News from across the USA

ALABAMA Auburn: More than 150 schools in Alabama received pre- kindergarten grants from the state, the Opelika- Auburn News reported. Beauregard Elementary received $ 130,000; Loachapoka Elementary was given $ 150,000 and Beulah Elementary got $ 150,000.

ALASKA Anchorage: The Alaska Volcano Observatory lowered the threat level for a volcano near the Aleutian Islands. The observatory says eruptions and minor ash emissions that began May 13 at Pavlof Volcano have ended and seismic activity associated with lava effusion is not being detected.

ARIZONA Flagstaff: Northern Arizona University will no longer offer free parking on weeknights, the Arizona Daily Sun reported. University officials say three sites that still offer free parking in the evenings will require a permit beginning Aug. 1.

ARKANSAS Little Rock: Officials predicted a near- record amount of rice being planted in Arkansas this year. Arkansas is the USA’s leading rice- producing state.

CALIFORNIA Madera: A pregnant woman is facing multiple drunken driving charges for a crash that left a man dead and three others injured, KFSN- TV reported. COLORADO Colorado Springs: A man who has five DUI convictions has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for a hit- and- run crash that killed a woman and injured another in Colorado Springs, the Gazette reported. CONNECTICUT Storrs: A construction project on the UConn campus is shutting down the main access road to the UConn Dairy Bar. More than 200,000 visitors stop at the Dairy Bar each year for ice cream, cheese, eggs and other products from UConn’s farm animals and to watch the ice cream being made. DELAWARE Wilmington: Howard High School of Technology student Brandon Wingo, 15, was shot in the head three blocks from the school, and later died of his injuries at the hospital, The News Journal reported. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority says it has fired 20 managers, The Washington Post reported. FLORIDA Tallahassee: On Thursday, the city will mark the 60th anniversary of a sevenmonth bus boycott that desegregated public transportation, the Tallahassee Democrat reported. On May 26, 1956, Florida A& M students Wilhelmina Jakes and Carrie Patterson were arrested for boarding a bus and sitting up front beside a white woman. GEORGIA Brunswick: Business owners on St. Simons Island say the beach has receded in recent months. The Brunswick News reported that a recent storm set the island back by about five years of beach buildup. HAWAII Hilo: A man was convicted of taking the spear tip from the statue of King Kamehameha in September, the Hawaii Tribune- Herald reported. IDAHO Twin Falls: A Canadian BASE jumper’s death was ruled an accident and investigators say they found a hole in her pilot chute, the Times- News reported. Kristin Renee Czyz, 34, packed her own parachute before she jumped from Perrine Bridge on May 13. ILLINOIS Naperville: Stan Wojtasiak, the township highway commissioner, is suing the township board to stop it from stripping $ 540,000 from his budget.

INDIANA Indianapolis: Comedian Mike Epps, 45, revealed on his Instagram account last week that he has finally received his high school diploma from Arsenal Tech High School, The Indianapo

lis Star reported. Epps, an Indianapolis native, is set to star in the ABC sitcom Uncle Buck on June 14. IOWA Des Moines: Tax returns for Gov. Branstad and his wife show they earned $ 185,249 in 2015 and made over $ 31,000 in charity donations, The Des

Moines Register reported. KANSAS Wichita: A B- 29 bomber known as “Doc,” which took nearly 16 years to restore, might be flying over Kansas in the next few weeks after receiving a certificate of airworthiness from the Federal Aviation Administration,

The Wichita Eagle reported reported. KENTUCKY Lexington: Police have arrested a man and charged him with murder in his girlfriend’s death. The Lexington

Herald- Leader reported that William Pomeroy, 45, was charged with murder and tampering with physical evidence in the death of Amy Koegel, 43. LOUISIANA Benton: The Bossier Parish School Board finalized the contract of newly appointed superintendent Scott Smith, The

Times reported. His annual base salary is $ 183,000. MAINE Carrabassett Valley: The Carrabassett Valley Academy was named the top club of the year for both skiing and snowboarding by the U. S. Ski and Snowboard Association. MARYLAND Ocean City: Jordan Hess, 29, died after an accidental fall from an eighth- floor balcony at the Stowaway Grand Hotel, The Daily Times reported. MASSACHUSETTS Amherst: The Laboratory of Medical Zoology here is partnering with about two dozen towns in the state to offer discounted tick testing. MICHIGAN Detroit: With help from JPMorgan Chase and other backers, a new non- profit entity named Develop Detroit launched this week to provide a variety of new housing options in Detroit neighborhoods outside of the greater downtown. The startup is a social enterprise of the Bostonbased Housing Partnership Network, which operates nationally to build and preserve affordable housing options through partnerships with its local member organizations. MINNESOTA Ely: A prescribed burn that got out of control near here expanded to 1,000 acres. Christi Powers of the Minnesota Interagency Fire Center says most of the burned area is in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. MISSISSIPPI West Point: The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reported that approximately 165 workers were affected by production ending at the West Point plant owned by North Carolina- based Babcock & Wilcox. The plant made industrial boilers and related equipment. MISSOURI Duenweg: A recovery fund established after the May 2011 Joplin tornado has awarded the last of $ 6.1 million in grants, The Joplin Globe reported. The Joplin Recovery Fund awarded $ 40,000 to the Joplin Early Childhood Education Program for a temporary move to the Duenweg Elementary School. MONTANA Missoula: The Five Valleys Land Trust has raised $ 1 million toward buying a rugged 4,200- acre triangle on Missoula’s south side, The Missoulian reported. NEBRASKA Ashland: Construction work will begin after Memorial Day on state Highway 66 near the Mahoney interchange on Interstate 80. The project includes bridge repairs and paving, guardrail and culvert work. NEVADA Carson City: The Nevada Indian Commission wants to preserve the campus of Stewart Indian School, KOLO- TV reported. The federal government opened the off- reservation school in 1890 and closed it in 1980. NEW HAMPSHIRE Manchester: Hillsborough County is paying four times more for medical care at Valley Street jail than what the previous physician, whose license was suspended, was paid. A medical group will get $ 26,250 per month when the previous physician received $ 6,520 per month, the New Hampshire Union Leader reported. NEW JERSEY Vineland: Two Vineland High School South students were arrested in connection with a hallway ambush that left another student hospitalized with a reported fractured skull, The Daily Journal reported. NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: Local police officials are denying accusations they hid evidence to protect a former officer embroiled in a lawsuit, KOB- TV reported. NEW YORK Albany: The state opened its campgrounds in the Adirondacks and Catskills to public use for the season. The state operates 52 campgrounds in the Adirondack and Catskill parks. Some sites are available on a first- come basis while others can be reserved. NORTH CAROLINA Wilming

