News from across the USA

ALABAMA Birmingham: Samford University has declined an expected $ 3 million budget allocation next year from the Alabama Baptist State Convention. Al. com reports that tension between the school and Baptist leaders involves a faculty vote to recommend approval of a student group offering a forum on sexual orientation. ALASKA Old Rampart: Alaska and Canada exchanged wildfires this week. A blaze ignited by lightning in Canada’s remote Yukon Territory crossed the U. S. border into Alaska near the Native settlement of Old Rampart, while another nearby fire in Alaska crossed into Canada where it threatened a historic settlement. ARIZONA Tucson: Tucson firefighters rescued a woman who was trapped by storm runoff in a drainage tunnel. The woman was sleeping in the tunnel when she was swept into grates near the Rillito River on Tuesday. ARKANSAS Hot Springs: A Little Rock group is acquiring the Arlington Hotel in Hot Springs for an undisclosed amount, The Hot Springs Sentinel- Record reports. Sky Capital Group also operates the Four Points Sheraton in Little Rock. CALIFORNIA Los Angeles: Southern California beachgoers were warned this week about dangerous waves and rip currents stirred up by the former Hurricane Eugene. The National Weather Service predicted waves up to 8 feet. COLORADO Denver: A beloved beer vendor who worked at Coors Field since the Colorado Rockies’ first season has died. Brent Doeden, better known as Captain Earthman, was diagnosed with brain cancer last August. He died Monday at age 61, The Denver Post reports. CONNECTICUT Waterford: Officials in Waterford say the town’s only ladder tower fire truck is out of commission after a firefighter backed it into a brick column in the fire department building, The Day reports. DELAWARE Rehoboth Beach: A dead leatherback sea turtle washed ashore in Delaware this week, The Daily Times reports. Officials say it appears the turtle could’ve been hit by a large ship’s propeller. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: A second bridge over the Potomac River connecting Virginia and Maryland north of Washington will be considered during a July 19 meeting between elected officials and transportation planners, The Washington Post reports. FLORIDA Orlando: Authorities in Florida say six people face wire fraud and conspiracy charges for posing as Department of Homeland Security agents. The six posted online dating profiles and corresponded with men who believed they were adult women. The suspects later told the men that the profiles were by underage girls and demanded payment to avoid arresting them. GEORGIA Atlanta: A psychological evaluation has been requested for a Georgia woman charged with killing four of her young children and her husband. WXIA reports that Isabel Martinez’s surviving 9- year- old daughter remains hospitalized. HAWAII Kailua- Kona: A partially blind Hawaiian known as “bike man” reached the summit of Mauna Kea on his bicycle last weekend. Brian Fulghum made the 80- mile ride to the top of the mountain, West Hawaii Today reports. IDAHO Boise: A wildfire forced the closing and evacuation of Idaho’s Bruneau Sand Dunes State Park earlier this week. Offi- cials reported extremely dry and windy conditions in the area.

ILLINOIS Chicago: Police say “free samples” of tainted heroin may have resulted in the hospitalization of at least eight people in Chicago over the weekend due to overdoses. INDIANA Terre Haute: A welcome center along Interstate 70 in Indiana has been closed since April because its well and water infrastructure failed, The Tri

bune- Star reports.

IOWA Des Moines: More than seven dozen birds were seized from the Des Moines home of a man suspected of involvement in cockfighting. Court records say Mariana Martinez Ramirez is charged with possession of animal contest devices. Officers said they saw roosters physically groomed like birds prepared for cockfighting. KANSAS Wichita: City officials are planning changes at three undeveloped park sites, The Wichita Eagle reports. But the parks — Pracht Wetlands, Crystal Prairie Lake and Central and Bristol — aren’t expected to be completed before 2025.

KENTUCKY Whitley City: A ranger- led hike to one of Kentucky’s tallest waterfalls is planned for July 30. Participants will follow a trail down and behind the falls before looping around to cross a creek on top of the 113- foot waterfall in the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area.

LOUISIANA Donaldsonville: A man who used flashing lights in an attempt to stop another driver in Louisiana’s Ascension Parish is charged with impersonating a police officer. The driver being pursued pulled over but drove off when the suspect got out of his vehicle wearing civilian clothes.

MAINE Brunswick: The Navy’s Blue Angels are making their only New England appearance this season at an Aug. 26- 27 air show in Brunswick. MARYLAND Cumberland: Police say a man found dead on railroad tracks in Maryland was likely hit by a train. Investigators and CSX officials stopped all railroad traffic during the investigation.

MASSACHUSETTS Boston: Authorities say a woman in a hammock attached to a rooftop chimney in Boston was injured after the bricks collapsed on her. It took about 45 minutes to pull the woman from the debris.

