In the news
■ Robert Tarleton, a New Jersey state trooper who rushed to help after he saw a tractor-trailer rig careen into an interstate bridge abutment and burst into flames, worked with state police Lt. Edward Ryer to drag the driver to safety just seconds before the truck exploded.
■ Mark Gebhart, 53, a doctor for 21 years who works in the emergency department of a hospital in Middletown, Ohio, has been commissioned into the Army Reserve where he hopes his experience will help him care for wounded soldiers in the field.
■ Timothy Ireland Jr., 42, of Toledo, Ohio, jailed since August after being accused of making an online threat against U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of ammunition and was sentenced to time served.
■ Aiden Davidson, 32, a Tennessee man also known as Hamed Aliabadi, pleaded guilty in federal court to smuggling more than $100,000 worth of motors, pumps, valves and other items from Savannah, Ga., to an online resale business in Tehran, Iran.
■ Travis Knighten, 47, serving a 90-year sentence for participating in the 1993 murder of a Kansas corrections officer, was charged in a 55-count federal indictment with running a Wichita drug ring from his prison cell in McAlester, Okla., prosecutors said.
■ Caitlin Poytress, 39, a nurses aide at an elementary school in Chesterfield, Va., who was convicted of child neglect and other counts after stealing students’ prescription medications and replacing them with other drugs, was sentenced to five years in prison.
■ Jodine Meyers said her 73-year-old mother, Linda Scharrenberg, who had just enjoyed a cocktail with her husband on the deck of their home in East Hardwick, Vt., where they had talked about their mortality, was fatally struck in the head by a piece of ice that fell from the roof.
■ John DeSteiguer, president of Oklahoma Christian University, apologized and said the university “parted” ways with a college recruiter within an hour of the recruiter telling students at an Oklahoma City high school assembly to line up by skin color and hair texture.
■ Phil Murphy, the governor of New Jersey, underwent successful surgery to remove a suspected cancerous tumor from his kidney, according to Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver, who will serve as acting governor “until further notice.”