Nation & World Glance
stands up and grabs for a gun worn by a Newport police officer sitting at a table nearby.
The officer turned away and a courthouse deputy tackled Lemmon to the floor. Lemmon was on trial for robbery and other charges and was later convicted. The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office says he could face new charges.
Ex-3 Doors Down bassist gets 10 years on gun charge
PASCAGOULA, Miss. — The founding member and former bassist of the rock band 3 Doors Down has been sentenced to 10 years in Mississippi state prison for possession of a firearm by a felon.
News outlets report Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Robert Krebs gave Todd Harrell the maximum penalty during a hearing Thursday.
Authorities responded to Harrell’s home after an alarm went off in June. Harrell’s wife told deputies they had got into an argument that turned physical. While deputies were talking to the couple, they noticed guns and drugs in the home.
Harrell had served two years in prison for causing a fatal crash in Nashville in 2013. He testified in 2015 that he had been addicted to prescription drugs and was speeding.
The band, which has had hits including “Kryptonite,” suspended Harrell after a second-offense DUI in 2012.
Pope accepts Washington cardinal’s resignation amid scandal
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis accepted the resignation Friday of the archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, after he became entangled in two major sexual abuse and cover-up scandals and lost the support of many in his flock.
But in a letter released by Wuerl’s office, Francis asked Wuerl to stay on temporarily until a replacement is found and suggested he had unfairly become a scapegoat and victim of the mounting outrage among rank-and-file Catholics over the abuse scandal.
The pope’s apparent reluctance to remove Wuerl was evidence of the fraught personnel decisions he has been forced to make as he grapples with the burgeoning global scandal that has implicated some of his closest advisers and allies, including top churchmen in the U.S., Belgium, Honduras, Chile and Australia.
Sexual history survey sent to fifth-graders gets complaints
WINDSOR, Vt. — A survey that asked fifth-grade students in Vermont about their sexual history, preference and gender identity has drawn complaints from parents.
WPTZ-TV reports the survey sent to Windsor Elementary School students was conducted by WISE, a nonprofit domestic violence prevention and advocacy group. A notice was sent to parents allowing them to opt their children out of the survey, but parent Vanessa Beach says she never received it.
While she doesn’t oppose topics on gender identity and sexuality being discussed, Beach said she feels the survey questions were inappropriate for her 10-year-old daughter’s age group.
Beach says: “A sexual partner at 10 years old would be called sexual abuse.”
School administrators and WISE officials say they are working to address parents’ complaints.