Mount Rushmore, big tuna, Duke Caboom: News from around our 50 states

Alabama

Birmingham: An eye surgeon is donating $95 million to the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s medical school in what officials said is the largest philanthropic pledge in the university’s history. University trustees announced the gift from Dr. Marnix Heersink on Tuesday. The medical school will be named for Heersink, and the money will be used to establish global health and biomedical innovation institutes, university officials said. An additional $5 million is being contributed by Triton Health Systems, bringing the total pledge to $100 million. The money will also help recruit and retain scientists and physicians in priority areas such as pulmonology, oncology and neurology through endowed chairs and professorships, officials said.

Alaska

Anchorage: A second hospital in Alaska has invoked crisis standards of care, allowing a committee of physicians to determine clinical decisions regarding patient treatment as the state continues to see a spike in COVID-19 cases. The Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corp. in Bethel announced the activation of the guidelines in a statement posted on its website Wednesday, the same day the facility was operating at capacity. The standards allow overwhelmed hospitals to modify their usual, expected level of care. Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage, the state’s largest health care facility, earlier invoked the same guidelines. Health officials at the Bethel hospital said there might be delays transferring people to a referring hospital, along with expanded nurse-patient ratio and longer wait times for elective procedures such as colonoscopies and pediatric dental procedures. The decision to continue these types of elective procedures are made on a daily or weekly basis.

Arizona

Phoenix: Passenger rail service is one step closer to returning to Phoenix for the first time in 25 years as a federal infrastructure plan that would provide billions for rail gains traction in Congress. As part of a nationwide expansion, Amtrak is proposing to connect Tucson to Phoenix for the first time since 1996. The plan calls for extending the line through the West Valley, where it would then connect to Los Angeles. Phoenix is the largest city in the country without Amtrak service. Service never resumed after shutting down in June 1996 for a criminal investigation into the derailment of a train in western Arizona that killed a crewman and injured 78 people. Rail service runs from Tucson to Los Angeles through Maricopa, which is about 35 miles south of Phoenix. The plan has received support from mayors along the proposed line. About a dozen mayors from both political parties sent a letter on Tuesday to the state’s congressional delegation calling on lawmakers to provide funding to implement the new route. They said the route would diversify transportation options, connect the state’s two largest metropolitan areas and spur development along the line.

Arkansas

Little Rock: Lawmakers considered competing redistricting proposals that would divide the state’s most populous county between congressional seats on Wednesday. The House and Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs committees did not advance any proposals for redrawing districts as the Legislature reconvened to redraw the state’s four U.S. House boundaries. Both panels showed support for plans that would divide Pulaski County. One bill pending before the House committee would split the county, which includes the Little Rock area, between the 1st and 2nd congressional districts. Another before the Senate panel would split the county between the 2nd and 4th districts. Pulaski is part of the 2nd District, which Democrats have tried unsuccessfully to flip in recent elections. Republicans hold all four of the state’s congressional seats and majorities in both chambers of the Legislature. Proponents of splitting up Pulaski have said it makes sense given the county’s location in the state’s center and that it could prevent dividing up even more counties around the state. But Democrats in Pulaski County oppose the move, saying it would divide the community. Arkansas’ current congressional map divides up five counties.

California

Dublin: Ray J. Garcia, the warden of the Federal Correctional Institute Dublin in California’s San Francisco Bay area, has been charged with sexually abusing an inmate, authorities said Wednesday. Garcia, 54, of Merced, allegedly groped at least one of his female wards, asked at least two inmates to strip naked for him and took and stored photographs of a naked inmate in a cell at the prison, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office. Garcia also is accused of trying to deter a victim from reporting the abuse by telling her “that he was ‘close friends’ with the individual responsible for investigating allegations of misconduct by inmates and … that he could not be fired,” according to the statement. Garcia was associate warden at the all-female low-security lockup at the time of the alleged abuse, prosecutors said. He later became warden but was placed on leave in July and he was charged last week with sexual abuse of a ward. It’s the latest of at least three sexual abuse cases involving employees at FCI Dublin, located 20 miles southeast of Oakland.

Colorado

Denver: A judge on Wednesday dismissed an attempt by a group of Denver police officers to block the city’s vaccine mandate from taking effect. In a lawsuit filed last week, seven officers claimed the city lacked the authority to impose the mandate under a local disaster emergency declared by Mayor Michael Hancock at the beginning of the pandemic. They noted Democratic Gov. Jared Polis rescinded his statewide emergency pandemic order in July. The officers said the city should have instead followed the more drawn-out process laid out in state law to impose regulations. However, Judge Shelley Gilman ruled that law applies only to state agencies. Under city law, the officers should have appealed the vaccine mandate, first issued on Aug. 2, to the health board before filing a lawsuit, she said. Since they did not, Gilman said she had no jurisdiction to decide the case and dismissed it, granting a request made by the city in its response to the lawsuit filed Tuesday.

Connecticut

Coventry: Uncertainty about the species of a massive catfish that was eaten before it could be vetted by authorities in August has led Connecticut to withdraw its awarding of a new state record. Connecticut Fish and Wildlife wrote in a Facebook post on Monday that because it was not able to examine the actual fish, authorities cannot confirm it was a white catfish. “Without the ability to examine the actual fish, identification is left to still images and videos, which have proven to be ambiguous and inconclusive to definitively identify the species of catfish in this case,” state Fish and Wildlife wrote, adding that it is not disputing the weight of the catch that was made on Aug. 21. Ben Tomkunas, 25, of Coventry, who caught the 21.3-pound fish, said he gave it to his grandfather the morning after he caught it and it was eaten. “I can’t believe that they think it’s OK to do this to someone,” Tomkunas told the Journal Inquirer. “It’s such an embarrassment.” It can be difficult to distinguish between white catfish and channel catfish, which are generally larger. The previous state record for a white catfish was 12.7 pounds. The International Game Fish Association has recorded the world record for a white catfish catch to be 19.3 pounds for a fish caught in 2005 in California.

