In the news

■ James Smith, who will serve about a month as mayor of Rochester, N.Y., until Mayor-elect Malik Evans is sworn in on Jan. 1, took the oath of office remotely while in isolation in his apartment since he tested positive for the coronavirus.

■ Milly Hardwick, 13, said she, her father and grandfather started dancing with excitement when, using a metal detector, she found a 3,000-year-old bronze ax head followed by a trove of more than 60 other bronze artifacts in a field in Royston, England.

■ Jeremy Kamperveen, 19, of Plantation, Fla., faces extortion and cyberstalking charges after being accused of threatening to release sexually explicit photos of Florida state Sen. Lauren Book, a Democrat who is a longtime advocate for child and sexual abuse victims.

■ Kelley Nile, an elementary school nutrition manager in Grovetown, Ga., was fired after she was arrested on a drug possession charge when a cafeteria worker found a small amount of methamphetamine in an employee restroom near the kitchen, authorities said.

■ Volha Zalatar, a Belarus activist who is the mother of five young children, was sentenced to four years in prison after she was convicted of creating an “extremist group” that was active on social media in the country’s 2020 presidential election but later organized concerts, parties and walks.

■ Melissa Smith, 37, of Tuscaloosa, Ala., who was seen pushing a shopping cart that held a friend’s baby inside a Walmart store, was arrested on accusations of possessing marijuana and on other counts after workers reported finding the 4-month-old girl abandoned in the store.

■ Victor Santana, 65, of Dayton, Ohio, who lost a bid to use the state’s new “stand your ground” defense, was convicted of murder and felonious assault for fatally shooting two 17-year-olds he found smoking marijuana inside a vehicle in his home’s garage, prosecutors said.

■ Felix Delgado, accused of awarding 50 city contracts worth nearly $10 million to an asphalt company in return for luxury watches and $100,000 in cash, resigned as mayor of Catano, Puerto Rico, after pleading guilty to conspiracy and bribery, prosecutors said.

■ Francis Vercammen, a veterinarian at the Antwerp Zoo in Belgium, said a pair of adult hippopotamuses that developed “exceptionally” runny noses are in isolation but doing well after testing positive for covid-19.