News from across the USA
ALABAMA: Selma Rose Sanders talks with reporters prior to a march on City Hall on Tuesday. About 50 demonstrators were protesting plans to place a new monument to Civil War Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest in a city cemetery.
ALASKA Sitka: Counterfeit coupons bought on eBay and other sites have been ripping off customers and local businesses. Police Lt. Barry Allen says some residents have paid $80 to $100 for a $200 booklet of coupons. Allen says if people have to pay for coupons, they’re almost certainly counterfeit.
ARIZONA Tucson: A 17-year-old polar bear who died this month at Reid Park Zoo had suffered from an undiagnosed heart ailment. A necropsy has shown that the bear named Snow had an enlarged and scarred heart.
ARKANSAS Judsonia: Two men are charged with theft and abuse of a corpse after they allegedly removed the body of a man who committed suicide in his truck and stole the vehicle. The White County Sheriff ’s Office said Michael Hollingshead, 43, and Austin Flynn, 22, dragged the body from the vehicle and drove away.
CALIFORNIA Los Angeles: Police officers assist Drug Enforcement Agency agents serving a federal warrant Tuesday to shut down a marijuana dispensary operating in Chinatown. Prosecutors filed three lawsuits against properties that house pot shops and sent 68 warning letters to other clinics, ordering them to close or face possible criminal charges.
COLORADO Denver: The state Colorado has received a $200,000 federal grant to investigate building a spaceport east of the city, the Fort Collins Coloradoan reported. Backers say space travel could cut trip time between Denver and Australia from 20 hours to five.
CONNECTICUT Storrs: The National Science Board says state funding per student at the University of Connecticut has declined over the past decade as enrollment soared. Their report said per-student funding fell by 16% between 2002 and 2010. State appropriations increased 6%, but the funding per-student dropped as enrollment grew by 26%.
DELAWARE Wilmington: The sculpture Unwavering Courage in the Pur
suit of Freedom will be unveiled Oct. 3 at Tubman- Garrett Riverfront Park,
Delaware Online reported. The statue, by Chiodo Art of California, is a “tribute to Harriet Tubman and Thomas Garrett, collaborators in the success of the Underground Railroad in Wilmington.”
D.C. City schools, firehouses, police stations and offices are 100% powered by wind. Sam Brooks, head of the Energy and Sustainability Division, said the city buys about $52 million worth of electricity each year, enough to power 90,000 homes. The city has bought wind power since 2009.
FLORIDA Tallahassee: Nopetro formally opened its first compressed natural gas fueling center on a 2.5-acre site on Capital Circle Northwest on Tuesday. The Tallahassee Democrat reported it will serve the local school district’s compressed natural gaspowered bus fleet and other users.
GEORGIA Albany: The 4,620-acre Magnolia Plantation is for sale for the first time in 50 years. The property was purchased in the late 1950s by Charles Allen Thomas of St. Louis and is now owned by the Thomas family,
The Albany Herald reported.
HAWAII Honolulu: An engineering student from Nigeria has received reconstructive eyelid surgery, thanks to the ophthalmologist who saved his life 20 years ago. Susan Senft performed surgery for a rare tumor on Buhari Salisu Buhari when he was 3. Twenty years later, he contacted her, and she arranged for him to travel here for surgery by Jorge Camara.
IDAHO Rupert: A 6-year-old boy is credited with saving his 13-year-old cousin using the Heimlich maneuver. Elizabeth Hill says her daughter, Bethany, was choking on popcorn at a theater Saturday. Damien Munoz’s grandmother had taught him the maneuver. Hill says Damien’s efforts dislodged some popcorn, and Bethany was able to cough up the rest.
ILLINOIS Chicago: The University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy aims to help the struggling steel town of Gary, Ind. Former Chicago mayor Richard Daley, a distinguished senior fellow at the school, got his graduate students involved.
INDIANA Indianapolis: Marion County Judge Patrick McCarty has ruled that a standard teacher contract form that would have allowed school districts to increase teachers’ hours without paying them more is illegal. He said the Department of Education doesn’t have authority to unilaterally contradict existing contract law.