Delaware

Wilmington: A Wilmington officer has been placed on administrative duty after video circulating on social media showed him repeatedly banging a man’s head during an arrest, news outlets reported. The Wilmington Police Department said its Office of Professional Standards immediately launched an investigation into the Sept. 21 incident. A clip from a security video circulating online showed an officer shove a man in a convenience store, then grab his head and slam it twice into plexiglass before taking him down. “It shows clear abuse of power and unwarranted excessive force,” said Wilmington activist Coby Owens. “That’s 100% unacceptable.” Police said the patrol officer has been with the department for three years, but didn’t identify him. “The video of this incident is concerning and we will conduct a thorough investigation and take any necessary action to ensure all of our members adhere to the highest standards of service to our community,” police department spokesman David Karas said. Police were responding to a report that the man harassed daycare employees, Karas said. Court documents that the officer signed state that “after a brief physical struggle (that the man) attempted to physically resist, he was taken into custody.” He was charged with harassment, resisting arrest and other offenses.

District of Columbia

Washington: Through Oct. 15, Metro customers will be able to save up to 50% on select passes, WUSA-TV reported. For the first time, Metro launched a sales event that will allow riders to purchase discounted passes with unlimited trips on Metrorail and Metrobus, whether they travel one day, one week or one month. During the sale, customers can purchase the one-, three-, and seven-day passes to use anytime. Monthly passes will be valid for use from Friday to Oct. 31, Metro said in a release. “This is a great way to come back to work, restaurants, theater, museums, sports events and outdoor activities this fall with a pass that lets you ride at a deep discount,” said Metro General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld in a statement. “We have also enhanced cleaning on buses and trains and improved the ventilation, making it safer and now more affordable for customers to give Metro a try.” Along with fare and service improvements, Metro officials hope the pass sale will attract riders back to Metro following a dip in ridership because of the pandemic.

Florida

A pair of tagged Florida grasshopper sparrows perch in a low-lying bush.
A pair of tagged Florida grasshopper sparrows perch in a low-lying bush.

Fort Myers: Florida’s grasshopper sparrow subspecies was the rarest bird in the continental U.S. just a few years ago, but a captive breeding program has numbers climbing. In the past three years, Audubon Florida has helped release almost 500 grasshopper sparrows from a captive breeding program. “It was scary because you have this bird you’ve raised in captivity and you just throw them out in the wild but it turned out that they did very well,” said Paul Gray, a bird expert and scientist with Audubon Florida. Grasshopper sparrows can be found from the Orlando area south to Lake Okeechobee – in Highlands, Okeechobee, Osceola and Polk counties. Males establish their territories from March to July by producing a series of calls, or songs, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Grasshopper sparrows build dome-shaped nests from grasses that are typically found beside or under a dwarf oak or saw palmetto. Breeding occurs throughout the year, and the grasshopper sparrow might nest upward of three times during a season. Three to five eggs are laid, with hatching taking place in 11 to 12 days. Like many endangered and threatened species in Florida, habitat loss is one of the top threats for the tiny sparrows. Grasshopper sparrow habitat can also be degraded when vegetation becomes overgrown (Florida’s landscape evolved with regular fires), or when invasive species work their way into the grasses and take over.

Georgia

Kingsland: A federal agency said it’s again delaying a final decision on whether to permit construction of a launchpad for commercial rockets on the Georgia coast. The Federal Aviation Administration now plans to issue a decision on Spaceport Camden by Nov. 3 “due to ongoing consultation efforts,” agency spokesman Steve Kulm said in a statement. Previously, the FAA had said it intended to make a final determination on the project by the end of July, then shifted its target date to the end of September. Camden County in Georgia’s coastal, southeast corner has spent nine years and $10 million seeking permission to build what would be the nation’s 13th licensed commercial spaceport. The proposal took a big step forward in June, when the FAA issued an environmental impact study that concluded building the spaceport would be its “preferred alternative.” The National Park Service and its parent agency, the U.S. Department of the Interior, pushed back over the summer. They disputed the FAA’s conclusion that the spaceport poses minimal risks or adverse impacts to Cumberland Island, a federally protected wilderness that lies along the proposed flight path for rockets 5 miles east of the launch site.

Hawaii

Honolulu: More than 160 Oahu business operators have been cited, warned or arrested in the weeks since Honolulu imposed new COVID-19 safety rules, including requiring proof of vaccination or negative test results. Honolulu police have issued citations or made arrests in 44 cases since the new mandates went into effect Sept. 13, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported. Police have also issued over 100 written warnings for a variety of violations and made an unspecified number of “verbal, non-written warnings.” City officials could not immediately break down the number of arrests versus citations because they are compiled together in the same records-keeping category, said Honolulu Police Department spokesperson Michelle Yu. But she said the majority were citations, and very few were arrests. The greatest number of arrests or citations – 17 – were for lack of face coverings, and 11 were for not following social or physical distances. Violations carry a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a fine of $5,000.

Idaho

Boise: A coalition of journalists is asking an Idaho judge to hold the state’s lieutenant governor in contempt of court for refusing to turn over public documents despite the judge’s order that she do so. Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin, a Republican, was ordered more than a month ago to release the documents regarding her newly created Education Task Force, which was tasked with investigating alleged “indoctrination” in the state’s public school system. The order came in response to a lawsuit filed by the Idaho Press Club on behalf of several journalists who said McGeachin’s office wrongly denied their public records requests for the material. But McGeachin never released the public documents despite multiple attempts from the Idaho Press Club’s attorney, Wendy Olson, to get McGeachin to comply, according to court documents filed Wednesday. McGeachin earlier filed a motion asking the judge to reconsider the case, but then never filed the supporting documentation required by the judge. McGeachin did not immediately respond to a voice mail and email from the Associated Press requesting comment. The Idaho Press Club said in a prepared statement that it is “truly unfortunate” that the case reached the point where the organization had to file the contempt of court petition.

