Rep. Trey Radel, R-Fla., left a rehabilitation center that he checked into last month after pleading guilty to cocaine possession charges, saying at a news conference that he will remain sober and will not resign from Congress.
Ibrahim Idris, one of two Sudanese detainees released from the U.S.-run prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, arrived home, where he said at a news conference that he and other prisoners were “subjected to meticulous, daily torture,” adding that those who tried to hold a hunger strike were “double tortured,” accusations that drew no response from the U.S.
Rigo Vargas, the driver of a truck that overturned south of Atlanta, spilling 40,000 pounds of hams onto Interstate 85, said he banged his head against the door when the rig flipped over but wasn’t seriously hurt.
Anthony Petrina, the duckmaster at Memphis’ Peabody Hotel, and Jack Daniel’s Master Distiller Jeff Arnett led a group of ducks retiring from the hotel to their new home at a pond at a distillery in Lynchburg, Tenn., where the ducks will eat the same grain and drink the same water used to make Jack Daniel’s whiskey.
The Rev. Frank Schaefer, a pastor from central Pennsylvania who violated religious doctrine by officiating his son’s gay wedding and then refused to resign, was defrocked by United Methodist church officials.
Daniel Dale, a Toronto Star reporter, dropped his defamation lawsuit against Toronto Mayor Rob Ford after Ford issued a second apology for suggesting the journalist is a pedophile.
Justin Harrel of Elk City, Okla., who was about to propose to his girlfriend in a park when he was spotted by a police officer who discovered Harrel had two outstanding warrants, was allowed to finish his proposal and give his new fiancee her engagement ring before going to jail.
Ricky Patrick Hester, a 23-year-old cadet, was arrested by Homeland Security Department agents on the campus of the United States Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., after being accused of possessing sexual images and videos of children and distributing them to others by email.
Bartolomeo Gagliano, 55, an Italian serial killer who was described as armed and dangerous, was the subject of a manhunt after he failed to return to a Genoa prison after being released on a two-day, good-behavior pass to see his elderly mother.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 12/20/2013