LITTLE ROCK — Dalya Qualls, spokesman for the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security, said bomb threats were called in to 30 courthouses and other government buildings across Tennessee, including the federal building in Memphis, forcing many to be evacuated, but no explosives were found.

President Barack

Obama

signed into law a measure that offers greater protection to federal employees who expose fraud, waste and abuse in government operations, as well as legislation that protects U.S. airlines from having to pay into a European Union program to cut down on pollutants.

Sherri Lynn Wilkins, a substance-abuse counselor who herself was a recovering addict with several criminal convictions, has been charged in Torrance, Calif., with murder and driving drunk over allegations that she struck Phillip Moreno and drove 2 miles with the man lodged in the windshield of her convertible.

Carolyn Goodman, mayor of Las Vegas, unveiled plans for a permanent zip line on Fremont Street that will spit riders out of an 11-story slot machine and predicted that “Slotzilla” will “be known around the world.”

Jill Kelley, 37, the Tampa, Fla., socialite tied to a scandal involving ex-CIA Director David Petraeus, inappropriately used her title as South Korean honorary consul for personal gain, and it will be revoked, said Deputy Foreign MinisterKim Kyou-hyun.

Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela who has spent much of the past 18 months battling cancer, is headed back to Cuba to “begin special treatment consisting of various sessions of hyperbaric oxygenation” and physical therapy.

Damaine Mitchell, 19, who earlier told an Ohio judge that he didn’t know whether he could stop smoking marijuana and then requested one final joint, has agreed to stop smoking the drug and to seek treatment to avoid a jail sentence for marijuana possession.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 11/28/2012