News from across the USA

ALABAMA Montgomery: State Rep. Jim Patterson, perhaps best known for pushing through legislation that mandated insurance coverage of autism therapy, died Monday of a heart attack. The Meridianville Republican was first elected in 2010.

ALASKA Anchorage: The National Park Service can ban hovercraft operating on Alaska rivers that flow through national preserves, a federal Appeals Court ruled Monday.

ARIZONA Phoenix: Kasih, an 11-year-old Bornean orangutan at the Phoenix Zoo, has died after experiencing sudden and serious signs of neurological disease. The average life expectancy of a Bornean orangutan is 35 to 45 years.

ARKANSAS Little Rock: Spending on Arkansas’ expanded Medicaid program grew by nearly 24% last fiscal year, an increase that officials attribute to higher-thanexpected enrollment.

CALIFORNIA Newell: An 8-foothigh barbed-wire fence planned around a rural airport on the site of an old internment camp in Modoc County has spawned a national protest by hundreds of Japanese Americans. Airport operator Nick Macy says the fence is needed to keep animals off the runway.

COLORADO Denver: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sued a tire company after a manager rescinded a job offer to a transgender person after he learned the applicant was born female but identifies as male. The complaint was filed against A&E Tire Inc. on behalf of Egan Joseph Woodward, the Denver Post reports.

CONNECTICUT Stamford: Cable operator Charter Communications will build a new 15-story headquarters in Connecticut and add 1,100 jobs there. The state will provide a 10-year, $10 million low-interest loan and up to $10 million in tax credits.

DELAWARE Wilmington: Nearly 500 people are expected to be screened as potential jurors for the federal fraud trial of four former executives of Wilmington Trust. Prosecutors accuse them of conspiring to hide more than $1 billion in delinquent loans from investors and regulators.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: The mass shooting in Las Vegas has renewed a push for a helipad at George Washington University Hospital, WUSA-TV reports. New helipad construction in the area was banned in the 1980s.

FLORIDA Marathon: The curfew put in place after Hurricane Irma hit the Florida Keys last month has been lifted.

GEORGIA Atlanta: Georgia’s highest court has reversed the disorderly conduct conviction of a man who held up his middle finger and shouted at his pastor during a 2014 service in Flowery Branch. David Justin Freeman’s behavior is speech protected by the First Amendment, the court ruled unanimously.

HAWAII Kailua- Kona: Rapid ohia death has been detected in North Kohala, meaning the disease has spread to trees in every district on Hawaii Island, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reports.

IDAHO Boise: Boise State University administrators say a water main break caused a sinkhole that trapped a fire engine Monday evening. It took two larger trucks to free the firetruck.

ILLINOIS Carlinville: Blackburn College in southern Illinois is offering free tuition to area families earning less than $60,000 a year, WUIS Radio reports.

INDIANA South Bend: Tom Snyder, who retired as president

of Ivy Tech Community College in June 2016, received a more than $1 million retirement payout despite the university’s struggle with budget cuts, The South Bend Tribune reports.

IOWA Des Moines: A city man faces an assault charge after authorities say he bit off another man’s earlobe during a Aug. 21 fight. George Thomas Chambers, 42, was arrested Sunday. He allegedly told police, “I’m Mike Tyson,” a reference to the boxer who bit Evander Holyfield’s ear during a 1997 fight.

KANSAS Topeka: The state Supreme Court ruled Monday that legislators did not increase funding for public schools enough this year. The court rejected the state’s arguments that a new law phasing in a $293 million increase in funding over two years was sufficient. KENTUCKY

Louisville: The University of Louisville has received a $13.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study a new type of adult cardiac stem cell.

LOUISIANA Baton Rouge: Two state troopers are being demoted for a pricey road trip they took to a law enforcement conference in San Diego that included a side trip to Las Vegas. An investigation found Lt. Rodney Hyatt and Capt. Derrell Williams charged the state for hours they spent sleeping, sightseeing and playing golf.

MAINE Augusta: Maine’s annual fall turkey hunt is getting started in most of the state. It’s legal to hunt wild turkeys via arrow or shotgun through Nov. 7.

MARYLAND Monkton: Four members of a family were injured, two seriously, when a fire pit made out of a washing machine drum exploded. Fire officials say an accelerant was used to light the fire and exploded.

MASSACHUSETTS Boston: A church is asking a developer to pay $19 million to compensate for shadows the proposed Back Bay Station tower would cast. Old South Church says the shadows would cause moisture damage and darken stained glass windows. The developer calls the request unreasonable.

MICHIGAN Lee Township: A 76-year-old man was killed and his 16-year-old grandson injured when the helicopter they were riding in crashed Sunday in a field in Lee Township, about 100 miles northwest of Detroit. The cause was under investigation.

MINNESOTA Rochester: Republican state Sen. Carla Nelson of Rochester announced her candidacy for the U.S. House seat being vacated by Democrat Tim Walz, who is running for governor. Republican Jim Hagedorn and eight Democrats also are running for Walz’s seat.

MISSISSIPPI Jackson: A judge won’t stop a possible state takeover of the Jackson school district. Hinds Circuit Judge Bill Gowan says the request sought to have him infringe on Gov. Phil Bryant’s authority. MISSOURI Kansas: Several bouts of thunderstorms expected this week could bring more rain than the area usually gets all month, prompting the National Weather Service to issue flashflood warnings. The October average is 3.16 inches. MONTANA Bozeman: Gallatin County Attorney Marty Lambert says he will not release a booking photo of U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte, who pleaded guilty to assaulting a reporter, without a court order. Gianforte’s attorney does not object to the release, but Lambert considers mug shots confidential criminal justice information. NEBRASKA Lincoln: The University of Nebraska Board of Regents is expected to consider Thursday a one-year extension that would keep system President Hank Bounds under contract through the 2020-21 school year.

