News from across the USA
ALABAMA Tuscaloosa: Investigators are warning that an unknown scammer is targeting people here. The sheriff ’s office said a man identifying himself as a deputy sheriff calls potential victims and claims they have failed to appear for jury duty. The suspect then demands payment, and he refuses requests to meet in person. ALASKA Fairbanks: The number of security cameras in Alaska schools is going up. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported video cameras are being installed in Fairbanks middle and elementary schools and it’s part of a statewide trend aimed at making schools safer.
ARIZONA Florence: Residents in Pinal County are back in their homes after they had to evacuate early Sunday morning because of the rising San Pedro River, authorities said.
ARKANSAS Hot Springs: The Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department says lanes will be closed along highways in Garland County for routine bridge inspections. The closures will take place through Thursday.
CALIFORNIA San Francisco: Crews battling a huge Northern California wildfire were bracing for hotter temperatures and erratic winds. The blaze east of Sacramento has burned through 137 square miles as of Monday morning.
COLORADO Westminster: All schools are back open in Jefferson County after a teacher sick-out closed two schools last week. So many teachers called in sick on Friday that classes had to be canceled at Standley Lake High School in Westminster and Conifer High School in Conifer.
CONNECTICUT Cheshire: Police Chief Neil Dryfe says police are looking to automate electronic ticketing of motorists. DELAWARE New Castle: A second woman has died after an Am USA Express tour bus overturned Sunday on a steep exit ramp from Route 1 and slid down an embankment.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: A ranking from the social network Wallet Hub finds the area to be third in the USA in level of educational attainment, behind Ann Arbor, Mich., and Madison, Wis., The Washington Post reported.
FLORIDA Miami: A 3-year-old boy is recovering from a gunshot wound to the leg during a domestic dispute at his home in northwest Miami-Dade County.
GEORGIA Norcross: A developer is seeking permission to build an estimated $1 billion movie studio campus here. Jacoby Development will seek approval from county officials Nov. 4 to rezone the proposed campus from a heavy industrial area to mixed-used development.
HAWAII Kahului: A local man has been arrested after he plowed his car into a group of people at the Maui Marathon, injuring one person.
IDAHO Boise: Additional crews helped control the Bull Fire north of here. Seventy-five more firefighters were called to assist the 40 working the fire on Friday.
ILLINOIS Belleville: Residents celebrated Belleville’s 200th birthday with a 200-foot bratwurst, complete with a 200-foot bun. Larry Schubert and his team from Schubert’s Packing Co. in Millstadt used about 120 pounds of meat to make the brat, which volunteers grilled Sunday, the final day of the city’s bicentennial celebration.
INDIANA Jasper: Officials say tap water is safe again after telling residents for five days to boil it before drinking.
IOWA Pierson: The Woodbury County town of 366 people lost its mayor and three council members when they resigned last week, leaving only two council members, the Sioux City Journal said. Voters here won’t be able to fill the empty City Council seats until December.
KANSAS Dodge City: Several western Kansas farmers are planning to build a distillery on land here that was once the site of the Boot Hill Cemetery. The Boot Hill Distillery could open next July.
KENTUCKY Pikeville: The Pike County School District is dropping its plans for a weight-loss competition that would have included students and staff members competing for the highest percentage of weight loss from Sept. 15 through April 13.
LOUISIANA Baton Rouge: The state has the sixth-highest number of people around the USA who are developmentally disabled and living in 24-hour care facilities, even after closing most state-owned facilities.
MAINE West Paris: Investigators say an improperly installed wood pellet stove caused a weekend blaze here that destroyed a home and displaced 21 people.
MARYLAND Baltimore: The Maryland Zoo is closed this week as it prepares for the grand opening of a major new exhibit focusing on African black-footed penguins and other renovated exhibits. Penguin Coast will open Saturday, when the zoo reopens.
MASSACHUSETTS Sudbury: Authorities say 15 high-end vehicles were destroyed and five others were damaged in an early morning fire at a Sudbury auto dealership.
MICHIGAN Dearborn: The city’s administration will reopen for business today at the Administrative Center after City Hall was closed Friday. Artspace plans to invest $17 million to convert the 1922 building for use by artists.
MINNESOTA Brooklyn Center: In an effort to cut the minority achievement gap, the school district is offering free health care services to its students and other children. The district says the clinic with three exam rooms helps students get the health care they need, which translates into fewer absences.
MISSISSIPPI Jackson: State officials are preparing to return the Scott County School District to local control in June. Chief School Performance Officer Pat Ross said by then new school board elections can occur and a new superintendent can be hired.
MISSOURI Mound City: An Oregon-based company says it no longer plans to build a large wind farm near Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge in Holt County. Opponents had said the 84 to 118 wind turbines would endanger the millions birds and bats that migrate through the area.
MONTANA Cascade: A man died Sunday after the small helicopter he was flying crashed southwest of here. NEBRASKA Lincoln: The Nebraska Corn Board is donating $2 million to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to create an endowed professorship. The donation will support a professor at the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources who will focus on corn and finding new uses for the crop.