IOWA Des Moines: This year’s heat and drought is delivering vibrant fall colors to northern Iowa. This week’s warm days and cool nights are perfect for coaxing late-emerging hues into leaves, said Bruce Blair, a district forester for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
KANSAS Wichita: State farmers have planted 17% of next year’s winter wheat crop while bringing in this year’s corn crop faster than normal. Kansas Agricultural Statistics Service said that wheat seeding is on average pace. Meanwhile, the corn harvest reached the 64% mark as of Sunday, about three weeks ahead of average.
KENTUCKY Hebron: A historical marker commemorates a midair plane collision that happened nearly 60 years ago. About 50 people, in- cluding relatives of the 13 who died aboard Trans World Airlines Flight 694, attended Sunday’s dedication,
The Kentucky Enquirer reported. The plane was headed for Cleveland when it was struck Jan. 12, 1955, by a private aircraft. There were no survivors.
LOUISIANA Lafayette: Students at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette will vote Oct. 8-9 on a fee that would help pay for major campus upgrades,
The Advertiser reported. The fee would be $7.50 per credit hour, capped at 15 hours.
MAINE Portland: The state Judicial Branch has joined Twitter, and spokeswoman Mary Ann Lynch said it will be used to alert people to court orders, Supreme Judicial Court decisions, new court rules and administrative orders on its website.
MARYLAND Bladensburg: The University of Maryland is getting a $700,000 federal grant to help communities reduce stormwater runoff, the fastest growing Chesapeake Bay pollution source.
MASSACHUSETTS Boston: The state transportation board chose Beverly Scott as general manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Scott, the head of Atlanta’s public transit system, was awarded a three-year contract with an annual salary of $220,000.
MICHIGAN Detroit: Epizootic hemorrhagic disease, a virus transmitted by biting flies, is blamed for killing 4,200 whitetail deer in Michigan’s lower peninsula, the Detroit Free
Press reported. There’s no evidence that the disease can be transmitted to humans, according to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
MINNESOTA Minneapolis: Gerret Parks, a Bloomington man accused of hurling a heavy metal vise through a car windshield, knocking the driver unconscious, was sentenced to more than six years in prison.
MISSISSIPPI Wesson: Houston Stackhouse, who taught and mentored other blues artists, will be honored with a Blues Trail marker today.
MISSOURI Kearney: An effort to determine whether a 19th-century outlaw is buried in Muddy Fork Cemetery will be postponed indefinitely. Researchers hoped to determine whether Clell Miller, who rode with Jesse James, is buried in the Miller family plot. But the Jackson County medical examiner’s office said four people are buried in the family plot, and researchers could not determine which grave might hold his remains.
MONTANA Bonner: Federal, state, Missoula County and tribal officials marked the end of clean-up and restoration work at the Milltown Superfund clean-up site with a gathering touting the success of the more than $100 million project paid for by a settlement with Atlantic Richfield. The Superfund work began in 2006.
NEBRASKA Lincoln: An online advertisement led police to theft suspect Brandon Peters, 26. A man had reported that someone stole a camera and gear from his pickup. He called later to report a Craigslist ad that contained information matching the stolen camera. The ad boasted that the camera was “a steal to whoever wants it.”
NEVADA Reno: Forty-two years after being wounded in battle, Vietnam veteran Daniel Franich of Fernley received a Purple Heart and other medals in a ceremony at the office of Rep. Mark Amodei, R-Nev. The Reno
Gazette- Journal reported that Franich was prompted by his family to pursue recognition from the Sept. 26, 1970, incident when he was leading his squad on patrol northwest of Saigon.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Windham: The board of selectmen voted to keep the skate park closed until spring because of problems with trash, foul language and skateboarders not wearing helmets. The board asked skateboarders and parents to come up with solutions before the reopening.
NEW JERSEY Trenton: State Senate President Stephen Sweeney wants a constitutional amendment to raise the state’s minimum wage and tie future increases to the federal Consumer Price Index, the Asbury Park
Press reported. The Gloucester County Democrat said he will introduce a resolution calling for the amendment. The idea was panned by Gov. Christie, who called the proposal “truly ridiculous.”
NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: A lawmaker used campaign funds to pay for massages and chiropractic adjustments to treat his back problems. Campaign finance reports show Democratic state Rep. Miguel Garcia spent at least $740 on the treatments, as well as $77 on herbal remedies. Garcia said it was allowed because his back problems act up during campaigning.
