In the news

▪ Pope Francis made a surprise visit to the Spanish Steps in Rome to leave a basket of white roses and to pray for people struggling in the pandemic after the Vatican had announced that the pope’s annual visit to the square had been canceled because of social-distancing concerns.

▪ Alex Villanueva , the Los Angeles County, Calif., sheriff, said deputies arrested 158 people — many of whom were not wearing masks — who attended an illegal “super- spreader” party at a vacant house despite the state’s surge in coronavirus cases.

▪ Mal Osborn , 92, of Winston-Salem, N.C., who earned a varsity letter jacket in his track career at the University of Maine, lost the jacket when it fell off his car in October but got it back after his daughter posted a plea on social media that resulted in an email from a woman who had found the garment.

▪ Jeff Johnson , sheriff of Dawson County, Ga., said a 14-year-old girl is facing aggravated-assault and felony murder charges and likely will be charged as an adult in the stabbing of an 11-year-old boy.

▪ Annette Alvarez , manager of a Pembroke Pines, Fla., shopping center that was shut down briefly when police rushed in on what they thought was an armed break-in at a men’s clothing store, said the store hadn’t received permission for it to be used in a music video.

▪ Jason Autry , a convicted felon who was released from prison after his trial testimony helped convict a Tennessee man in the 2011 slaying of nursing student Holly Bobo, has been charged with weapon and drug offenses, authorities said.

▪ Randy Anderson , 46, of Conehatta, Miss., a former official for the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, faces up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to forging hotel bills and receipts and submitting them to the tribal government for reimbursement, prosecutors said.

▪ Douglas Patterson ,a former judge in Limestone County, Ala., who pleaded guilty to taking money from a juvenile-court fund and ethics charges was sentenced to four years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $73,000 in restitution.

▪ Hayley Orlinsky ,a 7-year-old from Chicago, has spent her time during the coronavirus pandemic making bracelets out of colorful rubber bands and selling them for $3 to $5 each to raise nearly $20,000 to buy masks, face shields and other gear that’s to be used by a children’s hospital.