STATE-BY-STATE
ALABAMA Montgomery: The Alabama Board of Education delayed a discussion of Superintendent Michael Sentance’s contract on Wednesday. The governor’s office questioned whether the board gave adequate public notice of the meeting.
ALASKA Anchorage: Federal officials are reviewing annual catch limits for 11 Alaska Native communities whose subsistence hunters are authorized to harvest bowhead whales.
ARIZONA Casa Grande: Developers of a motor sports park planned for Maricopa are appealing a judge’s ruling that allows a referendum challenging a permit for the project to go forward, The Casa Grande Dispatch reports. The Maricopa City Council approved the permit in April.
ARKANSAS Marion: A sunken ship may turn into an Arkansas tourist site. The paddle wheel steamboat Sultana caught fire in 1865, days after the end of the Civil War. The ship’s wreckage rests beneath a soybean field where the Mississippi River once ran, KATV-TV reports.
CALIFORNIA Sacramento: State lawmakers have expressed concern about California State University management spending after a recent audit found budgeting problems. The April audit said campuses increased management staff and compensation at a higher rate than for other groups, including faculty.
COLORADO Durango: City leaders are having trouble finding a group to manage a proposed permanent homeless camp, The Durango Herald reports. The camp will be equipped with water, bathrooms, tent pads and other amenities.
CONNECTICUT Hartford: The University of Connecticut has opened a satellite campus in downtown Hartford with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. About 2,300 students and 300 full-time faculty are scheduled to begin classes there Monday.
DELAWARE Wilmington: A man who says he was injured when an e-cigarette battery exploded in his pants has filed a lawsuit against Delaware Vapor, the shop that sold the item, The Wilmington News Journal reports.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: President Trump has signed a resolution allowing the District of Columbia and the two states surrounding it to create a Metro Safety Commission.
FLORIDA Lakeland: A Florida veterinarian and her husband are facing animal cruelty charges. Polk County authorities say Gail Anne Nichols and Paul Craig Smith failed to provide 28 miniature horses, two full-sized horses, eight dogs and two birds with a basic level of care.
GEORGIA Decatur: Nearly four million gallons of raw sewage that spilled into a tributary to Nancy Creek Basin in Brookhaven have been contained, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Because of the volume, officials say on-stream monitoring will be conducted for the next year.
HAWAII Honolulu: The Honolulu City Council has postponed a decision on requiring the installation of sprinkler systems in older high-rise buildings. A recent fire killed three residents of a building that lacks the safety feature, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports.
IDAHO Cascade: An Idaho man is out more than $20,000 after organizing a solar eclipse festival
that drew only a few dozen people. Jeff Webb’s eclipse festival in Cascade was complete with campsites, parking shuttles, eight live bands, portable toilets and food for thousands, KIVI-TV reports.
ILLINOIS Chicago: A federal judge has affirmed the conviction of a woman who claims to be a “sovereign citizen.” Cherron Phillips filed $100 billion in bogus liens against judges, a prosecutor and other law enforcers in Chicago to avenge her brother’s drug conviction, The Chicago Daily Law Bulletin reports.
INDIANA Bloomington: The Bloomington parks board has approved hiring sharpshooters to reduce the number of deer in the Griffy Lake nature preserve, The (Bloomington) Herald-Times reports.
IOWA Ames: Officials say the Gerdin Charitable Foundation has committed $7 million to add classroom and other space for the Iowa State University College of Business in Ames. The school’s enrollment has grown 30% since August 2013.
KANSAS West Mineral: The annual Polka Fest is set for Saturday with the 16-story Big Brutus as main attraction. The giant electric coal-mining shovel was built in the early ’60s, The Joplin Globe reports. Big Brutus was named a Regional Historical Mechanical Engineering Landmark in 1987.
KENTUCKY Owensboro: The Kentucky National Guard has renamed its readiness center in honor of retired Maj. Gen. Dean Allen Youngman. The Owensboro native served as the 49th Adjutant General of Kentucky and led the agency from 2001-2008.
LOUISIANA Lafayette: A former post office janitor in Louisiana has admitted stealing mail. Authorities say Jerome Guidry of Bayou Vista pleaded guilty to one count of theft of mail by a post office employee. He faces a maximum five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
MAINE Clinton: This Maine town hosted a two-day celebration this week of the state’s farms. Maine Farm Days at Misty Meadows Farm in Clinton offered wagon tours, agribusiness exhibits and lots of animals.
MARYLAND Hagerstown: Authorities say a fire ripped through a three-story Hagerstown apartment building, displacing 74 residents. The blaze started on the roof, and witnesses described a potential lightning strike, The Herald Mail reports.
MASSACHUSETTS Wellfleet:
Marconi Beach on Cape Cod was closed Wednesday after a shark bit a paddleboard as a man was standing on it, the Cape Cod Times reports. The man was not bitten.
MICHIGAN Taylor: A Michigan man who collapsed while cutting his grass doesn’t have to worry about his lawn. WXYZ-TV reports that after the man was taken away in an ambulance, firefighter Chris Hudson stayed to finish the mowing job. Someone witnessed the good deed and posted video on Facebook.
MINNESOTA St. Paul: Starting Monday, the Minnesota Supreme Court will begin livestreaming oral arguments in its chambers. The court already posts videos of oral arguments after they take place.
