News from across the USA
ALABAMA Troy: A man wanted in Alabama and Florida on multiple charges, including murder, was captured near here, WSFATV reported.
ALASKA Bethel: Wood bison calves have been spotted near here, marking the first time in the U.S. in years that the bison have been born in the wild. KYUK-AM reported that the newborn calves were spotted last week, months after the Alaska Department of Fish and Game released 130 wood bison into the wild. Wood bison are North America’s largest land animal and the larger cousins of plains bison.
ARIZONA Sierra Vista: A skunk that attacked a hiker in Brown Canyon was tested for rabies.
ARKANSAS Little Rock: Budget cuts of about $1 million each to libraries and for senior citizen centers will be restored with money from the state’s Rainy Day Fund, the Arkansas Democrat
Gazette reported.
CALIFORNIA Los Angeles: Granada Hills Charter High School won the national Academic Decathlon, besting competitors from all over the USA, the Los Angeles Times reported. It is the fifth time in the past six years that Granada Hills has claimed the title.
COLORADO Boulder: A Weld County jury has determined that two pilots were not negligent when their planes almost collided and one crashed, killing all five people on board in Erie in 2014, the Daily Camera reported. The lawsuits claimed “bad piloting ” caused the crash.
CONNECTICUT Hartford: Gov. Malloy received a Profile in Courage award from the John F. Kennedy Foundation for his willingness to accept refugees from Syria into the state, the Connecticut Post reported.
DELAWARE Georgetown: A truck reported stolen from here was found nearly under water in Love Creek near Rehoboth Beach, The News Journal reported. No one was inside the vehicle when firefighters were called to the Boat Hole Marina.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx replaced three members of the Metro transit board with experienced safety professionals, The Washington Post reported.
FLORIDA Miami: Police say a computer programmer hacked into the American Airlines accounts of travelers and stole $260,000 worth of frequent flyer miles. The Miami Herald reported that Milad Avazdavani has been jailed for a year on 19 felony counts including grand theft.
GEORGIA Atlanta: Officials issued a boil water advisory for several parts of the city after a power outage knocked two pumping stations offline.
HAWAII Honolulu: House and Senate leadership agreed to spend $100 million to cool public school classrooms, Hawaii News Now reported. The money will be spent on ceiling fans, solar-powered vents and air conditioning, with the hottest classrooms receiving first priority.
IDAHO Pocatello: The FBI is expanding its data center facility, bringing 300 new jobs here, the Idaho State Journal reported. Construction is expected to begin in the spring of 2017.
ILLINOIS Naperville: Work needed to make nearly two dozen city-owned properties compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act will cost $2.5 million, the Naperville Sun reported.
INDIANA Indianapolis: A $3.8 million gift from the Samerian Foundation has paved the way for Riley Hospital for Chil- dren to open the Simon Skjodt Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health Unit in July, The Indian
apolis Star reported. The unit will allow for more comprehensive care for children and adolescents with mental health issues, such as anxiety, bipolar disorder and eating disorders.
IOWA Burlington: Officials are concerned about the city’s trees after a wave of plant diseases and unusually wet weather in recent years that has loosened the soil’s grip on root systems, the Hawk Eye reported. City of Burlington crews and private tree services are busy removing trees that have succumbed to disease or fallen because of storms.
KANSAS Topeka: The new maps for political districts aren’t due in Kansas until 2022. But officials from the U.S. Census Bureau met with the state Legislature’s research department last week to discuss the process, the Lawrence Journal-World reported.
KENTUCKY Louisville: Some Jefferson County Public Schools teachers staged “walk-ins” Monday to protest two administration ideas related to freezing employee pay and revamping the code of conduct. The Jefferson County Teachers Association urged its members to hold dozens of such protests, where teachers and supporters meet outside a school and walk in together to show solidarity.
LOUISIANA Shreveport: The National Weather Service warned of flooding along the Red River, KSLA-TV reported. Forecasters said the river would peak at a moderate flood stage at Shreveport Tuesday. Major flood crests were predicted downriver at Coushatta on Wednesday and Grand Ecore on Thursday.
MAINE Lewiston: Police are investigating multiple shots being fired as a party here was breaking up, the Lewiston Sun Journal reported.
MARYLAND Wheaton: A man accused of attacking and sexually assaulting three women at the Wheaton Metro station in December 2014 has been sentenced to 25 years in prison, WUSA-TV reported. Police say Christian A. Jordan, 20, threatened the women with a BB gun to force them into unwanted sexual acts.
MASSACHUSETTS Fitchburg: Authorities are warning the public of a dangerous batch of heroin circulating here after two people died and several more overdosed.
MICHIGAN Liberty Township: A 61-year-old hunter was shot in the arm with a crossbow after a fellow hunter apparently mistook him for a turkey, the Jackson Citizen Patriot reported. The man, who was shot early Sunday in the left arm while hunting on private land, is expected to survive, and the 51-year-old Jackson man who shot him, whose name was not released, is expected to face charges.
MINNESOTA Hastings: State trooper Paul Kingery, who rescued a bald eagle from a collision with a car on Interstate 494 nearly six weeks ago, was given the honor of setting the recovered raptor free, the Star Tribune reported.
MISSISSIPPI Moss Point: As the city celebrates its 115th anniversary, it is also celebrating its oldest resident. Former city employee Lezra Rogers, 101, was honored by the city, The Mississippi Press reported.
