Saving whales, Manson murder house: News from around our 50 states

Alabama

Prattville:The law that allows Sunday alcohol sales from retail stores in the city with valid state-issued liquor licenses goes into effect Aug. 1. Sales will be allowed with no time constraints. The city council approved the move during the board’s Tuesday night meeting. The ordinance passed 6-0-1, with District 3 Councilwoman Denise Brown abstaining. She serves as executive director of the Autauga Interfaith Care Center, a nondenominational charity. Last year, the council approved off-premises Sunday sales in the Elmore County portion of Prattville, after the Elmore County Commission got Legislative approval to allow the sales.

Alaska

Juneau: Residents of rural parts of the state will be hit with rising energy costs after a statewide funding change. The state’s Energy Desk reported that the Legislature annually transfers money from state accounts into the Constitutional Budget Reserve. Officials say a $1 billion energy account used to offset costs for rural communities is included in the transfer known as “the sweep.” Lawmakers for the past 28 years have returned the funds, until this year, when they voted not to replenish the large savings account. Companies say homeowners’ bills could increase from an average of $80 up to thousands of dollars per month.

Arizona

Tucson: The city’s Catholic leadership is planning to meet with local government officials about where the city can temporarily house migrants seeking asylum. The organization and county officials have a tentative agreement to move migrant families to unused portions of a Pima County juvenile detention center. Critics are opposed to placing migrants in any detention facility. Bishop Edward Weisenburger has said the hope is that migrants will feel safe and welcome as long as they are getting care.

Arkansas

Little Rock: The federal government says it will allocate an additional $7 million in funding over the next 10 years to expand internet access in rural areas of the state. The Federal Communications Commission announced Monday that the funds will provide broadband access to nearly 4,000 more rural homes and businesses. In May and June, the FCC authorized a total of $40.8 million in funding. About 15,000 more rural homes and businesses will be connected to the internet when the project is complete. The FCC says it will authorize more funding in the coming months. Providers will begin receiving money from the FCC this month.

California

Los Angeles: One of the houses where followers of Charles Manson committed notorious murders in 1969 is for sale. The home in the hilly Los Feliz district is where Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were slain the night after actress Sharon Tate and four others were murdered by Manson followers in Benedict Canyon. Redfin listing agent Robert Giambalvo tells the Los Angeles Times the two-bedroom home is priced at $1.98 million. The house has changed hands several times since 1969 and last sold in 1998.

Colorado

Fort Collins:Freight trains up to 3 miles long have been coming through the city with increasing frequency since January, according to a memo to City Council from traffic engineer Joe Olson. The “mega” trains, as Olson calls them, are in addition to regular train traffic on the BNSF Railway tracks that parallel College Avenue through much of the city. Typical trains are about a mile long. The biggest impact of a mega train is on traffic. Instead of blocking an intersection 3 to 4 minutes, like most trains, a mega train might take 15 minutes or more to pass through an intersection. Traffic backs up farther than usual and takes longer to recover. The most noticeable impacts are where the BNSF tracks cross College Avenue near Cherry Street, Olson’s memo noted. But impacts are felt all along the line, with several major east-west intersections blocked at the same time.

Connecticut

New Haven: The city is activating cooling centers for the public as it issues an excessive heat and humidity alert for the next several days. Mayor Toni Harp will start the alert at noon Wednesday while cooling centers will be open throughout the weekend and next week until further notice to provide relief from the excessive heat and humidity. Some of the cooling centers include libraries like the New Haven Public Library and the Fair Haven Branch Library. Public pools, senior centers, homeless shelters and city parks with “Splash pads,” which can be used for cooling off, will also be open.

Delaware

Harrington:When you’re expecting about 300,000 people for your 100th birthday party, you have to be creative when it comes to a birthday cake. That’s why the Delaware State Fair bought 30,000 packages of Tastykake Butterscotch Krimpets, which will be doled out each night to some festivalgoers as part of the fair’s centennial celebration. The 100th annual Delaware State Fair kicks off Thursday with a one-day adult admission price of $5, followed by nine more days of midway rides, decadent carnival foods, livestock competitions and entertainment ranging from Grammy Award winners to a demolition derby. General admission is $9 for adults all other days, $4 for children 6-12, and free for kids 5 and younger. More details are available online.

