News from across the USA
ALABAMA Birmingham: Mayor William Bell and Councilman Marcus Lundy hugged after a fight days earlier sent both men to the hospital, AL.com reported. ALASKA Fairbanks: Floyd Green, first chief of the Rampart Village Council, said the community is seeking a teacher for its lone school, newsminer.com reported. The school reopened this fall after being closed for 15 years. ARIZONA Phoenix: The City Council voted 8-1 to approve Starbucks’ applications for a license that would allow the sale of beer, wine and liquor, The Arizona Republic reported. The vote provides a recommendation to the state liquor board, which has the final say. ARKANSAS Craighead County: Sherri Currie, a former employee of the Jonesboro Human Development Center, was sentenced to 90 days in prison for beating an intellectually disabled resident with a clothes hanger, Arkansas-Online reported. CALIFORNIA Alameda County: Prosecutors filed hate crime charges against Denise Slader, a Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation employee, who is accused of ridiculing a Bay Area Muslim man and throwing coffee at him, the Los Angeles Times reported. COLORADO Lakewood: The state has closed a preschool after a toddler was hospitalized because of burns from a crockpot, KMGH-TV reported. The 18month-old child at A Child’s View Preschool was injured last week after the child pulled on a crockpot cord, sending it crashing down and burning the child on the legs. CONNECTICUT Vernon: A 71year-old man is accused of stealing more than $100,000 from a Willington Veterans of Foreign Wars post while he was treasurer. Authorities say he spent most of the money on Internet pornography, the Journal Inquirer reported. DELAWARE Wilmington: A law decriminalizing the possession and personal use of up to an ounce of marijuana went into effect Friday, The News Journal reported. Possession or private use of a small amount of marijuana will no longer be punishable by a fine of up to $1,150 and six months in jail. The penalty will be a $100 civil fine — which can be paid like a traffic ticket. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: In his media debut, Bei Bei, the National Zoo’s 4-month-old giant panda, took a few steps, fell asleep and began to drool, The Washington Post reported. FLORIDA Tallahassee: Gov. Scott made three appointments to fill vacant seats on Florida A&M University’s board of trustees, The Tallahassee Democrat reported. Scott appointed Matthew Carter, 63, an attorney; David Lawrence Jr., 73, chair of The Children’s Movement of Florida; and Gary McCoy, 64, a former major general at Scott Air Force Base. GEORGIA Savannah: Officials considered implementing a ban on bicycling through Forsyth Park, the Morning News reported. HAWAII Kailua-Kona: The Astronaut Ellison S. Onizuka Space Center will close at the end of March after 30 years, West Hawaii Today reported. IDAHO Burley: The state will give partial payment to people who were hired by rural volun- teer fire departments to help battle last summer’s fire near Kamiah, The Lewiston Tribune reported. ILLINOIS Alton: City leaders want to build a municipal recreational vehicle park near an outdoor concert venue on the banks of the Mississippi River, The Telegraph reported. INDIANA Hamilton County: Kristine Rednour, a diabetic Hamilton County woman who was fired from her job as a Wayne Township Fire Department paramedic, settled a federal discrimination lawsuit with the township for $725,000, The Indianapolis Star reported. IOWA Sioux City: Area gun shop owners report a sharp increase in firearms sales in recent weeks, the Sioux City Journal reported. They attribute the spike to everything from mass shootings tied to terrorism in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., to resulting increased calls for tougher gun control measures. KANSAS Wichita: Police arrested a person wanted for questioning in a shooting that left two people dead in east Wichita, KSNW-TV reported. KENTUCKY Louisville: Aubrey Williams Jr., 37, an anti-violence advocate and youth mentor, was hospitalized after being shot while on the way to his son’s school for a Christmas gathering, The Courier-Journal reported. LOUISIANA Baton Rouge: The Baton Rouge Zoo will need to move to a new location to be successful in the future, consultants hired by the zoo told parish parks officials. The Advocate reported that past discussions about relocating have led to political squabbles. MAINE Portland: Elite Airways will offer non-stop service from the Portland International Jetport to Orlando Melbourne International Airport on Mondays and Fridays. Prices start at $149 each way, WMTW-TV reported. MARYLAND Salisbury: The University of Maryland Eastern Shore signed an agreement with medical marijuana start-up Wellness Farms to create a research and grant program, The Daily Times reported. McCready Health vowed to work with Wellness Farms on ways to improve health care access. MASSACHUSETTS Boston: The city is a step closer to hosting an IndyCar race in the Seaport District. The Boston Globe reported that promoters of the race were likely to sign a letter of intent with four state agencies — the Port Authority, the Bay Transportation Authority, the Depart- ment of Transportation and the Convention Center Authority. MICHIGAN Detroit: Refaai Hamo, a Syrian scientist who fled his homeland two years ago after his wife and daughter were killed, arrived last week with his four surviving children, the Detroit Free Press reported. MINNESOTA St. Paul: State lottery director Ed Van Petten resigned after a Star Tribune report showed he was reimbursed for more than $7,000 after he and staff stayed at his personal timeshare units during conferences in Las Vegas, New Orleans and Atlantic City. MISSISSIPPI Jackson: The Jackson Redevelopment Authority will get a $9 million loan to help fund the city’s portion of the downtown Westin hotel project, The Clarion-Ledger reported. MISSOURI Kansas City: Police are investigating a shooting death. Witnesses said two or three suspects fled the area after a disturbance. MONTANA Missoula: The city appealed the $88.6 million value placed on the city’s drinking water system, the Missoulian reported. Water commissioners had been provided benchmark values of $45 million and $142 million before settling on the $88.6 million figure for Mountain Water. Their decision followed a court fight with the Carlyle Group, the water system’s private owner. NEBRASKA North Platte: Organizers say Rail Fest 2016 has been canceled because of lack of staffing and resources, the North Platte Telegraph reported. NEVADA Yerington: A woman died after a driver fleeing a traffic stop crashed into a canal. The Lyon County Sheriff ’s Office says Patricia Martinez, 39, of Fernley was a passenger in the car, which refused to stop for a deputy. NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: A report released last week says families make up a larger per- centage of the homeless because of increasing rent prices. According to the report, 760 of the 1,632 homeless people in 2015 were families, up from 704 last year, The Union Leader reported. NEW JERSEY Toms River: A rabbi who has been operating a house of worship and a Jewish community center at his home will need to seek a variance from the Board of Adjustment to continue running the Chabad Jewish Center at its current location, the Asbury Park Press reported.
NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: The Gallup Independent reported that lawyers for the Diocese of Gallup and the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors, which represents clergy sex abuse claimants, are finalizing a settlement in the case that has kept it in bankruptcy court for two years. NEW YORK Poughkeepsie: Fox News host Bill O’Reilly donated $1 million to Marist College — his alma mater — creating a scholarship fund, the Poughkeepsie Journal reported. NORTH CAROLINA Autryville: About 200 illegal gambling machines were seized in Sampson County, The Fayetteville Observer reported. NORTH DAKOTA Minot: Residents will vote next year on how large the City Council should be. The vote could take place during the primary election in June. OHIO Westlake: A cardiologist was sentenced to 20 years in prison for overbilling nearly $29 million after performing unnecessary medical procedures, WKYC-TV reported. OKLAHOMA Hartshorne: Paraprofessional Marsha Conley, 55, is charged with one count of child abuse by injury, the McAlester News-Capital reported. OREGON Salem: A drought outlook map released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture last week shows Western Oregon either not in a drought or in a situation where drought removal is likely, The Statesman Journal reported. The region has rebounded thanks to a higher-than- normal rate of precipitation since October and decent snowpack in the Cascade Range. PENNSYLVANIA Harrisburg: Raymond Grandon, a 96-year-old doctor, is hanging up his stethoscope after more than 60 years of practice, Pennlive.com reported. RHODE ISLAND Newport: Sail Newport announced that the city will be one of five stops on the World Match Racing Tour in 2016. The Newport Daily News reported that the event will take place off Fort Adams State Park May 31-June 4. SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: A federal judge dismissed a previous lawsuit filed against a former deputy who threw a female student in a high school classroom, WLTX-TV reported. The lawsuit against Ben Fields, a former Richland County school resource officer, was unrelated to the incident in October. This lawsuit was filed by a former student who was involved in an off-campus fight in 2013 that the district said was gang-related. SOUTH DAKOTA Parker: A woman died after being struck by a truck clearing snow in a restaurant parking lot, the Argus Leader reported. TENNESSEE Knoxville: A 15year-old high school football player was killed while trying to protect three girls from gunfire, WBIR-TV reported. TEXAS Haslet: A magnitude-3.0 earthquake struck last week and was felt in Fort Worth, Kellar and Roanoke. Southern Methodist University researchers said the recent quakes in the area may be caused by wastewater injection wells, The Dallas Morning News reported. UTAH St. George: The Top Spot restaurant will close its doors on Thursday, The Spectrum reported. VERMONT Hinesburg: Police have issued citations to two teenage students in connection with a bomb threat last week at Champlain Valley Union High School, The Burlington Free Press reported. VIRGINIA Richmond: An international bike race in September generated nearly $89 million in direct spending, the Richmond Times Dispatch reported. Organizers of the UCI Road World Championships concluded the races had a total economic impact of nearly $170 million.
WASHINGTON Seattle: The city’s broken down tunnel-boring machine should get back to work Monday after a pipe stopped progress on a new State Route 99 more than two years ago, KIROTV reported. WEST VIRGINIA Buckhannon: Opponents of a proposed 550mile natural gas pipeline asked Upshur County to support their efforts seeking a review, The Exponent Telegram reported. WISCONSIN Plymouth: A 22year-old woman was charged with imitation of a controlled substance after allegedly trying to sell dog food and aspirin as heroin, The Sheboygan Press reported. The fake drug deal occurred in November, but Megan Meyer was initially picked up last week for a probation hold relating to an overdose this month. WYOMING Cody: Yellowstone National Park mostly reopened for winter activities, The Cody Enterprise reported. The east entrance doesn’t open to snowmobile traffic until Tuesday. But skiers can already choose several trails, including at Tower Junction, near the Mammoth Hot Springs area.