MISSISSIPPI Jackson: The destroyer USS Fitzgerald, damaged in a June collision with a container ship, will be repaired at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula.
MISSOURI Belton: A Missouri plumbing company was fined more than
$700,000 for workplace safety violations that included an employee’s death,
The Kansas City Star reports. Arrow Plumbing worker D.J. Meyer died in December when the walls of a
12-foot trench without proper shoring caved in.
MONTANA Helena: A federal judge says a small population of 40 to 50 grizzly bears in Montana and Idaho near the Canadian border can be considered endangered even if they’re not near extinction. The bears live about 300 miles from Yellowstone National Park-area grizzlies that lost federal protection in July.
NEBRASKA North Platte: Fire destroyed two greenhouses and heavily damaged another at a North Platte nursery, The Telegraph reports. No one was injured.
NEVADA Las Vegas: The Bureau of Land Management is considering raising the entrance fees for the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area in Las Vegas. Currently, the park charges $7 for drivers. That would go to $15 with the proposed increase.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Nashua: The head of New Hampshire’s Democratic Party is challenging a new state law requiring voters who move to the state within 30 days of an election provide proof that they intend to stay. Raymond Buckley says the law presents intimidating hurdles to voting.
NEW JERSEY Leonia: Police say a New Jersey woman’s dog, along with a laptop and an Amazon package, were stolen by her Tinder date while she was housesitting. The victim called 911 after she realized the family’s white Maltese, Maggie, was missing.
NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: New Mexico wildlife officials are considering changes to the state’s fishing rules. The proposed changes include a new daily catch limit at Lake Roberts, Bill Evans Lake and Clayton Lake.
NEW YORK New York: The New York Police Department is searching for a man who pushed a woman onto subway tracks. Good Samaritans pulled the woman to safety, and no train was approaching. The victim’s husband says she required about 10 stitches in her head.
NORTH CAROLINA Greenville: East Carolina University will soon be a name of the past. Next month, the Greenville school is coming out with a new logo that brands it as ECU.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: North Dakota is making 3,505 hunting licenses available for the fall turkey season, just five fewer than last year. The deadline to apply is Sept. 6.
OHIO Chillicothe: Authorities say a man admitted setting his vacant trailer home on fire because he’s tired of renting it to people addicted to drugs, The Chillicothe Gazette reports. The Ohio township’s fire department put out the blaze and issued a warning to the owner.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: Officials are negotiating with SkyWest Airlines to bring an aircraft maintenance center to Oklahoma City. SkyWest would have to create at least 375 jobs within five years and generate a $25 million payroll by the center’s third year to qualify for a $2 million incentive for the project.
OREGON Portland: A woman is suing a cremation company for $2.5 million, claiming it gave her the remains of a stranger instead of her deceased father, The Oregonian reports.
PENNSYLVANIA Harrisburg: The state has repaid a short-term $750 million line of credit that kept its main bank account from hitting zero this month.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: Housing prices are up in Rhode Island, while the state experienced a 4% dip in sales during July, The Providence Journal reports.
SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: A high school student charged with disturbing schools after filming a deputy tossing another student across a classroom is suing the school district and the Richland County Sheriff ’s Department. The charge against Niya Kenny was dropped.
SOUTH DAKOTA Rapid City: The closure of three grocery stores is sparking concern about food availability, The Rapid City Journal reports. SpartanNash announced last month that Prairie Market, Family Thrift Center and Family Thrift Express will close in October.
TENNESSEE Nashville: A $2 million grant program aims to improve security at Tennessee courthouses. Grant preference will go to counties with courtrooms that don’t meet minimum security standards, and counties that had a recent courtroom security breach.
TEXAS Beaumont: Investigators say three men pleaded guilty in a scheme to sell dozens of rare alligator snapping turtles caught during Texas fishing trips.
UTAH Salt Lake City: Officials say too many protected mustangs are roaming 10 Western states. But protection advocates argue there’s room on the range.
VERMONT Rutland: The city is planning to harvest thousands of pine trees before they become infested by insects and fungus, The Rutland Herald reports. Officials say spraying insecticide isn’t feasible because the trees are located on a watershed.
VIRGINIA Blacksburg: Construction is underway of a $1 million cage that will allow Virginia Tech students and researchers to experiment with drones, The Roanoke Times reports. The 80-foot-tall cage will use netting to contain drones and won’t be subject to federal rules on outdoor drone flights.
WASHINGTON Ridgefield: The Washington State Patrol is reevaluating procedures after a trooper responded to what seemed to be an abandoned motorcycle crash but turned out to be a fatal crash, The Columbian reports. The body of the motorcyclist was found by his family three days later.
WEST VIRGINIA Elkview: A Kroger grocery store reopened this week at Crossings Mall in Elkview. The shopping center was marooned and shuttered a year ago after flooding washed away an access bridge.
WISCONSIN Green Bay: A police captain and a secretary who were sickened after opening a suspicious envelope have returned to work, The Green Bay Press-Gazette reports.
WYOMING Casper: The state’s environmental agency has received a $1.6 million grant from the EPA to help clean up contamination from leaking underground petroleum storage tanks, KTWO reports.