STATE-BY-STATE

ALABAMA Foley: Planners of a 520-acre resort near the Alabama Gulf coast say they’ll open an amusement park by mid-July, Al.com reports. Officials expect to hire 400 seasonal workers in upcoming weeks.

ALASKA Juneau: Alaska might lose its 24/7 earthquake monitors due to budget cuts, The Juneau Empire reports. Since March 1, more than 25% of the Alaska Regional Seismic Network has been offline. Since 2013, state funding has dropped from $800,000 to a projected $588,000 next year.

ARIZONA Mesa: A baby otter was nursed back to health after being rescued by utility workers who found it struggling to get out of a canal on the outskirts of Phoenix, KPNX-TV reports. The otter recovered and is now at the Out of Africa Wildlife Park in Camp Verde. ARKANSAS Oark: A 150-footlong swinging bridge that was an Arkansas tourist attraction was swept away by floodwaters last weekend, The Arkansas Demo

crat-Gazette reports. The bridge spanned the Mulberry River for about a century. CALIFORNIA Santa Ana: Federal agents in California raided a convenience store in connection to a $2 million food stamp fraud investigation, The Orange County

Register reports. COLORADO Aspen: Police are searching for a man who entered an Aspen art gallery and sliced up a painting valued at nearly $3 million. The Aspen Times reports that the suspect was wearing a disguise. CONNECTICUT Hartford: Connecticut police officials say independent reviews found serious flaws with reports that concluded police stop minority drivers at disproportionately high rates. DELAWARE Bear: Six ducklings were rescued from a covered drainage ditch at a shopping center in Delaware. But officials say three of them died after being recovered from where they were trapped in New Castle County. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Five members of Washington Metro’s track inspection department who were fired over what the agency said were falsified inspection reports are suing, WTOP Radio reports. The dismissed workers say some track problems were properly reported but maintenance work was never scheduled.

FLORIDA Panama

City: Schools of devil rays are delighting beachgoers at St. Andrews State Park in Florida’s Panhandle, The News Herald reports. Up to a dozen of the creatures have become regular visitors over the past week. GEORGIA Atlanta: Addiction treatment centers will be more strictly regulated under a new Georgia law. A cluster of new centers prompted the legislation, which includes limits on how many can operate. HAWAII Wailuku: About 100 homeless people who set up camp in woods near the Maui town of Paia were given to May 23 to leave following complaints about them from beachgoers, The

Maui News reports. IDAHO Boise: A proposed osteopathic medical school in Idaho will break ground May 17 for construction after getting the OK from a national accreditation agency. The Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine will open its doors in fall 2018. ILLINOIS Urbana: Final designs for a $5.5 million cultural center at the University of Illinois will be unveiled this week. The (Champaign) News-Gazette reports that the old center was closed in 2014 due to safety reasons. INDIANA Indianapolis: Flooding from heavy rain last week forced the downtown Indianapolis Soldiers and Sailors Monument to temporarily close. The monument, dedicated in 1902, won National Historic Landmark status in January. IOWA Iowa City: The City Council in Iowa City has approved a $35 million downtown development that will preserve a historic church, The Iowa City

Press-Citizen reports. The Augusta Place development will be built on land around the Universalist Unitarian Church. KANSAS Olathe: Olathe officials have approved a privately-owned soccer complex with nine allweather artificial turf fields. The project’s estimated cost is $65 million, The Kansas City Star reports. KENTUCKY Lexington: Police say two University of Kentucky students crawled through an air duct to steal a statistics exam from their professor’s office. But the pair got caught because the professor was working late, The Lexington Herald-Leader reports. LOUISIANA Baton Rouge: In Louisiana, New Orleans is preparing to remove several Confederate monuments from prominent city locations. But state lawmakers are working on a proposal to ban any such effort in the rest of the state. MAINE Portland: The manslaughter trial of a Maine lobster boat captain charged in the deaths of two crew members will likely begin this fall. Christopher Hutchinson’s boat, No Limits, flipped in heavy waves more than two years ago after hauling in traps. MARYLAND Jessup: A Delaware man who escaped from the grounds of a Maryland psychiatric hospital was found hiding in a drainage pipe in Jessup. David Watson had escaped after freeing himself from handcuffs and a waist chain. MASSACHUSETTS Boston: Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts has settled a case with the estate of a Jewish woman whose 18th century porcelain figurine collection was sold in Germany in the 1930s amid Nazi persecution. Under the agreement, the museum will pay the estate of Emma Budge an undisclosed sum to keep the pieces. MICHIGAN Bad Axe: Voters in the Michigan Thumb region have rejected two proposals to expand the number of wind turbines in the area. Opponents say the turbines are negatively affecting their “quality of life.” MINNESOTA St. Paul: The Minnesota State Patrol says too many drivers are distracted by their cellphones, Minnesota Public Radio reports. A recent two-week enforcement effort nabbed more than 1,000 people for distracted driving. MISSISSIPPI Jackson: A group of state lawmakers and other officials met last week to discuss the pros and cons of starting a Mississippi lottery. Mississippi is one of six states without such a game. MISSOURI Jefferson City: Squabbling among members of the Missouri state Senate got to be too much last week for two lawmakers. So they began singing “Kumbaya,” a 1920s spiritual, on the chamber’s floor to lament the infighting. MONTANA Bozeman: A donkey named Oliver joined several therapy dogs offering stress relief during Finals Week at Montana State University, the Bozeman

