STATE-BY-STATE
News from across the USA
ALABAMA Henagar: A man charged with burglary was naked when he was taken into custody. DeKalb County Sheriff Jimmy Harris tells al.com that Mark Tucker, 40, is also charged with breaking into a vehicle and attempted murder.
ALASKA Anchorage: The FBI is offering $5,000 for information on an arson fire three years ago at a church in North Pole. The Plack Road Baptist Church fire was discovered by the pastor.
ARIZONA Phoenix: Police Chief Jeri Williams says she’s reallocating 169 Phoenix officers to patrol services. Williams announced the move a few hours after Phoenix Law Enforcement Association President Ken Crane said the police department is in a manpower crisis.
ARKANSAS Little Rock: Gov. Asa Hutchinson has announced creation of an Office of Transformation to find ways to make government more efficient and to reduce costs.
CALIFORNIA Mojave: Virgin Galactic’s new spaceship has completed its first glide flight. The test was conducted last weekend over the California desert.
COLORADO Aspen: The Aspen City Council has decided to table a proposal that would limit new chain stores. The Aspen Daily
News reports that the restrictions were requested by a citizens group concerned about local retailers.
CONNECTICUT Bridgeport: A three-judge panel found that a Bridgeport man who fatally shot a construction worker wanted the man’s job. The Connecticut Post reports that Gregory Weathers faces up to 75 years in prison.
DELAWARE Dover: Delaware agriculture officials have unveiled a plan to help protect bees and other pollinators. State farmers bring in about 3,000 bee colonies every year to help pollinate fruit and vegetable crops and supplement the 1,500 hives maintained by the state’s 180 registered beekeepers.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: A worker quit his job after finding two nooses at a Washington construction site. A spokesman for Clark Construction Group, which is running the site, said an investigation determined that a subcontractor employee was involved and was immediately terminated.
FLORIDA North Port: A woman who became lost during a halfmarathon trail run was eventually found after wandering around a park for almost 12 hours. The Sarasota Times-Herald reports that Melissa Kitcher says she made a wrong turn.
GEORGIA Savannah: Savannah’s old Atlantic Greyhound Bus Terminal could soon be on the National Register of Historic Places. The Savanna Morning
News reports that the building has been nominated because of its architecture and role during a “period of significance” for transportation.
HAWAII Honolulu: Hawaii’s Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by opponents of a giant telescope project on Mauna Kea. Hearings are still underway for a permit to build the Thirty Meter Telescope.
IDAHO Boise: The Idaho Suicide Prevention Hotline is expanding.
The Idaho Statesman reports that Idaho’s suicide rate has long been above the national average.
ILLINOIS Urbana: The president of the University of Illinois says its three campuses can’t legally serve as sanctuaries for immigrant students illegally living in the country. Faculty and others at the university want sanctuary campuses in response to President-elect Donald Trump’s talk of deporting illegal immigrants.
INDIANA Indianapolis: Indiana’s aging water infrastructure needs $2.3 billion in immediate repairs and $815 million a year in maintenance. That’s according to a study by the Indiana Finance Authority.
IOWA Des Moines: Iowa’s top insurance regulator has resigned. Gov. Terry Branstad’s office says Insurance Commissioner Nick Gerhart’s resignation is effective Dec. 23.
KANSAS Topeka: Young adults who have aged out of foster care are getting some Christmas cheer through a Kansas program. The Topeka
Capital-Journal reports that more than 300 youths were reached through the campaign last year.
KENTUCKY Louisville: The University of Louisville says a global professional services firm has been chosen for an in-depth audit of the school’s fundraising foundation.
LOUISIANA Baton Rouge: A state panel is wrestling with school report cards. The Advocate reports that state Superintendent of Education John White has proposed that growth of student achievement account for 25% of a school’s score instead of 7%.
MAINE Alfred: Hundreds of holiday wreaths were stolen last week from a Maine farm. Gile’s Family Farm owner Frank Boucher estimates the value of the stolen items at about $5,000.
MARYLAND Ananapolis: Two Maryland casinos will keep a higher share of slot machine revenue with the opening of MGM National Harbor. Maryland Live! and Horseshoe Baltimore are the closest casinos to MGM.
MASSACHUSETTS Saugus: A Saugus School Committee member who was charged with assaulting a man with frozen fish patties has been ordered to attend anger management classes.
The Daily Item of Lynn reports that Arthur Grabowski, 67, was accused of hitting Martin Graney, 73, at a veterans’ food drive in May.
MICHIGAN Wyoming: Documents say dangerous lead levels went unchecked at Michigan National Guard armories that were polluted due to their use as indoor firing ranges. The ranges closed, Mlive.com reports.
MINNESOTA Minneapolis: A woman filed a lawsuit after her newborn was mistakenly given to another mother at a hospital and breastfed. Tammy Van Dyke of Apple Valley is seeking more than $50,000 in damages.
MISSISSIPPI Biloxi: The city filed a lawsuit against Biloxi Baseball and Overtime Sports Management, owners of the Biloxi Shuckers. The Sun Herald reports that the city claims it has been unable to determine how much Biloxi Baseball owes for rent under a stadium lease.
MISSOURI St. Louis: A rockloving orangutan named Rubih went ape at her St. Louis zoo enclosure. Zookeepers say the 12-year-old female forced nearly $200,000 in repairs and the temporary closing of the exhibit when she repeatedly banged rocks against enclosure windows.
