In Other News: Texas girl’s inoperable brain tumor vanishes; The ‘Christmas comet’ is back for another visit. Here’s how to see it

Published 7:09 pm Monday, December 17, 2018

Editor’s note: “In Other News” is a list of state, national and global headlines compiled by the Daily Citizen-News staff. Click on the headlines below to read the full stories. To suggest a story, email the appropriate link to inothernews@dailycitizen.news.

Texas girl’s inoperable brain tumor vanishes

In what seems like a Christmas miracle, the inoperable brain tumor of an 11-year-old girl in Texas has disappeared, and doctors say they don’t know why. Roxli Doss was diagnosed with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, or DIPG, in June, as KVUE reported. Her parents, Gena and Scott, prayed for a miracle and they got it. — Fox News

The ‘Christmas comet’ is back for another visit. Here’s how to see it

Just in time for the holiday season, a comet first observed more than 70 years ago has returned for one of its periodic visits — and this flyby of the “Christmas comet” is one of the closest in recent history. “By my count, there have been only about 10 other known comets that approached this close over the last century,” Paul Chodas, a scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, told NBC News in an email, adding that astronomers were excited about the chance to observe it. The comet, 46P/Wirtanen, made its closest approach on Sunday, when it was about 7.1 million miles from Earth (about 30 times the distance from Earth to the moon). The comet hasn’t come this close for centuries and won’t come this close again for centuries, according to Chodas. The comet should be visible for several more days — at least for those with the right gear. — NBC News

Ohio police officer pens emotional plea to speeders after ticketing teen for driving 100 mph

An Ohio police officer told a teenager “you’re welcome” in an open letter on Facebook after issuing the 18-year-old a speeding ticket. And the cop hopes other lead-footed drivers will take note. When the officer — who was not identified in the post — with the North Ridgeville Police Department pulled the teenager over for speeding, the driver claimed to not realize how fast he or she was going. But the officer immediately knew that wasn’t true. In fact, the official said it should be pretty obvious you’re speeding when you hit 100 miles per hour in a 65 mile-per-hour zone. — Fox News

‘Justice’ is Merriam-Webster’s word of the year, beating out ‘lodestar’ and ‘nationalism’

Turns out justice has been there all along. In 2018, the word has appeared daily in news stories about the Justice Department, obstruction of justice, Supreme Court justices or social justice, to name a few. For its steadfast relevance over the past 12 months, “justice” is Merriam-Webster’s 2018 word of the year, an annual distinction the dictionary’s editors choose based entirely on look-up data. “For many reasons and for many meanings, one thing’s for sure: justice has been on the minds of many people in 2018,” Merriam-Webster associate editor Emily Brewster said in a statement. — The Washington Post