News from across the USA
ALABAMA Birmingham: U.S. District Court Judge Keith Watkins rejected an offer by officials to execute five death row inmates with a single large dose of midazolam, rather than a three-drug combination, AL.com reported. ALASKA Juneau: About 20 people took a short tour to the Mendenhall Glacier, but the tour bus, not the glacier, was the center of attention. It was the first glacier tour ever to be run on an electric bus, and it was the first electric bus ever to drive on Juneau roads, the Empire reported.
ARIZONA Scottsdale: The Sisterhood of the Stove, a cook-athon showcasing some of the Valley’s most influential female chefs, is set for Oct. 25, The Arizo
na Republic reported.
ARKANSAS Little Rock: It’s the time of year when amorous tarantulas are most likely to be seen, but the furry, eight-legged creatures generally aren’t dangerous despite their somewhat frightful reputation, ArkansasOn
line reported. CALIFORNIA Los Angeles: Assistant Sheriff Michael Rothans bought a stolen luxury sedan last year from the owner of a towing company that contracts with his agency, a Times investigation found. Rothans paid $3,000 for the 2012 Audi A4, which had been seized by sheriff ’s deputies from a suspected gang member. Rothans said he had no idea he was driving a stolen car until more than a year after he purchased it.
COLORADO Lafayette: A bulldog that was mauled in a backyard was apparently killed by a mountain lion, the Boulder Daily
Camera reported.
CONNECTICUT Hartford: Police and several agencies are investigating allegations that the city was overbilled by Premier Sports Management Group, a subsidiary of the organization that had planned to redevelop Dillon Stadium for professional soccer, the Hartford Courant reported.
DELAWARE Sussex County: A 3-month-old baby was seriously hurt when he was thrown out of his mother’s car during a crash here, The News Journal reported. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Metro admitted in a budget report that a persistent drop in annual transit ridership since 2010 appears partly due to its own failures in service, The Washington Post reported. FLORIDA Orlando: Celebrity Chef Art Smith will blend Florida heritage with Southern cuisine next summer at his new 6,000square-foot “farm to fork” restaurant at Walt Disney World Resort, the Tallahassee Democrat reported. Homecoming: Florida Kitchen and Southern Shine will highlight the cuisine of Smith, 55, a native of Jasper, Fla., who attended Florida State University and worked for governors Bob Graham and Jeb Bush.
GEORGIA Atlanta: The second annual Ramen Fest will be at Monday Night Brewing on Wednesday, a “can’t-miss event,” according to the Journal-Consti
tution.
HAWAII Wailuku: Planning officials are considering turning an unused cane haul road into a route to relieve congestion on a west Maui highway, the Maui
News reported.
IDAHO Boise: The Bureau of Land Management has released a rehab plan for the land burned in the Soda Fire. KTVB-TV reported the rehabilitation plan includes ground and aerial seeding, as well as planting of sage brush, and erosion control work. ILLINOIS Chicago: The Tribune listed 10 must-sees at the Chicago International Film Festival on Oct. 15-29, including Anomalisa, Duke Johnson and Charlie Kaufman’s animated feature for adults, and Hitchcock/Truffaut, a documentary about the extended discussions between director Francois Truffaut and Alfred Hitchcock.
INDIANA West Lafayette: Purdue University students and alumni, be proud. According to a new Buzzfeed list, Harry’s Chocolate Shop is now the top college bar in the USA, The Indianapolis
Star reported. IOWA Des Moines: A former Iowa Lottery official convicted in July of rigging a Hot Lotto drawing in 2010 manipulated at least two previous drawings that helped his brother and a longtime friend win more than $1.3 million, authorities say. Eddie Tipton, the former information security director for the MultiState Lottery Association, returned to Iowa on Friday to face a new felony charge of ongoing criminal conduct, The Register reported.
KANSAS Lawrence: Douglas County residents are being encouraged to either get rid of their ash trees or commit to treating them against the emerald ash borer, an invasive insect that has devastated tree populations elsewhere, the Lawrence Journal
World reported.
KENTUCKY Louisville: More than 100 former Jefferson County Public Schools students who dropped out but are under the age of 18 have been re-enrolled in classes this school year, The Cou
rier-Journal reported
LOUISIANA New Orleans: Daughters of Charity Services received a $350,000 grant from the Humana Foundation for the creation of a diabetes prevention and treatment program, The
Times-Picayune reported.
MAINE Cumberland: Officials said a student there has been hospitalized with viral meningitis, the Portland Press Herald reported. The child attends the Mabel I. Wilson School, which is for students in kindergarten through third grade. MARYLAND Salisbury: Mayor James Ireton announced that the city has completed street work needed to bring a farmers’ market to the former Union Railroad Station. According to The Daily
Times, the more than 100-yearold station, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, served travelers until 1958.
MASSACHUSETTS Sandwich: A family is questioning why a baby squirrel brought to a wildlife center was euthanized, the Cape
Cod Times reported. Bruce and Marisa Fraser said their 12-yearold daughter Juliette was “devastated” the center opted to put down the squirrel they named Woodward.
MICHIGAN Lansing: A Michigan Lottery game called the Veterans Day 50/50 Raffle sends 3% of its proceeds to veterans — through the National Guard Association of Michigan — the
Detroit Free Press reported.
MINNESOTA St. Paul: A group of state lawmakers and historians is looking at how art portraying Native Americans should be used inside the renovated Minnesota Capitol when it reopens in 2017, Minnesota Public Radio News reported.
