STATE-BY-STATE

News from across the USA

ALABAMA Montgomery: Michael Shane Garrison, 26, and Marlon Ramon Coston, 21, two state prisoners, pleaded guilty in a fraud scheme involving smuggled cellphones and an accomplice on the outside, AL.com reported. ALASKA Fairbanks: The University of Alaska announced the excavation of an elasmosaur from a site in the Talkeetna Mountains, newsminer.com reported. The elasmosaurs had essentially the same body type as the legendary Loch Ness monster — a large flat body with four paddle-like fins and a long neck. ARIZONA Phoenix: The record set in 2014 for warmest year in state history could be short-lived, the Republic reported. The first six months of 2015 may be on pace to break that record, according to the National Weather Service. ARKANSAS North Little Rock: Photo archivist John Rogers was jailed on a contempt of court charge after he did not respond to an order to produce discovery requests in a lawsuit filed last year by First Arkansas Bank & Trust, ArkansasOnline reported. CALIFORNIA Los Angeles: Officer Mary O’Callaghan was sentenced to 36 months in jail for assaulting a woman who later died in police custody. The incident was caught on video by a police cruiser camera, the Times reported. COLORADO Douglas County: Tornado damage at a Pike National Forest campground had crews clearing trees in a 6-acre area. CONNECTICUT Bridgeport: Mayor Bill Finch won the endorsement of local Democrats in his bid for a third term, The Con

necticut Post reported. Finch has been facing a strong challenge from a former mayor, Joseph Ganim, who is making a comeback bid after serving seven years in prison for corruption. DELAWARE Newark: Hundreds packed Holy Family Church last week to rail against a proposed 282-unit housing development for a 182-acre property that once housed Our Lady of Grace Home for Children near here, The News

Journal reported. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: A former police lieutenant was charged with carrying a gun without a license after he was arrested at the Library of Congress with a loaded revolver in his briefcase,

The Washington Post reported. FLORIDA Pensacola: More than 190 new U.S. citizens, their families and friends filled the Saenger Theatre on Friday for a naturalization ceremony, the Pensacola

News Journal reported. GEORGIA Athens: Convicted cop murderer Jamie Hood asked for a mistrial in the sentencing phase of his death penalty case, complaining about the emotional testimony of a dead officer’s family, The Atlanta Journal-Constitu

tion reported. HAWAII Hilo: Hawaii Island Energy Cooperative is urging state regulators to consider a cooperative model instead of the proposed sale of Hawaiian Electric to Florida-based NextEra Energy, the Hawaii Tribune

Herald reported. IDAHO Boise: While other states in the region have enacted emergency fishing rules to handle low flows and warm water conditions, the Idaho Fish and Game Department Panhandle Region says it has no plans to follow suit, The

Spokesman-Review reported. ILLINOIS Des Plaines: This summer, 45 new works have settled in among Oakton Com- munity College’s sculpture park and taken over the school’s Koehnline Museum of Art, the

Park Ridge Herald-Advocate

reported. INDIANA Lafayette: A Frankfort man admitted to pouring gas on his in-laws’ house and attempting to set fire to it while five people were inside, the Journal

and Courier reported. Tyler Williams, 26, who had told officers that he was kicked out of his house after his wife caught him cheating on her, took a plea deal of 16 to 50 years. IOWA Des Moinses: Iowans who buy their own health insurance pleaded with the Insurance Commissioner Nick Gerhart to reject big premium increases, but several expressed doubt their words would have much effect,

The Register reported. Wellmark Blue Cross & Blue Shield, the state’s largest carrier, is proposing premium increases averaging 21% to 26% for 140,000 Iowans. KANSAS Wichita: The Kansas Department of Revenue says it’s still processing paper tax returns but should be finished soon, the

Wichita Eagle reported. KENTUCKY Louisville: New moms, moms to-be and those just curious about starting families gathered Saturday at the Americana Community Center for the second Nursing Bra-Palooza, The

Courier-Journal reported. LOUISIANA New Orleans: Developers of a planned CVS Pharmacy in the Lower 9th Ward asked for a property tax break as part of financing the project, which would be the first major retail project in the neighborhood since Hurricane Katrina, The

Times-Picayune reported. MAINE Augusta: Republican Gov. LePage authorized pay increases averaging 4% for nearly 50 employees within his administration, the Portland Press Her

ald reported. MARYLAND Salisbury: Searchers on Saturday recovered the body of Kenneth Randolph Vickers Jr., 50, who was involved in an accident Friday on the Wicomico River, the Daily Times reported. Vickers’s wife, 57-year-old Flora Marie Vickers, was on the 25-foot pleasure boat with her husband Friday when the boat struck a dredge pontoon and began taking on water, authorities said. MASSACHUSETTS Worcester: Widoff ’s Bakery closed for good after serving treats and baked goods since 1907, the Telegram &

Gazette reported. MICHIGAN Lansing: A 130year-old home, one of this city’s oldest, sold at a delinquent property auction for $16,000, the

Lansing State Journal reported. MINNESOTA Mounds View: The State Patrol asks that motorists do not stop for ducks, or any animal, regardless of how the situation may end, the St. Cloud

Times reported. This after a video, showing a family of ducks narrowly escaping injury, went viral. MISSISSIPPI Jackson: Retired generals Earnest Harrington, Erick Hearon, and Robert Crear held a conference Tuesday about their project, Mission: Readiness, aimed at cutting down on childhood obesity so more Mississippi youth are eligible to join the military. MISSOURI Springfield: A black bear in Christian County was euthanized last week because someone in the area was feeding it, causing the animal to no longer avoid humans, officials told the

