In the news

■ Mary Margaret Krueper, an 80-year-old nun who admitted stealing $835,000 from a Torrance, Calif., Catholic elementary school to pay for Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe vacations, was sentenced to a year behind bars after she asked a federal judge to spare her from prison time.

■ Bradford Weitzel, 38, of Port St. Lucie, Fla., told police that he stole a car in a “good faith effort” to find his own vehicle after he was arrested when he jumped from the stalled vehicle seconds before it was hit by a train and sent flying into a nearby home where the sleeping residents escaped unharmed.

■ Robert Golden, accused of impersonating a federal drug enforcement agent, told investigators in Portland, Ore., that he and a woman he was “training” were “into ‘cosplay,’” or costume play, when they were discovered with tactical gear, an AR-15style rifle and other equipment emblazoned with “DEA” patches.

■ Kenneth Brown, police chief of Galveston, Texas, said a 58-year-old woman fell to her death from a mast on the tall ship Elissa, a ship built in 1877 now on display at a seaport museum, after her safety harness came unclipped.

■ Charles Van Pelt, 26, of Columbus, Ga., was denied bail on an animal cruelty charge after being accused of stomping his wife’s 9-yearold pet dachshund to death in an attack partially captured on video, authorities said.

■ Kryiakos Mitsotakis, Greece’s prime minister, sacked Spilios Livanos, the country’s agriculture minister, after video surfaced of him laughing as the mayor of Sparta expounded on how compensation payments for natural disasters can help win elections.

■ Pavel Samsinak of Springfield, Mo., accused of beating his 66-year-old neighbor to death and then setting her house on fire after a dispute over a property line, was convicted of second-degree murder, arson and other counts, prosecutors said.

■ Jessica Sledge, 40, of Pelahatchie, Miss., accused of trying to hire an assassin in a failed bid to kill someone, pleaded guilty to using interstate commerce facilities, including her cellphone and the internet, in commission of a crime, prosecutors said.

■ Helena Moreno, president of the New Orleans City Council, which has been holding its meetings online because of the omicron coronavirus surge, said the council will resume in- person meetings with strict mask requirements on Feb. 17.