• Susan Belt, who graduated from Louisiana State University's veterinary school and now owns a veterinary clinic in Bryant, Ark., made a $10,000 gift to the support fund for the school's wildlife hospital, where people take about 1,200 injured animals each year.
• Ronnie Johns, a Louisiana lawmaker from the Lake Charles area, resigned two years early to take a chance on a new position, chairman of the state's gambling regulatory board, which pays a good bit better at more than $150,000, as the state begins to roll out legalized sports betting.
• Erin Ward of Thorsby, Ala., offered a $2,000 reward after losing her diamond wedding ring, a diamond band engagement ring and a ruby anniversary band at the Lodge and Spa at Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Ga.
• Marlos Walker, police chief of Ozark, Ala., was fired along with a captain after an investigation and a City Council vote over what the mayor described as allegations of inappropriate, unprofessional behavior.
• Andrew Malik Jones, 28, was charged with sexual battery and robbery, and jailed in lieu of $1 million bond after shoppers at a Gulfport, Miss., outlet mall detained him until police arrived in the assault of a woman in a restroom.
• David "Jason" Rutland, 42, a pharmacist in Bolton, Miss., faces up to five years in prison after pleading guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to solicit and pay kickbacks and bribes in a multimillion-dollar fraud involving expensive compounded medications.
• Ernest Edwards, charged with attempted capital murder in the ambush shooting of a Mississippi judge, delayed proceedings by standing up during a preliminary hearing and firing his attorney, saying he thought another judge was hearing the case and that he wasn't ready to proceed.
• Jeffery Williams of Columbus, Ga., said, "I had to spend three days in the hotel, me and my 8-year-old and my wife" and "that was money coming out of our pocket," after the Sea Breeze Mobile Home Park had almost no water for three weeks, with the out-of-state owner blaming covid-19 among the maintenance staff for the delay in fixing the plumbing.
• Robert Youngblood, 41, added to his rap sheet as he was taken into custody about five hours after walking away from a minimum-security state prison in Taft, Okla., where he was doing time for escape from a county jail, authorities said.