ton: A 38- year- old man was rescued after his kayak overturned near Oak Island. The man said he was fishing when his kayak capsized near Yaupon reef about 1.5 miles south of Caswell Beach. NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: Deer hunters in North Dakota are now able to let the state keep license fees if they don’t get a tag. The Bismarck Tribune reported that hunters can let the state Game and Fish Department keep the fees, with funds going toward the Private Land Open to Sportsmen program. OHIO Indian Hill: The University of Cincinnati’s president opened up this past weekend about his past struggles with depression and suicide to address what he said is a stigma about mental illness, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported. Santa Ono, 53, has been using social media, including his @ PrezOno Twitter account, to share his message. OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: Advocacy groups are calling for even broader measures to curb distracted driving, The Oklahoman reported. Oklahoma was among the last states to pass a texting and driving moratorium when the Legislature passed a measure last year. Only two states — Arizona and Montana — lack such bans. OREGON Bend: Several sites in the Deschutes National Forest opened, The Bulletin reported. The openings include the Newberry Caldera in the Newberry National Volcanic Monument. PENNSYLVANIA State College: A coroner says a Penn State student who fell off the roof of a home died of electrocution. Police said Shannon Mathers, 21, grabbed a high- voltage wire when she and friends were on the roof of the three- story home. RHODE ISLAND Providence: Scarborough North and Roger Wheeler State Beaches, in Narragansett, and Misquamicut State Beach, in Westerly, are now open from 9 a. m. to 6 p. m. on Saturdays and Sundays. All state beaches will open daily starting on May 28. SOUTH CAROLINA Beaufort: Firefighters removed a 3- footlong alligator from a local YMCA swimming pool, the Island Packet reported. No one was in the pool at the time. SOUTH DAKOTA Rapid City: Crews at the McGillycuddy house here began unearthing the home’s original wooden sidewalk, the Rapid City Journal reported. Archaeologists last summer discovered the original wooden sidewalk from the 1800s preserved by layers and layers of dirt. TENNESSEE Chattanooga: A male competitor who needed medical attention during the 2.4- mile swim portion of Sunday’s Ironman triathlon here died after Hamilton County emergency crews pulled him from the Tennessee River, WTVC- TV reported. TEXAS Odessa: A 31- year- old man faces a felony charge after allegedly spanking and leaving several welts on his 8- year- old son for missing a goal in a soccer match, the Odessa American reported. UTAH Spanish Fork: Ranchers and farmers in Utah County are trying to hold on to fertile and productive lands amid encroaching development of housing and commerce in the region, the Deseret News reported. The county has lost much of its best agricultural land to development over the last three decades. VERMONT Burlington: City employees responded to a home on Plattsburgh Avenue after an embankment against the house slid into the Winooski River. Both the property manager and a relative of the family who rents the home say they do not know what caused the embankment to fall, but they were hoping the house would not follow, Burlington Free Press reported. VIRGINIA Richmond: The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles says a computer outage that forced the agency to close its customer service centers has been repaired, the Richmond TimesDispatch reported. WASHINGTON Everett: The Herald reported that Everett is the second city in the state, after Spokane, to require all officers to undergo 40 hours of crisis intervention training. About twothirds of Seattle officers have taken the 40- hour training, but it’s not a requirement there. WEST VIRGINIA Davis: The annual Canaan Valley Birding Festival will be held here June 2- 5 at Canaan Valley Resort. Nature walk leaders will provide instruction on birding by ear as well as eye. WISCONSIN Ashwaubenon: The Oneida Nation and VFW “Robert Cornelius” Post 7784 honored the tribe’s 13 living World War II veterans Saturday giving each an eagle feather, one of the tribe’s highest honors, during a luncheon ceremony, Green Bay Press- Gazette reported. WYOMING Powell: Heart Mountain Interpretive Center is getting $ 116,000 to create an archive on World War II- era Japanese- American draft protests, the Casper Star Tribune reported. Heart Mountain housed more than 10,000 Japanese Americans.