STATE-BY-STATE
News from across the USA
ALABAMA Decatur: A federal judge approved a partial settlement in a lawsuit over contaminated Alabama drinking water.
The Decatur Daily reports that Daikin America’s role in the case ends with a $5 million payment.
ALASKA Juneau: Officials are lowering the asking price for an Alaska ferry that’s been tied up since 2015. The minimum bid has been cut from $1.5 million to $700,000, CoastAlaska News reports.
ARIZONA Phoenix: Dalton Philbrick, dubbed the “Pink Panther” burglar, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison. ARKANSAS Damascus: An Arkansas prosecutor said the city violated the state speed trap law because its revenues from fines exceeded 30% of its expenditures for two years.
CALIFORNIA Sacramento: A quarter-million hatchery salmon survived the near-collapse of a dam’s spillway this winter, only to suffocate after a pump failed, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife says.
COLORADO Fort Collins: Documents such as death certificates have been deleted from the Larimer County website because people didn’t realize they would be open to the public.
CONNECTICUT Hartford: Auditors say the Connecticut Department of Correction hasn’t complied with a law to collect money from inmate savings accounts to help pay the cost of incarceration.
DELAWARE Wilmington: Councilman Samuel Guy is suing the council and three colleagues, The
News Journal reports. He claims he was denied discretionary funds for scholarships.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Federal prosecutors have joined an in- vestigation of a racist incident at American University. Last week, racist messages appeared on campus after Taylor Dumpson became the first black woman to serve as student body president.
FLORIDA Big Pine Key: An employee at Winn-Dixie is charged with stealing $10,000 worth of lottery tickets. GEORGIA Savannah: The largest cargo ship ever to visit East Coast ports, . the COSCO Development, arrived last week at the Port of Savannah.
HAWAII Honolulu: The Hawaii ACLU says a deaf Japanese tourist was illegally denied a sign-language interpreter while she was detained at Honolulu International Airport.
IDAHO Boise: Conservation advocates want to block the federal government’s aerial gunning, trapping and poisoning of wildlife across the state pending an environmental analysis. ILLINOIS Urbana: The University of Illinois System has launched a three-year, $60 million initiative to recruit top faculty, The News-Gazette reports.
INDIANA South Bend: A federal judge says a University of Notre Dame student accused of harassing his ex-girlfriend must be allowed to take final exams despite being expelled.
IOWA Council Bluffs: Rodney Crosby Jr., who ran a scam on buyers of classic cars, has been sent to prison. Prosecutors say he took down payments for vehicles but didn’t deliver them.
KANSAS Topeka: Kansas regulators are asking for an extra year to implement amusement park rules passed after a boy died last year on a water slide.
KENTUCKY Lexington: A judge says police can search the laptop used by Mitchell Adkins, who is accused of attacking students with a machete at a Transylvania University coffee shop.
LOUISIANAsiana’s top school Baton board Rouge:has re- Louivisedyear, includingpublic school$7 million finances for nextaid to flooding. districts hurt by last year’s MAINE Biddeford: The person responsible for damaging a Maine police station sent an apology note and $550 in reimbursement — 40 years after shattering the station’s front door.
MARYLAND Annapolis: The Maryland Board of Public Works has approved what is potentially an 11-year, $341 million contract for the lottery’s central monitoring system.
MASSACHUSETTS Hanson: A Plymouth man stole a police cruiser during an early-morning chase through several towns last week, police say.
MICHIGAN Detroit: Days after new murals went up in the 36th District Court, officials banned people from bringing in pens and pencils because the art was being vandalized.
MINNESOTA Minneapolis: A jury convicted Anthony Sawina of attempted murder for wounding two Somali-American men in Minneapolis last year. MISSISSIPPI Pass Christian: The Mississippi Department of Marine Resources has started a project to restore Mississippi Sound oyster reefs.
MISSOURI Branson: The Shepherd of the Hills Theatre has closed because of a bank foreclosure, The Joplin Globe reports. MONTANA Helena: Federal officials say an audit found problems with how the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation managed $2.3 million in grants. NEBRASKA Lincoln: Nebraska lawmakers are debating whether schools should hold back thirdgrade students who aren’t reading at grade level. NEVADA Fallon: Workers have completed Nevada’s “big dig,” a 17-mile canal on the Carson River.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Merrimack: Police in Merrimack charged a woman with disorderly conduct after she threw a bowl of noodles at someone, WMUR-TV reports.
NEW JERSEY Trenton: The New Jersey Economic Development Authority has approved borrowing up to $300 million for Gov. Christie’s plan to renovate the statehouse.
NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: The University of New Mexico has reinstated its men’s and women’s ski programs.
NEW YORK New York: A watercolor by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, the former first lady’s Cartier watch and an annotated speech by John F. Kennedy that he included in his Profiles in Cour
age book are being auctioned June 21 at Christie’s. NORTH CAROLINA Lumberton: North Carolina Baptists on Mission plans to rebuild 1,000 homes damaged by Hurricane Matthew last year.
NORTH DAKOTA Washburn: Residents of this North Dakota city are celebrating the expansion of a wildlife management area.
OHIO Columbus: Smaller Ohio nursing homes tend to perform better than larger ones, and notfor-profit facilities earn high marks more often than for-profit homes, according to the state Department of Medicaid.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: Amazon confirms that it’s building a sorting center here, The Oklaho
man reports. OREGON Portland: Police arrested a man accused of secretly snipping off locks of women’s hair on a Portland bus. The suspect is a registered sex offender. PENNSYLVANIA Pittsburgh: A Pittsburgh restaurant drew criticism last week by serving horse meat at a dinner with Canadian chefs, KDKA-TV reports. RHODE ISLAND Cranston: Citations against nine panhandlers were dismissed involving a March protest against Cranston’s antipanhandling rules, The Providence JournalSOUTHNoah Sigalas CAROLINAreports. faces federal Columbia: charges after damage authoritiesat Fort Sumter.say he caused SOUTHThe historic DAKOTA Hotel RapidAlex JohnsonCity: in pletion Rapid of Citya major celebrated renovationthe com- with an open house last week.
TENNESSEEGov. Haslam’s Nashville: administrationA push to by outsourceFalls State hospitalityPark drew noat Fall bidders, Creek The Times Free Press reports.
TEXASare considering Austin: a Texasbill to lawmakers disqualify transgendermone therapy athletes endangersif their horopponents.
UTAH Salt Lake City: The University of Utah is hiring an independent auditor to review financial ties with the Huntsman Cancer Institute.
VERMONT Rockingham: Vermont State Police say at least $15,000 worth of guns were taken from a firearms dealer.
VIRGINIA Richmond: Vladimir Tarabay was sentenced to 2½ years in jail for offering to bail women out of jail in exchange for sex.
WASHINGTON Seattle: The state’s largest psychiatric hospital is under a “critical safety situation” after problems were found with its fire response system.
WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: University of Charleston President Edwin Welch has announced his retirement, effective next June.
WISCONSIN La Crosse: La Crosse County health officials are finding increased levels of nitrates in private wells.
WYOMING Cheyenne: Wyoming will try yet again to diversify its economy beyond fossil fuels. Coal, oil and natural gas provide 70% of Wyoming’s revenue, but all three are in a slump.