Illinois

Springfield: A northern Illinois man has died of rabies after apparently being bitten by a bat – the first human case of rabies in the state since 1954, health officials reported Tuesday. The diagnosis has been confirmed by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Illinois Department of Public Health said in a release. The man’s name was not released. Officials said he was in his 80s and lived in Lake County. He woke up in mid-August and found a bat on his neck. The bat was captured and later tested positive for rabies. The man declined to begin post-exposure rabies treatment, health officials said. The rabies virus attacks the central nervous system and causes disease and brain death. The man began experiencing neck pain, a headache, difficulty controlling his arms, finger numbness, difficulty speaking and other symptoms of the disease. A bat colony later was found in his home. “Sadly, this case underscores the importance of raising public awareness about the risk of rabies exposure in the United States,” Lake County Health Department Executive Director Mark Pfister said. “Rabies infections in people are rare in the United States, however, once symptoms begin, rabies is almost always fatal, making it vital that an exposed person receive appropriate treatment to prevent the onset of rabies as soon as possible.” Thirty bats have tested positive in Illinois this year for rabies, according to the health department.

Indiana

Portage: Preliminary tests indicated iron-contaminated wastewater that leaked from a northwestern Indiana steel plant into a Lake Michigan tributary presented no risk to public health, the Environmental Protection Agency said. U.S. Steel Midwest idled the plant in Portage, about 30 miles east of Chicago, as a precaution after it said a wastewater treatment facility experienced “an upset condition” that sent the rusty colored plume containing elevated levels of lead into the Burns Waterway on Sunday. The EPA said it tested surface water samples taken near the plant’s outfall. Federal and state agencies were continuing to investigate the cause of the discharge, possible Clean Water Act compliance issues and impacts to the environment, the agency said. The plant was back up and running Wednesday, according to The (Northwest Indiana) Times. Indiana Dunes National Park also closed all of its beaches and the Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk until further notice and Indiana American Water shut down its Ogden Dunes treatment facility, both as a precaution.

Iowa

Iowa City: Mayor Bruce Teague has “indefinitely extended” the city’s emergency order requiring masks in indoor gathering spots and when social distancing is not possible. The emergency order, first issued on Aug. 19, was set to expire Thursday. “We have to do what we can individually to protect ourselves, as well as everyone else,” Teague said. He said a number of factors went into his decision to extend the mandate indefinitely. He noted the prevalence of the delta variant and Johnson County’s high level of community transmission – a problem in all of Iowa’s 99 counties, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Face coverings will continue to be required in indoor public settings such as grocery and retail stores, pharmacies, restaurants and bars, movie theaters and houses of worship, among other locations in the city. Masks are also required when using public transportation, taxis or ride share. The order also requires masks be worn in public school buildings and in University of Iowa academic buildings and businesses offices. But UI administrators previously advised campus leaders that the mandate does not apply to them because of state law. And the Iowa City Community School District unanimously reinstated its own mask mandate earlier this month after a federal judge issued a restraining order barring the state from enforcing a law that prevents local school boards from issuing mask mandates.

Kansas

Wichita: Thousands of people turned out Wednesday to honor a Kansas priest as he was laid to rest 70 years after he died in a prisoner of war camp during the Korean War. Mourners filled Hartman Arena for a funeral service for the Rev. Emil Kapaun and later lined streets to watch his body being carried by a horse-drawn caisson from Veterans Memorial Park to the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, where he was interred. “We are here today to provide for father what was not provided for him 70 years ago, a mass of Christian burial,” Bishop Carl A. Kemme of the Wichita diocese told the crowd. Speakers extolled Kapaun’s Christian love and his courage during his days as a prisoner or war, which he spent providing comfort to his fellow soldiers. They also said it was appropriate that his body had finally returned to the state where he was born. Kapaun, an Army chaplain, was captured in 1950 near Unsan, North Korea, while tending to fellow soldiers. He died in May 1951 at the POW camp while continuing to minister to fellow prisoners. He was awarded the Medal of Honor in 2013. In 1993, the Catholic church named him a “Servant of God,” the first step of a lengthy process that could lead to canonization.

Kentucky

Frankfort: Statewide test results from last spring showed that less than half of students scored at the proficient or distinguished levels in many Kentucky schools. The tests scores were aimed at better understanding how students performed academically amid learning disruptions caused by COVID-19. State education officials cautioned the latest test scores can’t be compared with pre-pandemic scores. Students faced challenges as schools switched to remote learning for months because of the pandemic. “We knew these results would not be what we wanted to see, but the previous two school years saw extreme challenges,” state Education Commissioner Jason Glass said in a news release Wednesday. “We can use this information to address the gaps caused by COVID-19 disruptions and provide our students with the supports they need to be successful.” Because the pandemic affected many aspects of education in the past school year, the state Education Department received a waiver from federal accountability. As a result, school accountability indicators and ratings weren’t part of the 2020-2021 reporting.

Louisiana

Baton Rouge: Louisiana has recovered a missing lunar rock gifted to the state to commemorate the last manned U.S. mission to the moon after it turned up in the hands of a man who recycles wooden plaques. The rock from the 1972 Apollo 17 landing was in the possession of the Louisiana State Museum on Tuesday, The Advocate of Baton Rouge reported. It was returned to the state late last year by a Florida man who planned to use wood from the plaque that held it to repair a gun, according to the newspaper. But the recovery was not revealed until Monday when a journalist and space historian, Robert Pearlman, reported it in the online publication CollectSpace, The Advocate said. “As you can appreciate, I’m just happy that it is here now,” museum interim Director Steven Maklansky said. The lunar fragment was one of hundreds presented to states, territories and foreign nations in the early to mid-1970s by the administration of former President Richard Nixon. They included samples taken by Neil Armstrong and the Apollo 11 crew during the first moon landing in 1969. But many of them later went missing. Louisiana also had an Apollo 11 rock that was thought to be missing, but The Advocate discovered it was in storage at the Louisiana Art and Science Museum.

