News from across the USA NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: Mayor

ALABAMA Elkmont: A solar panel park large enough to power 50 homes a day is being built, The

Decatur Daily reported. PJ Kraft Enterprises is developing the $690,000 solar energy-producing system on nearly an acre. ALASKA Kenai: State officials identified warmer lake temperatures as a possible contributing factor to the die-off of hundreds of Arctic grayling this summer,

The Peninsula Clarion reported. ARIZONA Tucson: Two bighorn sheep died in the Catalina Mountains. The Arizona Daily Star reported that one ewe died Dec. 9 from pneumonia. Another bighorn found dead Dec. 14 was killed by a mountain lion. ARKANSAS Fayetteville: The University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture says nearly 1.3 million acres of rice will be harvested this year in the state, producing about 160 bushels per acre. That’s down from 1.5 million acres and a record-tying 168 bushels per acre in 2014. Wheat is likely to yield 13.44 million bushels — just more than half of 2014’s 24.9 million bushels. CALIFORNIA Oakland: More than 300 folks participated in the Golden Gate Audubon Society’s 75th Christmas Bird Count, the

San Francisco Chronicle reported. The East Bay bird census was part of the national organization’s bird count. COLORADO Denver: Former Subway sandwich pitchman Jared Fogle will serve his prison sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Englewood, KUSA-TV reported. Fogle was sentenced to 15 years and eight months in prison for possession and distribution of child pornography and having sex with underage prostitutes. CONNECTICUT Hartford: More than 25,000 business and individual taxpayers are receiving letters from state tax officials reminding them of forgotten refunds. Taxpayers have until March 1 to claim more than $6.5 million. DELAWARE Laurel: Police are investigating two armed robberies in the span of a month at the same Dollar General Store on Sussex Highway, The Daily Times reported. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: The Federal Transit Administration ordered Metro to address a list of more than 200 safety issues, The

Washington Post reported. FLORIDA Miami: Mila Dago, who texted her boyfriend, “Driving drunk woo” minutes before a crash that killed her friend and passenger, Irina Reinoso, was sentenced to four years in prison for DUI manslaughter, The Mi

ami Herald reported. GEORGIA Atlanta: Cardlytics, a data analytics and digital advertising company, reserved every seat at a movie theater to take all 220 employees to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

reported.

HAWAII Honolulu: The Honolu

lu Star-Advertiser reported that Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists are keeping tabs on an “incandescent, fuming source” in the Kilauea Volcano’s Puu Oo crater’s east rim. IDAHO Shelley: A high school athletic director accused of pushing a female student up against a locker and rubbing his body against hers faces a misdemeanor battery charge. KPVI-TV reported that David Hadley pleaded not guilty Dec. 4. ILLINOIS Chicago: In 2012, a state law took effect prohibiting residents from throwing televisions in the trash. “There are not many places you can take your TVs, and yet they are banned from the landfills. So it’s a problem,” Jennifer Jarland, recycling coordinator for Kane County, told The Beacon-News. INDIANA Hobart: Save the Dunes, a conservation group, purchased nearly 100 acres along Lake Michigan and plans to donate that land to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, The

Times of Northwest Indiana re

ported. IOWA Iowa City: Longtime Prairie Lights bookstore employee Paul Ingram received an honorary holiday bonus last week from best-selling author James Patterson, the Iowa City Press

Citizen reported. KANSAS Manhattan: Kansas State University will spend $6 million more than budgeted for the renovation of its student union, the Manhattan Mercury reported. The Board of Regents approved a request to increase the project’s budget from $25 million to $31 million. KENTUCKY Florence: A Boone County grand jury indicted a 22-year-old woman who allegedly hit a family walking along a roadside, killing twin toddlers and their grandfather, The Kentucky

Enquirer reported. LOUISIANA New Orleans: Lee Circle will lose the statue of its namesake after the City Council voted 6-1 to remove four monuments related to the Confederacy from their prominent perches around the city, The Times-Pica

yune reported. MAINE Augusta: State regulators said 2016 hunting and fishing licenses are available online or at more than 800 agents around the state. MARYLAND Baltimore: An environmental impact study says replacing the 1873 Baltimore and Potomac tunnel, which constricts train traffic in the Northeast corridor, could displace people in dozens of homes and subject hundreds to construction noise pollution, The Sun reported. MASSACHUSETTS West Yar

mouth: The former ZooQuarium may house the booty from the Whydaha, a 300-year-old pirate ship that sank off the coast of Wellfleet in 1717 and was found by underwater explorer Barry Clifford. The Cape Cod Times reported that Clifford signed an offer to purchase the 12,000square-foot ZooQuarium building on Route 28. MICHIGAN Algoma Township: As many as 80 vehicles were involved in a snowy chain-reaction pileup on U.S. 131 north of Grand Rapids last week, WZZMTV reported. MINNESOTA Duluth: Duluth Seaway Port Authority spokeswoman Adele Yorde said the oceangoing M/V Cornelia left the port of Duluth last week. The ship had been detained for six weeks over allegations of environmental violations. MISSISSIPPI Biloxi: Mayor Andrew Gilich wants the city to seek more state tidelands money for waterfront improvements. The

