News from across the USA

ALABAMA Birmingham: Tuition and fees are going down by more than 50% at BirminghamSouthern College next fall, Al.com reports. School officials say the drop is expected to allow the college to grow enrollment.

ALASKA Anchorage: A driver was fatally injured when his car hit a moose north of Anchorage. Police said Michael Rock was found in his heavily damaged vehicle that wound up in a marsh.

ARIZONA Phoenix: Tucson has agreed to pay the Arizona attorney general’s office $100,000 to cover the state’s cost of prosecuting a case that claimed the city was violating state law by destroying seized firearms. The Arizona Supreme Court ruled that Tucson’s gun destruction ordinance conflicts with a state law that guns be sold.

ARKANSAS Mountain Home: Voters in Baxter County approved sales tax measures to expand the jail and fund Mountain Home’s fire and police departments, The Baxter Bulletin reports.

CALIFORNIA Sacramento: Lawmakers have sent Gov. Jerry Brown a bill requiring pet stores to sell dogs, cats and rabbits from shelters or rescue operations. It bans pet stores from selling animals bred in so-called “puppy mills.”

COLORADO Denver: Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman says she’ll appeal a ruling that the state violated the constitutional rights of three men by requiring them to register as sex offenders. The Aug. 31 ruling said the Colorado registry exposes offenders to punishments from the public.

CONNECTICUT Stamford: The city’s police union filed a labor complaint because officers are told to carry the overdose reversal drug naloxone, a directive not in their contract, The Stamford Advocate reports.

DELAWARE Wilmington: Delaware is enforcing a scrap tire regulation that a state law called for

11 years ago, The

News Journal reports. Businesses now must get a permit if they accumulate

100 or more worn-out tires.

DISTRICT OF

COLUMBIA: An employer coalition is bringing its Hiring

Fair and Forum to Washington on Wednesday. The event is specifically for 16- to 24-year-olds who aren’t working or aren’t in school, WTOP Radio reports.

FLORIDA Tampa: A fire damaged a Tampa elementary school in a neighborhood that just had its power restored. The blaze caused a portion of the roof on the Lee Elementary Magnet School to collapse, the Tampa Bay Times reports.

GEORGIA Atlanta: Former President Jimmy Carter offered some unsolicited advice to President Trump last week in remarks to supporters of his post-presidency Carter Center in Atlanta. Carter said Trump should “keep the peace, promote human rights and tell the truth.”

HAWAII Honolulu: A state housing agency has decided to lease six apartment properties to a private investor, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports. The move is causing affordable-housing advocates to worry that Hawaii’s shortage of space for low-income families could get worse.

IDAHO Lewiston: No one was injured when a chemical leak forced about 400 workers and contractors to evacuate Clearwater Paper, The Lewiston Tribune reports.

ILLINOIS Chicago: Chicago’s commuter rail agency is considering fare hikes up to 20% and cutting weekend service. Officials cite higher costs for staffing and material and cuts in state subsidies.

INDIANA Indianapolis: An ethics panel says a former Department of Homeland Security

administrator violated Indiana’s nepotism law by hiring three relatives — her aunt, sister and stepdaughter — to work at the agency.

IOWA Des Moines: Iowa prison officials don’t plan to reopen four prisons that were closed in February amid a $5.5 million budget cut, The Des Moines Register reports.

KANSAS Lawrence: Prosecutors have dropped a counterfeiting case against a Kansas man accused of representing bulk laundry detergent that he was selling as Tide, The Lawrence Journal-World reports. Brian Glenn said he described the detergent only as “Tide like.” KENTUCKY Frankfort: Kentucky has the largest decrease in the country of people without insurance under the Affordable Care Act, according to Census data. In 2013, 14.3% of the state’s population lacked health insurance. By 2016, that number dropped to 5.1%.

LOUISIANA Covington: The St. Tammany Parish coroner says somebody killed the wife of Fire Chief Stephen Krentel before her house burned down. Nanette Krentel’s body was found after firefighters put out a blaze in her home July 14.

MAINE Augusta: A man accused of shooting at a neighbor’s farm stand says he was trying to scare off a rabid raccoon. Matthew Brigham pleaded not guilty to a charge of reckless conduct, The Kennebec Journal reports.

MARYLAND College Park: The mayor and City Council have agreed to allow non-citizens to vote in municipal elections, The Washington Post reports. About 20% of College Park’s 32,000 residents are foreign-born.

MASSACHUSETTS Boston: A sterling silver card case that belonged to the late Princess Diana sold at Boston-based RR Auction for nearly $21,000. The ornately designed case with leather interior pockets was a gift to Diana from her grandmother.

MICHIGAN DeWitt: A Michigan real estate agent is taking an up-front approach to selling a house next to a cemetery. The sale sign says “quiet neighbors.” Shane Broyles tells the Lansing State Journal that the message immediately came to mind when he saw the four-bedroom house in DeWitt.

MINNESOTA Crosby: Stories of

Minnesota’s mining disaster in 1924 are being memorialized in a new park dedicated to the miners. Minnesota Public Radio reports that the Milford Mine Memorial Park opened last week in Crow Wing County. The park is located where 41 miners died when the mine collapsed and flooded with mud and water.

MISSISSIPPI Ocean Springs: Authorities say a woman suspected of robbing a bank fled in a taxi that took her to her apartment, where she was arrested. An Ocean Springs traffic officer followed the taxi and saw the driver drop off Dominique Spears three miles from the Wells Fargo branch.

MISSOURI St. Louis: Several eighth-graders are credited with helping their school bus driver in a medical emergency, KSDK-TV reports. Six Rogers Middle School students were on the bus when one of them noticed the driver shaking. The student pushed the brake pedal until a bystander could turn off the engine. Other students called 911.

