News from across the USA

ALABAMA Huntsville: Officials say two Huntsville Fire and Rescue members at Station 17 were bitten by poisonous brown recluse spiders, WHNT-TV reports. The station was sprayed for pests.

ALASKA Anchorage: The Center for Biological Diversity plans to sue over rejection of Pacific walrus as a threatened species.

Fish and Wildlife officials say walruses have adapted to a lack of sea ice by foraging from coastlines.

ARIZONA Bis

bee: A City Hall fire forced Bisbee offices into a vacant school, KOLD-TV reports. Investigators with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were at the scene last week after the Cochise County Sheriff ’s Office requested federal assistance, the Sierra Vista Herald reported.

ARKANSAS Little Rock: Lawyers challenging an anti-begging law want the case put on hold-while the state appeals an order blocking enforcement.

CALIFORNIA Los Angeles: A would-be thief caught on video at an exotic car rental shop couldn’t crash through the metal gate, KABC-TV reports. When a Honda failed, he tried a McLaren, but finally gave up and fled.

COLORADO Longmont: The City Council has voted to allow up to four marijuana shops, The Daily Times-Call reports. Voters will decide next month on a 3% pot sales tax.

CONNECTICUT Thomaston: Police say a man drove his car through a home, throwing a teenager out of bed into the yard. The teen is expected to recover.

DELAWARE Dover: The state Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of double murderer Michael Jones, who narrowly avoided execution for drug-related crimes he committed at age 17. Jones, now 35, argued that his life sentence was unfair.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Five suspected street gang members were indicted on charges of murder in suburban Washington. All five are natives of El Salvador.

FLORIDA Williston: Authorities say a volunteer at a nonprofit educational farm died when he fell between two train ride cars, The Ocala Star-Banner reports.

GEORGIA Swainsboro: Police say a University of Georgia freshman whose car plowed into a Taco Bell and killed a woman is charged with murder, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Four others were hospitalized with injuries.

HAWAII Wailuku: Police recover $70,000 in “collector” merchandise stolen from a Maui store but are still searching for items worth another $30,000.

IDAHO Boise: An ex-lawmaker formed a “Moderates Are Taking Hold” PAC to encourage independents and Democrats to register as Republicans to vote in the state’s closed GOP primary.

ILLINOIS Chicago: A city effort to boost electric transportation received a $15.5 million federal grant to fund charging stations.

INDIANA Brownsburg: Customers of Kevin McGrotty’s Brownsburg Taxidermy can soon get their property back, with state conservation officers helping enforce the return order.

IOWA Des Moines: The State Patrol says a man pulled over in Des Moines after a pursuit told troopers the I-80 chase was on his bucket list, KCCI-TV reports.

KANSAS Topeka: State lawmakers are considering an interest rate cap of 36% for payday and other short-term loans, The Wichita Eagle reports.

KENTUCKY Owensboro: Armstrong Coal expects to idle its Owen County surface mine in December, The Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer reports.The company cites overproduction and depressed demand for highsulfur coal.

LOUISIANA New Orleans: The city’s Audubon Zoo has a new gorilla. Tumani, a female western lowland gorilla, will spend time getting to know Praline, another female. Tumani came from Colorado’s Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.

MAINE Portland: A state board suspended the license of Portland psychiatrist Reinaldo de los Heros after finding that his ability to write prescriptions posed “immediate jeopardy” to the public, The Portland Press Herald reports.

MARYLAND Gaithersburg: Thirty-two Quince Orchard High School students were evaluated for potential bee stings as crews searched for the hive, which officials believe was off-campus.

MASSACHUSETTS Lenox: An

$80 million renovation has been approved at a resort that dates to the mid-19th century on land that was once owned by the brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe, The Berkshire Eagle reports. The Zoning Board of Appeals has approved a revised special permit to expand the Cranwell Spa and Golf Resort. The resort’s mansion will feature hotel rooms, dining, entertainment and event space.

Work begins early next year with completion targeted for May

2019.

MICHIGAN Rockford: Officials shut off drinking fountains and are providing bottled water at East Rockford Middle School amid a test for possible hazardous waste dump chemicals.

MINNESOTA St. Paul: The state Supreme Court says workers can’t be fired for refusing to share tips. The case involved a bartender fired from Bunny’s Bar & Grill in

St. Louis Park. Todd

Burt sued for wrongful termination, citing a state law barring employers from requiring workers to share tips, The Star Tri- bune reports.

MISSISSIPPI Tupelo: Officials will meet next month to discuss the future of the Lee County jail, the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reports. The meeting follows a decision to drop a plan to build a new $50 million jail. The existing jail is designed for 200 inmates but through most of the summer housed nearly 250.

MISSOURI St. Louis: A bell on a city billboard over I-44 will ring every time a child finishes chemotherapy at a local hospital, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. The billboard says: “Childhood wins another round against cancer.”

MONTANA Kalispell: A wood products company, SmartLam Technologies, plans to move its operation, increase its production and hire more than 75 employees by the end of 2019. SmartLam Technologies Group plans to move into the former Weyerhaeuser lumber mill property in Columbia Falls in January. The Flathead Beacon reports SmartLam plans to quadruple its production to more than 80,000 cubic meters and hopes to develop additional wood products.

NEBRASKA Kearney: The earth lodge at The Archway will be torn down following the collapse of its roof, The Kearney Hub reports. Officials say repairing the structure would be too costly.

