In the news

■ Ralph Northam, Virginia’s outgoing governor, said his administration has reversed course and decided to remove the 40-foottall, graffiti-covered pedestal that formerly held a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Richmond.

■ Tim Gilbert, a Black man who was convicted of aggravated assault by an all-white jury that deliberated in a room containing Confederate symbols, has been granted a new trial by a Tennessee appeals court, which cited “extraneous prejudicial information.”

■ Labrandon Brown of Columbus, Ga., the suspect in a 2017 shooting, got his bail reduced from $175,000 to $125,000 but remains in jail even though he has yet to be indicted more than 600 days after his arrest.

■ Damon Thomas Young, 39, a Georgia inmate, got seven years tacked on to his sentence after prosecutors said he used a contraband cellphone to try to steal millions of dollars worth of heavy equipment, posing as a purchasing officer for a pharmaceutical company.

■ Kevin Rumph, 41, of Fairburn, Ga., a military veteran and a former purchaser for the Department of Veterans Affairs, was sentenced to two years and three months in prison for stealing $1.9 million worth of sleep apnea machines that he bought with a government credit card.

■ David Reed, 53, was indicted on a murder charge in a 2001 cold case based on DNA recovered from inside a conch shell that’s believed to be among the weapons used in the killing of a Massachusetts woman, his half-sister, authorities said.

■ Jo Bonner, the new president of the University of South Alabama, whose appointment raised concerns because of his limited academic background, said he hopes to build relationships and learn from the school community, asking those who have doubts “to meet me halfway.”

■ Tia Mills, president of the Louisiana Association of Educators, reacted to news that the state continues to lag the region in terms of teacher salaries by saying Gov. John Bel Edwards’ administration has done everything possible to remedy that, but “unfortunately it is a moving target.”

■ Carmen Hairston, a fifth grader who says that “I know I’m a hard worker” and “I love spelling,” is back on track to defend her title as the top speller in Lowndes County, Miss., after organizers scrambled and found a new sponsor and a new coordinator to keep the local, district and state competitions going in advance of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.