NEVADA Reno: Police used teenage decoys and issued citations to three businesses accused of selling alcohol to minors during the weekend Reno Riverwalk Wine Walk.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Littleton: The town is getting $250,000 to support a revitalization project on Main Street. Littleton is planning to construct a multi-use bridge over the Ammonoosuc River for pedestrians, bicycles and off-road vehicles.
NEW JERSEY West Milford: Police said evidence indicated Darsh Patel, 22, was killed by a black bear in the Apshawa Preserve. A bear at the scene was euthanized. Five friends from Edison were hiking when they encountered the bear and ran in different directions.
NEW MEXICO Hobbs: The Hobbs Municipal Schools is partnering with a private, Christian liberal arts college to address a teacher shortage in the booming oil town. The Hobbs News-Sun reported that the school district and University of the Southwest signed an agreement last week.
NEW YORK Babylon: The Long Island Rail Road plans to spend $14 million to replace six escalators that were upgraded less than two years ago. The work comes after the death of an 88-year-old woman whose clothes got entangled in the escalator treads at the Lindenhurst station in 2012.
NORTH CAROLINA Wilmington: The Wilmington and Beaches Convention and Visitors Bureau plans to release a Frequently Asked Questions guide next week about the Fox TV series Sleepy Hollow, which films in the area. The bureau still publishes similar guides for One Tree
Hill and Dawson’s Creek that were filmed here.
NORTH DAKOTA Minot: The Ward County Historical Society Pioneer Village Museum here is thriving three years after being swamped by Souris River floodwaters. Damage to the museum on the North Dakota State Fairgrounds from the June 2011 flood was estimated at more than $1 million.
OHIO Akron: FirstEnergy is spending $15 million to install special security fencing and thermal-imaging cameras at some substations to keep out would-be metal thieves, who caused more than $500,000 in losses in the region last year.
OKLAHOMA Foyil: The fire marshal’s office is investigating a blaze Saturday night at Old Foyil Baptist Church that killed one man and hospitalized two firefighters. The building had been partially converted into apartment housing.
OREGON Portland: Firefighters were in the mop-up phase of a wildfire Monday west of Portland and have told residents they can return to their homes. PENNSYLVANIA Bedford: The Pennsylvania Turnpike was scheduled to close its westbound service plaza near here so it can be expanded and rebuilt. The North Midway service plaza at mile marker 147 is one of only two that have not be refurbished since the turnpike began expanding its service plazas in 2006.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: Runway repairs and safety improvements at Quonset State Airport in North Kingstown are scheduled to be completed by the end of November. The Providence Journal reported that the $3.8 million project includes repairing the runway, restoring pavement, replacing a culvert and improving safety areas.
SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: The American Community Survey released by the U.S. Census Bureau showed the percentage of state residents classified as living in poverty rose from 18.3% in 2012 to 18.6% in 2013, and remains the ninth highest poverty rate in the USA.
SOUTH DAKOTA Lead: The U.S. Postal Service is postponing plans to cut home mail delivery to more than 700 addresses in Lead and Deadwood. The Postal Service announced the move to centralized collection boxes last week, after a string of injuries to postal workers due to falls related to poor or absent sidewalks.
TENNESSEE Morristown: Knoxville-based developers Brant and Amy Enderle, and their development partners, recently purchased the former Morristown College site and may develop part of it for housing for the elderly. The college was founded in 1881 for African Americans.
TEXAS Dallas: The Highland Park School District has temporarily banned seven books from classroom-use after parents complained about sex scenes and references to rape, abuse and abortion. The books will be reviewed by committees of parents, teachers and students.
UTAH Ogden: Hill Air Force Base is adding F-22 Raptor maintenance work that’s expected to bring 200 new jobs to Utah.
VERMONT Brattleboro: The newly renovated Brooks House is open to the public. A fire gutted the historic building in April 2011 and a few months later, the streets were flooded due to Tropical Storm Irene.
VIRGINIA Front Royal: The 440-acre Superfund site of the former Avtex Fibers plant, which closed in 1989 because of pollution concerns, is ready for redevelopment following rehabilitation.
WASHINGTON Oso: Six months after a hillside gave way here, normal traffic returned on the route. The state Transportation Department said it expects twoway traffic on Highway 530 will be moving at 50 mph today.
WEST VIRGINIA Huntington: Former ESPN executive Dan Shoemaker is among 10 people named to the West Virginia Broadcasters Hall of Fame. The other inductees are Jack Canfield, Dick Callaway, Jack Deakin, the late Lloyd Scott Garten, Randy Kerbawy, Michael Kidd, the late Paul Krakowski, Fritz Leichner and Lacy Neff. An induction ceremony will be held Nov. 15 at the Museum of Radio and Technology in Huntington.
WISCONSIN Madison: State offices that issue driver’s licenses aren’t open enough hours to issue photo IDs to all the voters who need them before the Nov. 4 election, the liberal group One Wisconsin Institute told federal judges in a brief filed Monday.
WYOMING Cheyenne: A grizzly bear bit a hunter in the second such attack in western Wyoming this month. The attack happened Sunday afternoon when two elk hunters surprised a female grizzly with two cubs just north of Dubois. Wyoming Game and Fish Department Regional Wildlife Supervisor Jason Hunter said Monday that the bear bit one of the hunters on the side. The hunters fended off the animal with bear spray.