In the news

■ Mary Sommers of Beavercreek, Ohio, said she and her husband, Paul, gave their son Jake’s teachers bottles of white wine for the holiday featuring their son’s picture on the label with the message: “Our child might be the reason you drink so enjoy this bottle on us!”

■ Patrick Jiron, 80, and his wife, Barbara, 70, driving from Northern California to Vermont, were arrested in York County, Neb., accused of having 60 pounds of marijuana in their pickup and telling deputies it was “for Christmas presents.”

■ Chris Orgovan, 43, of Buffalo, N.Y., who pleaded guilty to assault after getting into an argument with a man and biting off a part of his ear that was later reattached by surgeons, was sentenced to three years in prison.

■ Dalia Grybauskaite, president of Lithuania, had to use a microscope to see a Nativity scene at Vilnius’ downtown Cathedral Square in which the baby Jesus is smaller than a human cell, a tiny creche similar to one diplomats gave Pope Francis for Christmas.

■ Paulo Mourao, wearing a white beard, Santa hat, shorts and a Hawaiian shirt, grabbed his surfboard to celebrate the first day of summer Thursday in Brazil at the famed Copacabana beach, greeting children and giving them high-fives.

■ Jeremy Turner, a police officer in Portland, Maine, burst into song in a city park with “O Holy Night,” winning accolades for his rendition after a video of it generated tens of thousands of views on social media.

■ Michiel Vaughn, whose family grew tobacco for decades in Kevil, Ky., stopped growing the plant and now has an anti-smoking message painted on the side of his old tobacco barn under a state program that pays farmers to paint the message advertising a phone number people can call for help to quit smoking.

■ Charles Welsh, 52, a New York City financier, faces arson and other counts after police said he tried to commit suicide by cutting a gas line to blow up his Manhattan apartment, sparking a small explosion and fire and receiving minor burns on his legs.

■ Danni Messina, 19, pledged to pay 25 cents and 50 cents per tweet and retweet to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, expecting to pay under $1,000, but her message went viral and she ended up owing $50,000, which required help from a GoFundMe page and Kmart to raise and ended with $190,000 for the hospital.