News from across the USA

ALABAMA Prattville: People working to revitalize downtown Prattville are looking to Columbus, Ga. for inspiration. Columbus-Muscogee County is bigger than Prattville. “Actually, Prattville now is a little ahead of us when we started in 1983,” said Richard Bishop of Columbus. “Prattville’s potential is unlimited.”

ALASKA Whittier: The hunt for new species that are not indigenous to the waters near Valdez, Alaska, turned up empty, which scientists called “great news.” Scientists with the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center reported their findings after scouring the waters for foreign species in the summer of 2016, the Alaska Journal of Commerce reported.

ARIZONA Chandler: Authorities say two people are dead after a multi-vehicle crash on Interstate 10 in Chandler. Arizona Department of Public Safety officials say five vehicles were involved in the Saturday night accident.

ARKANSAS Little Rock: Josh Hastings, a former Little Rock police officer, has been ordered to pay more than $382,000 in attorney’s fees and costs to Sylvia Perkins, the mother of a 15-yearold boy he fatally shot. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported that Hastings fatally shot Bobby Moore III in 2012 while investigating car break-ins.

CALIFORNIA Crestline: Authorities have identified a body that was discovered buried in a Southern California cave. San Bernardino County coroner’s investigators say she’s Jessica Widner, 32, of Lake Arrowhead.

COLORADO Denver: A Cub Scout was kicked out of his group after he questioned Republican state Sen. Vicki Marble about gun control and previous contentious comments she made about African-Americans. Lori Mayfield, the mother of Ames Mayfield, 11, said a Scout leader told her the topic was inappropriate because of its political nature.

CONNECTICUT Norwalk: Police are investigating the theft of 700 pieces of copper pipe fittings from an ice rink. SoNo Ice House president Ryan Hughes tells The

Hour newspaper that someone also destroyed piping that had been laid under the floor of The Rinks at Veterans Park last week.

DELAWARE Rehoboth Beach:

The city does not have a deed for all the property under which its new $21 million City Hall sits. The federal government is withholding the final $2.2 million payment of an $18 million construction loan until the city can prove that it alone owns the land.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Actor Tom Hanks has been given the National Archives Foundation’s Records of Achievement Award, for raising awareness of American history through his films.

FLORIDA Jupiter: Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute and Albert Einstein College of Medicine will share a $9 million grant from the National Institute on Aging to study the genetic makeup of centenarians.

GEORGIA Brunswick: The College of Coastal Georgia is looking for a new president. The University System of Georgia announced a national search.

HAWAII Honolulu: Cans of Spam have become a common item stolen from stores and then sold on the streets, authorities said. Kimo Carvalho, a spokesman for the Institute for Human Services, said people are stealing Spam because it’s easy to sell.

IDAHO Boise: Gov. Otter and first lady Lori Otter said they are working to bring awareness to stop sexual assault and harassment. “Please join Miss Lori and me in working to bring awareness to the #MeToo movement to stop sexual assault and harassment,” Otter tweeted.

ILLINOIS Rockford: Authorities are preparing to enact proactive domestic violence response efforts. Starting Nov. 1, the Lethality Assessment Program — Maryland Model will immediately connect social services to victims of domestic violence, the

Rockford Register Star reported.

INDIANA Griffith: Some residents want their community to secede from the township where it is located. The (Northwest Indiana) Times reported Sunday that a signature drive is underway, the second effort by some to secede from Calumet Township.

IOWA Sioux City: The Lamb Arts Regional Theatre wants to buy and refurbish a historic building downtown, with plans for a 200-plus seat theater, cabaret-style bar and classrooms, The

Sioux City Journal reported.

KANSAS Topeka: State Board of Education members were briefed about an initiative that would eliminate organizing around grade levels, The Lawrence Journal-World reported.

KENTUCKY Russellville: Gail Guiling, 64, a state prosecutor, has pleaded not guilty to organized-crime and other charges that could send her to prison for up to 30 years, Bowling Green Daily News reported.

LOUISIANA New Orleans: LSU health professor Patricia Molina has received $390,000 to study whether exercise can help avert insulin resistance, pre-diabetes and other metabolic disorders in heavy drinkers with HIV.

MAINE Biddeford: University of New England is receiving more than $1.3 million from the Department of Energy to develop methods to use seaweed as an energy source. The school is getting the funds over three years as part of a program called Macroalgae Research Inspiring Novel Energy Resources, or “MARINER.”

MARYLAND Baltimore: Maryland has failed for the third straight year to get federal funding to process untested rape kits. The Baltimore Sun reported a summary of the U.S. Department of Justice’s latest denial said the grant application was incomplete.

MASSACHUSETTS Boston: Victor Lee was arrested near the set of the Denzel Washington film Equalizer 2. The Suffolk district attorney’s office says Lee, 52, was arraigned Friday on charges of armed carjacking, larceny of more than $250 and resisting arrest.

MICHIGAN Marquette: The City Commission unanimously passed a new policy that establishes the Public Art Fund, the Mining Journal reported. The Public Art Commission will administer an annual contribution of $30,000 to commission, purchase and maintain public art.

MINNESOTA Minneapolis: University of Minnesota students have created a task force that will develop strategies to combat sexual assault on campus, Minnesota Daily reported.

