News from across the USA Albuquerque: Nashville:

ALABAMA Russellville: Two men were accused of kidnapping another man and chaining him to a tree after they thought he stole a gun and a vehicle from them, the TimesDaily reported. ALASKA Ketchikan: Turnagain Marine Construction, an Anchorage company, has been selected to repair a local dock damaged last week by a cruise ship, the

Ketchikan Daily News reported. ARIZONA Phoenix: Bloomin’ Beerfest will celebrate James Joyce, author of Ulysses, with a reading of the novel, live music and Irish beer at the Irish Cultural Center on Tuesday, The Arizo

na Republic reported. ARKANSAS Little Rock: A longtime state employee was accused of bilking two agencies of more than $142,000 for services that were never received and giving the money to fake companies named after her husband. An attorney for Dawanna Walls entered an innocent plea to two felony theft charges, ArkansasOn

line reported. CALIFORNIA Oakland: The zoo welcomed two litters of baby warthogs and will soon put the seven piglets on display, the San

Francisco Chronicle reported. The facility acquired two female warthogs, Frenchie and Alice, from East Coast zoos in 2013. COLORADO Pueblo: The Environmental Protection Agency will clean 19 homes contaminated with lead dust from a former smelter in Pueblo starting later this month, the Pueblo Chieftain reported. CONNECTICUT Wethersfield: The Department of Motor Vehicles admitted that about 50,000 incorrect car tax bills will be mailed to Connecticut drivers as a result of its continuing computer nightmare, which has sent faulty information to municipal assessors as to which vehicles are garaged in their towns, the Hart

ford Courant reported. DELAWARE Wilmington: Police say a man is behind bars because he locked himself out of his getaway car after robbing an Artisan’s Bank branch here. Police believe Joseph Rosado, 21, committed at least five armed robberies in the last month, The News

Journal reported. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Insun Hofgard and her husband, Jefferson, who sold several renovated rowhouses that did not meet construction codes, agreed to pay $1.3 million in restitution that will go to the owners of 19 properties, The Washington Post reported. FLORIDA Estero: A legal battle over construction of Corkscrew Farms, a 1,300-unit residential complex outside Estero has been settled, with an agreement by opponents not to appeal in return for developer Joseph Cameratta dropping a bid to make them pay its legal bills, The News-Press reported. GEORGIA Savannah: Graduates of the Islands High Biological and Environmental Sciences Specialty Program are prepared to pursue a veterinary science degree or go to work as a veterinarian’s assistant, the Savannah Morning

News reported. The laboratory is set up like a veterinarian’s office with reptiles, rabbits, cats, chinchillas, birds, dogs, cats and plants. HAWAII Hilo: A spike in reports of counterfeit U.S. currency being passed in Hilo and Puna has police advising businesses to take a closer look at the paper money they’re taking in, the Hawaii

Tribune-Herald reported. In May, police investigated 23 counterfeit cases in Hilo and Puna. IDAHO Idaho Falls: A new state-sponsored substance abuse recovery center is expected to open next month here. The Post

Register reported that the Center for Hope is expected to open in mid-July. It’s the eighth such facility created in Idaho. ILLINOIS Chicago: Dominiq Greer, 25, who survived being shot seven times by police in 2014 was arrested on a murder charge moments after he announced he was suing the city for $15 million, the Chicago Tribune reported. INDIANA Anderson: Just Dance With Me, a 3-year-old standardbred racehorse, drowned at Hoosier Park Racing & Casino, The

Indianapolis Star reported. A broken bit and “loss of control” during training sent the horse through a fence and into a pond. Brett Wilfong, the horse’s jockey, was unharmed. IOWA Mason City: Michael Dalluge, 21, has been charged with felony robbery after authorities say he punched his mother in the arm and stole $180 from her, the Mason City Globe Gazette reported. KANSAS Manhattan: A 35year-old man pleaded guilty to six counts of exporting and attempting to export firearms to other countries illegally, The Wichita

Eagle reported. KENTUCKY Frankfort: A Kentucky judge has issued a temporary injunction blocking Gov. Bevin’s executive order that abolished the Workers’ Compensation Nominating Commission and recreated a new one, the

Lexington Herald-Leader reported. LOUISIANA Shreveport: The

Times reported that the Caddo Parish School Board unanimously voted to create a virtual high school. According to board documents, the public high school would open this upcoming school year with an enrollment ranging from 50 to 70 students. MAINE Portland: A Mainebased apparel company started by the founders of Tom’s of Maine plans to open several retail locations, the Portland Press

Herald reported. Tom and Kate Chappell are looking for space to house a Ramblers Way Farm store here, as well as in Portsmouth and Hanover, N.H. MARYLAND Ocean City: Seacrets, a Caribbean themed-resort with its own nightclub, bar, radio station, restaurant, beer brand and honey mustard, will soon start distilling its own alcohol, The Daily Times reported. Completion of the distillery is set for June 29, the date the original Seacrets bar opened in 1988. MASSACHUSETTS Stoughton: The person suspected of spending the night inside a local pharmacy before making off in the morning with candy bars, energy drinks and razor blades has been identified as a 15-year-old runaway, The Enterprise reported. MICHIGAN Manistique: A paper mill in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula that was shut down in 2015 will reopen Monday with about 90 employees to start, the