NEVADA Reno A drone delivery service has announced a new partnership with a Reno-based ambulance company to send out defibrillators and other emergency equipment by air during responses to cardiac arrest. The Reno Gazette-Journal reports drone delivery service Flirtey is joining Regional Emergency Medical Services Authority, allowing responders to send an automated external defibrillator by air in addition to an ambulance dispatch.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: A woman accused of neglecting her three horses will have to serve 30 days in jail and pay $30,000 in restitution, WMUR-TV reports. Joanie Osgood , whose May 2016 conviction was appealed but sustained by the state Supreme Court, also is banned from owning horses.

NEW JERSEY

Union City: A woman accused of fatally hitting a man in the head with a coffee mug faces a manslaughter charge, The Jersey Journal reports. Alina Lescaille, 55, is in the custody of immigration authorities.

NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: New Mexico State Auditor Tim Keller said he’s concerned that the top two administrators at an Albuquerque charter school are taking lavish work trips using money from the school’s nonprofit foundation. The GREAT Academy Foundation spent roughly $16,000 on out-of-state travel that included stays at luxury resorts for Jasper and Keisha Matthews. Albuquerque Journal reported on Thursday.

“We have not had any audit findings or any violations regarding our travel in this ’15-’16 audit year,” Jasper Matthews said.

NEW YORK New York: State officials say five car dealerships will pay more than $900,000 in restitution for illegally selling costly credit repair and identity theft protection services. Two dealerships are in Manhattan and three are on Long Island.

NORTH CAROLINA Greens

boro: Authorities say a woman pleaded guilty to charges in a scheme to obtain more than 8,000 hydrocodone pills from pharmacies in Alamance and Guilford counties . Heather Smith Elliott will be sentenced Jan. 18.

NORTH DAKOTA Wahpeton:

The North Dakota State College of Science has completed a $13 million project to replace underground water and sewer lines and repair streets and parking lots, The Daily News reports.

OHIO Toledo: Workers at a Toledo hospital used three doses of the overdose drug naloxone to revive a 1½-year-old boy who tested positive for opioids. The boy’s mother told police that her older son saw the toddler put a bag in his mouth that he found at a neighborhood park.

OKLAHOMA Tecumseh: A Pottawatomie County deputy escaped injury when a rock was thrown from a bridge into the windshield of his patrol car. The rock didn’t break the glass but left a softball-sized crater.

OREGON Medford: Federal wildlife officials are seeking help in finding who killed a collared gray wolf, OR-33, near Klamath Falls, The Mail Tribune reports. The killing is a violation of the federal Endangered Species Act.

PENNSYLVANIA Easton: Lehigh County commissioners plan to appeal a ruling that the image of a Christian cross on the county flag and seal is unconstitutional. The judge cited a 1944 record that says the cross was added to signify that “Christianity” and “Godfearing people” are the county’s backbone.

RHODE ISLAND Providence: Officials say three laptop computers stolen from a Rhode Island Statehouse office were found with a suspect at Providence City Hall, WPRI-TV reports.

SOUTH CAROLINA Laurens: Authorities are investigating the campaign over a school district’s failed bond referendum. The State Law Enforcement Division has confirmed it is looking into the Laurens County School District 55 bond referendum which was rejected with 77% of the vote. The agency won’t say who is being investigated yet The Index-Journal reported that Republican state Rep. Mike Pitts took out an advertisement after the vote asking employees who felt pressured by their employer to contact him.

SOUTH DAKOTA Pierre: A wrongful death lawsuit says the Indian Learning Center failed to adequately monitor a girl who committed suicide two years ago. Emerson Little Elk says his granddaughter had a history of depression.

TENNESSEE Elizabethton: A dog complaint led authorities to an indoor pot growing operation, The Johnson City Press reports. A Carter County sheriff ’s deputy found the pot growing in an outbuilding in the Bulldog Hollow area. The property owner was arrested.

TEXAS Houston: The EPA approved removing dioxin sediment from a flooded Superfund site damaged by Hurricane Harvey. Authorities say an unknown amount of dioxins may have washed downriver from the San Jacinto Waste Pits.

UTAH Salt Lake City: A federal board voted to rename Negro Bill Canyon, overruling the state, The Salt Lake Tribune reports.

VERMONT St. Johnsbury: The South Congregational Church will go to St. Johnsbury Academy, The Caledonian-Record reports. The church has served as a focal point of St. Johnsbury since 1852.

VIRGINIA Richmond: The state Department of Taxation is offering an amnesty program for delinquent taxpayers. Taxpayers can pay the owed taxes and half the interest. The state will waive any remaining interest and all penalties. A spokeswoman for the Department of Taxation told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that the state is expecting to collect $89.5 million from the program, which continues through Nov. 14.

WASHINGTON Seattle: Gunter Grawe, who spent three years in western Washington as a German prisoner of war, returned to the state this month to say thank you.

The veteran, 91, visited Joint Base Lewis-McChord and declared his capture at the age of 18 “his luckiest day.” “I never had anything to complain about,” Grawe said. “I had a better life as a prisoner than my mother and sister back home in Germany.”

WEST VIRGINIA Milton: The town will convert vacant Morris Memorial Hospital into a hotel, a medical clinic and rehab center, horse stables and trails, a golf course and townhouses.

WISCONSIN Madison: A judge threw out eight high-capacity well permits granted to businesses, citing state waterway protections. The case was brought by the conservation group Clean Wisconsin.

WYOMING Casper: Fans of the Cowboy State have paid about $33,000 for five “Welcome to Wyoming” signs that were auctioned off by state transportation officials. The Casper Star Tribune reported Sunday that the money raised in the auction will be used to pay for road improvements.