News from around the nation

ALABAMA Mobile: Volunteers are needed Saturday to help collect an invasive species at Langan Park in Mobile, WKRGTV reports. The target: Apple Snails. The island apple snail was likely introduced by someone dumping their aquarium into the park’s pond.

ALASKA Kenai: The flu and pneumonia replaced assault and homicide as Alaska’s 10th leading cause of death in 2016, according to a state report. The report shows that cancer is still the leading cause of death in the state.

ARIZONA Tempe: A movie that chronicles a 2013 wildfire that killed 19 Arizona firefighters debuts this month. Only the Brave is based on the Granite Mountain Hotshots.

ARKANSAS Little Rock: State prison officials plan to upgrade security equipment, restrict housing and make other changes in response to a series of violent attacks on guards by inmates.

CALIFORNIA Santa Ana: A man who pleaded guilty to seconddegree murder in the death of his mother will be sent to a state mental hospital instead of prison, The Orange County Register reports. Marvin Horatio Cipullo is diagnosed with schizophrenia.

COLORADO Denver: The state Supreme Court struck down a Colorado law that banned immigrant smuggling. The 4-3 decision concluded that a similar federal law should take precedence, The Denver Post reports.

CONNECTICUT New Haven: Yale University’s endowment has grown to a record $27.2 billion. The Ivy League university says its endowment earned an 11.3% investment return for the fiscal year that ended June 30.

DELAWARE Dover: The water level at Silver Lake is becoming noticeably lower through Oct. 20 in an annual draw down to let lakeside residents clean up the shoreline.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Eight men ages 18 to 22 face charges for alleged roles in a suburban Washington gang racketeering conspiracy. The government says the men planned and committed homicides and engaged in drug and gun trafficking and extortion.

FLORIDA Fort Lauderdale: A former Boca Raton postal worker was sentenced to a year of house arrest and probation after admitting she took bribes to deliver marijuana packages, The Sun-Sentinel reports.

GEORGIA Atlanta: A consumer financial services company finds that ATM fees in metropolitan Atlanta are among the highest in the county, WSB-TV reports.

HAWAII Honolulu: The Coast Guard rescued 20 men Tuesday from a 79-foot commercial fishing vessel that ran aground off Diamond Head near Waikiki. Officials say there were no injuries.

IDAHO Caldwell: A Canyon County jail deputy sustained head injuries during an escape attempt by two inmates. Other deputies intervened and prevented the inmates from escaping.

ILLINOIS Chicago: Twenty-three people working in fields ranging from music to computer science were selected as MacArthur fellows and will receive so-called “genius” grants of $625,000 to spend any way they wish. The Chicago-based John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced the fellows this week.

INDIANA Indianapolis: The state is awarding more than $275,000 to boost seven preservation projects around Indiana. The grants will be matched by $249,000 in local and private funds.

IOWA Des Moines: Iowa has set up a Text-to-911 system for wireless phones. Officials say 94 of Iowa’s 113 emergency call centers can accept text messages from at least one wireless carrier. The remaining centers are expected to have that capability by the end of the year.

KANSAS Wichita: State lawmakers are expressing outrage after learning that more than 70 foster children are missing, The Kansas City Star reports. Officials say that in many cases, children went to their biological families or other people with whom they have a relationship.

KENTUCKY Frankfort: State officials report a big increase in the number of Kentucky adults and children getting disability benefits. The report covering 1980 to 2015 says the population climbed 21% in that time but combined adult and child disability enrollment rose by 249%.

LOUISIANA Baton Rouge: Authorities say 10 people will face hazing charges in the death of a Louisiana State University fraternity pledge after a night of drinking last month. One of those suspects faces a negligent homicide charge in the death of Maxwell Gruver, 18, a school spokesman says.

MAINE South Portland: With the election less than a month away, the chairman of the local school board is trying to find a write-in candidate for a board seat that no one is running to claim, The Portland Press Herald reports.

MARYLAND Annapolis: Five people are charged with murder in the beating death of a woman whose body was found buried in a clandestine grave, The Capital Gazette reports. Police believe the killing of Jenni Rivera Lopez, 21, was gang-related.

MASSACHUSETTS Boston: The Boston Museum of Fine Arts is getting a gift of 113 17th century Dutch and Flemish works by 76 artists, including what’s considered one of the finest privately owned Rembrandt portraits.

MICHIGAN Warren: Officials say a $90 million construction project will shut down a busy stretch of Interstate 696 in the

Detroit area for part of 2018. The work will close the westbound lanes between I-94 and I-75. Work is expected to be completed by late 2018.

MINNESOTA Minneapolis: The state Supreme Court has reversed impaired driving convictions of a woman who was found slumped over in her car three times after allegedly inhaling compressed air that contained DFE. The court said DFE isn’t listed as hazardous in state law.

MISSISSIPPI Vicksburg: A 76year-old man was found safe a day after he was reported missing from the nursing home where he lives, The Vicksburg Post reports. James Wesley Jenkins found sitting in a ravine.

MISSOURI Columbia: The University of Missouri System Board of Curators plans a more direct role in unifying and overseeing the system’s four campuses, The Columbia Missourian reports.

