Ashton Dunlap Berry, 51, was charged with first-degree murder in the death of his sister, Angie A. Walls, after the 53-yearold woman was found dead in an inflatable swimming pool on the back deck of a home the siblings shared in Warrenton, Va., authorities said.
Deonte Buffington-Hardy, 27, was sentenced to life in prison for killing 26-year-old Brandon Nunnally and was also convicted of sexual misconduct, with prosecutors saying he exposed himself to detectives who were questioning him after he was identified as a suspect.