In the news

■ Mikio Nakajima, a Japanese tourism official, hoped for “a catalyst for recovery” from a mudslide and the pandemic as 5,500 fireworks lit up the sky at a festival at the Atami Port in Shizuoka Prefecture.

■ Ed Sheeran, 30, the British pop star, said he’s tested positive for covid-19, will do interviews and performances from his house and offered “Apologies to anyone I’ve let down.”

■ Bartholomew, 81 and ecumenical patriarch of 200 million Eastern Orthodox Christians, was hospitalized in Washington, D.C., out of “an abundance of caution” as he began a 12-day visit to the U.S., but the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America said he was OK and just needed some rest.

■ Nick Sharp of the Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division assured that “they don’t restrict air flow at all,” just humans, as gates were installed at the mouth of Weaver Cave near Anniston to protect the endangered gray and tricolored bats that live there.

■ Nelson Gravatt, president of the board of directors of the Tupelo-Lee Humane Society in Mississippi, warned, “If the city and county don’t help us, then we’re going to have a problem keeping the doors open” as they contend with a sharp increase in the number of animals needing shelter.

■ Dave Rader, an Oklahoma state senator, is drawing criticism for referring to Asian Americans as “yellow families” during a legislative committee meeting on racial inequity, explaining to a participant, “You use Black term, white term, brown term, so I was just gonna jump in there with you.”

■ Jim Banks, an Indiana congressman, got his official Twitter account suspended over a tweet regarding Dr. Rachel Levine becoming the first openly transgender four-star officer in the U.S. uniformed services, writing, “The title of first female four-star officer gets taken by a man.”

■ Eric Schmitt, attorney general of Missouri, actually paid his own way to Texas for a border appearance with the Texas attorney general, his office said in correcting a spokesman’s statement, with taxpayers on the hook only for the spokesman’s $820 tab.

■ Denny Bubrig, vice president of student affairs at the University of Southern Mississippi, noted that the student union is “considered a ‘heart’ of campus, or the campus ‘living room,’ if you will,” after the dedication there of a flag display recognizing students from six American Indian nations.