In the news
■ Yaakov Billig, director of a dig in Jerusalem for the Israeli Antiquities Authority, said “only the rich could afford toilets” after archaeologists found a rare carved limestone toilet dating back more than 2,700 years, when private bathrooms were a luxury in the holy city.
■ Tylin Parker, 6, a first-grader in Newton, Miss., told his mother he would still be friends with another student who accidentally shot him while playing with a gun he’d brought to school, saying “He didn’t mean to do it,” and “He didn’t know the gun was cocked.”
■ Lindsey Graham, 66, the Republican U.S. senator from South Carolina, generated boos and loud cries of “No!” after telling a group of GOP faithful at a Summerville country club that they need to “think about” getting the coronavirus vaccination.
■ Rainess Holmes, 36, suspected of fatally shooting a Rhodes College student during an off-campus home invasion in Memphis, faces first-degree murder and other charges after being arrested by a U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force.
■ Blake Turman, sheriff of Covington County, Ala., said a 95-year-old man in Dozier was taking a nap when he heard someone breaking into his home, grabbed a weapon and ran off an intruder who was later charged with burglary.
■ Alvaro Zabaleta, a Miami-Dade police spokesman, said three floors of a high-rise condominium in Bal Harbour, Fla., were evacuated after a property manager found chemicals possibly used for a meth lab in a unit from which a tenant had been evicted.
■ Perry Phillips, 31, and Benjamin Foster, 33, two Rhode Island men accused of shooting off maritime distress flares to celebrate a friend’s wedding, sparking a U.S. Coast Guard searchand-rescue effort, agreed to pay $5,000 each to settle the case, federal prosecutors said.
■ Mike Blakely, 70, the former sheriff of Limestone County, Ala., who was removed from office and is free on bond after being convicted of theft and ethics violations, gave the jail he ran for years rave reviews after spending two weeks as an inmate, saying the food was good and the staff “took very good care of me.”
■ Chris Krepski, a spokesman for Canada’s Transportation Safety Board, said the investigation is ongoing after a small, nearly 50-yearold airplane towing a “Will you marry me?” banner crashed near Montreal, killing a passenger and injuring the pilot.