Sun Herald reported that Biloxi sent in applications for projects worth at least $12.75 million this year. MISSOURI Joplin: Missouri Southern State University and the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences approved a program that will streamline medical education for some students, The Joplin Globe reported. MONTANA Bozeman: Montana dairy producers are worried after the state Department of Livestock proposed increases on dairy inspection fees. The proposal would nearly double the charge for milk producers and add a minimum $725 fee per month for processors, the Bozeman Daily

Chronicle reported. NEBRASKA Scottsbluff: Police investigated a burglary at one of the department’s storage facilities, the Scottsbluff Star-Herald reported. Items reported stolen include controlled substances, firearms, knives and personal items such as clothing, electronics and cellphones. NEVADA Las Vegas: A 21-yearold man riding a motorcycle died after he collided with a pickup at an intersection. NEW HAMPSHIRE Keene: Liberty Utilities customers were warned about the possibility of gas odors and elevated carbon monoxide levels in their homes after a power problem at Liberty’s plant, WMUR-TV reported. NEW JERSEY Seacaucus: A hazmat crew was called to a Kohl’s store after some shoppers became nauseous. Officials said at least a dozen people were affected, WCBS-TV reported. Emergency crews treated shoppers at the scene. Javier Gonzales announced that a long-delayed goal of offering fast Internet speed is moving ahead. Gonzales said Santa Fe Fiber will raise speeds to 1 gigabit per second, or 1 billion bits per second, for the city, The Santa Fe New

Mexican reported. Businesses in Santa Fe typically receive no more than 100 megabits per second. NEW YORK Canandaigua: A longtime Star Wars fan who was drawn to the Dark Side officially changed his name last year to Darth Vader, the Democrat and

Chronicle reported. For most of his 43 years, he was known as Eric Welch, but the former Marine said he wanted to split from his past, which included eight foster homes and 15 schools. NORTH CAROLINA Durham: If all goes as planned, when a police officer heads to a crime scene, makes a traffic stop or searches someone next year, the officer will turn on a body camera to record what happens next. The cameras haven’t been picked, but many of the details have been worked out, and Deputy Chief Anthony Marsh expects them to be in place next spring or summer, The News & Observer reported. NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: Organizers of ice fishing tournaments were reminded that they need to get a permit from the state Game and Fish Department. OHIO Cuyahoga Falls: Craig Foreman, 39, wanted to make sure he got a good seat to see the latest Star Wars movie — so he paid about $1,300 to book an 87-seat theater for a showing Thursday night, the Akron Bea

con Journal reported. OKLAHOMA Tulsa: The field of candidates running in a special election to finish the remainder of a former Tulsa County sheriff ’s term was trimmed to 10, the

Tulsa World reported. OREGON Salem: A report from the state Department of Environmental Quality says residents sent more garbage to landfills and recycled less in 2014, the States

man Journal reported. PENNSYLVANIA Pittsburgh: The Monongahela Incline, which gives sightseers a panoramic view of the city, reopened after being closed for more than a week because of an electrical problem. RHODE ISLAND Providence: University of Rhode Island researchers were awarded a $227,850 federal grant to study the effects of climate change on Atlantic fisheries. Jeremy Collie at the URI Graduate School of Oceanography leads the team. SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: The Richland County Fire Marshal’s office said combustible materials put too close to a heater touched off a fire that killed George Johnson, 62, WLTX-TV reported. SOUTH DAKOTA Webster: Officials expect a high-voltage transmission line to bring an economic boost. The 90-acre lay-down yard for the 162-mile transmission line spanning from the Otter Tail Power plant in Big Stone to Ellendale, N.D., will be in the Webster Industrial Park, the Aberdeen

American News reported. TENNESSEE Elizabethton: Deputy Jenna Markland, wounded in the head and face after responding to a call of a drunken man waving a gun, was released from a hospital last week, the Eliza

bethton Star reported. Kelly Pitts, 36, was charged with seven counts of attempted murder. TEXAS Austin: Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller’s Christmas gift to state officials might have upset some farmers.

The Houston Chronicle reported that the boxes of oranges he sent as gifts to several officials were from farmers in neighboring Louisiana. UTAH Salt Lake City: Federal wildlife officials will use infrared equipment to count the number of wild burros before a roundup next spring. The Bureau of Land Management will use the equipment to sense the animals’ body heat because they tend to scatter and blend into the landscape, the

Deseret News reported. VERMONT Franklin County: Franklin County lost four of its 11 pediatricians, leaving about 6,000 children without a doctor, the

Burlington Free Press reported. VIRGINIA Roanoke County: Police arrested two men and a woman accused of pilfering $3,000 worth of coffee from two Krogers, the Richmond Times

Dispatch reported. WASHINGTON Moxee: Demand from craft beer brewers led to an 11% increase in U.S. hop production in 2015 compared with the previous year. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service says production totaled 78.8 million pounds. The state produced 59.4 million pounds, followed by Oregon, which produced 10.6 million pounds, the Capital

Press reported. WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: Alpha Technologies, a technology service company based in Putnam County, plans to build a $5 million underground fiberoptic loop through the commercial centers of downtown Charleston, Kanawha City and South Charleston, the Gazette

Mail reported. WISCONSIN Madison: The state unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest level since March 2001. Statewide unemployment declined from 4.3% in October to 4.2% in November,

The Post-Crescent reported. WYOMING Laramie: South Dakota State University administrator Laurie Nichols was named as the University of Wyoming’s next president. She will be the first woman president of the university.