In the news
■ Alberto Garzon, Spain’s minister of consumer affairs, said customer service “far too often causes endless headaches for Spanish families” as the government moves to require companies to provide a flesh-and-blood customer service worker when requested by a caller.
■ Darin Schierbaum, an assistant chief who joined the Atlanta Police Department in 2002, was picked to lead the force on an interim basis while city officials search for a permanent replacement for outgoing Chief Rodney Bryant, Mayor Andre Dickens said.
■ Tom Whatley, a state senator from Auburn, Ala., has the option of requesting a recount, though he’d have to pay for it himself, after his four-vote loss to primary challenger Jay Hovey narrowed to a single vote after the provisional ballots were counted.
■ Maria Elvira Quintanilla Cebreros of Tijuana, Mexico, who sued Los Angeles County when it didn’t notify her of her son’s death and cremated him without permission, violating her religious beliefs, will get a $445,000 settlement if it’s approved by the Board of Supervisors.
■ Arthur Brun, former vice chair of the Public Safety and Human Services Committee on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for leading a drug-trafficking ring, admitting he sold methamphetamine to support his own habit.
■ Staci Lehman of Washington state’s Fish and Wildlife Department advises “don’t take your eyes off the animal,” but “in this instance, this little girl did nothing wrong,” as a 9-year-old was in stable condition after being attacked by a cougar while playing hideand-seek at a church camp.
■ Jean Peters Baker, Jackson County, Mo., prosecutor, had his office charge a 21-year-old man with two felonies after authorities say he fired several shots at a group of disc golf players in a Kansas City park and wounded one of them.
■ Jennings Ryan Staley, a doctor who owns Skinny Beach Med Spa in San Diego, was sentenced to 30 days in prison and a year of home confinement for trying to smuggle hydroxychloroquine from China to sell as a covid-19 cure by labeling it “yam extract.”
■ Kayla Collins of LasVegasElvisWeddingChapel.com and the Little Chapel of Hearts lamented “we were just hitting our stride again through covid, then this happens” as the licensing company that controls “The King” ordered Sin City chapel operators to stop using Elvis in themed ceremonies.