In the news

• Jeremy Gray, a state legislator from Opelika, Ala., is proposing a bill that would lift Alabama's 27-year ban on yoga, hypnosis and meditation in public school classrooms, but the legislation would still prohibit the use of chanting, mantras and teaching the greeting "namaste."

• Demetrius Williams, 25, a Wisconsin man, was charged in the stabbing of his pregnant ex-girlfriend and the death of her 3-year-old daughter in Appleton, Wis., after, according to a criminal complaint, Williams became upset that the woman didn't want to be with him anymore.

• Kavion Thomas, 30, who previously served a prison term for manslaughter in Kentucky, was sentenced to two life terms for the 2012 rape and murder of Patti Ann Harvill after investigators matched Thomas' DNA with samples found on Harvill's body and in droplets of blood at her home in Berkeley, Mo.

• Jason Brown, a Louisiana prosecutor, was fired by the Calcasieu Parish district attorney for requesting a delay in a murder case without telling the judge that the defense wanted to keep the trial date.

• Todd Jackson was charged in the murders of Raymond and Crystal Cline after Polk County, Fla., Sheriff Grady Judd said Jackson's stepdaughter admitted she and her boyfriend helped her stepfather hide the bodies and led investigators to two decomposing bodies in the swampy woods.

• Cova Campbell, a former Pierce County, Wash., housing authority finance director, was arrested in Redbird, Okla., and indicted on federal charges after an auditor's report said she and her husband stole $6.9 million from the agency.

• Christopher Lemley, 31, a Louisiana man sentenced to probation and 15 weekends in jail in the accidental shooting death of his friend, Jonathan Smith, embraced Smith's widow after the sentencing and told her, "I wish it had been me."

• Letecia Stauch, the stepmother of a Colorado boy missing for over a month, was arrested in Myrtle Beach, S.C., and is expected to be extradited to Colorado in connection with the boy's disappearance and presumed death, El Paso County, Colo., Sheriff Bill Elder said.

• Mitch Nobles, the sheriff of Perry County, Miss., said his office has investigated a viral video shared on Snapchat that appears to show a teenager shooting a dog as another teen laughs, and has sent the case to a youth court for further review.

A Section on 03/09/2020

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