STATE-BY-STATE

News from across the USA

ALABAMA Huntsville: Three teenage kayakers were rescued from the Flint River in Madison County after they got lost. Operators pinged the cellphone belonging to the teen who called for help to locate them.

ALASKA Ketchikan: A report by the U.S. Coast Guard shows that fatal recreational-boating accidents in Alaska doubled last year, the Ketchikan Daily News reports. Fourteen wrecks killed 19 people in 2016 compared with seven crashes and seven deaths in 2015. ARIZONA Flagstaff: Researchers are working on a mapping project that will chronicle climate change, population growth, oil drilling and other factors. According to the research, 99% of the Colorado Plateau is predicted to experience drying by 2075. ARKANSAS Fayetteville: A fire last week heavily damaged a house once occupied by former President Bill Clinton. KHBS/ KHOG reports that one person was in the Fayetteville home at the time and safely escaped. CALIFORNIA Los Angeles: Police are investigating a claim by a coroner’s investigator that an anesthesiologist used a painkiller to hasten the death of a gravely injured boy to increase the likelihood his organs could be harvested. A lawyer for anesthesiologist Judith Brill says the allegation is wrong and that her concern was preventing pain. COLORADO Colorado Springs: Donald Sanborn says he was about 5 miles into the Garden of the Gods 10 Mile Run on Sunday when a bear ambled across a roadway. He said the bear seemed to be trying to decide whether to zip across the road filled with runners when a gap finally emerged for it to get through. CONNECTICUT New London: A Connecticut man faces up to five years in prison for buying a 1967 Chevrolet Corvette and a 1969 Chevrolet Nova Super Sport with bad checks, The Day reports. DELAWARE Georgetown: The Delaware Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals will sell its Georgetown shelter and reopen its flagship Stanton shelter, The News Journal of Wilmington reports. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: A nightclub was evacuated Sunday evening after the roof deck partially collapsed. WTOP-FM reports that no one was injured at the Uproar Lounge and Restaurant in the northwest part of the city. District firefighters say too many people were on the roof deck of the nightclub. FLORIDA Tallahassee: Florida has revised its “stand your ground” law so that prosecutors, not defendants, have the burden of proof in pretrial hearings. Gov. Rick Scott signed the change. GEORGIA Tucker: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of someone who buried a dog up to its nose, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. HAWAII Hilo: Hawaii colleges are divided over stone altars, or ahus, with inverted Hawaii flags constructed by students. University of Hawaii-Hilo and Hawaii Community College have received complaints. A group built them in response to student arrests on Mauna Kea in 2015. IDAHO Boise: Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter will lead 11 aviation and aerospace companies on a trade mission to Paris that will include the International Paris Air Show. Otter and his wife, Lori, will leave on the nine-day trip Thursday. ILLINOIS Springfield: The Springfield Municipal Band kicked off its season a little late after someone stole the group’s audio and other equipment, The

State Journal-Register reports. But the show went on Friday with rented equipment. INDIANA Indianapolis: Ivy Tech Community College is being recognized for academic excellence in its cyber defense education program. The Department of Homeland Security and the National Security Agency bestowed the designation, which is good through 2022. IOWA Des Moines: The state fire marshal says five permanent locations have started selling fireworks in Iowa. The office issued its first license June 1, the same day that selling bottle rockets and most other consumer fireworks became legal. The sellers are in Brooklyn, Grimes, Marion, Spirit Lake and Rembrandt. KANSAS Topeka: State health officials have confirmed the first reported case of West Nile virus this year. The infected person lives in Barton County. Two birds in Shawnee County also tested positive for West Nile. KENTUCKY Louisville: Workers removed the historic L&N Railroad sign on a downtown Louisville building last weekend so it can be restored. The sign will be stored in Frankfort. Restoration work is expected to begin when funds become available. LOUISIANA New Orleans: The Port of New Orleans is giving the city two wharves at the edge of the French Quarter in exchange for the city-owned Public Belt Railroad, The New Orleans Ad

vocate reports. The wharves will become public park space. MAINE Lewiston: Maine’s medical helicopter service is expanding with a third helicopter. LifeFlight unveiled the new Agusta 109 helicopter last week. MARYLAND Frederick: Hood College will allow upperclassmen the option to live in mixed-gender dorms this fall, The Frederick

News-Post reports. Hood didn’t admit men until 2002. Ashby: MASSACHUSETTS A retired veterinarian faces animal cruelty charges after investigators found about two dozen sick and emaciated animals and a dead dog on her property, The Sentinel

& Enterprise reports. An SPCA investigator says 20 cats, two horses, two dogs and a goat were seized at Margaret Alberts’ home. MICHIGAN Detroit: A studentbuilt Ford Daytona Coupe was unveiled in Detroit last week as part of a program celebrating innovative projects. The car was constructed from more than 1,000 parts by 50 Breithaupt Career and Technical Center students who spent 18 weeks assembling it. MINNESOTA Minneapolis: An appeals court has upheld an $11 million jury award related to a St. Paul crash that killed three people and resulted in the wrongful imprisonment of a driver. A jury in 2015 determined that Toyota was 60% to blame for the 2006 crash. A lawsuit cited a throttle design defect that caused the car to suddenly accelerate. MISSISSIPPI Benoit: An invasive northern snakehead fish has been documented for the first time in the state. Officials say the fish was caught last week in Lake Whittington in Bolivar County. Snakeheads can breathe air and survive out of the water for extended periods. MISSOURI St. Joseph: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ work plan for this year includes nearly $42 million to complete four Missouri River levees at St. Joseph. The levees were damaged during a 1993 flood, The St. Jo

