News from across the USA

ALABAMA Montgomery: The city plans to dedicate a park July 2 to memorialize the Wright brothers. Orville and Wilbur Wright spent less than a year here in 1910 running the nation’s first civilian flight school. The park will include a replica of the brothers’ plane.

ALASKA Juneau: Poems by local writers Emily Wall and Ernestine Hayes have been selected for permanent placement in Totem Bight State Historical Park in Ketchikan as part of the Alaska Center for the Book’s Poems in Place project.

ARIZONA Phoenix: A suspected gang member accused of being involved in the 2009 fatal shooting of a Phoenix man is on the U. S. Marshals Service’s list of the 15 most wanted fugitives. Cameron Leezell Taylor, 26, is wanted by Phoenix police.

ARKANSAS Benton: One person was injured when a truck carrying logs crashed into a bicycle store .

CALIFORNIA Los Angeles: Fire has swept through a auto repair garage, killing a man who apparently set up makeshift living quarters inside the small commercial building.

COLORADO Aspen: The city is testing a plan to ensure sufficient flows in the Roaring Fork River by reducing the amount of water Aspen diverts from the stream. The Aspen

Times reports the City Council approved the one- year pilot project. CONNECTICUT New Hartford: Authorities have been searching for a woman who went missing after falling out of a raft that hit a rock and capsized on the Farmington River. Rachel Greene, 33, was in a party of two rafts.

DELAWARE Dover: Delaware State University plans to take over the Sheraton Hotel and conference center as part of an expansion program and effort to boost enrollment.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: The Wash

ington Examiner ended local coverage after eight years as a free newspaper. A new website and weekly magazine focused on national politics will debut this week.

FLORIDA Fort Myers: City officials ordered St. Vincent de Paul’s food pantry to shut down amid complaints that it is causing traffic delays on a narrow street when it distributes food during two- hour windows twice a week.

GEORGIA Atlanta: Marla Lawson, 63, is retiring from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation as the state’s first forensic sketch artist. Her daughter, Kelly Lawson, 30, will take over the job.

HAWAII Honolulu: A dozen faculty members from universities in Indonesia are spending the summer at the University of Hawaii to learn about disaster risk management and how it can save lives in their country.

IDAHO Boise: Two conservation groups are offering to pay $ 6,500 in reward for information leading to the arrest and a conviction in the case of a grizzly bear killed near the IdahoMontana border last fall.

ILLINOIS Springfield: The state’s new Where Fresh Is campaign will provide 200 grocery stores and 100 farmers markets with stickers to place on locally- grown products so shoppers may easily identify them.

INDIANA Terre Haute: Drivers who have to show proof of insurance to police after an accident or traffic violation can do so electronically through an app provided by insurers starting July 1 under a new law.

IOWA Des Moines: Records show more than $ 1.1 billion of the more than $ 4.7 billion in flood recovery money awarded to state and local governments remains unused five years after the largest natural disaster in Iowa history, The Des Moines

Register reported.

KANSAS Wichita: Rising temperatures have led to a rash of air conditioner thefts by people who sell copper piping and other scrap metal inside the units. Since mid- April, 65 air- conditioning units have been reported stolen in two precincts, police Sgt. Allen Wolf of the Patrol East Bureau said.

KENTUCKY Riceville: The first 18 miles of what will be the state’s larg- est rail trail has opened. The Dawkins Line Rail Trail from Hagerhill to Royalton is aimed at attracting tourism.

LOUISIANA Baton Rouge: The Downtown Development District has unveiled a wave of projects, including more green space, a bike path and Mississippi River levee improvements.

MAINE Augusta: Volunteer fishers are being sought to survey remote ponds and lakes around the state in search of brook trout.

MARYLAND Middletown: The Middletown High School Sports Club will postpone its raffle drawing of a four- bedroom house valued at $ 475,000 until September because of slow ticket sales. MASSACHUSETTS Worcester: Police have identified a Worcester State University police officer and his girlfriend whose bodies were found in an apparent murder- suicide. The

Telegram reported that police on Sunday identified the boyfriend and girlfriend as Israel Gonzalez and Donna Zollo Pisarczyk.

MICHIGAN Muskegon: Miss Saginaw County Haley Williams, 20, of Saline, has been crowned Miss Michigan and will compete for the Miss America title in Atlantic City in September.

MINNESOTA Minneapolis: The city’s mayoral race is wide open after the DFL Party failed to endorse a candidate. So all six candidates will run in the Nov. 5 general election.

MISSISSIPPI Jackson: The G. V. “Sonny” Montgomery Veterans Affairs Medical Center has added 30 new mental health professionals.

MISSOURI Kansas City: Police have been trying to crack down on motorcyclists who sometimes block traffic while pulling stunts on busy streets and often videotaping their antics. About 40 bikers blocked traffic on Interstate 70 earlier this month.

MONTANA Browning: Authorities say five people were killed and two more injured when the driver of a pickup truck rolled the vehicle.

