STATE-BY-STATE

News from across the USA

ALABAMA Roanoke: Poultry producer Koch Foods will build a $40.5 million feed mill in Randolph County, Al.com reports. The plant is expected to be completed by the end of 2019.

ALASKA Juneau: School officials are reported close to making a decision on whether to combine the Thunder Mountain and Juneau-Douglas high school football teams, The Juneau Empire reports. Usually low enrollment drives such mergers, but in this case it’s a lack of funding.

ARIZONA Tucson: A University of Arizona researcher is experimenting with a new rattlesnake bite therapy, The Arizona Daily Star reports. Dr. Vance Nielsen hopes the therapy can be administered by injection in the field, giving a victim valuable time to get to a hospital for anti-venom treatment.

ARKANSAS Perryville: Chicken rancher David Boyett has a YouTube hit with his music video of Rudy the rooster pounding a toy piano key with his feet and beak, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports.

CALIFORNIA Yorba Linda: Authorities say a fire at a suspected cannabis honey-oil lab injured a man and sent fireworks shooting into the surrounding neighborhood. The commotion Sunday caused the Orange County Sheriff’s Department to deploy its bomb squad to the scene, The Orange County Register reports.

COLORADO Ignacio: A Head Start program on the Southern Ute tribe’s reservation was forced to close after asbestos was discovered in a crawl space, The Durango Herald reports.

CONNECTICUT Norwalk: A man who was caught hiding heroin in a Bible while on parole will spend another six months in jail, The Hour reports. Christopher Hayes, 41, pleaded guilty to possession of narcotics with intent to sell.

DELAWARE Wilmington: State lawyers are seeking dismissal of a lawsuit filed on behalf of two Belgian scientists who claim that Delaware improperly seized their shares of a pharmaceutical firm, cheating them out of $12 million. State lawyers say the scientists were reimbursed the fair value of the shares.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: There are now three possible routes for a high-speed rail line that promises a 15-minute ride between the District of Columbia and Baltimore, WTOP-FM reports. The so-called “maglev” system would eventually expand to New York.

FLORIDA Orlando: A man arrested after police mistook doughnut glaze in his car for meth has received a $37,500 settlement, the Orlando Sentinel reports. Daniel Rushing was arrested in December 2015 when an officer spotted flakes of glaze on his floorboard.

GEORGIA Social Circle: Deer season opened in Georgia last weekend for hunters using bows and muzzle-loading guns. The state’s main firearms hunting season for deer opens Saturday.

HAWAII Honolulu: The FBI has arrested one current and one former officer in the Honolulu Criminal Intelligence police unit. The arrests are related to a federal probe surrounding a retired Honolulu police chief and his wife, a deputy prosecutor.

IDAHO Nampa: State transportation officials have approved more than $100 million to expand the Interstate 84 corridor from Nampa to Caldwell, The Idaho Press-Tribune reports.

ILLINOIS Urbana: University of Illinois officials have confirmed a student case of meningococcal meningitis. The student was being treated at an Urbana hospital.

INDIANA West Lafayette: Purdue University President Mitch Daniels’ salary recently topped $769,000 a year, The Lafayette Journal & Courier reports.

IOWA Waverly: The state has a critical shortage of emergency medical technicians in rural areas, The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports. Two Bremer County EMS officials discussed the problem at a Waverly town hall meeting this month.

KANSAS Topeka: An arts group is planning a mural for a wall adjacent to the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic site, The Topeka Capital-Journal reports. A committee will select stories from submitted designs for the project at the former all-black school.

KENTUCKY Frankfort: A federal judge says it was unreasonable for a Kenton County sheriff ’s deputy to handcuff two elementary school students who were hitting and kicking school officials. The judge will now set a trial date to determine damages owed by the county, which is liable for the officer’s conduct.

LOUISIANA New Orleans: The executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana is retiring after a decade. Marjorie Esman says she’ll retire at the end of this month. Esman was a volunteer attorney for the group before heading it.

MAINE Whitefield: Officials in this Maine town say they’ll work with a growing Amish community to prevent accidents involving horse-drawn buggies. That comes after crashes Sept. 28 and Oct. 4 involving buggies.

MARYLAND Baltimore: The federal health inspector general says inspections of high-priority nursing home complaints in Maryland lag behind most of the nation, The Baltimore Sun reports. The IG report says Maryland failed to investigate nearly 650 allegations of harm in nursing homes within a required 10-day window.

MASSACHUSETTS Eastham: Facilities at Nauset Light Beach are being overhauled because of the eroding bluff, The Cape Cod Times reports. A two-month demolition project will remove restrooms, changing rooms, and a septic tank.

MICHIGAN Saginaw: State Police say the driver of a car died and two emergency workers were injured in a crash Monday that sent an ambulance off a Saginaw County bridge into the waistdeep water of Misteguay Creek. Officials say the ambulance apparently ran a stop sign.

MINNESOTA Minnesota: A wet autumn has farmers up against the clock as they deal with a delayed harvest and approaching winter weather, Minnesota Public Radio reports. Harvesting soybeans and other crops in a soggy field can compact the soil, which may stunt the growth of crops next season.

MISSISSIPPI Gulfport: Memorial Hospital at Gulfport is changing its emergency room treatment policy to ease crowding, The Sun Herald reports. Beginning next month, “nonurgent” patients will be asked to go to a walk-in clinic.

