Across the USA

News from every state

Alabama: Birmingham — Doctors, nurses and patients supporting Cooper Green Mercy Hospital’s oncology clinic plan a protest today at the Jefferson County Courthouse over its closure. Cooper Green reported it will make $6.7 million in annual cuts to stabilize finances at the county-owned hospital for the poor, including 89 layoffs that took effect April 7 to save $4.4 million.

Alaska: Fairbanks — A newly discovered deposit at the Pogo mine contains at least 1.2 million ounces of gold, which could extend the project’s life by more than two years. General manager Chris Kennedy said exploratory drilling hasn’t reached the bottom of the deposit, and efforts are planned to find its boundaries.

Arizona: Phoenix — An undercover operation by Maricopa County sheriff’s deputies ended with a man jailed and 4 pounds of black tar heroin seized. Sheriff’s spokesman Chris Hegstrom said deputies stopped a car driven by Mario Alberto Hernandez. A police dog sniffed out the heroin, which was from Mexico, Hegstrom said.

Arkansas: Pigott — Farmers are taking a stand against herbicide-resistant pigweed, which has been seeding early this year because of the warm spring. Pigweed can grow up to an inch a day, and it robs row crops of fertilizer and water. University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture has organized Zero Tolerance zones, where farmers work together to prevent pigweeds from maturing and creating seeds. One plant can drop up to 1.5 million seeds.

California: The Santa

Santa Cruz — Cruz Mission State Historic Park will stay open for three years. A group called Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks and the state have reached an agreement that will provide funding. The mission was founded in 1791. A central adobe building was built between 1822 and 1824, and is the only remaining structure from the original mission.

Colorado: Colorado Springs — A military helicopter rescued nine stranded soldiers who were on a training mission on Pikes Peak, including one who had a broken leg. Fort Carson spokeswoman Lori Waters said the soldiers, from a visiting unit training at the post, ran into trouble on a trail about a mile from the top of the 14,115-foot peak.

Connecticut:

Hartford — The General Assembly’s Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee is scheduled today to consider a bill that would let cities place traffic cameras at busy intersections to record drivers who run red lights. It would give cities with more than 48,000 residents the option to install cameras as early as October.

Delaware: Wilmington — The city has made several changes to its parking rules, including $10 discounts for people who pay fines within two days, a streamlined appeals process and warnings for people whose cars could soon get a boot. Warnings will be left on cars when fines total $100 to $199.

D.C.:

Lumen8anacostia, an arts program and festival, runs through June and formers, will 30 include visual more artists than and 100 10 bou- pertiques trict. Vacant in the storefronts, Anacostia lots Business and public Disspaces will be temporarily illuminated.

Florida: Miami — The Coast Guard launched the fast-response cutter Bernard C. Webber, the first of a new generation of vessels designed to patrol the coasts for drug smugglers and undocumented immigrants. The $88 million, 154-foot vessel is larger and faster than older patrol boats.

Georgia: Athens — Sonny Seiler, whose family has provided the University of Georgia’s mascots, English bulldogs known as Uga, since the 1950s, said the newest mascot could be presented at the first home game at Sanford Stadium this fall. Uga VIII died in February 2011, a month after being diagnosed with cancer at 17 months old.

Hawaii: Honolulu — The city’s 85th annual Lei Day Celebration on May 1 will feature a lei-making contest, entertainment and coronation of the May Day Court at the Kapiolani Park Bandstand. The deadline to submit lei lipine (ribbon, fabric, yard) contest entries is April 21; other entries by 9 a.m. May 1.

Idaho: Twin Falls — The state Department of Health and Welfare revoked the license of an assisted living facility after determining the company failed to employ enough workers. Agency spokesman Tom Shanahan told The

Times-news that inspectors found the problem at the Chaparelle House during an inspection Wednesday. The state hired Western Health Care to find new homes for the 18 residents.

Illinois: Chicago — Our Lady of the Angels Church, site of a 1958 Catholic school fire that killed 92 students and three nuns, reopened as the Mission of Our Lady of the Angels at a Mass celebrated by Cardinal Francis George. The fire forced an almost immediate reform of school building and safety codes in the city and the nation.

Indiana: Lafayette — The city’s board of works approved railroad crossing safety improvements that will allow federal regulators to require train engineers to blow whistles only in certain situations as they approach, creating “quiet zones.” Currently, engineers must sound horns for 15 to 20 seconds.

Iowa: Leclaire — A missing boy was found safe in an unoccupied house. The Leclaire Police Department says the 2-year-old was reported missing about 10:15 a.m. Saturday and about 50 emergency responders quickly began a search of the area. The boy was found just before 11:30 a.m. and was reunited with his parents.

Kansas: Wichita — Courthouses across the state turned away a steady stream of people Friday as a series of state furloughs began. Designed to close a $1.4 million shortfall in operating funds, the furloughs put a halt to most regular court functions, even suspending criminal and civil trials. The five furlough days continue every other Friday through June 8.

