Dominique Pelicot became notorious after being convicted of drugging his wife and inviting strangers to rape her. Police say his crimes may have started long before.

Birmingham, Ala., which had a record year for homicides, is trying to curb shootings by blocking streets. But the effort has come to mean something else.

The defendants, all from Chile, are accused of participating in a South American crime group targeting multimillion-dollar homes, the authorities said. One of them appeared to belong to the Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow.

Sid Edwards was a high school football coach who had never run for office. Now, he’s the mayor of Baton Rouge, Louisiana’s second-largest city.

Most Democrats joined Republicans in voting to take up the measure, which would require the detention and deportation of undocumented immigrants charged with minor crimes.

Bourbon Street is the lifeblood of the New Orleans tourist industry. But after an attack that killed 14, along with other recent violence, some people who work and live there wish for change.

To curb gang killings and a rise in homicides, the measure empowers the military to make arrests and allows the authorities to enter suspects’ homes without warrants and deny them bail.

They were the bright lights during a rocky year, making the city a cooler, and fairer, place to be.