In the news

■ Braxton Moral, 16, of Ulysses, Kan., is expecting two diplomas next year: one from his high school and a second from Harvard University where he’s expected to earn a bachelor’s degree with a major in government and a minor in English.

■ Paul LePage, Maine’s outgoing Republican governor, hand-wrote the words “stolen election” as he signed off on the results of a disputed congressional election after incumbent Republican Rep. Bruce Poliquin, who lost to Democrat Jared Golden, dropped a federal lawsuit challenging the state’s new “ranked voting” system.

■ Mike Stura, an animal sanctuary director in Wantage, N.J., said a cow that fell out of a trailer on its way to a slaughterhouse is now recuperating after leading authorities on an hourlong chase along Interstate 80 before being recaptured.

■ Melanie McGuire, a food bank worker, said nutritious but perishable food donations are often hard to come by after a Trader Joe’s store in Metairie, La., lost power for a day, prompting it to donate more than 10,000 pounds of refrigerated and frozen items.

■ Timothy Mackin, 39; Kevin Fugett, 41; and Michael Carroll, 51, were arrested in Booneville, Miss., during a traffic stop where police said they were caught with fake checks, printing equipment and more than $9,000 in counterfeit cash.

■ Robby Spillman of Santa Monica, Calif., said he plans to find a new apartment after he returned home from shopping to find two homeless men, later charged with burglary, had broken into his apartment and asked to “hang out” for a while as they cooked themselves dinner.

■ Joshua Shaffer and Seth Taylor, both 19, face spending weekends at a detention center and doing community service after pleading guilty to writing racist and Nazi graffiti on the walls of their high school in Glenelg, Md., targeting the school’s principal, who is black, prosecutors said.

■ Richard Penson, 51, was fired from his job as a police lieutenant in Rome, Ga., after he was charged in an off-duty hit-and-run incident in a daycare pickup line, where he was accused of hitting the foot of a 3-year-old child.

■ Dale Dickerson of Olive Branch, Miss., who ordered a $2,000 diamond bracelet as a Christmas present for his wife, said he was shocked to receive 48 bracelets, and he returned the extra bracelets, getting a pair of diamond earrings as thanks for his honesty.