In the news
■ Claudine Gay, a child of Haitian immigrants who became a dean at Harvard University and a democracy scholar, said she was “absolutely humbled” as it was revealed she’ll become the school’s 30th president, making her the first Black person and the second woman at the helm.
■ Vivek Malek, an immigration lawyer who moved to Missouri from India in pursuit of a master’s degree, was named state treasurer by the governor, making him the first nonwhite statewide official in Missouri history.
■ Kristi Noem, governor of South Dakota, was cleared by the state ethics board over a complaint she used government aircraft to get to political events because the law does not define what is meant by “state business,” which she said included her work as an “ambassador” to bolster the economy.
■ Eric Adams, mayor of New York, put his pandemic mask back on and encouraged other city residents to do the same as he cited the need for caution in the face of a winter surge of covid-19, plus flu and RSV.
■ Ron Mezich of the Florida Wildlife Commission said lettuce simply appears at the site near Cape Canaveral where threatened manatees are being fed for a second year, so “it looks like a gift from heaven rather than a hand from a person; we don’t want to change behavior.”
■ Patrick Donnelly of the Center for Biological Diversity said lithium “is an important part of our renewable energy transition, but it can’t come at the cost of extinction,” as the Nevada wildflower Tiehm’s buckwheat was declared endangered in the only place it’s known to exist, prompting federal review of a mine project.
■ Evan Marshall of Rogersville, Mo., was sentenced to five years and 10 months in prison as the leader of a ring that stole tens of thousands of catalytic converters, which prosecutors said were taken to an Arkansas business in a multimillion-dollar scheme.
■ Chuck Cantrell, a Republic Waste manager in Huntsville, Ala., credited a driver’s alertness after a homeless man sleeping in a dumpster and thrown into the bed of a garbage truck was lucky enough to be pulled out before the compactor activated.
■ Steven D. King, an Alabama judge, has been suspended due to violating judicial ethics in 2020 when he sent several letters and packages regarding the attitude of an officer and county commissioners to elected officials, including himself.