News from across the USA
ALABAMA Lowndes County: The last member of a ring of five copper thieves who targeted Lowndes County churches turned himself into police, WSFA reported. Lily Baptist Church of Letohatchee started a relief fund that will help the six churches repair $40,000-$50,000 in damages from the robberies.
ALASKA Fairbanks: A lastsecond change softened a tuition increase when the University of Alaska Board of Regents voted to approve a 5% increase rather than a proposed 9% hike, newsminer.com reported.
ARIZONA Phoenix: Officials searched for GusGus, a baby goat missing from the Great American Petting Zoo, The Arizona Republic reported. Petting zoo manager Emilie Owen said it isn’t healthy for GusGus to be separated from his mother.
ARKANSAS Hot Springs: After a court order, police released the audiotapes of 911 calls made by Garland County Circuit Judge Wade Naramore and his fatherin-law in the hot-car death of the the judge’s 18-month-old son,
ArkansasOnline reported.
CALIFORNIA Los Angeles: Owners of thousands of wooden apartment buildings at risk of collapse in a major earthquake will begin receiving retrofit orders as early as February, the Times reported.
COLORADO Pueblo: A Pueblo District Court judge ruled last week that there was probable cause to try Joseph Romero, 57, on charges of first-degree murder and unlawful termination of a pregnancy for the stabbing death of girlfriend Phenia Martinez, 25, the Pueblo Chieftain reported.
CONNECTICUT New Haven: Connecticut Fund for the Environment Save the Sound on Thursday announced the launch of the Pond Lily Dam Removal Project, the New Haven Register reported. Removing the dam will restore fish migratory passages and reduce the risk of flooding.
DELAWARE Dover: The adolescent addiction clinic Crossroads of Delaware faces another civil lawsuit, with an anonymous underage patient claiming that her counselor supplied her with alcohol and marijuana and allowed her to falsify her own drug tests, The News Journal reported.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: The National Geographic Society will lay off about 180 of its 2,000 employees in a cost-cutting move, The Washington Post reported.
FLORIDA Pensacola: Navy Capt. Thomas Frosch, Boss of the Blue Angels flight squad since 2012, is leaving the Blues to join the Naval Aviation Training Command at Pensacola Naval Air Station, the Pensacola News Journal reported.
GEORGIA Atlanta: Three Piedmont Hospital locations and two Northside Hospital locations are among the seven safest metro hospitals, according to an analysis published by the Leapfrog Group and cited by the JournalConstitution.
HAWAII Honolulu: Hawai’i Public Radio President and General Manager Michael Titterton, who has been with HPR since 1999, will step down at the end of June, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported.
IDAHO Nampa: Canyon County election officials surprised poll volunteer Jean Knutson, 92, with an award on Election Day for her more than 50 years of service, The Idaho Statesman reported.
ILLINOIS Chicago: Rapper Rhymefest said director Spike Lee owes the city an apology for his upcoming film Chi-Raq because the movie is not authentic nor helpful to the South and West Side communities experiencing violence, the Tribune reported.
INDIANA Bloomington: The Indianapolis Star reported that the sluggish economic recovery will stick around another year, though Indiana will outperform the 2 percent growth rate projected for the nation. Indiana University economists in the Kelley School of Business have released their annual report.
IOWA Sioux City: A Sioux City man granted a retrial on sex abuse charges was found guilty for a second time, the Sioux City Journal reported. A jury found Julius Turner, 43, guilty of two counts of second-degree sexual abuse and one count of thirddegree sexual abuse.
KANSAS Conway Springs: Tom Leahy, a social-studies teacher who was poised to resign for showing his eighth-graders the controversial anti-bullying film Love is All You Need, has changed his mind, The Wichita Eagle reported.
KENTUCKY Louisville: The condition of former Louisville basketball player Kyle Kuric worsened following brain surgery Thursday in Barcelona to remove a tumor, The Courier-Journal reported. Kuric, who plays professionally in Spain, has developed cerebral edema — a swelling in the brain caused by the presence of excessive fluid.
LOUISIANA New Orleans: The Canal Street ferry terminal would be torn down and replaced with a pedestrian landing on a floating barge under a plan being pursued by city and transit leaders, The Times-Picayune reported.
MAINE Augusta: Wade R. Hoover, 38, a former Lewiston martial arts instructor serving time on a federal child pornography conviction, faces trial in state court later this month on 12 counts of gross sexual assaults against boys, the Kennebec Journal reported.
MARYLAND Parsonsburg: Town fire chief Steve White, 60, has died after an illness, The Daily Times reported. White, who served 20 years, will be remembered for building a firehouse for volunteers in far eastern Wicomico County.
MASSACHUSETTS Boston: A legally blind barber was awarded $100,000 after a state agency found that he was illegally fired by a shop that didn’t want a sightimpaired scissorsmith on staff, the Boston Herald reported. Joel Nixon, who has a condition that affects his peripheral vision, had been working for Tony’s Barber Shop in Norton for a year before his boss discovered his condition.
MICHIGAN Hamtramck: Residents of this city once known for being a Polish-Catholic enclave have elected a Muslim majority to their City Council, the Detroit Free Press reported. Six candidates ran for three seats. The top three vote-getters were Muslim.
MINNESOTA Coon Rapids: A woman who was attacked by another woman in a restaurant, allegedly because she was speaking a foreign language, said she may move out of Minnesota, Minnesota Public Radio News reported. Asma Jama said she was chatting with her family in Swahili at an Applebee’s in Coon Rapids on Oct. 30 when a woman smashed a beer mug in her face. Jodie Burchard-Risch was charged with assault.
