STATE-BY-STATE
News from across the USA
ALABAMA Birmingham: A major bridge that runs into downtown Birmingham will be under construction and closed for about 13 months, Al.com reports. Motorists are asked to use alternative routes.
ALASKA Bethel: Some remote Alaska communities are overrun with stray dogs, and veterinarians are teaming up to combat the problem, KYUK-AM reports. Vets from Alaska Native Rural Veterinary and Humane Society staff visited two communities last week to address their problems.
ARIZONA Florence: The Maricopa Historical Society is taking ownership of a dome rail passenger car on display near the Amtrak station in the Pinal County community. The car was built in 1948 for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad.
ARKANSAS Little Rock: The Arkansas Board of Education has reversed a panel’s decision that recommended revoking the charter of Covenant Keepers College Preparatory School. The panel cited concerns over finances and academic performance at the 160-student school, the Arkansas
Democrat-Gazette reports.
CALIFORNIA San Francisco: Researchers want to know why hundreds of leopard sharks are washing up dead in the San Francisco Bay area. The San Francisco
Chronicle reports that one researcher believes that closing tide gates traps sharks during mating season.
COLORADO Rocky Mountain
National Park: Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park is open for the season. But park officials warn visitors to be prepared for icy conditions along the scenic route that reaches an elevation of 12,183 feet.
CONNECTICUT Hartford: The aunt of a teenager in prison for setting fires has been sentenced to a year in prison for fabricating evidence and witness tampering,
The Courant reports. Prosecutors say Theresa Izzo tried to provide an alibi for her nephew.
DELAWARE Dover: Delaware State University has commissioned a statue of Jerome Holland, who saved the state’s only historically black institution of higher education from possible closure in the 1950s.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Barack and Michelle Obama have bought the home they’ve been renting in the District of Columbia, The
Washington Post reports. The Obamas bought the eight-bedroom, 9½-bath mansion for $8.1 million.
FLORIDA Tallahassee: Under a bill signed by Gov. Rick Scott, Florida is the first state to issue what’s essentially a birth certificate to women who’ve had miscarriages. The law, known as the Grieving Families Act, takes effect July 1.
GEORGIA Madison: Three stolen Yorkshire Terrier puppies are back home after Georgia authorities chased two men fleeing with them down Interstate 20. Authorities say the suspects took the puppies by force from a breeder, The Telegraph of Macon reports.
HAWAII Ailuku: Fair organizers in Hawaii are hoping to keep their events running amid rising shipping rates, The Maui News reports. They’re urging Gov. David Ige to waive wharf fees.
IDAHO Lewiston: A federal judge says a logging project designed to reduce the fire risk at Orogrande can move forward, The Lewiston
Tribune reports. Fires have threatened the mountain community a number of times over the past decade.
ILLINOIS Chicago: Three suspects face federal charges in the theft of 20 firearms. Prosecutors say the men crashed a stolen Jeep into a Chicago gun store last year and took 18 handguns, a rifle and a shotgun.
INDIANA Evansville: A pet pig escaped injury when a man who thought it was going to attack him fired shots at it, WFIE-TV reports. The man thought it was a wild pig, but deputies determined that it’s tame and belongs to people who live near the Evansville boat ramp where the incident occurred.
IOWA Davenport: The former executive director of a nonprofit that promotes affordable school meals allegedly embezzled at least $169,000 over a five-year period. An audit released last week says Norma LaMantia admitted making personal bank account deposits with checks meant for the School Nutrition Association of Iowa.
KANSAS Wichita: After 16 years of planning, the longest biking and hiking trail in Kansas is open for public use. The 90-mile Flint Hills Nature Trail could expand to 117 miles in the future, The
Wichita Eagle reports.
KENTUCKY Frankfort: Kentucky is celebrating its 225th anniversary of statehood. The Bluegrass State was admitted to the union in June 1792, becoming the 15th state.
LOUISIANA Baker: A school damaged by catastrophic flooding last August will be renovated. The
Advocate reports that Baker High School students will be able to return by December 2018.
MAINE Augusta: Health officials say Maine has recorded two cases of encephalitis caused by a tickborne virus. Both victims are recovering at home after being discharged from the hospital.
MARYLAND Baltimore: Former NAACP president Ben Jealous says he’ll run for governor of Maryland. Jealous is running in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-1.
MASSACHUSETTS Boston: The Plainridge Park Casino has been fined $65,000 by Massachusetts gambling regulators for violating minimum security staffing rules.
MICHIGAN Vienna Township: A Michigan woman faces a larceny charge for allegedly stealing a handmade bench, flowers and other objects from cemeteries and using them to decorate her home.
MINNESOTA St. Paul: Thousands of Minnesota state employees may still get access to paid parental leave for the next year even though Gov. Mark Dayton vetoed legislation for the policy. State officials plan to keep offering the leaves, Minnesota Public Radio reports.
MISSISSIPPI Jackson: Despite opposition from some students and alumni, Jackson State University’s trustees have approved William Bynum as the school’s next president. Bynum is now president of Mississippi Valley State University.
MISSOURI Holts Summit: The merger of Lake Mykee and Holts Summit is official. Residents of the two Missouri towns voted in favor of consolidating them a couple of months ago, The News
Tribune reports.
