News from across the USA

ALABAMA Montgomery:

Lyn Stuart says she will seek a full term as Alabama’s chief justice. Stuart, a Republican, was appointed by Gov. Ivey to replace Roy Moore following his removal from the court for violating judicial ethics.

ALASKA Wasilla:

Mandy Edelen, 37, is being held on suspicion of forgery and criminal trespass after being suspected of trying to pass bogus $20 bills. Troopers early Monday night took a report of a woman at a Parks Highway gas station convenience store trying to buy $16 in items with a fake $20 bill.

ARIZONA

Florence: The former Pinal County sheriff says he had the authority to spend jail enhancement money for other purposes despite an audit describing the spending as misuse. The Casa Grande Dispatch reported that the Pinal County Internal Audit Committee identified that more than $2 million from the Jail Enhancement Fund was used since 2013.

ARKANSAS

Little Rock: A judge has ordered the Arkansas attorney general and the head of the state Health Department to look into modifying the state’s birth certificate law to meet constitutional standards. Under the law, married heterosexual parents are automatically put on their child’s birth certificates. Only the mother is put on a certificate for same-sex couples.

CALIFORNIA

San Francisco: California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye wants to do away with the state’s cash bail system. She said the state should instead rely on risk assessments to determine whether defendants should be released.

COLORADO

Durango: A spokesman with the Bureau of Land Management says a tract on the southern border of the Shenandoah subdivision near Durango has been pulled from an oil and gas lease sale that is slated for March, The Durango Herald reported.

CONNECTICUT

Hartford: The Connecticut Department of Transportation will hold public hearings on proposed fares for the new C-Trail Hartford Line rail service, which will run from New Haven, to Hartford to Springfield, Mass. Sessions will be held the week of Nov. 13 in New Haven, Hartford and Springfield. The service is to begin in March.

DELAWARE

Wilmington: Louis Capano III bought Brandywine Country Club with the intent to build hundreds of homes. But the iconic property has fallen into such disrepair, New Castle County has started fining the developer $250 a day, the News Journal reported.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA:

The government of Qatar is opening a military office in Washington, the Associated Press reported. Qatar’s defense ministry inaugurated the military attaché office in Georgetown. Staff Brig. Gen. Yousef al-Kuwari, the Qatari defense attaché, said six officers and one non-commissioned officer will be posted to the office.

FLORIDA Key West:

A tourist from Australia told police officers she was drunk and doesn’t remember attacking a 68-year-old rider in the annual Zombie Bike Ride. The Miami Herald reported Prue Harvey, 32, was arrested on a felony battery charge on someone older than 65.

GEORGIA Douglas:

The death of an inmate is being investigated by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The Coffee County Sheriff ’s Office said that Shannon Ashley Rewis, 28, “developed medical issues” when he was being booked into the jail. The Telegraph reported he died at the hospital.

HAWAII Honolulu:

All of the Hawaiian monk seals born this

year on Oahu are doing well, a wildlife official said. Four monk seal pups, two male and two female, were born between May and July, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported. About 1,400 seals remain in Hawaii.

IDAHO

Boise: The Idaho State Department of Education released key statistics Tuesday on school districts and students in grades 9 through 12. According to the department, more than 20% of the students recently surveyed reported they had seriously considered suicide.

ILLINOIS

Chicago: Online grocery delivery business Peapod is moving its headquarters to downtown Chicago from the suburb of Skokie. The company’s new location is expected to be finished in spring 2018, the Chicago Tribune reported.

INDIANA

Elkhart: Layoffs are expected to begin late this year from the Crown Audio factory that’s slated for closure. Harman International Industries intends to lay off 50 workers effective Dec. 22.

IOWA

Ames: The Iowa Board of Regents chose the dean of Iowa State University’s agriculture college as the school’s next president. Wendy Wintersteen will be Iowa State’s 16th president and the first female president since Iowa State’s founding in 1858.

KANSAS

Lawrence: Officials with the city of Lawrence and Douglas County are raising concerns about a proposal to allow wastewater injection wells in the area. The Lawrence Journal-World reported that Midstates Energy Operating LLC filed permit applications with the state.

KENTUCKY

Frankfort: Juvenile justice officials are launching an incentive fund for local programs that supervise young offenders in the community. The state Department of Juvenile will award up to $1 million in grants.

LOUISIANA

Slidell: St. Tammany Parish President Pat Brister says she is moving to rescind an unpopular three-quarter cent economic development tax.

MAINE

Portland: The ferry between Portland and Nova Scotia carried more passengers in 2017 than it did the year before. The Portland Press Herald reported that The Cat ferry transported more than 41,000 people from the end of May to Oct. 15, a 17%

increase over last year.

MARYLAND

Millersville: The former manager of a Maryland police lab is expected to plead guilty to charges she stole prescription drugs dropped off at police stations for disposal. The Capital in Annapolis reports that Annette Box, 48, of Pasadena, is scheduled for a plea hearing in December.

MASSACHUSETTS

Boston: Jack Manning is the inaugural winner of the “Boston College Strong ” scholarship. Manning, a college sophomore who lost a leg to cancer as a child, received the award from Boston Marathon bombing survivors Patrick Downes and Jessica Kensky.

MICHIGAN

Detroit: The city is proposing a greenway to honor boxing champion Joe Louis. Mayor Mike Duggan has proposed the Joe Louis Greenway to the Detroit City Council, the Detroit Free Press reported.

MINNESOTA

St. Paul: The Como Zoo gorilla named Alice gave birth Wednesday to a 4-pound baby.

