• William Melendez, a Detroit-area police officer who hauled 57-year-old Floyd Dent out of his car and repeatedly punched him in the head, was charged with assault stemming from the January traffic stop, which wasn't publicly known until a video was broadcast in March.
• Jerome Hunt, 54, a Sacramento, Calif., man accused of climbing over a White House fence, was released from jail, after appearing in Superior Court in Washington, on the condition that he receive a mental health evaluation and was ordered to appear in court again May 12.
• Megan Huntsman, 40, a Utah woman who pleaded guilty to killing six of her newborn babies and hiding their bodies in her garage and who told police she was too addicted to methamphetamine to care for more children, was sentenced to up to life in prison.
• Guy Laliberte, the founder of Cirque Du Soleil, said he is giving up the majority stake in his circus troupe, which has wowed audiences for 30 years and propelled him from street performer to billionaire.
• Michelle Obama, the first lady, praised New Orleans for its success in moving homeless veterans off the streets and into housing, saying at an event with Mayor Mitch Landrieu that the city's efforts are "a call to action for the entire country."
• Sofinar Gourian, an Armenian belly dancer known popularly as Safinaz, was sentenced in Egypt to six months in prison for "insulting the Egyptian flag," after she allegedly wore a tight dress in its red, white and black color scheme.
• Nikki Balovich, an Alaska woman who suspected her family's 90-pound mastiff puppy snatched her wedding ring in January but couldn't find proof, was reunited with the diamond-encrusted platinum band thanks to Bob Potrzuski, whose wife found it at a local ball field while picking up dog waste.
• Harry Reid, the Senate Democratic leader and a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, gave a blessing to a former Senate colleague, Larry Pressler of South Dakota, to confirm him as a member of the faith.
• Antonio Jones and Taurus Thurmond, both former Georgia state prison inmates, were arrested and awaiting extradition to Pennsylvania on charges they phoned western Pennsylvania residents and scammed six into wiring $990 each, supposedly to pay fines for missing jury duty.
A Section on 04/21/2015