News from across the USA
ALABAMA Prattville: Authorities say an argument over cutting grass on disputed Autauga County land led to a fatal shooting. The Montgomery Advertiser reports that Joseph Huffman is charged with murdering John Brown. The sheriff says the two men had argued prior to the shooting.
ALASKA Anchorage: Federal research ships have found a crab boat that sank with six men on board in the Bering Sea. The Destination, a 98-foot crab boat that disappeared Feb. 11, was found in 250 feet of water off St. George Island. No bodies were found.
ARIZONA Flagstaff: A popular snow-play area near Flagstaff has decided to discontinue its operations, The Arizona Daily Sun reports. Recreation Resource Management has removed all its structures and amenities from Wing Mountain.
ARKANSAS Little Rock: Gov. Asa Hutchinson says a two-year project to get high-speed internet into all of Arkansas’ public school systems is complete. The project gives 293 schools and education service cooperatives access to internet-based class projects.
CALIFORNIA Los Angeles: The city is restoring a century-old water tunnel to capture runoff from the Sierra Nevada, which had a record snowfall this winter after years of drought, the Los Angeles Daily News reports.
COLORADO Boulder: The new dean of the University of Colorado’s College of Engineering and Applied Science has set an ambitious goal for the school’s undergraduate population, The Daily Camera reports. Within five years, Bobby Braun says, the college intends to have an enrollment that’s 50% women.
CONNECTICUT Bridgeport: Police credit a 10-year-old girl with helping to save a 7-year-old boy from a pit bull attack. But the girl will require surgery after suffering cuts to her legs, head and stomach. Animal Control has the dog in custody.
DELAWARE Wilmington: The Delaware fire marshal’s office is investigating arson at an Incyte construction site in Wilmington. WDEL-FM reports that officials say two small fires were intentionally set, one in June and one last week.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: A man convicted in a fatal shooting outside a Washington tavern will be sentenced Oct. 13, WJLA-TV reports. Mark Beasley was convicted last week of first-degree murder while armed, assault with intent to kill while armed and related weapons offenses.
FLORIDA Daytona Beach: A 10-year-old Florida boy described by police as “flashy” cut off his ankle monitor the day after being charged with stealing a car and stole another one. It was his fourth arrest for car theft in six weeks, The Daytona Beach NewsJournal reports.
GEORGIA Lexington: Authorities say a quarry worker was crushed to death beneath 8 tons of falling rock. The Athens Banner-Herald reports that Matthew Walter Kantala IV was drilling a section of granite at the Blue Sky Quarry in Oglethorpe County when a large chunk broke off.
HAWAII Honolulu: Hawaii has become the first state to prepare the public for the possibility of a ballistic missile threat from North Korea. The state’s Emergency Management Agency last week announced a public education campaign with basic instructions: “Get inside, stay inside and stay tuned.”
IDAHO Kuna: Twin Falls County’s prosecutor says the eight officers who fired shots at a man Jan. 24 as he tried to back out of a garage in a stolen vehicle were justified in using lethal force. Authorities say Ramon Milanez had earlier fired up to 10 times at a Kuna police officer who tried to pull him over. The officer wasn’t hurt.
ILLINOIS Chicago: The University of Chicago Library has received nearly 500 photo prints by 20th-century street photographer Vivian Maier. One of Maier’s cameras and other personal items also were included.
INDIANA Indianapolis: Police say an alleged gang leader was among three people shot when an Indianapolis funeral procession came under fire. Richard Grundy III and two women were wounded and four vehicles were hit by gunfire.
IOWA Clive: The state has shared its lack of luck with people who played Iowa Lottery games over the last fiscal year. The lottery generated nearly $81 million for the year ending June 30 — down about $7 million from a record $88 million the previous fiscal year, The Des Moines Register reports.
KANSAS Topeka: A breach of a Kansas Department of Commerce data system gave hackers access to more than 5.5 million Social Security numbers in 10 states, The Kansas News Service reports. The suspicious activity was discovered March 12.
KENTUCKY Louisville: A federal judge issued an order Friday to keep protesters away from a “buffer zone” outside Kentucky’s only abortion clinic. The antiabortion group Operation Save America was planning a weeklong vigil outside the EMW Women’s Surgical Center in Louisville.
LOUISIANA Baton Rouge: A lawsuit accuses Louisiana prison officials of blocking lawyers from investigating claims that inmates with disabilities were neglected and abused at the David Wade Correctional Center. The suit cites allegations that prisoners were slapped, sprayed with mace and forced to bark like dogs for food.
MAINE Lewiston: Police say they’ll crack down on off-campus parties near Bates College after complaints from neighbors that students are “out of control,” The Sun-Journal reports. Lewiston officers, instead of referring call- ers to campus security, plan to issue an initial warning but will make arrests if they have to return.
MARYLAND Annapolis: Officials say a study on a third Chesapeake Bay Bridge span has fallen behind schedule, The Daily Times reports. The study, originally planned for July release, has been postponed until late October.
MASSACHUSETTS Springfield: Police arrested a home invasion suspect who was identified after dropping his wallet, The Republican reports. Ryan Sullivan allegedly took about $1,000 worth of jewelry and a bottle of pain medicine.
MICHIGAN Traverse City: A conservation group is raising money to purchase and maintain a Michigan campground that belonged to the Boy Scouts, The Record-Eagle reports. The Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy has started a $3.9 million fundraising campaign to buy the site formerly known as Camp Tapico.
MINNESOTA St. Paul: Officials have extended the walleye fishing closure on Mille Lacs Lake for an extra two weeks, saying it’s necessary to ensure the long-term sustainability of the struggling population.
