STATE-BY-STATE
News from across the USA
ALABAMA Montgomery: Law enforcement is bracing for what may be a serious problem in the community: synthetic drugs, the Montgomery Advertiser reported. ALASKA Kodiak: Alaska Aerospace changed the name of the Kodiak Launch Complex to the Pacific Spaceport Complex Alaska, the Daily Mirror reported. ARIZONA Phoenix: An Arizona Republic analysis of the 1,675 claims filed against police shows the city paid a total of $17.2 million from September 2009 to September 2014 — $1.2 million for property damage and $16 million in bodily injury payouts, according to city records. Fifty-eight percent of the closed cases received no payout. ARKANSAS Little Rock: Planning is underway to vacate all jobs at Baseline Elementary and convert Rockefeller into a stand-alone early childhood education center for the 2015-16 school year, the Democrat-Gazette reported. CALIFORNIA Los Angeles: The school board unanimously voted to support state legislation that eliminates parent choice when it comes to vaccinations, the Daily News reported. COLORADO Denver: Differences between the City and County of Denver and the Denver United Veterans Council could mean that the annual Memorial Day Parade may not happen this year, KUSA-TV reported. CONNECTICUT Hartford: Women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma joined his team and others in asking lawmakers to spare the flagship state university from significant spending cuts, The Hartford Courant reported. DELAWARE Wilmington: Delmarva Power customers might wait weeks before learning final details about a $40 million, one-time customer bill credit offered as a concession for the state’s approval of the Exelon-Pepco Holdings merger, The News Journal reported. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: The City Council rejected a $66 million health care jail contract with Corizon Health after weeks of fierce arguments by supporters and opponents, The Washington Post reported. FLORIDA Fort Pierce: Biologists may soon have another weapon in their war against the invasive Brazilian pepper tree: an army of jumping plant lice, Florida Today reported. Researchers seek a U.S. Department of Agriculture permit to introduce the tiny insects, Calophya Latiforceps. GEORGIA Athens: A 10-foot tall metal rooster stolen from outside Lexington Vintage on March 29 was recovered in a remote forest of Oglethorpe County hidden under a pile of wood, the Banner-Herald reported. HAWAII Hilo: A man has been sentenced to six months in jail for stealing a jar containing donations for a girl who needs a heart transplant, Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported. IDAHO Boise: A new study released by Feeding America shows 21.2% and 15.6% of Idaho’s child and adult population, respectively, don’t know where their next meal will come from, Boise Weekly reported. ILLINOIS Bloomington: A federal judge set a primary date of July 7 and a special election Sept. 10 to fill the 18th Congressional District seat vacated by Rep. Aaron Schock, who finds his spending habits under federal scrutiny, The Chicago Tribune reported. INDIANA West Lafayette: Eric Todderud admitted he harmed two overnight guests inside the Sigma Nu fraternity house at Purdue University in 2013, The Indianapolis Star reported. IOWA Johnston: Two boys who had been reported missing were found watching TV by themselves in a neighbor’s home in Johnston on Tuesday afternoon. The children said they had let themselves in through an unsecured back door, The Des Moines Register reported. KANSAS Overland Park: Officials approved spending $27 million over several years to install 165 miles of bicycle lanes throughout the city, The Kansas City Star reported. KENTUCKY Louisville: A last-minute plea for more time from the National Trust for Historic Preservation did not prevent the city from demolishing two historic buildings downtown Saturday, The Courier-Journal reported. The former Morrissey Parking Garage/Typewriter Building and the Falls City Theater were deemed unsafe by the city. LOUISIANA Thibodaux: Sinkholes will be recognized as threats to Lafourche and other parishes in the state’s updated hazard mitigation plan, the Daily Comet reported. The state will map salt domes in each parish to predict if a sinkhole might form. MAINE Portland: Fishery regulators meeting here are almost finished taking comments about the Gulf of Maine’s shrimp industry, WMTW-TV reported. The shrimp fishery closed in 2013 and has yet to reopen because of concerns about shrimp population levels. MARYLAND Salisbury: A trooper who stopped a new Toyota Tundra on Saturday because the driver was using a cellphone found more than a dozen guns inside the car, the Daily Times reported. MASSACHUSETTS Medford: The longest-serving mayor in Massachusetts announced he won’t seek re-election, The Boston Globe reported. Medford Mayor Michael McGlynn says he will step down in January at the end of his term after 28 years on the job. MICHIGAN Port Huron: The Blue Water Convention Center is more than $300,000 under budget as its unveiling to the public approaches — four years after the $9 million project was announced, the Times Herald reported. A ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled Friday. MINNESOTA Mankato: The Mayo Clinic Health System announced it’s giving $185,000 to the Children’s Museum of Southern Minnesota. The Free Press of Mankato reported the museum has served more than 60,000 visitors since it opened its first pilot site in 2009. MISSISSIPPI Starkville: Former Mississippi State Bulldog Jamerson Love was arrested in an incident that led to charges of simple domestic violence for him and a woman. MISSOURI Springfield: A landmark will soon close when the 55-year-old Holiday Lanes bowling alley shuts its doors, The