STATE-BY-STATE
News from across the USA
ALABAMA Huntsville: Helena topped Homesnacks’ list of the safest places to live in the state, AL.com reported. The spots were determined by looking at FBI data on the number of violent crimes per capita and total crimes per capita.
ALASKA Juneau: Juneau-Douglas High School’s Theatre Department is putting on a production of the rambunctious musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, the Empire reported.
ARIZONA Flagstaff: The ninth annual Kahtoola Uphill Race is set for Feb. 20 at the Arizona Snowbowl, the Daily Sun reported. The Gore-Tex Kahtoola Uphill is a fundraiser for the Friends of Camp Colton, a non-profit organization that supports an environmental education program for sixth-graders.
ARKANSAS Pine Bluff: Police seized more than 7 pounds of drugs during the search of an apartment and charged two men with felonies, Arkansas-Online reported.
CALIFORNIA Corona: The Los Angeles Times warned that Carmageddon is coming. Transportation officials will close a 6-mile stretch of the notoriously gridlocked 91 Freeway on Feb. 1922 as part of a $1.4 billion construction project to widen the freeway.
COLORADO Colorado Springs: Air Force leaders say the military branch’s first cyber weapons system is fully operational. The
Colorado Springs Gazette reported that the weapon is essentially a large firewall meant to protect the Air Force’s internal network from hackers.
CONNECTICUT Storrs: University of Connecticut officials scheduled public presentations of a proposal to expand the CTfastrak express bus service from Hartford to the Storrs campus. State Department of Transportation officials will describe the proposal at noon on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Student Union.
DELAWARE Dover: More state residents are carrying concealed weapons legally, Delaware State
News reported. Permits to carry concealed weapons rose 56% from 2014 to 2015.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: A federal jury found that Mick Dadlani, the owner of the Redline sports bar, discriminated against bartender Briggitta Hardin and awarded her $687,000 in damages, The Washington Post reported.
FLORIDA Cape Canaveral: A pair of NASA astronauts with nine shuttle missions between them will be inducted into the the Kennedy Space Center’s U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in May,
Florida Today reported. The new inductees are Brian Duffy, who piloted two shuttles and commanded two more, and Dr. Scott Parazynski, a medical doctor who flew five times and performed seven spacewalks.
GEORGIA Atlanta: Two more Georgia State University students were robbed at gunpoint in Library North, the scene of multiple armed robberies in the past month, The Atlanta Journal
Constitution reported. HAWAII Hilo: The state Department of Land and Natural Resources said a disease has been found in 34,000 acres of ohia forest on the Big Island.
IDAHO Murtaugh: Two ferruginous hawks illegally shot and left to die have been euthanized, the Times-News reported.
ILLINOIS Bartlett: Horse stables in DuPage County are taking steps to protect their animals from equine herpes virus after one stable was placed under quarantine by state health officials, The Daily Herald reported. Two horses at Sunset Hill Farm here have been euthanized and others have fallen sick.
INDIANA Franklin: Police are asking for the public’s help as they work to track down Ruff and Tuff, the tussling grizzly cubs depicted in a 2-foot statue reported stolen from Franklin College late last week, The Indianapolis Star reported.
IOWA Des Moines: A Boone man has been charged with ongoing criminal conduct, accused of submitted false billing records to Des Moines Water Works in March and April for more than $100,000, The Des Moines Register reported.
KANSAS Lawrence: A local couple who sought permission to get married in a local cemetery will have to find another venue to proclaim their undying love, the Lawrence Journal-World reported.
KENTUCKY Louisville: Planned Parenthood temporarily has stopped offering abortion services at its new clinic in downtown while it addresses objections the state raised about its license application for the facility, The Courier-Journal reported.
LOUISIANA New Orleans: The integrity of potentially thousands of criminal court cases was upheld as the state Supreme Court ruled the method by which cases are allotted to judges is “sufficiently random” to protect defendants’ rights to due process, The Times-Picayune reported.
MAINE Paris: One man died and two were injured when their car crashed and rolled, WMTW-TV reported.
MARYLAND Annapolis: Police are investigating the fatal shooting of Jordan Davis, 20.
MASSACHUSETTS Worcester: Two women police say were raising children in a squalid local apartment pleaded not guilty to drug charges, The Telegram & Gazette reported.
MICHIGAN Grand Rapids: The Grand Rapids Public Museum opens a new mini-exhibit Thursday about Rosa Parks that runs through March 26. Titled “Rosa Parks — An American Legacy,” the exhibit follows Parks’ life through photos and artifacts.
MINNESOTAAuthorities say Goodthe deaths Thunder:of a man here andare likelya womana murder-suicide,in their home
The Free Press reported.
MISSISSIPPI Tupelo: Local leaders submitted an application for a grant they say would make the city more pedestrian friendly, the Northeast Mississippi Daily Jour
nal reported. The city proposes the construction of paved, handicapped accessible pedestrian crossings at four railroad intersections.
MISSOURI Fruitland: A woman died after a fire broke out in a trailer home there, the Southeast Missourian reported.
MONTANA Billings: About 800 union miners at Stillwater Mining have approved a new four-year contract. The Billings
Gazette reported that the base pay for miners stays the same.
NEBRASKA Polk: Health officials are taking precautions after a teen died from an apparent case of meningitis. The Grand Island
Independent reported that anyone who had close contact with the teen beforehand will be giving antibiotics as a precaution.