NEBRASKA North Platte: More than 17,000 ping pong balls rolled down a viaduct in North Platte as a kickoff to the Nebraskaland Days Parade. Raffle tickets were sold for $ 5 each. The person who bought the first ball to cross the finish line received $ 2,500.

NEVADA Reno: Two former University of Nevada football players have been arrested on suspicion of attempted robbery and assault with a deadly weapon. Avery Poates and Anthony Knight were dismissed from the Wolf Pack team this spring. NEW HAMPSHIRE New Hampton: Police said a motorcyclist has been charged with topping speeds of 150 mph on Interstate 93. Edson Barbosa, 44, of Stoneham, Mass., has been charged with felony reckless conduct. The speed limit was 65 mph.

NEW JERSEY Bordentown: St. Mary School has been shuttered after 150 years because of declining enrollment and financial troubles.

NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: The New Mexico Museum of Indian Arts and Culture has hired as its new director Della Warrior, a member of Oklahoma’s Otoe- Missouria Tribe.

NEW YORK Albany: The state is allocating $ 3.4 million from the Women, Infants and Children program to help 215,000 low- income families buy locally grown food at 470 farmers’ markets.

NORTH CAROLINA Boone: Watauga County medical examiner Brent Hall has resigned. He knew on June 1 that carbon monoxide killed a couple in a Best Western motel, a week before a boy, 11, died in the same room, and failed to share the toxicology results with local health officials.

NORTH DAKOTA Minto: More than 170 volunteers turned out to try to break the Guinness world record for the largest single serving of chili. A 300- gallon milk container was dragged down Main Street on Saturday, the Grand Forks Herald reported. Inside was 2,420 pounds of chili con carne.

OHIO Dayton: The state Department of Health reported that 5,200 people were hospitalized with the flu from September through May 18, the most since it began keeping count.

OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: A judge sentenced a teenager to six years in prison for setting fire in 2011 that killed two people in their 80s.

OREGON Salem: The issue of mandated overtime at Oregon’s state mental hospital was highlighted when an employee who had worked an extra six hours on top of a night shift fell asleep driving home and crashed into a telephone pole, the

Statesman Journal reported.

PENNSYLVANIA Harrisburg: Gov. Corbett has nominated state appeals court judge Gorreale F. Stevens to temporarily fill a vacancy on the state Supreme Court.

RHODE ISLAND Providence: Police say a shooter opened fire on a group outside a house, killing a 12- year- old girl. The girl was declared dead at Hasbro Children’s Hospital.

SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: New research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveals that public pool water is often contaminated. And the new swimming season comes at a time when there are 18 state inspectors — down from 33 in 2009 — to inspect more than 6,000 state- permitted pools across the state.

SOUTH DAKOTA Brandon: A highway patrolman who was critically injured in the line of duty last year was named “Trooper of the Year” by the American Association of State Troopers, the Argus Leader reported. Trooper Andrew Steen, 34, suffered a severely broken ankle, a skull fracture and traumatic brain injury after being run down during a police pursuit of an alleged drunken driver.

TENNESSEE Pigeon Forge: Archaeologists have excavated artifacts from Iron Forge, which was built in 1817 and was the original forge that the city derived its name from.

TEXAS Austin: GOP Gov. Perry signed the “Merry Christmas bill,” which removes legal risks of saying “Merry Christmas” in schools and protects traditional holiday symbols as long as more than one religion and a secular symbol are also reflected.

UTAH Salt Lake City: Goldman Sachs plans to loan up to $ 4.6 million for a preschool program here. The goal is to raise the achievement level of special- needs children before they enroll in school, and reduce the cost of special education. The state spends $ 2,600 a year per child for remedial services, and the bank could earn money by reducing the number of kids who need special education.

VERMONT St. Johnsbury: Dog Mountain, one of the area’s largest tourist attractions that includes an art gallery and dog chapel, is open again following the June 2 suicide of owner Gwen Huneck.

VIRGINIA Charlottesville: University of Virginia officials said their first round of worldwide free online classes were such a success that they’ll increase the offerings. More than 150,000 took the university’s five free courses this year on the Coursera online network. At least nine classes have been firmed up for the next year and others are possible.

WASHINGTON Bremerton: For the first time, a woman is taking over as commander of Navy Region Northwest. Rear Adm. Bette Bolivar will oversee bases in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Alaska. Bolivar last served as chief of staff at Navy Installations Command in Washington, D. C. WEST VIRGINIA Kearneysville: The Coast Guard Operations Systems Center is getting 150 new jobs. Sen. Jay Rockefeller announced the $ 15.9 million expansion will add 40,000 square feet to the center, which currently employs 60 people.

WISCONSIN Oak Creek: Police Lt. Brian Murphy, who was struck with 12 bullets while responding to the fatal shooting rampage at a Sikh temple last year, is starting a new job with Armor Express, the company that made his bulletproof vest.

WYOMING Powell: Seven Wyoming residents hailing from around the world became U. S. citizens at a site where the U. S. government once held thousands of Japanese Americans and took away their rights during World War II. The naturalization ceremony was held in front of the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center.