MONTANA Butte: Mine officials say it’s likely that several thousand migrating snow geese died after landing in the toxic waters of Berkeley Pit last week. The
Montana Standard reports that the 700-acre pit holds an estimated 45 billion gallons of acidic, metal laden water.
NEBRASKA Kearney: The Nebraska Farm Bureau is calling for state officials to lower property taxes by broadening the state’s sales tax base. Farm Bureau President Steve Nelson says reducing property taxes would help restore balance with income and sales taxes.
NEVADA Reno: A man with a criminal history spanning five decades has been sentenced to life in prison for killing an 80-year-old bank customer during an armed robbery in 2013. Federal prosecutors say Van McDuffy fled with $13,000 after he fatally shot Charles Sperry, a Vietnam veteran.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Derry: The owners of a New Hampshire mobile home park say at least 10 tenants who receive federal rent aid are being forced to move amid a crackdown on homes without tie-downs that hold mobile homes during storms.
NEW JERSEY Hammon
ton: Republican President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, will be grand marshal of Saturday’s Christmas parade in this New Jersey city. Conway graduated from St. Joseph’s High School in Hammonton in 1985.
NEW MEXICO Bloomfield: This New Mexico city wants the full 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review a decision that found its Ten Commandments monument unconstitutional, The Daily
Times of Farmington reports.
NEW YORK Kingston: New York transportation officials say operators of a Catskills tourist train were warned about rail safety months before a derailment left 25 people stranded. The Daily
Freeman of Kingston reports that no one was injured.
NORTH CAROLINA Union: A teenager who was chained to the porch of a North Carolina house with a dead chicken around his neck is suing his former foster parent, social services officials and Union County. The suit accuses Wanda Sue Larson of using “connections” to manipulate the teen’s custody.
NORTH DAKOTA Fargo: North Dakota prosecutors charged a man with manslaughter in the death of a woman after human remains were found west of Fargo. The Cass County Sheriff ’s Office says the suspect, Timothy Barr, provided information that led deputies to the remains.
OHIO Springfield: Investigators say a missing woman was found dead in an Ohio reservoir after tipsters spotted video of a submerged sport utility vehicle on social media. The Springfield
News-Sun reports that the woman was last seen Saturday.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: Gov. Mary Fallin went to the Middle East this week to visit members of the National Guard serving overseas. Fallin spokesman Michael McNutt says the trip was coordinated by the Pentagon for several governors.
OREGON Eugene: Austin Miller says the crunchy brown morsels he sells taste like popcorn. But the Eugene man is talking about eating crickets. Miller tells the Register-Guard that he likes them on chips with salsa, or on a salad, or with soft cheeses.
PENNSYLVANIA Harrisburg: Gov. Tom Wolf is cleaning up what he calls outdated and unneeded executive orders inherited from seven previous governors. Wolf announced Tuesday that he’s rescinding 46 orders, some that were established about three decades ago.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: When scientists live in nearisolation to simulate a Mars mission, the last thing they’ll need is an ill-fitting space suit. So staff and students at the Rhode Island School of Design have come up with an adjustable suit to use at the NASA-funded Mars simulation mission in Hawaii.
SOUTH CAROLINA Jenkins
ville: A train carrying BMWs from a South Carolina auto plant derailed. The weekend accident damaged 97 vehicles and two locomotives. No one was hurt.
SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: The city will rely on federal safety inspectors to investigate a building collapse last week that killed a construction worker and injured a woman. Sioux Falls emergency manager Regan Smith said the three-story downtown building was being remodeled into a drugstore.
TENNESSEE Nashville: Tennessee lawmakers unveiled a bust of Davy Crockett at the state Capitol this week. Crockett was elected to the Tennessee Legislature in 1821. He died during the Mexican siege of the Alamo in 1836.
TEXAS Georgetown: A federal judge has determined that Williamson County leaders violated the constitutional rights of a man when they asked him his views on gay marriage, abortion and other hot-button issues during a job interview.
UTAH Circleville: State officials will spend $138,000 to restore a decaying wood cabin in Piute County that’s become a tourist spot because it’s believed to be the boyhood home of outlaw Butch Cassidy. KSL-TV reports that the family of Cassidy did live in the cabin.
VERMONT Montpelier: The Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation says the state’s universal recycling law has boosted recycling, composting and food donations. The Vermont Foodbank says food donations increased by nearly 40% last year.
VIRGINIA Radford: Four Radford University fraternities have been suspended amid reports about abuse of a goat. School officials sanctioned the chapters of Delta Chi, Sigma Pi, Pi Lamda Phi and Alpha Sigma Phi.
WASHINGTON Spokane: School officials are considering security changes after a 5-year-old girl wandered from her elementary school and hopped a bus to Spokane Valley. The Spokesman
Review reports that several people spotted the girl and notified the school district.
WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: A West Virginia chemical plant where chlorine gas spilled from a leaking tank car has been cited for alleged workplace safety violations. The Charleston Gazette
Mail says the plant was bought by Westlake Chemical Corp. in September.
WISCONSIN Madison: Gov. Scott Walker says he’s open to having the state help pay for a new juvenile corrections center in Milwaukee County. Wisconsin’s two existing juvenile facilities have been under investigation for allegations of prisoner abuse and child neglect, the Journal Sentinel reports.
WYOMING Powell: A Wyoming man was reunited with his high school class ring more than 45 years after he threw it as far as he could in a fit of rage over breaking up with his girlfriend. Mike Peyton says he’s flabbergasted to get the ring back, The Powell Tribune reports.