seph News-Press reports. MONTANA Helena: Robert Gutowski, an East Helena police officer who punched a 70-yearold man after an off-duty collision in September, has lost his certification and can no longer work as a law enforcement officer in the state. Gutowski has changed his last name to Durrant. NEBRASKA Lincoln: More fourth-graders will see the state Capitol and other historic sites under a privately funded grant program for schools that have cut field trips from their budgets. NEVADA Carson City: Kacey KC, the state’s first female acting state forester, says bolstering firefighter training is among her priorities. NEW HAMPSHIRE Exeter: Three prep school seniors were expelled days before graduation for tampering with an election for Phillips Exeter Academy’s student council president, The Portsmouth Herald reports. An investigation indicated that fraudulent ballots were filled out and counted. NEW JERSEY Washington Township: Police say a bobcat cornered a woman and her two young children in the bathroom of their home. The Morris County family called officers, who opened all the doors and windows to coax the bobcat into leaving. It did after about an hour. NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: The state Pharmacy Board has adopted a regulation allowing pharmacists to write prescriptions for hormonal contraceptives, meaning a woman won’t need to visit a physician in most cases to obtain birth control. The move is in response to a shortage of health care providers, especially in rural areas. NEW YORK DeKalb Junction: The state Department of Transportation has backed off a demand that Hermon-DeKalb schools remove the animal decals that help kindergartners find their buses. Officials cited a law prohibiting signs on buses, but it’s aimed at advertising, The Syra

cuse Post-Standard reports. NORTH CAROLINA Vass: A private dam holding a country club lake in Moore County is so close to failing that state officials are stepping in to drain it this week to protect downstream residents. Officials plan to recover the costs by suing the owner. NORTH DAKOTA Minot: The case of a slain student at Minot State University remains a mystery 10 years later, the Minot

Daily News reports. Anita May Knutson, 18, was found stabbed to death in her apartment on June 4, 2007. Police still think they’ll receive a tip in the case and say no one has been cleared. OHIO Circleville: The conviction of a former Ohio fashion model sentenced to prison for trying to hire a hit man to kill her husband’s ex-wife has been overturned. An appeals judge cited a “fatally flawed” indictment in releasing Tara Lambert, who has spent the last year in prison. OKLAHOMA Norman: Charges were dismissed Monday against Robert Cox, who owned the nowclosed pipe shop Friendly Market, and former clerk James Maxwell Walters after previous trials on similar charges ended in acquittals or a hung jury. Authorities argued the pipes fit the state’s definition of drug paraphernalia. OREGON Salem: State public health veterinarian Emilio DeBess says Oregon plans to trap and test mosquitoes for the Zika virus this summer. PENNSYLVANIA Philadelphia: State officials are promoting a plan to spend more than $3 billion in the coming decade to continue the rehabilitation of the Interstate 95 corridor in and near Philadelphia. The money will fund reconstruction of five miles of the highway, which carries about 120,000 vehicles a day.

RHODE ISLAND Providence: Legislators are reviewing a bill to streamline hospital mergers. Critics say the stringent guidelines often bog down merger reviews. SOUTH CAROLINA Hunting

Island: Swimmers are being discouraged from getting in the water at a stretch of Hunting Island State Park in Beaufort County. High levels of bacteria have been found because of storm water being pumped onto the beach to relieve road flooding. SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: Traffic signal upgrades that were intended to smooth traffic and improve safety appear to have slightly increased the number of crashes, the Argus Leader reports. TENNESSEE Memphis: A former federal prosecutor will lead an investigation of alleged illegal activity in the Shelby County schools, The Commercial Appeal reports. A June 1 resignation letter by the Trezevant High School principal alleged wrongdoing that included financial impropriety and workplace harassment. TEXAS Austin: The number of abused and neglected children sleeping in hotels and state offices because foster-care beds aren’t available has climbed for the fourth month in a row, The

Dallas Morning News reports. UTAH Salt Lake City: A man suspected of killing another man in a hit and run after a confrontation has been arrested of suspicion of murder and obstruction of justice charges. Police say Jeremy Hardman, 47, confronted Aaron Hosman, 40, when he saw him punching a dog on a street corner. They say Hosman struck Hardman as he walked back to his car, then left the scene. VERMONT Montpelier: Vermont legislators have put off making a decision on creating sound standards for wind turbines, WVPS-FM reports. VIRGINIA Fredericksburg: A top Dominion Energy executive says the power company is unlikely to make a decision on whether to build a third reactor at its North Anna Power Station until the next decade, the Free

Lance-Star reports. WASHINGTON Anacortes: A judge has overturned a workplace-safety fine levied against Tesoro following the 2010 deadly explosion at its Anacortes refinery. Judge Mark Jaffe said the state Department of Labor and Industries failed to show that Tesoro committed any of the alleged violations. WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: The state’s tourism commissioner has added prizes such as golf and two-night cabin retreats to her call for tweets, posts, selfies and other photos telling people about the state that will celebrate its 154th birthday on June 20. WISCONSIN Darlington: Three people were taken to a Darlington hospital when a tractor crashed into spectators at the Canoe Festival parade Sunday. WYOMING Rawlins: The city will build a community fishing lake in partnership with local and state agencies. The Carbon County commissioners will donate 15 acres of land for the $1.4 million project and Wyoming Game and Fish will stock the lake.