STATE-BY-STATE

ALABAMA Lafayette: A former Chambers County assistant prosecutor is accused of embezzling $16,000 from a juvenile’s bank account. Al.com reports that Roland Lewis Sledge had conservatorship over the account. ALASKA Bethel: Alaska fish surveys show that many fishermen didn’t catch as many salmon as they were hoping this season. KYUK.org reports that the Orutsararmiut Native Council surveyed about 80 fish camps from the Kuskokwim River. ARIZONA Phoenix: Authorities say a suspect in an arson at a Phoenix LGBT youth center was arrested. Video shows a man pouring liquid on the floor of the one.n.ten center on July 12 and then stepping outside just before the room goes up in flames. ARKANSAS Little Rock: Pulaski County officials have approved a $2.7 million federal grant that will fund 80% of the first phase of a project to extend the Arkansas River Trail, The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports. CALIFORNIA San Jose: A man who conned investors out of some $8 million by claiming they’d earn money if they helped care for a terminally ill heiress was sentenced to nine years in federal prison, The San Jose Mercury News reports. Authorities say there was no heiress. COLORADO Vail: Real estate sales in the Vail area of Colorado exceeded $1 billion for the first half of the year, The Vail Daily reports. CONNECTICUT Hartford: The Navy is working on a high-tech gadget that can identify whether a debilitating iron sulfide mineral exists in concrete. The material, pyrrhotite, is plaguing thousands of Connecticut homeowners with crumbling foundations. DELAWARE Lewes: The president of a high school boys’ lacrosse team booster club in the Cape Henlopen district is charged with stealing nearly $28,000 from the club. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: The Humane Rescue Alliance in Northeast Washington is urging people to adopt a pet or donate old blankets and towels after the animal shelter was damaged by heavy rain that ruined dog bedding, WTOP Radio reports. FLORIDA Destin: A Florida charter boat captain says the cat’s name is “Miracle,” and he’s adopting it, The Panama City News Herald reports. Jordan Smith was traveling near a Destin bridge last week when he saw something thrown off, steered toward the splash, saw the cat and rescued it with a net. GEORGIA Mobile: The Army Corps of Engineers has lifted a ban on security cameras for docks on Lake Sidney Lanier. Officials say property owners along the Georgia reservoir overwhelmingly want the change. HAWAII Honolulu: The U.S. Geological Survey says a magnitude-4.2 earthquake was recorded Sunday in a channel between the islands of Hawaii and Maui. Officials say there was no tsunami and no significant hazard. IDAHO Twin Falls: An Idaho sugar producer says two workers were flown to a hospital for burn treatment after a tank containing hot liquid overflowed, KMVT-TV reports. ILLINOIS Springfield: The Illinois Department of Agriculture is asking livestock exhibitors to monitor the health of their animals and contact veterinarians if any symptoms of illness are noted as the Illinois State Fair approaches. The fair is Aug. 10-20. INDIANA Gary: A community group is planning to dress up the vacant Emerson High School building in Gary with poetry. The Gary Poetry Project is seeking submissions from Emerson grads to paint on plywood over parts of the building that closed in 2008, The Post-Tribune reports. IOWAare learning Waterloo:new lessonsIowa teachersas they spendstate parks,the summer high-tech working companies,at researchThe programlabs andhas more other than places. 60 teachers engineeringof science,and math technology, participating, Courierthe Waterloo-Cedarreports. Falls KANSASdoula — an Topeka: assistant A to Kansas women givingprofit to birth help — teenagehas started mothers,a nonincarcerated pregnant women and low-income single mothers, The Topeka Capital-Journal reports. KENTUCKY Bowling Green: Officials at Mammoth Cave National Park are working to make its Echo River Springs Trail more accessible to people with disabilities by building a half-mile, eight-foot-wide concrete walkway, The Bowling Green Daily News reports. LOUISIANA Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University is searching for a new tiger mascot by the September start of football season. LSU President F. King Alexander says renovations to the tiger’s on-campus habitat will be completed by Aug. 10. MAINE Bangor: The Bangor State Fair that opened last week is expected to draw more than 40,000 people by the time it wraps up Aug 6. The fair includes animal exhibits such as ox and horse pulling, 4-H contests and a midway. MARYLAND Ellicott City: This Maryland city marked the oneyear anniversary last weekend of being ravaged by floodwaters that killed two people and caused devastating damage to homes and businesses. Officials unveiled a new clock on the town plaza and made a memorial dedication of cherry trees. MASSACHUSETTS Boston: The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation has launched a global scavenger hunt, offering clues to help people populate an interactive online map with the hundreds of schools, streets and parks named for Kennedy. MICHIGAN Ostego: The Environmental Protection Agency is planning to two-mile remove channela dam andin an create attempta to make clean its the fish Kalamazoosafe to eat, River MLive and reports. The project could cost more than $46.5 million. MINNESOTA Minneapolis: It was 10 years ago Tuesday that a bridge on a busy freeway collapsed without warning during rush hour into the Mississippi River in downtown Minneapolis. A ceremony is planned for survivors, families and first responders. MISSISSIPPI Starkville: Most of Mississippi’s soybean crop has good potential, despite late growing season challenges. The Department of Agriculture says the overall crop condition is rated as 70% fair or good and 22% excellent. MISSOURI Maryville: Some moms are against a plan to paint over a wall of baby footprints at Anderson Hospital, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. But the hospital says it will photograph the footprint wall that has been in the labor and delivery unit for nearly 20 years. MONTANA Billings: A Helena