STATE-BY-STATE
News from across the USA
ALABAMA Tuscaloosa: Physician James Fullerton Hooper, 69, was indicted on drug trafficking charges after a two-year investigation into alleged opium trafficking, AL.com reported.
ALASKA Fairbanks: Firefighters have been busy after thousands of lightning strikes sparked about 20 fires across the state. More than 8,000 lightning strikes were reported in the state Saturday, and at least 8,300 through Sunday evening, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported.
ARIZONA Phoenix: Loathed by liberals and vegans, Ted Nugent launches his Sonic Baptizm tour Friday. The Motor City Madman mouthed off to The Arizona Republic to preview his show: “Music is the great connector,” he said. “Of the millions and millions of my Facebookers, I get the occasional ultra-lefty that hates my politics but knows killer music and dedication when they see and hear it.”
ARKANSAS Hot Springs: Chef Shuttle, a service that delivers food from restaurants, and Raft Up, an app that allows lakegoers to share their locations via GPS, will work together to deliver meals to boaters on Lake Hamilton during the holiday weekend, Arkansas Online reported.
CALIFORNIA Los Angeles: The City Council voted to draft rules for street performers after complaints from police and business owners that the colorful antics on an especially busy stretch of the Walk of Fame can be a menace, the Los Angeles Times reported.
COLORADO Denver: A gunman shot and critically wounded a woman and killed himself Tuesday at an office in downtown Denver, authorities said. Investigators believe the victim was specifically targeted, KUSA-TV reported.
CONNECTICUT Hartford: The Old State House — downtown’s historic gem built in 1796 and once the seat of state government — will close until further notice amid state budget cuts, the Hartford Courant reported.
DELAWARE Dover: State lawmakers partially restored funding for a program that helps state residents become doctors, The News Journal reported.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Metro announced it will eliminate 500 jobs that are no longer critical to the troubled transit agency, The Washington Post reported.
FLORIDA Estero: On their final day of vacation in Florida, Dawn Nelson and her French Lick, Ind., family returned to their rented Jeep Compass after dining at a local mall only to find the vehicle ransacked, The News-Press reported. Gone was $10,000 worth of computer electronics, video games, chargers, camera, glasses, jewelry and more.
GEORGIA Atlanta: Four people have been arrested after they allegedly kidnapped a woman, demanded a $100,000 ransom and led officers on a brief chase, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
HAWAII Maui: Elmer Cravalho, the first mayor of Maui who also served as speaker of the Hawaii House of Representatives in the 1950s and 60s, has died, Hawaii News Now reported. He was 90.
IDAHO Boise: A 19-year-old man died after crashing into rocks on shore while riding an inner tube being pulled by a boat at Lucky Peak Reservoir.
ILLINOIS Belleville: An 81-yearold firetruck not retired from service until 1978 is back in a city firehouse. The Belleville News- Democrat reported that the family of the 1935 truck’s owner, Ardell Miller, donated it to the Belleville Historical Society after Miller’s recent death.
INDIANA Fort Wayne: Transpoint Intermodal LLC has broken ground on a new $13.5 million, 64-job cargo transfer facility to be completed by April 2017, The News-Sentinel reported. It will be developed as an intermodal ramp used to load and unload international shipping containers from truck to rail or vice versa.
IOWA Des Moines: The director of the Iowa chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union hired just last year has abruptly resigned, The Des Moines Register reported. Jeremy Rosen announced his resignation late Monday, calling it “difficult news.”
KANSAS Wichita: The National Agricultural Statistics Service reported that farmers have now harvested about 58% of their winter wheat crop in Kansas.
KENTUCKY Lexington: Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is making a stop in Kentucky next month for a fundraiser, The Courier-Journal reported. Joe and Kelly Craft are hosting the event July 11 in Lexington. Joe Craft is president and CEO of Alliance Resource Partners, the third-largest coal producer in the country.
LOUISIANA Metairie: A 16-yearold teenager suffered a gunshot wound to the leg after his cousin accidentally shot him during a bedroom rap session, The Times-Picayune reported.
MAINE Blue Hill: A decades-old Twinkie sits in a glass box in the office of George Stevens Academy’s Dean of Students Libby Rosemeier. ABC News reported the experiment started in 1976 when Roger Bennatti was teaching a lesson to his high school chemistry class on food additives and shelf life. No one is sure who will inherit the Twinkie after Rosemeier retires.
MARYLAND Baltimore: National civil rights activist and former mayoral candidate DeRay Mckesson will lead the city school district’s office of human capital, The Baltimore Sun reported.
MASSACHUSETTS Freetown: A bottlenose dolphin that was rescued from the Assonet River last weekend has died, The StandardTimes reported.
MICHIGAN Jackson: Plans are in the works to redevelop the Hayes Hotel building here. The Jackson Citizen Patriot reported that city officials say developer Home Renewal Systems LLC plans to invest nearly $25 million in construction and rehabilitation work at the vacant building.
MINNESOTA Minneapolis: Gov. Dayton has selected Fourth Judicial District Judge Anne McKeig as the next Supreme Court justice, giving the state’s highest court its first American Indian jurist, as well as the first female majority since 1991, the Star Tribune reported.
MISSISSIPPI Lumberton: Charles Whorton III is dead after being struck by lightning, becoming the state’s second lighting fatality of the year, The ClarionLedger reported.