MICHIGAN Holland: Michigan is expected to tighten rules about firewood in state parks and other public lands starting next year. The changes are part of efforts to curb destructive invasive species, MLive. com reports. MINNESOTA St. Peter: Gustavus Adolphus College is receiving its largest donation ever — $ 40 million. The gift comes from an alumni couple who wish to remain anonymous. MISSISSIPPI Jackson: The United Auto Workers has filed to force a union vote at a Nissan plant in Mississippi. Nissan manangement opposes unionization. MISSOURI Kansas City: A former inmate who said guards at the Kansas City jail beat him so severely that he suffered nine broken ribs, fractured wrists and a collapsed lung has settled a lawsuit for almost $ 440,000, The Kansas City Star reports. MONTANA West Glacier: Glacier National Park in Montana saw a record of nearly 621,000 visitors in June. That’s an increase of 28% over last year’s record for the same month. NEBRASKA Omaha: Officials aren’t sure what’s killing the fish piling up along the shore Lake Zorinsky, the Omaha WorldHerald reports. NEVADA Carson City: An electric car maker has scrapped plans to construct a $ 1 billion manufacturing plant in Nevada. Faraday Future says it will instead look for an existing facility to use in Nevada or California. NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: New Hampshire officials have proposed a moratorium on recreational cod fishing in state waters, WEVO- FM reports. NEW JERSEY Trenton: Gov. Chris Christie says he plans to reorganize New Jersey’s $ 1.2 billion agency in charge of mental health and addiction services. The reorganization is intended to combat widespread opioid drug addiction, NJ. com reports. NEW MEXICO Clovis: First responders who helped pull a boy from a New Mexico pond have been told to seek medical treatment after cholera bacteria were found in the water, The Eastern New Mexico News reports. NEW YORK Albany: Police say a man who set fire to a home and poured gasoline on a pet rabbit is charged with arson and animal cruelty. The fire last weekend was extinguished and the rabbit wasn’t hurt.

NORTH CAROLINA Fayette

ville: Alerted by reports of an odor, authorities are investigating a “hoarder situation” at a Fayetteville mobile home. Three cats were found locked in the home earlier this week. One was so ill it had to be euthanized. NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: More than 120 soldiers from North Dakota National Guard’s 957th Engineer Company are training at the Kimball Bottoms recreational area south of Bismarck beginning this week. The area, including off- highway vehicle trails, is closed to the public through July 19. OHIO Toledo: An Indian citizen who studied at Ohio State University has pleaded guilty to supporting terrorism and trying to arrange the killing of a federal judge who was overseeing his case. Yahya Farooq Mohammad is one of four men with Ohio ties accused in 2015 of working to send money to a known al- Qaida leader. OKLAHOMA Bixby: Federal authorities say a pipe bomb was set off outside an Air Force recruiting center near Tulsa. Authorities say no one was injured in the blast Monday night because the recruiting center was closed at the time. OREGON La Grande: A $ 1.4 million project to construct a fish ladder this summer at La Grande Reservoir aims to restore salmon and steelhead populations in a previously inaccessible Beaver Creek stream channel, The Observer reports. The stream channel has been blocked since about 1910 by a dam at the reservoir. PENNSYLVANIA Newville: A coroner says two teenage brothers changing a tire on a manure spreader on a farm were killed when the tire exploded. The Cumberland County coroner’s office says the 19- year- old and 14- year- old victims were pronounced dead at the scene Monday of blunt force trauma. RHODE ISLAND Burrillville: The opening of a proposed natural gas- fired power plant in Rhode Island has been delayed until at least 2020, The Providence Journal reports. Plant opponents say the delay raises questions about whether it’s needed. SOUTH CAROLINA Hodges: A rural Greenwood County high- way is closed because sinkholes appeared on the approach to a bridge over railroad tracks. Officials tell The Index- Journal of Greenwood that the sinkholes were likely caused by water damage to a wall on the bridge. One sinkhole appears to be 10 feet deep.

SOUTH DAKOTA Redfield: A herd of 75 neglected and starving cattle seized from an Ashton man’s property will be sold by the state, the American News reports. The Spink County sheriff says livestock owner Rex Spear didn’t appear for a court hearing Monday to contest the move.

TENNESSEE Chattanooga: Two Chattanooga police officials and a Los Angeles police captain are finalists for the job as the Tennnessee city’s police chief. Chief Fred Fletcher retired earlier this month.

TEXAS Huntsville: Police are investigating the discovery of razor blades embedded in playground equipment at two Huntsville parks. Authorities say four blades were found last week on two slides at Emancipation and Boettcher Mill Road parks. As a result, surveillance cameras are being installed in the parks.

UTAH Providence: For the second time in six weeks, wildlife officials removed a cougar spotted roaming in a Utah neighborhood, The Herald- Journal reports. Officials determined the cougar was not very healthy and it was euthanized, the same as in the earlier case.

VERMONT Montpelier: Vermont’s lottery for moose hunting permits has closed, but its auction for five permits this fall is open. The deadline is Aug. 10, and winners will be notified the next day. A minimum bid of $ 1,500 is required, and winning bids are typically at least $ 4,000. The lottery drawing for 63 regular moose season permits and 17 archery season permits will be held July 29. VIRGINIA Richmond: Dominion Energy is partnering with a Denmark company to build two wind turbines off the coast of Virginia Beach. The six- megawatt turbines will be about 27 miles off the coast, far enough that they won’t be visible from the shore. Engineering is expected to begin immediately, with installation targeted for 2020. WASHINGTON Carnation: King County officials are trying to figure out how to safely reopen a bridge. KING5- TV reports that the 9- year- old, $ 26 million bridge near downtown Carnation closed last month after engineers learned its design might not be strong enough. The county hopes it can reopen to limited traffic. WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: The West Virginia Library Commission has awarded more than $ 110,000 in state grants to 30 public libraries. Some grants are for facility maintenance, and others are for technology enhancement. WISCONSIN Madison: Officials have created new standards to limit animal waste on eastern Wisconsin farms, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. The proposed regulations target more than 87,000 acres in 15 counties that lie over fractured bedrock, which can serve as a path for manure to get into aquifers. WYOMING Worland: Local firefighters say the hot exhaust of an off- road motorcycle ignited a pile of sulfur last week, setting off a bizarre visual effect: A blue carpet of flame topped by twisting orange columns of fire. The blaze also gave off sulfur dioxide gas, forcing firefighters to wear breathing equipment. No one was hurt.