MISSISSIPPI Tupelo: Rust College paid an undisclosed sum to settle a sexual misconduct case brought by three former students at the Holly Springs campus, the Northeast Mississippi Daily Jour
nal reported.
MISSOURI Kansas City: At least 16 children in the local metropolitan area have been killed in homicides in the past 12 months,
The Kansas City Star reported. Victims have ranged from 6 weeks to 16 years old.
MONTANA Whitefish: U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy approved a settlement between conservation groups and state officials that will protect more than 22,000 acres of grizzly bear habitat while still allowing logging in two state forests north of here, the Flathead Beacon reported. NEBRASKA Grand Island: Hendrix-ISA, a company that hatches chicks to stock egg producers, is consideringthat would produce building 24a hatcherymillion day-oldIsland Independentchicks a year, reported.The Grand Hendrixrez said the sales hatchery manager would Ken cre- Alvaate 50 new jobs.
NEVADA Pahrump: A woman died and seven others, including tourists from China, were injured after two vehicles collided here, KSNV-TV reported.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: New Hampshire’s Public Utilities Commission launched a website to help electricity consumers shop for competitive rates and suppliers. The website can be found at the commission’s website under the consumer interests section.
NEW JERSEY Brick: The township’s police chief, Nils Bergquist, is retiring after 35 years on the township’s force, the Asbury Park
Press reported. Bergquist, who has lived his dream of being a police officer, will retire Dec. 1.
NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: The University of New Mexico officials plans to eliminate up to 100 jobs in response to a decline in enrollment and revenue, the
Albuquerque Journal reported.
NEW YORK Albany: The state is putting $6.9 million toward Cornell University’s food-research facility in Ontario County as part of an effort to boost the wine and beer industries, the Gannett Albany Bureau reported. NORTH CAROLINA Durham: Inmates at the Durham County jail have twice as much time out of their cells after a recent change by the Sheriff ’s Office, The News
& Observer reported. As of Oct. 1, general population inmates, mainly people awaiting trial, may use common and recreation areas eight hours a day.
NORTH DAKOTA Minot: North Dakota’s Water Commission approved funding that will help improve the local water system. KMXC-TV reported that the commission approved $3.6 million for the project that will involve installing a new water tank and water lines in the city.
OHIO New Russia Township: A dark-colored Ford that left the scene struck and killed a helmetwearing 70-year-old bicyclist, The (Elyria) Chronicle-Telegram reported.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: The FBI warned of a telephone scam involving demands for repayment of student loans. OREGON McMinnville: Cascade Steel Rolling Mills was fined more than $7,000 for violating its water pollution permit, the
Statesman Journal reported. PENNSYLVANIA Cheyney: Cheyney University is trying to recover from a steep drop in enrollment in recent years. KYWTV reported that the state-owned school lost 50% of its enrollment in the last five years, including 30% in the last year.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: The state’s criminal justice system remains largely white, even as children of color comprise nearly 40% of Rhode Island’s youth, according to an investigation by the Providence Journal. SOUTH CAROLINA Greenville: Charlotte, N.C.-based Piedmont Natural Gas in its annual winter bills forecast projected monthly natural gas bills will be on average $10 to $12 lower each month for a typical residential customer in South Carolina in November through March, The Greenville
News reported.
SOUTH DAKOTA Mitchell: Dakota Wesleyan University is dealing with an outbreak of head lice, The Daily Republic reported.
TENNESSEE Cordova: Terence Olridge, 31, an off-duty Memphis police officer who died after being shot Sunday, had been a cop for little more than a year and had a fiancée who is four months pregnant, The (Memphis) Commercial
Appeal reported.
TEXAS Austin: Texas’ attorney general announced the state is suing Volkswagen in connection to emissions cheating, citing that certain pollutants were up to 40 times the standard. There were about 32,000 cars affected in Texas and 480,000 nationwide,
The Texas Tribune reported. UTAH Salt Lake City: A state report found that thousands of Utah residents were unable to pay off payday loans last year, further fueling criticism that such loans are debt traps. The Salt
Lake Tribune reported that the state Department of Financial Institutions released data this month showing more than 45,000 customers failed to repay the loans in the allotted 10-week period. VERMONT Groton: State police rescued a state representative and her husband after the pair were reported overdue after hiking at Seyon Lodge State Park. The couple were cold but uninjured, Burlington Free Press reported.
VIRGINIA Richmond: Workers wrapped up a $675,000 renovation of City Hall’s first-floor lobby, which includes more security measures and a unisex, multioccupant bathroom, the Times
Dispatch reported.
WASHINGTON Union Gap: A recycled aluminum water bottle made by Liberty Bottleworks was featured in a sketch on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The
Yakima Herald reported. The bottle was shown during a monologue about Republican candidate Marco Rubio’s campaign. WEST VIRGINIA Morgantown: Sensors have been placed in water bottles floating in the Monongahela River to test water quality, according to West Virginia Public Broadcasting. WISCONSIN Fond du Lac: The American Red Cross will close nine of the 19 offices in the state by 2017. While the buildings are going away, the services will continue in the communities, Red Cross state spokesperson Barbara Behling told The Reporter.
WYOMING Rock Springs: The City Council approved a ban on clothing and tattoos with profane or vulgar language at local recreation facilities, the Rocket-Miner reported.