News from across the USA
ALABAMA Uniontown: The owners of the Arrowhead Landfill agreed to help Perry County residents preserve a historic but poorly maintained cemetery that borders the landfill on three sides, AL.com reported.
ALASKA Juneau: For the second consecutive year, Eaglecrest Ski Area canceled its Slush Cup because of the lack of snow, the Juneau Empire reported.
ARIZONA Glendale: Since January 2012, the city has chewed up a succession of managers. Kevin Phelps showed up for his first day on the job already gashed and bruised. He was not the victim of politics but a pit bull attack the day before. “I didn’t see it as an omen,” he told The Arizona Republic.
ARKANSAS Siloam Springs: John Brown University called a pest control company in December and January to eliminate bedbugs in Mayfield Hall, a women’s dormitory that has 134 rooms, the Arkansas DemocratGazette reported. No students were displaced except for one who chose to move to a different residence hall.
CALIFORNIA Fresno: The home of Armenian-American author William Saroyan is slated to become a museum. The Fresno Bee reported that the tract house where the author spent the last 17 years of his life was purchased by the Intellectual Renaissance Foundation, which will renovate the 1,228-square-foot house into the museum.
COLORADO Palmer Lake: Investigators say two people were killed when the small airplane they were in crashed into a field in El Paso County and sparked a grass fire, the Colorado Springs
Gazette.
CONNECTICUT Groton: Officials at the Naval Submarine Base will enforce do-not-feed policy to combat a feral cat problem, The Day reported. Officials say anyone caught feeding the felines will face disciplinary action.
DELAWARE Wilmington: The Delaware Supreme Court overturned a child pornography conviction that would have placed the former headmaster of Tower Hill School behind bars for 50 years, The News Journal reported. The court said the search warrants used to search Christopher Wheeler’s school-owned home and office were unconstitutionally broad.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: About 20 boats and trailers remained at the Buzzard Point marina, which is closing, The Washington Post reported.
FLORIDA Tallahassee: A federal jury awarded $850,000 to a local firefighter who claimed he was wrongly fired, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.
GEORGIA Atlanta: Tomorrow-World organizers announced that the electronic dance music festival will not be back in 2016, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
HAWAII Kailua: The city is moving forward with plans to add dedicated bike lanes here, Hawaii News Now reported. The city is looking to add two dedicated bike lanes connecting Kailua town to Enchanted Lake. A federal grant will cover 80% of the bike path’s costs and the city plans to start construction next year.
IDAHO Payette: Police believe four teenage boys set fire to their high school principal’s house in retaliation for being suspended, the Idaho Statesman reported.
ILLINOIS Chicago: Police officer Aldo Brown was sentenced to two years in prison for beating a suspect at a South Side convenience store, an encounter captured on surveillance cameras, the Chicago Tribune reported.
INDIANA Carmel: Attorney Ed Bielski is seeking an injunction in federal court to prevent the city from collecting fines for traffic tickets police issued to motorists under an invalid city ordinance, The Indianapolis Star reported.
IOWA Iowa City: A $2.2 million pedestrian mall improvement project, which was to include a 30-foot sculpture called “The Lens” as its centerpiece, will not move forward as planned, the Press-Citizen reported. The City Council on Tuesday voted 5-2 against a $50,000 contribution that would have kick-started fundraising for the $500,000 art piece.
KANSAS Topeka: Prosecutors say a Shawnee County sheriff ’s detective may have falsified information in charging affidavits. The Topeka Capital-Journal reported that the Shawnee County district attorney’s office sent a notice to defense attorneys.
KENTUCKY Louisville: Citing “incredible” outside pressure, Kentucky-One Health has backed out of a contract to provide care at University of Louisville Hospital for any Planned Parenthood patient who might have unexpected complications from an abortion, The Courier-Journal reported.
LOUISIANA New Orleans: Kimberly Roberts, star of the Hurricane Katrina documentary Trouble the Water, which relies on her home video of the storm, is suing the nearly defunct Al Jazeera America cable news network, saying it failed to return her master footage.
MAINE Kittery: Maine and New Hampshire will do a joint rehabilitation of the Piscataqua River Bridge, Portsmouth Herald reported. The project will cost between $7 million and $9 million.
MARYLAND Cambridge: Police say state police trooper Kenneth Moore has been suspended with pay after he allegedly punched his wife, Patricia Moore, in the face after they argued at a hotel bar last weekend, The Daily Times reported.
MASSACHUSETTS Newton: An SUV crashed through the front windows of Sweet Tomatoes Pizza, killing two people and injuring at least seven others.
MICHIGAN Grand Rapids: Meijer, which operates 224 supercenters and grocery stores in six Midwest states, plans to invest more than $400 million in new and remodeled stores this year, the Detroit Free Press reported.
MINNESOTA St. Cloud: St. Cloud State University will drop six athletic programs to address budget shortfalls, the St. Cloud Times reported. The university will eliminate men’s and women’s tennis, men’s cross country, men’s indoor and outdoor track and field and women’s Nordic skiing.
MISSISSIPPI Natchez: Local aldermen agreed to take out a $400,000 line of credit to help cover any of the city’s upcoming cash needs, the Natchez Democrat reported.
MISSOURI Columbia: Republican state Rep. Donna Lichtenegger says she’ll attempt to find $10 million for new training and classroom space at University of Missouri’s research reactor, the Columbia Daily Tribune reported.