MISSOURI Columbia: Chuck Henson, an interim diversity officer at the University of Missouri, will be returning to the university’s School of Law in the fall. The Columbia Daily Tribune reported that Foley’s announcement did not say how the university plans to fill the diversity position.
MONTANA Hardin: Two Rivers Regional Detention Center, a private prison, has suspended operations due to a lack of inmates, the Billings Gazette reported.
NEBRASKA Scottsbluff: Mark Cross, 55, has been sentenced to six months in jail for trying to take out a loan in his brother’s name to buy a vehicle for $70,592, the Scottsbluff StarHerald reported.
NEVADA North Las Vegas: Police say a shooting that wounded a man may be the result of road rage, KTNV-TV reported.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: Fisherman can now catch five times more haddock a day under new state and federal rules. Officials say the daily bag limit for recreational fishermen has increased from three to 15 fish daily.
NEW JERSEY Burlington Township: Police arrested two Walmart cashiers on charges they stole several thousand dollars from their cash registers, the Courier-Post reported. Karlmichael Curry-Watson took more than $20,000 and Dontay Jones stole more than $6,000, police said. Jones was also charged with possession of drugs with intent to distribute.
NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: State Auditor Tim Keller is calling for an audit of how New Mexico awards contracts. The Santa Fe New Mexican reported that a review of how the state awards contracts will commence this summer.
NEW YORK Buchanan: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said it found an unprecedented number of deteriorating bolts at the Indian Point nuclear plant, the Poughkeepsie Journal reported. The agency said a recent review found 227 of 832 “baffleformer bolts at the plant were degraded and two were missing entirely.
NORTH CAROLINA Burlington: Authorities in Alamance County accused 35-year-old James Bush of Mebane of exploiting his mother for $40,000, The TimesNews reported.
NORTH DAKOTA Williston: The city’s historic Old Armory is celebrating its centennial. KFYR-TV reported that the armory’s primary purpose back in 1916 was to be the home and training facility for company E of the North Dakota National Guard, first North Dakota infantry.
OHIO Lima: Greg Stevenson drowned trying to save a boy who had fallen into a 40-degree Ottawa River, The Lima News reported. The boy, whose name wasn’t immediately available, had been walking in shallow water Sunday with other children when he was swept away as he walked out too far.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: The names of 155 law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty in Oklahoma are being engraved on the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Memorial. The deaths date to 1872, The Oklahoman reported.
OREGON Coos County: The World reported that Bay Area Hospital had more than 100 child psychology consultations and 62 admissions in 2014. That’s an increase to the 27 consultations and six admissions the hospital experienced in 2011. PENNSYLVANIA Benton: Authorities say an all-terrain vehicle went down an embankment and flipped over, killing two men. RHODE ISLAND Providence: A 51-year-old man is facing charges for allegedly setting up video cameras in the men’s restroom at the local train station, the Providence Journal reported. SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: The first case of travel-associated Zika virus was confirmed in the state by state health officials, The State reported. The unnamed resident recently traveled to a country where the virus is active, however the person was not contagious upon their return and poses no risk to public health. SOUTH DAKOTA Yankton: The Market at the Meridian will take place Saturday mornings from May to October, with it acting as a farmers market, the Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan reported. TENNESSEE Chattanooga: Police arrested firefighter Steven Ratledge, 27, after they say he robbed a convenience store, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported. Ratledge, who has been a firefighter for 31⁄ years, was 2 placed on leave without pay following his arrest Sunday on a charge of aggravated robbery. TEXAS Belton: Trails at the Miller Springs Nature Center, a 260-acre nature center in Central Texas, will be reconstructed with the help of a $100,000 grant, the Temple Daily Telegram reported.
UTAH Ogden: Strong winds led to thousands in northern Utah losing power, the Standard-Examiner reported. Winds as high as 87 mph swept areas along the Wasatch Front.
VERMONT Montpelier: Vermont wildlife biologists expect the statewide deer herd going into the fall will number 140,000 to 145,000, which is the highest since 2007 and the second highest since 2001, Burlington Free Press reported.
VIRGINIA Lexington: Tuition is going up at the Virginia Military Institute, the nation’s oldest state-supported military college. Its Board of Visitors approved a tuition increase of 4% for state residents and 5.2% for out-ofstate residents.
WASHINGTON Seattle: King County health officials are distributing special cardboard boxes for babies to sleep in, KING-TV reported. The program is aimed at reducing infant deaths. They are being given to low-income parents who do not have a crib and have to share a full-size bed with their newborn.
WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: Kanawha County’s school system plans to have about 90 fewer positions next fiscal year because of a shrinking budget, The Charleston Gazette-Mail reported.
WISCONSIN Green Bay: St. John the Evangelist Homeless Shelter said of the roughly 450 people who stayed at the shelter the last six months, more than 75 were ages 18 to 25, a 40% increase from the 2014-15 shelter season, when 54 people in the 18-to-25 age bracket stayed there. The average stay for the youngadult population was 39 days, the longest among the facility’s users, who ranged in age from 18 to 76, Green Bay Press-Gazette reported.
WYOMING Cheyenne: A pine beetle outbreak in the Rocky Mountain states is leaving dead trees in its wake, the Wyoming Tribune Eagle reported. The outbreak that began in 1996 has killed thousands of mature trees.