STATE-BY-STATE

News from across the USA

ALABAMA Decatur: A new exhibit at the Alabama Center for the Arts celebrates two north Alabama landmarks: the 100th anniversary of the Bankhead National Forest and the 80th anniversary of the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge.

ALASKA Ketchikan: The first highresolution mapping of a fast-moving underwater tectonic fault that extends from Vancouver Island, Canada, to southeast Alaska has been completed.

ARIZONA Mesa: The FBI has notified Mesa police that they are assessing possible civil rights violations in the alleged use of force by officers during two arrests.

ARKANSAS Little Rock: Two inmates died Wednesday of possible drug overdoses at Varner Supermax Unit. Three other inmates were found unresponsive earlier in the week and died within 24 hours of each other.

CALIFORNIA Gilroy: Marc Belluomini, 54, has been arrested for allegedly shooting to death and burying 11 cows this summer amid a dispute with their owners.

COLORADO Fort Collins: The number of people sickened by a salmonella outbreak at La Luz Mexican Grill has grown to 19. The restaurant voluntarily shut down Aug. 21 and remains closed.

CONNECTICUT Weston: Weston Public Schools sent home a letter to parents and staff after police warned of at least two sightings of a “sizable bobcat” in town.

DELAWARE Dover: Mark Brainard, president of Delaware Technical Community College, tops the list of highest-paid state employees with an annual base salary of $245,000.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Howard University is launching “HU Stands,” a campaign to promote the prevention of sexual assault and harassment on campus.

FLORIDA Tampa: Florida Health, which is changing its name to AdventHealth early next year, has a deal with the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers to name the team’s headquarters and training facility AdvanetHealth Training Center.

GEORGIA Atlanta: The Rotary clubs that cover the metro area and west Georgia are offering eight overseas exchange program scholarships for the 2019-20 school year.

HAWAII Honolulu: Officials are planning to relocate an overcrowded and deteriorating jail on Oahu and rebuild next to the state prison in Honolulu.

IDAHO Boise: The state will receive more than $90 million in federal grant money to help expand Interstate 84.

ILLINOIS Willowbrook: A federal study shows people living near Sterigenics International, a contract sterilization company, face some the country’s highest cancer risks from toxic air pollution.

INDIANA Merrillville: The Diocese of Gary has released the names of 10 former priests who the diocese has deemed guilty of sexually abusing children. Seven of the men are deceased.

IOWA Iowa City: Administrators say most of a roughly $400,000 reward fund aimed at gathering information about Mollie Tibbetts will be returned to donors now that she’s been found dead. Donations not linked to Tibbetts being found alive will go to the group’s general fund and Tibbetts’ family.

KANSAS Topeka: A teachers union has endorsed Democratic Sen. Laura Kelly in her bid for governor.

KENTUCKY Frankfort: Gov. Matt Bevin has rewarded Charles Grindle, executive director of the Commonwealth Office of Technology, with a $215,000 raise, boosting his annual salary to around $375,000.

MAINE Portland: Coca-Cola announced it is acquiring Moxie, a soda brand that is the official state beverage of Maine.

MARYLAND Rockville: Nurses will hand out condoms to students at four Montgomery County high schools starting next week.

MASSACHUSETTS Boston: The city set an Aug. 29 temperature record when it reached 98 degrees. The previous record was 96 degrees in 1953.

MICHIGAN Ann Arbor: A judge has instructed Tamar Boyadjian and Greg Douglas to either bring their treehouse up to code by Friday or take it down.

MINNESOTA Minneapolis: A roseate spoonbill, a pinkish and rosecolored bird with a wide and flat bill native to the Gulf Coast, attracted a crowd when it showed up in Minnesota for the first time.

MISSISSIPPI McComb: The city has fired its police chief, city attorney, city judge and city prosecutor.

MISSOURI Kansas City: A dog that disappeared from his southern California home and mysteriously wound up in a Missouri has been reunited with its owner.

MONTANA Helena: Syphilis cases grew to about one a week in 2017 and 2018, state health officials say. The state averaged about one case a month from 2014-16.

