4B
L awrence J ournal -W orld - USA TODAY THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2016
STATE-BY-STATE News from across the USA ALABAMA Dothan: City Com-
missioner Amos Newsome was convicted of assaulting a television news reporter.
ALASKA Juneau: Delta Airlines
announced it is ending yearround service here, the Juneau Empire reported. The airline plans to restore service in 2017 with the city as a seasonal destination.
ARIZONA Phoenix: Deputy Police Chief Nathaniel Allen of Knoxville, Tenn., has been added to the list of candidates for police chief.
ARKANSAS Vilonia: The city is
set to open its first above-ground storm shelter later this month, two years after a deadly tornado swept through the town, KTHVTV reported. The shelter, called a Stormbox, can hold up to 40 people and is built to withstand an EF5 tornado’s direct hit. CALIFORNIA Chico: Musicians
are planning to play round-theclock for 17 days in an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the longest concert by multiple artists, the Chico EnterpriseRecord reported. Musicians have been playing at the Down Lo in downtown Chico since April 1. COLORADO Denver: A federal
jury will decide whether a ground services operator at Denver’s airport discriminated against Muslim employees by not allowing them to wear head scarves, the Denver Post reported. CONNECTICUT Norwalk: Randy
Iannacone, 60, who was charged with stealing a television in Norwalk 27 years ago, voluntarily surrendered to police, The Hour reported. DELAWARE Wilmington: The
downtown’s office vacancy rate dropped last year to its lowest level since 2009, The News Journal reported. Some say the rate would have been worse if not for the conversion of unoccupied space into hotels and apartments. Wilmington’s central business district ended 2015 with a 15.2% office vacancy rate. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: More
than 400 were arrested at the U.S. Capitol during the Democracy Spring demonstrations there, The Washington Post reported. FLORIDA Immokalee: A stand-
ing-room-only crowd lambasted a proposal by large landowners to receive a 50-year federal permit to remake eastern Collier County into a mix of new towns and preserves, The Naples Daily News reported. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which held the public input session, is reviewing a plan that would allow development to impact 10 federally listed species on 152,000 acres of land.
‘Affluenza’ teen sentenced as adult Jim Douglas
In his first appearance in adult court, the Texas teen whose “affluenza” defense earned him probation for killing four people in a 2013 drunken-driving trial was ordered to spend nearly two years in jail Wednesday. State District Judge Wayne Salvant said Ethan Couch, 19, must spend 180 days in jail for each of the four people he killed when his pickup crashed into a crowd of people helping a motorist. Initially, Salvant said he would not immediately rule on how much longer Couch would spend in Tarrant County jail. But he reconsidered his ruling after hearing an argument from prosecutors that Couch should be sentenced not to a maximum of 120 days but 180 days for each of four counts of intoxication manslaughter, under a separate part of Texas code. The terms will be served consecutively. It was not clear whether that would include the time Couch has already spent in jail since his return from Mexico. Couch’s case officially moved to adult court from juvenile court when he turned 19 on Monday. Couch was 16 at the time of the crash. FORT WORTH
INDIANA Evansville: St. Mary’s
Health has high hopes that a new $12.8 million medical development will help it attract patients, The Courier & Press reported. On Tuesday, the hospital announced details for Northside Crossing, a 31,000square-foot medical facility.
IOWA Des Moines: A lawsuit
has been filed against the Iowa Utilities Board for authorizing use of eminent domain to access land for the Bakken oil pipeline. The Des Moines Register reported that the lawsuit was filed on behalf of the Northwest Iowa Landowners Association and individual landowners.
KANSAS Hutchinson: A man
was arrested after police say he fatally stabbed his wife’s pit bull for keeping him awake, The Hutchinson News reported.
KENTUCKY Louisville: Despite
evidence that he’d threatened to flee abroad rather than face fraud charges, attorney Eric Conn was released from jail on a $1.25 million bond pending trial, The Courier-Journal reported. Conn, 55, is accused of conspiring to defraud the government of $6 million in federal disability payments.
LOUISIANA New Roads: Pointe Coupee Parish voters defeated a property tax proposal that would have provided public school teachers with $5,000 raises. The Advocate reported that the school board’s proposal would have generated an additional $4.5 million annually.
MAINE Portland: Organizations
in five states will receive more than $15 million for marine science research projects funded by the sale of sea scallops. One project will explore the impacts of sea scallop fishing on loggerhead sea turtles through the use of satellite tagging.
