State roundup
News from around the nation,
ALABAMA Tuscaloosa: The city lost one of its oldest farmers markets last week with the closing of Homegrown Alabama, a University of Alabama studentled market at Canterbury Chapel Episcopal Church. Homegrown Alabama had operated since 2006.
ALASKA Anchorage: The state has signed an agreement with tribal organizations, granting them authority over certain children’s services currently provided by the state, KTVA-TV reports.
ARIZONA Phoenix: One of the three runways at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport will be closed for six weeks in early 2018 to undergo repairs. Authorities anticipate arrival and departure delays of up to 30 minutes during peak travel times.
ARKANSAS Little Rock: Members of the Arkansas Supreme Court say the state needs to change a law that kept same-sex couples from listing both of their names on birth certificates. But the justices disagree on whether a lower court or state lawmakers need to make the change.
CALIFORNIA Oakland: Oakland has hired interim Fire Chief Darin White as permanent chief. White succeeds Teresa DeloachReed, who retired under pressure from a fire last December that killed 36 people at a warehouse that had been converted to living space.
COLORADO Parker: Six teenagers are accused of breaking into a house and throwing a party. KMGH-TV reports that the homeowner, who recently put the house up for sale, found broken glass in a shower and his champagne spilled around the kitchen.
CONNECTICUT Hartford: City police are urging car dealers and auto repair shops to tighten security. Thieves have been breaking in to steal keys that are used days later to steal vehicles.
DELAWARE Claymont: Authorities say 6-year-old boy escaped from his mother’s car just before it was stolen, The News Journal reports. State police say the boy wasn’t harmed in the carjacking in front of a local store.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: A man dressed as a Pokemon character is accused of trying to jump the White House fence as part of making a YouTube video. Curtis Combs is charged with unlawful entry.
FLORIDA Clewiston: Officials are conducting daily inspections of the dike that surrounds Lake Okeechobee because of its nearrecord water levels but say it’s not in danger of failing.
GEORGIA Atlanta: A teacher who came under fire for asking two students wearing “Make America Great Again” T-shirts to turn them inside out has resigned, The Atlanta JournalConstitution reports. Lyn Orletsky says threats on her life and character led to her decision to quit.
HAWAII Honolulu: Sixty-three workers at the Ilikai Hotel went on a one-day strike last week to call for better working conditions. Ilikai is mixed use, with hotel rooms and residential units.
IDAHO Boise: A state report says the Southwest Idaho Treatment Center in Nampa was chronically understaffed for half of this year. The facility houses adults with severe mental health and developmental issues, The Idaho Statesman reports.
ILLINOIS Quincy: Two cases of Legionnaires’ disease are reported at the Illinois Veterans’ Home in Quincy. Two years ago, an outbreak killed 12 people and sickened 54 at the facility. The source of the current cases isn’t known.
INDIANA Auburn: A man who caused a library fire by placing a lit, mortar-style firework in a book return chute was sentenced to 14 years in prison. The July 2 fire heavily damaged Auburn’s historic Eckhart Public Library.
IOWA Boone: Officials plan to close the Mamie Eisenhower Birthplace museum, citing waning revenue in recent years, KCCI reports. The Boone house is where the future wife of President Dwight Eisenhower was born in 1896.
KANSAS Topeka: Three Kansas counties are finalists for a new Tyson Foods chicken-processing plant. The sites are in Cloud County, Montgomery County and Sedgwick County.
KENTUCKY Pineville: Pine Mountain State Resort Park plans a two-day workshop Nov. 11-12 for people to learn about fly fishing. Officials say participants will learn about choosing equipment, casting, and hooking and landing a fish.
LOUISIANA Baton Rouge: The state has a bit more wiggle room to borrow money next year for public construction projects. Officials say debt refinancing and better-than-expected terms for a recent bond sale eased borrowing constraints.
MAINE Augusta: A psychiatric hospital worker is suing a former patient who was later sentenced to prison for assaulting her, The Kennebec Journal reports. Sally Nichols says she was hit in the head from behind at the Riverview Psychiatric Center.
MARYLAND Bladensburg: A federal appeals court has found that a towering cross on a Maryland highway median violates the U.S. Constitution. The decision reverses a 2016 ruling that the 92-year-old monument known as the Bladensburg cross was mostly a secular commemoration of World War I. MASSACHUSETTS Wellfleet: Two dolphins died but a dozen more were rescued after washing ashore on Cape Cod last week. The surviving dolphins were driven to Provincetown, where they were released, the Cape Cod Times reports.
MICHIGAN Detroit: This isn’t just the Motor City. A bike sharing organization, MoGo Detroit, has surpassed 100,000 rides since starting operations at the end of May. Riders pedaled nearly 76,000 miles.
MINNESOTA Minneapolis: Federal officials have come up with funds to keep providing wolf control services to state farmers and ranchers who lose livestock through the end of the year. It’s illegal for farmers and ranchers to shoot wolves, but the federal government provides trapping services.
MISSISSIPPI Jackson: Some 1,200 prisoners from Puerto Rico are being moved to Mississippi amid Hurricane Maria recovery, The Clarion-Ledger reports. The inmates will go to the federal correctional facility in Yazoo City.
