STATE-BY-STATE

News from across the USA

ALABAMA Huntsville: According to website busbud.com, the state location most often mentioned on Instagram is Lake Martin, a top spot for floating parties, AL.com reported. ALASKA Fairbanks: The 46th annual HIPOW (Happiness Is Paying Our Way) fundraiser raised almost one-third of the total operating costs for the Catholic Schools of Fairbanks’ upcoming year, newsminer.com reported. ARIZONA Page: The City Council approved a plan to improve Internet availability. “I myself am tired of watching the little circle spin on my screen,” longtime resident Mark Washburn told the

Daily Sun.

ARKANSAS Grady: The daughter of the woman Stacy Eugene Johnson was convicted of killing asked the parole board to spare the death row inmate’s life. Ashley Heath asked that Johnson be sentenced instead to life in prison without parole for the murder of her mother in 1993, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported. CALIFORNIA Los Angeles: Unusually aggressive mosquitoes carrying deadly diseases have been found in many parts of the state, the Los Ange

les Times reported. The Asian tiger and yellow fever mosquito can transmit dengue fever, chikungunya and yellow fever.

COLORADO Colorado

Springs: An 80-year-old man attempting to take off in a gyrocopter at the Meadow Lake Airport was injured after the aircraft tipped on its side during take off, the Colorado Springs Gazette reported. CONNECTICUT Wolcott: Authorities seized 60 cats and a pair of dogs from a home in an apparent animal hoarding case, WTNH-TV reported. DELAWARE Wilmington: State environmental regulators reinstated new stormwater and erosion control regulations recently struck down by a state judge, The

News Journal reported. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Jeb Bush joked that the Washington Redskins’ moniker is not insulting — “I think ‘Washington’ is the pejorative term,” he said, according to The Washington

Post. FLORIDA Melbourne: Space Coast Field of Dreams officials are recruiting 1,300 volunteers to construct a 13,000-square-foot customized playground for special-needs children next month at West Melbourne Community Park, Florida Today reported. GEORGIA Walton County: Uriah McCullers, a sheriff ’s deputy arrested in a statewide child pornography sting, was fired, The

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

reported. HAWAII Honolulu: Two men were seriously injured in separate shark attacks off the Hawaiian island of Oahu, authorities said, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported. IDAHO Idaho Falls: Idaho will install the state’s first variable speed limit signs on a stretch of Interstate 15, the Post Register reported. The signs will allow transportation officials to wirelessly lower the 80 mph speed limit during dust storms. ILLINOIS Chicago: Two Fire Department employees worked as extras on the Chicago Fire TV show when they shouldn’t have been doing so, Inspector General Joseph Ferguson said, according to the Chicago Tribune. INDIANA Muncie: Schrome Levonne Isom-Bell, 31, was arrested on preliminarily charges of residential entry and criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon, accused of waving a knife at a male acquaintance, then stabbing his couch, according to The Star

Press. Isom-Bell walked in the back door of a house. IOWA Des Moines: The number of abortions performed in Iowa dropped nearly 9% from 2013 to 2014, according to figures released by the Iowa Department of Public Health. The 2014 total of 4,020 reflects a 40% decline since 2007, when 6,649 abortions were performed in the state, The Register reported. KANSAS Topeka: Rita Blitt, a Kansas City-based artist, donated about 800 pieces of her work to Washburn University’s Mulvane Art Museum, The Topeka Cap

ital-Journal reported. KENTUCKY Louisville: The first Lexus ES 350 to be produced at the Toyota plant in Georgetown is scheduled to come off the line in a ceremony at 3:30 p.m. Monday, The Courier-Journal reported. It will be the unveiling of the first Lexus to be manufactured in the USA and outside of Japan. LOUISIANA New Orleans: Miranda Schneider has one goal: to pour you a cup of coffee that comes complete with kitten snuggles. Dat Cat Cafe officially has a lease at 3719 Magazine St., but it will be several months before full-time veterinarians Schneider and her business partner, Drew Rumley, are able to clear all the red tape, The Times-Picayune reported.

MAINE Waldo: The University of Maine’s cooperative extension is advising farmers to take inventory of livestock feed and forage before winter sets in. The university warns the state’s agricultural industry that variable weather over the past year has created shortages in parts of the state. MARYLAND Salisbury: Hunter Ward, 55, is facing three charges of animal cruelty after three underweight, dehydrated and malnourished dogs were removed from his yard last week by Wicomico Animal Control, the Daily

Times reported. MASSACHUSETTS Boston: The company that operates the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority commuter rail service says it lost nearly $20 million during the first half of the year.

The Boston Globe reported that Keolis Commuter Services released financial figures indicating that it lost $19.4 million during that time frame. MICHIGAN Acme Township: A recreational-vehicle resort is tapping into the tiny house fad by opening an area devoted exclusively to 400-square-foot, highend cabins, The Grand Rapids

Press reported. The tiny houses, which RV resort owner David Scheppe calls an alternative to condominiums, start at $129,000. MINNESOTA St. Paul: A cow running loose was tracked by police and eventually shot by officers, KMSP-TV reported. Prior to the shooting, the cow was rammed by a squad car and appeared to be injured. MISSISSIPPI Tupelo: The Tupelo Public School District has implemented a school attendance campaign after losing more than $2 million in state funding last year because of absenteeism, the Northeast Mississippi Daily Jour

nal reported. MISSOURI Kansas City: Developers of a proposed Kansas City convention hotel say delaying a public vote could jeopardize the $311 million project. The Kansas

City Star reported that developers told the Kansas City Council they were ready to seek financing to finalize the hotel bond financing until a petition initiative drive stalled that effort. MONTANA Bozeman: David Agruss, a former assistant professor, filed a lawsuit against Montana State University saying he was denied tenure and fired because he is gay, the Bozeman

Daily Chronicle reported. NEBRASKA North Platte: Priority Medical Transport is gearing up to begin providing ambulance service here on Nov. 1, the North

Platte Telegraph reported. NEVADA Las Vegas: Police are investigating the shooting of a man on a public bus, KTNV-TV reported. NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: Gov. Hassan asked the Board of Medicine to bypass the public input process of implementing tough new rules for doctors prescribing opioids. Dozens of physicians have asked that the process proceed as normal with public input, even though the emergency rules would only be valid for six months, the New Hampshire Union Leader report

ed.