MISSISSIPPI Tupelo: One of the first stages Elvis Presley sang on when he was a young student has been refinished during renovation of the auditorium at his Mississippi elementary school, the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reports.
MISSOURI Springfield: Sixteen Missouri businesses suspected of providing prostitutes under the guise of massages were shut down last week following hundreds of hours of state police surveillance.
MONTANA Butte: A coroner’s jury determined that the Anaconda-Deer Lodge Jail wasn’t negligent when an inmate hanged himself, The Montana Standard reports. Zachary Williams died in January while facing trial on six counts of felony child abuse.
NEBRASKA Lincoln: Experts are warning pet owners to keep a close eye on their animals after a coyote grabbed a small dog near Lincoln. Steve Anderson saw his Yorkie, Jasper, snatched by a coyote last week. Anderson gave chase but the coyote disappeared into a cornfield.
NEVADA Las Vegas: A profes- sional gambler dropped 70 pounds in a $1 million bet that he couldn’t cut his body fat to less than 10%. Walter Fisher blames a losing streak for overeating that boosted him to 245 pounds. But given a six-month deadline, he was down to 175 pounds and 8.8% body fat by June 22.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Portsmouth: More than $1 million has been set aside to remove trees near Portsmouth International Airport and put warning lights on tall trees that won’t be cut down.
NEW JERSEY Trenton: New Jersey, joining Hawaii and California, has become the third state in the country to raise its smoking age to 21. Gov. Chris Christie signed the measure last week.
NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: Environmental activists are upset that Kirtland Air Force Base canceled a meeting this week on the cleanup of a jet fuel leak. Base and New Mexico environmental officials say they want time to review two reports that give more information on the extent of the leak, first detected in 1999.
NEW YORK Melville: The town has padlocked the tennis courts at a new $3.5 million park because they were built improperly. Officials say the courts at Sweet Hollow Park don’t have enough clearance between the baseline and the fence.
NORTH CAROLINA Hatteras Island: Unexploded World War II-era ordnance was found at two locations on the North Carolina coast this month. National Park Service rangers found a device on Hatteras Island, and a Navy disposal unit detonated it. Ordnance also was found on a new island that formed off the coast. It was removed.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: North Dakota is seeking a state land commissioner. The commissioner manages the state Land Department that leases rights for grazing and for oil, coal and gravel production from state lands.
OHIO Columbus: Swine flu has turned up in county fair hogs again in Ohio. Nearly 50 hogs at the Franklin County Fair were removed for slaughter last week.
Earlier, 300 hogs were slaughtered after the discovery of swine flu at the Clinton County Fair.
OKLAHOMA Lawton: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has awarded a $13 million contract for a new training facility at Fort Sill. Construction is expected to take 18 to 24 months, The Lawton Constitution reports.
OREGON Pendleton: Work has started to remove Oregon’s Dillon Diversion Dam on the Umatilla River, The East Oregonian reports. The dam built in 1915 clogs with gravel and is difficult to maintain.
PENNSYLVANIA Philadelphia: Police say a woman who stole a taxi picked up a fare. Betty Thomas allegedly got into a dispute with the driver who picked her up, jumped into the driver’s seat at a gas station and drove off, then picked up a woman and her infant daughter.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: The City Council is considering a proposal to add 20 more red-light cameras, and officials plan to have 10 in place by year’s end, WPRI-TV reports.
SOUTH CAROLINA Goose Creek: A $1,000 reward is offered for information about the destruction of a bald eagle nest in South Carolina. Officials say the nest was in an area of Goose Creek woods that was being logged.
SOUTH DAKOTA Wagner: A Yankton Sioux official says a general council meeting on legalizing marijuana was postponed.
TENNESSEE Sparta: A White County program cuts jail time for inmates who voluntarily undergo birth control. But the ACLU says it’s unconstitutional. WTVF-TV reports that men who get free vasectomies and women who receive free implants to prevent pregnancy get 30 days’ credit.
TEXAS San Antonio: A 4-yearold child sleeping at his San Antonio home was fatally shot when drive-by gunmen sprayed the dwelling with bullets. Police say the shooting was gang-related and missed its target.
UTAH Ogden: The Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Northern Utah has a 5-year-old golden eagle as a top attraction. Phoenix was burned in a dump fire in 2012 when the bird was too young to fly and can’t return to the wild, The Standard-Examiner reports.
VERMONT Castleton: Castleton University is seeking approval for an inflatable dome for indoor track and other sporting events. The school has applied for a permit to move Middlebury College’s former inflatable dome, The Rutland Herald reports.
VIRGINIA Lynchburg: Multiple firearms were stolen from a Campbell County gun store and shooting range, The Lynchburg News & Advance reports.
WASHINGTON Seattle: Most vehicle and passenger ferry fares will increase in October and again next year under a proposal before the Washington State Transportation Commission, The Kitsap Sun reports.
WEST VIRGINIA Huntington: A federal grant will enable Huntington to hire seven firefighters. Budget woes prompted layoffs of seven firefighters earlier this year.
WISCONSIN Madison: Police are now able to test unidentified powders at the Wisconsin crime lab after concerns were raised about exposure to fentanyl, The Wisconsin State Journal reports. Fentanyl can be 50 times stronger than heroin.
WYOMING Casper: The state lost 25,000 workers between 2014 and 2016 during an energy industry downturn. The lost jobs equaled more than 10% of total monthly employment at the end of 2016, The Casper Star-Tribune reports.