IDAHO Pocatello: Officials say a
MARYLAND Baltimore: Mary-
water pollution control facility discharged water with elevated levels of bacteria into the Portneuf River, the Idaho State Journal reported. ILLINOIS Springfield: State
health officials proposed rules requiring parents who oppose vaccinating their children based on religious reasons to provide a document to schools and child care facilities each year.
MAX FAULKNER, EUROPEAN PRESSPHOTO AGENCY
Ethan Couch, 19, is escorted to Judge Wayne Salvant’s court for his hearing in Fort Worth on Wednesday. He is known as the “affluenza” teen because during his trial his defense attorney claimed his affluent upbringing prevented him from understanding his responsibility in the crash. Couch is currently serving 10 years’ probation for the crash. That sentence angered the families of his victims and prosecutors, who had pushed for detention time. Late last year, Couch and his mother, Tonya, fled to Mexico after a video surfaced that appeared to show him playing beer pong at a party, a violation
landers could have an easier time finding — and affording — local crabs this summer, a new survey reported by The Baltimore Sun suggested. There are more than 550 million blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay, an increase of more than a third over this time last year. MASSACHUSETTS Springfield:
Bail for a teenage suspect in a fatal shooting has been reduced
of his probation. The Couches were found and detained in December after calling out for pizza in the resort city of Puerto Vallarta. Tonya Couch was quickly sent back to the U.S., charged with hindering the apprehension of a felon and released from jail after posting bail. On Wednesday, the packed courtroom included Couch’s father, Fred, families of the victims and members of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Contributing: Monica Hernandez, WFAA-TV, Dallas-Fort Worth
to $5,000 after a key witness allegedly changed his story, The Republican reported. MICHIGAN Ann Arbor: A Canadian man who repeatedly entered Michigan to buy and ship thousands of turtles to his native China only to be caught with 51 of them strapped to his legs was sentenced to nearly five years in federal prison for smuggling. MINNESOTA Edina: Jennifer
Kline, 50, a former Mrs. America, was charged with theft by swindle after she allegedly made several fraudulent returns worth $5,000 to Macy’s, the Star Tribune reported. A Macy’s dectective found that the tags and labels had been switched from the new clothes Kline had purchased and attached to the clothing that was returned. MISSISSIPPI Brandon: The city
will start using a drone to get a closer look at things around the city, WLBT-TV reported.
MISSOURI Marble Hill: An
explosion destroyed a Bollinger County home north of here. The home was unoccupied at the time so no one was injured in the blast. MONTANA Missoula: Matt Bunk, the editor of the Missoulian and Ravalli Republic newspapers, has resigned after about seven months on the job. NEBRASKA Lincoln: Nebraska Supreme Court Judge William Connolly, 78, has announced that he is retiring on Aug. 1, the Omaha World-Herald reported. He served for 22 years.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Hudson: A
man of the board overseeing Oahu’s $6.5 billion rail project has resigned amid concerns about excessive costs and mismanagement, Hawaii News Now reported. Don Horner said he is resigning because he does not want to be a distraction to the rail project.
Investigators are searching for the cause of a fire that ripped through a two-family home here, the Providence Journal reported.
SOUTH DAKOTA Pierre: A task
NEVADA Henderson: Several windows were broken at the Boys and Girls Club, shutting down the after-school community center. The Boys and Girls Club said the incident caused $22,000 worth of damage.
accused of approaching an unsuspecting woman on a subway train and attacking her with a skateboard, WSB-TV reported.
RHODE ISLAND Woonsocket:
SOUTH CAROLINA Union: La shawn Stevens Hardy, 44, has been accused of trying to kill her husband by setting him on fire while he was asleep, the Greenville News reported. The victim told deputies Hardy poured gasoline on him while he slept before lighting him on fire. He was flown to a Georgia hospital to have second-degree burns on his neck and back treated.
WFAA-TV, Dallas-Forth Worth
GEORGIA Atlanta: A man is
HAWAII Honolulu: The chair-
Times Observer reported.
HIGHLIGHT: TEXAS
Goodwill store had to be evacuated after an employee found what appeared to be a grenade in a donation box. The device was hollowed out and didn’t contain explosives. The store was closing when the device was found and no customers were in the store as it was evacuated.