NEW JERSEY Edi

son: J.P. Stevens High School celebrated the 95th birthday of a cafeteria worker who has served generations of students since the school opened in 1964, the Home News Tribune reported. Evelyn Kiss said she had taken the job a half-century ago because she felt intrigued by what the experience might offer her.

NEW MEXICO Albu

querque: Organizers of Lantern Fest, a lantern festival scheduled for Nov. 14 at the Sandia Speedway, say the event will proceed despite county officials’ permit concerns, KOAT-TV reported. NEW YORK Greenburgh: Good Samaritans helped save a woman from being abducted by her exboyfriend last week, The Journal

News reported. NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: Organizers for A Place at the Table, a pay-what-you-can cafe, launched a fundraising campaign, hoping to open on Hillsborough Street next August, The News &

Observer reported. NORTH DAKOTA Valley City: Valley City’s tap water was named best-tasting in a contest at the 87th annual North Dakota Water and Pollution Control Conference. KOVC-AM reported that Valley City’s water beat out samples from Bismarck, Fargo, Grand Forks, Lisbon, Mayville and Wahpeton. OHIO Cincinnati: In a bold move for the holiday season, Cincinnati-based Macy’s department stores are unveiling OppoSuits, a line of graphic-print menswear featuring snowflakes, snow men, pine trees and reindeer, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported. OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: Armor Correctional Health Services, the health care services provider for the Oklahoma County jail, filed a lawsuit, saying it hasn’t been paid according to contract terms, The Journal Rec

ord reported. OREGON Salem: A wolf thought to be dead turned up in southern Oregon. The wolf wears a radio collar that biologists last heard from in September

2011 near Prineville. The Statesman Jour

nal reported that the wolf showed up this summer on a hunter’s trail camera in northern Klamath County.

PENNSYLVANIA

Martinsburg: A 3-year-old boy and his mother are dead after police said his father failed to stop at a stop sign and their minivan struck a pickup truck, The

Altoona Mirror reported. RHODE ISLAND Providence: Electric bills in Rhode Island could drop by around 8% under a rate change sought by National Grid, the Providence Journal reported. SOUTH CAROLINA Greenville:

The Greenville News’ analysis of the National Inventory of Dams, maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, found that of the total identified 604 dams in Greenville, Spartanburg, Pickens, Oconee, Anderson and Laurens counties, 417, or 69%, didn’t have a listed Emergency Action Plan. That percentage statewide was about 71%. SOUTH DAKOTA Rapid City: Jeanne Wagner and her daughter, Kylea, decided to open a Spice & Tea Exchange franchise after they endured two wrenching losses, the Rapid City Journal reported. Jeanne Wagner’s son, Jake, died in a car accident at age 22 in June 2013, and her sisterin-law, Michelle Snipes, died in March 2012 at age 41 after a brief battle with cancer. Jeanne Wagner found solace in cooking and tea. TENNESSEE Chattanooga: Five years after launching the fastest citywide Internet in the Western Hemisphere, the city’s utility company is offering 10-gigabit service for $299 a month to its 170,000 home and business customers, promising to lower the price as more people sign up, the

Chattanooga Times Free Press

reported. TEXAS Encinal: A pipeline operated by Lewis Energy Group exploded causing large fires. No injuries or evacuations were reported, but an elementary school was closed, KSAT.com reported. UTAH Spanish Fork: Food trucks here may soon be able to set up their mobile kitchens around downtown, the Daily

Herald reported. that The City Council will discuss an ordinance Tuesday that will allow food trucks to park on city-owned property. VERMONT Montpelier: Ronald Rup Jr., 53, former head of technology at Agri-Mark’s office, will plead guilty to wire fraud in connection with the theft of at least $1 million from Agri-Mark, Bur

lington Free Press reported. VIRGINIA Chincoteague: The remains of a pony named Dreamer’s Faith that went missing around Labor Day weekend were found on the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Co.’s carnival grounds, The Washington Post reported. WASHINGTON Spokane: A 9-year-old boy was expelled from Logan Elementary school after officials said he brought a gun to the school bus stop, The Spokes

man-Review reported. WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: President Obama is scheduled to hold a community discussion Wednesday on the prescription drug and heroin epidemics that have gripped the state, the Ga

zette-Mail reported. WISCONSIN Center: Eric J. Lambie, 40, was fatally injured while working on a bulldozer that broke down in a field. According to the Outagamie County Sheriff ’s Department, the frame attached to the blade came down on top of Lambie as he was working underneath the machine, The (Appleton) Post-Crescent reported. WYOMING Riverton: More than 100 premises in nine Wyoming counties have been affected by a virus that can cause painful sores in infected animals, The

Ranger reported. There are more than 50 cases of the virus.