In the news
◼ Cameron Clifford, 36, a dentist in Edmond, Okla., said his family adopted a California two-spot octopus because his 9-year-old son, Cal, “has been infatuated with the natural world and with marine biology since he was very little.”
◼ Brandon Scott, Democratic mayor of Baltimore, received several campaign donations above the state’s $6,000 limit from at least nine contributors during the election cycle that began Jan. 1, 2023, according to the mayor’s campaign finance reports.
◼ Chance Brannon, 24, a former U.S. Marine of San Juan Capistrano, Calif., was sentenced to nine years in prison for firebombing a Planned Parenthood clinic in March 2022 in Costa Mesa, federal prosecutors said.
◼ Farid Alilat, an Algerian journalist for the French-language magazine Jeune Afrique, claimed in a Facebook post that he was expelled from his country and spent 11 hours in police custody at the airport before being put onto a plane and sent to France, where he has a residency permit.
◼ Scott Blair, 51, who is accused by federal prosecutors in Kentucky of doing favors for criminal defendants in return for methamphetamine and sexual favors, resigned as the Perry County commonwealth’s attorney and waived his right to a preliminary hearing in his criminal case, said Ned Pillersdorf, his lawyer. m William Brock, 81, of South Charleston, Ohio, faces murder, kidnapping and felonious assault charges as authorities say he fatally shot an Uber driver who he thought was trying to rob him after scam phone calls deceived them both.
◼ Tian Liang Lu, who works at an electric bike shop in New York City, was arrested on reckless endangerment charges as fire marshals say he stored and sold uncertified lithium-ion batteries, making him the first to be arrested for breaking the local law, authorities said.
◼ Robert Courtney, 71, a former Kansas City-area pharmacist who has been incarcerated for diluting prescriptions in a profit-boosting scheme, is being moved to a halfway house this summer, said Mike Ketchmark, an attorney for the victims.
◼ Durrell Kapan, a senior research fellow with San Francisco’s California Academy of Sciences, said reintroducing Xerces Blue butterflies to the dunes in Presidio National Park “isn’t a Jurassic Park-style de-extinction project, but it will have a major impact.”