News from every state
Our daily roundup
ALABAMA Montgomery: Eleven Alabama counties are under a natural disaster designation after excessive rainfall and flooding from Tropical Storm Cindy. Crop damage was extensive.
ALASKA Anchorage: A group that provides advice to the Anchorage Assembly has proposed a 10-cents-a-gallon gasoline tax to alleviate property taxes, KTUUTV reports. That would raise about $14 million a year in property tax relief.
ARIZONA Phoenix: The city’s main public library won’t reopen until next June, nearly a year after it was heavily damaged by water from a corroded fire-sprinkler pipe. The estimated repair cost is $6 million to $8 million.
ARKANSAS Hot Springs: A landmark Arkansas hotel that was frequented by Al Capone and other mobsters is in jeopardy of closing. Safety concerns are threatening to shutter the Arlington Hotel and Spa in Hot Springs, The Sentinel-Record reports.
CALIFORNIA San Diego: A man faces charges of smuggling more than 13 pounds of methamphetamine from Mexico into California by drone. The DEA says drones aren’t often used to smuggle drugs from Mexico because they carry only small loads.
COLORADO Denver: Colorado is using a driverless truck to follow and protect highway work crews. It’s electronically controlled by another truck ahead of it.
CONNECTICUT Waterbury: A judge ordered a dog owner to pay more than $130,000 to a girl bitten by the pet in 2014, The Republican-American reports. The girl, then 10, was hospitalized after the attack and has facial scarring.
DELAWARE Dover: State records show that contraband seizures increased dramatically at Delaware’s maximum-security prison after the Feb. 1 deadly inmate riot. Statewide, weapons seizures rose from 22 in January to
30 in February and
48 in March. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Authorities say charges were dropped against a man who was one of eight protesters arrested during a marijuana giveaway near the U.S. Capitol in April. The Washington Post reports that the DEA determined Adam Eidinger was carrying less than 2 ounces, the legal limit in Washington.
FLORIDA Miami: A Florida elections worker convicted of fraud for filling out someone else’s absentee ballot was sentenced to two years of house arrest and three years of probation but will not face jail time, The Miami Herald reports.
GEORGIA Stone Mountain: A Ku Klux Klan group’s request to burn a cross Oct. 21 atop Stone Mountain in Georgia was denied. The ceremony was proposed to commemorate a November 1915 cross burning that marked the KKK’s revival.
HAWAII Honolulu: American Girl has made its first Native Hawaiian doll. Nanea Mitchell went on sale this week for $115. Her wardrobe includes 1940s-era outfits and accessories.
IDAHO Lewiston: The city has decided to pay medical bills for children from two families who suffered chemical burns at Pio-
neer Park, The Lewiston Tribune reports. The children were burned by toxic paint stripper applied to graffiti.
ILLINOIS Peoria: The city’s Fire Department wants to teach CPR to 8,000 people over the next two years, The Peoria Journal-Star reports. The effort is part of a nationwide program aimed at improving survival rates for cardiac arrest.
INDIANA Indianapolis: On behalf of the homeless, the American Civil Liberties Union has challenged an Aug. 4 city order that says people can’t congregate under overpasses.
IOWA West Lake Okoboji: A historic Iowa resort that’s been owned by six financial institutions since 2013 will be sold at an online private auction in September, The Sioux City Journal reports.
KANSAS Topeka: A Topeka Zoo gorilla that was reluctant to eat underwent surgery to have her colon flushed out, The Topeka CapitalJournal reports. Officials say Tiffany’s operation went well.
KENTUCKY Burlington: Boone County has joined two other counties to increase hotel room taxes to help pay for an expansion of the Northern Kentucky Convention Center, The Kentucky Enquirer reports.
LOUISIANA Covington: Novelist Walker Percy is getting a statue in his honor at Bogue Falaya Park in Covington, The Times-Picayune reports. Percy lived in Covington from 1948 until his death in 1990.
MAINE Pittsfield: Gov. Paul LePage criticized traditional education during the unveiling of a new vocational school, describing classroom teachers as “a dime a dozen,” The Morning Sentinel reports.
MARYLAND Annapolis: A statue of the U.S. Supreme Court justice who wrote the Dred Scott decision that upheld slavery and denied citizenship to AfricanAmericans was removed last week from the grounds of the Maryland State House.
MASSACHUSETTS Westport:
State health officials say eastern equine encephalitis has been detected in a mosquito in Massachusetts for the first time this year. There were no human cases of the disease in the state last year and none so far this year.
MICHIGAN Emmett Township: A child’s gravestone that was reported stolen in June was found buried in the backyard of a home, The Battle Creek Enquirer reports. Authorities say the face of the stone had been ground off, and they believe it was going to be used for a dead family member of those suspected of taking it.
MINNESOTA Minneapolis: A man who once pretended to be a Scottish lord was sentenced to four years in prison for stealing more than $2 million from 38 victims who thought they were investing in a startup satellite TV network.
MISSISSIPPI Kilmichael: The North Mississippi Veterans Memorial Cemetery is ready for use after two years of construction, WCBI-TV reports. The cemetery will be open to veterans all across the country.
MISSOURI Columbia: A former dean at Stephens College is suing the school for allegedly creating “a hostile work environment based on gender,” The Columbia Missourian reports. Carole Chabries resigned in June, less than a year after joining the college.
