News from across the USA
ALABAMA Cullman: AL.com received thousands of nominations this month. They were all delicious, but the winner of the state’s best doughnut place is Duchess Bakery.
ALASKA Fairbanks: Police arrested two men on suspicion they went on a burglary spree, hitting mainly coffee stands, starting Aug. 18, newsminer.com reported.
ARIZONA Phoenix: KTAR-FM reported that the Washington Elementary School District recently purchased five compressed natural gas buses for $1,000 each. They’re not allowed on the road, but the district has used them for parts.
ARKANSAS Dover: A boy driving an ATV was killed when the vehicle overturned in a ditch, ArkansasOnline reported.
CALIFORNIA Santa Cruz: A dwarf billy goat gave new meaning to the word “scapegoat” when he busted out a surprisingly slippery Clydesdale that went on the lam for several days. The nearly 1-ton horse named Budweiser, who goes by “Buddy,” was safely wrangled back into his pen. The goat named Lancelot knows how to butt open the stable gate, which is how his best friend escaped, owner Tamara Schmitz told the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
COLORADO Durango: Investigators tried to identify human remains found last week in the San Juan National Forest, the Durango Herald reported.
CONNECTICUT Burlington: State officials are hosting two free fishing and hunting days to help mark the 150th anniversary of the Bureau of Natural Resources. Daylong events are planned Sept. 10 at the DEEP Wildlife Division’s Franklin Wildlife Management Area and on Sept. 24 at Sessions Woods Wildlife Management Area in Burlington.
DELAWARE Dover: A 37-year-old man was given a life sentence for hitting his girlfriend in the head with a hammer, which caused a serious head injury, The News Journal reported.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Sietse Goffard, 23, said he “tried to stay in character, but it was too tempting.” He snapped a selfie as he was strapped on a stretcher on the tracks of the Yellow Line during an emergency drill meant to mimic a derailment on the Metro, The Washington Post reported.
FLORIDA Miami: Police said an ATV driver was shot and killed in an apparent act of road rage in Southwest Miami-Dade County.
GEORGIA Atlanta: Premier Exhibitions, a bankrupt company that controls thousands of artifacts salvaged from the Titanic years ago, wants to sell some of those items to raise money, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
HAWAII Hilo: Six scientists have completed a yearlong Mars simulation in Hawaii, where they lived in a dome in near isolation. For the past year, the group in the dome on a Mauna Loa mountain could go outside only while wearing spacesuits.
IDAHO Boise: The city dedicated 28-acre Municipal Park to threetime Olympic gold medalist Kristin Armstrong. Mayor Dave Bieter unveiled the park’s signage at an event celebrating the cyclist, who just returned from winning her third consecutive Olympic gold in Rio de Janeiro.
ILLINOIS Chicago: John Bills was sentenced to 10 years in prison for taking up to $2 million in bribes and gifts in return for steering tens of millions of dollars in red light camera contracts to an Arizona company, the Chicago Tribune reported.
INDIANA South Bend: The University of Notre Dame received a $5 million donation to build the second phase of a business incubator near campus. The donation was made by the late Thomas Quinn and his wife, Diane.
IOWA Des Moines: The task force recommending a $10.75 minimum wage in Polk County also recommended that employers would have to pay 85% of that wage to workers younger than 18, The Des Moines Register reported. The plan goes to the county Board of Supervisors.
KANSAS Hutchinson: A longrunning project to build a chapel at the Correctional Facility is continuing with help from inmates. The Wichita Eagle reported the project, which began six years ago, is likely to take a few more years to complete.
KENTUCKY Newport: A Campbell County Circuit Court judge overturned the murder conviction of a woman accused of fatally shooting her boyfriend. The Kentucky Enquirer reported that Judge Fred Stine overturned the conviction of Shayna Hubers on Thursday because a felon served on the jury, which is not allowed by state law.
LOUISIANA Baton Rouge: The recreational red snapper season will close Sept. 5. Closing the season in state waters avoids an overrun of the overall Gulf of Mexico recreational quota and allows the red snapper stock to rebuild.
MAINE Augusta: The Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife approved an increase in “any deer” hunting permits. There will be more than 45,000 permits issued this year.
MARYLAND Cambridge: Police Chief Daniel Dvorak is back on the job after a brief suspension, WMDT-TV reported. No reason for the suspension was announced.
MASSACHUSETTS Boston: Part of the roof of a duck boat was torn off after a driver failed to clear a bridge. No injuries were reported.
MICHIGAN New Buffalo: Em- ployees here saved Milkie, a 14-year-old tabby, who escaped from his family that was moving from Seattle to Arlington, Va. A dog scared the cat, who was leashed, and it ran into the woods Aug. 21; workers were able to trap the cat Friday.
MINNESOTA Glencoe: An 8foot-long snake was rounded up in Buffalo Creek Park and is awaiting either its owner to step forward or a new place to call home, the Star Tribune reported.
MISSISSIPPI Port Gibson: Tiffany Wienke and her party of six hunters have caught the state’s longest alligator on record from public waters, The Clarion-Ledger reported. State officials said the 686-pound gator measured 13 feet, 7 7/8 inches, one-eighth more than the previous record.
MISSOURI Columbia: Missouri State University, Missouri-Kansas City, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Southeast Missouri in Rolla, Harris-Stowe State University and Missouri Southern State University all reported that they expected an increase in enrollment this year, The Columbia Daily Tribune reported.
