• Dwight Moody Cox, 57, of Ozark, Mo., pleaded guilty to a $2.4 million wire fraud scheme in which, authorities say, he falsely claimed that he had purchased about 3,250 head of cattle, but he only had 147 head of cattle and had submitted 35 false invoices to make it appear he had more.
• Nicholas Antoine, 20, of Boston was arrested in Jonesboro, Ga., after Massachusetts authorities issued an arrest warrant charging him with two counts of murder in the June killings of two Boston men.
• Linda Howard, a spokesman for the Bibb County sheriff's office in Georgia, said a Norfolk Southern train struck and killed brothers Cory Dale Cranmore, 27, and Brian Darryl Cranmore, 20, adding authorities found a car belonging to one of the men nearby but don't know why they were walking along the tracks.
• Jim Coll, a University of Southern Mississippi spokesman, said the university's Sigma Chi chapter won't recruit new members next year after school officials and the fraternity's headquarters concluded the chapter had behavior problems, leading to the chapter's eviction from its campus house.
• Khalil Ahmad, 51, a Maryland restaurateur, pleaded guilty to stalking his estranged wife after, according to federal court documents, he agreed to pay an informant to frame her as a terrorist before burning down his restaurant.
• George Flaggs Jr., mayor of Vicksburg, Miss., says an erosion problem is caused by a narrow section of the city's waterway that raises water levels during heavy rains and that the city is pursuing purchase of an abandoned church threatened by the shifting ground.
• Robert Waite Jr., 53, of Carthage, Mo., pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the August 2015 killing of Kevin Stafford, 32, the ex-boyfriend of Waite's daughter, over what police called a squabble about an outdoor patio table and grill.
• Joe Deshotel, a Texas lawmaker, has introduced a bill to cover the cost of the Texas Insurance Agency by taxing licensed casinos, a measure that would give the Texas Lottery Commission the power to issue six licenses to operate casinos along the Gulf Coast.
• Odean Cleckler, 89, of Clanton, Ala., saying she is trying to follow the law and help customers who need parts, spent what she said was her first night in jail after a court ruled she and her son, Randy, had not complied with an order to clean up their appliance store, which is surrounded by hundreds of old appliances.
A Section on 12/17/2018