STATE- BY- STATE

News from across the USA

ALABAMA Montgomery: High Ridge Spirits is making legal moonshine in Bullock County, bottling “Shine,” in what’s being described as the state’s first legal distillery. Brew master and distiller Jamie Ray told WAKA- TV he had to meet federal regulations involving the Food and Drug Administration and pass the state Alcoholic Beverage Control’s guidelines.

ALASKA Fairbanks: The Fairbanks Daily News- Miner reported that temperatures fell into the upper 20s Saturday night in parts of the Fairbanks area. National Weather Service meteorologist Joe Kryston said Angel Creek saw 28 degrees and Eielson Air Force Base recorded 27 degrees.

ARIZONA Prescott: Yavapai Downs’ new owner hopes to open the track on Memorial Day weekend. Gary Miller had hoped to reopen the track this month for a short season, but he still hasn’t got the financing.

ARKANSAS Fayetteville: The University of Arkansas began the fall semester Monday with more than 25,000 students for the first time ever at the Fayetteville campus. The count includes graduate and undergraduate students.

CALIFORNIA Los Angeles: Airquality monitors will be installed near busy freeways next year — part of a nationwide plan to provide a better look at traffic- caused pollution in 100 major cities. The monitors could provide important information to nearly 1 million residents who live close to a freeway, which puts them at greater risk of respiratory illness.

COLORADO Colorado Springs: Portions of the Pikes Peak Highway will be closed to visitors while Universal Pictures crews shoot a film on Sept. 4 and Sept. 5. The director of the film, which has not been identified, requested the highway be closed to visitors while shooting because of several shots that involve a long setup time.

CONNECTICUT Ledyard: A police officer on Sunday shot and killed a monitor lizard as it was attacking chickens in a homeowner’s chicken coop. Police said the reptile threatened emergency responders. Police believe the monitor lizard had been an illegal pet and either escaped or was abandoned.

DELAWARE Dover: The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control is urging residents to return plastic bags to stores with recycling collection containers, a change from previous advice to put bags in recycling bins for curbside pickup. The department said the bags clog machines at recycling centers.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Charter school officials are proposing to rank preschools based largely on reading and math test scores for children as young as 3. The Washington Post reported that more than 200 parents had signed a petition opposed to the proposal.

FLORIDA Melbourne: The Burger Inn is up for sale on U. S. 1 here after 61 years of operation, Florida Today reported. Owner Al Urezzio took over the burger stand in 1991, has had two heart attacks in the past 18 months, and is ready to pass on the spatula to someone else.

GEORGIA Grovetown: Sheriff’s deputies in Columbia County shot and killed a 58- year- old man on Sunday after a standoff that shut down Interstate 20 for more than four hours, authorities said. According to The Columbia County NewsTimes, authorities said the man, whose name has not been released, was pointing a .45 caliber handgun at deputies when he was shot.

HAWAII Honolulu: A marine biologist is studying the movements of tiger sharks, including whether resident tiger sharks patrol certain areas of ocean around Hawaii Island. The Honolulu Star- Advertiser reported independent researcher Michael Domeier, director of the nonprofit Marine Conservation Institute, will use devices attached to shark dorsal fins to track tiger sharks by satellite. Domeier said the study was planned before recent shark attacks on people.

IDAHO Twin Falls: A passing storm knocked out power to more than 150 homes and businesses in Twin Falls, Kimberly, Hansen, Murtaugh and Hazelton. The storm knocked down telephone poles and blew line fuses.

INDIANA Indianapolis: Public Safety Director Troy Riggs is working with city leaders to establish a private foundation to help police officers with alcoholrelated problems. More than a dozen local officers have been arrested on alcohol charges in the past three years.

IOWA Des Moines: An unusual late summer heat wave will push temperatures this week into the upper- 90s across much of Iowa and past the 100 degree mark here. A high of 102 is expected today in the capital city, with temperatures remaining in the upper- 90s through Friday. The last time the temperature reached 100 degrees this late in the year was 1983, according to the National Weather Service.