NEVADA Reno: The owners of the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Triple-A baseball team here say they intend to make $1.2 million in improvements at the downtown Aces Ballpark. An ice skating rink now operates in the park during the winter and a professional soccer team is slated to begin play next year, the Reno Gazette-Journal reported.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: A hearing about expanding Medicaid through 2018 for about 47,000 citizens drew more than 200 people last week. The federal government stops paying 100% of the program on Jan. 1, 2017, the New Hampshire Union Leader.
NEW JERSEY Monmouth County: An increasing number of people are sick with an unknown gastrointestinal sickness that causes abdominal cramping, nausea and vomiting, the Asbury Park Press reported.
NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: A woman whose 2-year-old nephew died after she forgot him in a hot car won’t have to go to prison.
The Albuquerque Journal reported that Sandra Rodriguez Miramontes, who was 19 when the 2012 incident occurred, will get four years of probation followed by a conditional discharge. NEW YORK Buffalo: JetBlue will begin offering direct flights from here to Los Angeles starting June 16, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., announced. This is the first direct flight from Buffalo Niagara International Airport to any California city, WGRZ-TV reported.
NORTH CAROLINA Wilmington: Officials say no one was injured when a ferry ran aground on its way from Ocracoke to Hatteras. The U.S. Coast Guard says the incident with the Roanoke ferry happened when the watercraft was maneuvering around a dredge pipe.
NORTH DAKOTA Fargo: Faculty members at North Dakota State University plan to conduct research in an effort to make wind power more widespread, the Bismarck Tribune reported.
OHIO Defiance: Defiance County officials have awarded a $1.5 million contract to renovate the exterior of a nearly 150-yearold courthouse, The Blade reported. Midwest Contracting of Holland, Ohio, will replace third-floor parapet with a mansard roof, add a cupola to a west entry tower and replace some windows and expects to be finished by Sept. 30.
OKLAHOMA Guthrie: A police officer has been suspended after allegedly showing up for work while intoxicated.
OREGON Bend: Park officials are partially crediting the record number of Crater Lake National Park visitors last year with a low snowpack that opened roads and facilities earlier. The Bulletin reported that visitation was up 13.5% compared to 2014, at 664,000 visitors in 2015.
PENNSYLVANIA Pittsburgh: Authorities say a sickly bear was trapped in western Pennsylvania and euthanized, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: A pizza delivery driver’s vehicle was car-jacked after he tried to make a delivery to an address that doesn’t exist, WJAR-TV reported.
SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: Over a six-year period, the Insurance Reserve Fund, which acts as the insurance carrier for state and other government agencies, paid more than $30 million to resolve claims against the state Department of Transportation, mostly over alleged road defects, The Greenville News reported.
SOUTH DAKOTA Hot Springs: The Oglala Lakota County Sheriff ’s Department doubled its fleet of squad cars thanks to a donation from the Rapid City Police Department. The Rapid City Council voted unanimously Jan. 18 to give two Chevrolet Impalas that were headed for retirement to Oglala Lakota County, the Rapid City Journal reported.
TENNESSEE Collegedale: A police officer fired a Taser at a woman hired to clean a middle school after police noticed an open door and searched the school for a possible intruder, the Chattanooga Times Free-Press reported.
TEXAS Austin: The Texas Department of Transportation will distribute $1.3 billion to 14 roadway projects to reduce traffic congestion in Texas’ major cities. Texans lose about 52 hours and $1,200 annually due to gridlock, The Texas Tribune reported.
UTAH Salt Lake City: Authorities say a man died after setting himself on fire outside a local gas station, KSL-TV reported.
VERMONT South Hero: A large chuck of ice blew off of an eastbound tractor-trailer and crashed through the windshield of an oncoming Honda SUV on the U.S. 2 sandbar causeway injuring the driver, police said. The truck did not stop, Burlington Free Press reported.
VIRGINIA Chesterfield County: Chesterfield Administrator James “Jay” Stegmaier will retire July 1 after 37 years working for the county’s government, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.
WASHINGTON East Bremer
ton: The Kitsap County Sheriff ’s office says they’ve arrested a man in connection with a killing here, King 5 TV reported.
WEST VIRGINIA Kanawha County: Its numbers are small, but the group keeps growing. Half a dozen people from St. Albans, South Charleston and Charleston’s West Side met to learn more about residential solar panels and the effort to organize the Solar Co-op, a group of 38 people considering solar installations at their homes, the Gazette-Mail reported.
WISCONSIN Appleton: When Making a Murderer takes a step back from the national spotlight, convicted killer Steven Avery won’t fade from the public’s view. Avery, who is serving a life term with no possibility of parole for the 2005 murder of Teresa Halbach, has vowed to keep fighting the conviction in the appeals courts. “I ain’t gonna give up,” Avery said near the end of Mak
ing a Murderer, a 10-part docuseries released by Netflix in mid-December. Since being sent to prison in 2007, the court of appeals affirmed the jury’s guilty verdict, and the Wisconsin Supreme Court refused to hear his case, Post-Crescent reported.
WYOMING West Thumb: Yellowstone Vacations, a company that offers snow coach rides in Yellowstone National Park, is testing whether large tires might work better than tracks, The Billings Gazette reported. Randy Roberson says the results so far indicated tires use less fuel, are quieter and require less maintenance that snow coaches with rubber track systems.