Kentucky: Louisville — The Louisville Orchestra plans to begin a new season in September, and CEO Robert Birman reiterated management’s intention to begin hiring replacement musicians Association this maintained month. The it is still Musicians actively contract talking expired with management last May. after its

Louisiana: Lafayette — Superintendent Pat Cooper will ask the school board Wednesday to OK the Opportunity School for students enrolled in alternative educational programs. Plans call for the school to open in the fall as a satellite campus of Northside High.

Maine: Portland — Two Maine educators have won Guggenheim fellowships, which are awarded based on achievement and “exceptional promise.” Kristen Ghodsee is a gender and women’s studies professor from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, and Catherine Besteman is a professor of anthropology at Colby College in Waterville.

Maryland: Mount Airy — The town will switch from paper ballots to electronic voting machines in time for the May 7 local elections. Town Clerk Debbie Parker Brennan said she expects votes to be tallied in 15 minutes. For decades, poll workers have spent hours counting by ballots by hand.

Massachusetts: Boston — The Lottery plans to host a 40th anniversary celebration Wednesday at the Statehouse. The Lottery has sold more than $86 billion in tickets, awarded nearly $59 billion in prizes, and returned nearly $19 billion in profit to the state and its cities and towns since 1972.

Michigan: Grand Rapids — GrandJazzfest, a free festival, will be held at Rosa Parks Circle on Aug. 18 and will feature Michigan-based jazz artists. The festival is being organized by Audrey Sundstrom, wife of City Manager Greg Sundstrom, and a group of jazz aficionados.

Minnesota: Minneapolis — The wife of former Minnesota Vikings tight end Joe Senser is facing a third charge in a vehicular homicide case. The state now accuses Amy Senser of acting grossly negligent when she struck and killed Anousone Phanthavong, 38, last August on an interstate ramp where he was filling his gas tank with fuel. The amended complaint says Senser was on her cellphone at the time. Her trial is set for April 23.

Mississippi: Aberdeen — A federal jury has decided that race played a part in the majority-black Greenwood Leflore Hospital board firing its white former attorney. The jury awarded $82,000 to George Dulin. Dulin, 86, alleged the hospital board fired him in 2006 after more than 20 years as its attorney because of his race. It later hired a black attorney to replace him.

Missouri: Jefferson City — A total of 17,576 people — less than one-half of 1% of Missouri’s registered voters — participated in Republican caucuses that occurred March 13 to April 10, according to figures provided to the Associated Press by the Missouri Republican Party. That’s far fewer than the 252,185 people who cast Republican ballots in February’s non-binding presidential primary.

Montana: Ronan

— The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes have purchased 125 trash cans designed to thwart bears looking for an easy meal on the Flathead Indian Reservation. The tribes are giving the containers to homeowners who’ve had problems with bears getting into trash. The 95gallon cans cost $300 and were bought with a Tribal Wildlife Incentive Grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Nebraska: Lincoln — Preliminary autopsy results indicate a University of Nebraska-lincoln student found unconscious in a campus restroom died of natural causes, said campus police Sgt. John Backer. Moriah Panter, 20, of Kearney, died at a hospital after being found unconscious on Friday.

Nevada: Las Vegas — The American Gaming Association is calling for federal regulation of online gambling on the one-year anniversary of a poker website crackdown. The trade group is asking Congress to modernize and strengthen the Wire Act of 1961 to eliminate illegal offshore gambling sites. Last April 15, the FBI shut down the Full Tilt Poker, Pokerstars and Absolute Poker sites. Some company officials were charged with money laundering and bank fraud.

New Hampshire: Concord — Joyce Jastrem, who was the state’s 911 Emergency Medical Dispatcher of the Year, on Wednesday will be honored at the 2012 National Academies of Emergency Dispatch Navigator Conference in Baltimore. Her efforts on Dec. 1 saved the life of Jim Riley of Barnstead, who had a heart attack. She instructed his friend on using chest compressions.

New Jersey: Hackensack — Hackensack University Medical Center has agreed to shut down its kidney transplant program until it improves its mortality rate for transplant patients. Surgery will cease for four months starting May 18, and program patients will receive medical care throughout the time the program is shut down.

New Mexico: Albuquerque — A rabies outbreak in Carlsbad has prompted a local shelter to suspend efforts to trap feral cats because of the danger. Noah’s Ark Animal Shelter volunteers recently trapped a rabid skunk and learned it had tangled with a group of feral cats. The group traps the cats so they can be vaccinated, spayed or neutered, and released back into the wild.

New York: Buffalo — The 46th annual Snow Symposium begins today and organizers expect 550 people from around the world to attend the annual conference of airport professionals responsible for keeping runways clear of snow. Buffalo airport crews didn’t roll out the heavy equipment much this year. About 36 inches of snow fell, down from the usual 95 or so inches.

North Carolina: Raleigh — Joel and Joseph Holleman, two brothers who died in 1862, were reburied at Oakwood Cemetery after their remains were unearthed last month by workers excavating near PNC Arena.