MISSISSIPPI Water

Valley: Authorities say two teachers have been arrested after a 16-year-old student was sent out to obtain prescription drugs for them. News outlets reported that Alana Harris and Jill Todd are charged with inducing a minor to commit a felony after an investigation by the Yalobusha County Sheriff ’s Department.

MISSOURI

Jefferson City: A World War II veteran who says he was exposed to mustard gas experiments at a former southwest Missouri military camp has been awarded benefits. The Department of Veterans Affairs is granting Arla Harrell monthly benefits and back-benefits from the time his family first applied for aid in 1991.

MONTANA

Great Falls: Teton Pass Ski Resort will be closed this winter. Charles Hlavac, Teton

Pass general manager, said the resort’s owner, Nick Wood, announced the closure on the resort’s website, The Great Falls Tribune reported.

NEBRASKA

Bis-marck: Deer and wild turkey hunters can still get licenses for the upcoming hunting seasons, the state Game and Fish Department says.

NEVADA

Las Vegas: The Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation says first-time claims for unemployment insurance benefits

totaled 9,068 in September in the state. The figure is down 15% from last August and the lowest of any month since August 1998.

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Concord: The latest results of New Hampshire’s statewide Smarter Balanced assessment tests show a decline in both English and math in grades 3 through 8. Results show 58% of students were at or above proficiency in English, 3% less than the year before. And 49% were at or above proficiency in math, down 2%.

NEW JERSEY

Camden: Cesar Tavera, executive director of a nonprofit that provided mental health services to the poor, was sentenced to nearly six years in prison for embezzling from Nueva Vida Behavioral Health Center and using unqualified people to treat Medicaid recipients.

NEW MEXICO

Santa Fe: A long list of insurance companies failed to pay taxes on insurance premiums to the state totaling nearly $65 million since 2003, according to an independent audit. The audit delved into tax collections efforts at the Office of the Superintendent of Insurance for 30 insurance companies. It found unpaid taxes at 17 of them.

NEW YORK

New York: Elie Hirschfeld, a former business partner of President Trump, has bought a sketch of the Empire State Building drawn by Trump for $16,000 at an auction.

NORTH CAROLINA

Rocky Mount: Police seized 26 guns and arrested 13 people on weapons charges in a 12-day sweep conducted in response to increased gun violence that officials say is related to gang activity.

NORTH DAKOTA

Bismarck: Drought-stricken North Dakota ranchers have an extension until Nov. 13 to apply for state aid to help them pay the cost of hauling in hay to maintain their herds through the winter.

Cincinnati: The Cincinnati Zoo’s popular baby hippo, Fiona, had a front-row seat to a wedding proposal. A snapshot shared on Instagram shows the hippo underwater, watching as Nick Kelble got down on one knee for Hayley Roll. She accepted the proposal.

OKLAHOMA

Tulsa: The DISH Network is expanding in Tulsa and will create 250 new jobs.

OREGON OHIO

Portland: The Oregon Department of Corrections has settled a lawsuit filed on behalf of a transgender inmate who says she was denied medical care. The American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon says Michalle Wright has been subjected to cruel and unusual punishment. Wright will receive $167,500 in damages.

PENNSYLVANIA Hollidaysburg:

A judge has dismissed charges against one of three friars accused of improperly supervising a Franciscan brother accused of molesting more than 100 children. The judge found Anthony “Giles” Schinelli, 74, didn’t conspire to cover up abuse allegations.

RHODE ISLAND

Providence: The contractor responsible for Rhode Island’s benefits system has discovered several thousand more unprocessed benefits applications in the system, and has given the state a $58.6 million credit, state officials said.

SOUTH CAROLINA

Spartan-Assistant City Manager Chris Story has joined the inaugural class of a national fellowship program that will focus on ways to overcome socioeconomic challenges to build healthy sustainable communities, the Spartanburg Herald Journal reported.

SOUTH DAKOTA

Freeman: Students at a Mennonite school are selling items from their garden to raise money for a Puerto Rican sister school severely damaged by Hurricane Maria. Freeman Academy students are selling pumpkins and gourds with the goal of raising $1,000 to benefit Academia Menonita Betania, the Yankton Press & Dakotan reported.

TENNESSEE Memphis:

The Memphis College of Art says it is no longer recruiting new students and will begin winding down operations through May 2020. The school says it is closing because of declining enrollment and overwhelming real estate debt.

TEXAS

Dallas: Former Garland ISD human resources director Victor Leos was sentenced to two years in federal prison for falsifying immigration documents that allowed foreign teachers to work in his district.

UTAH

Salt Lake City: The Substance Use and Mental Health Advisory Council studying changes to Utah’s new law setting the country’s strictest DUI threshold is backing away from recommending any changes to the 0.05% blood alcohol limit scheduled to take effect next year.

VERMONT

Burlington: The University of Vermont’s Board of Trustees has approved $1 million in gift funds to go toward advancing the school’s proposed arena project, The Burlington Free Press reported.

VIRGINIA

Portsmouth: Allen H. Thacker, who admitted he shot a bald eagle and then ran it over with an all-terrain vehicle has been sentenced to house arrest, the Virginian-Pilot reported

WASHINGTON Spokane:

Washington State University has announced budget cuts to reduce an estimated $30 million annual deficit, school President Kirk Schulz said.

WEST VIRGINIA Charleston:

The West Virginia Broadband Enhancement Council is asking the federal government to require Internet providers to offer more details about their highspeed service, The Charleston Gazette-Mail reported.

WISCONSIN Hilbert:

Sargento Foods is adding 40,000 square feet and 150 jobs to its Hilbert location, WLUK-TV reported.

WYOMING Casper:

A central Wyoming school district will close Frontier Middle School and University Park, Mountain View and Willard elementary schools.