NEBRASKA Beatrice: Gage County officials have announced plans to raise taxes to help pay off a $28.1 million jury verdict for the wrongful convictions of six people for a 1985 crime. The six spent more than 75 years combined in prison for the rape and murder of a 68year-old woman until DNA evidence cleared them in 2008.

NEVADA Las Vegas: Alex Igelman, CEO of Millennial Esports Arena, says his organization is evaluating its security procedures in the wake of Sunday’s deadly shooting at a video game tournament in Jacksonville, Florida.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Dixville: The redevelopment team of the Balsams Grand Resort says it has withdrawn its application for a $28 million loan guarantee through the New Hampshire Business Finance Authority.

NEW JERSEY Mount Holly: A homeless man who used his last

$20 to help a stranded motorist is suing the couple who led a

$400,000 fundraising campaign to help him, saying they mismanaged a large part of the donations. The couple denies the claims. NEW MEXICO Lovington: Lea County commissioners voted to expand the Lea County Regional Airport. Officials say the facility contains a security section with no restrooms and an insufficient seating area for passengers.

NEW YORK Albany: The state Assembly will seek public input on legalizing marijuana in New York at four hearings this fall.

NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: Several lawsuits against Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork producer, are on pause as both sides pursue options for an “alternative resolu- tion” to future trials.

NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: Construction has begun on the Edwinton Place Apartments, a four-story facility that will provide housing to the chronically homeless, including people with mental illnesses, physical disabilities or chemical addictions.

OHIO Akron: FirstEnergy Solutions plans to shut down its remaining four coal-fired power plants by 2022: three Ohio plants and one in Pennsylvania.

OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: Organizers of the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon are changing the race’s course to reflect development of new public projects in the downtown area.

OREGON Salem: A judge says a project to thin 2,000 acres of timberland in Wallowa-Whitman National Forest can move forward.

PENNSYLVANIA Harrisburg: A new report into safety threats and security concerns in schools says better access to mental health services is needed.

RHODE ISLAND Newport: Olympic figure skater Michelle Kwan has sold her estate for nearly $4 million. The 5,000-square-foot home includes four bedrooms and five-and-a-half bathrooms.

SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: The brother of governor Henry McMaster has been hit with a $100,000 verdict in a lawsuit stemming from a 2014 assault on a waiter at a private club. SOUTH DAKOTA Brandon: The town was awarded

$30,000 from Kraft Hockeyville for being named the runner-up in the search for America’s most passionate hockey community. The money will be used to improve an outdoor hockey rink. “This is big.

$30,000 is a lot of money for us,” said Sarah Rasmussen, head of marketing for the Brandon Hockey Association.

TENNESSEE Nashville: A record $20.7 billion was spent on tourism in the state last year, a 6.3 percent increase from 2016. Also, Nashville has set monthly hotel room night records in 89 of the past 92 months.

TEXAS Houston: The Museum of Fine Arts has replaced its colorful admission stickers with plastic tags in an effort to cut down on stickers being adhered to nearby street signs and buildings.

UTAH Salt Lake City: The Utah Film Center is acquiring the Avrec Art House, a production and coworking space for independent filmmakers. The filmmaking service is being renamed the Artist Foundry.

VERMONT Bennington: Threats against against Rep. Kiah Morris, the only black woman in the state legislature, are being investigated by the state Attorney General’s office. Morris will not seek re-election.

VIRGINIA Roanoke: The Roanoke School Board will spend more than $13,000 on lockable pouches in order to keep high school students off their phones during math class. The pouches lock magnetically and can’t be accessed until a teacher unlocks them with a separate device.

WASHINGTON Seattle: Teachers have voted to strike if the union and school district fail to reach a contract agreement by Wednesday. WEST VIRGINIA Randolph County: A man who was accused of stealing snakes from a national forest was arrested when authorities found 17 rattlesnakes at his home.

WISCONSIN Milwaukee: The organizers of the Milwaukee Holiday Parade announced that the 2017 event was its last after running for 91 years. The DeGrace family, which has managed the parade since 1953, decided to retire.

WYOMING Jackson Hole: A natural gas field has been approved. The Bureau of Land Management says the field could produce 7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and up to 140 million barrels of oil over its expected 40-year lifespan, generating $18 billion in revenue.