• Tom Hughes, co-lead pastor for Christian Assembly in Los Angeles, said the church is working with a nonprofit organization to pay off $5.3 million worth of medical debt for 5,555 families as a Christmas gift with "no strings attached."
• Wendell Williams, a judge in Jefferson County, Miss., was suspended without pay after he was accused of pushing a court clerk and slapping her hand as well as acting "impatient, rude and threatening" toward court staff members and people in the courtroom, according to filed complaints.
• Bruce Sartwell, 48, a high-ranking member of a motorcycle club from Massachusetts that is currently involved in a "violent feud" with another club, was indicted on a firearm charge after an AR-15-style gun without any manufacturing or serial numbers was found at his East Bridgewater home, authorities said.
• Tonia Woods Scott, a former substitute school bus driver in Baton Rouge, was fired and faces a simple battery charge, accused of physically kicking a middle schooler off the bus in an unfamiliar neighborhood after the student stood up while riding in the vehicle.
• Ryan Patrick O'Leary, 30, and Sheila O'Leary, 35, who told police that they are vegan and eat only raw fruits and vegetables, face first-degree murder and other charges in the death of their 18-month-old son, accused by authorities in Cape Coral, Fla., of starving the child, who weighed only 17 pounds.
• Carole Sue Coker, 70, a retired city clerk who used to work for Caney, Kan., was ordered to pay more than $150,000 in restitution and was sentenced to three years' probation for embezzling from the town, where she had worked for nearly 40 years.
• Paul Edward Acton Bowen, 39, a youth evangelist in Alabama who pleaded guilty to multiple child-sex charges, was sentenced to more than 1,000 years in prison for 28 counts involving six boys between the ages of 13 and 16.
• Steven Knutson, 62, of Round Lake Beach, Ill., who was arrested after witnesses reported that he had driven his pickup into a parked car, was sentenced to six years in prison after his 26th charge of driving on a revoked license over the past several decades.
• Denna Chivers, a sixth-grade student who for three years has held yard sales and given the proceeds to an animal shelter in Cullman County, Ala., this year raised $3,000, which was used by the shelter to purchase equipment and facilitate adoptions.
A Section on 12/23/2019