Fairfax County, Virginia, police officer Scott Abram was charged with two counts of misdemeanor shoplifting for stealing merchandise from two Target stores. Police say that while using the self-checkout at a Target in Burke, Abram scanned a cheaper item's barcode to pay less for another item, then left the store with both products despite only paying for one. Abram was in uniform and on duty at the time. Police say he had committed a similar theft at a Target in Springfield the day before, while off duty. A 23-year veteran of the Fairfax County Police Department, Abram chose to retire rather than face termination. Each charge is a misdemeanor that can carry up to 12 months in jail and a $2,500 fine if convicted.

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Ontario government inspectors checked several career colleges that had experienced "concerning" growth in applications for the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP), a government financial aid program that helps eligible students pay for post-secondary education. The investigators found problems that raised "serious concerns" at three Academy of Learning institutions, like signs that other people might have been doing students' schoolwork for them—for example, some students finished whole courses in a single day, or even just minutes. A few students could not even name their school or program of study. The inspectors also found shared computer logins from many different locations and said the schools could not prove that OSAP-funded students were really taking the classes they claimed to be enrolled in. These three locations took in more than $219 million in student aid money for about 14,800 students in one year, so the province decided to stop letting new students use that aid at the schools. The colleges deny most of the claims and are fighting the decision in court.

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Four police officers woke and arrested Will Fraser, a 15-year-old Reform U.K. activist, at his Walsall home. More than two months later, police still have not clearly explained the exact reason for the arrest, but The Telegraph found that it stems from a few Facebook posts. For example, Fraser criticized a Tory member of the Wolverhampton City Council for wearing casual clothes at meetings, then later remarked that he was glad the councilor was "not looking like a rent boy." Officers took Fraser to the station, questioned him, took his DNA and fingerprints, seized his phone and laptop, and released him on bail while banning him from council meetings. His lawyers and free speech groups say the arrest was an overreaction that threatens free speech, while the councilor in question claims the posts felt like targeted harassment.

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Dylan Hembrough, editor in chief of the student newspaper at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, contacted the school's communications office to protest a policy requiring a communications staff member to sit in on interviews between student reporters and university staff. As a result, university officials reported Hembrough to campus police for harassment. Police looked into the report, decided his comments did not constitute harassment, and recommended dropping the case. In a statement, the communications office defended the policy and said the real problem is that the student paper has printed inaccurate information and refused to retract it.

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A California state auditor found waste, mismanagement, and misuse of taxpayer money inside several state agencies, including the office of state Controller Malia Cohen, which is responsible for managing state finances and payroll. The investigation found that for over a year, senior officials in Cohen's office deliberately stalled the recovery of more than $33,000 in salary overpayments to two employees, canceling a required payroll deduction while considering an alternative plan to seek state payments on the employees' behalf. Officials never carried out that plan, and the auditor concluded that the office violated state law by failing to collect one employee's debt. The investigation also found that two managers worked remotely from Idaho, Tennessee, and Alabama despite rules restricting out-of-state telework. Across nine cases involving multiple state agencies, the auditor identified about $885,000 in wasted, misused, uncollected, or improperly spent public funds.

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