STATE- BY- STATE

News from across the USA

ALABAMA Birmingham: Terrill Chatman, a former postal employee who once played for the University of Alabama football team, was indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly stealing gift cards from the mail, AL. com reported. ALASKA Juneau: Clarissa Rizal and 40 contributing weavers from around the Pacific Northwest completed a Chilkat and Ravenstail robe that will be used to celebrate canoe gatherings and the maiden voyages of new dugout canoes, the Juneau Empire reported. ARIZONA Chandler: A 70- yearold man was accused of turning his home into a house of prostitution, The Arizona Republic reported. ARKANSAS Hot Springs: Richard Rodney Dennis, 34, and Toni Renee Lum, 35, were arrested after a Garland County woman was bound with duct tape in her home and beaten, the Hot Springs Sentinel- Record reported. CALIFORNIA Sacramento: Greg Schmidt, the state Senate’s chief administrator for 18 years, died of cancer at 69, The Sacramento Bee reported. COLORADO Colorado Springs: A tanker truck crashed Friday, spilling about 8,000 gallons of gasoline into Fountain Creek, killing a slew of fish, the Gazette reported. CONNECTICUT Waterbury: Democratic Gov. Malloy says the widening of Interstate 84 is ahead of schedule. The wideranging project includes 20 retaining walls, realigning the roadway to eliminate the exiting “S’’ curve and reconfiguring interchange ramps.

DELAWARE Wilmington: School districts are struggling to find enough drivers to shuttle students to and from school, The

News Journal reported. The shortage has meant some students aren’t getting to school on time.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Keepers at the National Zoo hope that the facility’s newest bachelor, a Sumatran tiger named Sparky, takes a liking to his genetic match, Damai, The Washington Post reported.

FLORIDA Gainesville: Voters will have a chance Tuesday to decide whether to approve an amendment to the state constitution that supporters say is aimed at encouraging the use of solar energy. A proposed Amendment 4 calls for tax breaks that could help both commercial and residential property owners install solar or renewable energy systems.

GEORGIA Savannah: Sony Pictures Television announced that Underground, its hit TV series, will film its second season in the area, the Savannah Morn

ing News reported. HAWAII Hilo: A dozen birds native to Hawaii will be released in November to end over a decade of extinction in the wild for the species. The corvid is part of the crow family and will be reintroduced at a natural area reserve aviary, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported. IDAHO Boise: There will be eight presidential candidates on the Idaho ballot in November, officials said. ILLINOIS Chicago: In a marriage between the White Sox and one of the largest home lenders in the USA, the ballpark located at 35th and Shields will undergo a name change Nov. 1 from U. S. Cellular Field to Guaranteed Rate Field, the Chicago Tribune reported. INDIANA Terre Haute: Elwood Endicott and his wife, Clara, celebrated 75 years of marriage with an open house at the senior community where they reside, the Tribune- Star reported. They were married Aug. 27, 1941.

IOWA Des Moines: A retired Catholic priest in western Iowa has been charged with five counts of invasion of privacy over an alleged incident at a high school track meet in April, The Des

Moines Register reported.

KANSAS Olathe: Garmin International said it is planning a $ 200 million expansion at its headquarters. The company currently employs about 2,800 at its headquarters. The expansion will accommodate another 2,600 workers.

KENTUCKY Lexington: Two men have filed a lawsuit accusing supervisors of discrimination and retaliation at Blue Grass Army Depot near Richmond. James A. Bilski of Richmond and Charles M. Herald of Berea worked as electronics mechanics at the depot, where they maintained and installed monitoring systems, the Lexington Herald- Leader reported.

LOUISIANA Westwego: State police troopers acting on a tip seized 420 pounds of marijuana hidden inside a shipment of foot soaking salts, The Times- Picayune reported.

MAINE Greenville: Airports in Greenville and Auburn will receive nearly $ 2 million in Federal Aviation Administration grants to make improvements. MARYLAND Havre de Grace: Two people were hospitalized after suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning while boating near Havre de Grace, The ( Baltimore) Sun reported.

MASSACHUSETTS Boston: Orcas were spotted off Cape Cod for the second time this summer, the

Cape Cod Times reported. A group of tuna fishermen about 12 miles off the coast spotted four orcas last week and posted a video of the encounter online. MICHIGAN Monroe: The Monroe County fair collected nearly $ 23,000 in revenue while selling beer for the first time at the seven- day event. MINNESOTA Paynesville: The Koronis Lake Association is taking action — spending $ 50,000 this summer on a threepart treatment to get rid of starry stonewort, the St. Cloud Times reported. If it works, the association would roll out the rest of its $ 828,600 plan to treat more of the lake. The treatment could be used on other Minnesota lakes too. MISSISSIPPI Greenwood: The troubled Greenwood Balloon and Music Fest won’t return in 2017, Mayor Carolyn McAdams says. She told The Greenwood Commonwealth that local businessman Ken Gammill left behind unpaid vendors and bounced checks from this year’s event in June. MISSOURI Arnold: A waitress at a Denny’s restaurant is being called a hero for saving the life of a choking man. KMOV- TV reported that Amanda Zamudio waits tables but also attends night classes, nearing her nursing degree. MONTANA Helena: A state trooper pleaded guilty in connection to striking a pedestrian with a patrol vehicle while on duty, the Helena Independent Record reported. NEBRASKA Grand Island: The Nebraska State Fair has welcomed its 2 millionth visitor since moving from Lincoln to Grand Island in 2010. The Grand Island Independent reported that Jeff and Amanda Thober, of Ravenna, and their four children,

