STATE-BY-STATE

News from across the USA

ALABAMA Montgomery: The latest gun buyback program in Alabama’s capital comes after a particularly violent period. Nine people have been killed in Montgomery since June 15, The Montgomery Advertiser reports.

ALASKA Juneau: Authorities arrested a man suspected in the break-in of the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center in Juneau, KTOO.org reports. Mack Parker is charged with 2nd-degree burglary.

ARIZONA Prescott Valley: Officials grounded a firefighting helicopter after a drone flew above a forest fire near Arizona’s Prescott Valley.

ARKANSAS Little Rock: A federal appeals panel has upheld the bribery conviction and 10year prison sentence of former Arkansas judge Michael Maggio, who admitted to reducing a jury award against a nursing home operator in exchange for campaign contributions.

CALIFORNIA Santa Cruz: A Silicon Valley nonprofit plans to offer homeless people vouchers for clothing, shelter, food and transportation in exchange for cleaning up city streets, The San

ta Cruz Sentinel reports.

COLORADO Breckenridge: A band of endurance athletes competed this week in an unusual summer triathlon that included skiing. That was made possible by lingering snow hanging over Breckenridge’s Peak, The Summit

Daily News reports.

CONNECTICUT Middlefield: The Powder Ridge ski resort in Middlefield is planning to offer year-round skiing. A 500-foot run will open in August featuring a “high-tech” surface that acts as artificial snow.

DELAWARE Wilmington: State education data shows that while Delaware’s public school students are increasingly diverse, the same is not true of its teachers, The

News Journal reports.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: The waning hours of the Fourth of July saw a violent time in the District of Columbia. Six people were shot — one fatally — and another was stabbed in a span of about five hours.

FLORIDA Key West: A Texas lawyer won a Key lime pie-eating contest in the Florida Keys. Trey Bergman of Houston devoured a 9-inch pie smothered with whipped cream in 51.92 seconds, beating 20 competitors.

GEORGIA Jackson: A bulldozer was brought in to scrape raw chicken waste from Interstate 75 in Georgia after the slippery innards spilled from a tractortrailer, WXIA-TV reports.

HAWAII Honolulu: An environmental assessment found no significant impact from a plan to dismantle a breakwater off the south shore of Oahu. The rock wall designed to protect the shore from waves is being dismantled to prevent swimmers from using it to jump into the water, Hawaii

News Now reports.

IDAHO Jerome: The University of Idaho has launched a project aimed at helping Latino students prepare for college. The school’s Latino Pre-College Outreach Project will provide mentoring and tutoring, family support and information about higher education, The Times-News reports.

ILLINOIS Urbana: The University of Illinois will hold a conference next March focusing on the problem of hunger in college students. The conference is expected to draw up to 350 university leaders and students, The (Champaign) News-Gazette reports.

INDIANA Evansville: Vanderburgh County Sheriff Dave Wedding says Indiana lawmakers must address crowded and understaffed jails, The Evansville

Courier & Press reports.

IOWA Evansdale: The fifth anniversary of the abduction and killing of two Iowa cousins will be marked Sunday by events raising awareness about the unsolved case and teaching lessons about child safety, The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports.

KANSAS Topeka: Kansas health officials have confirmed a case of measles in Butler County. Officials are seeking to notify all identified contacts of the person to determine their immunization status and ask about possible symptoms among those exposed.

KENTUCKY Frankfort: Kentucky’s two most powerful politicians won’t be clashing at the annual Fancy Farm picnic this year. A spokesman says Republican Gov. Matt Bevin will skip the August event. Democratic Attorney General Andy Beshear has already confirmed his attendance.

LOUISIANA Shreveport: A 118-acre tract of rose gardens in Shreveport was expected to reopen Friday following the removal of more than 120 pine trees. The American Rose Center says the trees have grown so tall that they diminish the sunlight needed by roses, The Times of Shreveport reports.

MAINE Portland: Maine emergency services responded to what was reported as a mass casualty event aboard a cruise ship. Instead, the situation involved four people on the Celebrity Summit with unrelated medical conditions requiring treatment, The

Portland Press Herald reports.

MARYLAND Beltsville: Authorities say the driver of an SUV was pronounced dead at the scene following a collision with a CSX freight train in Prince George’s County, WTOP reports.

MASSACHUSETTS Rehoboth: The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources is investigating a massive honeybee kill. A hive of 80,000 bees was almost entirely wiped out. One expert says the situation seems similar to pesticide contamination.

MICHIGAN Grand Blanc Town

ship: A man who tried to use fireworks to remove a bees’ nest from his garage ended up burning the building down instead, MLive reports.

MINNESOTA Minneapolis: For the first time in history, Minneso- ta residents have the option of buying alcohol from a liquor store on a Sunday. Last weekend marked the end of the state’s more than century-old ban on Sunday liquor sales, the Star

Tribune reports.

MISSISSIPPI Vicksburg: A vacant Mississippi hospital is for sale. The Vicksburg Post reports that the former Parkview Hospital is on the market for $2.1 million.

MISSOURI St. Joseph: An explosion collapsed a house and injured three people, The St. Joseph

News-Press reports. Police, firefighters and the ATF are investigating.

MONTANA Helena: A state employee who said he got hurt on the job and sought workers’ comp was actually injured riding a motorcycle. The Independent

Record reports that Boone Block pleaded guilty June 14 to felony false claim to a public agency.