Daily Press reported. The Zellar family, which also owns Zellar Excavating, worked with other investors to purchase and reopen the Manistique mill as UP Paper LLC. MINNESOTA Scandia: The city planning commission has OK’d a solar farm, the Pioneer Press reported. The 40-acre, 5-megawatt farm will be on Oldfield Avenue. MISSISSIPPI Gulfport: The City Council has passed an ordinance allowing open containers of alcohol in a designated entertainment district after Gov. Bryant signed the “to-go cup” law last month, The Sun Herald reported. MISSOURI Bloomfield: A jury cleared a 34-year-old man of charges that he played a role in a foiled murder-for-hire plot, the

Daily American Republic reported. MONTANA Missoula: Two agricultural retailers in western Montana are planning to merge, the Missoulian reported. The boards of the Missoula-based CHS Mountain West Co-op and CHS Kalispell have agreed to consolidate. NEBRASKA Omaha: The emerald ash borer, believed to be the most destructive insect ever to afflict trees in North America, has been confirmed for the first time in Omaha, the Omaha World

Herald reported. NEVADA Elko: Officials recovered a body in an area of the South Fork of the Humboldt River where a man was feared to have drowned last weekend, the

Elko Daily Free Press reported. Preliminary indications are that it is Gilbert Corosco, 50. NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: The school district here was the victim of a cyberattack that compromised the personal information of all employees with 2015 W-2 tax forms on file. WMUR-TV reported that investigators said employees’ personal information was obtained, including their addresses and Social Security numbers. NEW JERSEY Fort Lee: A 42year-old woman was arrested for thousands in unpaid tolls as she drove a dump truck across the George Washington Bridge, according to Port Authority Police. NJ.com reported that police discovered she did not have an EZPass transponder and owed more than $15,800 in tolls and fees. NEW MEXICO Authorities say a man set fire to his own apartment to escape the sounds of his neighbors having sex, the Albuquerque Journal reported. Reuben Cook, 36, told police he “tried to burn anything he could think of ” in his apartment. He wanted to go to prison and get away from the noise. NEW YORK Mount Vernon: A former track coach was found guilty of raping two teenagers on the track-and-field teams he helped coach, The Journal News reported. NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: The Police Protective Association and the Professional Fire Fighters Association announced that they would jointly submit proposals calling for a 15% pay increase over the next two years for public safety employees, The

News & Observer reported. NORTH DAKOTA Jamestown: A 28-year-old man found dead at a local business in March died from an overdose of fentanyl, a powerful painkiller, KQDJ-AM reported. OHIO Columbus: Republican Gov. Kasich signed a bill legalizing medical marijuana in Ohio, though patients shouldn’t expect to get it from dispensaries here any time soon, The Cincinnati

Enquirer reported. OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: Local businessman Aubrey McClendon died of an accidental car crash, according to a medical examiner report released Wednesday, one day after the Oklahoma City Police Department confirmed that its homicide investigation “found no information that would indicate anything other than a vehicular accident,” The Oklaho

man reported.

OREGON Portland: The Orego

nian reported that the state transportation department was reducing the speed limit by temporary order on certain stretches of U.S. Highway 97 and U.S. Highway 20. PENNSYLVANIA Allentown: Authorities say a roofer died after he fell 30 feet from the Cathedral Church of St. Catharine of Siena. RHODE ISLAND Coventry: The financially beleaguered Central Coventry Fire District has settled two of its debts, the Providence

Journal reported. SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: Gov. Haley has OK’d more than $2 billion to be borrowed for road and bridge projects across the state, The Post and Courier reported. SOUTH DAKOTA Pierre: A survey by state Game, Fish and Parks biologists found the numbers of sharp-tailed grouse and prairie chickens are up across western South Dakota, the Capital Jour

nal reported. The spike goes against the long-term trend of declining numbers that’s likely due to the loss of rangeland. TENNESSEE The Southern Baptist Convention lost more than 200,000 members in 2015, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination reported. The denomination is in its 9th straight year of membership decline, and baptisms also dropped by more than 10,000 in 2015 to just a few over 295,000. TEXAS Corpus Christi: Dozens of people helped paint 65 panels that will be part of a large mural here. Work began this week to install the dozens of 5-footsquare panels on the side of the Corpus Christi Caller-Times building. UTAH Fielding: Authorities say they have found the body of a missing 18-year-old man in the Cutler Dam Canal. VERMONT Hardwick: After 30 years as publisher of the Hard

wick Gazette, Ross Connelly is ready to pass the torch. To find someone to take over the 127year-old weekly, he’s holding a contest. Entrants will pay $175 and submit an essay describing their “skills and vision for owning a newspaper in the new millennium,” according to sevendaysvt.com. VIRGINIA Richmond: The Aviation Museum will close at the end of the month, the Richmond

Times-Dispatch reported. In a statement, the museum, home to a collection of 38 aircraft, said it will charge no admission until it closes June 30. WASHINGTON Seattle: The city agreed to pay $100,000 to settle a federal lawsuit brought by a teacher who was pepper-sprayed by a police officer after giving a speech at the Martin Luther King Jr. Day march in 2015, The Seattle

Times reported.

WEST VIRGINIA South

Charleston: Seven barbecue teams will smoke ribs, chicken, brisket, sausages and pulled pork for the 18th annual Barbecue RibFest this weekend, the Charleston Gazette-Mail reported. WISCONSIN Madison: During 2015, Wisconsin ranked 36th among the states in the percentage of new private-sector jobs, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. WYOMING Casper: Wyoming Medical Center here laid off 58 workers, the Casper Star-Tribune reported. No nurses were laid off. Hospital CEO Vickie Diamond says the job cuts announced are expected to save the hospital $7.2 million.