STATE-BY-STATE
News from across the USA
ALABAMA Birmingham: A Transportation Security Administration officer reported he had seen two children hanging off a sign at the Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport minutes before it fell, killing one child, according to TSA documents cited by AL.com. The TSA responded to Freedom of Information Act requests in the wake of the accident March 22, 2013.
ALASKA Juneau: The 42nd annual Alaska Folk Festival will bring performers from around the state and the world this week, the Capital City Weekly reported.
ARIZONA Coconino County: Sheriff ’s deputies busted an illegal drag racing group that endangered other vehicles on Lake Mary Road, the Daily Sun reported.
ARKANSAS Hot Springs: Police arrested Jeremy Avery, 32, who is suspected of robbing a Subway, then apologizing and leaving some of his loot in the tip jar, the Sentinel-Record reported.
CALIFORNIA San Francisco: Airbnb says it is stepping up efforts against hosts who violate the city’s laws on short-term rentals, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
COLORADO Longmont: A Lafayette man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for a string of crimes last year that ended with him trying to drown a Pomeranian, the Daily Times-Call reported.
CONNECTICUT Manchester: Police asked residents to be cautious after two dogs were attacked by a pair of coyotes.
DELAWARE Harrington: Nearly 400 members and friends of the Calvary Wesleyan Church packed 100,000 meals in a single day, The News-Journal reported. The meals of rice and lentils will be sent to Middle East refugee camps as part of efforts by the Global Aid Network.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Hospitals throughout MedStar Health’s network faced problems with their online systems after a cyberattack crippled email and patient records databases, The Washington Post reported.
FLORIDA Fort Myers: Florida Gulf Coast University and Economic Incubators have partnered to help students launch the next big business idea, The News-Press reported. Five students will receive paid internships and two additional students will get free office space.
GEORGIA Atlanta: U.S. Census figures show that the influx of new residents boosted metro Atlanta’s population to 5.7 million. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that metro Atlanta expanded by more than 95,000 people from 2014 to 2015.
HAWAII Honolulu: Conservationists released 18 birds to close out a breeding program for a rare Kauai species. KITV-TV reported that the puaiohi were raised in captivity and joined a population in the island’s forests last week.
IDAHO Caldwell: Injury Care Emergency Medical Services, a private, Boise-based ambulance company, will be allowed to transport patients in Canyon County in non-emergency situations under terms settling a federal lawsuit, the Idaho Press-Tribune reported.
ILLINOIS Bloomington: More than 16,000 people have visited a Route 66 visitors’ center that opened here last year, The Pantagraph reported. The Cruisin’ with Lincoln on 66 Visitors Center will mark its one-year anniversary on April 25.
INDIANA Muncie: IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital is taking precautions after discovering a patient with Legionnaires’ disease, The Star Press reported.
IOWA Des Moines: Activists are asking for answers in the death last month of an Iowa inmate. More than 30 protesters gathered near the Des Moines police station to demand more information on the March 25 death of 38year-old Lamont Walls, the Des Moines Register reported.
KANSAS Wichita: Recent data from the U.S. Drought Monitor shows that nearly 75% of Kansas was experiencing some drought at the end of March. That compared with barely 2% just three months ago, The Wichita Eagle reported.
KENTUCKY Louisville: A University of Louisville search committee has made its recommendation for the school’s next provost without a national search and after considering only two internal candidates, The Courier-Journal reported. The 14-member search team recommended the job as the school’s second highest-ranking officer be filled by Neville Pinto, who is serving as interim provost.
LOUISIANA New Orleans: A lawsuit by cabbies seeking compensation from UberX drivers in New Orleans is headed to trial. But the ride-booking service’s drivers can stay on the road while the case plays out, The Advocate reported.
MAINE Lisbon: Three people fishing in the Androscoggin River had to be rescued after becoming stranded on a rock by rapidly rising water, WCSH6-TV reported.
MARYLAND Hagerstown: The National Park Service and the Maryland Geocaching Society announced a six-week challenge to find 10 geocaches in nine national parks across the state.
MASSACHUSETTS Waltham: The Massachusetts Medical Society will host a forum on gun violence at 1 p.m. at the Massachusetts Medical Society here.
MICHIGAN Clay Township: Officials are reviewing a proposal for a drawbridge connecting the St. Clair County mainland to Harsens Island, northeast of Detroit, the Times Herald reported. Access now is only possible via boat, ferry or small plane.
MINNESOTA Minneapolis: The City Council voted 10-3 Friday to ban plastic bags at store checkouts and to impose a 5-cent fee on each paper bag, exempting people getting government food benefits from the fee.
MISSISSIPPI Iuka: Tishomingo County Sheriff John Daugherty says the community has provided 15 medical bags for deputies to carry in their vehicles, the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reported.
MISSOURI St. Louis: St. Louis Zoo officials say no visitors were injured when one of the site’s tourist trains hit a parked one from behind, sending an engineer to the hospital as a precaution, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
MONTANA Helena: The Montana Invasive Species Advisory Council is reviewing the threat posed by noxious weeds. According to the Helena Independent Record, the group hopes to have a plan by the end of this year.