NEBRASKA Broken Bow: Renovations are almost finished at the iconic Arrow Hotel after nearly 12 years of work, The Kearney Hub reports. The hotel had fallen into disrepair.

NEVADA Las Vegas: A vehicle fire in a Las Vegas parking deck spread to two other vehicles Tuesday. The garage was mostly empty because of the Fourth of July holiday, and no one was injured.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: A beloved Claude Monet painting is back at New Hampshire’s Currier Museum of Art after an eight-month tour, along with three others that show the artist’s evolution. The exhibit “Monet: Pathways to Impressionism” opened last weekend and runs until Nov. 13 at the Manchester museum.

NEW JERSEY Red Bank: A New Jersey group that’s had success re-establishing oysters in struggling waters is now checking rivers to see if oysters are already there. The American Littoral Society aims to see where new oyster colonies can be established or existing ones expanded.

NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: Authorities say a couple found fatally shot in a pickup truck parked along Interstate 40 west of Albuquerque died from a murder-suicide. A State Police officer found the bodies last week after stopping to check on the vehicle.

NEW YORK Albany: State wildlife officials say New York’s bald eagle population has hit a record of 323 breeding pairs. Bald eagles were nearly eliminated from the state by the late 1960s, mainly due to the effects of the pesticide DDT.

NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: Organizers of the Miss North Carolina pageant say they’re changing auditors after a mistake on the announcement card led to the wrong contestant being announced as finishing second. The pageant says Miss Goldsboro, Courtney Smith, is the real first runner-up, and Miss Mount Holly, Allison Farris, actually finished third.

NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: North Dakota tribes are asking state officials for more help to address the opioid epidemic on their reservations. Duane Silk, director of addiction services for the Standing Rock Sioux, says the tribes have lost touch with the state on drug issues over the years, the Bismarck Tribune reports.

OHIO Columbus: An Ohio school board group is offering advice to districts following a court’s decision upholding the constitutionality of a student’s backpack search. The Ohio Supreme Court ruled in May that the search furthered the “compelling ” government interest in protecting students from harm.

OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: The Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission says the increase of wind farms in the state is negatively impacting military flight training.

The Oklahoman reports that officials feel there isn’t enough clearance because pilot training routes begin at 500 feet while turbines are 495 feet high.

OREGON Damascus: A police dog was injured when a barricaded suspect struck him with a pipe. The Clackamas County Sheriff ’s Office says Grimm is being treated for some swelling.

PENNSYLVANIA Philadelphia: Police are investigating the discovery of a small casket that contained some embalmed remains believed to be those of an infant or child. The casket was found on a sidewalk across from Philadelphia’s Mount Vernon Cemetery.

RHODE ISLAND Cranston: Union officials are demanding body armor and pepper spray for detention center employees in Rhode Island. The demand follows a series of incidents where juvenile offenders allegedly vandalized a sprinkler system and assaulted authorities, WPRI-TV reports.

SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: A new law requires every South Carolina police officer to be trained in recognizing mental illness and de-escalating confrontations with people who are manic. Officers also must be recertified every three years. There are nearly 300 law enforcement agencies statewide.

SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: Mayor Mike Huether says a big priority in his final year in office is to leave South Dakota’s largest city in a “rock solid” financial position. KELO Radio reports that Sioux Falls has been challenged by a weak farm economy. Huether says there will be no “bells and whistles” projects during his final year.

TENNESSEE Greeneville: Greene County Sheriff Pat Hankins says he’s putting an inmate work detail program on temporary hold after two men escaped. About 60 inmates work each day for various departments in Greeneville and Greene County.

TEXAS San Antonio: A historic Texas military band is preparing to play its final note. The 323rd Army Band at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio is one of four bands nationwide being deactivated next year, The San Antonio

Express-News reports.

UTAH Salt Lake City: A new study finds the number of Utah criminals on parole who have fled to become fugitives has increased in the last two-plus years, The

Deseret News reports. The study says 7.5% of Utah’s parole and probation population were fugitives in August 2014. In January, 12% were AWOL.

VERMONT Hartford: Authorities say a large sinkhole that shut down part of northbound Interstate 89 in Vermont has been repaired. Police say the sinkhole developed near the Sharon Rest Area on Monday, forcing a traffic detour. Crews brought in an excavator to replace a pipe collar that failed.

VIRGINIA Norfolk: Virginia has a new plan for dealing with hurricane evacuations that uses a four-zone approach. The idea is to prioritize getting the most vulnerable residents away from major flooding and reducing unnecessary travel, The Vir

ginian-Pilot reports.

WASHINGTON Seattle: An Amtrak train that derailed last weekend was traveling through a section of track that has a switch that can nudge a train off-course if the draw-span on the approaching bridge is open. The Seattle

Times reports that it’s not known if the switch caused the derailment. A few of the 267 people aboard suffered minor injuries.

WEST VIRGINIA Buffalo: The West Virginia town of Buffalo has sworn in its first all-female council, The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports. Veteran council member Barbara Reed, who has served since 1990, says the women are all “doers” in the town along the Kanawha River.

WISCONSIN Delavan: Authorities say two 7-week-old Siberian lynx that were missing from the Animal Gardens petting zoo have been returned. Officials say the cats were hungry but in good health. A caretaker told WITI-TV that it was likely the animals had been stolen. Police are investigating the matter.

WYOMING Jackson: A Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance survey is collecting information about residents’ conflicts with bears. The survey aims to find out how people feel about potential strategies to cut down on bear conflicts, The News And Guide reports.