News from across the USA
ALABAMA Montgomery: The Alabama Banking Department plans to revive a key part of a payday loan reform effort that lawmakers did not pass in the legislative session, the Montgomery Advertiser reports. Superintendent John Harrison said he will issue new regulations to create a central database that will allow the state to better enforce a $500 limit on the number of payday loans an individual can take out.
ALASKA Anchorage: A man suspected of killing an elderly Alaska couple and sexually assaulting their 2-year-old great-granddaughter over the weekend had been released from jail just hours earlier. The Anchorage Daily News reports Alaska Department of Corrections records show Jerry Andrew Active, 24, was released from jail shortly after 8 a.m. Saturday. The attacks on the couple and the toddler occurred less than 12 hours later.
ARIZONA Tempe: A man’s body has been found floating in Tempe Town Lake. Authorities believe the man was in his 20s or 30s.
ARKANSAS Pine Bluff: Police say a grandmother was fatally wounded in crossfire. Authorities say Carol Baker, 54, was shot dead Monday. Four people were arrested.
CALIFORNIA San Rafael: Fire crews, veterinarians and a crane operator helped rescue a horse that had fallen into a well at a small Marin County ranch. The Marin Independent Journal reported that the horse, Buddy, fell Monday into a brick-lined well after the well’s cover gave way.
COLORADO Denver: The state Supreme Court says Colorado’s school funding system is constitutional. Tuesday’s landmark 4-2 ruling affirms the state’s argument that it has made funding a priority and that school finance should be left to lawmakers to decide, not the courts.
CONNECTICUT Torrington: Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Gallagher has ordered the state to return 13 guns to a Torrington man who is accused of threatening to shoot his co-workers. Robert Zordan was charged in December after employees at Connecticut Spring and Stamping told police he had threatened to come to work with a gun and “take them out.”
DELAWARE Lewes: The Cape Water Taxi along the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal will expand to seven days a week on June 14, The Daily Times reported. In its second season, a second vessel, The Discovery, will complement The Mummichog.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Speed cameras and redlight cameras took in $84.9 million in fiscal 2012, The Washington Post reported. The $8 million box under the 24th Street Bridge on K Street is on pace to set a city record by a speed camera.
FLORIDA Fort Myers: The focus for defective Chinese drywall nationally is on single-family homes, but 21% of the affected structures reported to the county property appraiser’s office were condominiums.
GEORGIA Atlanta: Hitachi Automotive Systems Americas Inc. will expand its operations in Walton County, creating 250 new jobs and investing $80 million, Gov. Deal’s office announced Tuesday.
HAWAII Honolulu: Gov. Abercrombie announced the release of more than $48.3 million for public housing. “These investments will have long-term benefits, providing homes for island families while further stimulating our economy and generating local jobs,” he said.
IDAHO Twin Falls: Business travelers will soon have a new morning flight option at Magic Valley Regional Airport. Airport Manager Bill Carberry told the Times-News in an e-mail that an 8:20 a.m. flight from SkyWest will begin June 3, thanks in part to a rebounding economy.
ILLINOIS Urbana: Construction is expected to start later this year on a $23 million center at the University of Illinois to test biofuels made from plants. The Biofuels Processing Facility will serve as a pilot plant to test biofuels on a large enough scale to be commercially viable, according to The News-Gazette.
INDIANA Indian
apolis: A $1.1 million project is planned to build or improve outdoor basketball courts in several parks, with one of the new courts being
named for Indiana Fever star Tamika Catchings. Mayor Greg Ballard said the work will be done over the next five years.
IOWA Des Moines: A full week of rain in the forecast has placed much of the state at risk for flooding, The Des Moines Register reports. Many locations across Iowa received 6 to 8 inches of rain over the holiday weekend. Much of the state will see another 1 to 3 inches of rain through Wednesday afternoon, the National Weather Service said.
