• Rand Paul, a Republican U.S. senator from Kentucky who suffered six broken ribs when he was assaulted in November, said he is recovering well but that the attack on him, and one on members of Congress at a baseball practice, are raising concern among his colleagues.
• Pam Bobst, the mayor of Rocky River, Ohio, said city ordinances don't allow for the eradication of a group of aggressive wild turkeys that has prevented postal carriers from delivering mail to several streets for three weeks, although officials are asking residents to stop putting out bird seed.
• Trishia Warrick, who decided to go back to college after she finished home-schooling her two sons and they went to college, shared the stage with her 22-year-old son when they both received bachelor's degrees from Middle Tennessee State University.
• Marine Le Pen, the leader of France's National Front party who lost in a presidential runoff election last year, is backing a re-brand and a new name for the far-right party, saying, "If we are changing the National Front today, then we also need to change the name."
• Michael Diebold, the police chief in Leechburg, Pa., faces two felony charges, authorities said, over accusations that he exchanged lewd pictures, solicited sexual contact and arranged to meet someone who they said he thought was a 14-year-old girl, but who was actually a special agent.
• Kristina Chaade Dove, who was helping organize a Breakfast with Dads event at a Dallas middle school, put out a call on social media hoping to sign up about 50 male volunteers to mentor boys who didn't have a father figure, but wound up signing up nearly 600 men.
• Lt. Channing Taylor with the Florida Highway Patrol called the situation very unusual after a woman was critically injured when a cat jumped into her car and attacked her as she was preparing to drive off, leading her to jump out of the vehicle while it was still in reverse, and it rolled over her.
• Stephen Belcher, 40, of Boiling Springs, S.C., was sentenced to 10 years in prison for manslaughter after pleading guilty to killing his parents, who he said asked him to kill them because of their health problems.
• Donna Shaver, a National Park Service spokesman, said nearly 400 sea turtles released into the Gulf of Mexico near Corpus Christi, Texas, were all found stunned by recent frigid weather, which can cause them to float to the surface.
A Section on 01/08/2018