MONTANA Hardin: A 12-yearold girl riding in the back of a pickup on the Crow Reservation died when she fell off a toolbox and hit her head, the State Patrol said.
NEBRASKA South Sioux City: Officials gave final approval to the sale of a 7-acre tract of land that will become the site of a $3.75 million renewable fuels power plant, the Sioux City Journal reported. The plant will run on wood waste and is projected to provide about 8% of the city’s electricity. Green Star is purchasing the site for the plant located in South Sioux City’s Roth Industrial Development Park, from the city’s Community Development Agency for $140,000.
NEVADA Boulder City: A 63year-old woman died after going snorkeling in Lake Mead.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Goffstown: A man said he spotted a hungry black bear trying to run off with his bird feeder outside his home, WMUR-TV reported. The animal dropped the feeder but later snacked on some seeds in Jason Alexander’s driveway.
NEW JERSEY Jersey City: Police say a driver playing Pokémon Go on his cellphone crashed his sport utility vehicle into a parked police cruiser. Authorities say no one was in the cruiser at the time and the 42-year-old SUV driver wasn’t injured. But the man was cited for careless driving and other motor vehicle violations.
NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: Seasoned artists who had a place at the Indian Market will have to vie for a spot like everyone else starting next year. The Santa Fe New Mexican reported that organizers are doing away with tenure. Members of the Southwestern Association of Indian Arts unanimously supported ending tenure by 2017.
NEW YORK Albany: An enhanced computer program for recognizing faces at the Department of Motor Vehicles led to more than 100 arrests since January and 900 open cases. The system is used against identity theft and fraud and to keep highrisk drivers off the road by helping identify people applying for driver’s licenses under false names.
NORTH CAROLINA Durham: Duke University issued an alert after receiving a report that a male intruder entered a dorm room and attempted to get into bed with a sleeping female student, The News & Observer reported.
NORTH DAKOTA Minot: The property management company operating family housing at Minot Air Force Base is opening homes for lease to the general public. Minot AFB Homes Community Manager Michael Lahr said occupancy in the 1,600 homes the company manages on base has dropped below 95%, precipitating the move.
OHIO Berea: After nearly seven years, operators of the Ohio Turnpike say they’ve signed up their 350,000th customer in the E-Z Pass program. Drivers on average save 33% using the electronic toll-collection system.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: Two earthquakes rattled parts of northern Oklahoma. No damage or injuries were immediately reported.
OREGON Prineville: Residents are using streamers, balloons, pinwheels and CDs hanging from trees to scare off the city’s abundant deer, officials said.
PENNSYLVANIA Enola: All schools in the East Pennsboro school district failed to open as scheduled while crews worked to remove mold. A testing company blamed the growth on extreme humidity and rain over the summer and a lack of air conditioning.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: Environmental officials planned another meeting about proposed rules that could allow the state to buy and protect farmland and sell it to interested farmers. The public workshop will take place at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 7 at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography’s Corless Auditorium in Narragansett.
SOUTH CAROLINA Greenville: Furman University announced plans to build a large solar farm on 6 acres near its main campus entrance, edging the campus closer to becoming a carbonneutral university, The Greenville News reported.
SOUTH DAKOTA Belle Fourche: The federal government is a step closer to relocating more than 1,000 wild horses to a private ranch, the Black Hills Pioneer reported. Initial results of a Bureau of Land Management study indicate the move would have no negative impacts on the environment.
TENNESSEE Nashville: A judge dismissed pop star Taylor Swift as a potential juror in an aggravated rape and kidnapping case because she was participating in a Denver trial involving a man who groped her, The Tennessean reported. Swift told the judge she would be more than willing to serve on a jury in any other type of case.
TEXAS Dallas: State Fair officials announced the fried Jell- O was selected as Most Creative by a panel of judges. The State Fair Cookie Fries won Best Taste. The State Fair of Texas announced the eight finalists for the best culinary creations as part of the annual Big Tex Choice Awards. The fair runs Sept. 30 through Oct. 23.
UTAH Salt Lake City: A 36-yearold woman died after falling about 100 feet while hiking Mount Olympus.
VERMONT Burlington: A fire that damaged a home in the city’s north end was caused when the tenant left a bag of tortilla chips near a burner on the stove, officials said. There were no injuries.
VIRGINIA Blacksburg: Virginia Tech police confirmed on their Facebook page that an email was sent to dozens of email addresses “within our campus community that included a threat to safety.”
The Collegiate Times reported that the email said, “I will break into the campus and will kill as many people as I can until the police arrives.”
WASHINGTON Tacoma: A plot of land that’s been sitting vacant near the University of Washington for more than a decade will be the site of a mixed-use project. The News Tribune reported that the city sold the 6-acre parcel to North American Asset Management in June for $3.5 million.
WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: Natalie Roper, executive director of Generation West Virginia, and 25 of her peers concluded a 10day trip across the USA with the Millennial Trains Project, the Charleston Gazette-Mail reported.
WISCONSIN Wisconsin Rapids: A central Wisconsin teenager was sentenced to 15 years in prison for killing the mother of his ex-girlfriend, WAOW-TV reported.
WYOMING Casper: Environmental regulators are frustrated by a proposed federal rule that could cost the state more than $1 million a year in lost revenue and $500,000 in implementation, the Casper Star-Tribune reported. The stream protection rule developed by the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement would force companies to return streams and banks that have been adversely affected by mining back to their former condition.