KANSAS Ellsworth: Four people are dead and a young child seriously injured after their sports-utility vehicle hit a parked semi-trailer truck in central Kansas. Kansas Highway Patrol trooper Ben Gardner says the accident happened about 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.
LOUISIANA Gonzales: Ascension Parish is looking to hire 50 new teachers. The school board is poised to hire the new teachers in an effort to ease staffing levels because of continued growth, the Associated Press reports. Funds needed to hire the new teachers are listed in the school district’s 2013-14 budget, which is due for adoption June 18.
MAINE Augusta: A man who lived as a hermit in the woods of central Maine for nearly three decades has told authorities his eyeglasses are the only thing he owns. Christopher Knight, known as the North Pond Hermit, appeared in Kennebec County Superior Court on Tuesday. Knight, 47, was arrested in April while allegedly breaking into a camp to steal food.
MASSACHUSETTS Boston: The state Senate has adopted a proposal allowing Massachusetts to recoup public benefits given to anyone later convicted of using of a weapon of mass destruction. State officials have confirmed that marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, his wife and toddler daughter received welfare benefits.
MICHIGAN Flint: A ceremony is planned June 8 at Village Conference Center to mark the 60th anniversary of the Beecher tornado that killed 116 people. Plans are in the works to build a memorial to replace the Beecher Tornado Memorial Monument, which was damaged three years ago when bronze plaques were stolen.
MINNESOTA Blooming Prai
rie: A Minneapolis attorney gave the Department of Natural Resources one of its largest donations — 549 acres of wetlands, prairie and woods in Freeborn County. John Goetz donated the land, which is valued at more than $664,000. He bought it in the mid-1990s.
MISSISSIPPI Vicksburg: New U.S. Postal Service “forever” stamps commemorate the 1863 Battle of Vicksburg, a decisive battle in ending the Civil War, The Clarion-Ledger reported. The Postal Service launched the Civil War Sesquicentennial Forever stamp series in 2011 to mark the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. A sheet of two stamp designs is being issued for each year of the war.
MISSOURI Kansas City: The lead defendant in a federal securities fraud case is asking for a new trial, claiming juror misconduct. Isreal Owen Hawkins filed a motion last week claiming that one of the jurors in his 17-day trial failed to disclose during jury selection that she had performed alterations on several of his suits.
MONTANA Hamilton: Staff with the Rocky Mountain Laboratory are collecting wood ticks to study the prevalence of Colorado tick fever in the Bitterroot Valley. The Ravalli Republic reports that scientists freeze the ticks, smash them into a paste and search through the paste for the molecular structure of the virus that causes Colorado tick fever in humans.
NEBRASKA Edgar: Clay County emergency manager Loren Uden said two minor injuries were reported after a storm that struck around 7:30 p.m. Monday, including a driver whose car was lifted off a road. The man was taken to a hospital for treat
ment, Uden said.
NEVADA Las
Vegas: Police say a teenager fell to his death while hiking with other teens on Memorial Day at Red Rock Canyon. Las Vegas police say the boy fell around midday Monday in the Calico Tanks area of the Calico Basin. Authorities say there were no witnesses to the accident because the teen had gone off on his own, but his body was found after he failed to meet up with the rest of the group.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Durham: A chapel in Durham, N.H., has been named
to the state Register of Historic Places. Smith Chapel was built for and named after philanthropist Hamilton Smith, who died in a boating incident in 1900.
NEW JERSEY Camden: Businesses and restaurants must still abide by the city’s curfew, even though the court fight over the measure is ongoing, a judge ruled. The curfew mandates that businesses within 200 feet of residential zones (with some exceptions) must close by 11 p.m. on weeknights and midnight on weekends.
NEW MEXICO Las Cruces: Open burning is banned because of extreme drought conditions. The Las Cruces Sun-News reported that the ban ordered by the city fire department follows restrictions implemented by the New Mexico Forestry Division.
