In the news
Leslie Gibson, a Republican Maine House candidate who was widely criticized for insulting the survivors of last month’s deadly Florida high school shooting, calling one survivor a “skinhead lesbian,” said he is quitting the race.
Wade Horton, administrative officer for San Luis Obispo County, Calif., described as a “tragedy” jailhouse footage that shows sheriff’s deputies watching and laughing as a schizophrenic man writhes on the floor of his cell until he dies, a case that resulted in the county settling with the man’s family for $5 million.
Sheriff Mike Lewis of Wicomico County, Md., said an investigation had been opened after 25 decaying horses were discovered on a 2-acre farm where the farm’s co-owner, Barbara Pilchard, said she saw nothing wrong with leaving the carcasses to decompose.
Josue Daniel Alfaro of Portland, Ore., a serial bank robber nicknamed the “Great Outdoors Bandit” because witnesses described him as outdoorsy, was sentenced to more than five years in prison.
The Rev. Alex Santora said that after police deemed safe a suspicious package delivered to Our Lady of Grace Church in Hoboken, N.J., it was opened — revealing a baby Jesus statue stolen from the church nearly 90 years ago and a note detailing how the sender’s grandfather received it in the 1930s.
Joe Fletcher, 30, of Akron, Ohio, convicted on drug and gun charges and locked up in Georgia, faces a new charge after, prosecutors said, he posted a video online of himself using a contraband cellphone.
Sgt. Elizabeth Gonzalez of the Bexar County, Texas, sheriff’s office said deputies arrested at least 12 people on animal-cruelty charges after finding dead and dismembered animals such as goats and chickens that they believe were used in ritual sacrifices inside a San Antonio-area home.
Jasmine Henderson, 32, of the Bronx, N.Y., faces felony charges after, New Hampshire police said, she stabbed with scissors a female hotel employee who was assisting her at the Sheraton Portsmouth Harborside Hotel, in what appeared to be a random attack.
Michael Rallings, the Memphis police chief, said authorities are considering filing charges against a woman whose 10-month-old daughter disappeared when the mother’s car was stolen, though the girl was found safe in the car the next day.