STATE-BY-STATE
ALABAMA Birmingham: A state law passed to rein in health care costs nearly three decades ago was at the heart of a judge’s decision to dismiss a lawsuit over what a man claims was a botched circumcision. Jefferson County Circuit Judge Jim Hughey, during a hearing last week, threw out the civil lawsuit filed in July by Johnny Lee Banks and his wife after ruling it lacked details required by the Alabama Medical Liability Act.
ALASKA Fairbanks: Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska’s interior has kicked off its third series of Red Flag exercises of the year. The exercises taking place at the 65,000-square-mile Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex began Friday.
ARIZONA Flagstaff: The Arizona Snowbowl ski area will be able to use treated wastewater for snowmaking for the next 20 years. The Arizona Daily Sun reported the city of Flagstaff announced approval to extend an agreement giving Snowbowl access to reclaimed wastewater through 2034.
ARKANSAS Jonesboro: Michelle Despain pleaded guilty to hindering apprehension or prosecution in the Aug. 24, 2011, shooting death of Marc Despain. Prosecutors reduced the charge from capital murder and agreed to recommend a 30-year prison sentence when Despain is sentenced on Sept. 17.
CALIFORNIA Santa Rosa: The Santa Rosa Press-Democrat reported that a 70-year-old hunter was accidentally shot Saturday morning by one of his companions in a remote part of Napa County north of Lake Berryessa.
COLORADO Denver: Colorado has approved $2.29 million in grants to repair streams and watersheds damaged by September’s historic floods. The Long
mont Times-Call reported that the grants will go to projects in Boulder, Weld, Larimer and Jefferson counties.
CONNECTICUT Bridgeport: Police say a 22-year-old man is in critical condition after he was hit by a speeding car whose driver fled the scene. Police say the victim was crossing the street early Saturday.
DELAWARE Wilmington: The State Police said one person died and a second person was injured in a single-vehicle crash in Glasgow. Police said it happened around early Sunday.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: A vacant three-story home in Northwest D.C. partially collapsed early Saturday, police and fire officials said. No injuries were reported, according to The Washington
Post.
FLORIDA Lynn Haven: Bay County officials say they are struggling to oversee their growing population of jail inmates suffering from mental illness. Warden Rick Anglin says the number of inmates in special housing for mental health has doubled in recent years.
GEORGIA Gainesville: Education officials say they’re working to accommodate new Central American refugee students this year.
HAWAII Lihue: A woman and man convicted of squatting in the unoccupied home of a retired Kauai judge have been ordered to pay $28,556.53 in restitution. The
Garden Island reported Elizabeth Gayer, 50, and Chad George Schaefer, 51, were arrested last year.
IDAHO Boise: Firefighters continue to make progress in battling Idaho’s largest wildfire. The Big Cougar fire burning on the Idaho side of the Snake River across from Oregon and Washington is now 40% contained.
ILLINOIS Chicago: Fans of sharks are invited to learn more about the sea creatures during Shedd Aquarium’s Shark Week. The aquarium is home to 11 species of sharks from the Atlantic, Pacific, Indo-Pacific and Caribbean.
INDIANA Indianapolis: A program that has helped more than 11,000 state residents fight drug addiction since 2010 will lose its funding at the end of the year, and agencies fear the impact on clients and employees. The state has received $3.3 million through the Access to Recovery federal grant in the past four years.
IOWA Oelwein: Authorities say that 61 pounds of marijuana bundled in 45 packages was discovered on a train car passing through here. Police estimate the street value of the pot at $90,000.
KANSAS Great Bend: Officials are investigating a large fish dieoff at a local lake. The Great Bend
Tribune reported thousands of dead fish have been reported at Veterans Memorial Lake.
KENTUCKY Radcliff: When Quinton Higgins bought a bus last month, his family thought he was crazy. The 42-year-old school bus driver, who survived the horrific 1988 bus crash in Carrollton that killed 27, says he felt God wanted him to buy the vehicle. He plans to use it as a memorial and as a reminder to not drink and drive.
LOUISIANA Gonzales: A new round in the City Council’s budget impasse with Mayor Barney Arceneaux is set for today when council members are expected to vote on overriding the mayor’s second veto.
MAINE Augusta: Veteran prosecutor Lisa Marchese is Maine’s new deputy attorney general and the first woman to be chief of the criminal division of the state attorney general’s office.
MARYLAND Bel Air: One teenager is dead and two others hospitalized after a single-car crash in Harford County. The Sheriff ’s Office said it happened early Sunday.
MASSACHUSETTS Chelsea: Police say a car chase that began in Chelsea ended on the Tobin Bridge when the suspect stopped his car and fell from the span, landing on a construction safety net that prevented him from plunging into the Mystic River.
MICHIGAN Lansing: The state Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs is offering an app featuring tours of public art. The “MI Amazing Art Tour” app is free to download via iTunes.
MINNESOTA St. Paul: Today, the state will announce its first, private-public partnership to raise money for research on why moose are mysteriously dwindling. The Department of Natural Resources will also unveil a new license plate featuring the moose — the eighth, critical-habitat license plate the state has designed to provide money to conservation efforts statewide.
MISSISSIPPI Tupelo: U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker says he will fight the Obama administration’s proposal to eliminate the state National Guard’s 155th Heavy Brigade Combat Team, headquartered here. The Department of Defense’s proposal to dissolve the National Guard unit also would remove Apache attack helicopters from the combat team’s aviation facility in Tupelo.
