News from Across the Nation - Jan. 25, 2016

Sheriff Herman T. Jones visits with preschool kids to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Photo by Martha Lutz

KANSAS

SHAWNEE COUNTY Sheriff Herman T. Jones read from the book, This Is The Dream, to kids at the Precious Blessings preschool in Topeka on Jan. 13 in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. Jones gave the school a copy of the book and handed out Junior Deputy stickers to the children.

ALABAMA

If you’re at least 18 years old and have no law enforcement experience, you could run for sheriff of ELMORE COUNTY…. for now.
The County Commission and Sheriff Bill Franklin are working to change that, the Montgomery Advertiser reported. Commissioners recently endorsed Franklin’s proposal to add more qualifications for the job, a move that must be approved by the state Legislature.
Under the sheriff’s proposed bill, candidates for office would need to be at least 25 years old, have resided in the county for one year and have a four-year college degree in criminal justice or a related field.
The Legislature will take up the measure during its session that begins Feb. 2.

CALIFORNIA

By a 4–1 vote, the NEVADA COUNTY Board of Supervisors passed an “urgency ordinance” to immediately ban outdoor marijuana cultivation and restrict the number of medicinal plants grown indoors, The Union reported. 
The ordinance was recommended by Sheriff Keith Royal and allows only civil penalties such as fines. Five hours of public comment preceded the vote; most of it against the measure.
In California, it’s legal to grow and use marijuana for medicinal purposes.

FLORIDA

BROWARD COUNTY commissioners passed a new law to prevent human trafficking and encourage the public to report the crime. It enforces recent state legislation. The ordinance requires that signs with specific information on human trafficking be posted in adult entertainment venues such as strip clubs, and in massage parlors that are not owned by health care professionals.

A state law that took effect Jan. 1 mandates the posting of human trafficking awareness signs in public transportation areas, rest areas, airports, train stations, emergency rooms and specified business establishments. That law authorized counties to pass ordinances to enforce the posting requirement.

IDAHO

No more gun shows in ADA COUNTY for a while. County commissioners have enacted a moratorium after two accidental discharges at gun shows at Expo Idaho in the past three years, according to the Idaho Statesman.

In a letter to a promoter of several shows at the facility, the commissioners wrote: “Notwithstanding our support of Second Amendment rights, we are concerned about the safety of patrons and vendors in our facilities during, and in preparation for, gun shows, including the ones you produce.”

Four people have been injured by accidental gunshots at gun shows in the county since 2013. The county paid $100,000 as part of a settlement in the 2013 incident, in which a man suffered eye injuries from shrapnel from accidental gunfire.

MARYLAND

BALTIMORE COUNTY Councilman David Marks has proposed legislation that could fine renters and landlords for noisy parties that disturb neighbors.

The county is home to Towson University, and the measure is aimed incidents involving college students who rent private homes off-campus, The Baltimore Sun reported.

Penalties for landlords range from a warning to a $1,000 fine and revocation of their license to rent. Party hosts would face a $500 fine and 20 hours of community service, and higher fines for repeat violations.

Marks said he hopes it might have a deterrent effect. “If landlords are managing their properties and renters are behaving appropriately, then the police will never be called and these sanctions will never be used.”

MICHIGAN

Already reeling from a tainted water crisis, GENESEE COUNTY is now dealing with a rash of Legionnaire’s disease cases, 10 of them fatal. Between June 2014 and November 2015, there were 87 cases of the disease reported.

About half of the people who became ill were connected to the Flint water system, which has been the source of lead poisoning. But state health officials say no causal link has been established.

MISSISSIPPI

The Gulf Coast Broadband Initiative has a new member. HARRISON COUNTY supervisors have joined a group of counties and cities that are working to bring affordable high-speed Internet service to the region.

Twelve cities and three counties will eventually be part of the project, according to The Sun Herald.

The project would create a fiber ring across coastal southern Mississippi that could promote economic development. The redundant network would benefit existing and future businesses.

NEW YORK

MONROE COUNTY Executive Cheryl Dinolfo has proposed an Office of Public Integrity. It would have to independently review county operations and finances, the Democrat and Chronicle reported.

The ethics director could report findings directly to law enforcement when necessary. While Dinolfo’s legislation doesn’t say so, she wrote in a letter to county lawmakers that the director also would manage the county’s whistleblower hotline. The director could “examine all county operations independently,” conduct audits of county departments and address complaints from county residents, the legislation says.

Lawmakers would likely hold a public hearing in February and vote on the legislation in March.

PENNSYLVANIA

• Underpaid for 911 service fees by $6.7 million, CUMBERLAND COUNTY is joining a lawsuit targeting telecommunications companies to recover that money.

The county will join with Phone Recovery Services and the Philadelphia law firm of Dilworth Paxson to seek a return of money. Other counties, including DELAWARE and DAUPHIN, have already sued. The suit will cost the county nothing up front, and will cost nothing if the company loses the case. Phone Recovery Services’ fee will be 40 percent of any damages collected, PennLive reported.

Phone Recovery Services’ analysis estimates 22 telephone service providers have been misrepresenting the types and number of phone lines that pay 911 fees, under billing customers on 911 funding fees.

• YORK COUNTY commissioners approved a major expansion of its substance abuse treatment center. ADAMS COUNTY also uses the facility, which includes detox, residential rehabilitation and discharge planning services for adults who are dealing with substance abuse, chemical dependency and co-occurring mental health disorders.

The entire construction budget for the project is $3.2 million, and in the end, the number of beds should at least double to 48, though other options could take the total to 85, according to the York Daily Record.

VIRGINIA

Employees of BEDFORD COUNTY are the only people barred from entering the county administration building with a firearm, but a proposal may allow county employees to bring concealed weapons to work.
Such a change would still require proper permitting, WDBJ News reported.
 

WASHINGTON

A group supporting vaping has sued the Tacoma-PIERCE COUNTY Board of Health over the agency’s new countywide restrictions on electronic cigarettes. The regulations, which the board approved unanimously in November, took effect Jan. 1 and made e-cigarettes subject to the same restrictions state law places on smoking in public places.

Under the regulations, vaping products cannot be used in public places or work sites, except for limited sampling in stores that sell the products. The county rule also requires vapor product sellers to buy a license to operate. The News Tribune reported that the suit asks a judge to roll back the restrictions before they put many vaping-related enterprises in the county out of business.

WISCONSIN

The MANITOWOC COUNTY’s Clerk of Court office has been has been inundated with inquiries from locals and people from around the world who want to see the transcripts, exhibits and other documents in a 2007 murder case featured in the television series Making a Murderer.

Chief Clerk Lynn Zigmunt told the Associated Press there are more than six banker boxes of material. She has assigned an employee to handle the requests each day and assembled a guide to the pertinent documents.

Zigmunt said she expects the requests to wane in the future because someone who has purchased the documents will likely put them online.

News From Across the Nation is compiled by Charles Taylor and Charlie Ban, senior staff writers. If you have an item for News From, please email ctaylor@naco.org or cban@naco.org.