MONTANA Bozeman: A new study says wildlife managers should worry more about elk
than bison in trying to reduce brucellosis in cattle around Yellowstone National Park.
NEBRASKA Omaha: Thousands of cartons of milk that weren’t used by Omaha public school students have been donated to the Open Door Mission homeless shelter, The Omaha World-Herald reports.
NEVADA Las Vegas: Officials are considering installing bollards along a Las Vegas Strip sidewalk to protect pedestrians, KLAS-TV reports. A year ago, a woman intentionally rammed her car through crowds of people.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Laconia: A woman alerted authorities to a fire in her Laconia apartment building by pressing her medical alert pendant, WMUR-TV reports. Five families in the building were displaced.
NEW JERSEY Trenton: Princeton University professor Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor cancelled lectures last week after receiving death threats following a commencement address in which she called President Trump “a racist and sexist megalomaniac.”
NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: One of New Mexico’s licensed medical marijuana producers has sued Expo New Mexico officials over refusal to let the company display its products at the state fair this year. Medical marijuana has been legal in New Mexico for a decade.
NEW YORK Albany: Federal regulators say a six-year cleanup of the Hudson River is producing positive results, but PCB levels in fish remain high. Until the mid-1970s, GE factories discharged the probable carcinogen into the river.
NORTH CAROLINA Ruther
fordton: The pastor of Word of Faith Fellowship in Spindale “directed and participated in” beating a gay church member, a prosecutor says. Brooke Covington will be among five church members to face trials in the kidnapping and assault case.
NORTH DAKOTA Valley City: The North Dakota National Guard dedicated a new maintenance facility in Valley City with a ribbon-cutting ceremony last week. The $12 million building will provide maintenance support for the combat and tactical vehicles of the 231st Brigade Support Battalion.
OHIO Lancaster: A fired bus driver was sentenced to 175 days in jail for leaving a developmentally disabled woman in a parked bus on a hot day last September, The Lancaster Eagle-Gazette reports. Prosecutors say the driver failed to notice that the woman, who is autistic, was still on the bus when he returned to the depot.
OKLAHOMA McLoud: Oklahoma City and the Kickapoo Tribe were selected by the EPA for grants to assess and clean up contaminated areas.
OREGON Astoria: A woman found by Oregon police with more than 40 cats in her car pleaded guilty to animal neglect,
The Daily Astorian reports. The Clatsop County Animal Shelter held an adoption event last week for the woman’s cats.
PENNSYLVANIA Allentown: A 3-year-old boy woke up from a nap last week and decided to stroll through Allentown in a diaper and lime green Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles tank top. Police say the boy’s grandmother, who watches him during the day, fell asleep after working a night shift, and the boy let himself out of the house.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: Rhode Island lawmakers are working on an automatic voter registration bill. It would add to the voting rolls someone getting a driver’s license or interacting with other state agencies, unless the person opted out.
SOUTH CAROLINA Anderson: Sheriff ’s deputies were called to T.L. Hanna High School during the last week of school after an argument between two students escalated into a fight. Eleven students face charges.
SOUTH DAKOTA Rapid City: Construction has started on a series of what’s expected to become 12 identical sculptures on an 84-acre patch of barren ridge,
The Rapid City Journal reports. But the company spearheading the downtown sculpture park hasn’t disclosed what the granite and titanium art will represent.
TENNESSEE Nashville: The Nashville Police Department is offering a free driver awareness class for teenagers on Saturday. The class will focus on impaired driving, distracted driving and overall traffic safety.
TEXAS Leander: A Texas man faces a felony injury to a child charge after his older son showed authorities a video of his father abusing his 2-year-old disabled son. The older boy used his cellphone to record video of what happened to his little brother, who has cerebral palsy.
UTAH Salt Lake City: The Mormon church and a rock climbing coalition have reached an agreement to allow climbers to keep using prime routes on churchowned land in Little Cottonwood Canyon while protecting the land, The Salt Lake Tribune reports.
VERMONT Burlington: The city’s electric utility will contribute $1,200 to customers for the purchase of an electric car. Burlington Electric is seeking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, WVPS-FM reports. Only electric vehicles qualify, not hybrid vehicles that run on gasoline and electricity.
VIRGINIA Mineral: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says it will issue a license for a third nuclear reactor at Dominion Energy’s North Anna plant, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports. The project, which hasn’t yet been approved by the State Corporation Commission, would cost about $19 billion.
WASHINGTON Richland: The Department of Energy says a partially collapsed tunnel containing radioactive waste will be filled with a concrete-like grout. The tunnel on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation contains waste left over from the production of plutonium for nuclear weapons, The Tri-City Herald reports.
WEST VIRGINIA South Charleston: BridgeValley Community and Technical College could be evicted from its campus for failure to pay almost two years’ worth of rent, The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports. The amount, more than $1.8 million, is due by Wednesday.
WISCONSIN Milwaukee: Boat dealers and owners say there’s a severe industry-wide shortage of mechanics, and no sign that conditions will improve anytime soon, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. Some owners wait weeks for boat repairs, and there’s only one dedicated marine-engine program at a Wisconsin technical college.
WYOMING Cody: The Cody Gunfighters have holstered their firearms for now. The Cody Enterprise reports that the performers were unable to get liability insurance. The show was suspended last July after a gun loaded with bullets rather than blanks was fired toward spectators, injuring three bystanders.