Maine

Belfast: A tuna weighing 600 pounds was donated to a Belfast soup kitchen for its meals last week by a lobster fishing crew that netted the fish. The crewmembers from J & J Lobster were catching bait near the coast when the massive bluefin tuna hit their net, the Bangor Daily News reported. “It was an adrenaline rush to say the least,” the owner of J & J Lobster, Jamie Steeves, told New England Cable News. The crew was not initially authorized to bring the tuna to shore, since they were fishing specifically for bait. But Steeves called the state Marine Patrol, which said it would allow the crew to bring the fish in if they could find a place to donate it. They reached out to the Belfast Soup Kitchen and its executive director, Cherie Merrill. “He cold-called, asking ‘Can you use a 600-pound tuna?’ ” Merrill told the Bangor Daily News. “I never say no to anything, but all I could picture was dropping this 600-pound fish off at the door.” Volunteers from the kitchen and J & J Lobster salvaged about 300 pounds of meat from the tuna. The first tuna steaks were served Tuesday.

Maryland

Baltimore: A conservative Roman Catholic media outlet seeking to stage a rally during a U.S. bishops’ meeting in Baltimore claims city officials canceled the event because they disapproved of its religious message. The city said the gathering posed a threat to public safety, claiming the fringe group cheered on rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol in January. The event planners are asking a federal judge to decide whether the city is trampling on their First Amendment rights. U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander scheduled a hearing Thursday on a lawsuit filed Sept. 13 by St. Michael’s Media against the city, Mayor Brandon Scott and City Solicitor James Shea. Michigan-based St. Michael’s Media, also known as Church Militant, is a tax-exempt nonprofit and digital media outlet. The group said it publishes news stories on its website about the Catholic Church and often criticizes church leadership. St. Michael’s planned to hold a “prayer rally” Nov. 16 at a city-owned waterfront pavilion. An event advertisement touted speeches by former President Donald Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon and activist Milo Yiannopoulos. In a court filing, the city said it instructed the contractor that manages the pavilion to cancel the event “out of a legitimate fear that it would incite violence in the heart of downtown Baltimore.”

Massachusetts

Boston: The state Supreme Judicial Court rejected a claim that county jails across the state violated the due process rights of inmates during the coronavirus pandemic. The state public defenders agency and the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union argued the sheriffs who run the jails failed to implement regular across-the-board coronavirus testing, and they had not adequately followed an earlier court ruling to reduce their inmate populations, The Salem News reported. The Supreme Judicial Court in Tuesday’s decision acknowledged the risks COVID-19 posed to inmates, but said under the circumstances, the responses of the 13 county sheriffs “are not unreasonable.” The public defender’s agency, the Committee for Public Counsel Services, had no response to the decision, a spokesperson said.

Michigan

Lansing: State lawmakers are poised to consider bipartisan bills aimed at helping potentially thousands of sex abuse victims sue for damages, including those molested by a University of Michigan sports physician. It is the second time since 2018 the Legislature might overhaul laws in the wake of a major abuse scandal. Similar legislation was enacted following the conviction of Larry Nassar, who sexually abused hundreds of female athletes under the guise of medical treatment, including at Michigan State University. Under the new measures, victims of the late Dr. Robert Anderson at the University of Michigan and others would get additional time to bring lawsuits that might be barred by a statute of limitations. Government entities could not use the immunity defense if they knew or should have known of an accused’s prior sexual misconduct and failed to intervene. Similar government immunity legislation stalled three years ago – after Michigan State agreed to a $500 million settlement for Nassar’s victims – amid pushback from universities, schools, municipalities, businesses and the Catholic Church over the financial implications of facing an unknown number of suits for old allegations. Opposition could form again.

Minnesota

St. Paul: State wildlife officials said two Minnesota farms received deer from a Wisconsin farm where chronic wasting disease was detected last month. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources said the news was “extremely concerning” and the agency is “actively considering management responses” to the threat facing the state’s wild deer population. A recent report in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said that the Wisconsin deer farm where the disease was detected sold nearly 400 deer to 40 farms across seven states in the past five years. Two of those farms were in Minnesota. One was at a now-defunct farm in Stillwater, which received two deer in 2016. Those deer were eventually transferred back to Wisconsin in 2019. Investigators are working to determine if those deer are still alive and have been tested, WCCO-TV reported. The other Minnesota farm to receive deer from the contaminated farm was in Clear Lake. Officials said the farm received three deer in 2017, two of which were killed earlier this year. The disease was not detected in them. The third deer is still alive and the owner is awaiting payment befoe making the animal available for testing. The Clear Lake farm’s entire herd is under quarantine.

Mississippi

Jackson: Two street preachers who were convicted of misdemeanor simple assault for calling a woman a “Jezebel” and waving a Bible in a man’s face were released from jail Wednesday after a judge found they were being held under “grossly unreasonable” bond.The $500,000 appearance bond for each preacher was at least 500 times the amount recommended by the Mississippi Rules of Criminal Procedure for bail pending trial. “I’ve seen bonds set in rape cases, aggravated assault cases far more serious than this, and nowhere near half a million dollars,” said Judge Jess H. Dickinson, a retired Mississippi Supreme Court justice appointed to help with a backload of cases in Hinds County Court. Dickinson reduced the bond to $5,000 each. Allan Grant Siders and Bryan Peden, preachers for Church at Jackson, were convicted Sept. 22. Jackson Municipal Judge Jeffrey Reynolds sentenced Siders to six months and Peden to three months in jail. The men were preaching outside businesses in Jackson’s Fondren neighborhood when Jackson resident Matthew Camp said they shouted at him and his girlfriend repeatedly using a voice amplification system, calling her a “Jezebel” and calling them “filthy fornicators.” He said they waved a Bible in his face in a threatening way and yelled at him so closely that spit landed on his face.

