Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
In the news
■ Jason Havel and co-defendant John Forbes were both sentenced to nine months in jail and ordered to pay about $30,000 in restitution after being convicted of stealing 100,000 diapers from a charity in Fox Crossing, Wis., prosecutors said.
■ Cesar Rodriguez of Dallas was ordered to take down or alter a mural he erected a month ago honoring five police officers who died in a 2016 sniper attack because the 8-foot fence on which it was painted violates building codes, inspectors said.
■ Natasha Boggs, 24, of New Franklin, Ohio, was texting on her phone while driving when she struck and killed two 14-year-old girls and injured a 15-year-old boy as they walked along a road, resulting in Boggs’ arrest on charges including vehicular homicide and driving while texting, authorities said.
■ Demario Webster, 32, tried to hide from police in an attic at an apartment complex in Winter Haven, Fla., but was arrested on burglary and other counts when a resident told officers that Webster had fallen through a ceiling into a woman’s shower.
■ Tami Barker was banned from Airbnb, ordered to take an Asian-American studies course and fined $5,000 for canceling a reservation for a cabin in Big Bear Lake, Calif., because the guest was of Asian descent, said state fair-housing and employment officials.
■ Scott Ludlam, 47, deputy leader of Australia’s Greens party and a senator for nine years, resigned, saying he was “personally devastated” to learn that he was a citizen of New Zealand as well as Australia, making him ineligible to serve in Parliament under the country’s constitution.
■ Colm Toibin, an Irish novelist, journalist and essayist, has been named this year’s winner of a lifetime achievement award recognizing the power of literature to foster peace, social justice and global understanding, organizers of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize said.
■ Sara Gideon, speaker of Maine’s House of Representatives and a Democrat, removed fellow Democratic state Rep. Scott Hamann from his committee assignments even though he apologized for posting on social media that President Donald Trump is a “half-term president, at most, especially if I ever get within 10 feet.”
■ Ronnie Manning, a sheriff ’s deputy in Washington Parish, La., is being praised for smashing the window of a burning, overturned car to rescue two women who were later arrested on charges that included driving while intoxicated and drug possession.