News-Leader reported. The closing will come May 31 after part-owner and manager Gary Clouse decided to retire after about 30 years in the business. MONTANA Great Falls: Bail is set at $100,000 for a man found with $15,000 worth of methamphetamine in his underwear during a traffic stop. The Great Falls Tribune reported he was arrested without incident. NEBRASKA Pender: Thurston County voters approved a $5.9 million bond measure to replace the old jail, The Sioux City (Iowa) Journal reported. The old, 25-bed jail has housed prisoners in the courthouse basement since the 1920s. NEVADA Reno: Construction costs for the Tesla battery gigafactory total at least $34 million through the first week of January, according to permits obtained by the Reno Gazette-Journal. NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: Main Street reopened after crews repaired a water main break that let loose tens of thousands of gallons of water per minute, WMUR-TV reported. Construction crews have been working on renovations. NEW JERSEY Piscataway: More than 800 dancers broke a fundraising record at the Rutgers University Dance Marathon, collecting more than $692,000 for children with cancer and rare blood disorders, the Asbury Park Press reported. NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: Students at the University of New Mexico voted to make all pronouns in the student government’s constitution gender-neutral, The Daily Lobo reported. NEW YORK Binghamton: The proposed sale of the minor league baseball team the Binghamton Mets — which could see it move to Wilmington, Del. — is before a federal judge who is likely to rule on whether that deal is intact, the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin reported. NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: A state senator wants to change the state’s gun laws to allow people to carry concealed weapons anywhere police do, the Asheville Citizen-Times reported. NORTH DAKOTA Tower City: An election to decide whether to build a school in the Maple Valley School District is too close to call, KOVC radio reported. OHIO Akron: Savannah James gave 57 prom dresses, shoes and makeup to girls who couldn’t afford the luxury as part of her annual I PROMise Makeover, WKYC-TV reported. OKLAHOMA Tulsa: Three longtime gun dealers were arrested after being caught on surveillance video during the Wanenmacher’s Tulsa Arms Show, the Tulsa World reported. OREGON Salem: Proposed legislation would require hand dryers in public restrooms to operate at no louder than 84 decibels, the Statesman Journal reported. Sen. Chris Edwards sponsored the bill, saying loud dryers can trigger tinnitus or cause discomfort for people with sensory disabilities, including his autistic son. PENNSYLVANIA Scranton: The gravestone of Hillary Clinton’s father was found toppled, The Times-Tribune reported. Vandals may be responsible for upending the gravestone of Hugh Rodham in the Washburn Street Cemetery. RHODE ISLAND Warwick: Mayor Scott Avedisian said police arrested four people staying at a Motel 6 after the hotel chain agreed to provide police with a daily guest list, The Providence Journal reported. Police checked the names on the list for outstanding warrants. SOUTH CAROLINA Clemson: A Pickens County resident was referred to a doctor for possibly being exposed to a rabid bat after the bat was found dead in the room where the person had been sleeping. This is the sixth animal to test positive for rabies in Pickens County this year, compared with eight in 2014, The Greenville News reported.
SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: Students will enjoy a longer summer. Voters approved an overhaul of the Sioux Falls School District calendar, the Argus Leader reported, rebuking top school officials and pushing the first day of classes to the day after Labor Day. TENNESSEE Nashville: The state Senate voted along partisan lines to pass two abortion measures, The Tennessean reported. One would require women seeking an abortion to undergo a 48-hour waiting period after receiving counseling; the second bill would regulate abortion providers that perform 50 or more a year as ambulatory surgical centers. TEXAS Austin: The Senate passed a “revenge porn” bill Tuesday that would criminalize posting sexually explicit images of someone online without their consent. Owners of websites that publish the images would also be subject to criminal and civil penalties, The Dallas Morning News reported. UTAH St. George: A special whitewashing ceremony Saturday will mark the 100th anniversary of the creation of Dixie State University’s iconic “D” painted on the hillside above St. George, The Spectrum reported. VERMONT Highgate: Is this the most passionate hockey community in the country? It might be. The Franklin County town’s Highgate Sports Arena is one of 10 finalists in the Kraft Hockeyville competition, the Burlington Free Press reported. VIRGINIA Richmond: The House of Delegates and Senate routinely called public meetings of legislative committees with little or no notice and denied scores of bills a hearing, according to a report released by Transparency Virginia, the Times-Dispatch reported. WASHINGTON Ferndale: A cougar killed a dairy cow in Whatcom County in a rare instance of a cougar attack on livestock, The Bellingham Herald reported. WEST VIRGINIA Fairview: A vote-by-mail law will save the town at least $400 during early voting for the municipal election, the Times West Virginian reported. WISCONSIN Menasha: The Board of Education unanimously approved a policy that will allow transgender students to use restrooms of the gender they identify with, Appleton Post-Crescent reported. WYOMING Laramie: A youth council is accepting applications for the upcoming school year session, the Laramie Boomerang reported.