MONTANA Bozeman: Three students in Belgrade middle and high schools were diagnosed with the mumps.
NEBRASKA Omaha: Sue Venteicher was named Nebraska Mother of the Year, the Omaha World-Herald reported. The mother of 7 will compete for National Mother of the Year in Washington, D.C., at the end of April.
NEVADA Carson City: Republicans and Democrats both added about 14,000 new voters to their rolls in February.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: A one-time chance for people or businesses to pay outstanding taxes in New Hampshire without penalty has brought in nearly $19 million in revenue for the state. The Department of Revenue Administration’s Tax Amnesty Program started Dec. 1, 2015, and ran through Feb. 15.
NEW JERSEY Hillsborough: A church, whose plan to renovate a barn into a sanctuary was rejected by the zoning board of adjustment, has filed suit in federal court against the township, claiming its right to the free exercise of religion has been violated, the Courier-News reported. Christian Community Chapel argues that the township’s land use regulations “discriminate” against the church because a parsonage is an accessory use and does not require a use variance.
NEW MEXICO Alamogordo: The Optimist Club of Alamogordo and the Wisconsin-based Dairyland Donkey Ball invited the local police department and the U.S. Border Patrol to a game of baseball while riding on donkeys, the Alamogordo Daily News reported. The game, scheduled for Saturday, will raise money for area youth programs.
NEW YORK Mount Vernon: Police were cleared of any criminal culpability in last summer’s jail-cell death of Raynette Turner, a mother of eight who was in custody for two days after a shoplifting arrest, The Journal News reported.
NORTH CAROLINA Kinston: Superior Court Judge Doug Parsons freed Howard Dudley after 23 years in prison, ruling that he had no confidence in the trial in 1992, when Dudley was convicted of sexually assaulting his 9-yearold daughter, The News & Observer reported.
NORTH DAKOTA Minot: Tickets are now on sale for the grandstand acts at this summer’s North Dakota State Fair, which is July 22-30. Country superstar Kenny Chesney and rock legend KISS will headline the grandstand acts.
OHIO Madison Township: As students returned home Wednesday from their first day at school after a shooting at Madison Junior/Senior High School, the family of Austin Hancock, charged in the incident, said they were “devastated” by his actions, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported.
OKLAHOMA Tulsa: Mayor Dewey Bartlett helped a driver get out of his wrecked car after it flipped over on a downtown onramp.
OREGON Portland: State regulators approved tax breaks for Internet providers who make investments in high-speed broadband access, The Oregonian reported.
PENNSYLVANIA Philadelphia: Mayor Jim Kenney is expected to ask the City Council to approve funding for 800 body cameras.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: Authorities say an investigation is underway after a Rhode Island Public Transit Authority bus crash sent five people to the hospital.
SOUTH CAROLINA Clemson: Three Clemson University students were arrested after a futon was set on fire outside two residence halls, The Greenville News reported.
SOUTH DAKOTA Pierre: The city is seeking bids from airlines interested in serving South Dakota’s capital city under the Essential Air Service federal subsidy program, the Capital Journal reported.
TENNESSEE Erwin: By the time votes were counted, two of three candidates vying to be Republican nominee for Unicoi County property assessor had died, The Erwin Record reported. The winner was Margaret Seward, who died early Tuesday of a heart attack, and the county Republican Party will meet soon to appoint a nominee for the August general election ballot.
TEXAS Austin: The Freedom from Religion Foundation is suing Gov. Abbott over the removal of a mock nativity scene from the state Capitol featuring the founding fathers, Statue of Liberty and Bill of Rights, The Dallas Morning News reported.
UTAH Salt Lake City: The state’s unemployment rate is at 3.4%. The state Department of Workforce Service said that the January rate was unchanged from December.
VERMONT Huntington: Local voters decided to keep their elementary school separate from a regional, consolidated district, Burlington Free Press reported. The Town Meeting Day ballot marked the third time townspeople have voted to preserve local governance of Brewster-Pierce Memorial School, which turns 50 this year.
VIRGINIA Richmond: The first annual Blarney Bash will be held in the 17th Street Farmer’s Market on March 12, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
WASHINGTON Yakima: The city tabled plans for a community court system for low-level offenders because of budget problems, the Yakima Herald-Republic reported.
WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: The Great West Virginia J.Q. Dickinson Salt-Works Pop- Off is designed to draw attention to the small but growing Mountain State popcorn industry. Tom McConnell, program leader for the WVU Extension Service Small Farm Center, said popcorn has several benefits for farmers. “Popcorn costs about half of what it takes to grow field corn, and you sell it by the pound,” rather than by the bushel, he told the Charleston Gazette-Mail. “That’s the key.”
WISCONSIN Green Bay: Local police arrested two teens who they say threatened a man with a handgun and stole his winter jacket and other items. Armed robbery charges were pending against Justin D. Brennan and Robert I. Morales, both 19, in Brown County Circuit Court, Green Bay Press-Gazette reported. The stolen items were returned to the victim, police said.
WYOMING Wheatland: Water here tested higher than federal safety standards for uranium levels, but town officials say the water is still safe to drink, the Casper Star-Tribune reported. Mayor Joe Fabian says the water from the basin is treated before it enters the town’s water supply. He says tests conducted after the water had been treated found no dangerous levels of uranium.