News from every state
News from across the USA
ALABAMA Florence: The city’s police department is scaling back services because of a lack of personnel. Florence Chief Ron Tyler says he’s dealing with 26 current or pending vacancies caused by sickness, injury, retirement and military service.
ALASKA Fairbanks: The new school year is open in Fairbanks, but all is not well. Officials say at least 26 of 137 public school bus routes were late for opening day, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports.
ARIZONA Phoenix: An attempt to delay the expansion of Arizona’s school choice program has drawn a lawsuit. Another suit filed earlier seeks to halt the expansion.
ARKANSAS Little Rock: A foundation established by the family of Walmart’s founder has given $120 million to the University of Arkansas to establish the first school of art in the state.
CALIFORNIA San Diego: A California teenager charged with smuggling a Bengal tiger into the United States told a judge that he bought the animal on the streets of Tijuana. Border officials last week found the cub lying on the floor of a car heading from Mexico to California.
COLORADO Denver: A suspected burglar in a rash of smashand-grab gun shop thefts across the Denver area was arrested after sending numerous cellphone selfies to friends showing him armed with stolen guns, The Denver Post reports.
CONNECTICUT Hartford: Police say a teenager was targeting rival gang members in a drive-by park shooting July 16 when he killed a handyman who was sitting nearby, The Hartford Courant reports.
DELAWARE Dover: A judge ruled in favor of Delaware State Police in a lawsuit filed by a man who claimed gross negligence after being shot in the back by a trooper in 2013. Keith Schueller crashed his car while being pursued, tried to flee on foot and threatened a trooper with a shovel before he was shot.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Howard University in Washington will offer a series of lectures by James Comey, the former FBI director fired by President Trump. School officials say Comey will be the keynote speaker at the school’s opening convocation Sept. 22.
FLORIDA Miami: The Florida Supreme Court will likely have to decide “what is a friend,” The Miami Herald reports. One state appeals court says a judge doesn’t have to recuse herself from hearing a case just because an attorney involved in it is a Facebook friend. But another appeals court ruled to the contrary.
GEORGIA Sylvester: Authorities say a husband and wife — both police officers — are accused of mistreating their adopted children. Tracy Jones is an officer with the Jacksonville Police Department. Rosemary Jones is an officer with the Poulan Police Department.
HAWAII Honolulu:
The nonprofit Earthjustice has filed a lawsuit against Hawaii over lights at several state-operated airports, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports. The suit claims the lights disorient seabirds.
IDAHO Payette: Authorities say an Idaho inmate who was granted permission to attend a funeral in Oregon on Aug. 12 didn’t return later that day to the Payette County Jail, KTVB-TV reports. Ryan Paul Henry was being held for violating probation in a felony drug possession case.
ILLINOIS Champaign: A twopart “phishing ” scam made to steal banking passwords attacked University of Illinois computer users and their off-campus email contacts, The News-Gazette reports.
INDIANA Muncie: Delaware County Sheriff Ray Dudley says he’ll fight a $1.8 million bill for a former jail inmate’s four-month hospital stay, The Star Press reports. The inmate had been arrested for stealing sunglasses and was released by a judge two days after he went to the hospital.
IOWA Davenport: An Iowa doctor pleaded guilty to charges related to giving inappropriate prescriptions for patients he didn’t speak to or examine. Authorities say the pharmacies that filled the prescriptions were reimbursed by Tricare, a federal health care program for U.S. military members.
KANSAS Topeka: Jurors rejected a former Kansas Secretary of State office employee’s claim that religious discrimination was a key factor in her firing. Instead, the jury sided with the office that performance issues led to Courtney Canfield’s dismissal in 2013.
KENTUCKY Louisville: The Kentucky Supreme Court has ordered a new trial for two men convicted of killing a woman in 1995 as part of a satanic ritual. New DNA evidence related to a single hair and the discovery that a key witness lied under oath prompted a judge to vacate the convictions.
LOUISIANA Baton Rouge: A former Louisiana State Penitentiary official was sentenced to five years’ probation and ordered to repay $115,000 stolen from a recreation committee for prison workers, WAFB-TV reports.
MAINE Portland: The founder of the Luke’s Lobster restaurant chain wants a lobster emoji and has gone online with a petition in support of the idea, The Portland Press Herald reports.
MARYLAND Baltimore: A $1 billion plan to modernize or rebuild aging public schools in Baltimore has its first completion. The revitalized Fort Worthington Elementary and Middle School was unveiled in a ribboncutting ceremony last week.
MASSACHUSETTS Boston: Court records show that charges against a Boston sports arena guard accused of beating a disabled homeless man could be dropped if he stays out of legal trouble for the next four years, The Boston Globe reports.
MICHIGAN Lansing: The coalfired Erickson Power Plant will go offline by 2025, The Lansing State Journal reports. The closing is part of an agreement between the Lansing Board of Water & Light and the Sierra Club.
MINNESOTA Minneapolis: An invasive aquatic plant known as Eurasian watermilfoil has been found in Bad Axe Lake in Minnesota’s Hubbard County. However, officials say the plant doesn’t appear to be widespread.
MISSISSIPPI Jackson: Mississippi shoppers had two ways to save over the weekend, thanks to the Bill of Rights. The Second Amendment weekend Friday through Sunday exempted guns and ammunition from the state’s 7% sales tax, while an Oxford bookstore offered the same discount to celebrate the First Amendment’s right of free speech.