Missouri

Chesterfield: Racist graffiti found on school bathroom walls in suburban St. Louis that led to a mass student walkout last week was scrawled by a Black student, school district officials said. The student admitted to administrators to writing the graffiti in multiple bathrooms at Parkway Central High School, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. In a letter to students, their families and staff on Tuesday, Superintendent Keith Marty said the student’s race “does not diminish the hurt it caused or the negative impact it has on our entire community.” Marty said the vandalism was a significant violation of multiple codes of conduct and that the matter had been referred to law enforcement. He also said the student would face “severe disciplinary consequences,” but did not details what those would be. Hundreds of students at Parkway Central walked out of class in protest last Thursday, a day after the racial slurs were found in boys’ bathrooms in Parkway Central and Parkway North. District spokeswoman Cathy Kelly said officials were close to finding the person who wrote the graffiti at Parkway North. School officials do not believe the incidents are related.

Montana

Big Sky: Authorities said unauthorized drone flights over a Montana wildfire prevented firefighting aircraft from being used against the blaze burning in rugged terrain south of Big Sky. Custer Gallatin National Forest officials said the fire in the drainage for Upper Taylor Fork creek grew to more than 70 acres by Wednesday. Drones over the area forced officials to ground aircraft for safety twice since the fire was first reported Monday afternoon, forest spokesperson Marna Daley said. The lack of air support meant crews on the ground had to take a less direct approach to suppressing the fire, which allowed it to grow. About 40 personnel were working on the fire with more due to arrive.

Nebraska

Omaha: A four-month police operation targeting gang activity in Omaha and surrounding communities led to more than 230 arrests and the seizure of dozens of guns and more than $800,000 worth of illegal narcotics, according to the U.S. Marshals Service. The service said in a news release Tuesday that Operation Triple Beam/Operation K.O. was conducted from May through August and was led by the U.S. Marshals Service’s Metro Fugitive Task Force and the Omaha and Lincoln police departments. In addition to 231 arrests, officers seized 86 guns, about 42 pounds of narcotics worth nearly $822,000, more than 800 fentanyl pills and about $49,000 in cash, according to the release. Officers also found three missing children and recovered two stolen vehicles. The operation was part of a national effort developed by the Marshals Service to reduce gang violence by arresting violent fugitives, gang members and those who have committed violent crimes.

Nevada

Las Vegas: A judge dismissed a trademark infringement lawsuit filed by Evel Knievel’s son a year ago against the Walt Disney Co. and movie company Pixar over a “Toy Story 4” daredevil character named Duke Caboom. “We’re obviously disappointed,” Kelly Knievel said in a Monday email. “We are considering our options” at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. U.S. District Judge James Mahan in Las Vegas dismissed the case against Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures on Sept. 23. The judge wrote that although the Caboom character was “reminiscent” of Knievel, “Disney’s use of Evel Knievel’s likeness contains significant transformative elements” and is not a literal depiction. An email message from The Walt Disney Co. spokesman Jeffrey R. Epstein said he was traveling and unavailable for immediate comment. Kelly Knievel, head of Las Vegas-based K and K Promotions, had characterized the Caboom character as “a direct knock-off of the legend and historical significance” of Knievel’s father, the famous stunt motorcyclist who died in 2007 at 69 in Florida of lung disease. The lawsuit filed in September 2020 accused Disney and Pixar of intentionally modeling the “Toy Story 4” character on Knievel, whose stunts included motorcycle jumps in 1967 over the Caesars Palace fountain in Las Vegas – including a spectacular near-fatal crash – and in 1975 over a row of buses at Wembley Stadium in London.

New Hampshire

Concord: Angry opponents of the Biden administration’s new vaccine mandate forced the postponement of Wednesday’s Executive Council meeting, further delaying a vote on $27 million in federal aid to boost New Hampshire’s vaccination efforts. The Republican-controlled council, a five-member panel that approves state contracts and nominations to courts and agencies, had voted this month to table a request from the state Department of Health and Human Services to spend federal pandemic relief money on a public health program manager and a dozen workers to promote the COVID-19 vaccine and address public concerns about it. Republican lawmakers on the Joint Legislative Fiscal Committee, which also must approve the request, have done the same. The request was back before the council on Wednesday, but the meeting in Manchester was called off after protesters moved around the room, shouting, “Shut it down,” according to video shared by WMUR-TV. After Councilor David Wheeler said state employees attending to answer questions about agenda items were in fear for the lives, one man shouted, “Mission accomplished!”

New Jersey

Atlantic City: A company that has received preliminary approval to build a wind farm off the southern coast of New Jersey is planning a second project. Atlantic Shores, a joint venture between EDF Renewables North America and Shell New Energies US, already has approval from New Jersey regulators to build a wind farm about 8.7 miles off the coast. But in a construction plan filed with the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Atlantic Shores revealed it is planning a second such project, one it has not publicly announced. That project could be considered in the next round of offshore wind project solicitations by New Jersey regulators in the third quarter of 2022. “Atlantic Shores’ second project, Project 2 … is being developed to support these future New Jersey solicitations,” the company wrote in its filing. The company has not said how many megawatts of power the second project might provide. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

New Mexico

Santa Fe: New Mexico students will take the SAT in spring 2022 as the state phases in a pandemic-delayed testing requirement aimed at increasing participation that varies widely by racial and ethnic groups. Those disparities were stark this spring as high school students were offered the test but didn’t have to take it. There were deep differences in high school juniors’ participation according to racial and ethnic groups, with particularly low totals among Indigenous students, data released by New Mexico’s education department showed. The state had planned to require high school juniors to take the English and Math exams this spring, replacing previous statewide assessments. About a dozen states including Ohio and New Jersey require students to take the SAT or list it as one of the options to fulfill federal requirements for standardized testing. But the pandemic made it harder for students nationwide to take the SAT. Logistical complications from the virus spurred New Mexico to get a waiver from federal testing requirements. Exactly 25% of eligible high school juniors took the test this spring in New Mexico, according to data released by the state’s Public Education Department this week. The rate was far lower for Indigenous students, with only 11% of high school juniors in that group taking the test.

