In the news
■ Marcia Eymann, historian for Sacramento, Calif., finds it “very bizarre” that a statue of a 19th-century rancher who made a fortune in butchering was decapitated, wondering if “they’re vegetarians and didn’t like meat-packers.”
■ Stefanie Knowlton, in the cheering crowd in Depoe Bay, Ore., as Whale Watch Week made its post-pandemic return, reveled in “just so much energy” and said “you could just really feel that people were ready to come back and watch whales together” as they migrate along the coast.
■ Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota, proposed an inspector general and more resources for oversight, audits and investigation after one of the largest pandemic fraud schemes, with $250 million looted from aid meant to feed needy children.
■ William “Rick” Singer, the consultant at the center of the college admissions scandal, told his sentencing judge that the fault lies with a winning-at-all-costs attitude and said he now lives in a trailer park and can’t get a job despite more than 1,000 attempts.
■ Christian Coomer, suspended from the Georgia Court of Appeals, awaits a discipline panel’s say on whether he should be removed over allegations of 36 counts of misconduct, with the judge acknowledging mistakes and saying he won’t repeat them.
■ Gregory Damon, a police officer in Tampa, Fla., was fired after an investigation determined he violated department policies, as evidenced by a videotape of him dragging a handcuffed woman into jail on a trespassing charge.
■ Jody Greene was sworn in as sheriff of Columbus County, N.C., but the district attorney filed a court petition seeking to remove him, citing half a dozen reasons ranging from “highly inappropriate and racially charged statements” to corruption and a sexual relationship with a deputy.
■ Jame Razo, a Los Angeles cameraman who suffered a spinal cord injury on a New Mexico movie set because of the production companies’ alleged negligence, called it “a huge emotional relief” and said he could “finally begin my healing journey” as a jury awarded him $66 million.
■ Lino Pastrana, a customer at the opening of the first legal dispensary for recreational marijuana in New York state, operated by the nonprofit Housing Works in Manhattan, said, “This is historical … we can buy quality instead of buying random weed that you don’t know what it’s mixed with.”