News from across the USA
ALABAMA Mobile: A football practice facility that was under construction for South Alabama collapsed last weekend. No workers were in the area at the time, and no one was injuried, Al.com reports.
ALASKA Fairbanks: Authorities say a man accused of pointing a loaded gun at his girlfriend after she rejected his marriage proposal faces a felony assault charge, The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports. Miguel Angel SerranoMoya’s girlfriend told troopers she ran and hid in bushes when he became enraged.
ARIZONA Apache Junction: A landmark Arizona restaurant at the base of the Superstition Mountains was a complete loss after a fire Tuesday. The Mining Camp restaurant in Apache Junction, a short drive from Phoenix, had been around since 1961.
ARKANSAS Cave Springs: An audit finds that Cave Springs overpaid employees, made purchases above authorized amounts and mismanaged taxpayer money, The Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports. Records also show the city failed to reauthorize its property tax for 2017.
CALIFORNIA San Diego: Eleven people charged in a three-year Mexican Mafia probe have pleaded not guilty to felony charges, The San Diego Union-Tribune reports. The four men and seven women are accused of communicating with associates who extorted victims and collected money for imprisoned gang members.
COLORADO Denver: The ACLU in Colorado has filed a federal lawsuit aimed at pressuring state prison officials to expand treatment for inmates with hepatitis C, The Colorado Springs Gazette reports.
CONNECTICUT Wallingford: Gov. Dannel Malloy says a commuter rail project costing nearly $700 million will link Connecticut’s suburbs to New York, Boston and other big cities. The CTrail Hartford Line will begin taking passengers next May.
DELAWARE Dewey Beach: A projected five-year restoration of a World War II artillery fire control tower started this week, WMDT-TV reports. The tower in Delaware’s Dewey Beach served as the eyes of Fort Miles during the war.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: A federal appeals court has blocked a District of Columbia law that makes it difficult for gun owners to get concealed carry permits. The panel ruled that requiring people to show “good reason to fear injury” infringes on Second Amendment rights.
FLORIDA North Key Largo: Tolls for a road linking the Florida Keys to the mainland will be collected by hand a month longer. Officials had expected to close the Card Sound Bridge tollbooth Aug. 1 to prepare for electronic tolls. Now, hand collections will run to Sept. 1.
GEORGIA Jekyll Island: The Jekyll Island Authority will conduct test runs the next two weekends of a free trolley shuttle service, The Brunswick News reports.
HAWAII Hilo: Statistics show cases of serious misconduct such as fighting and use of illicit drugs went up at Big Island public schools this year, while offenses such as bullying and harassment declined, The Hawaii TribuneHerald reports.
IDAHO Pocatello: The police chief is defending the arrest of a man who was videotaping the outside of the FBI building in Pocatello. But the arrest citation accuses the man of “public voyeurism.” No such law exists in Idaho.
ILLINOIS Chicago: More than 100 sculptures of German shepherds are standing guard around downtown Chicago to pay tribute to the police department’s canine unit. The sculptures will be displayed through Labor Day and then will be auctioned off.
INDIANA New Albany: Floyd County has paid a $1.23 million settlement to former inmates who say they were mistreated at the jail, The News and Tribune reports. A 2014 lawsuit alleges that inmates were deprived of clothing, bedding and hygiene products, and that some were Tased and pepper-sprayed.
IOWA Des Moines: A national study says Iowa is lagging behind much of the U.S. in foreign language instruction for K-12 students. The Des Moines Register reports that slightly more than 15% of Iowa’s K-12 students were enrolled in a foreign language course for the 2014-15 academic year.
KANSAS Hutchinson: A new amusement ride law in Kansas would affect more than a dozen counties that have home-owned carnivals and rides, The Hutchinson News reports. The law includes more expensive insurance and having rides examined by a certified inspector.
KENTUCKY Frankfort: Kentucky state parks are planning events around the Aug. 21 solar eclipse. Among them, Kentucky Dam Village State Resort Park will host a University of Louisville astronomy professor for a presentation the weekend before the eclipse.
LOUISIANA Mandeville: Officials say arson is the cause of a fire at the predominantly black New Life Bible Center church in Old Mandeville, The Advocate reports. Three people were sleeping inside, but no one was injured.
MAINE Skowhegan: A man told a Maine 911 dispatcher that he was killing himself and first responders needed “to hurry up” because he was an organ donor. Police say the man was still breathing when first responders arrived but he died a few minutes later.
MARYLAND Berlin: Officials say a wild horse died after eating dog food that someone improperly stored. The National Park Service said the 7-year-old mare, Chama Wingapo, suffered a blockage that resulted in a ruptured intestine.
MASSACHUSETTS Plymouth: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says two workers who used the same security badge in a 2016 incident at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station weren’t planning trouble. Instead, one worker just forgot his badge, The Cape Cod Times reports.
MICHIGAN Traverse City: The University of Michigan College of Literature, Science and the Arts is serving as an educational sponsor at the 13th annual Traverse City Film Festival that runs through Sunday. More than 100 movies will be shown.
MINNESOTA St. Paul: Minnesota United’s new soccer stadium in St. Paul will be called Allianz Field. The Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America has committed as the official sponsor of the stadium slated to open in 2019.
MISSISSIPPI Jackson: A civil rights marker commemorating the lynching of Emmett Till has been rededicated. The marker, put up in 2011, was repaired after it was vandalized recently.