District of Columbia

Washington: The leader of the D.C. Council is accused of trading roles and responsibilities to other council members in exchange for backing. The Washington Post reports Chair Phil Mendelson is accused of using the quid pro quo to pass a no-bid sports betting and lottery contract and block harsh penalties for a member accused of ethics violations. The allegations highlight the growing divide between the council’s older, moderate and mostly black leaders and more recently elected members, who are mostly white and younger than 50.

Florida

Gainesville: The Sunshine State is the top producer of watermelon in the United States, according to the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, which says Florida farmers sold 800 million pounds of watermelon last year. The largest growers are near Immokalee, Belle Glade, Arcadia and the Suwannee Valley, which produces a third of the state’s watermelon crop.

Georgia

St. Simons Island: A state biologist says beachgoers in Georgia helped keep about 30 pilot whales from stranding themselves on the shore. Clay George with the state Department of Natural Resources says the whales showed up Tuesday afternoon off the beach at St. Simons Island. Three whales beached themselves and died. But George says onlookers helped authorities wade into the water to prevent most of the whales from reaching the shore. George said harbor pilots spotted the whales in the nearby shipping channel, where he hoped they would follow the tide out to sea. George says the whales were likely confused as they usually stay more than 100 miles offshore. The American Cetacean Society says pilot whales are often involved in mass strandings partly because of their social nature.

Hawaii

Honolulu: Astronomers have indefinitely stopped looking through 13 existing telescopes at the summit of Mauna Kea while protesters block the road downslope to prevent the construction of a giant new observatory. Dozens of researchers around the world won’t be able to gather data and study the skies as a result. East Asian Observatory Deputy Director Jessica Dempsey says observations won’t resume until telescope staff have consistent access to the summit. The announcement came after Native Hawaiian protesters blocked the base of the road for a second day Tuesday. They oppose the $1.4 billion Thirty Meter Telescope out of concern it will harm an area some Native Hawaiians consider sacred. The new telescope is expected to be one of the world’s most advanced when it’s built.

Idaho

Boise: Officials have approved a rewrite of the state’s 50-year-old mining law. Republican Gov. Brad Little and other members of the Idaho Land Board voted Tuesday to adopt rules intended to give mining companies the financial leeway to mine but also avoid leaving taxpayers paying for cleanup costs if a mining company goes bankrupt. The rules take effect immediately and come ahead of an Aug. 1 deadline set by the Legislature earlier this year. The Idaho Department of Lands plans to continue working on additional changes to the rules with public comments and bring them before lawmakers for their approval in the 2020 legislative session.

Illinois

Chicago: Officials with the Shedd Aquarium say a Beluga whale calf born less than two weeks ago is male. The aquarium’s animal care team confirmed the calf’s sex during a recent health exam. The baby whale and its mother are under 24-hour observation as the calf continues to grow and nurse. Aquarium officials say the data collected from the observation is shared with others who study wild beluga whale populations. The 38-year-old beluga, Mauyak, delivered earlier this month. Her calf was the first beluga calf at the lakefront aquarium in seven years.

Indiana

Michigan City: Witnesses say a toddler was rescued in Lake Michigan after he drifted away from his family on an inflatable duck. Dave Benjamin tells WBBM-TV that a boater finally grabbed the boy after the duck flipped over Monday, off Washington Beach in Michigan City. Benjamin tried to reach the boy on a paddleboard. He says there was a feeling of “exhaustion and high anxiety” as the child’s inflatable was carried away by the wind. The boy’s mother couldn’t immediately reach him.

Iowa

Dyersville: Officials say expansion by a Dubuque-based insurance broker is expected to bring more than 25 jobs to the city. The Telegraph Herald reports that Cottingham & Butler announced Monday that it will begin operating this fall in leased space that’s under construction. Cottingham & Butler’s Andy Butler says company officials have considered new locations as a way to accommodate current and future employees who live outside Dubuque. Cottingham & Butler employs 950 workers across 19 locations. About 650 work in the Dubuque area.

Kansas

Topeka: Attorney General Derek Schmidt says the U.S. Supreme Court’s fall docket includes three state cases, the first time that has happened in modern state history. Schmidt’s office will represent the state in all three cases. The first case to be heard this fall involves an appeal filed in a capital murder case filed by James Kraig Kahler, who killed four relatives in Burlingame in November 2009. Kahler argues Kansas law unconstitutionally prevented him from using an insanity defense. A second case arises from an identity theft case out of Johnson County and the third involves a Douglas County traffic stop. The Kansas Supreme Court overturned convictions in the last two cases, and the state is appealing.