MISSISSIPPI Jackson: Higher Education Commissioner Glenn Boyce announced the further rollout of the Complete 2 Compete program. The state’s community colleges and universities are preparing to send 40,000 letters to former students.

MISSOURI St. Louis: The St. Louis public school district is suing 32 teachers for breaking their contracts by leaving their jobs early. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the district filed nearly identical lawsuits this summer against teachers who left the district in 2015 or 2016.

MONTANA Helena: Kathy Berger, the head of Montana’s Veterans Affairs, plans to expand a clinic in Missoula in 2022 and add services, including dental care and prosthetics, The Great Falls Tribune reported.

NEBRASKA Lincoln: Residents of a Lincoln neighborhood have expressed frustration with flooding they blame on a public school’s renovation, The Lincoln Journal Star reported.

NEVADA Las Vegas: Authorities are searching for a man in his 70s who robbed a bank in northwest Las Vegas. Metro Police say officers responded about 9:30 a.m. Saturday to the Chase Bank near Centennial Hills Hospital.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: University of New Hampshire has been awarded the top rating from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.

NEW JERSEY Hackensack: Timothy Grossi, former deputy director of the North Bergen Department of Public Workers, has pleaded guilty to ordering workers to run political errands while they were on the clock.

NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: Revenue from slot machines at the state’s horse-racing tracks has declined to its lowest point since the opening of the state’s newest track in 2005, The Santa Fe New Mexican reported.

NEW YORK Albany: The state is putting up $5 million to help animal shelters update their facilities. Gov. Cuomo, a Democrat, says the Companion Animal Capital Fund is the first statefunded program of its kind in the nation. Shelters must apply for grants by Jan. 10.

NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: A registered sex offender has been arrested at the North Carolina State Fair. Authorities said Alexander James Cogdell, 35, of Kinston was arrested Saturday and jailed under $20,000 bond.

NORTH DAKOTA Mandan: Growth in Mandan has brought an uptick in crime. The city’s police experienced an 18% spike in calls between 2015 and 2016, The Bismarck Tribune reported. Drug offenses rose by 43% last year. Assaults were up 33%.

OHIO Columbus: Four male manatees were flown to zoos in Cincinnati and Columbus from SeaWorld Orlando. Pippen, Miles and Mathew are now at the Cincinnati Zoo while Goober has a new home at the Columbus Zoo.

OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: Anti-tax “zombies” were stopped outside the state Capitol on Saturday in an event by groups that are supporting tax increases. The event comes as lawmakers are in special session to address a $215 million budget shortfall.

OREGON Portland: State regulators have closed a day care after a second baby died there in as many years. Authorities said

the 10-month-old boy died two days after he was found not breathing at Broadway Children’s Center, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported. A 7-month-old died there in April 2016.

PENNSYLVANIA Harrisburg: A new study of capital punishment in Pennsylvania found that death sentences are more common when the victim is white and less frequent when the victim is black. The report concluded that a white victim increases the odds of a death sentence by 8%. When the victim is black, the chances are 6% lower.

RHODE ISLAND Providence: Documents from the state archives are now online for easy access by teachers and students. Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea is making the documents available this way for the first time.

SOUTH CAROLINA Daufuskie Island: Island officials are trying to figure out how to deal with a public trash dump site. The Island Packet reported Daufuskie Island’s only public waste collection center is unsecured.

SOUTH DAKOTA Aberdeen: Tennis players in Aberdeen are speaking out about Northern State University’s decision to remove half its tennis courts to make room for new soccer and football practice fields, the Aberdeen American News reported.

TENNESSEE Nashville: Seven more people face indictments in a conspiracy to defraud a federally funded food program. U.S. Attorney Donald Cochran’s office said a grand jury indicted the group whom they say overstated the number of providers and of children who received meals, and cashed reimbursement checks.

TEXAS Odessa: Malcolm Hamilton, a councilman in Odessa, is refusing to disclose where he lives and works. He told the Odessa American he always has lived in his district and listed his job as with the “oil and gas business.”

UTAH Salt Lake City: Steven Gene Durrant, 34, and Many Jean Barbour, 18, are scheduled to be in court today. The Deseret News reported the couple were charged with child abuse inflicting serious injury, endangerment of a child and child abuse.

VERMONT White River Junction: Dartmouth College students have begun engineering work on a project to build a walking trail in White River Junction.

VIRGINIA Short Pump: A middle school football team has forfeited the rest of its season after players made a racially insensitive video, WWBT-TV reported.

WASHINGTON Yakima: The state Department of Fish and Wildlife is preparing to feed the state’s elk herds. At seven feeding sites, the department tries to gather about 2,500 tons of hay before winter weather hits, said Wenas Wildlife Area manager Cindi Confer-Morris.

WEST VIRGINIA Fayetteville: Saturday’s annual Bridge Day also marked the 40th anniversary of the opening of the New River Gorge bridge. It is the one day a year when BASE jumpers can legally launch from the bridge.

WISCONSIN Milton: Neighbors came to help with the harvest after Tom McNally, a 76-year-old farmer, died Oct. 16 with corn still standing in his fields, the Janesville Gazette reported.

WYOMING Laramie: The University of Wyoming Geological Museum and Coe Library plan to make digital files of thousands of mammal fossils. Museum and Collections Manager Laura Vietti says the project will create digital records of more than 5,000 specimens.