NORTH CAROLINA Charlotte: The
Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer of Raleigh found that large non-profit hospitals are marking up prices on cancer drugs two to 10 times over cost. Hospitals increasingly buy the practices of independent oncologists, then charge more for the same chemotherapy.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: Morton County Park Director Vern Davis, 72, resigned, saying he lacks the computer skills needed to fulfill his duties.
OHIO Mason: Kings Island has begun dismantling the Son of Beast roller coaster. Billed as the world’s tallest — 218 feet — and fastest — 78 mph — wooden coaster when it opened in 2000, the ride was idled repeatedly after accidents and injuries.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City
Architect Duane Mass points out water damage in the basement of the Capitol during a tour for House members to areas inside the building outside the public’s view that revealed rotting pipes, crumbling walls and a patchwork of disorganized repairs.
OREGON Portland: The Army has told an Oregon National Guard unit to start preparing for a deployment that could make the members among the last American troops in Afghanistan. The deployment of 1,800 troops of the 41st Infantry Brigage would be the Guard’s second-largest overseas deployment since World War II, The
Oregonian reported. Three years ago a Guard unit sent 2,800 troops to Iraq.
PENNSYLVANIA Philadelphia: The Delaware River Waterfront Corp.’s three water taxis might begin chartered trips next year, spurred by a new master plan aimed at getting more residents and tourists onto the river. The blue-and-white vessels — William Penn, Ben Franklin and Stephen Girard — were bought in 2003 but have been in storage.
RHODE ISLAND Warwick: The owner of a foul-mouthed cockatoo slapped with a $15 fine for violating a noise ordinance is appealing. The
Providence Journal reported that Warwick resident Lynne Taylor is appealing to a state court. A municipal judge said Taylor had broken a local law that prohibits residents from letting their pets habitually make noise. Taylor’s lawyer says the ordinance gives no parameters for what noise constitutes a violation.
SOUTH CAROLINA Pickens: A police officer fired after ticketing Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney for speeding said the information released about his dismissal is inaccurate. Assistant Police Chief Travis Riggs told The Greenville News that Officer Michael McClatchy used a police computer to post details of the incident on a website for fans of Clemson’s arch-rivals, the South Carolina Gamecocks. McClatchy says he used his home computer.
SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: Median household income in the state rose 2.8% from 2010 to 2011, the Argus
Leader reported. That bucks a national trend in which income fell from $51,144 to $50,502.
TENNESSEE Kingston: The Roane County Schools have wrapped up a construction program paid for by the Tennessee Valley Authority. The
Knoxville News Sentinel reported that the construction was on the drawing board when an ash lagoon breached at TVA’s Kingston Fossil Plant in 2008. The schools got most of a $43 million payout, which built Dyllis Springs Elementary and expansion and renovation of other schools.
TEXAS Springtown: The Springtown Independent School District changed its corporal punishment policy to let male educators paddle female students.
UTAH Parowan: Former police chief Preston Griffiths plans to sue the city for wrongful termination. Griffiths was charged with obstruction of justice and official misconduct in 2011 after shooting a resident’s dog and lying about it. Although the charges were dropped, he was forced to retire.
VERMONT Arlington: More than a dozen former models for Norman Rockwell are having a reunion Saturday here where the artist lived from 1939-53. The group be at the Norman Rockwell Exhibition and share stories about Rockwell, whose paintings and illustrations graced more than 300 covers of The Saturday Evening Post.
VIRGINIA Blacksburg: Virginia Tech biologists are teaming with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to release 5,000 endangered mussels into the Powell River, which has been under pressure from mining, logging and other activities. Mussels act as filters to purify waters. WASHINGTON Port Townsend: Seven members of a Seattle family were hospitalized after eating mussels from a Discovery Bay beach that has been closed by the state since July because of high levels of biotoxin.
WEST VIRGINIA Beckley: Mountain State University has sold its two aircraft and is assessing other properties ahead of its closure in December. In June, the Higher Learning Commission revoked the school’s accreditation, later was extended to Dec. 31.
WISCONSIN Amherst: Three Portage County residents are accused of cashing the Social Security checks of a relative who has been missing for 30 years. If Marie Jost is still alive, she’d be 100 years old. Her son, daughter and son-in-law are accused of cashing her government checks.
WYOMING Cody: The Game and Fish Department urges those who go into bear country to use caution and carry bear spray. Tara Teaschner, information and education specialist, said the game department expects an increase in bear-human encounters as bears become more active.