New York

New York City: The hit Broadway show “Aladdin” was canceled Wednesday night when breakthrough COVID-19 cases were reported within the musical’s company, a day after the show reopened following 18 months of being shuttered by the pandemic. It was a worrying sign for Broadway’s recovery. “Through our rigorous testing protocols, breakthrough COVID-19 cases have been detected within the company of ‘Aladdin’ at the New Amsterdam Theatre,” the show announced on social media. “Because the wellness and safety of our guests, cast and crew are our top priority, tonight’s performance, Wednesday, Sept. 29 , is canceled.” It was the first Broadway COVID-19 cancellation since shows resumed with Bruce Springsteen’s concert returning in July and “Pass Over” as the first play to debut in August. “Aladdin” said the status of future performances “will be updated.”

North Carolina

Raleigh: Entertainer Nick Cannon is promising to pay off the loan debt of seven students at historically black colleges, including three in North Carolina, when they graduate. Cannon played host to students from Saint Augustine’s University, North Carolina A&T State University, Winston-Salem State University and other HBCUs on his nationally syndicated talk show Monday, The News & Observer of Raleigh reported. They spoke about the adversity they faced and their desire to attend college, particularly an HBCU. Cannon then told the students their outstanding college debt would be paid off when they graduate through a scholarship in partnership with the United Negro College Fund and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. He is an alumnus of Howard University, an HBCU in the District of Columbia. Mackenzie Estrep, a senior at Saint Augustine’s University, is a first-generation high school graduate and college student who is working three jobs to help pay for tuition. Sharandica Midcalf, a student at Winston-Salem State University, was homeless and said a school counselor told her she didn’t have the grade-point average to get into college, which motivated her to succeed as a first-generation college student. Christian Kornegay talked about how he overcame a learning disability and got accepted to North Carolina A&T University, where he’s working to become a professional host and entertainer.

North Dakota

Bismarck: A cold front moving through the region has eased record-breaking heat this week in North Dakota. According to the National Weather Service, Tuesday’s reading of 100 in Dickinson appeared to be the latest in the year that the state has recorded a triple-digit temperature. The temperature in Dickson was 2 degrees higher that the city’s previous record, set in 1905. Bismarck also had a record high Tuesday of 98 degrees, 1 degree higher than the city’s 1905 record for the date. Hot weather also covered eastern North Dakota. Grand Forks eclipsed its century-old record with a high of 91 degrees, the Bismarck Tribune reported. A cold front returned temperatures in the region to more seasonable levels Wednesday with readings in the 50s, 60s and 70s. The latest drought briefing from the weather service said “October is favored for continued above-average temperatures” across the state.

Ohio

Columbus: Ohio's minimum wage will increase from $8.80 to $9.30 an hour for nontipped employees next year because of inflation. The minimum wage for tipped employees will increase from $4.40 to $4.65. The changes take effect Jan. 1 and apply to employees of businesses with annual gross receipts of more than $342,000 a year. A 2006 constitutional amendment ties annual increases in the rate to inflation. The Consumer Price Index increased by 5.8% over the 12-month period from Sept. 1, 2020 to Aug. 31. Next year's 50-cent increase is the largest in one year increase since the amendment raised the rate from $4.25 to $6.85 in 2007. For employees at smaller companies and 14- and 15-year-olds, the state minimum wage is the same as the federal wage, $7.25 an hour. Ohio is one of 18 states that makes automatic adjustments to the state minimum wage. Democrat-backed bills to raise the state wage to $15 per hour have failed to pass the GOP-controlled General Assembly.

Oklahoma

Tahlequah: The Oklahoma-based Cherokee Nation said it has reached 400,000 tribal citizens and expects to become the most populous indigenous tribe in the United States again. “In the coming months, Cherokee Nation Registration will be adding thousands more tribal citizens whose applications are already pending and awaiting verification, making the Cherokee Nation the largest tribe in the United States,” Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said in a statement. In March, the Arizona-based Navajo Nation announced that it had become the nation’s most populous tribe when it reached a population of nearly 400,000 to surpass the Cherokee Nation, which then had about 392,000 citizens. However, the Cherokee Nation’s registration department has received up to 2,000 citizenship applications weekly since Hoskin announced a $2,000 COVID-19 assistance payment to all citizens and those approved as citizens by June 2022, according to the tribe. The applications for citizenship increased 10-fold from before the payment announcement, according to the tribe. Navajos also saw an enrollment increase as the tribe offered hardship assistance payments from last year’s federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, boosting the tribe’s rolls from about 306,000 to nearly 400,000 citizens.

Oregon

Newberg: A school board that acted last month to ban educators from displaying Black Lives Matter and gay pride symbols has broadened the policy to prohibit district employees from displaying all types of political symbols. The move by the Newberg School Board last month to keep staff from displaying BLM or gay pride flags prompted strong criticism and threats to boycott the town of about 25,000 people southwest of Portland and its businesses. Oregon Public Broadcasting reported the board rescinded that rule Tuesday night and enacted a more sweeping policy banning any kind of political symbols, including those that support BLM or LGBTQ issues. “We need to get moving back toward education,” said Board Chair Dave Brown, who joined the majority in the 4-3 vote approving the new policy. “We’ve been derailed for quite a while.” The board’s initial move last month generated a backlash from Newberg city councilors and members of color of the Oregon Legislature. The Oregon State Board of Education called on the school board to reverse course, saying student identities should be welcomed and affirmed. Newberg School Board Vice Chair Brian Shannon said after Tuesday’s vote that it was time to move on. “This policy is so innocuous. It just says that teachers can’t display political symbols at work while they’re on school time,’ Shannon said. “I don’t want to spend five, six more minutes on this issue, let alone six more weeks.”