Kentucky

Frankfort: State officials say a company that specializes in CBD oil extraction and distillation plans to build a $6 million-plus manufacturing plant in Boyle County. Gov. Matt Bevin’s office says the venture will create up to 34 full-time jobs over a decade. State officials say the announcement by International Farmaceutical Extracts is the latest sign that Kentucky’s hemp industry is flourishing. Officials say the company plans to buy an existing facility in Danville for the operation. At full capacity, the plant will use hemp flowers from about 15,000 acres of local farms.

Louisiana

Baton Rouge:The state continues to sink with no help in sight, according to the latest National Geodetic Survey conducted with the help of Louisiana State University. New Orleans has fallen almost 6 inches since the first survey was conducted in 1989, but other cities farther north are also sinking. Alexandria dropped almost 2 inches during the past 30 years. Cliff Mugnier, LSU’s Chief of Geodesy, says the primary reason for the sinking is the levee system preventing the Mississippi River from flooding and depositing silt and sediment to replenish lost ground, although other factors like depleted groundwater aquifers can also contribute.

Maine

Madawaska: The state Forest Service is going to deploy wasps to help beat back an invasive pest species that can do damage to trees in the state. The service says the tiny, nonstinging wasps will be released Thursday to help control the emerald ash borer infestation in the state. It says the wasps feed in or on the borers by attacking their larvae under the bark of trees and parasitizing eggs on the surface of bark. The wasps will be released in Aroostook County in far northern Maine. The forest service says three species of wasps are being used in the pest control effort. The borer was located in Aroostook and York counties, at opposite ends of the state, in 2018.

Maryland

Baltimore: State regulators have scheduled two public comment hearings on a request by Washington Gas Light Company to increase its gas service rates by nearly $36 million. The Public Service Commission announced Monday it has scheduled a July 29 hearing in Rockville. It also announced an Aug. 6 public hearing in Largo. The PSC says that of the nearly $36 million rate-increase request, about $5 million is being collected through a system improvement surcharge. The Washington Gas application says a typical residential heating bill would increase by about 5%.

Massachusetts

Boston: A power outage caused major problems on a Boston subway line. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority said in a tweet that there was “power problem” on the Blue Line at about 8 a.m. Wednesday near the Government Center station. It said shuttle buses were replacing service between the Maverick and Bowdoin stations. A spokesman says three trains were on the track at the time. One was at a station, and another was moved back to a station so passengers could disembark. A third train was just outside the Government Center stop and 200 passengers were safely evacuated. The cause of the power problem is under investigation.

Michigan

Sault Ste. Marie: A Native American tribe is receiving $2 million in federal funds to help build a manufacturing and warehouse facility. U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced the grant Tuesday for the tribe of Chippewa Indians. It will be matched with $350,000 in local funding. Officials say the Upper Peninsula tribe will own the 20,000-square-foot center. It will serve existing tribal manufacturers and entrepreneurs while helping attract new industries and business opportunities.

Minnesota

Rochester: Former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman says all visible traces of cancer have been removed from his lung during a seven-hour surgery at Mayo Clinic. Coleman posted on his Facebook page that the cancer “was more invasive than seen in earlier scans.” Coleman praised his team of doctors who said the surgery was challenging because of scar tissue from earlier radiation. Last August, Coleman learned that the throat and neck cancer he began battling in 2015 had spread to his lungs and was at the most advanced stage. Coleman underwent chemotherapy and intensive radiation and said the tumor was gone. A follow-up scan recently showed the cancer had returned. In Monday’s surgery, doctors planned to remove about a quarter of his lung, cutting the organ’s capacity by 15% to 20%.

Mississippi

Jackson:Police say they have confiscated several baggies filled with marijuana-infused snacks at a “dispensary party.” News outlets report police arrested five people for possession of ecstasy and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. Spokesman Sam Brown told outlets Tuesday that authorities were tipped off about the party, which is typical in states where marijuana is legal. The edibles included rice crispy treats and brownies worth about $3,000. A gun, bong and other paraphernalia were also confiscated.

Missouri

Jefferson City: Bayer is closing its crop science division headquarters in North Carolina and moving 500 jobs to the St. Louis area. Gov. Mike Parson announced the move Tuesday in his Capitol office. Lisa Safarian, Bayer’s commercial operations-North America president, says the German pharmaceutical and life sciences company is closing its crop science division headquarters in the Raleigh area and moving to the St. Louis suburb of Creve Coeur. Bayer will get more than $44 million in economic development incentives from the state if it meets job and investment promises. The company has agreed to $164 million in capital investments. It also pledged to keep 4,400 jobs in Missouri.

