In the news
■ Sheri Atkinson, associate vice chancellor for student affairs at the University of California, Davis, said students are being offered $75 to be used for “staycations” during the coronavirus pandemic in a bid to cut down on nonessential travel during spring break.
■ Jose Rodriguez, 48, an Amtrak employee from Brick, N.J., accused of stealing chain saws and hundreds of parts from the railroad to sell online, was charged with stealing government property, authorities said.
■ Douglas Duren, a Maryland man accused of selling fake autographed memorabilia and defrauding Alabama TV stations out of thousands of dollars in advertising costs for fraudulent websites, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and identity theft, prosecutors said.
■ Jalen Harvey, 20, faces first-degree murder and robbery charges after being accused of fatally shooting a 29-year-old man trying to sell a dirt bike, then abandoning the body in New Orleans’ Garden District and riding the dirt bike back to his apartment where he was arrested.
■ William Wallace, 39, of Anaheim, Calif., is accused of killing his wife on Christmas Eve, propping her body on a sofa, telling their children in the morning that she was passed out drunk and allowing them to open presents in front of her body, a prosecutor said at Wallace’s murder trial.
■ Mohamed Gure and Mohamed Osman, both 22 and students at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, face theft and other charges after being accused of stealing more than $114,000 in student activity fee money, investigators said.
■ Nick Ephgrave, an assistant London police commissioner, said it was “shocking and deeply disturbing” that a police officer, who wasn’t identified, faces murder and kidnapping charges in the death of a 33-year-old woman who disappeared while walking home from a friend’s apartment last week.
■ Corey Hurren, a 46-yearold sausage-maker and military reservist from Manitoba who pleaded guilty to crashing his truck through a gate on the grounds where Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau lives, was sentenced to six years in prison.
■ Pamela Seelman, spokeswoman for the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, Wis., described Gee Whiz, the first whooping crane hatched at the foundation and later the sire of 178 cranes, as “spirited and tenacious” after the 38-year-old bird died of natural causes.