Pennsylvania

Harrisburg: The state is mailing 375,000 holders of commercial driver’s licenses in a recruitment campaign meant to address a shortage of school bus drivers. The state has a little more than 42,000 school bus drivers, the smallest complement in five years and about 2,000 fewer than in 2017. The Department of Transportation will mail all current CDL holders about the need for bus drivers and inform them how they can get the right endorsement to operate a school bus, said Kurt Myers, PennDOT’s deputy secretary for driver and vehicle services. The state is hoping to address the shortage by appealing to drivers looking for work or seeking to supplement their income. “We want to do everything we possibly can to expand the number of individuals with school bus endorsements to be able to get our children to school. That’s the critical part of all of this,” Myers said. Schools across the nation are facing driver shortages, and many Pennsylvania districts are impacted, Myers said. PennDOT will also temporarily offer another day of CDL skills testing per week. The additional testing days will be held on Mondays for four consecutive weeks beginning Oct. 18.

Rhode Island

According to records in the Newport assessor's office, the Miramar estate consists of three properties – the mansion, a carriage house and a separate, vacant 1-acre oceanfront lot – on 7.2 acres of land.
According to records in the Newport assessor's office, the Miramar estate consists of three properties – the mansion, a carriage house and a separate, vacant 1-acre oceanfront lot – on 7.2 acres of land.

Newport: Gustave White Sotheby's International Realty announced the sale of the 30,982-square-foot Miramar mansion at 646 Bellevue Ave., but did not include a sale price. The buyer was unrepresented by an agent, the release said. The property last sold in 2006 for $17.5 million, which at the time was the highest price paid for a single-family home in the city and perhaps in the state, according to a report in The Daily News. According to records in the Newport assessor's office, the estate consists of three properties – the mansion, a carriage house and a separate, vacant 1-acre oceanfront lot – on 7.2 acres of land. Streetcar magnate George Dunton Widener of Philadelphia commissioned noted architect Horace Trumbauer in the early 1900s to build his family a summer home in Newport. During the planning, Widener and his wife, Eleanor, and their son, Harry Elkins Widener, traveled to Europe. On the return trip, in 1912, the father and son went down with the Titanic, but Eleanor Widener survived. She later married Alexander Hamilton Jr., a Harvard professor and grandson of a Massachusetts governor, and completed Miramar in 1913-14. Miramar is the latest in Newport mansions to be sold. Clarendon Court, the former home of Claus and Sunny von Bulow at 626 Bellevue Ave., went earlier this month for $30 million, and Seaward estate at 339 Ocean Avenue was subdivided before being sold for $16 million.

South Carolina

Greenville Police K-9 Nikos is expected to recover after being shot in the paw and the head.
Greenville Police K-9 Nikos is expected to recover after being shot in the paw and the head.

Greenville: A man in a standoff with police shot and injured a police dog who bit him as officers tried to take him into custody, investigators said. The standoff at a Greenville home continued for a few more hours before Anthony Shay Hawthorne was arrested, Greenville County Sheriff Hobart Lewis said in a statement Thursday. The dog, named Nikos, was shot in a paw and the head, but should recover. Lewis said. Hawthorne, 44, was taken to a hospital to be treated for the dog bite and is charged with attempted murder, cruelty to a police dog and possession of a weapon during a violent crime, investigators said. The standoff started about 7 p.m. Wednesday when Hawthorne shot at his mother, then barricaded himself in his home, officials said. The police dog was shot when its handler sent it in to try and take Hawthorne into custody, Lewis said. A SWAT team entered the house about 8 hours after the standoff started and took Hawthorne into custody without any further problems, the sheriff said. Lewis praised the work of emergency veterinarians in treating the police dog. “The resiliency of Nikos in these early stages of this incident has been incredible and we are certainly pulling for him as he begins the process for recovery,” the sheriff said.

South Dakota

Pierre: Gov. Kristi Noem is again applying to hold a fireworks display over Mount Rushmore to celebrate Independence Day. The Department of Tourism submitted its application for a special use permit to the National Parks Service on Wednesday on behalf of Noem for fireworks next year. The Parks Service in March denied the state’s application for a fireworks display this year, citing safety concerns. South Dakota had been dealing with drought and wildfires that burned within the monument’s boundaries earlier this year, forcing the park to close for several days. Noem argued that if the fireworks were allowed, conditions would be monitored and organizers could cancel the show if the fire risk was too great. Local Native American tribes also opposed holding the celebration on land they hold as sacred and were concerned about the spread of COVID-19. Noem is in litigation with the U.S. Department of Interior over that rejection. “Despite their arbitrary decision to cancel the 2021 Fireworks Celebration, the Biden Administration has an opportunity to work with us to celebrate next year and for the years to come,” the Republican governor said in a statement. Noem successfully pushed for a return of the event in 2019 after a decadelong hiatus. It gave former President Donald Trump an opportunity to be featured in a patriotic display attended by thousands of people during the pandemic.

Tennessee

Knoxville: A Knoxville special education teacher died from COVID-19, a medical examiner’s report has confirmed. Kelle Grady died Sept. 8 at the age of 48, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported. She was a teacher at A.L. Lotts Elementary School. Her obituary called her a “devoted teacher.” Grady died the same day as Knox County Schools bus driver Tammy Murphy, who was ill with COVID-19 for weeks and had been put on a ventilator. The Knox County Board of Education had declined to approve a mask mandate, but on Sept. 24, a federal judge ruled that Knox County Schools must implement masking to help protect children with health problems amid the pandemic. The same ruling also blocked an August executive order by Gov. Bill Lee allowing families to opt out of school mask mandates. It was one of three rulings blocking implementation of Lee’s executive order. The other two affect Williamson and Shelby counties.

Texas

Dallas: Three firefighters remained in critical condition after an explosion at an apartment complex in Dallas, authorities said. The blast happened Wednesday morning at the apartment complex where the firefighters were responding to a reported natural gas leak. A two-story building partially collapsed, and four firefighters and four civilians were injured. Dallas-Fire Rescue said late Wednesday that all four civilians were released from a hospital along with one of the firefighters. The building where the explosion occurred had 10 units and all of the residents were accounted for, authorities said. The structure was torn down later Wednesday because of safety issues and an investigation into the cause of the blast was ongoing. Dallas-Fire Rescue said natural gas was shut off for the entire complex because of the investigation and that displaced about 300 people. All buildings will be inspected in the complex before the residents return.