MISSOURI Springfield: Two pit bulls were shot to death in Springfield last week in separate attacks on other dogs and, in one case, a man who intervened in the attack. City officials passed a ban on the dogs earlier this month, The Kansas City Star reports.

MONTANA Butte: A contractor has sued Montana’s environmental agency alleging failure to crack down on the improper asbestos disposal, the Montana Standard reports. The lawsuit claims that asbestos is being dumped in open air sites at landfills, posing a health hazard.

NEBRASKA Omaha: The Great Plains Black History Museum is leaving a shopping mall for a larger location, The Omaha World-Herald reports. The museum that has occupied 800 square feet in Crossroads Mall will have 1,400 square feet at its new location.

NEVADA Reno: Flirtey, a drone delivery service, is working with a Reno-based ambulance firm to provide defibrillators and other medical equipment by air in responses to cardiac arrest, The Reno Gazette-Journal reports. The goal is to improve emergency response times.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: The state Supreme Court is holding its latest “On the Road” session Thursday at Winnacunnet High School in Hampton. Two cases are on the docket: one involves Miranda rights; the other involves a fatal car accident that led to a DWI charge.

NEW JERSEY Little Egg Harbor: Pinelands Regional High School is closed because of ongoing construction work that officials say makes the building unsafe. Officials say the students are moving to the district’s middle school.

NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: The University of New Mexico has seen a 65% increase in its number of online-only students in the last three years, The Albuquerque Journal reports. Officials say that broadens the student base but won’t cure the school’s budget woes.

NEW YORK Oswego: A $25 million reconstruction project on a 103-year-old Oswego Canal lock will begin next month. The lock near the canal’s entrance from Lake Ontario will be substantially rebuilt over several years.

NORTH CAROLINA Swansboro: Authorities say Swansboro Mayor John Chadwick failed to pay his state taxes for five years. Chadwick told The Daily News of Jacksonville that he has struggled financially for several years and is cooperating with state revenue officials.

NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: Preliminary figures show fewer emergency teacher certifications in areas of shortages this year compared to last year, The Bismarck Tribune reports. It’s unclear why the numbers dropped.

OHIO Columbus: A high school lockdown drill turned into the real thing when a handgun and ammunition clips were found in a student’s backpack, The Columbus Dispatch reports. Walnut Ridge High School canceled its Friday night football game after the discovery.

OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: The state Capitol is shut down this week as part of an ongoing $245 million renovation of the 100-year-old building. Crews are working around the clock to replace electrical infrastructure.

OREGON Astoria: A Portlandbased hotel company was awarded $4 million in a lawsuit against the Port of Astoria. Param Hotel Corp. claimed that the city’s Port Commission rebuffed a contract to put Param in control of the Astoria Riverwalk Inn, The Daily Astorian reports.

PENNSYLVANIA Monongahela: The area historical society has canceled tours combined with spooky tales at Mt. Zion Cemetery following complaints from relatives of people buried there that the activity is disrespectful, The (Washington) Observer Reporter reports.

RHODE ISLAND Pawtucket: The city is holding a gun buyback Oct. 28 as a way to get weapons off the street. Residents can bring in any kind of working firearm and exchange it, no questions asked, for a gift card.

SOUTH CAROLINA Charleston: The land surrounding the grave of Revolutionary War hero Francis Marion will soon be protected from development. The Lord Berkeley Conservation Trust says it has an easement for the 11,000acre site north of Charleston, The Post and Courier reports.

SOUTH DAKOTA Mitchell: Several cows were killed, injured or lost in a weekend crash that shut down Interstate 90 for several hours, The Daily Republic reports. Authorities say a semitrailer hauling 99 cows rolled in the median, throwing cattle from the trailer.

TENNESSEE Memphis: The Tennessee Historical Commission has denied a request from Memphis officials to remove a statue of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest from a city park, The Commercial Appeal reports. City officials plan to appeal.

TEXAS El Paso: A $10,000 reward is offered in a statue vandalism probe on tribal land. The El Paso Times reports that someone poured red paint on the statue of a Native American woman.

UTAH Salt Lake City: The nearly complete fossilized remains of a tyrannosaur found two years ago at the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument have been airlifted to the Natural History Museum of Utah, The Salt Lake Tribune reports.

VERMONT Montpelier: A derelict former restaurant that was once a popular social venue in Montpelier has been torn down. The razing of the former Brown Derby ends a decade-long battle over its fate, The Times Argus reports.

VIRGINIA Richmond: The state is offering an amnesty program for delinquent taxpayers. Officials will waive half the interest owed and all the penalties for those who pay the tax they owe and the other half of the interest.

WASHINGTON Everett: Fire crews responded to a two-alarm blaze early Monday near Everett that involved some 500 tires, KOMO-TV reports. No injuries were reported.

WEST VIRGINIA Morgantown: West Virginia University’s Reed College of Media has a new undergraduate major focusing on sports and adventure media. Officials say the school’s big-time college sports and the state’s outdoors provide the setting to prepare students.

WISCONSIN Eau Claire: Student leaders at the University of Wisconsin’s 26 campuses are pressing regents to include their input on plans to merge two-year schools with four-year campuses, The Leader-Telegram reports. Some student leaders were caught by surprise by the merger plan.

WYOMING Cheyenne: State officials want to ensure that people who live and work in Yellowstone register their vehicles in Wyoming. About 550 permanent workers and more than 3,000 seasonal employees have jobs with the National Park Service and Yellowstone’s concessionaire, The Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports.