In the news
■ Andrew Koutsoufis, detective superintendent with the New South Wales, Australia state police force, called an alleged plot to export reptiles illegally “cold-blooded and cruel” after four people were charged over it and 257 reptiles were released back into the wild.
■ Dru Marshall, a 26-yearold from Hampshire, England, was found guilty of fraud by false representation after he tried to sell what he claimed was a walking stick used by the late Queen Elizabeth II.
■ Tate Reeves, the Republican governor of Mississippi, said during his inauguration speech that he wants to curb the trend of kids leaving the state for their careers as “we missed out on all they could have done here at home.”
■ Hung Jung-chang, head of a Nationalist Party campaign office in Central Taiwan, issued an apology after three people were hospitalized when they ate colorful pods of liquid laundry detergent that were handed out as a door-to-door campaign gift, saying, “In the next wave of visits, we will not distribute this kind of campaign material.”
■ Cassie Chambers Armstrong, a Democratic state senator from Louisville, remarked, “I think one of the places we can find common ground is helping support our working families,” as she filed a bill drawing bipartisan support to exempt diapers from Kentucky’s 6% sales tax.
■ Vincent Lopez, a deputy with the Lee County sheriff’s office in Florida, drew admiration after the office made a post reporting he was able to transport an injured bobcat to the Blue Pearl Animal Hospital for treatment, all without himself getting hurt.
■ Sarah Unsicker, a Missouri state representative from St. Louis, announced she would run for governor after being kicked out of the state House Democratic caucus for her ties to a man cited as a Holocaust denier by the Anti-Defamation League.
■ Katrina Shealy, a Republican state senator for South Carolina, said, “You break the ceiling and they come from everywhere” as the state went up from having the least number of women in its upper chamber to six when Democrat Tameika Isaac Devine took the oath of office.
■ Kevin Merida said in a statement that he would be stepping down from his position as executive editor of the Los Angeles Times “after considerable soul-searching about my career … and how I can best be of value.”