Montana

Kalispell: Nurses working for a state hospital system have voted to unionize. The Flathead Beacon reports nurses at Kalispell Regional Healthcare facilities voted last Thursday and Friday to set up a collective bargaining unit. The approximately 650 nurses in the system are being represented by the Service Employees International Union Healthcare 1199NW. The union says the new members will elect a bargaining committee that will survey members on their priorities for the contract negotiation. Hospital President and CEO Craig Lambrecht says in a statement that he was disappointed by the vote, but Kalispell Regional Healthcare will work with its employees during the bargaining process.

Nebraska

Chadron: A local chiropractor and a former high school track standout won top honors in the World Championship Buffalo Chip Throw contest during the 43rd annual Fur Trade Days celebration. Station KCSR reports that 35-year-old Eric Landen won the men’s title Saturday by tossing a piece of dried buffalo dung nearly 146 feet. Winning the women’s overall and 18-and-over titles was recently graduated Chadron High School track standout True Thorne with a throw of a little over 107 feet.

Nevada

Sparks: Thousands of homes were left without power for several hours after a dump truck downed a power line. More than 7,000 NV Energy customers suffered a power outage at about 8:45 a.m. Tuesday when the power line was knocked down while the truck was lifting its bed in a construction zone. NV Energy says about 1,660 remained without power Tuesday afternoon but all power was expected to be restored by the evening. The truck was operating in a construction zone on El Rancho Drive near Teglia’s Paradise Park. No injuries were reported.

New Hampshire

Concord: The state’s only VA medical center is scaling back the hours of its clinic and urging veterans to use a network of private urgent care facilities across the state. The move to shift away from an around-the-clock clinic in Manchester starting Aug. 30 comes as Veterans Affairs presses for the use of urgent care clinics nationwide. Eligible veterans can now use nine urgent care clinics that the VA contracts with in the state. The VA medical center will continue to offer a clinic at 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. seven days a week.

New Jersey

West Milford: Swimming has been banned at another state lake because of the presence of a harmful algal bloom. State environmental officials on Tuesday closed swimming areas on Greenwood Lake, which stretches about nine miles between West Milford and Orange County in New York. The directive says people should avoid making contact with the lake’s water, but notes that boating is still allowed on the waterway. Officials say bacteria in the algae bloom can cause a skin rash, and people who consume the water can suffer abdominal pain, headaches, vomiting and other issues. It’s not clear how long the directive will remain in effect.

New Mexico

Albuquerque: State officials are warning horse owners to take precautions to keep their animals from contracting a virus that causes blister-like sores on the mouths of infected animals. The state livestock board says vesicular stomatitis cases have been confirmed in Valencia, Sandoval, Los Alamos and Santa Fe counties. State Veterinarian Ralph Zimmerman says officials aren’t ordering the cancellation of any events at this point, but they’re circulating a list of recommendations for fair and rodeo organizers and individual owners. That includes checking for sores, using fly spray and not sharing grooming equipment. There’s no specific treatment and there are no licensed vaccines for the virus.

New York

Quogue: Police on Long Island are searching for a bald eagle that was stolen from a wildlife refuge. Police say the approximately 35-year-old male bald eagle was removed from its enclosure at the Quogue Wildlife Refuge sometime early Tuesday morning. Police say the eagle was sent to the facility in Suffolk County by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1988 after being injured. Its right wing is partially amputated and it is unable to fly. Officials say possession of a bald eagle, which is a federally protected species, is a federal offense punishable by fines and jail time. Anyone with information is asked to call the Quogue Village police department at 631-653-4791.

North Carolina

Asheville:  An employee at a Valvoline Instant Oil Change has been fired, the company said, after creating a racist invoice that referred to the customer as Pocahontas. A photographed invoice circulating on social media lists the customer’s name as “poka honas” and the address as Raccoon Trail, a street that does not exist in Asheville. The date of the invoice is not visible, though the original Facebook post was published July 15. The customer’s identity is not publicly known. She is a person of color, according to the Facebook user who posted about the incident. The customer was not immediately available for a request for comment.

North Dakota

Bismarck: State officials say oil production in North Dakota held steady this spring. The state’s wells produced 1.39 million barrels of crude per day in May, just 800 per day more than in April. Despite the steady May numbers, North Dakota’s oil production is near the record set in January. And, the high level is creating some transportation challenges. Statewide, companies are flaring off 19% of all gas produced, higher than the 12% target.

Ohio

Cincinnati:Mosquitoes in the Greater Cincinnati area have tested positive for West Nile virus and officials are urging people to take precautions. The West Nile virus affects the central nervous system. It can be passed from mosquitoes to humans. Mosquitoes with the virus were recently trapped on Union Cemetery Road in Symmes Township, according to Hamilton County Public Health. Officials will be conducting surveillance activities in the area where the mosquitoes were collected. Staff will be looking for areas of standing water, applying larvicide and making sure swimming pools are operating properly. Health officials advise all Hamilton County residents drain all sources of water, including buckets, flowerpots, wading pools, birdbaths and pet bowls. They also suggest adding mosquito larvicide to areas of standing water that cannot be drained.

Oklahoma

Oklahoma City: Gov. Kevin Stitt says the Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved disaster assistance for 41 counties as a result of spring flooding and severe weather in the state. The storms produced historic flooding throughout the northern half of the state and spawned a tornado that struck near Tulsa International Airport on May 21. Stitt announced the approval Tuesday, saying it makes federal funding available for cities, counties, rural electric cooperatives and the state to repair infrastructure and other costs associated with the storm response. Stitt said damage estimates from the storms stand at $22 million.

Oregon

Salem:A pilot was treated and released from a hospital after crashing his plane Tuesday afternoon while attempting an emergency landing in a grassy field east of the city. Eugene Mitchell, 73, of Portland told deputies he experienced mechanical issues which led to the plane catching fire midflight while traveling from the Albany area to the Aurora Airport. Mitchell, an experienced pilot, suffered nonlife-threatening injuries. He was the only occupant of the plane, according to Sgt. Jeremy Landers with the Marion County Sheriff’s Office. The Federal Aviation Administration and National Traffic Safety Board were notified of the crash.

Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh: An animal rescue group says someone strapped firecrackers to a cat’s front left paw with rubber bands and set them off, causing such severe injuries that the animal’s leg had to be amputated. Humane Animal Rescue says on its Facebook page that two good Samaritans brought the cat in over the weekend after finding it limping on the mangled and bloody leg. Based on how the wound had begun healing, officials at the rescue say the injury likely happened on the Fourth of July. Jamie Wilson, a director at the rescue, says there was barely any paw left and veterinarians determined the best course of action would be to remove the leg. The cat, who staffers have named Pickles, is on the mend and will be up for adoption soon.

Rhode Island

Warwick: The City Council on Monday unanimously approved a resolution that would add $4 million to the schools’ budget to pay for 17 line items, including sports, teaching assistants, custodians, textbooks, and after-school programs. Sports were among several cuts the school committee made last month when it approved a $174 million budget. City Council President Steven Merolla said “enough with holding kids hostage.” The district has three high schools and nearly 20 schools total.

South Carolina

Charleston: The first contracts for construction of a major African American history museum in South Carolina have been awarded. The City Council unanimously approved spending $60 million on the contracts for the museum being built on Charleston’s waterfront on the site where thousands of slaves first landed in the United States. The International African American Museum has raised more than $90 million from governments and private entities. It plans to open in 2021.

South Dakota

Sioux Falls:A slight uptick in heartworm disease among area pets raised a red flag last month with a national nonprofit that tracks parasites in pets and people. The city’s heartworm rate itself is small – just four heartworm cases reported in June – but the increase from May’s rate of just one case was enough to put Sioux Falls at the top of a list kept by the Companion Animal Parasite Council. The Oregon-based nonprofit uses data from two national veterinarian labs to track the prevalence of animal parasites in cats and dogs, and Sioux Falls ranked first in its “Top Ten Cities for Heartworm Disease.” The July report was released this week by the group, with Sioux Falls ranking first, followed by Rockford, Illinois; Cedar Rapids, Iowa and seven other communities across the United States.

Tennessee 

Nashville: The state Department of Agriculture is warning homeowners about rhododendron plants infected with a pathogen that can kill a number of different plants, shrubs and trees. The department says anyone who has purchased a rhododendron from Walmart or Rural King since April should monitor the plants for leaf spots and dying branches or limbs. The warning comes after the U.S. Agriculture Department detected Phytophthora ramorum in rhododendron plants at a Dickson County store. The infected plants were part of a shipment that originated from nurseries in Washington state and Canada. The department is working to trace the plants, which were sent to 18 states.