MONTANA Helena: With the state facing a projected $227 million shortfall, an interim legislative committee is letting Gov. Steve Bullock make needed budget cuts.

NEBRASKA Omaha: Faculty leaders at the University of Nebraska at Omaha want to be consulted more frequently and thoroughly on key decisions, The Omaha World-Herald reports. The Faculty Senate passed a resolution last week seeking an “advise and consult” role on budget matters, planning and some hiring.

NEVADA Reno: The City Council is taking steps to force downtown strip clubs to move into zoned industrial areas within five years, The Reno Gazette-Journal reports.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Claremont:

City and religious leaders attended a rally last week to support the family of an 8-year-old biracial boy who was nearly hanged last month by teens who taunted him with racial slurs. The boy was treated at a hospital after being pushed off a picnic table with a rope around his neck.

NEW JERSEY Newark: The New Jersey Board of Education has voted to return control of the city’s schools to a locally elected school board after 22 years of state oversight.

NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: The city will no longer allow wild and exotic animal acts. But the restriction approved on an 8-1 vote by the Santa Fe City Council last week exempts animal exhibitions for educational purposes.

NEW YORK New York: Police are looking for vandals who dumped blue paint last week over the iconic “Charging Bull” statue on Wall Street.

NORTH CAROLINA Charlotte: Police say an early term fetus was found at the Sugar Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant in Charlotte-Mecklenburg. The medical examiner’s office, based on initial findings, ruled no indication of foul play.

NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: Gov. Doug Burgum is setting up a task force aimed at improving North Dakota’s public education system. The Innovative Education Task Force will identify creative teaching methods and make recommendations to the governor and lawmakers, The Bismarck Tribune reports.

OHIO Miamisburg: Bicycle maker Huffy is moving to a new headquarters just a short bike ride away. Huffy says its new office in Miamisburg will give it more space than its current Centerville site. The distance is about six miles, The Dayton Daily News reports.

OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled last week in favor of a Norman pipe shop in its two-year legal battle to recover $15,000 worth of glass pipes. Prosecutors seized the pipes in 2015, contending that Friendly Market sold drug paraphernalia. Trials for the owner and manager resulted in acquittals and a hung jury.

OREGON Portland: State records say at least 43 children and seven adults suffered health problems after exposure to insecticide to exterminate fleas at a Coos Bay day care facility, The Oregonian reports. The incident April 29 prompted the owner to shut down the day care in May.

PENNSYLVANIA Harrisburg: A “State of the Child” study says caseworkers who investigate child abuse in Pennsylvania are underpaid, inadequately trained, plagued by high turnover and face dangerous conditions.

RHODE ISLAND Providence: A study shows that Rhode Island public schools need nearly $628 million worth of repairs just to ensure that students and teachers are warm, safe and dry. Consultants analyzed 306 schools for such things as broken fire-suppression systems and roofs that leak.

SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: A group of businesses and community leaders says state lawmakers need to more closely watch utilities. That comes after $10 billion was spent on an abandoned nuclear reactor project.

SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: State banking regulators revoked the lending license of Dollar Loan Center stores in Sioux Falls and Rapid City after learning that the company was charging 36% interest and late fees if loans weren’t repaid in a week, The Argus Leader reports.

TENNESSEE Greeneville: The owner of a Ferris wheel where four people were hurt says one of the injured children caused the gondola to overturn when she stood up and rocked it, The Greeneville Sun reports. Ride inspectors blamed mechanical failure.

TEXAS Houston: A vintage military aircraft museum in Galveston that was swamped by Hurricane Ike in 2008 and survived Harvey after recently moving to Houston is back in operation. The $38 million Lone Star Flight Museum opened Saturday at Ellington Airport. Harvey delayed the planned opening by two weeks.

UTAH Roy: A woman who suffered scrapes and a broken pinkie in a car crash thought a cement truck plowed into her. It wasn’t until she was out of her car that she realized it had been hit by a plane. The collision sparked a fire on the plane and the rear half of Samantha Sandoval’s sedan. Police say the pilot was largely unharmed.

VERMONT Bennington: City police are now equipped with body and vehicle cameras. The Bennington Banner reports that six police cruisers and 24 officers have video cameras that record at all times. Voters in March approved spending close to $120,000 for the equipment.

VIRGINIA Quantico: A new exhibit at The National Museum of the Marine Corps features artwork created in the Combat Art Program. Active duty Marines and Reservists have been deployed to create art since World War II, documenting battles and humanitarian missions.

WASHINGTON Yakima: A landowner was fined $28,000 for an oil spill from an above-ground storage tank that contaminated the Yakima River in March 2015, The Tri-City Herald reports. The spill contaminated dozens of ducks and geese and fouled wetlands, Yakama Nation reservation lands and a fish hatchery.

WEST VIRGINIA Charleston:

State education officials say West Virginia’s high school juniors will start taking the SAT as their standardized college entrance exam next spring. But students will have the option to take the ACT exam at their own expense.

WISCONSIN Kenosha: It was a brief taste of freedom last week for Joey the kangaroo. Joey kicked his way out of a pen at a Wisconsin pumpkin farm, only to be rounded up by sheriff ’s deputies when he was spotted on a highway in Somers. Joey was returned, safe and without injury.

WYOMING Pinedale: Authorities say a marijuana growing operation was discovered at an organic farm in Sublette County. State and local police searched the farm on Aug. 25 and seized about 50 pounds of processed marijuana, about 300 marijuana plants and more than $63,000. Three suspects face felony drug charges.