MISSOURI Kansas City: Police are investigating the death of a pedestrian who was struck in a hit-and-run accident along a highway. Police have not identified the victim.
MONTANA Great Falls: Crews finished eliminating the last of the deactivated intercontinental ballistic missile silos operated by Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana.
NEBRASKA McCook: City officials will be asked to wait until next year to schedule a vote on whether to continue a 1.5% sales tax. The McCook Daily Gazette reported that the sales-tax ballot language committee wants more time to refine its ballot question and educate the public about how the revenue would be used.
NEVADA Reno: A suicidal gunman climbed through the window of a friend’s house at the Elko Indian Colony and asked her to videotape him killing himself before he eventually fatally shot another friend, federal prosecutors say. Thomas Caudill, 33, was being held without bail in the alleged murder of Wes Lozano, 26.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Portsmouth: The New Hampshire Department of Transportation is doing night paving work associated with a reconstruction project at the intersection of U.S. Route 1 and the U.S. Route 1 Bypass in Portsmouth. The work is scheduled through Thursday.
NEW JERSEY Lakewood: Three men were arrested after a fight broke out in the parking lot of a banquet hall. NEW MEXICO Carlsbad: A proposed $1.02 billion potash mine may get a financial boost from Asian investors, company officials said. Intercontinental Potash Corp. says private investors from China and a bank in Japan have shown an interest in the proposed Ochoa Project,
Carlsbad Current-Argus reported. NEW YORK Alexandria Bay: It was a busy weekend for the U.S. Coast Guard patrolling the waters of the St. Lawrence River. The Coast Guard says its personnel rescued five individuals in two separate incidents. NORTH CAROLINA Asheville: City Councilman Cecil Bothwell reportedly used his electronic parking pass to allow dozens of motorists to leave a county garage for free following the Mountain Moral Monday rally last week. Area media outlets report he’s now received a $512 bill from Buncombe County.
NORTH DAKOTA Fargo: The local United Way is giving away more than 5,000 backpacks to students as part of a back-toschool effort.
OHIO Hamilton: School officials say the late release of district report cards because of winter weather is inconvenient as teachers and administrators prepare for the new school year. The Ohio Department of Education extended spring testing windows this year because of numerous weather-related school closings, which has caused delays in report card preparation.
OKLAHOMA Norman: Police said one man is hospitalized after being shot by officers at the end of a police chase.
OREGON Portland: Residents near a Columbia Gorge wildfire have been permitted to return to their homes, though officials warned them to remain on alert. The Oregon Department of Forestry says that it has lifted the evacuation order for 740 residences.
PENNSYLVANIA Reading: Police say a man stole an ambulance and led them on a 10-mile chase before he was arrested. Boyertown police say Kevin Fountain, 47, stole a Reading Fire Department ambulance as an emergen- cy crew was tending to a patient inside a hospital. RHODE ISLAND Exeter: The state Department of Environmental Management says a 19year-old has drowned near the Arcadia Management Area here.
SOUTH CAROLINA North
Charleston: No injuries were reported when six cars of a CSX Transportation train derailed near a train yard here.
SOUTH DAKOTA Howes: The major byway between Pierre and Sturgis is closing for about five weeks, creating a 76-mile detour. The South Dakota Department of Transportation says the 21⁄ 2 mile stretch of Highway 34 east of here will be closed today just east of the Highway 73 North junction.
TENNESSEE Chattanooga: The Tennessee Highway Patrol is testing a software system that aims to increase the safety of motorists and decrease the number of crashes.
TEXAS Atascosa: Authorities say five people were injured after a truck hit a carriage that was being pulled by a donkey near here.
UTAH Salt Lake City: Drivers for smartphone-based ridesharing services are facing steep fines from officials, who assert the drivers are running unlicensed taxi services. Some drivers for the app-based service Lyft say they’ve been fined $6,500 for a single ticket.
VERMONT Burlington: A recent audit of Burlington College shows the school is $17 million behind on meeting its operating expenses and has other financial troubles that raise questions about its viability. The school is using endowment money to pay bills and has about $150,000 left.
VIRGINIA Richmond: Small businesses in three Virginia counties that sustained losses because of rain and flooding in January have a month left to apply for federal disaster loans. The U.S. Small Business Administration is making economic injury disaster loans available in Grayson, Halifax and Mecklenburg counties.
WASHINGTON Ilwaco: The U.S. Coast Guard says it rescued two people from an overturned boat in the Ilwaco Channel in southwest Washington.
WEST VIRGINIA Morgantown: A delay in completing a new housing complex has forced about 600 West Virginia University students to find a new place to live before classes begin later this month. Officials sent an e-mail last month to students, saying the University Place apartment complex in Sunnyside wouldn’t be ready for the fall semester. University Place is a partnership between WVU and a private owner. Officials say work is being done around the clock, with about 350 workers on site each day.
WISCONSIN Madison: An optional “In God We Trust” state license plate created by legislation authored by Rep. Dean Kaufert, a Republican, is set to move forward after a local resident met the $9,000 fundraising goal to pay for the DOT design. David Hinds received donations from across the state.
WYOMING Yellowstone National Park: A $15 million project to improve infrastructure at the Yellowstone National Park north entrance will begin soon. The project is designed to improve deficiencies to infrastructure, reduce traffic congestion, enhance parking and provide for better pedestrian accessibility.