man’s desire to help ranchers affected by wildfires turned into a large relief effort. Dustin Maier set out in a caravan of at least seven pickups and three semis loaded with hay, fencing and other items destined for the Winnett area, The Billings Gazette reports. NEBRASKA McCool Junction: A Nebraska pheasant farmer plans to hatch 350,000 birds to supply hunting preserves, The Lincoln Journal Star reports. Dustin Chrisman’s Double Barrel Game Farm has five climatecontrolled incubators. NEVADA Las Vegas: Police arrested four suspects in a burglary at a Las Vegas marijuana dispensary after an officer fired a shotgun toward them without hitting anyone. NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: New Hampshire game officials need help with hen turkey sightings this summer. The online survey being taken through Aug. 31 will help biologists determine the distribution and abundance of New Hampshire wild turkeys. NEW JERSEY Jersey City: The Jersey City Medical Center has been given the state’s go-ahead to open a satellite emergency department in Bayonne, The Jersey Journal reports. NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: A shooting involving rival motorcycle gangs prompted a temporary lockdown at Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center, the Santa Fe New Mexican reports. The shooting occurred near a local park, but the lockdown came as Vagos Motorcycle Club members poured into the hospital to see their wounded colleague. NEW YORK Albany: Two state lawmakers want to know if New York is doing all it can to confront tick-borne illnesses. A hearing is set for Aug. 29 to focus on the state’s response to illnesses like Lyme disease. NORTH CAROLINA Boone: A three-judge panel says a man who’s already spent 21 years behind bars failed to prove his innocence in a murder case. The North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission, the only agency of its kind in the country, said Robert Bragg ’s case needed a fresh look. NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: The Three Affiliated Tribes of North Dakota are building a $24.8 million drug treatment center in Bismarck, The Minot Daily News reports. It’s expected to be completed by May 2018. OHIO Dayton: The tail gun turret of fabled World War II bomber Memphis Belle has been reattached. The B-17 is undergoing restoration at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Ohio. OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: American Oversight, an ethics watchdog group, is seeking an investigation into EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s frequent flights to Oklahoma, his home state, at taxpayer expense. Records show Pruitt traveled home at least 10 times in March, April and May. OREGON Tigard: The board overseeing Oregon’s public pension system has lowered assumptions about investment returns. The Oregonian reports that the cut is from 7.5% to 7.2%. That will increase unfunded liability from $22 billion to more than $24 billion. PENNSYLVANIA Kennett Square: Horticulturists at a popular public garden and education center outside Philadelphia want to make sure the tricks of the trade can be passed on. Student interns for Longwood Gardens are producing videos this summer to document work that goes into growing a thousand bloom mum. RHODE ISLAND Providence: The Rhode Island attorney general’s office is offering criminal background check services at locations across the state in August. SOUTH CAROLINA York: Seven people pleaded guilty to more than $20,000 in food stamp fraud at a South Carolina store involving purchases of cigarettes, gas and beer, The Herald of Rock Hill reports. SOUTH DAKOTA Rapid City: Technology and social media have turned little-known South Dakota places into not-so-secret tourist destinations, to the dismay of some locals. The Rapid City Journal reports that one spot is a natural swimming hole known as Devils Bathtub. TENNESSEE Knoxville: Officials say recordings of calls made to the Tennessee Emergency Operations Center during the first day of wildfires that destroyed much of Gatlinburg are lost. The Knoxville News Sentinel reports that the center’s phone lines were overwhelmed that day and no one noticed that a backup system had failed. TEXAS Liberty: A Texas man is accused of storing nearly 10,000 tires at his home, The Beaumont Enterprise reports. Neighbors of Robert Piver complained about the tires stacked at his house in an otherwise well-kept Liberty County neighborhood. UTAH Beaver: Two girls are recovering from a lightning strike, thanks to their dog. Beaver County authorities say the girls, ages 8 and 16, were crossing a meadow during a family camping trip when the lightning hit. The dog ran to the campsite and alerted family members, who followed the dog back to the unconscious girls. VERMONT Bennington: The Southwestern Vermont Medical Center in Bennington is now a 24-hour drug take-back location. VIRGINIA Roanoke: Fishermen and swimmers are being told to stay out of Tinker Creek because of an unidentified chemical spill, The Roanoke Times reports. Officials are seeking the source of the spill. WASHINGTON Dayton: A proposed $184 million pulp mill plans to take straw waste from wheat and alfalfa farms and convert it to pulp for paper and packaging. Columbia Pulp says construction will begin this month. WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: Gov. Jim Justice’s office is investigating why West Virginia missed a deadline for a federal audit that led to sanctions for its public universities. The schools will have to front $245 million for student financial aid, The Register-Herald reports. WISCONSIN Trevor: Amorim Cork Composites is among more than a dozen Wisconsin manufacturers working on a NASA project. The Fond du Lac Reporter reports that the Trevor company’s cork will be used in the heat shield on the crew capsule expected to go to Mars in coming decades. WYOMING Casper: The Wyoming Supreme Court has ruled that the Casper municipal court illegally imposed probation sentences on minors charged with possessing alcohol, The Casper Star-Tribune reports. The ruling upheld a district court judge who said the city’s ordinance limited the sentence to a maximum $750 fine.