In the news

Michael Bloomberg, mayor of New York City, has signed a law directing pedicabs to follow new rate rules that require them to charge by the minute, with clearly visible timers, instead of by the block and per passenger, plus fees, as is currently done.

John McAfee, 67, creator of the anti-virus software that bears his name, said U.S. authorities have made no efforts to question him since he arrived in Miami after weeks of evading Belizean authorities who want to ask him about the death of his neighbor, Gregory Viant Faull, while authorities said there was no active arrest warrant for McAfee that would justify taking him into custody.

Billi Jo Smallwood, 39, has been sentenced in Paducah, Ky., to 25 years in prison for setting fire to her home and killing two of her children at Fort Campbell, in what prosecutors said was an attempt to kill her husband and cash in his $400,000 insurance policy.

Dusty Westbrook, a manager at Boston’s The Gourmet Pizza franchise in Fairbanks, Alaska, has quit after his Facebook post that described the expectations from military members for meal discounts as “pathetic,” went viral, telling the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner that the rant was triggered by something he saw on TV after having a few beers, and he regretted it.

Abhisit Vejjajiva, a former prime minister of Thailand, has been charged with murder over allegations he allowed the unrestrained use of deadly force to quell anti-government protests in 2010.

Retired Cpl. Calvin Curtis, 87, a black Texas Marine who served in World War II during a time of segregation, has been awarded the Congressional Gold Medal during a ceremony at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio.

Patrick Moran, 23, son of Rep. James Moran, D-Va., pleaded guilty in a Virginia court to assaulting his girlfriend outside a nightclub and was sentenced to a suspended 90-day jail term and one year of probation.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 12/14/2012

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