KENTUCKY Frankfort: Twenty- two Kentucky school districts will share a $ 41 million grant in the U. S. Department of Education’s Race to the Top- District competition. Gov. Beshear, a Democrat, said Monday that the consortium of districts snared the largest grant in the national competition.

LOUISIANA Monroe: A new federal assessment could boost the chances that the U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs will issue a grant for a new cemetery in Richland Parish.

MAINE Windsor: A pumpkin weighing nearly half a ton has taken top honors at a fair’s annual giant pumpkin contest. Edwin Pieront’s entry tipped the scales at 962 pounds in Sunday’s contest on the first day of the Windsor Fair. The second- place pumpkin weighed 818 pounds. The Kennebec Journal reported that Pieront is the state record- holder, with a 1,471- pound pumpkin that he grew in 2010.

MARYLAND Ocean City: A committee will recommend to the Town Council today a plan to let surf fishermen drive onto the beach up to the shore break. The proposal calls for a one- year pilot program running from 7 a. m. to 6 p. m. weekdays, November through March. The Police Department does not support the idea.

MASSACHUSETTS Springfield: Police said a man fishing in the Connecticut River in Springfield was jumped by three men and had his wallet stolen. Police said the victim was taken to the hospital for treatment of a head injury.

MICHIGAN Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan is eliminating the use of trays in most of its dining halls in an effort to cut down on wasted food, reduce costs and curb energy use involved in washing the trays. The change goes into effect during fall semester.

MINNESOTA Duluth: The mayor, police chief and other leaders are concerned about plans to open a needle- exchange program for drug users in a part of downtown they have worked to revitalize.

MISSISSIPPI Biloxi: The owners of two of the city’s biggest eyesores — an unfinished casino and senior citizens apartments downtown — have until Nov. 1 to tell the city what they plan to do with the buildings.

MISSOURI Jefferson City: A state lawmaker arrested for allegedly possessing marijuana said he is resigning from a Democratic campaign position but not from office. Rep. Jeremy LaFaver said he is stepping down as chairman of the House Democratic Victory Committee, which raises money for House candidates.

MONTANA Bozeman: A 52- year- old man was shot and wounded by another man at a transient camp. Bozeman Police Sgt. Colton Schumacher said the victim was shot two to three times. He declined to release the man’s name.

NEBRASKA Lincoln: More and more people are carrying fake guns these days, the police chief said. Chief Jim Peschong said the number has risen steadily over the past three to four years.

NEVADA Las Vegas: Got $ 10 million or more to spare? You could own a piece of Clark County history when the old courthouse building goes up for public auction in October. The seven- story building, which opened in 1960, sits on a 2.76- acre lot near the Fremont Street Experience downtown.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Weare: Rescuers came to the aid of two people stranded in the dark at Clough State Park here after their ATV broke down. They were not hurt.

NEW JERSEY Trenton: The Trenton Thunder will donate all the proceeds from certain online ticket sales for tonight’s home game to police detectives Edgar Rios and James Letts, who were shot Aug. 15 by a man facing arrest in a domestic violence case.

NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: A state task force has begun consider- ing possible changes to keep the state’s lotteryfunded college scholarship program from running short of money.

NEW YORK Fort Drum: A commemorative plaque will be placed during a ceremony today at the site of a 1947 barracks fire that killed five soldiers during a winter training exercise. The fire spurred lawsuits that led to the Feres Doctrine, which holds that the government isn’t liable for injuries or deaths related to military service even in cases of negligence, a legal precedent that remains intact.

NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: Police told Love Wins Ministries not to hand out breakfast biscuits to homeless people at a public square on weekends, which the group has done for six years. Distributing food in parks without a permit violates a city ordinance. Mayor Nancy McFarlane said a city council committee will address the situation this week.

