News from across the USA

ALABAMA Decatur: State and local officials say steps that the West Morgan- East Lawrence Water and Sewer Authority took to reduce levels of two chemicals found in its water last year have made the water safe to drink.

ALASKA Anchorage: An underwater pipeline that sprung a leak in Alaska’s Cook Inlet, an area known for diverse marine life, probably dumped less than three gallons of crude oil into the ocean, pipeline owner Hilcorp Alaska LLC said Monday.

ARIZONA Phoenix: Republican Gov. Ducey’s plan to allow universities to keep $ 37 million a year in sales tax revenue and use it to help pay for a $ 1 billion construction bond package faces major opposition in the GOP-controlled Legislature.

ARKANSAS Little Rock: Arkansas House members say online retailers will not have to collect Arkansas sales taxes. The proposal received only 43 votes in the 100- member House. Opponents say the bill creates a new tax and infringes on congressional power to regulate trade among the states.

CALIFORNIA Los Angeles: California deputies responding to the emergency landing of a small plane in a warehouse parking lot arrested the pilot on suspicion of being under the influence, authorities said. The Piper Cherokee’s left wing clipped a stop sign, but the single- engine plane remained upright after it landed in the empty lot late Monday, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Lt. Alex Villanueva.

COLORADO Boulder: Colorado residents and leaders will be discussing the impact that opting out of standardized tests could have on state school districts at a forum hosted by the University of Colorado. The Daily Camera reported the event is focused on the opt- out movement that is taking place in liberal and conservative school districts.

CONNECTICUT Hartford: A proposed bill would make it a crime to intentionally interfere with service dogs while they’re on the job. People who rely on guide and service dogs say they’ve had members of the public purposely try to distract the animals.

DELAWARE Wilmington: Secretary of Veterans Affairs David J. Shulkin says he’s working to expand veterans’ options to go outside the VA hospitals for care. He addressed reporters at the Wilmington VA hospital in Elsmere on Monday.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: A 16year- old student at Eastern Senior High School in Northeast Washington was arrested Monday after police said they found a photo of the teenager on Instagram with the words “school shooter” and two gun emoji.

FLORIDA Doral: Officials say no disease- carrying mosquitoes have been found so far this year in the Miami area. But the head of Miami- Dade County’s mosquito control operations says he’s prepared to recommend aerial pesticide spraying to stamp out any reemergence of the Zika virus.

GEORGIA Decatur: Oprah Winfrey will speak at the commencement ceremony at Agnes Scott College. She will receive an honorary degree from the liberal arts school May 13.

HAWAII Honolulu: State and federal officials have moved a Hawaiian monk seal on Kauai out of concern for the animal’s safety. KHON- TV reported that officials determined the 10- month- old monk seal was at risk living in the Lihi canal in Kapaa, where two other juvenile seals died in 2014 and 2016.

IDAHO Twin Falls: Officials say far fewer foster care placements are available in south- central Idaho than in the rest of the state. The Times- News reported that last year 181 children from the region were removed from their homes. That compares with 161 children removed in 2012, according to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.

ILLINOIS Champaign: The 19th annual Roger Ebert’s Film Festival will run April 19- 23 at the Virginia Theater. The “Ebertfest” lineup includes screenings of 1979’ s Being There, the 2004 Cole Porter biography De- Lovely and the 1998 comedy/ drama Pleasantville.

INDIANA South Bend: Officials in northern Indiana are working to raise money to pave a gap in a recreational trail extending to the Michigan state line. The South

Bend Tribune reported that the efforts would fill some of the final gaps in the 34- mile- long IndianaMichigan River Valley Trail.

IOWA Des Moines: Civil rights groups, media advocates and some lawmakers are opposing an Iowa bill that would end public access to many 911 calls. The bill would declare that 911 calls involving emergencies in which people are injured are considered confidential “medical records.”

KANSAS Topeka: The state is reporting that its tax collections in March fell nearly $ 12 million short of expectations. The Department of Revenue said the state collected almost $ 429 million in taxes last month when it had projected it would take in more than $ 440 million.

KENTUCKY Frankfort: The FBI is investigating contractors who have worked with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. State officials say they received a grand jury subpoena regarding antitrust allegations involving state contractors dating back to 2010.

LOUISIANA Baton Rouge: A project known as “Bridge Over Troubled Waters” has helped get quilting supplies to south Louisiana quilters whose homes flooded, The Advocate reported

MAINE Portland: A telephone scam is attempting to steal voice recordings of Maine residents. Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, says the scam has been reported to the Senate Aging Committee’s fraud hotline. The fraudulent callers ask simple questions such as “Are you there?” and “Can you hear me” in the hopes of coaxing a “yes” response from the call recipient.

MARYLAND Annapolis: Gov. Hogan has signed a measure to allocate $ 28 million in additional school funding, including $ 23.7 million for Baltimore city. The money goes to Baltimore city and 10 Maryland counties that have lost funding in the state’s school funding formula due to declining enrollment.

MASSACHUSETTS Great Bar

rington: A group that wants to save the 19th century church in Massachusetts where W. E. B. Du Bois once attended services has reached its fundraising goal. The Berkshire Eagle reported that $ 100,000 was raised toward the purchase of the Clinton A. M. E. Zion Church in Great Barrington, where Du Bois was born.