NEBRASKA Fremont: Barry Jurgensen, a high school teacher in Arlington, is preparing for a nearly 500-mile walk to raise awareness for modern-day slavery, the Fremont Tribune reported. Jurgensen will embark on a month-long walk from Nebraska City to Chicago starting June 1.
NEVADA Las Vegas: Police are looking for a suspect who knifed and robbed of an Uber driver in downtown Las Vegas. The driver was hospitalized but his injuries were not life-threatening, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: Fish and Game Department officials say homeowners should take down their bird feeders between April 1 and Dec. 1 because of hungry bears.
NEW JERSEY Pennsauken: Dredging of the Cooper River continued right up to the April 1 deadline, but Camden County officials are not saying whether the job is finished, The Courier-Post reported. Dredging stopped to accommodate fish spawning season through June 30.
NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: Three women were taken to a hospital after cleaning products created toxic fumes at a local day-care facility. Firefighters evacuated 86 children and 19 adults from the the Little Blessings Child Development Center.
NEW YORK Albany: Attendance jumped 5% at New York state parks last year, with more than 65.3 million visitors in 2015, the Ithaca Journal reported.
NORTH CAROLINA Charlotte: The Fresh Market is telling its customers that it doesn’t want them carrying guns into its stores, the Charlotte Observer reported. Fresh Market has 20 stores in North Carolina.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: A man was sentenced to 7 1⁄2 years in prison on an illegal weapons charge stemming from an incident nearly five years ago. Travis Dethlefs pleaded guilty in December to possession of firearms by a convicted felon.
OHIO Nelsonville: A new brood, dubbed Brood V, of buzzing cicadas is set to emerge from the ground and begin mating across central and eastern Ohio this spring and will be particularly heavy here and around Athens, The Columbus Dispatch reported.
OKLAHOMA Claremore: A person whose boat was sinking in the Oologah Lake in Rogers County was rescued. Authorities say the boater was not injured, but the boat could not be recovered.
OREGON Portland: Health officials say they’ve discovered a small, statistically significant cluster of bladder cancer diagnoses in two North Portland neighborhoods near a glassmaking business, The Oregonian reported.
PENNSYLVANIA Mill Hill: A UPS driver pleaded guilty to summary traffic violations in a crash involving a horse and buggy that killed a woman and a child in central Pennsylvania last summer. The driver pleaded guilty and paid almost $800 in fines.
RHODE ISLAND Bristol: A stretch of Route 114 was renamed the 1st Sgt. P. Andrew McKenna Memorial Highway. The Bristol native was with the U.S. Army Special Forces when he died during an attack in Kabul in August.
SOUTH CAROLINA Aiken: Officials say a motorcyclist is dead after a middle-of-the-night crash minutes after he was speeding through Aiken County at 100 miles an hour.
SOUTH DAKOTA Deadwood: State agriculture officials are co-hosting two workshops this month on how to identify and treat mountain pine beetles in the Black Hills. The workshops will be held April 21 in the Lodge at Deadwood here and April 23 in the Custer County Annex, in Custer.
TENNESSEE Knoxville: The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is limiting access to the Whiteoak Sink area to protect a critical bat habitat, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported. Hikers will be allowed to enter the area, but access to the waterfall and areas beyond will be closed off with orange fencing and signs until May 15.
TEXAS La Porte: DuPont won’t reopen a pesticide plant that has been closed since 2014 when four workers were killed when 23,000 pounds of a toxic chemical escaped. The company said it will help employees find new jobs, the Houston Chronicle reported.
UTAH Springville: Police are searching for a man who has been charged with running down a police officer, KSL-TV reported.
VERMONT Montpelier: The Vermont Senate approved a bill that will allow the commissioner of health to set limits on the number of opiate pills a doctor can prescribe at one time. Dr. Harry Chen, the commissioner, would also create regulations to determine when a doctor should query a statewide database on opiate prescriptions to cut down on addicts going from doctor to doctor to get more pills, Burlington Free Press reported.
VIRGINIA Suffolk: Officials rescued a dog from the Nansemond River, The Virginian-Pilot reported.
WASHINGTON Tacoma: The regional Puget Sound transit agency is seeking public opinions on its $50 million plan to expand light rail and other transit over the next 25 years. People with opinions can share them online, in person or via mail or email until April 29. The News Tribune reported the proposed projects include connecting Tacoma to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport by light rail. Sound Transit also has scheduled public meetings in April about the proposal, which would require increases in property, motor-vehicle excise and sales taxes.
WEST VIRGINIA Martinsburg: Mountaineer Gas is seeking approval from the West Virginia Public Service Commission for a major natural gas distribution line expansion in Berkeley, Jefferson and Morgan counties, The Journal reported.
WISCONSIN Eau Claire: A Powerball ticket worth $1 million, purchased at an Eau Claire Kwik Trip in September, wasn’t redeemed by the March 21 deadline, so the money goes toward property tax relief, The Post-Crescent reported.
WYOMING Rawlins: Land officials plan to remove hundreds of wild horses from areas of three southern Wyoming herd management areas this fall, the Rawlins Times reported. The Bureau of Land Management will take a total of 500 wild horses off of alternating public and private land in the Great Divide Basin, Salt Wells Creek and Adobe Town Herd Management Areas. Land owners can request wild horse roundups under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act.