News from across the USA

ALABAMA Tuscumbia: Mayor Kerry Underwood has reactivated the Tuscumbia Historical Preservation Commission, the Times Daily reports. The Alabama city is the birthplace of Helen Keller and site of the first railroad west of the Allegheny Mountains.

ALASKA Juneau: A University of Alaska professor and graduate student are planning to study whale watching’s impact on humpback whales. The Juneau Empire reports the study will consider how many whale- watching boats are in an area at once, and how close those boats get to the whales.

ARIZONA Phoenix: A restoration of funding means that the Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum will reopen. Ownership of the state’s leading science facility will go to the University of Arizona.

ARKANSAS El Dorado: The grand opening of the city’s new arts and entertainment district is less than five months away, the El Dorado News- Times reports. Developers are considering the Festival City of the South as a brand for the project.

CALIFORNIA Los Angeles: Los Angeles International Airport opened its $ 22 million Private Suite terminal this week, with exclusive entrances and one- onone security screenings for the rich and famous. The cost? Up to $ 3,500 for a domestic flight, $ 4,000 for an international flight.

COLORADO Denver: Critics are raising questions about Colorado’s use of polygraph tests for convicted sex offenders, The

Denver Post reports. The tests determine if a prisoner is or isn’t suited for release. Some state lawmakers say they rely on junk science.

CONNECTICUT New Canaan: Connecticut’s Silver Hill psychiatric hospital is launching its own talk show that will focus on mental illness and addiction. Host Tracey Masella is a licensed clinical social worker at Silver Hill.

DELAWARE Newport: A Delaware pizza delivery man picked up $ 32 in tips after delivering an order to a stalled Amtrak train. Passengers on the journey from New York to Washington called in the order during a long delay Sunday, and delivery man Jim Leary came through.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: The new Miss USA represents the District of Columbia. Kara McCullough, a 25- year- old scientist working for the U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, will compete in the Miss Universe contest.

FLORIDA Key West: A longtime magician at the Schooner Wharf Bar in Key West claims in a lawsuit that a popular household cleaner caused him to go blind after he used it to clean a dusty ceiling fan. “Magic Frank” Everhart sued the maker of the Lysol product, The Key West Citizen reports. The company denies wrongdoing.

GEORGIA Atlanta: Officials at the Georgia Poison Control Center tell WSB- TV that they’ve seen 55 snake bites so far this year. More than a third of the center’s snake bite calls involve copperheads.

HAWAII Lihue: Hawaii law enforcement arrested 17 people during a pair of sweeps last week on Kauai Island’s Napali Coast State Wilderness Park, The Honolulu Star- Advertiser reports. The suspects were cited for being in a closed area without a valid permit.

IDAHO Boise: Thousands of dollars in donations poured in for an Anne Frank memorial that was vandalized last week, The Idaho Statesman reports. Officials found racist and anti- Semitic slurs written on the memorial.

ILLINOIS Chicago: A 15- year- old suburban Chicago high school student is suing after being expelled for taking part in a scheme to hack into his school’s grading system, The Chicago Tribune reports. The Glenbrook North High School sophomore claims his role was marginal and expulsion is unreasonable.

INDIANA Muncie: The “gum tree” at Ball State University has been cut down. The Indianapolis

Star reports that the tree decorated with used chewing gum was removed to make way for a new “walking mall” approved by the school’s board.

IOWA Storm Lake: Iowa school districts are struggling to meet the need for more English language teachers. The Des Moines Register reports that enrollment in English language learner programs has grown five times in the past 25 years to more than 27,200 students in 2016.

KANSAS Topeka: Kansas health officials are investigating a man’s death from a virulent form of meningitis.

KENTUCKY Covington: A Kentucky group that revitalized downtown Covington has received one of three 2017 Great American Main Street Awards. The other honored locations are in Louisiana and Pennsylvania.

LOUISIANA Baton Rouge: Louisiana is holding outreach sessions to help homeowners with damage from last year’s floods to fill out a survey. That’s the initial step to requesting state aid from the $ 1.3 billion program.

MAINE Augusta: The new Maine National Guard Joint Force Headquarters is taking shape in Augusta. Officials say construction is about 70% complete, and Camp Chamberlain is due to be completed by year’s end, the Kennebec Journal reports.

MARYLAND Woodland Beach: Firefighters in Maryland rescued an 85- pound border collie last weekend after the dog fell in a sinkhole. Crews from Anne Arundel County and Annapolis responded.

MASSACHUSETTS Bedford: Police found a dead body last weekend near a Bedford boat ramp after a group of Boy Scouts picking up trash in their annual community service event reported discovering something suspicious.

MICHIGAN Bay City: Bay City will hold a new “MI Made Marketplace” festival Sept. 30- Oct. 1 to emphasize goods made in Michigan, The Bay City Times reports.

MINNESOTA Minneapolis: Minneapolis liquor store Surdyk’s has agreed to pay a $ 50,000 fine and stay closed the first three Sundays in July for jumping the gun on the repeal of a Sunday alcohol sales ban. The store opened March 12 after the repeal passed, but the law won’t take effect until July 2, Minnesota Public Radio reports.

MISSISSIPPI Biloxi: A woman claims a camel at Beauvier plantation, the last home of Confederate president Jefferson Davis, attacked her in 2015. She has filed a lawsuit against the operator of the Mississippi tourist attraction, The Sun Herald reports.

