In the news
■ James E.K. Hildreth, president of Meharry Medical College, a historically black college in Nashville, Tenn., announced that each of its 965 students will receive a $10,000 gift from the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund, part of a federal coronavirus aid package.
■ Carlos Quintana-Arias, a Mexican citizen, was charged with trying to smuggle record-breaking amounts of drugs into the U.S., including 17,500 pounds of methamphetamine and 389 pounds of fentanyl, hidden inside a truck at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry in San Diego, prosecutors said.
■ Tim Gionet, a far-right social media personality who calls himself “Baked Alaska,” has been charged with misdemeanors after being accused of damaging a Hanukkah display in December 2020 in a plaza next to the Arizona Capitol in Phoenix, prosecutors said.
■ Ben Burford, 32, a former New Orleans police officer who lost his job after being accused of rape, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of indecent behavior involving a 20-year-old woman and was placed on four years’ probation, prosecutors said.
■ German police said a 37-year-old man, who wasn’t identified due to privacy laws, is under investigation after he drove himself to his driving test in Bergheim, telling officers he got behind the wheel because he didn’t want to be late for the exam.
■ Tyra Haag, a spokesman for the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, said members must move out of the Alpha Tau Omega house, the university’s oldest fraternity, after the chapter was suspended for five years for repeated hazing and alcohol violations.
■ Jean Castex, the prime minister of France seen maskless in videos shaking hands with elected officials in an enclosed space at a meeting in Paris, is being singled out on social media as an example of what not to do in a pandemic after he tested positive for covid-19.
■ Travares Comegys,a Jones County, Miss., supervisor accused by state auditors of illegally using a government-owned car and cellphone to operate his beauty supply business, was charged by a grand jury with embezzling nearly $3,000.
■ Seth Rollins, a WWE wrestler, got an unexpected bout as he walked away from the ring at the Barclays Center in New York City when he was tackled by a spectator, who was arrested after he took Rollins to the floor and grappled with him before being pulled away by referees.