NEVADA Las Vegas: The UNLV medical school is using an orthopedic surgery simulator to give its residents realistic operating room experiences. The pressures residents feel when they encounter tendons, cartilage or bone through the VirtaMed ArthroS are nearly identical to those they would discern if operating on a live patient.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Campton: The White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire has a new supervisor. Clare Mendelsohn, deputy forest supervisor since July 2015, succeeds Tom Wagner, who retired.

NEW JERSEY Toms River: A jumpsuit flushed down a toilet by an unidentified inmate has caused at least $100,000 in damage, bursting the main sewer line and damaging courtrooms and the sheriff ’s office at

the Ocean County Justice Complex.

NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: Artwork forged out of decommissioned firearms will be on display Saturday at the Center for Contemporary Arts. Former CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson is promoting the free show, being held to raise awareness and money for gun-buyback events.

NEW YORK New York: The police officer who tackled former pro tennis player James Blake in a mistaken arrest in 2015 has filed a defamation lawsuit against Blake and the police department. James Frascatore says city officials threw him under the bus after video surfaced of the incident. He says Blake painted him as an “out of control and corrupt officer” in a book he wrote. NORTH CAROLINA

Raleigh: Three private universities will share $140 million bequeathed by Charlotte lawyer and business investor Porter Byrum. Wake Forest will get about half; Wingate University and Queens University of Charlotte will each get about $35 million.

NORTH DAKOTA Fargo: Cool, rainy weather has slowed the harvest. The soybean harvest is only 18% complete, well behind the five-year average of 43%. Corn harvesting is 2% done, far behind the 11% five-year average.

OHIO Columbus: There were

20,672 abortions in Ohio in

2016, the lowest number in the

40 years records have been kept. Abortion rights opponents say that reflects a cultural change bolstered by more restrictive laws. Abortion rights supporters note that the number of medication-induced abortions has risen.

OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City:

State Supreme Court Justice Joseph Watt, 70, plans to retire at the end of the year after 25 years on the state’s highest court.

OREGON Sherwood: Mayor Krisanna Clark-Endicott, who was facing a recall election over her handling of a contract to manage the city-owned recreation center, has resigned. PENNSYLVANIA East Stroudsburg: A funeral director already facing charges of taking photos with corpses to “gross out” her friends and family is facing new charges of evidencetampering. Prosecutors say Angeliegha Stewart, 27, deleted four images from her Google photos account during an investigation. Prosecutors say two were selfies with bodies in the background and two were of the faces of deceased people.

RHODE ISLAND Providence: District Court Judge Rafael Ovalles, accused of sexual harassment and judicial misconduct, has decided to retire Oct. 31. A state report found that Ovalles had degraded women, mistreated court staff, lawyers and the public and napped on the job.

SOUTH CAROLINA Fort Mill: The city’s school district will collect license plate numbers in school drop-off lanes to crack down on people who avoid property taxes by not registering their vehicles in South Carolina. Fort Mill is just south of Charlotte, N.C., which doesn’t impose property taxes on vehicles.

SOUTH DAKOTA Rapid City: Crews are close to finishing highway projects to improve the well-traveled byways from Interstate 90 through Rapid City and on to Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Workers are putting the final touches on a $32 million project to rebuild Interstate 190. TENNESSEE Chattanooga: A judge has set a Feb. 27 trial date for Johnthony Walker, the school bus driver involved in a crash that killed six elementary school students last year. Police have said Walker was speeding when the crash occurred.

TEXAS Houston: The U.S. Supreme Court has refused appeals from five inmates, including convicted killers Robert Pruett and Anthony Shore. Pruett, 38, is set to die Oct. 12 for the fatal 1999 stabbing of a prison corrections officer. Shore, 55, is set for lethal injection Oct. 18 for the 1992 slaying of a woman in Houston.

UTAH Salt Lake City: A 70-yearold man has been sentenced to three years to life in prison for sexual abuse of a 16-year-old girl. Douglas B. Tate, of Kaysville, was a part-time high school chemistry teacher when he became involved with the teen, who met Tate through an acquaintance. VERMONT Westmore: State game wardens are trying to find out who illegally hunted and killed a moose out of season. Wardens said the moose was dragged behind a truck for over 11 miles to the town of Orleans and left to rot in the 80degree heat by the side of a road.

VIRGINIA Norfolk: Norfolk International Airport will tear out a 350-foot people mover that was once the world’s longest continuous moving walkway, rather than repairing it.

WASHINGTON Seattle: Attorneys for three women who alleged in a 2012 lawsuit that they were sold for sex on Backpage.com as teenagers say they have settled their lawsuit against the website. The three said they were 13 to 15 years old when they were advertised on Backpage.com.

WEST VIRGINIA Princeton: A piglet rescued after a tractortrailer crash along Interstate 77 has adapted well to her new home. The Bluefield Daily Telegraph reports the piglet, brought to Tammy Tyree’s Princeton home out of fear she would be hit by a car or eaten by coyotes, comes in the house to visit but would rather hunt for acorns and hickory nuts in the woods.

WISCONSIN Madison: University students with concussions struggle about 14% more than students with other injuries, such as broken bones or torn ligaments, University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have found. They reported problems paying attention and with time management, note-taking and nervousness before tests.

WYOMING Cheyenne: William Hill, the longest-serving justice on the state Supreme Court, will retire in February.