STATE-BY-STATE
News from across the USA
ALABAMA Birmingham: SWAT officers arrested an Alabaster man after he allegedly injured his girlfriend during an overnight domestic situation, refused to let her leave the home, then made statements he would kill law enforcement if they responded, AL.com reported.
ALASKA Fairbanks: Grammyand Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Luther Adams created The Place Where You Go to Listen, a sound installation at the University of Alaska Museum of the North, 10 years ago to offer a space to connect people to the sounds of the North that occur all around them, just beyond discernability. The Rasmuson Foundation dedicated $104,000 for upgrades to the installation, including new loudspeakers, newsminer.com reported.
ARIZONA Phoenix: The state Supreme Court ruled that the mere smell of marijuana can be the sole basis for police to obtain a warrant to conduct a search, despite the legalization of medical marijuana, The Arizona Re
public reported.
ARKANSAS Columbia County: The sheriff ’s office warned churches to take extra precautions after a “rash” of recent burglaries, ArkansasOnline reported.
CALIFORNIA El Cajon: An 8year-old girl chased away a prowler after he broke into a condominium and woke her up, the Los Angeles Times reported.
COLORADO Fort Morgan: Local officials say there is nothing to suggest that a gunman who wounded a shopper while robbing a store run by African refugees targeted any specific population.
CONNECTICUT Hartford: Officials said Jefry Antonio Chirinos-Alvardo, 29, who is not allowed to legally work in the USA, managed to collect more than $62,000 in unemployment benefits by using stolen and bogus Social Security numbers, the Connecticut Post reported.
DELAWARE Dover: A new study finds that patients in Delaware endure the longest emergency room wait times in the country, The News Journal reported. Analyzing federal statistics from 2014 and 2015, health data site HealthGrove said the average ER patient waits nearly seven hours before being admitted and nearly three hours before being discharged.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Mary Jane Owen, who uses a motorized wheelchair, used to ride the Metro every day until recurring safety issues presented too much of a risk for her. “I really am afraid of the system,” she told The Washington Post.
FLORIDA Naples: Officials say eggs are being stolen from sea turtle nests along southwest Florida beaches. Harbor Master Roger Jacobsen told the Naples Daily News that an egg theft discovered is the fifth nest disturbance in about a month.
GEORGIA Atlanta: Summer is blueberry and blackberry picking time. Southern Belle Farm, Berry Patch Farms and The Rock Ranch allow customers to pick their own fruit, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
HAWAII Honolulu: Gov. Ige signed a bill that creates a pilot research program for industrial hemp, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported. Senate Bill 2659 allows for cultivation and distribution of industrial hemp, the non-drug version of the cannabis plant, for agriculture and academic research.
IDAHO Nampa: After fireworks sparked a wildfire in central Idaho, public officials are pushing to re-evaluate Idaho’s fireworks regulations, the Idaho Press
Tribune reported.
ILLINOIS Chicago: Donnie Trumpet of Chance the Rapper’s hip-hop collective Savemoney asked the city for “Backwoods blunt wraps” when he played the Taste of Chicago. Though the city agreed to pay him $15,000 for the show, it nixed his request for the cigars, which are sometimes cut open and stuffed with weed, the Chicago Tribune reported.
INDIANA Richmond: A 49-yearold man has been sentenced to 76 years in prison for kidnapping his estranged wife two years ago. The Palladium-Item reported that Todd Stigleman indicated he would appeal.
IOWA Cedar Rapids: An eastern Iowa man has been given 40 years in prison for a crash that killed a local city worker, KCRGTV reported.
KANSAS Pittsburg: Pittsburg State University has added its first full-time, on-campus advocate for victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. The Joplin Globe reported that Ali Smith, an employee of Safehouse Crisis Center, will be stationed at the university as the campus victims’ advocate.
KENTUCKY Louisville: The University of Louisville says the Defense Department has awarded its College of Education and Human Development an $848,000 grant to expand a training program based at Fort Knox.
LOUISIANA New Orleans: This month, Tales of the Cocktail is celebrating the 75th birthday of the Moscow Mule, the refreshing drink Sammy Davis Jr. sipped in the 1940s and ’50s when he was hanging out with Frank Sinatra, The Times-Picayune reported.
MAINE Augusta: Police say that three cows escaped their enclosure, wandered onto Interstate 95 and crossed into Augusta before being safely corralled from the highway. The Kennebec Journal reported that the cattle weren’t harmed.
MARYLAND Baltimore: Authorities say three people, including two firefighters, have been injured in a pair of blazes that happened near Clifton Park.
MASSACHUSETTS Worcester: Police briefly evacuated their headquarters here after a woman walked in with a dummy grenade,
The Telegram & Gazette reported.
MICHIGAN Detroit: The brother of an Detroit Police officer who shot and killed a sleeping 7-yearold black girl during a 2010 police raid was demoted and faces an internal investigation after his Sunday Facebook post calling Black Lives Matter supporters “terrorists” went viral and drew harsh public criticism, the Detroit Free Press reported.
MINNESOTA Minneapolis: The University of Minnesota is considering a $99 million renovation for Pioneer Hall, adding restrooms and elbow room to the aging dormitory, as well as a new dining center for the 2,800 students who live in the fourdorm Superblock, the Pioneer Press reported.
