BATON ROUGE, La.
Republicans win runoff votes
Louisiana voters chose Saturday to send Republican state Treasurer John Kennedy to the U.S. Senate, filling the nation’s last Senate seat and giving the GOP a 52-48 edge in the chamber when the new term begins in January. Kennedy had been the runoff election’s front-runner in a state that overwhelmingly supported Donald Trump. He defeated Democrat Foster Campbell. Voters also filled two open U.S. House seats Saturday, choosing Republican Clay Higgins, a former sheriff’s captain known as the “Cajun John Wayne,” in the 3rd District representing southwest and south central Louisiana and Republican state Rep. Mike Johnson in the 4th District covering northwest Louisiana.
AUSTIN, TEXAS
Those condoms aren’t litter
Austin health department workers hung bags of condoms and information about safe sex from trees at a park — without informing their bosses or the local parks department. The bags in Walnut Creek Park, which has been pointed to as a place of HIV transmission particularly among gay men, were taken down Thursday. Park officials thought they were litter, not part of a city initiative. Public Health Director Shannon Jones didn’t know of the plan.
WICHITA, KAN.
Robber sentenced to prison
A man was sentenced to 30 years in prison for a store robbery shooting that left a retired guidance counselor so seriously injured that doctors had to amputate her hands and feet. The Wichita Eagle said James Michael Phillips, 27, was sentenced to 31 years for shooting Julie Dombo in a robbery attempt at an AT&T store in Derby in 2015. He was convicted of nine counts, including attempted first-degree murder. Dombo, who went to the store to have her phone fixed, spoke at a sentencing hearing and told the judge the shooting changed her life. Doctors had to amputate portions of Dombo’s arms and legs to save her life. She spent 114 days in the hospital.
MANASSAS, VA.
Fussy baby receives opiate
A Virginia woman was charged with child abuse after authorities say she tried to calm a 3-month-old baby by administering the opiate methadone. The Manassas City Police Department said the baby was admitted to a hospital Dec. 3 in respiratory distress. Tests showed the infant was under the influence of methadone, which is used for controlling opioid addiction. Police said Jessica F. Nicholson, 31, administered the drug.
Compiled from wire reports.