MONTANA Lolo: The Lolo Peak wildfire started by lightning in mid-July flared up last week, forcing the evacuation of nearly 750 homes and moving beyond control lines.
NEBRASKA Wilsonville: A Nebraska teenager collected nearly 1.2 million pop tabs for Ronald McDonald House Charities and the Mayo Clinic, The McCook Gazette reports. Stephen Harrison and his family gathered the tabs over five years.
NEVADA Las Vegas: The execution of a Nevada death row inmate who says he wants to die has been delayed to mid-November. Public defenders are demanding that the state disclose what drugs will be used and where they’ll be obtained in the execution of Scott Raymond Dozier.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: New Hampshire residents have another mosquito-borne virus to be concerned about. State health officials have identified the first case of Jamestown Canyon virus this season in a Hanover resident. The virus is rare but can cause serious health complications.
NEW JERSEY Lower Township: Authorities say operator error is to blame for a driver having to accelerate to jump across a New Jersey drawbridge. Police say the driver had already paid the Middle Thorofare Bridge toll Aug. 1 and was crossing when the steel grate began rising.
NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: New Mexico and nearly a dozen tribes in the state will share more than $660,000 in federal grants for historic preservation projects. The funding is awarded by the National Park Service and requires a 40% match from states.
NEW YORK Mineola: New York state filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency opposing a plan to allow dredged sediment to be dumped into the Long Island Sound. The EPA has said the dredging is needed to ensure safe navigation.
NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: North Carolina lawmakers plan to hold public hearings Tuesday on anticipated General Assembly district boundaries being redrawn under court orders. The hearings are set for
Raleigh and five community college campuses in regions where maps are expected to change.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: Many North Dakota residents can now renew their driver’s license online. The system works for drivers age 21 to 65 who have no changes in their address or name.
OHIO Dayton: Montgomery County will pay $375,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a woman who was pepper-sprayed by a corrections officer while strapped to a restraint chair, The Dayton Daily News reports.
OKLAHOMA Norman: The city has its first railroad fatality since implementing quiet zones on train horns, The Norman Transcript reports. A cyclist was killed last week when hit by a BNSF train.
OREGON McMinnville: The Yamhill County sheriff has honored a golden retriever that dug up $85,000 worth of black tar heroin in a backyard, KATU-TV reports. The owners of the dog, Kenyon, thought at first it was a time capsule but then realized it was drugs.
PENNSYLVANIA St. Marys: Authorities say a Pennsylvania woman is accused of burning her 3-year-old son with chemicals, putting him on a leash and keeping him in a dog cage. Arwen Kuhn faces charges that include aggravated assault and false imprisonment of a minor.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: State officials have rejected a plan to ban tractor-trailers from many Rhode Island roads, a decision that would allow drivers to avoid paying upcoming truck tolls. But the state Traffic Commission says it will reconsider the idea after getting more information.
SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: A less-than-expected surplus is cutting allocations from South Carolina’s nearly $8 billion budget. Lawmakers had anticipated a $94 million surplus, but the actual amount was just over $60 million.
SOUTH DAKOTA Aberdeen: The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating a Sully County incident involving a low-flying crop-spraying plane. The American News reports that the plane hit a ground sprayer, damaging it and causing minor injuries to the operator.
TENNESSEE Nashville: A federal lawsuit claims that a Tennessee sheriff and judge violated inmates’ constitutional rights by reducing their jail time if they underwent birth control procedures. The program in White County was rescinded last month.
TEXAS Austin: Scientists say zebra mussels have been found at Lake Austin as the invasive species continues to spread in Texas waterways. About a dozen Texas lakes are infested by the mussels that clog water pipes, damage boat motors and affect other aquatic life.
UTAH Salt Lake City: The University of Utah has a record
2,000-plus freshmen living on campus, thanks to more residence hall space, The Deseret News reports. Officials say that’s good for college success, since students who live on campus are
12% more likely to complete their degrees.
VERMONT Essex: The Travis Roy Foundation Wiffle Ball Tournament raised more than $500,000 this month for people with spinal cord injuries. That’s the second-highest collection in the tournament’s 16-year history, The Burlington Free Press reports.
VIRGINIA Rich
mond: Gov. Terry McAuliffe says he doesn’t want Virginia included in a review of an oil and gas leasing program on the outer continental shelf. McAuliffe says the issue of revenue-sharing of leases hasn’t been resolved.
WASHINGTON Seattle: Officials say a 24-foot gray whale that stranded on a remote Olympic National Park beach in Washington was freed during high tide. Digging a shallow trench and using a pulley system with a harness attached to the whale did the trick.
WEST VIRGINIA Wheeling: Members of the West Virginia NAACP have requested the creation of a citizens’ police review board for Wheeling. State NAACP President Owens Brown says he’s heard from community members who feel that police are stopping and harassing them.
WISCONSIN Oshkosh: Authorities say a Russian tortoise that was taken from the Menominee Park Zoo in Oshkosh a month ago has been returned. WLUK-TV reports that the tortoise, Anastasia, was found in her pen last week.
WYOMING Yellowstone National Park: Yellowstone National Park officials plan to poison nonnative fish species in one of the park’s major river drainages. When the operation beginning Monday is over, native species will be reintroduced.