MICHIGAN Novi: Battery maker A123 Systems LLC plans to consolidate some of its operations at a new $ 40 million headquarters complex in suburban Detroit.

MINNESOTA St. Paul: An annual survey estimates the elk population of northwestern Minnesota at 79 animals in three herds. That’s down from 83 last winter and 131 in 2015, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources says.

MISSISSIPPI Jackson: Mississippi Power Co. says it needs one more month and another $ 99 million to finish its $ 7.2 billion Kemper County power plant. .

MISSOURI Columbia: The four campuses of the University of Missouri system are reporting a drop in applications from international students. System officials say the current political climate and concerns about safety are contributing to the decline.

MONTANA Helena: A health care cost- sharing program offered by Christian Care Ministry is available in Montana. People who join Medi- Share must have “a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.”

NEBRASKA Kearney: Residence hall students at the University of Nebraska- Kearney recycled more than 13,000 pounds of material during a six- week competition among residence halls.

NEVADA Reno: Nevada State Forester and Fire Warden Joe Freeland resigned Monday, nearly six months after an escaped burn by the state triggered a large wildfire just south of Reno, the Reno Gazette- Journal reported.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: The state’s child services agency is working to close 2,800 in- vestigations that remain open past a recommended 60- day deadline. The Division for Children, Youth and Families will begin allowing workers up to four hours of overtime per week.

NEW JERSEY Phillipsburg: Someone has returned a book to the Phillipsburg Free Public Library 50 years after it was taken out. Jules Verne’s Dropped From the Clouds was left in its book drop on Thursday. It had been checked out Jan. 5, 1967.

NEW MEXICO Ruidoso: Andrew Poteet Magill, 25, who was accused of shooting and wounding a sheriff’s deputy during a struggle at a hospital, was charged Monday in the ax killing of a woman.

NEW YORK Albany: The city’s Police Academy was to hold its first graduation ceremony Monday with 10 officers graduating from the 26- week academy.

NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: The Republican- controlled legislature suffered another redistricting defeat Monday when a federal court ruled the map it drew for Greensboro’s city council seats is unconstitutional.

NORTH DAKOTA Fargo: North Dakota farmers are planning to seed less wheat this year but more soybeans. Soybean acres in the state are expected to hit a record, up 14% to 6.9 million acres.

OHIO Columbus: The man charged with killing Ohio State University student Reagan Tokes, 21, has pleaded not guilty. Brian Golsby, 29, is charged with aggravated murder, rape and other counts. Tokes’ body was found in February at a park in Grove City.

OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: State officials say 2017 is already among the top five years on record for wildfires. More than 800 fires have burned more than 450,000 acres of woodlands and grasslands, state forester George Geissler told The Oklahoman.

OREGON Portland: Officials are investigating nine Oregon hotels that travelers claim canceled their room reservations and inflated prices ahead of a summer 2017 solar eclipse. More than a dozen people have filed com- plaints against the nine hotels.

PENNSYLVANIA Milford: Prosecutors scored a significant victory Monday in their quest to convict the suspect in the 2014 ambush slaying of a state police trooper. A judge ruled against Eric Frein, whose lawyer argued he clearly invoked his right to remain silent before going on to incriminate himself “dozens of times” in a police interview.

RHODE ISLAND Providence: Mayor Jorge Elorza and school officials on Monday opened a school for immigrant high school students whose education was interrupted by war or other trauma.

SOUTH CAROLINA Charleston: An Uber driver has been arrested after police say they found a fake police badge and loaded gun inside his vehicle. David Stanley Hubbard, 57, was running sirens in his 2007 Honda Pilot. The passengers say Hubbard discussed “killing people and chasing murderers.”

SOUTH DAKOTA Yankton: The Avera Sacred Heart Hospital has purchased Yankton’s Lewis and Clark Specialty Hospital for nearly $ 13.2 million.

TENNESSEE Nashville: A suburban Nashville man has surrendered 368 chickens, roosters, quail, rabbits and pigeons he was raising in his backyard and slaughtering for meat.

TEXAS San Antonio: Federal immigration agents say they have arrested 153 immigrants in South Texas with criminal records or who were living in the country illegally.

UTAH Salt Lake City: The state Supreme Court has upheld a decision by state licensing officials to deny automaker Tesla a license to sell new cars.

VERMONT Montpelier: The Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife is warning drivers to be wary and drive with caution because of seasonal frog and salamander migrations.

VIRGINIA Blacksburg: Virginia Tech’s Board of Visitors has approved a 2.9% increase in tuition and fees for resident undergraduate students, bringing them to $ 13,230 annually. Tuition and fees for nonresident undergraduates will rise 3.5%, totaling $ 31,014 a year.

WASHINGTON Seattle: The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington is suing the state’s Office of Public Defense to get the state to do more to ensure children charged with crimes have good legal help.

WEST VIRGINIA Huntington: Biographer Wil Haygood will speak Thursday at Marshall University on the late Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall, who was confirmed to the court 50 years ago this year.

WISCONSIN Madison: Police have referred more charges to prosecutors against a UW- Madison student already accused of sexually assaulting or harassing nearly a dozen women. Alec Cook of Edina, Minn., faces 21 counts involving 10 women dating back to March 2015.

WYOMING Laramie: Faculty at the University of Wyoming have asked Gov. Mead to make the school’s board of trustees more diverse. Faculty Senate Secretary Donal O’Toole says there are only two women on the 12- member board.