MISSOURI Columbia: The University of Missouri will offer scholarships next year for lowincome students to cover the full cost of tuition. The grants will be available in fall 2018 for Missouri residents who are Pell Grant eligible.
MONTANA Missoula: A former evidence technician at the Montana State Crime Lab was given a 10-year suspended sentence for stealing opioids that were being stored as evidence, The Missoulian reports.
NEBRASKA Lincoln: Saying he lacks the authority to request independent counsel, Nebraska’s attorney general has rejected the idea of having an outside lawyer investigate the State Patrol. A probe ordered by Gov. Pete Ricketts found that patrol leaders tried to influence internal in- vestigations and failed to disclose trooper misconduct.
NEVADA Carson City: A longtime Nevada public broadcasting executive is the new head of the state arts council. Tony Manfredi will take the post Sept. 11.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Newport: A woman was sentenced to six months in jail after 21 Chihuahuas and a cat were removed from her home, The Eagle Times reports. Seven dogs eventually were euthanized.
NEW JERSEY Woodbridge: The couple served by Bar Louie waitress Brianna Siegel handed her an envelope after paying their $20 bill and told her to open it when she got home, Siegel tells News 12 New Jersey. Inside was a check for $1,200.
NEW MEXICO Silver City: Iconic lowrider cars will be featured in an upcoming photo exhibit at Western New Mexico University. The Frances McCray Gallery of Contemporary Art will host an opening reception Sept. 7.
NEW YORK New York: Amtrak
says it will resume regular train service at New York’s Penn Station on Sept. 5 after eight weeks of repairs.
NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: Nine neighbors living near Duke Energy’s unlined coal ash pits have sued to block the utility from offering $5,000 to people who give up the option of suing over future water problems.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: A state commission recommends that Bismarck schools have a committee discuss teacher safety concerns. At a recent hearing, several teachers attested to encountering classroom violence.
OHIO Toledo: Investigators are looking into three fish kills caused by manure that was spread on Ohio farm fields. A new state law put in place to combat algae in Lake Erie prohibits farmers from putting manure on fields before heavy rain.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma has decided to stop hosting pigeon shoot fundraising events. Inhofe has been critized by the nonprofit animal rights group Showing Animals Respect and Kindness, which has sent undercover activists to film the activities.
OREGON Umatilla: Oregon wildlife officials authorized the killing of two wolves that killed four calves at a local ranch. The decision upset environmental activists who say killing the wolves isn’t necessary. Oregon’s wolf population is expanding in size and range, leading to conflict with ranchers.
PENNSYLVANIA Hershey: Health officials have cited Penn State Hershey Medical Center in the death of a 6-year-old boy whose temperature topped 107 degrees while he was under a special heating blanket.
RHODE ISLAND Newport: Police in Rhode Island seized suspected counterfeit jewelry, purses and handbags worth more than $700,000. Officials say the items are knockoffs of high-end brands such as Louis Vuitton, Michael Kors and Chanel.
SOUTH CAROLINA Surfside Beach: Two members of this South Carolina town’s planning commission and the parking committee chairman have resigned, citing dysfunction on the Surfside Beach Town Council.
SOUTH DAKOTA Pierre: A state task force backs a measure that would ask voters to make it harder to change the South Dakota constitution. The proposal would increase the majority vote threshold required for a constitutional change to at least 55%.
TENNESSEE Gatlinburg: The Great Smoky Mountains National Park has closed its highest point, an observation tower, for extensive renovations and repairs, The Daily Times reports. The Clingmans Dome Observation Tower will remain closed through the end of the 2017 season.
TEXAS College Station: Texas A&M University regents have voted to extend Chancellor John Sharp’s contract for three years. His salary will remain at $900,000.
UTAH Salt Lake City: Gun enthusiasts are upset with the way Utah implemented a $20 increase in fees for first-time concealed weapons permit holders. The critics say any increase should have been done through the legislature instead of the state Bureau of Criminal Identification, which issues the permits.
VERMONT Montpelier: Vermont officials are taking steps to recognize historic state LGBTQ sites through a National Park Service grant program, Vermont Public Radio reports. Vermont was invited to participate in a grant program for underrepresented communities on the National Register of Historic Places.
VIRGINIA Radford: Virginia will conduct air-quality monitoring for the first time this fall near Belview Elementary School in Radford. The school is down the road from an Army ammunition plant that regularly conducts open hazardous waste burns.
WASHINGTON Seattle: A net pen holding 305,000 farmed Atlantic salmon collapsed recently, releasing thousands of fish into Puget Sound. Critics say the fish escape highlights problems with open-ocean fish farming.
WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: The West Virginia Board of Education is appealing a court ruling that set aside its rejection of Nicholas County’school consolidation plan. The court said the state board acted arbitrarily. The county is seeking to merge two middle schools, two high schools and a vocational center into one campus.
WISCONSIN Madison: A Wisconsin court says the co-owner of a Lone Rock gas station improperly fired a clerk after she threatened to ask a prosecutor to investigate paycheck deductions. Esther Lee Peterson was fired in 2012 after questioning nearly $90 deducted from her check to cover drive-offs.
WYOMING Casper: Wyoming game regulators have adopted preliminary rules for captive breeding of greater sage grouse, The Casper Star-Tribune reports. State lawmakers approved a five-year trial period for captive breeding earlier this year.