In the news
■ Vernie O. Dickens was jailed in the shooting of an employee of Draque’s Barber Shop in Kansas City, Mo., which is believed to have occurred because Dickens was unhappy with his haircut, for which he was not charged, then the next day was asked to wait to have the cut corrected.
■ Larry Hogan, governor of Maryland, said an inspector general’s report “confirmed the existence of a massive grade-fixing scheme” in Baltimore’s high schools, with 12,542 examples of grades changed from failing to passing over several years, as he referred the findings to prosecutors.
■ Marc Tragesser, former police chief in Marble Hill, Mo., was sentenced to nine months in prison after pleading guilty to deprivation of rights, namely using excessive force against a woman involved in a domestic dispute.
■ Spencer Hawkins of the emergency management department in Macon-Bibb County, Ga., said “You can see it and you can smell it; this is not a place people should be living” as a homeless camp in Macon was bulldozed, with one resident saying she’d take her plywood home elsewhere.
■ Carl Paladino, a Republican candidate for Congress in New York, conceded he was wrong to invoke Adolf Hitler when he said the dictator was “the kind of leader we need today” because of his ability to rally crowds, calling his comment “a serious mistake.”
■ Paul Andrecola of New Jersey must forfeit $2.7 million as he awaits sentencing for making and selling unregistered pesticides as disinfectants against covid-19, including sales to the U.S. Marshals Service and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
■ Thitisan Utthanaphon, a former Thai police colonel nicknamed Jo Ferrari for his collection of luxury cars, and five subordinates were sentenced to life in prison for the torture and killing of a drug suspect from whom they tried to extort about $29,000, then doubled the sum.
■ Rittipong Bachkul, the day’s first customer, commented “I can say it out loud, that I am a cannabis smoker; I don’t need to hide” as Thailand became the first Asian country to legalize cultivation and possession of marijuana for medical and industrial use.
■ Julie Green of the Cape Coral, Fla., Police Department said a predawn call about a burglary in progress at the the Guns 4 Less store turned out to be a 14-yearold and his 11-year-old brother, who were charged with 22 counts of grand theft of a firearm.