North Dakota: New Town — Protesters marched through New Town on Saturday to call attention to the eviction of mobile home court residents. Residents of 45 trailers are being forced to move after the park was sold to make way for housing of oil field workers. A Three Affiliated Tribes spokesman said the residents are some of the poorest members of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation.

Ohio: Commission Cleveland has assigned — The Casino 13 state Control investigators Casino, set to full open time May to the 14, and Horseshoe similar contingents Toledo, Columbus at casinos and opening Cincinnati. later The in agents course to have thwart completed con artists. a 40-hour

Oklahoma: Tuttle — A special United States flag made by Tuttle High School students has returned home after months in Afghanistan. Master Sgt. Edgar Rodriguez of the Oklahoma Air National Guard took the flag with him in November as a reminder of home. He returned the 2-by-3-foot flag to the school last week, along with thanks. The flag, on a canvas stretched over a wooden frame, is a collage of more than 150 snapshots of students.

Oregon: Portland — The first elephant born in the Western Hemisphere in the latter half of the 20th century celebrated his 50th birthday Saturday. The Asian elephant named Packy was born April 14, 1962, at the Oregon Zoo — then called the Portland Zoological Gardens.

Pennsylvania: Pittsburgh — Some area communities have huge stockpiles of road salt after an unusually mild winter, the Tribune-review reported. Others still have to buy hundreds of tons of salt to meet minimum purchasing requirements in the contracts they signed, but have little or no room to store it.

Rhode Island: Providence — Stephanie Chafee, the wife of independent Gov. Chafee, will launch the Physical Activity Challenge at the Statehouse today. Participants plan to log their daily exercise minutes and daily steps through May 20. Prizes will be awarded.

South Carolina: Myrtle Beach — The Chamber of Commerce canceled the Sun Fun Festival because it doesn’t attract tourists as the 60-year-old event did in its early years. Board chairman Richard Singleton said he’s confident that Sun Fun will be back, just in a different form.

South Dakota: Wall — A town known as a tourist stop on the edge of the Black Hills is considering a tax to save its ambulance service. City officials want to create an ambulance district that would tax many property owners in Pennington County. Officials say it is getting difficult to find volunteers for the emergency service. Wall City Council member Pete Dunker said no one likes raising taxes, but “it’s either that or lose our ambulance.”

Tennessee: Chattanooga — Hamilton County is preparing to take a series of aerial photos to update its maps after a tornado altered several neighborhoods. Geographic Information Systems manager Greg Butler said he expects new maps for the city by July 1 and for the county in September. The project costs nearly $160,000

Texas: San Antonio — A spokesman for the University of Texas-san Antonio has been charged with aggravated sexual assault of a 15-year-old boy. David Gabler, 47, the school’s associate vice president for communications, posted $75,000 bond and was released. The university placed him on leave. Gabler Alamo with the Heights boy in police a parked discovered vehicle at 2:15 a.m. Friday.

Utah: Salt Lake City — The tiny town of dissolving Apple Valley its government. will vote June That 19 could on leave the door open for Apple Valley’s annexation by Hildale, a neighboring town that’s home to a polygamous group. Most residents of Hildale belong to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, formerly headed by Warren Jeffs.

Vermont: Rochester — Sue Flewelling, head of the cemetery commission, said 25 sets of remains are still missing, seven months after more than 50 sets were washed out by flooding from Tropical Storm Irene. Repairs to the cemetery are getting underway and recovered remains will be reburied.

Virginia: Portsmouth — The U.S. Department of Transportation is providing a $422 million loan to help pay for a new tunnel to Norfolk. The new Midtown Tunnel will be built near the existing tunnel.

Washington: Spokane — Spokane Public Schools has named a new superintendent to lead its district of nearly 30,000 students. Shelley Redinger will start July 1 in the state’s secondlargest school district, after Nancy Stowell retires. Redinger is currently the superintendent of Spotsylvania School District in Fredericksburg, Va.

West Virginia: St. Albans — Ground will be broken today on Rosie the Riveter park, dedicated to women who served on the home front during World War II. The ceremony is also a memorial for Nancy Sipple, a “Rosie” who inspected airplane parts at a defense factory. She died April 9.

Wisconsin: Madison —

A husband and wife accused of torturing and starving the man’s teenage daughter are expected to enter pleas today. Prosecutors said the Madison couple denied the girl food and forced her to live in the basement. The two are scheduled to enter pleas to charges of reckless endangerment, child abuse and child neglect. The Associated Press isn’t naming them to avoid identifying the girl.

Wyoming:

Cheyenne — A Torrington teen is now in the Wyoming state fish record book. Colton Bustillos, 14, caught a stonecat — a small catfish — last month in the North Platte River. The catch was 10.1 inches long and weighed .35 pounds. Torrington game warden Jon Stephens said it was the first entry in Wyoming for that species, making it the new state record.

U.S. territory:

Guam — The island recorded the “seventh-highest tourist arrival numbers” in Guam's history in March, according to Gov. Calvo's weekly address. More than 126,000 visitors arrived last month, nearly 18.000 more than the previous March. Calvo, a Republican, noted that the increased number meant more money spent at local businesses.