Springfield News-Leader. MONTANA Choteau: The Montana Land Board approved a deal that opens access to 50,000 acres of public land on the Rocky Mountain Front, the Great Falls

Tribune reported. NEBRASKA Fremont: A 19-yearold was sentenced to around nine months in jail in the January shooting death of his best friend here, the Fremont Tribune reported. NEVADA Reno: Hoping to eventually keep strip clubs out of downtown, the Reno City Council voted last week to impose a oneyear moratorium on new adultoriented businesses, the Reno

Gazette-Journal reported. NEW HAMPSHIRE Manchester: The public beach at Crystal Lake was closed to swimming because of elevated levels of E. coli bacteria, WMUR-TV reported. NEW JERSEY Trenton: Lawmakers advanced a bill that would prevent public funds from being used to pay for a governor’s out-of-state political travel, the

Asbury Park Press reported. NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: The city settled with a car theft suspect who says he was the victim of excessive force for $142,000, KOB-TV reported. NEW YORK Albany: Sen. Thomas Libous, the state Senate’s second-ranking Republican in office for more than two decades, was convicted last week of lying to the FBI, a felony that will force his removal from office, Gannett’s Albany bureau reported. NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: City leaders have a new idea to combat noise and traffic jams downtown, according to The

News & Observer: Prevent drivers from turning left on weekends. NORTH DAKOTA Minot: Officials say attendance at the North Dakota State Fair is down slightly from a year ago. KXMC-TV reported that attendance through the first five days of the fair is about 2,400 fewer than in 2014. OHIO Lancaster: An armed civilian guarding a military recruitment center accidentally fired a shot from an AR-15 rifle into the pavement last week, but no one was hurt, the Lancaster

Eagle-Gazette reported. OKLAHOMA Tulsa: The Simon Property Group has withdrawn a rezoning request of private property for an outlet mall, but it remains committed to bringing such a development to the local area, the Tulsa World reported. OREGON Salem: A Keizer woman has been sentenced to 11 years for the death of her 4-year-old son, the Statesman Journal reported. Niya Breann Sosa-Martinez did not attempt to rescue the boy after she accidentally set her apartment on fire while smoking marijuana. PENNSYLVANIA Washingtonville: State troopers used a rope to corral a man who was driving drunk on his lawn mower with a box of beer, The Daily Item reported. RHODE ISLAND Warwick: MCB Real Estate, the new owners of the Rhode Island Mall, announced that Burlington Coat Factory will the first tenant since the shopping center closed more than four years ago, WPRO-AM reported. SOUTH CAROLINA Duncan: The West Spartanburg Branch of the NAACP decided to explore the possibility of pressing Spartanburg District Five Schools to change Byrnes High School’s nickname of “Rebels,” The Green

ville News reported. The school district is not considering a name change as it stands, but a recommendation from the NAACP could lead the issue to be placed on the school board’s agenda. SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: The city has reached a deal with BNSF Railway to remove a downtown rail switching yard, the

Argus Leader reported. The project had been in the works for more than a decade and will be financed with federal tax dollars. TENNESSEE Chattanooga: Mayor Andy Berke has issued an order to keep protesters away from the sites of the July 16 shootings that killed four Marines and a sailor as well as funeral processions and funeral services, the Chattanooga Times

Free Press reported. The directive tells law enforcement to treat the two sites as protected memorial services, and state and federal laws require protesters to remain at a distance. TEXAS San Marcos: Nobody was hurt when a bull was seen roaming the grounds of the school here last week. TSU issued a “loose livestock” emergency alert, cbsdfw.com reported. UTAH Provo: The University of Utah was reminded about how to spell “education” after a graduate from rival school Brigham Young University spotted a typo on a parade float. The Herald Journal reported that University of Utah graduate Chad Mortenson spotted the missing “I’’ in the word education on a BYU float that was being previewed alongside others ahead of The Days of ’47 parade. VERMONT Charlotte: Neighbors in this community are uniting to remove dozens of stockpiled railroad cars and containers, The Burlington Free Press reported. Residents are concerned about their safety from the tankers, many of which are labeled as carrying flammable materials, if anything were to go wrong. VIRGINIA Richmond: U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said a high-speed rail line linking Washington to Richmond and eventually to cities farther south is one of his top priorities, the Times-Dispatch reported.

WASHINGTON Seattle: Researchers with the Center for Whale Research have photo confirmation of 81 orca whales, phys.org reported. Four baby orcas — one female and three males — have survived so far. WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: David Synn wanted to be a rock star, but when his music career stalled, he focused on the root of that music — lyrics and writing. He turned to poetry. His first collection, Art of Disillusionment, was published by The Empty Glass, a bar branching out into books, the Gazette-Mail reported. WISCONSIN Green Bay: City Hall is turning to consultants to help the public works department drive through a backlog of street, sewer and parks projects caused by a shortage of civil engineers, The Press-Gazette reported. More than a dozen projects were delayed over the past two years because of constant turnover of engineers and support staff, Green Bay Public Works Director Steve Grenier said. WYOMING Casper: The City Council approved an ordinance that would allow city residents to keep chickens. The Casper StarTribune reported that the council voted 5-2 in favor of the measure.