In the news
■ Monty Parks, a councilman in Tybee Island, Ga., said “I can’t speak highly enough about reducing penalties for marijuana” after the city approved an ordinance making possession of an ounce or less not a crime but a civil offense punishable by a $150 fine.
■ Julius Hall, who’s running for mayor in Port Wentworth, Ga., is defending his qualifications for office, saying a restoration of his rights makes him legally eligible despite a drug-trafficking conviction and 22 years in prison.
■ Marvin Arrington Jr., a commissioner in Fulton County, Ga., grew impassioned and used an expletive during a discussion about spending amid the pandemic, prompting the board to adopt a decorum ordinance that includes fines as high as $1,000.
■ Walter D. Kemp, 67, of St. Louis, who has spent much of his adult life in prison for violent crimes, was sentenced to 20 years more for killing a 30-yearold woman during an argument outside her apartment.
■ Christian Richard Martin, a discharged Army major accused of killing three Kentucky neighbors to eliminate a witness in a court-martial, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole, with a shell casing and his dog tags at the scene of the crime not helping his case.
■ Wilbert Stephens, 29, of Brunswick, Ga., who was serving 10 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of ammunition, got an additional 14½ years for threatening a judge and a witness.
■ Joshua McLaughlin, chief investigator for the Limestone County, Ga., district attorney’s office, was appointed sheriff by the governor after the longtime sheriff was convicted of theft and ethics charges and sentenced to three years behind bars.
■ Alphonso David, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay rights group, who used to be a legal adviser to former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, refused his board’s request that he step down after an investigation into his role advising Cuomo’s office as it responded to sexual harassment allegations.
■ Lonnie Billard, a substitute teacher at Charlotte Catholic High School in North Carolina, expressed “a sense of relief and a sense of vindication” after a federal judge ruled that under the Civil Rights Act he was wrongfully fired after announcing on social media that he was going to marry his longtime male partner.