NORTH DAKOTA Grand Forks: The city is experiencing its lowest apartment vacancy rates in at least 10 years, despite the fact that more contractors are building apartments. The Greater Grand Forks Apartment Association cited a July survey showing that 4% of apartment complexes in the area were vacant. That’s down 3% from a July 2011 survey.

OHIO Columbus: The Department of Health will put out baits laced with rabies vaccine through Sept. 20 over 4,334 square miles. Five raccoon-rabies cases have been confirmed this year.

OKLAHOMA Hugo: A man wanted in the shooting deaths of two people turned himself in to authorities. Dawaylon “Hog” Rainey turned himself in at the Choctaw County Sheriff’s Office. Authorities arrested Rainey for the shooting deaths Aug. 4 of Floyd Devin Clegg, 23, and Qualin Hayden, 19.

OREGON Madras: A motorcyclist who stopped under a tree to get out of the rain was killed when lightning struck the tree.

PENNSYLVANIA Pittsburgh: The Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium is set to host a symposium of elephant and rhinoceros experts. Experts from Zimbabwe, South Africa, Germany, Cambodia, Indonesia and India are set to attend the 2013 International Elephant & Rhino Symposium. The experts will meet to share information on veterinary care, breeding in captivity, animal behavior and other research.

RHODE ISLAND Providence: State environmental officials said a mosquito sample in Tiverton has tested positive for the bird disease known as Highlands J virus. The species of mosquito that tested positive bites birds.

SOUTH CAROLINA Greenville: Federal, state and local agencies are investigating how toxic materials containing polychlorinated biphenyls ( PCBs) were dumped into upstate sewer systems, The Greenville News reported.

SOUTH DAKOTA Rosebud: The Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk is donating $ 3 million to the Rosebud Indian Reservation to help fight rampant levels of Type 2 diabetes, the Argus Leader reported. The money is paying for a 13,000- squarefoot wellness center and a mobile clinic to bring health care to desolate parts of the impoverished reservation.

TENNESSEE Knoxville: A large generator will be making the 60- mile trek from Knoxville to Greeneville — very slowly. The journey was to begin Monday evening over state roads and will move at 8 mph to 25 mph. The rig that will carry the generator is 16 feet wide and 175 feet long and take up at least two lanes of highway.

TEXAS San Antonio: A 4- year- old beluga whale named Bella died at SeaWorld after a brief illness. No cause of death was immediately released. A necropsy was ordered.

UTAH Zion National Park: Heavy rains flooded slot canyons and lowlying areas here late Sunday evening, forcing trail and road closures. The Spectrum reported that water levels rose in the Virgin River while rockslides and other problems caused temporary road closures, including the Zion Canyon Scenic Drive.

VERMONT Bennington: A museum is going to be celebrating the 150th anniversary of a quilt that has inspired quilters across the world. The Jane Stickle Quilt will be on display at the Bennington Museum in Bennington from Aug. 31 through Oct. 14. The museum said quilters from across the world travel here to view the quilt and the craftsmanship has been mentioned in numerous quilting books.

VIRGINIA Richmond: Only 6% of the 144 police departments and sheriff’s offices that supplied their policies have implemented the “best practices” for police lineup procedures adopted by the state Department of Criminal Justice Services in 2011, according to a survey by University of Virginia.

WASHINGTON Spokane: Police arrested a second teen suspect in last week’s beating death of an 88- yearold World War II veteran. The first suspect turned himself in last week. Both suspects are 16 years old and face charges of murder and robbery in the death of Delbert Belton.

WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: A group is voicing opposition to a proposed $ 1 billion deal to transfer ownership of a Harrison County power plant. The West Virginia- Citizen Action Group said it has filed a formal objection with the state Public Service Commission.

WISCONSIN Janesville: Formal studio shots are giving way to selfportraits and images snapped by friends as more high school students take advantage of digital technology to create their own senior portraits.

WYOMING Jackson: State lawmakers are coming to Teton County to talk about cuts to the Game and Fish Department, and they could get an earful. The Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance encouraged its members to attend the today’s meeting.