News from across the USA

ALABAMA Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama plans to add 116 tenure-track faculty positions by the start of classes next fall, The Tuscaloosa News reports. The number includes replacement hires and new faculty added as part of the school’s five-year strategic plan. ALASKA Juneau: The Alaska House has voted 22-17 to impose the state’s first income tax in nearly four decades. The bill moves to the Senate, which has voiced opposition. The tax proposal is intended to help close the state’s $2.7 billion budget shortfall. ARIZONA Casa Grande: The city is taking steps to address problems associated with thousands of unfinished “zombie” lots where construction came to a standstill after the housing market collapsed. The Planning and Zoning Commission is seeking to extend the time developers have to complete streets, sidewalks and water and sewer systems, The

Casa Grande Dispatch reported. ARKANSAS Little Rock: The Arkansas Board of Education has put the Lee County School District on probation for violating education standards on staffing and course offerings, The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports. CALIFORNIA San Jose: Fire officials are investigating an explosion in a motel room that critically injured two people. The

Mercury News reports that the blast at the Casa Linda Motel blew out a window. COLORADO Boulder: Transportation officials in the Denver area say they’re dealing with a driver shortage that’s causing crowded buses. The Daily Camera reports that the Regional Transportation District’s Flatiron Flyer saw a 40% jump in ridership in 2016 from the previous year. CONNECTICUT Suffield: A bald eagle found injured last week by construction workers has been released back into the wild before a cheering Connecticut crowd. The bird was treated for six deep puncture wounds and four smaller wounds likely suffered in a fight with another eagle during mating season. DELAWARE Wilmington: The Delaware Department of Transportation has upgraded its mobile app. The News Journal reports that new features include a clickable road projects map, a sample Department of Motor Vehicles test and a form for reporting transportation issues. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: A bicyclist was issued an infraction notice after fatally striking a woman who was crossing a Washington street. The crash March 9 killed Jane Bennett Clark, a senior editor at Kiplinger magazine. Police say she stepped off a curb and was struck by the bicyclist, who is accused of disobeying a traffic control device. FLORIDA Pensacola: A Florida waiter is accused of stealing a $3,000 diamond ring that fell off a customer’s finger. Pensacola police say the ring turned up on an online app, and the suspect allegedly offered to sell it to detectives posing as a couple, The

Pensacola News Journal reports. GEORGIA Atlanta: The number of police officers patrolling metro Atlanta’s transit system is up after a man was fatally shot last week. Police say the shooting appears to be a “targeted, isolated incident.” Three other passengers were wounded. HAWAII Honolulu: The chairmen of Hawaii’s House and Senate tourism committees expect to meet this week to resolve differences over vacation rental tax bills. Both bills would enable such websites as Airbnb to collect state taxes on behalf of people renting rooms and homes. IDAHO Boise: The Idaho Conservation League has filed a complaint to several state agencies asking officials to inspect a wastewater pit used by a Nampa cheese-making plant, The Idaho Statesman reports. ILLINOIS Quincy: John Wood Community College employee Eric Foster has won American Red Cross recognition for planning a schoolwide blood drive that raised more than 100% of its goal in January, The Quincy Her

ald-Whig reports. INDIANA Nashville: Indiana’s Brown County Public Library is receiving $2.3 million from the estate of a high school business teacher. The money was left by Tesh Wickard, who died in 2014 at age 90. IOWA sorting Waterloo:through file Volunteerscard drawers found tens of thousands of donation pledge cards from Waterloo families who donated to bond drives during World War I, The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports. The cards were discovered in an attic of Veterans Memorial Hall. KANSAS Topeka: Kansas officials are moving to keep the assets of a financially troubled nonprofit Catholic hospital in Topeka in the state. The Denverbased owner of St. Francis Health is seeking to sell it. KENTUCKY Bardstown: The City Council has voted to fire Mayor John Royalty. The Lexing

ton Herald-Leader reports that the council concluded that the mayor ordered a city employee to lie to get access to council iPads, among other misconduct. LOUISIANA New Orleans: An animal rights group says video and photos indicate that a tiger kept at a Baton Rouge-area truck stop may be ill. The Animal Legal Defense Fund has asked federal authorities to investigate the health of Tony the tiger. MAINE Augusta: The Governor’s Energy Office says the price of heating oil in Maine has dropped 9 cents since mid-March. Kerosene and propane prices also are lower as warmer spring temperatures displace cold conditions. MARYLAND Towson: Towson University will convert an offcampus Marriott hotel it owns into student housing, The Balti

more Sun reports. The university currently has a shortage of up to 2,500 beds. MASSACHUSETTS East Dennis: Researchers plan to study a dead whale found in Cape Cod. The North Atlantic right whale found last week is one of a critically endangered species, with fewer than 600 left in the world. MICHIGAN St. Ignace: Hundreds of Jeeps are expected to cross the Mackinac Bridge in the second annual Jeep the Mac this weekend. Nearly 450 Jeep owners took part in last year’s inaugural event. MINNESOTAto dental care St. has Cloud: improved Access since lawmakersing of dental authorized therapists the eight licensyears ago. Dental therapists saw as many as 90% of uninsured patients or patients on public assistance, according to a 2016 University of Minnesota study. MISSISSIPPI Gulfport: A woman who claimed she was owed damages from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill has been sentenced to 18 months in prison and must pay $30,000 in restitution. The Sun

