News from across the USA

ALABAMA Jasper: Michael Taylor, 32, of Acworth, Ga., was killed Friday when his motorcycle overturned on Interstate 22 as he swerved to avoid another vehicle, AL. com reported.

ALASKA Manokotak: Three rural residents stranded after their boat ran aground were rescued by chartered helicopter. Troopers received a call that the party was overdue, and a Bristol Bay Air Taxi pilot reported seeing a skiff abandoned across the Snake River from the village of Ekuk. The pilot saw footprints in mud leading to shore in an area accessible only by helicopter.

ARIZONA Gilbert: A small plane caught fire in the sky over Gilbert and Chandler and then crashed into a Gilbert home Saturday night, The Arizona Republic reported. Four passengers, all skydivers, bailed out of the plane and landed safely. The pilot, also a skydiver, jumped later and landed in a field about half a mile from the crash site. He was burned and taken to the hospital.

ARKANSAS North Little Rock: David Dove, 49, refused to go through a jail door before turning his head and spitting in the face of a police officer, according to a police report cited by Arkansas-Online.

CALIFORNIA Glendale: Less than a month after completing its takeover of DreamWorks Animation, NBCUniversal announced plans to eliminate about 200 jobs at the studio, the Los Angeles Times reported.

COLORADO Broomfield: A student competing in a crosscountry meet died after collapsing, the Boulder Daily Camera reported. Brandon Ries, 18, was co- captain of the Peak to Peak Charter School team and a senior at the school.

CONNECTICUT Fairfield: Fairfield University received a $ 4 million donation from Maryanne Trump Barry, the sister of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

DELAWARE Wilmington: Authorities said workers who were smoking on the roof were responsible for accidentally causing a fire at A. I. DuPont Middle School.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Long lines at security, elevators and escalators that didn’t work and closed- off galleries marred the debut of the National Museum of African American History and Culture during a media open house in advance of the formal dedication Sept. 24, The Washington Post reported.

FLORIDA Tampa: Tens of millions of gallons of reprocessed water from a fertilizer plant were likely dumped into the Floridan aquifer after a massive sinkhole opened up underneath a gypsum stack at a Mosaic phosphate fertilizer company, officials said.

GEORGIA Atlanta: Authorities arrested two people who allegedly made false clown reports, The Atlanta Journal- Constitution reported. This summer, there have been multiple creepy clown sightings in the Carolinas, Wisconsin and Georgia.

HAWAII Honolulu: An outbreak of Hepatitis A linked to raw scallops served at a popular sushi chain has now sickened 271 people, the state Health Department said.

IDAHO Burley: Federal officials approved the first geothermal project on Idaho’s public land since the 1980s. The project by Walker Ranch Energy will include a plant about 13 miles south of Malta, The Times- News reported.

ILLINOIS Chicago: A $ 43 million project will convert part of a parking garage into a new emergency department at University of Chicago Medicine, bringing back trauma services to the South Side after a 25- year absence, the Chicago Tribune reported.

INDIANA Terre Haute: Authorities said a 28- year- old robbery suspect made off with a police car despite being handcuffed behind his back, the Tribune Star reported. Police using GPS caught up with him elsewhere in Terre Haute.

IOWA Des Moines: Downtown Des Moines’ busiest bridge is scheduled to close Monday, forcing thousands of commuters to find other ways across the Des Moines River, The Register reported. The Grand Avenue bridge, which handles 7,600 vehicles daily, is being replaced, and the new bridge isn’t expected to open until the end of next year.

KANSAS Hutchinson: Gov. Brownback encouraged the Kansas State Fair Board to self- finance any improvements that it would like to make, The Hutchinson News reported.

KENTUCKY Lexington: Officials said Blue Grass Airport is planning nearly $ 35 million in upgrades to allow the regional airport to serve a growing number of passengers, the Lexington Herald- Leader reported. The upgrades will include additional hangars for private planes, a new baggage system, a new rental car maintenance garage and more parking. LOUISIANA New Orleans: Sweet and savory beignets will be dished out at the first Beignet Fest on Oct. 8 in Lafayette Square. Candied- bacon beignets, crabmeat beignets, boudin-stuffed beignets, café au lait and beignet ice cream cones are among the tempting- sounding items that will be sold, The Times- Picayune reported.

MAINE Portland: The Penobscot Nation and Maine climate activists are calling on President Obama to stop a proposed $ 3.8 billion pipeline in South Dakota.

MARYLAND Annapolis: Gov. Hogan announced his request for presidential disaster declaration for Ellicott City has been approved. The governor said that Maryland and Howard County will be eligible for federal assistance to help pay costs for the response and recovery from the July 30 flooding that damaged much of Main Street in Ellicott City.

MASSACHUSETTS Boston: Pub- lic health officials confirmed that a Norfolk County man is the second person to contract West Nile virus in the state this year.

MICHIGAN Sault Ste. Marie: Students from North America now pay $ 5,412 per semester for 12 to 17 credits at Lake Superior State. The university in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula might extend it to students from any country as a possible way to boost enrollment, The Evening News reported.

MINNESOTA St. Paul: St. Paul Academy and Summit School announced plans for a new math and science center to be made possible by a $ 15 million gift from Hugh Schilling, 91, a member of the Class of 1943, the Star Tribune reported.