MISSOURI Columbia: Columbia College is planning a $20 million facility to combine faculty offices, classrooms and a dormitory in one building, The Columbia Missourian reports.
MONTANA Helena: Montana revenues have fallen far enough below projections to trigger a worst-case scenario $97 million in spending cuts starting as soon as next month. Schools and health programs will get the brunt of the cuts.
NEBRASKA Columbus: Officials say thousands of fish have died since a utility was forced to stop diverting water from the Loup River into its power canal, The Columbus Telegram reports.
NEVADA Las Vegas: Police are investigating a takeover-style armed robbery by four masked suspects at a Walmart. According to police, the men ordered everyone to the floor and demanded money from employees. No one was injured.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Keene: This New Hampshire city has turned to a herd of goats to tame the vegetation at its closed landfill. Keene brought in 30 goats in June to munch on the grass and shrubs at the fenced-in landfill.
NEW JERSEY Washington Township: Officials say a fire that burned 3,500 acres in a re- mote part of New Jersey’s Wharton State Forest was started by a lightning strike.
NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: The New Mexico Supreme Court is considering whether public defense attorneys are being stretched too thin. The Law Offices of the Public Defender wants volunteer lawyers recruited and some nonviolent citations dismissed.
NEW YORK Lake George: The Lake George Park Commission has banned a raucous gathering of boaters on the Adirondack lake after a fatal boat crash followed the annual event last year. The Log Bay Day is traditionally held on the last Monday in July. This year, a police scuba diving exercise will be held Monday.
NORTH CAROLINA Burlington: Investigators found four dead dogs in an Alamance County kennel after a walk-through led to the removal of 18 animals, The Times-News of Burlington reports. The sheriff ’s office says the kennel has been the target of social media complaints.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: A Bismarck man and woman face felony child neglect charges for allegedly passing out drunk in a van and leaving two toddlers unattended. Officers found the boys, ages 1 and 2, playing alone in dirty diapers.
OHIO Columbus: Regulators of Ohio’s budding medical marijuana industry have received approval to spend $6 million over the next two years on projects including a seed-to-sale tracking system. That’s in addition to a previously approved $5 million.
OKLAHOMA Enid: The death of a newborn boy whose body was found in a trash bin has been ruled a homicide. An autopsy report says the infant died of methamphetamine toxicity.
OREGON Portland: The city’s transportation agency has had enough of trouble riders and wants to extend to one year, and possibly life, how long it can ban people, The Oregonian reports. The agency’s current ban limit is six months.
PENNSYLVANIA Pittsburgh: A $7.5 million grant will help Du- quesne Law School lead continuing education programs for Pennsylvania judges. The state Supreme Court has imposed a requirement that judges annually complete at least 12 hours of training.
RHODE ISLAND Westerly: A man was injured after the plane he was working on rolled through a fence and hit a parked vehicle, the Providence Journal reports. The Rhode Island Airport Corporation says the crash occurred last weekend at the Westerly State Airport.
SOUTH CAROLINA Salem: Officials say someone stole solar panels from the Oconee County welcome sign on state Highway 11. The panels that went missing last Sunday cost about $2,500.
SOUTH DAKOTA Rapid City: A federal judge has invalidated guilty pleas and scheduled an Aug. 22 trial for two defendants accused of killing a woman on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in January 2016, The Rapid City Journal reports.
TENNESSEE Knoxville: Four former school bus drivers charged with using electronic devices while behind the wheel could face 30-day jail terms if convicted under a Tennessee law passed after a 2014 fatal crash, The Knoxville News Sentinel reports.
TEXAS Houston: A grand jury indicted a former dentist accused of failing to provide medical attention after a 4-year-old patient suffered a seizure that led to permanent brain damage. The dentist’s license was revoked last November.
UTAH Salt Lake City: A Utah flag with a historical error that hung for more than a dozen years at the Kennedy Center in Washington has been replaced, The
Salt Lake Tribune reports. The inaccurate flag noted the date of the Mormon arrival in Utah as 1647. That’s off by two centuries. It was 1847.
VERMONT Montpelier: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont is seeking $10.3 million from the state for premiums and services it did not receive payment for, The Times Argus reports.
VIRGINIA Rockbridge: Virginia officials plan to use ground-penetrating radar to test the longterm stability of Natural Bridge, The Roanoke Times reports. The landmark limestone arch supports part of U.S. Route 11.
WASHINGTON Seattle: Opponents of safe-injection sites in King County say they’ll submit more than enough signatures to get an initiative banning the sites on the November ballot, The Seattle Times reports. The sites would let people use heroin and other drugs in front of medical personnel urging treatment.
WEST VIRGINIA South Charleston: Wildlife authorities say an Eastern Milksnake has tested positive for snake fungal disease in the first contemporary occurrence in West Virginia. Officials ask anyone who captures snakes to use bleach or disinfectant afterward.
WISCONSIN Madison: The Madison Police Department’s new 11-member drone team has been put to use five times since June, The Wisconsin State Journal reports. The drones have tracked fugitives and looked for dementia patients who wandered off.
WYOMING Midwest: A rural Wyoming school is on track to reopen this fall after being closed due to leaking gas from a nearby oil field. Tests in May showed air quality inside the Midwest School was acceptably clean, The Casper Star-Tribune reports.