MISSOURI Creve Coeur: The City Council passed an ordinance that bans smoking in outdoor dining areas. It also prohibits smoking in other outdoor seating and service areas open to the public.
MONTANA Havre: The body of a man who was reported missing last week has been found in Fresno Reservoir on the Hi-Line. Hill County Sheriff Don Brostrom told the Havre Daily News that a volunteer on a jet ski discovered Jerry Donoven’s body.
NEBRASKA Omaha: Bernie Kanger, 47, is the new fire chief at the Omaha airport after retiring from the Omaha Fire Department last month, the Omaha World-Herald reported. He now has 19 employees instead of 600.
NEVADA North Las Vegas: Officials plan a ceremony on Thursday at the 7-acre Kiel Ranch Historic Park. The site is part of an original 240-acre homestead settled in the mid-1800s by Conrad Kiel near an ancient spring.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: A new coalition of hunters, outdoors enthusiasts and wildlife advocates formed with the goal of modernizing the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, the Caledonian Record reported. The N.H. Wildlife Coalition met here last week to develop a plan for introducing legislation to broaden the agency’s financial base.
NEW JERSEY Island Beach State Park: A nesting pair of piping plovers has forced the state to close a popular section of the park to four-wheel-drive beach traffic ahead of the holiday weekend, Asbury Park Press reported.
NEW MEXICO Ruidoso: The village will receive more than $2.4 million from the federal government to help with the cost of repairing sewer pipes damaged by storms and flooding nearly eight years ago.
NEW YORK Rochester: The Buffalo Sabres wanted to bring an NHL preseason game to the downtown Blue Cross Arena for the first time in more than a decade, but the condition of the antiquated arena prompted them to schedule the game elsewhere, the Democrat & Chronicle reported. The 61-year-old arena was renovated between 1996 and 1998 at a cost of $41 million and the city recently secured $10 million for improvements.
NORTH CAROLINA Chapel Hill: Feast on cheese Thursday at Southern Season as culinary expert and author Sandra Gutierrez seduces palates with puffy appetizers stuffed with creamy cheese, salads topped with cheese crisps and dessert empanadas stuffed with cheese in a tasty event announced by The News & Observer.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: Tax Commissioner Ryan Rauschenberger says the state recorded $3.8 billion in taxable sales and purchases during January, February and March. That’s down 33% from a record $5.8 billion for the same period a year ago.
OHIO Parma: Cleveland 2016 Host Committee, the non-partisan group that’s helping organize the Republican National Convention, has recruited 8,000 volunteers, The Plain Dealer reported.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: Once upon a time, there was the Oklahoma City Storytelling Festival, but after 35 years and a hard look at finances by the Arts Council Oklahoma City board of directors, the annual event will not live happily ever after. The end.
OREGON Portland: Bullseye Glass faces a $300 fine for dumping shards of glass into city sewers, The Oregonian reported.
PENNSYLVANIA Pittsburgh: The University of Pittsburgh plans to expand beer sales at its football games at Heinz Field starting this season. Athletic director Scott Barnes says beer will be sold stadium-wide. In past seasons, only fans sitting in club and suite areas could buy beer.
RHODE ISLAND Narragansett: Authorities are investigating after a 100-foot fishing excursion boat and a 70-foot yacht collided on Block Island Sound off Rhode Island, the Providence Journal reported.
SOUTH CAROLINA Sullivan’s Island: Officials say a man was “nipped” by a small shark while knee-deep in the water on Sullivan’s Island, The Post and Courier reported.
SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: The state Office of Hearing Examiners denied a request by the Argus Leader to obtain records offering details about short-term lending companies operating in South Dakota. Hearing Examiner Catherine Duenwald says applications submitted to the state by payday and car title lenders aren’t public records.
TENNESSEE Nashville: The Metro Public Health Department announced that a Davidson County resident tested positive for the Zika virus after traveling to Honduras, The Tennessean reported.
TEXAS Georgetown: Police say a 36-year-old man drowned in Lake Georgetown after the canoe he was riding in with his daughter tipped over, the Austin American-Statesman reported.
UTAH Midvale: State health centers are getting more than a million dollars in federal funds to expand access to oral health care services at four public health clinic locations, the Deseret News reported.
VERMONT Burlington: For three years, Burlington mistakenly collected $306,226 in taxes that should have gone to the state, Burlington Free Press reported. The money was paid back.
VIRGINIA Richmond: Elizabeth Johnson Rice and 33 others who were Virginia Union University students in 1960 were honored at the unveiling on Broad Street of a historical marker commemorating their sit-in for civil rights, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.
WASHINGTON Deer Park: A 24-year-old prison inmate, who escaped from his job as a kitchen worker at a fire training academy, was recaptured, authorities said.
WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: The state Division of Natural Resources plans to close four pools and a golf course to address an expected budget shortfall of nearly $1 million in the coming fiscal year. The pools to be permanently closed include those at Kanawha and Cabwaylingo state forests and those at Babcock and Twin Falls Resort state parks.
WISCONSIN Milwaukee: Shanika S. Minor — aka Ida Jackson — who is charged in the fatal shooting of a pregnant woman and her unborn child, was added to the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” list, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
WYOMING Cheyenne: A new report says state residents are becoming more diverse and older, the Wyoming Tribune Eagle reported. The report by the Wyoming Economic Analysis Division found that state’s minority population, which includes all ethnicities except white non-Hispanics, grew by nearly 15,000 people, or 18.6%, from 2010 to 2015.