LITTLE ROCK — Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent, said he won’t make a final decision on former Sen. Chuck Hagel’s nomination to lead the Defense Department until confirmation hearings are finished, but as of now, he sees no strong reason to oppose President Barack Obama’s pick, adding: “I start with a presumption that the president should be able to appoint his own people to his Cabinet.”
Gov. Mary Fallin, ROkla., said she has completed a training course that will allow her to carry a concealed handgun, adding that she is still waiting on the results of her background check.
Pamela Gwyn, 69, drove her sport utility vehicle into a Merced, Calif., apartment complex swimming pool but was unhurt, thanks to Craig Lafleur, 57, who saw the SUV, pulled it to the edge of the pool by its roof rack and broke its back window, and helped Gwyn out of the vehicle before it sank, said Sgt. Jay Struble.
Zangerio Dogan, 28, has been charged in Memphis with aggravated animal cruelty after his dead pit bull was found frozen to the ground.
Jimmy Carter, the former president, said cases of Guinea worm disease have been cut to 542 cases in 2012 and the parasitic infection is now found in only four countries - South Sudan, Chad, Mali and Ethiopia - down from 3.5 million Guinea-worm cases in 21 countries in 1986, when the Carter Center began its eradication effort.
Christopher Harris, 28, and his brother, Justin Harris, 26, have been charged in San Antonio with felony theft over allegations they stole about $120,000 worth of vehicle batteries from a warehouse.
Karl Rove, 62, who served as deputy chief of staff and senior adviser to then-President George W. Bush, has been re-signed by Fox News to serve as a contributor through the 2016 presidential election.
Richard Williamson, 72, a British bishop who last year was expelled from the Society of Saint Pius, a traditionalist group of breakaway Catholics, has been fined $2,400 by a German court for denying the Holocaust in a television interview some four years ago.
Andres Orozco-Estrada, 35, a native of Colombia who trained in Austria and debuted with the Vienna Philharmonic in 2010, has been hired as music director for the Houston Symphony, marking the first time the orchestra will be led by a Hispanic.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 01/18/2013