Combined briefs package

GEORGIA

Teen gets life in baby’s slaying

A Georgia teenager convicted of fatally shooting a baby in a stroller while trying to rob the child’s mother was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without parole. De’Marquise Elkins, 18, was sentenced less than two weeks after a jury found him guilty of murder in the slaying of 13-month-old Antonio Santiago. The toddler was in his stroller and out for a walk with his mother when he was shot between the eyes March 21 in the Georgia coastal city of Brunswick.

CHICAGO

Taped beating leads to 30 years

One of three Chicago teenagers accused in the beating death of a man collecting cans was sentenced Thursday to 30 years in prison. Anthony Malcolm, who will turn 20 on Monday, taped the July 2012 attack. His co-defendants, Nicholas Ayala and Malik Jones, are awaiting trial. Delfino Mora, a 62-year-old father of 12, was punched by one of the teens and hit his head on the concrete as the others filmed the attack with a cellphone. The teens then robbed Mora of $60. Authorities were led to the teens after a video of the attack turned up on Facebook.

CONNECTICUT

Slave who died in 1798 honored

A slave who died more than 200 years ago in Connecticut but was never buried was given an extraordinary funeral Thursday that included lying in state at the Capitol and calls for learning from his painful life. The enslaved man known as Mr. Fortune was buried in a cemetery filled with prominent citizens after a service at the Waterbury church where he had been baptized. Earlier in the day, his remains lay in state in the Capitol rotunda in Hartford. His owner, a bone doctor, preserved his skeleton for medical study and a descendant eventually gave the bones to a museum, which put the skeleton on display. Mr. Fortune died in 1798, perhaps of a broken neck or by drowning.

MEXICO

More arrests made in bar killings

Three more suspects in the killings of 13 young people kidnapped three months ago from a bar near the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City have been arrested, authorities said Thursday. Assistant federal prosecutor Renato Sales said the three men were turned over to Mexico City prosecutors pending formal charges. Sales said the three are suspected in 13 killings, the same number of bodies found in August in a clandestine grave on Mexico City’s outskirts. The latest arrests bring to 10 the number of suspects brought into custody.

VATICAN CITY

Vatican insists ambassador not shielded

The Vatican says it is cooperating with prosecutors in the Dominican Republic who are investigating the Vatican’s ambassador for alleged sexual abuse of minors. Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, denied the Vatican was trying to shield Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski by recalling him to Rome and relieving him of his job. Dominican prosecutors have said they would seek Wesolowski’s extradition if the evidence warrants it.

CHICAGO

Roeper replacing Ebert at Sun-Times

The Chicago Sun-Times will replace Roger Ebert with Richard Roeper, the late famed movie critic’s former colleague. The newspaper announced Thursday it officially selected Roeper as its movie columnist. Ebert died in April at age 70 after a long battle with cancer. Roeper appeared alongside the Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic for eight years on the television show “Ebert and Roeper.”

NEVADA

Scathing obit about mother goes viral

The children of a woman whose horror stories prompted Nevada to become one of the first states to allow children to sever parental ties wrote a scathing obituary published in the local newspaper — and has become an Internet sensation. The obituary opened with a harsh statement about the legacy of Marianne Theresa Johnson-Reddick: “On behalf of her children who she abrasively exposed to her evil and violent life, we celebrate her passing from this earth.” A note to readers in the the Reno Gazette-Journal said the paper had “removed the online listing of this obituary as we continue our review of the circumstances surrounding its placement.”

COLOMBIA

Government denies Escobar trademark

Colombia’s government refused to register as a trademark the full name of Pablo Escobar, the country’s most notorious criminal. The cocaine kingpin’s widow and two children had appealed an earlier rejection. The Commission of Industry and Commerce said Thursday that the name Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria is associated with a dark period of violence in Colombia that claimed thousands of lives as he fought extradition to the United States. Escobar died in a 1993 shootout.