were given the honor Friday. NEVADA Stateline: A mistake in an application for federal funds may mean the elimination of an express bus route that carries 25,000 passengers a year between Lake Tahoe’s south shore and downtown Carson City, the Tahoe Daily Tribune. NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: Farmers may be eligible for federal help recovering from this summer’s drought. The U. S. Department of Agriculture granted Gov. Hassan’s request to designate Hillsborough, Merrimack and Rockingham counties as primary natural disaster areas. NEW JERSEY Newark: Federal prosecutors say a former nursery school worker was indicted on child pornography charges. James Paroline, 27, faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted on all counts. NEW MEXICO Las Cruces: Fresh chile, watermelons, zucchini and other vegetables were up for grabs as La Semilla Food Center debuted its mobile market. Elena Acosta, the center’s community and donor relations manager, says the Farm Fresh Mobile Market is the only one of its kind in the region, the Las Cruces Sun- News reported. NEW YORK Huntington: Authorities say thousands of dead bunker fish washed up on shore on Long Island. NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: Four children and three adults were hurt, and three were taken to a hospital after a head- on crash on Southall Road in which one driver told police he had taken a prescription anti- anxiety drug and ingested three beers, The News & Observer reported. NORTH DAKOTA

Fargo: Authorities said two women who worked for the West Fargo Hockey Association’s bingo operation were arrested for theft. KFGO- AM reported the hockey association suspected employee theft from the bingo game operations at the M& J Saloon. OHIO Bowling Green: The 20- megawatt solar field in Bowling Green is set to become Ohio’s largest installation. It is scheduled to open by the end of the year. OKLAHOMA Conway: Hendrix College said it reached a $ 1 million challenge grant from the J. E. and L. E. Mabee Foundation of Tulsa. OREGON Corvallis: A former Oregon State University student will spend up to five years in prison after his conviction on charges related to campus- area break- ins, the Corvallis GazetteTimes reported. PENNSYLVANIA Pittsburgh: Faculty and staff members at the University of Pittsburgh now receive transgender benefits, including behavioral health support, medications and surgery, the Pittsburgh Post- Gazette reported. RHODE ISLAND Providence: Three Rhode Island municipalities were awarded federal funding so that each can buy a new firetruck. The state’s congressional delegation announced that Central Falls, Exeter and Woonsocket were awarded a combined $ 1.6 million through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s assistance to firefighters grant program. SOUTH CAROLINA Lexington: Grape grower and wine maker Shannon Mercer is asking the public to help him harvest five vineyards of ripened muscadines for Mercer House Estate Winery, The State reported. In return, Mercer says he will give pickers a couple cases of the wine from those grapes. SOUTH DAKOTA Pierre: The state Department of Health is handing out more than $ 220,000 in grants aimed at curbing tobacco use. Grantees include the Boys and Girls clubs of Brookings and Watertown, Coteau Des Prairies Health Care System and Delta Dental of South Dakota Foundation. TENNESSEE Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture began searching for a new chancellor. School officials said they want to have the new leader in place during the first quarter of 2017. TEXAS Houston: Federal regulators raised water quality concerns about Houston raw sewage spills following storms as repair estimates reach several billion dollars, The Houston Chronicle reported. UTAH Salt Lake City: The Salt Lake Tribune reported that the Utah County Health Department confirmed up to 10 students at Lone Peak High School are suffering from meningitis. VERMONT Bennington: A work crew chopped up pieces of a Family Dollar truck after the driver failed to clear a train overpass while traveling along state Route 7A. VIRGINIA Afton: The makers of the kombucha drink Barefoot Bucha are on a hunt for a new name for their beverage, the Richmond Times- Dispatch reported. In April, California- based E. & J. Gallo Winery filed a lawsuit alleging trademark infringement against Conscious Cultures, which produces Barefoot Bucha. Gallo has made wine under the Barefoot brand since 1986. WASHINGTON Seattle: Federal officials say more endangered sockeye salmon will complete the trip upstream to central Idaho this year because of structural changes at two Snake River dams in Washington state. Officials cite success with the new systems at Lower Granite Dam and Little Goose Dam. WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: Carrie Bowe, a spokeswoman for state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, took part in a YouTube clip called “The Stop White Genocide Video” that recites slogans of white supremacists, the Charleston Gazette- Mail reported. Morrisey’s office released a statement saying Bowe “is no longer a member of this office.” WISCONSIN Green Bay: Ethan Engum, 7, started a GoFundMe page to raise money for a new K9 dog. On Sunday he delivered a $ 520 check to the police department, WBAY- TV reported. WYOMING Laramie: The University of Wyoming is opting for more nine- month appointments for faculty to save money instead of paying them for a full year, school officials said. Administrators say faculty members can earn extra money by working through the summer on research projects that are funded with grants. School officials say last year, 665 full- time instructional faculty members had nine- month appointments and 82 had yearlong contracts, not including 175 full- time research faculty members.