• Mona Patterson, a teacher in Bountiful, Utah, apologized but was placed on administrative leave after she forced a 9-year-old Catholic boy to wash an Ash Wednesday cross from his forehead because Patterson said the marking was "inappropriate."
• Jaylen Walker, 21, an Amazon driver paralyzed from the waist down when he was shot by a 65-year-old man who confronted him about illegally parking in a handicapped space in St. Charles, Mo., said he was thankful to be "still breathing."
• Roger Alvarado of Homestead, Fla., who went to jail for breaking into the Manhattan townhouse owned by singer Taylor Swift, was arrested on accusations that he did it again after police said he climbed to a second-floor patio and smashed a glass door to get inside.
• Stephan Winkelmann, president of Volkswagen-owned Bugatti, said: "The true form of luxury is individuality" after a unique Bugatti luxury sports car called La Voiture Noire -- French for "The Black Car" -- unveiled at a Geneva auto show was sold to an anonymous buyer for $18.9 million.
• Stefan Sonntag, a police spokesman in Berchtesgaden, Germany, said a woman can expect hefty fines for falsely reporting that her husband had been killed when what she really wanted was a fast police response because a car was blocking her garage.
• Vinh Dao, a California man accused of placing illegal Internet bets at New Jersey casinos in violation of state laws that allow online gambling only by those physically in the state, settled a 5-year-old case by surrendering more than $90,000 he kept in online accounts.
• Joseph Hunter, 53, a former Army sergeant from Owensboro, Ky., who became a mercenary for drug dealers, was sentenced to life in prison by a federal judge in Manhattan who said Hunter spoke of kidnapping, torture and assassination as if "it was a business, plain and simple."
• William Norine, a former district attorney in Burnett County, Wis., was reprimanded by state officials for pursuing female defendants, including taking one to lunch and offering to pay another's phone bill if she "had time to meet."
• Joseph Gunter, town manager of Fair Haven, Vt., called it "a great way to introduce the elementary school kids to local government," after a 3-year-old Nubian goat named Lincoln beat 15 other animals in a town-meeting vote to become the town's first honorary pet mayor.
A Section on 03/08/2019