In the news
■ Barrett Fletcher, a Pastafarian pastor wearing a colander on his head, offered the opening prayer at a borough meeting in Homer, Alaska, saying: “May the great Flying Spaghetti Monster rouse himself from his stupor and let his noodly appendages ground each assembly member in their seats.”
■ Bill Clayten, 41, manager of a dine-in theater in Phoenix, has helped raise thousands of dollars to assist the family of a hospitalized 4-year-old boy with cerebral palsy after getting a text message mistakenly sent by a woman who was asking the boy’s parents when she should stop by with dinner.
■ Patrick Compton, a Lawrence, Kan., police spokesman, said two people were charged after being accused of stealing a life-size cutout of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes from a restaurant and then crashing their getaway car.
■ Michelle Bolen, a teacher who said she was fired in 2015 from a Catholic school in Kansas City, Mo., because she was pregnant, unmarried and refused to have an abortion, lost a wrongful-discharge suit when a federal court jury sided with the Roman Catholic diocese that said she violated her contract.
■ Bill Vogrin, spokesman for the Colorado Parks and Wildlife agency, said a woman was told to get herself and her 3-year-old son out of her SUV when she called to report picking up an injured and partially paralyzed 20-pound bobcat from along the road.
■ Beatrice Angelelli-Lamotte, a French prosecutor, said police are hunting for six thieves who broke into the opulent Vaux-le-Vicomte Chateau southeast of Paris, tied up its owners and escaped with about $2.2 million in jewels and cash.
■ Joshua Bedell, 37, of Springfield, Mo., accused of holding a woman against her will at his home for nearly two months and assaulting her repeatedly, was arrested on charges of kidnapping and sexual assault, police said.
■ Christina Curtis, a Shreveport police officer, said two officers were hospitalized with serious injuries after they crashed their cruisers into each other while responding to a shooting in which the victim later died.
■ Frank Frazier, an elder of St. Albans Church of God in Christ in St. Paul, Minn., said his 41-year-old cousin, RayVell Carter, was slain in what police described as a random shooting that occurred as Carter left Bible study with his young daughter and father.