Daily Chronicle reports. NEBRASKA Lincoln: Police arrested a Nebraska man after two men fell out of the back of his pickup truck, KOLN-TV reports. Jesse Rabago is charged with failing to stop and render aid. NEVADA Carson City: Nevada has raised the speed limit from 75 mph to 80 mph on a 130-mile rural stretch of Interstate 80. NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: New Hampshire health officials say Dartmouth-Hitchcock failed to provide enough psychiatrists to staff the state-run mental hospital as required by its $36 million contract, and must file a corrective action plan. NEW JERSEY Ventnor: Officials in the New Jersey shore town of Ventnor say their beaches aren’t open to the state’s plan to replenish sand this summer, mainly because of timing. Town officials say concerts and Independence Day celebrations will be dis- rupted. NEW MEXICO Las Cruces: New Mexico State University’s 10-year Tough Enough to Wear Pink fundraiser has ended, The Las Cruces Sun-News reports. The campaign’s website says $4.5 million was raised between 2007 and 2016. NEW YORK New York: An “aww” inspiring bear cub has made his public debut at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Queens Zoo. The as-yet unnamed Andean cub was born this past winter. The Queens Zoo is breeding Andean bears as part of a cooperative program called the Species Survival Plan.

NORTH CAROLINA Greens

boro: It looked like a bank, at least to one would-be crook. Police say a man walked into the First National Bank training center in Greensboro one afternoon last week and demanded cash. The suspect thought the training facility was a real bank with real money. It isn’t. NORTH DAKOTA Minot: Some residents say more openings should be added to Minot’s proposed flood protection project, the Minot Daily News reports. The locations of the project’s levees and walls along the Souris River are still being developed. OHIO Toledo: The campaign van for perennial Toledo mayoral candidate and self-proclaimed “prophetess” Opal Covey was damaged by a fire last week, WTOL-TV reports. Covey, who claims to be the Ohio city’s legitimate mayor after receiving 142 votes out of nearly 24,000 cast in the 2013 primary, got out safely. OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: Experts estimate that Oklahoma farmers planted 10% fewer winter wheat acres at the end of last year, opting to use their land for more profitable crops, The Oklahoman reports.

OREGON Cor

vallis: The Alsea School Board has only one school, and officials plan to convert it into a charter school, The Ga

zette-Times reports. Superintendent Marc Thielman says the goal is to recruit more students from outside the district. PENNSYLVANIA Philadelphia: The historic Metropolitan Opera House in Philadelphia will reopen by the end of next year as a live music venue, The Philadel

phia Inquirer reports. The blocklong facility, built in 1908, will undergo a $45 million rehabilitation.

RHODE ISLAND South Kings

town: The University of Rhode Island has issued a warning after four students contracted mumps. School health officials say students should make sure they’re immunized. SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: A high school English teacher in Cherokee County is South Carolina’s teacher of the year. Gaffney Senior High School teacher Erin Fox gets $25,000 and can drive a new BMW for a year. SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: The Sioux Falls City Council has approved an outdoor tobacco policy that bars people from smoking where non-smokers are likely to congregate. Designated outdoor smoking areas are allowed if they’re at least 25 feet from public entrances. TENNESSEE Nashville: A board will meet Wednesday in Nashville to vote on seven proposed nominations from Tennessee to the National Register of Historic Places. TEXAS Longview: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott came to Longview to celebrate the 100th birthday of the Boy Scout troop he joined as a boy. The visit marked the second appearance by a Texas governor for a Troop 201 celebration. Then- Gov. John Connally helped mark the troop’s 50th birthday in 1967, The Longview News-Journal reports. UTAH Salt Lake City: Drunk driving contributed to about 13% of Utah’s traffic deaths last year, a new state report finds. The leading factors in fatal crashes were speeding, 38%, and unbuckled seat belts, 29%, says the Utah Department of Public Safety report. VERMONT Hartford: Officials in Hartford will hold a public vote on whether to celebrate Indigenous People’s Day instead of Columbus Day, The Valley News reports. The Vermont town’s Select board scheduled the vote for Town Meeting Day next March. Brattleboro and Marlboro already celebrate Indigenous People’s Day. VIRGINIA Richmond: Rising sea levels are posing a significant threat to Virginia’s historical sites, the Department of Historic Resources says. The agency’s report cites 527 state-owned historic areas that are threatened by climate change. WASHINGTON Olympia: Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has signed a bill allowing state students to use sunscreen at school without having a note from a doctor. The measure exempts sunscreen from being classified as medication so children can use it on campus, at school-sponsored events and during field trips. WEST VIRGINIA Hinton: West Virginia state police say criminal charges will be pursued against nine students in a break-in at Summers County High School in Hinton. WVVA-TV reports that property damage was as much as $10,000. All of the students suspected are seniors over the age of 18. WISCONSIN Ashwaubenon: A student dressed as a storm trooper for “Star Wars Day” prompted the evacuation of a Wisconsin high school last week. A frightened parent saw the costumed figure entering the school near Green Bay and called 911. School officials say they’ll re-emphasize the district’s no-costume policy. WYOMING Casper: The concrete spire that dominates the Casper skyline won’t be torn down after all. Wells Fargo officials announced plans last fall to demolish the 177-foot deteriorating structure but now intend to restore it, the Casper Star-Tribune reports.