TRENTON, N.J.

Rutgers reaches settlement with fired basketball coach

Rutgers University has reached a $475,000 settlement agreement with Mike Rice, agreeing to pay the fired men’s basketball coach for the remaining two years of his contract, university officials announced Thursday night.

President Robert Barchi fired Rice on April 3 after the coach was caught on video hitting, kicking and taunting players with anti-gay slurs at practice.

PONTIAC, Mich.

Grandmother gets 22-year sentence for killing grandson

A 75-year-old Detroit-area woman who killed her grandson expressed remorse Thursday but repeatedly accused his parents of dumping a troubled boy at her doorstep during a desperate, emotional plea to avoid a prison sentence that likely means death behind bars.

The judge wasn’t swayed, sending Sandra Layne away for at least 22 years.

Joanthan Hoffman was shot six times, including twice in the back, last spring in Oakland County’s West Bloomfield Township. Layne, a former teacher and real estate agent, said she shot him out of fear during a physical altercation.

SALEM, Ore.

Judge jails juror for texting during armed-robbery trial

A judge in Oregon noticed an unexpected glow on a juror’s chest during video evidence in an armed-robbery trial.

The juror, it seemed, was texting.

Marion County Circuit Judge Dennis Graves cleared the courtroom and excused all jurors except 26-year-old Benjamin Kohler.

Jurors in Oregon are given explicit instructions at the outset of each trial not to use cellphones in court.

Graves held Kohler in contempt, and Kohler spent most of Tuesday and Wednesday in the county jail.

Neither the nature of the text message nor its recipient was disclosed.

— From news service reports