Herald reports that Vanna Nguyen Ly submitted false documents to support her claim. MISSOURI Kansas City: A mild winter has drawn oak mites out of hibernation earlier than expected. Extension agent Dennis Patton tells KSHB-TV there have been lots of reports of people being bitten while raking leaves. MONTANA Missoula: The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation has awarded nearly $315,000 in grant money to assist with elk research, habitat enhancement, permanent land protection and improving public access. NEBRASKA Omaha: Steve Robinson is taking Nebraska road repair into his own hands by patching hundreds of potholes near his home over the past several years. Robinson, 62, estimated that by summer’s end he will have spent $10,000 on 10 tons of pothole patch, the Omaha World

Herald reports. NEVADA Reno: Assemblyman James Ohrenschall wants to include the Washoe County Detention Center in a potential state takeover of mental health care services in the largest jails, according to the Reno GazetteJournal. NEW HAMPSHIRE Kingston: New Hampshire’s state archaeologist is investigating a site where human remains and a metal plate from an 1895 gravestone were found. Hikers found a skull at a site where earth had been moved to create logging roads. NEW JERSEY Trenton: A New Jersey court has ruled that state police don’t have to reimburse troopers for tolls they pay during their commute to and from work. The case arose after a practice allowing troopers to skip paying tolls on the New Jersey Turnpike and other major roadways was revoked in 2010. NEW MEXICO Alamogordo: Otero County commissioners are debating a federal project that aims to determine whether nuclear waste can be stored far underground, The Alamogordo Daily News reports. NEW YORK Albany: New York state is giving a hand to farmers, offering grants for farms in regions including Finger Lakes and Hudson Valley. Finger Lakes was awarded the largest number of grants, worth $449,000. NORTH CAROLINA King: The license of a North Carolina crematory was suspended after the ashes of 93 unclaimed bodies were found at the home of an employee. An official at Cremation Services of Winston-Salem says the employee planned to spread the ashes in the Blue Ridge Mountains. NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: North Dakota’s Game and Fish Department is prohibiting open burning this spring on the Oahe Wildlife Management Area south of Bismarck-Mandan, says Wildlife Resource Management Supervisor Bill Haase. OHIO Toledo: The Toledo Museum of Art says it will try to sell some ancient artifacts to the public, but other museums will get first crack. The museum did that with more than 60 ancient artifacts from Egypt, Greece, Cyprus and Italy last October. OKLAHOMA Sayre: Seven inmates at the North Fork Correctional Center in western Oklahoma have been injured in a disturbance at the prison. The Oklahoma Department of Corrections says a group of inmates verbally confronted a second group in a cell pod. OREGON Portland: Detectives are investigating after hikers found bones near a trail in the River View Natural Area. Detectives said the bones appear to be human. PENNSYLVANIA Glenville: A York County man died two days after his riding mower overturned into a pond, trapping him underwater. Resuscitation efforts by two rescuers who spotted the overturned lawn tractor failed to save Timothy Stockslager, 54. RHODE ISLAND Providence: Rhode Island lawmakers are considering a sales tax cut, but they want to study it first. The proposal would lower the tax from 7% to 3%. The study commission will report its findings next year. SOUTH CAROLINA Camden: South Carolina’s Colonial Cup is moving to the spring. The Carolina Cup Racing Association’s board has decided to cancel the fall card. SOUTH DAKOTA Rapid City: Though the 20-year mountain pine beetle epidemic in Black Hills National Forest has ended, U.S. Forest Service officials plan to continue fighting the insects by removing dead trees, igniting controlled burns and churning patches of soil to encourage tree growth, The Rapid City Journal reports. TENNESSEE Chattanooga: A Chattanooga judge on medical disability leave was escorted out of the courthouse after witnesses said he threw a tantrum, The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports. TEXAS Dallas: A deal to build a Trump-brand hotel in Dallas has been abandoned. A Trump Organization spokesman says the president’s company told the developer not to pursue the project. One official who opposed it said he was told there were concerns “about the Trump name.” UTAH Salt Lake City: For the first time in more than 25 years, Utah has reported no avalanche fatalities during the winter. VERMONT Montpelier: A 25year study found a 14.2% decline in the population of birds living in Vermont forests. The study found that birds living on flying insects saw the biggest decline. VIRGINIA Charlottesville: The public will get a chance this week to weigh in on the selection of a new University of Virginia president. School President Teresa Sullivan plans to retire in July 2018. WASHINGTON Seattle: A homeless man filed a lawsuit against Seattle accusing police officers of violating his rights for impounding the vehicle he was living in, The Seattle Times reports. WEST VIRGINIA Madison: A Boone County school board member under an embezzlement investigation has resigned, The

Charleston Gazette-Mail reports. Danny Cantley and former board president Mark Sumpter were under scrutiny in a case involving school system property. Sumpter resigned last October. WISCONSIN Madison: Small bouquets of flowers have been popping up around Madison since Danika Laine Brubaker began her “For the One Who Finds Me” project nearly two years ago, The Wisconsin State

Journal reports. WYOMING Cheyenne: The city’s 150th anniversary celebration will kick off on July 4 at Romero Park and continue with events through at least Aug. 18.