In the news
■ Yuliver Rodriguez-Tejeda, 43, of Houston tried to get a one-day head start on Florida’s spiny lobster mini-season and was arrested on numerous charges, including 14 counts of possessing out-of-season lobsters, after he was caught poaching off Islamorada, authorities said.
■ Louie Gohmert, 66, a Texas Republican congressman who frequently walked around the Capitol without wearing a mask or maintaining social distancing, has tested positive for the coronavirus, which prevented him from joining President Donald Trump on Air Force One for a trip to Texas.
■ Reynold Verret, president of Xavier University of Louisiana, the country’s only Catholic and historically Black university, said a $20 million gift from Mackenzie Scott, the former wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, will allow the school to expand scholarships and make needed investments.
■ Jerry Thompson, 42, of Hartford, Conn., accused of using a samurai sword to decapitate his landlord during a rent dispute, declared that he is a “sovereign citizen” and refused to talk to police after his arrest or during his arraignment in court.
■ Bruce Hodgkinson, an attorney for Ardent Leisure Group, which owns a theme park in Gold Coast, Australia, where four people died on a river rapids ride in 2016, said the company will plead guilty to violating workplace safety laws and faces more than $3.3 million in fines.
■ Kese Smith, a Houston police spokesman, said a 12-year-old boy, who initially told investigators that he saw a man dressed in black leaving an apartment where a 51-year-old woman was found dead, has been arrested on murder and aggravated assault charges in the case.
■ Concepcion Malinek, 50, of Cicero, Ill., pleaded guilty to a U.S. labor trafficking charge for helping people from Guatemala enter the U.S. and then forcing them to stay at her home until they paid what they owed her.
■ Richard Moore, political director of Britain’s foreign office and a former ambassador, has been appointed the new chief of the country’s Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known as MI6, which he first joined in 1987.
■ Katrina Robinson,a Tennessee state senator from Memphis, is facing theft and fraud charges, accused of using more than $600,000 in U.S. funds sent to a health care company she directed to pay for her wedding and other personal expenses, prosecutors said.