• George Flaggs Jr., mayor of Vicksburg, Miss., proposed at a city budget meeting giving firefighters and police officers 5% across-the-board raises and every other city employee 3% raises, declaring, "Give me all the numbers, a No. 2 pencil -- I don't need an eraser -- and I'll show you how to get there."
• Art Acevedo, Miami's police chief, is under fire from the city's police union, which posted a picture captioned "Do as I say not as I do," showing him using the same hand gesture often associated with white-power extremist groups that he suspended an officer for using.
• Marshand Crisler of Mississippi, a former Jackson City Council member and Utica police chief, has been appointed sheriff of Hinds County until a Nov. 2 special election after the former sheriff died of covid-19 complications.
• Justin Lee Earls, 52, former police chief in Beaver, Okla., has been charged with harboring a fugitive and faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted, with the state Bureau of Investigation alleging that he helped a suspect avoid arrest.
• Zavarius Jones, 27, a Montgomery, Ala., police officer who is on administrative leave while facing a domestic violence charge filed earlier this year, was arrested again on the same charge after officers answered a disturbance call.
• Tony Robinson of the U.S. Postal Service inspector's office said a $50,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever robbed a postal worker in the Gibbs Village area of Montgomery, Ala.
• Cathy Cox, a former Georgia secretary of state with a background in liberal arts education, "can't wait to get started" after being named president of the 7,000-student Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville.
• Sam Haught, owner of Wild Florida in Kenansville, explained that "in the wild, albinos would almost never survive," after a pair of rare white alligators hatched at the gator and wildlife safari park from an 18-egg batch by their albino parents Snowflake and Blizzard.
• Carol Jackson, founder and director of the nonprofit On Track Community Development Corp. in Sunflower County, Miss., was indicted on charges of submitting fraudulent documents and stealing more than $40,000 in state money meant to feed needy children, including thousands of dollars withdrawn from an ATM at a casino.