PERRYVILLE, LA.
Wildlife agent shot on patrol
A Louisiana wildlife agent has been hospitalized after being shot multiple times while on patrol. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries said 25-year-old Tyler Wheeler of Monroe stopped a vehicle while patrolling in Morehouse Parish at about 2 a.m. Saturday. Department officials said Wheeler was shot multiple times while on a routine check for illegal night hunting when the incident occurred. Louisiana State Police and other authorities are searching for the shooter. No description of the shooter or the shooter’s vehicle have been released.
OLYMPIA, WASH.
Lt. governor making history
As Washington state prepares to swear in its first blind lieutenant governor, the Senate has undergone a makeover that incorporates Braille into that chamber’s floor sessions. On a recent day just weeks before the start of the legislative session that begins Monday, the desks of 49 senators got an upgrade: a system that will allow Lt. Gov.-elect Cyrus Habib to know by the touch of his finger which lawmaker is seeking to be recognized to speak. “I’m really excited to show the public, particularly school children, that anything is possible,” Habib, 35, said.
HARRISBURG, PA.
Scandal costs keep rising
Penn State’s costs related to the Jerry Sandusky scandal are approaching a quarter-billion dollars and growing, five years after the former assistant football coach’s arrest on child molestation charges. The scandal’s overall cost to the school has reached at least $237 million, including a recent $12 million verdict in the whistleblower and defamation case brought by former assistant coach Mike McQueary, whose testimony helped convict Sandusky in 2012. The university has settled with 33 people over allegations they were sexually abused by Sandusky, and has made total payments to them of $93 million.
PALACIOS, TEXAS
Two hunters are found dead
The Coast Guard said two Southeast Texas men have been found dead and a third remains missing after a duck hunting trip. The three were to launch their 17-foot flat-bottomed boat about 4 a.m. Friday between Palacios and Port Lavaca but did not return as expected later in the day. A girlfriend of one of the men called the Coast Guard on Friday evening to report them overdue. Two bodies were found in waters near Matagorda Bay. The search for the third man was ongoing.
Compiled from wire reports