MISSISSIPPI Jackson: Last week, two planes that flew to Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport were rerouted back to their originating airports as they were descending. According to one of the airlines, the runway lights in Jackson were off, The Clarion-Ledger reported. Officials at the Jackson airport dispute that claim. MISSOURI Independence: Authorities say a 58-year-old man died from a fall at a suburban industrial park. Police said the man worked at one of the businesses inside the facility and that his death appeared to be accidental.
MONTANA Superior: Mineral County commissioners will cut six county positions to address a more than $400,000 budget shortfall, The Missoulian reported.
NEBRASKA Lincoln: Lancaster County leaders likely will OK $5.1 million in grants to support expansion of the Lincoln Children’s Zoo and the Lancaster Event Center, the Lincoln Journal Star reported.
NEVADA Winnemucca: Officials say two Bureau of Land Management firefighters are dead and one is hospitalized in Reno after a crash on a remote northern Nevada highway near the Oregon state line.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Claremont: A school district is considering appealing a decision to revert Stevens High School back to a block schedule format to the state’s highest court. SAU 6 Su- perintendent Middleton McGoodwin told The Eagle Times that officials are considering an interim appeal to the state Supreme Court.
NEW JERSEY Barnegat Light: Chan-Hee Kang, 26, died after a 36-foot speedboat collided with the 16-foot Carolina skiff he was aboard, the Courier-Post reported.
NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: New Mexico State University researchers plan to place mosquito traps across roughly twothirds of the state to map the range of two species known to transmit Zika virus, the Albuquerque Journal reported.
NEW YORK Rochester: The George Eastman Museum acquired a rare box of film that was used in the original Kodak camera, the Democrat and Chronicle reported. Museum officials purchased the only known box of American Film (introduced in 1888) and one of three known boxes of Kodak Transparent Film (1889).
NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: The city was chosen to participate in Let’s Move! Outside, a nationwide initiative that aims to get youth to spend more time outdoors, The News & Observer reported.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: The symbol of the International Peace Garden will be lit up nightly to celebrate before the Peace Tower comes down this winter, the Bismarck Tribune reported.
OHIO Newark: Angel Abram, 35, accused of regularly locking her 6-year-old son in a 6-foot-by-8foot unfinished basement room for months pleaded guilty earlier this week to one count of child endangering and was sentenced to three years in prison, The Advocate reported.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: Salaries that rank near the bottom nationally, combined with growing frustration among public educators over budget cuts and what they perceive as a lack of respect from policymakers, have led to the migration of Oklahoma teachers to other states or a departure from the profession altogether, The Oklahoman reported.
OREGON Pendleton: Hermiston watermelons are back in season, the East Oregonian reported. Jack Bellinger of Bellinger Farms says the growing season in Hermiston has been hit and miss, with some weeks topping out around 65 degrees and others reaching triple-digits.
PENNSYLVANIA Moscow: A 14-year-old girl is recovering after falling nearly 100 feet into a well. She suffered a broken leg and hypothermia.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: Police are investigating after gunshots were fired at a birthday party, the Providence Journal reported.
SOUTH CAROLINA Orangeburg: The spiritual leader of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) credits his Orangeburg upbringing in helping him become the first black to head the 300-yearold denomination, The Times and Democrat reported. The Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson was elected Stated Clerk of the church last month. The denomination is more than 90% white.
SOUTH DAKOTA Deadwood: Backers of a proposed $40 million Western theme park here hope the attraction could open in 2019, and early plans for the “Gold Nugget Theme Park” have it located near The Lodge at Deadwood or on land in Whitewood Canyon, the Rapid City Journal reported.
TENNESSEE Nashville: The second police officer in less than a week has been suspended pending an investigation of a Facebook post, The Tennessean reported.
TEXAS Port Arthur: The U.S. Coast Guard rescued three men whose shrimp boat sank in the mouth of the Sabine River near the Texas-Louisiana border.
UTAH Salt Lake City: Authorities say they’ve arrested a third suspect in connection with the mysterious disappearance of a 30-year-old man, the Deseret News reported.
VERMONT Montpelier: A new state law that took effect July 1 will shield people from civil liability when they break into a locked vehicle to rescue a child or dog in “imminent danger of harm,” Burlington Free Press reported.
VIRGINIA Petersburg: The City Council approved a 10% pay cut for its 593 full-time employees after learning that the city’s deficit is $17 million, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.
WASHINGTON Seattle: Sound Transit revised its estimated typical “cost per adult” down to $169 a year in higher taxes, if voters this fall approve the Sound Transit 3 expansion plan. The Seattle Times reported that the decrease is based mainly on the fact most people own cheap used cars.
WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: Gambling on fantasy sports is legal under state law, according to an opinion issued by Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, the Charleston Gazette-Mail reported.
WISCONSIN Racine: Byron L. Cowan, 43, who is believed to have declared “war” against police shortly after the attack that killed five Dallas officers, was charged Monday with making terrorist threats and hate crimes, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
WYOMING Pinedale: State wildlife managers say an effort to reduce mountain lion populations across the state has been successful, the Jackson Hole News & Guide reported. Wyoming Game and Fish Large Carnivore Biologist Justin Clapp says lion populations are getting down to about where they were in 2009 and 2010.