In the news
■ Matthias Hanne of the Fire Department in Bocholt, Germany, noted that “some of them would probably have enjoyed a sunny day off instead,” and indeed student reaction was mixed when firefighters sawed open a safe with a jammed lock, recovering the questions for a final exam that was delayed just an hour.
■ Darin Schierbaum, assistant police chief in Atlanta, said the department is “looking at all aspects to give us the clearest picture of what transpired” when an officer investigating a burglary call at a shoe store was shot and wounded by a security guard, who was arrested and charged.
■ John Rizzo, Senate minority leader in Missouri, said the focus is on “middle-income people” who “have been through the wringer the last few years” with the pandemic, as his colleagues endorsed a plan to send taxpayers a refund of up to $500 each.
■ Monica Lisle, a captain in the Alexandria, Va., Police Department, said officials are “doing all we can to warn youth and other community members” as three men were arrested in the distribution of 5,000 fentanyl-laced counterfeit Percocet pills amid a spike in overdoses.
■ Steve Adler, mayor of Austin, Texas, said “we can find people moments before they end up on our streets” as his city became the first in the state to provide a guaranteed income to qualified residents, starting with 85 families pledged $1,000 per month for a year.
■ Shenna Bellows, Maine’s secretary of state, cited “the public interest” as the state released draft rules to cancel hundreds of vanity license plates with references to genitalia, sex acts and profanities that were deemed too much even for Bellows, a former state director of the American Civil Liberties Union.
■ Andrew Okun of New Orleans said that “changing the policy was our only goal” as parties came to terms and ended a lawsuit accusing the city of infringing on employees’ online free-speech rights over language deemed vulgar, offensive, negative or disparaging.
■ Vincent “The Animal” Ferrara of Revere, Mass., a former lieutenant in Boston’s North End mob, is suing the state’s attorney general, claiming her office wrongfully confiscated $268,000.
■ Andrew Wilhoite of Lebanon, Ind., advanced in a primary election for the Clinton Township Board despite the fact that he is sitting in jail, charged with murdering his wife by striking her in the head with a blunt object and dumping her body in a creek.