In the news

■ David Freeman, convicted of disorderly conduct for holding up his middle finger and shouting at his pastor during a church service in Flowery Branch, Ga., had the conviction tossed out by the Georgia Supreme Court, which ruled the actions constituted speech protected by the First Amendment.

■ Marco Delgado, an El Paso, Texas, attorney and philanthropist serving a 16year prison sentence for his role in a $600 million case linked to drug cartels, had his sentence extended by five years for conspiring to launder money from a Mexican utility, prosecutors said.

■ Dave Walker, a police sergeant in Tulsa, said a 16-year-old boy faces murder, armed robbery and sexual assault charges after kidnapping and robbing an elderly couple, sexually assaulting the woman and then fatally shooting a 44-year-old man at a nearby home.

■ Abdul Holmes, 22, was charged with attempted murder and other counts after a 6-year-old boy was hit in the shoulder by a stray bullet as he stood outside his north Philadelphia home when gunfire broke out, police said.

■ Trishna Shakya, 3, was carried in a religious ceremony to a temple palace in the heart of Kathmandu, Nepal, where she is to live until just before puberty and be revered by both Hindus and Buddhists as “Kumari,” the country’s new living goddess.

■ Kyriakos Georghiou, 27, surrendered after walking out of his parent’s home in Houston carrying two knives and now faces murder and aggravated assault charges after, police said, he decapitated his mother and wounded his father.

■ Chad Scott, a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent based in New Orleans, pleaded innocent to charges laid out in a 13-count federal indictment accusing him of perjury and scheming to steal money and property seized in drug investigations.

■ Jack Kelly, a county legislator in Ocean County, N.J., said public safety officials must track down the inmate who caused $100,000 in damage by flushing a jail jumpsuit down a toilet, bursting pipes and sending raw sewage into offices and courtrooms.

■ Shameka Peoples, 31, injured five people, including her own daughter, and fled the scene after plowing her SUV into a group of young women involved in a street fight in Griffin, Ga., resulting in her arrest a day later on charges including aggravated assault and cruelty to children, police said.