NEW JERSEY Asbury Park: Attendance at last weekend’s Music in Film Festival doubled from last year and raked in at least $125,000 for children’s music education programs, Asbury Park Press reported. At least 10,000 people attended events over the weekend, which included film screenings, panel discussions and concerts. NEW MEXICO Las Vegas: The
city is set to launch a marketing effort that highlights recreational hot spots and the ghosts that
allegedly roam here, the Las Vegas Optic reported. The campaign plans to collect hundreds of stories about Las Vegas and post them on a new DamnAuthentic .com website that is scheduled to go live on May 1. NEW YORK Albany: Tampons may soon be exempt from state retail taxes, thanks to a bill aligning the products with other medical necessities, The Ithaca Journal reported. NORTH CAROLINA Dobson: A 38-year-old man was accused of driving while impaired in connection with an all-terrain vehicle crash that killed his wife, the Winston-Salem Journal reported. NORTH DAKOTA Crary: Some residents are becoming fed up with the dust from a Dakota Dry Bean processing plant, the Devils Lake Journal reported. The plant is located in an industrial zone, but some say wayward dust is coating homes and vehicles. OHIO Columbus: The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction will phase out farming at 10 prisons around the state, covering 12,500 acres, 2,300 beef cattle and 1,000 dairy cattle, by the end of the year, The Columbus Dispatch reported. Ohio prisons have been in the farming business since 1868, but the work has become a pipeline for contraband and doesn’t prepare inmates for life on the outside, department Director Gary Mohr said. OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: The contentious issue of cockfighting is raising its head in the debate over a proposed constitutional change that is called “Right to Farm” by its supporters and “Right to Harm” by its detractors, The Oklahoman reported. OREGON Salem: Tumble Creek
Trail in the Willamette National Forest will be closed for several months, the Statesman Journal reported. Hikers can still access Tumble Lake and Dome Rock from a more remote trailhead on French Creek Road 2223.
PENNSYLVANIA Warren: Fire crews were called to the Warren County 911 Communications Center when a burning furnace motor tripped an alarm, The
force here narrowed the list of candidates to provide air service to the city. The Capital Journal reported that the City Commission will recommend either Great Lakes Airlines or Aerodynamics Inc. to the federal Transportation Department by April 27.
TENNESSEE Gatlinburg: Jon Levin, 63, and Myra Smith-Findell, 62, were found dead in a hot tub over the weekend, but authorities say no foul play is suspected in their deaths, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported. TEXAS Odessa: A man convicted of stealing a purse from a church must serve 20 years in prison for the theft that prompted some worshipers to chase and catch him, KWES-TV reported. UTAH St. George: Dixie State University has introduced a new mascot: Brooks the Bison. The university also acquired a real-life bison. VERMONT South Burlington: State doctors will receive automatic updates when their patients are admitted to a hospital, or when they are discharged, under a new health data pilot funded by a federal grant, Burlington Free Press reported. Supporters hope the new technology, built by Boston-based company PatientPing, will help patients by ensuring that all of their doctors are aware of their movements within the health care system. VIRGINIA Richmond: Democrat Gov. McAuliffe signed a bill that will require the applications and résumés of people appointed to state boards and commissions to be released. Republican Del. Scott Taylor introduced the bill after McAuliffe’s administration refused to provide The VirginianPilot with the applications forms of then-state Senate candidate Gary McCollum for two state boards. WASHINGTON Spokane: About
14% of the Spokane River basin’s mountain snowpack has melted away in recent weeks because of unseasonably warm nighttime temperatures. The SpokesmanReview reported that temperatures in the mountains have been 10 to 15 degrees warmer than usual at night. WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: Tuesday is the deadline for West Virginians to register to vote in the May 10 primary election. WISCONSIN Milwaukee:
Marquette University, Milwaukee School of Engineering and Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare are among the organizations that will partner with the proposed $80 million faith-based voucher school St. Augustine Preparatory Academy, expected to open next year, The Journal Sentinel reported.
WYOMING Jackson Hole:
Scientists will begin trapping and placing tracking collars on grizzly bears in Grand Teton National Park, the Jackson Hole News and Guide reported. Trapping ends April 30. A release from the park says there will be warning signs to inform the public of where the bear research is being conducted.
Compiled by Tim Wendel, with Carolyn Cerbin, Linda Dono, Mike Gottschamer, Mike B. Smith, Nichelle Smith and Matt Young. Design by Mallory Redinger. Graphics by Alejandro Gonzalez.