MISSISSIPPI Tupelo : A $150,000 bond has been set for Marshall Leonard, 61, the man who allegedly detonated an explosive in a Tupelo Walmart last week, The Clarion-Ledger reported.
MISSOURI St. Louis: A property-tax increase of 13% in the Mehlville School District was approved, but voters in Kirkwood turned down a tax boost of 18% for their district.
MONTANA Great Falls: Carolyn Valacich announced that she is retiring as executive director of the Great Falls Symphony after 28 years, the Great Falls Tribune reported.
NEBRASKA Lincoln: Gilbert “Gil” Lundstrom, the former CEO of TierOne bank, was found guilty of 12 counts in a case that accused him of orchestrating a scheme to hide tens of millions of dollars of the bank’s losses, the Journal Star reported.
NEVADA Carson City: The Nevada Treasurer’s Office opened up enrollment for prepaid college tuition plans, Desert Valley Times reported. Open enrollment began Nov. 1 and continues through March 31.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: Gov. Hassan asked the Executive Council to approve a special November legislative session to address the state’s heroin and opioid crisis with $11.1 million in new spending, the New Hampshire Union Leader reported.
NEW JERSEY Asbury Park: Towns along the Jersey Shore raked in record revenue from beach badge sales this summer, the Asbury Park Press reported. The total for Monmouth and Ocean counties was $25.3 million, a 16% increase from 2014.
NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: Lincoln Pines juvenile detention center near Ruidoso will close two years after its opening, the Albuquerque Journal reported. The closing follows an internal review after allegations arose that a Children Youth and Families Department therapist had engaged in a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old inmate.
NEW YORK Yonkers: A Yonkers contracting company that led the renovation of Interstate 287 a decade ago has settled a federal complaint that it duped the state and paid kickbacks that raised the project’s costs, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s office said. Yonkers Contracting Inc. will pay a $2.6 million fine, The Journal News reported.
NORTH CAROLINA Wilmington: Christopher Lee Funk, 35, was sentenced to five years’ probation and 200 hours of community service after he was convicted of aiming a laser pointer at a helicopter attempting to land at Oak Island last year, The News & Observer reported.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: An annual yarn fashion show will take place Thursday at Bismarck Art & Galleries Association, The Bismarck Tribune reported.
OHIO Cincinnati: Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Jody Luebbers upheld a $7.5 million judgment awarded to Zainabou Drame, 7, whose parents filed a lawsuit against the owner of two pit bulls and his mother, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported. Zainabou, 7, has undergone at least a dozen surgeries since being mauled June 4, 2014.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: Almost 78,000 people kicked the habit of smoking. The number of adult smokers in Oklahoma deceased by 19% in the past 4 years, reaching an all time low this year, according to the Oklahoma State Health Department.
OREGON Roseburg: Douglas County Board of Commissioners approved a $30,000 contract with Umpqua Community College to provide a patrol officer from the Douglas County Sheriff ’s Department to increase security after the Oct. 1 mass shooting, The News-Review reported.
PENNSYLVANIA York: A ceremony Tuesday will celebrate the Heritage Rail Trail County Park’s induction into the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy’s Hall of Fame, the York Daily Record reported.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: Alicia Roman, 28, was arrested after she allegedly beat her husband with a car jack and threw a pumpkin at his car window, Providence Journal reported.
SOUTH CAROLINA Greenville: Police were asking for the public’s help identifying a suspect in a theft at Jared Galleria of Jewelry on Woodruff Road. Police said the suspect was trying on a gold necklace and bracelet Oct. 26. When the sales associate looked away, the suspect said, “sorry,” and ran out the store wearing the jewelry valued at $3,800, The Greenville News reported.
SOUTH DAKOTA Woonsocket: Woonsocket High School, which uses “Redmen” as its school mascot and its nickname, will consider a resolution to change its nickname at its board meeting Monday, the Mitchell Daily Republic reported.
TENNESSEE Monterey: A couple’s recent murder-suicide occurred here after the wife had called 911 at least twice without getting help, WSMV-TV, Nashville, reported. Angela Harville had asked her husband, Danny, to move out in September and in the weeks afterward he had become violent, their children said.
TEXAS College Station: Texas A&M University has set out to raise $4 billion by 2020. Most of the money will fund scholarships, faculty recruitment and retention and construction, with just about 15% earmarked for athletics, the Houston Chronicle reported.
UTAH Salt Lake City: A fire destroyed a historic commercial building in Murray on Saturday, KSL-TV reported. The building was an old fish food factory built in 1909, fire officials said.
VERMONT Burlington: On Nov. 14, the second helping of the Trotting of the Turkeys will help cover the cost of Thanksgiving turkeys for the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf and benefit the Burlington Sunrise Rotary Club, Burlington Free Press reported.
VIRGINIA Powhatan: Seventyseven residents attended a meeting to discuss plans to address the lack of broadband Internet access in the county, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.
WASHINGTON Bremerton: An allegedly drunken driver traveled the wrong way on Highway 3 for 14 miles last week, Washington State Patrol said.
WEST VIRGINIA Morgantown: According to West Virginia University police data, crime reported in October rose 63% compared with last year, the Charleston Gazette-Mail reported.
WISCONSIN Green Bay: Brown County’s new sheriff ’s patrol dog made his debut last week, appearing at the County Board meeting with a member of the Stan Kass family, who donated $12,000 for his purchase. Murdock, a 2½year-old Belgian Malinois, replaces Wix, the Belgian Malinois who died in an overheated patrol car this summer, Green Bay Press-Gazette reported.
WYOMING Cheyenne: A 30year-old man will probably undergo psychiatric evaluation after his arrest for allegedly assaulting a city bus driver with a knife, slashing bus tires and attacking a police officer, the Wyoming Tribune Eagle reported.