MONTANA Kalispell: The National Park Service says 3.3 million people have visited Glacier National Park so far this year, making 2017 the busiest year in park history, The Flathead Beacon reports.

NEBRASKA Lincoln: State entomologists say they’re getting more calls about pirate bugs. The tiny critters become more noticeable in the fall, when they move from the woods into backyards and parks. Their bite is painful, but officials say they’re not a health risk to people or animals.

NEVADA Reno: Washoe County health officials have confirmed their first fatal case of hantavirus since 1995. A Reno resident who contracted the disease transmitted by rodents died late last week.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Lancaster: A woman who spent time in prison for digging up her father’s grave in search of his “real will” has been sent back after violating her parole conditions, The Caledonian-Record reports. Police say Melanie Nash feels that she was shorted in her inheritance.

NEW JERSEY Sparta: Authorities arrested a handyman accused of stealing more than $200,000 worth of comic books and artwork from an unoccupied home he was hired to repair. NEW MEXICO Alamogordo:

Painting rocks and hiding them has become the latest craze in Alamogordo. Patricia Glore is founder of the Alamo Rocks Facebook page, which has more than 2,300 members. Local organizations such as the Alamogordo Public Library also are involved, hosting rock painting parties.

NEW YORK Poughkeepsie: Authorities say Poughkeepsie High School was placed on lockdown after a fight broke out among students and another brawl erupted when their parents arrived, the Poughkeepsie Journal reports.

NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: The North Carolina Education Lottery’s head is retiring next spring. Alice Garland will step down as executive director at the end of March. She became the lottery’s chief in 2010.

NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: State officials say the Dakota Access oil pipeline has boosted North Dakota tax revenues by $18 million in its first three months of operation, the Bismarck Tribune reports. State oil production increased 3.5% in August.

OHIO Toledo: State officials want three people to pay more than $30,000 for three large fish kills in August blamed on livestock manure spread on farm fields. Ohio law bars farmers from putting manure on fields before heavy rain.

OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: Lawmakers are considering restrictions on wind turbines near military bases, The Oklahoman reports. Wind energy experts say they’re willing to work with the state and the military to ensure that the turbines and construction to build them don’t harm training objectives.

OREGON Portland: Health officials say a coyote that bit a man at a Gervais farm tested positive for rabies. In Oregon, only three coyotes have tested positive for the disease in the past decade.

PENNSYLVANIA Lebanon: Employees of the Cedar Haven Healthcare Center nursing home have voted to strike for the second year in a row, The Lebanon Daily News reports. A union official says employee health care contributions and reductions in paid time off are at the center of contract talks this year.

RHODE ISLAND Warwick: The Warwick Teachers’ Union has cast a unanimous vote of “no confidence” in school administrators. The vote comes after 91 teachers called in sick Oct. 6 at Pilgrim High School during contract negotiations.

SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: The South Carolina State Fair’s 148th edition is underway in Columbia. The fair will run through Oct. 22. This year, the fair has more than 60 rides, including the new Bullettrain roller coaster.

SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: Apartment builders here saw a record year in 2016, adding more rental housing than in any single year in the city’s history, The Argus Leader reports. Building permits for apartments last year spiked to nearly 1,600.

TENNESSEE Nashville: Open records advocates want state agencies to let people take cellphone photos of public records. The Tennessee Office of Open Records Counsel issued a policy that prohibited such action.

TEXAS Houston: Following Hurricane Harvey, officials in the Houston area are going forward with programs to purchase nearly 100 homes that have a history of getting flooded. Officials say the buyouts are “a key piece” of mitigating future flooding and damage from storms.

UTAH Provo: The race for mayor of this predominantly Mormon Utah city means it will get its first woman mayor in its 157-year history. The candidates are former city councilwoman Sherrie Hall Everett and school board member Michelle Kaufusi, The Salt Lake Tribune reports.

VERMONT East Burke: Work has begun to remove an old dam on the Passumpsic River in East Burke. The removal, to be completed by spring, will open 99 miles of river to the passage of fish and other aquatic organisms.

VIRGINIA Richmond: Residents in the metro Richmond area are being asked to conserve water because of the unusually low level of the James River, The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports. Voluntary cutbacks affect the city, as well as Henrico, Chesterfield, Hanover, Goochland and Powhatan counties.

WASHINGTON Seattle: The Humane Society of the United States is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a man who tossed a sick dog out of a purple Dodge minivan in West Seattle last month, KOMO-TV reports. The Seattle Animal Shelter says the pit bull terrier didn’t survive.

WEST VIRGINIA Clarksburg: Officials say the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center in Clarksburg intentionally skewed patient data to reduce reported wait times and the volume of patients. A whistleblower prompted the investigation, which also found that 602 veterans were charged incorrect copayments.

WISCONSIN Madison: The University of Wisconsin System’s two-year schools would merge with its four-year campuses under a plan system President Ray Cross announced this week in hopes of boosting flagging enrollment.

WYOMING Cheyenne: The government halted a wild horse roundup in Wyoming amid a legal dispute over whether foals should count toward the roundup quota. The Wild Horse Preservation Campaign and two photographers sued, saying the Bureau of Land Management was about to top its limit.