Texas

Mineral Wells: City leaders are abandoning a proposal that would have essentially banned abortions in their community. Mayor Christopher Perricone says he proposed making his town a “sanctuary city for the unborn” after the town of Waskom became the first in Texas to do so. But at a meeting Tuesday in Mineral Wells, about 50 miles west of Dallas, city leaders voted 5-2 to take no action at the recommendation of the city’s legal staff. The Star-Telegram reported that earlier Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas sent a letter to Mineral Wells council members warning that its proposal was unconstitutional. There are no abortion clinics in either Waskom or Mineral Wells, so the measures are largely symbolic.

Utah

Salt Lake City: A federal appeals court has upheld a ruling that found voting districts in San Juan County were racially gerrymandered and violated the rights of Navajo voters. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver handed down the opinion Tuesday in the case that resulted in the election of the first majority-Navajo commission in San Juan County, which overlaps with the Navajo Nation. Republican commissioner Bruce Adams says in a statement he’s disappointed by the ruling. He says the new districts unfairly carve up the county’s largest city of Blanding, and he had hoped for a new solution. The opinion comes after U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby found in 2016 that the voting maps packed Democratic-leaning Navajo voters into just one of three districts in the sprawling county located near the Arizona border.

Vermont

Montpelier: State Public Safety Commissioner Tom Anderson is resigning at the end of the month. The office of Republican Gov. Phil Scott says Anderson is leaving July 31 to join his wife, who is working in Washington. Anderson took the job at Public Safety in January 2017, after Scott took office. Scott says Anderson has worked on a number of the governor’s priorities, including enhancing school safety, reducing supply of narcotics as part of the state’s response to the opioid epidemic and streamlining the permitting and licensure process, while upholding public safety standards.

Virginia

Craigsville:Craigsville Elementary School will not be closing soon, officials say. Rumors spread Tuesday that the elementary school might shutter in the next couple years, but Assistant Superintendent Doug Shifflett told The News Leader on Wednesday that wasn’t true. Shifflett directed The News Leader to Superintendent Eric Bond for comment, but Bond was out of town this week and unavailable for comment. Augusta County School Board member Nick Collins also said the rumor was not true to the best of his knowledge when reached by phone Tuesday.

Washington

Spokane: Hunters employed by the state have killed a radio-collared wolf that was preying on livestock in the Kettle River range of Ferry County. The adult male member of the OPT wolf pack was killed last Saturday after the pack was found to be repeatedly killing livestock. The Department of Fish and Wildlife has now entered an evaluation period to determine if killing the wolf will change the pack’s behavior. If it does not, the state can authorize the killing of more wolves in the pack. Conservation groups have complained that the state is too quick to kill wolves at the behest of ranchers.

West Virginia

Parkersburg: The federal government is suing a state mental health and substance abuse facility for the homeless, citing failures to provide documentation and numerous unanswered communications. The Gazette-Mail reports a lawsuit filed recently in federal court shows attorneys with U.S. Attorney Mike Stuart’s office want ownership of Integrated Community Services’ property returned to U.S. Health and Human Services. The nonprofit was given the land in 2006, mandating it give updates about its health services. The lawsuit accuses ICS officials of not filing annual reports that prove property use and not being reachable by HHS officials.

Wisconsin

Green Bay:Bar patrons can leave their vehicles parked overnight to avoid driving home drunk under a new initiative approved Tuesday by the City Council. The council voted unanimously to green-light the program, dubbed “Safe Park,” which will allow people to override overnight parking restrictions and leave their vehicles parked on city streets until the next day. Street parking in Green Bay is otherwise prohibited between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. “Safe Park” aims to prevent people from getting behind the wheel while intoxicated. The program was spearheaded by the Brown County Tavern League. To use “Safe Park,” people can obtain a voucher from a bartender to hang on their vehicle’s rearview mirror. Only bars that are Tavern League members can participate.

Wyoming

Jackson: Wildlife watchers say a grizzly bear cub that was lingering alone near a mountain pass in the western part of the state has reunited with its mother. The Jackson Hole News & Guide reports the mother bear and cub, nicknamed Felicia and Pepper, were spotted together near Togwotee Pass on Tuesday. Onlookers had feared the cub was possibly orphaned after its mother wasn’t spotted with it. Cubs are not likely to survive on their own. Wildlife photographer Tom Mangelsen, who has been following the pair, previously said the mother and cub might have simply lost track of each other. Photographer Jack Bayles says the mother accepted the cub back and the cub has tried to nurse.