NEW YORK New York: Sen. Charles Schumer, a Democrat, and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly called for the National Park Service to reverse its plan to move security screening for the Statue of Liberty to nearby Ellis Island when the statue reopens on July Fourth. Previously, passengers were screened with metal detectors before they boarded boats at Battery Park in Lower Manhattan or Liberty State Park in New Jersey.
NORTH CAROLINA Fort Bragg: Soldiers this week are verifying the information on each of the 2,644 headstones at the base’s Main Post Cemetery after an investigation of Arlington National Cemetery in 2010 turned up mistakes. Soldiers so far have found 55 headstones with misspelled names or incorrect ranks.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: The state’s top two prosecutors said telephone lottery scams have hit epidemic levels. Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem and U.S. Attorney Tim Purdon said the scams often target the elderly and other vulnerable people. Stenehjem said he received such a call, and the scammer persisted even after he identified himself as attorney general.
OHIO Columbus: The state Environmental Protection Agency is focusing on six major streams to try to cut pollutants that help toxic algae thrive in lakes and other waterways: the Scioto, Great Miami, Maumee, Sandusky, Cuyahoga and Wabash rivers.
OKLAHOMA Sand Springs: City leaders could soon vote on plans to partner with a developer to build a monument known as “The American.” At 217 feet, it would depict an American Indian with a bald eagle landing on his forearm.
OREGON Hillsboro: Authorities said a man killed his wife and himself in a shooting. Sgt. David Thompson said Kenneth Van Patten, 61, shot Melinda Van Patten, 56, and turned the gun on himself.
PENNSYLVANIA Pittsburgh: The Frick Art & Historical Center is beginning a $15 million renovation and expansion project. Groundbreaking for a new orientation center is set for June 6 and construction will take about a year.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: Gov. Chafee signed a bill requiring volunteers in schools to undergo a state criminal background check. State law already requires background checks for individuals seeking employment with a private school or public school department, according to the Provi
dence Journal.
SOUTH CAROLINA Greenville: Major bridge and road projects could be funded statewide under a road plan approved by the state Senate that could spend $500 million on the state’s crumbling infrastructure.
SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: Southeastern South Dakota is bracing for more rain this week after a Memorial Day weekend that saw more than 7 inches in some areas, the Argus Leader reported. Rainfall in May has been more than double the normal amount, with more expected as the month closes out.
TENNESSEE Rogersville: The Hawkins County School Board will vote next week on a more strict policy regarding teachers texting and emailing students.
TEXAS Austin: Gov. Perry, a Republican, called the Legislature to meet in special session to address redistricting.
UTAH Salt Lake City: Police say an Iranian man accused of stabbing his son at the University of Utah was reacting to family strife and had a history of mental illness. Police are holding Forghan Ghodrati, 60, on suspicion of attempted homicide and aggravated assault.
VERMONT Montpelier: The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Board is continuing to hold public hearings on proposed changes to trout and bass fishing regulations. The board proposes reducing the daily creel limit for brook trout by half. The public meetings will be held today at the Pavilion Auditorium in Montpelier and Thursday at the Kehoe Education Center in Castleton.
VIRGINIA Bedford: Police Chief Jim Day said the department will cover 30% more territory when the city reverts to a town in July but has no plans to hire more officers.
WASHINGTON Seattle: About 20,000 residents use alcohol-sensing devices in their motor vehicles. The Seattle Times reported that puts the state among the top five for use of these DUI-prevention devices.
WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: The state Bureau of Public Health will increase scrutiny of the Putnam County Health Department. Putnam withdrew its application for $186,000 in state emergency funds after officials said they couldn’t meet a May 15 deadline for more information.
WISCONSIN Denmark: A woman is fighting to get her dog back after he ran away and was adopted by another family. For Susan Heezen, the dog helps her since she’s deaf.
WYOMING Cheyenne: A new report finds that women working in state government hold relatively few high-paid, management jobs. The report prepared by the Department of Administration and Information found one out of five state employees making $150,000 to $200,000 a year were women.