In the news
■ Randall Keith Byrd, 66, of West Monroe, La., was sentenced to four years in prison and ordered to repay nearly $1.4 million after he charged eBay customers nearly $2 million for gold bullion or coins that he never sent, according to prosecutors.
■ Peter Williston, 50, a former spokesman for the Birmingham, Ala., Police Department, asked a Jefferson County judge for mercy during a hearing in which he was sentenced to 21 years in prison for sexually abusing a female teenage relative over a period of several years.
■ Jeff Haines, a spokesman for the Hunt County, Texas, sheriff’s office, said a 23-month-old child died at a hospital after the toddler, unnoticed by family members, left an enclosed yard in Quinlan and walked a short distance along a gravel road and was attacked by a dog.
■ Temjen Toy, the chief secretary of Nagaland, India, said in a statement that the state has banned the sale of dog meat, both cooked and uncooked, and halted the import and trading of dogs to be used for food in the wake of an appeal by lawmaker Maneka Gandhi.
■ Aaron Dun, 32, a prisoner at the Elayn Hunt Correctional Center in St. Gabriel, La., awaiting trial on home invasion, aggravated kidnapping and armed robbery charges, was captured by authorities after he got caught in the razor wire during an escape attempt, prison officials said.
■ Kenneth Stokes, a city councilman in Jackson, Miss., is proposing that the city buy 100,000 masks to distribute to residents after the council passed a rule requiring people to wear masks in public, saying the “poor, sick and elderly must have masks.”
■ Steven Fulbright, the chairman of the Macon Film Festival in Georgia, said event attendees will have a variety of ways to stay safe while enjoying the films, including viewing films online, after festival organizers announced that they will hold the event despite the pandemic.
■ Andrew Stacy , a spokesman for the Morgantown, W.Va., Police Department, said an officer will not be disciplined after a video emerged on social media of the officer shooting a possum on a residential street because the animal was injured.
■ Ariel Esparza, a spokeswoman for the Irving, Texas, Police Department, said police shot and killed a man who fired at the officers while they were responding to a call from a woman who said her husband had shot her.