MISSISSIPPI Jackson: A Minneapolis company will build a $ 25 million factory to make bottles and fill them with water in Hinds County, hiring 42 people over three years. Premium Waters will lease land in an industrial park near Byram, build a 210,000- square- foot plant and begin operations by 2017.

MISSOURI Kansas City: The Internal Revenue Service center in Kansas City will be one of only two national IRS processing centers left after another reduction in centers across the USA, officials said. The Kansas City center, which employs about 4,600 people, will continue to process Form 1040 paper filings. A center in Ogden, Utah, will process business filings.

MONTANA Billings: The U. S. Senate approved a $ 420 million water rights settlement with Montana’s Blackfeet American Indian tribe as part of the larger Water Resources Development Act. The vote sends the act to the U. S. House of Representatives, where it must pass before the year ends.

NEBRASKA Lincoln: Children who suffer from serious emotional problems could have better access to community- based services under a $ 12 million federal grant, WOWT- TV reported. The state Department of Health and Human Services announced it will receive $ 3 million annually over four years to continue implementing care. The system of care will help deliver services to children who are considered at- risk of emotional and behavioral problems.

NEVADA Las Vegas: Visitors came from as far away as Mexico City to celebrate Mexican Independence Day at Caesars Palace last week, officials said.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Pembroke: Police said about 700 ears of corn and other produce have been stolen from a family- owned farm.

The Concord Monitor reported that about $ 400 worth of corn, along with cucumbers, Swiss chard and tomatoes were taken from the LaValley Farms Pembroke field. The theft comes as the region’s farmers work through dry conditions resulting from a summer drought.

NEW JERSEY Egg Harbor Township: A sixth person was arrested and charged after a rolling highway shootout last month that left one dead, state police said.

NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: New Mexico Highlands University was placed on probation by an accreditation group. The Santa Fe New Mexican reported that the Higher Learning Commission, which accredits about 1,000 colleges in the country, placed the university on probation for what it says are a series of deficiencies.

NEW YORK New York: Animal control officers rescued 344 pigeons from a home on Long Island. Nassau County SPCA told the Daily News it took nearly four hours to capture the birds, who lived among 2 feet of droppings and seed on the floor.

NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: The Department of Insurance levied a record $ 3.6 million fine against Blue Cross and Blue Shield for widespread problems that led to billing and enrollment errors for Blue Cross customers since January, The News & Observer reported.

NORTH DAKOTA Minot: A 34year- old man who fled law enforcement three times in eight days was sentenced to two years in prison for the third chase. The Minot Daily News reported that Trenton Kary pleaded guilty to felony reckless endangerment, unauthorized use of a vehicle and fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer.

OHIO Cleveland: The Federal Aviation Administration gave Cleveland Hopkins International Airport an $ 8 million grant to prevent the recurrence of runway de- icing problems that resulted in unsafe conditions at the airport over the winter.

OKLAHOMA Claremore: Fire Capt. Jason Farley, who died May 23, 2015, rescuing a woman and six small children from a flooding duplex, was inducted into the International Association of Firefighters Hall of Fame and added to its Wall of Honor, Tulsa World reported.

OREGON Prineville: Causing trouble at local parks could get you banned for up to six months as the City Council moved a step closer to passing a park exclusion ordinance, The Bulletin reported. The City Council will vote on adopting a final version of the proposal Sept. 27.

PENNSYLVANIA Philadelphia: The Sullivan Progress Plaza shopping center was recognized as the first in the country to be built, owned and operated by African- Americans, Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

RHODE ISLAND Providence: Mayor Jorge Elorza said he plans to clean up downtown by providing more support to the homeless and those living with substanceabuse or mental health issues, WPRI- TV reported.

SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: Nearly 1,250 farmers in South Carolina will get more than $ 35 million in aid for their losses during last October’s massive floods, officials said.

SOUTH DAKOTA Huron: The state Department of Revenue said tax revenues for this year’s South Dakota State Fair added up to nearly $ 175,000. That’s more than the 2015 total of $ 171,736. Johnson City:

TENNESSEEOfficials voted in favor of a move to local rezone addictiona property treatmentin Gray clinic,for a the Johnson City Press reported.

TEXAS Austin: The number of people in Texas considered poor by the U. S. Census dropped by 268,200, or from 17.2% to 15.9%, The Texas Tribune reported.

UTAH Salt Lake City: Angels Landing trail at Zion National Park will be closed twice for a helicopter- powered waste removal operation, officials said.

VERMONT Barton: Leland Kinsey, whose understanding of Vermont can be found in the eight volumes of poetry he wrote, died last week, Burlington Free Press reported. He was 66.

VIRGINIA Richmond: The state Supreme Court denied a Republican effort to have Democratic Gov. McAuliffe held in contempt over his efforts to restore voting rights for felons, the Richmond Times- Dispatch reported. WASHINGTON Seattle: The state adopted a new rule to limit greenhouse gas emissions. The change will cover power plants and other industries.

WEST VIRGINIA Weirton: The American Civil Liberties Union plans to sue the state police and the city police department for failing to turn over documents related to the killing of an African- American man, the Charleston Gazette- Mail reported.

WISCONSIN Milwaukee: Artist Jan Serr and her husband, John Shannon, gave the University of Wisconsin’s Peck School of the Arts $ 1 million, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

WYOMING Jackson: Officials said the man who was mauled by a bear had been calling for elk before the attack, the Jackson Home News and Guide reported.