In the news

■ Lauren Palmer, a veterinarian at the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans, said the zoo saved the lives of two visually impaired sea lions, taking in Ayah, who lost her left eye to a bullet, and Jolee, who has cataracts in both eyes.

■ Glenn Anderson, host of Cleveland radio station WDOK-FM, announced that the 1944 song “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” in which one singer tries to persuade the other to stay, and includes an exchange of lyrics like “What’s in this drink?” and “Baby, don’t hold out,” has been removed from the station’s holiday music playlist after listeners said the song is inappropriate.

■ Arnav Uppalapati, 19, of North Carolina, who initially told police that he found his mother’s dead body in the garage when he got home from school, was sentenced to 12-15 years in prison after pleading guilty to choking her when he was 16 during an argument over pizza.

■ Matt Elliott, with the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, said murderer Patrick Walker, 34, escaped from a county jail by posing as another prisoner and conspiring with a friend outside the lockup to post bail for the inmate Walker impersonated.

■ Robert Kendel, 48, who was convicted in 1993 of sexual battery on a child and is a registered sex offender, was arrested after authorities in Florida received a tip that he was playing Santa Claus and hadn’t notify them beforehand, breaking the terms of his probation.

■ Chris Muffoletto, manager at a restaurant in Lafayette, La., said the eatery’s staff worked together to raise money to buy dishwasher Kea Senegal a new car after his vehicle, which he had saved for months to buy, was stolen just before Thanksgiving.

■ Kevin Heffner, 48, a Baptist pastor and principal at Victory Baptist Academy in North Carolina, was sentenced to at least 26 years in prison for performing inappropriate sex acts with a child and sending nude pictures to a girl at his school.

■ Derek Grove, director of the Dudley Zoo in central England, said the zoo had “no other option in the interest of public safety” but to shoot and kill an 8-yearold rare snow leopard after it got out of its enclosure when a door was left open.

■ Zachary Williams, a U.S. Naval Academy midshipman from Canal Fulton, Ohio, was sentenced to 13 months of confinement and dismissed from the Navy after pleading guilty to using and distributing illegal drugs.