Utah

St. George: Because of a cold front, a lot of the smoke from a wildfire in the Sequoia National Park is moving to Utah and becoming trapped in the atmosphere above the state's southwestern corner, said National Weather Service meteorologist, Mike Wessler. The forecast suggested winds on Tuesday night could help move some of that smoke toward Colorado, Wessler said, although at least some would stick around longer into the week. Western wildfires sent smoke into Utah throughout the summer, with the local air quality approaching dangerous levels in some places. The latest large set of fires is the KNP Complex, which is threatening Sequoia National Park, home to a forest of giant sequoias, the largest trees in the world, according to the National Park Service website. The giant sequoias, which grow along the west slope of the Sierra Nevada, can be as old as 3,400 years.

Vermont

Marlboro: A Vermont music venue, Marlboro Music, has bought the college campus where it resides after 70 years without claim to the property. The president and chair of Marlboro Music, Christopher Serkin, said Tuesday that the purchase of the former Marlboro College was in its last stages. According to documents submitted to the town, Marlboro Music subsidiary Potash Hill paid $2.7 million to the college’s owner, Democracy Builders Fund 1, The Brattleboro Reformer reported. Serkin said Marlboro Music will continue its use of the campus for three months in the summer. It will also develop a process to determine the use of the now-empty college campus for the rest of the year. Before its closure, Marlboro College struggled to keep its doors open as enrollment dwindled and revenue dropped, the newspaper reported. In 2019, Marlboro College merged with Emerson College and closed its main campus.

Virginia

Richmond: An enormous statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee was cut into pieces and hauled away from Richmond’s Monument Avenue three weeks ago, but plaintiffs who failed to block the removal want Virginia’s Supreme Court to reconsider its decision allowing it. Four property owners filed a request Wednesday with the high court for a rehearing, alleging the justices made “several fundamental errors” in their Sept. 2 decision, The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported. The unanimous ruling observed that “values change and public policy changes too” in a democracy. The court cited testimony from historians who said the enormous statue was erected in 1890 to honor the southern white citizenry’s defense of a pre-Civil War life that depended on slavery and the subjugation of Black people. Restoring the monument would be ideal for the plaintiffs, but attorney Patrick M. McSweeney said his clients “don’t think the state owns and controls the monument.” The state wants to keep the monument and land while disavowing promises made to obtain them. “Such a result allows the Commonwealth to take property without compensation,” the petition states.

Washington

Bremerton: A 24-year-old North Kitsap man was charged with assault after biting off another man’s thumb during a fight that started as a group of friends were heading to a bar. The victim, 27, wrote in a statement included in Kitsap County Superior Court charging documents that he and the suspect were not getting along in the lead-up to the fight the night of Sept. 2, the Kitsap Sun reported. The victim said the suspect attacked him after he criticized him for being lazy before going into the bar. While on the ground, the victim said he tried to push the man’s face away but his left thumb went into the suspect’s mouth and he bite down. The suspect “continued to bite my thumb until he bit off the end,” the victim wrote. Medics collected the thumb from the roadway and they went to a hospital. The suspect told deputies that the victim turned the verbal argument into a fight by kicking him in the chest and that he “did not bite down very hard,” a deputy wrote. The victim had surgery but lost function from the first knuckle and permanently lost the tip of his thumb. The suspect was charged Tuesday with second-degree assault.

West Virginia

Charleston: West Virginia’s largest outdoor festival on the third-highest U.S. bridge next month was canceled Wednesday, a week after a group representing parachutists bailed out. The Bridge Day Commission voted unanimously to cancel the Oct. 16 event on the New River Gorge Bridge. Marcus Ellison, an organizer for a group of BASE jumpers, cited concerns about available health care in case of an emergency because of the coronavirus pandemic in announcing last week that the group would not participate. Some hospitals in southern West Virginia have been inundated in recent weeks with COVID-19 patients, with a few saying their intensive care units were at capacity. Ellison also was concerned there could be an insufficient number of bus drivers to transport BASE jumpers from the bottom to the top of the New River Gorge Bridge in Fayetteville on Oct. 16. BASE stands for building, antenna, span and Earth, the fixed objects from which jumpers leap.

Wisconsin

Fond Du Lac: Hundreds of people packed a Fond du Lac church to pay respects to police officer Joseph Kurer, 26, who died of coronavirus complications. Kurer died Sept. 22, just a day after his wife gave birth to their second child. At Holy Family Catholic Church, Kurer was remembered Wednesday as a servant and champion of justice. “We’re hurting. It’s not easy, we’re hurting. But we’ll make it through it. We’ll lean on each other and come through,” said Fond du Lac Police Lt. Erik Foster. Kurer also served in the Wisconsin National Guard and because of that, he received full military honors. A pair of Black Hawk helicopters flew over the crowd of mourners outside of the church following the funeral, WBAY-TV reported A long line of squad cars from law enforcement agencies across the state joined the procession as Kurer was taken past the police department one last time. Citizens lined the street to pay their respects to the officer and his family. The police department said Kurer contracted COVID-19 while working, so his death is classified as in the line of duty.

Wyoming

Gillette: The vaccine hesitancy in Gillette is emblematic of the live-free, mind-your-own-business mentality toward the pandemic that is dominant across conservative America at a time when the delta variant of the coronavirus is tearing through unvaccinated communities. For every 100 people spotted around town in Gillette, the number wearing masks can be counted on one hand. Among a group of six people on a smoke break downtown, all said they had too many concerns about the vaccine to mess with it. Down the street, a black shirt displayed in a storefront warned, “ATTENTION SNOWFLAKES: THIS IS NOT A SAFE PLACE.” Wyoming is the second-least vaccinated state as of Tuesday, behind only West Virginia. Only 23% of residents in Campbell County, where Gillette is, have been vaccinated, putting it among the bottom handful of places in the U.S.that have not cracked 25% with their COVID-19 immunization rates. People bristle at the workplace vaccine mandate being pushed by President Joe Biden.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 50 States