MISSOURI Springfield: A new report sheds light on confrontations between a Missouri hospital’s staff and patients that put the facility at risk of losing Medicare funding. Mercy Hospital Springfield tells the Springfield News-Leader that the report resulted in the firing of a dozen employees.
MONTANA Butte: A priest says he recovered most of his personal belongings, including his fishing gear, that was stolen from his car last week. The Rev. Kirby Longo tells the Montana Standard that a city resident found a duffel bag with his missing items while walking a dog.
NEBRASKA Lincoln: State prison officials will continue doublebunking inmates in solitary confinement despite the inspector general’s call to suspend the practice, The Omaha WorldHerald reports. The IG says double-bunking increases tension and dangers for inmates and staff.
NEVADA Reno: Four horses have been struck and killed by vehicles in Reno since the beginning of October, prompting city officials to post warning signs for drivers, The Reno Gazette-Journal reports.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Bow: The deteriorating Birchdale Road bridge has collaped, The Concord Monitor reports. The bridge was closed to vehicle traffic in 2015 after an inspection showed structural deficiencies, but it had remained open to foot and bicycle traffic until Wednesday’s collapse.
NEW JERSEY Camden: Gov. Chris Christie and other officials have broken ground on a new health care research facility in Camden. The Joint Health Sciences Center will create labs where students can collaborate on research and other projects.
NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: A defendant facing a criminal charge in the sale of fake Native American jewelry that was manufactured in the Philippines has pleaded guilty. In October 2015, federal agents raided two Indian art galleries in New Mexico and one in California to seize counterfeits and other evidence.
NEW YORK Wyandanch: Three men were arrested on animal cruelty and dogfighting charges on Long Island and 36 pit bulls were rescued, but three had to be euthanized.
NORTH CAROLINA Durham:
Health officials are monitoring more than 260 students and faculty members for tuberculosis at Northern High School in Durham after a student was diagnosed this month.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck:
The number of North Dakota students who took Advanced Placement classes and earned qualifying scores increased in the 2016-17 school year by 36%, The Bismarck Tribune reports.
OHIO Toledo: Two children were admitted to a hospital following a chlorine leak at the Catholic Club child care center’s swimming pool. Fire officials say five preschoolers were in the water when the leak was discovered.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: Gov. Mary Fallin has named Oklahoma’s commissioner of public safety as the state’s new adjutant general. Michael Thompson is a brigadier general in the Oklahoma National Guard.
OREGON Hood River: A 15year-old boy is accused of using fireworks to start a wildfire in Oregon’s scenic Columbia River Gorge. The September fire burned out of control, triggering evacuations and the closing of an interstate highway.
PENNSYLVANIA Butler: Police say a man wearing a Halloween mask attacked his neighbor with a rusty hatchet while the neighbor was cutting the grass, WPXITV reports. Ronald Postreich, 70, faces aggravated assault and related charges.
RHODE ISLAND Newport: The National Sailing Hall of Fame is considering moving its headquarters to Newport. But some residents are concerned about what will happen to the antiques market that’s in the waterfront armory building the organization is eyeing, The Newport Daily News reports.
SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: The state Court of Appeals says opponents of a new Charleston cruise terminal have no right to challenge it because they can’t show how they’d be damaged.
SOUTH DAKOTA Rapid City: A longtime sex shop owner wants a federal judge to overturn a City Council decision barring him from opening a store in the city. The Argus Leader reports that the council voted to deny a permit for Dick and Jane’s Naughty Spot, saying no sites complied with required zoning.
TENNESSEE Nashville: A bid to outsource maintenance and student housing at state colleges would cost the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga a quarter-million dollars more than current expenses in-house, The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports.
TEXAS Houston: The Galena Park Independent School District has apologized for altering the North Shore Senior High School homecoming queen’s purple hair in a photo. Ebony Smith says the image of her was poorly edited and embarrassing.
UTAH Salt Lake City: State environmental officials are warning of harmful algal blooms in three more Utah reservoirs, The Deseret News reports. The warnings went up at Rockport, Echo and Deer Creek reservoirs.
VERMONT North Hero: A woman who rented a mobile home where police say 80 animal carcasses were found is fighting animal cruelty charges. Grand Isle authorities say eight pets were found alive, WCAX-TV reports.
VIRGINIA Charlottesville:
Nearly 200 years ago, Thomas Jefferson came up with a legal reading list for lawyers. Now, the University of Virginia is putting those books online. Jefferson’s book list goes back to the creation of the university, a project he took on after serving two terms as president.
WASHINGTON Burlington:
State ecology officials say an aircraft interior maintenance company will pay almost $38,000 for mishandling dangerous waste. Inspectors found 17 violations of dangerous waste regulations at VT Volant Aerosystems in 2015 and 12 violations, nine of them repeats, this year.
WEST VIRGINIA Kenova: Ric Griffith has more than 3,000 pumpkins to carve for his home’s annual Halloween display, and he’s looking for volunteers, The Herald-Dispatch reports.
WISCONSIN Madison: Supporters of selling a 120-year-old state prison in Green Bay say developing the property near Lambeau Field would generate millions for the local economy.
WYOMING Casper: A state official says the Wyoming capitol’s $300 million restoration project is on pace to be completed by 2019, The Casper Star-Tribune reports. State workers could start moving into a completed portion of the complex by next March. Work started on the project in 2014.