MISSOURI Jefferson

City: Medically underserved areas of Missouri could benefit from a new law allowing medical school graduates who passed key exams but weren’t placed in residency programs to serve as “assistant physicians.”

MONTANA Helena: Helena Regional Airport will soon be using a full- body scanner for the first time since March 2013, The Independent Record reports. The previous scanner was removed because the Transportation Security Administration didn’t have enough to supply the nation’s hub airports.

NEBRASKA Lincoln: Legislation to overturn most local gun restrictions stronger than Nebraska law appears dead for this year. At least 43 other states have passed laws pre- empting local gun ordinances.

NEVADA Las Vegas: The World Series of Poker is going back to crowning its main event champion in July. The series says ESPN is adding live coverage for the entire Texas Hold ‘ em main event, which kicks off July 8.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Pinkham

Notch: The Mount Washington Auto Road was closed earlier this week after picking up more than a foot of snow over the weekend, WMUR- TV reports.

NEW JERSEY Hoboken: Rail passengers got more access this week to Hoboken Terminal. A temporary green wall that restricted access has been taken down, ahead of a June schedule.

NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: New Mexico’s medical marijuana industry has grown substantially since being organized in 2007, The Albuquerque Journal reports. More than 40,000 New Mexico residents have a medical marijuana license.

NEW YORK New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art is considering a mandatory admissions fee for visitors outside New York state. The fee would be the museum’s first in its 147- year history.

NORTH CAROLINA Statesville: Some residents of this North Carolina city are upset because Lakewood Park was renamed for Martin Luther King Jr., The Statesville Record and Landmark reports. More than 1,200 people signed a petition opposing the change.

NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: North Dakota cattle producers are cheering the reopening of the Chinese market to U. S. beef. China is one of the world’s largest beef importers, but it has been closed to American producers for 13 years, the Bismarck Tribune reports.

OHIO Toledo: The body of a baby boy was found in an apparently abandoned car in Toldeo. WTOL- TV reports that an autopsy couldn’t determine the cause of death because of decomposition.

OKLAHOMA Edmond: Funds remitted by Amazon are included in Edmond’s sales tax collection check for May, The Oklahoman reports. Officials say the city is on track to receive $ 600,000 over the next fiscal year from the online company.

OREGON Portland: Portland State University trustees have named Rahmat Shoureshi as the school’s next president. He replaces Wim Wiewel, who announced last summer that would step down from the job he’s held since 2008.

PENNSYLVANIA Pittsburgh: The Department of Agriculture has warned a Pittsburgh restaurant against serving horse meat again. KDKA- TV reports that Cure Restaurant hosted a special dinner with Canadian chefs on May 8 that included horse tartare. Congress has banned horse meat for human consumption in the U. S.

RHODE ISLAND Providence: The Supreme Court Office of Disciplinary Counsel that investigates misconduct complaints against Rhode Island lawyers moved this week to the Noel Judicial Complex in Warwick.

SOUTH CAROLINA Wedgefield: A South Carolina woman is accused of setting her house on fire after barricading her family inside. The State reports that Willie Mae McQuilla was arrested last weekend on arson and attempted murder charges. The family members escaped without injury.

SOUTH DAKOTA Pierre: The number of pheasant hunters in South Dakota and the number of birds they killed were both down in 2016, The Capital Journal reports.

TENNESSEE Clarksville: A thunderous boom announced the arrival of a new addition to the Montgomery County Courthouse lawn in Tennessee. A working replica of a Civil War- era cannon was presented by the Rotary Club to celebrate its 100th anniversary, The Leaf- Chronicle reports.

TEXAS Fort Worth: A 14- yearold physics major is the youngest person ever to graduate from Texas Christian University. Carson Huey- You also has minors in Chinese and math, the Fort

Worth Star- Telegram reports.

UTAH Salt Lake City: Next year’s Utah legislative session will see the return of several measures that didn’t survive this year. Among them is an effort to add about an 86% tax to e- cigarettes. Another would allow some terminally- ill adults to end their lives.

VERMONT Montpelier: Authorities are investigating a former Cabot Creamery employee suspected of stealing machine parts for his side business selling maple syrup production equipment, The Burlington Free Press reports. No charges have been filed.

VIRGINIA Norfolk: A new art exhibit will feature photographs of Virginia shipyard workers. The Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk will display 21 photos beginning Thursday.

WASHINGTON Richland: Workers at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation who questioned unusual radiation readings are being credited with discovering the partial collapse of a waste storage tunnel last week. The Tri- City Herald reports that the sinkhole has since been filled in with more than 50 truckloads of soil. No one was hurt.

WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: The West Virginia Department of Agriculture is offering help for people who spot a swarm of honeybees. Officials hope people will report the bees so they can be moved rather than try to eradicate them. Honeybees swarm when they’re forming a new colony.

WISCONSIN Madison: The state chamber of commerce and a conservative advocacy group are praising a GOP proposal to require all Wisconsin administrative rules to expire every seven years unless renewed. But Democrats fear that would make it easier to undo consumer, workplace and environmental protections.

WYOMING Laramie: The University of Wyoming Board of Trustees has approved establishing an honors college. The Laramie Boomerang reports that the college is to be fully established by fall 2020. A search for the first honors college dean is underway.