News From Across the Nation - Dec. 10, 2018

ARIZONA

COCHISE COUNTY recently launched Volunteer Cochise, a new initiative designed to encourage residents to volunteer in their communities, according to KOLD-TV.

Sponsored by the county’s health and social services department, the county is also asking its own employees to give back to the communities they serve and plans to track the impact of the effort. The initiative includes a public resource page on the county’s website.

“We believe having active communities with a sense of purpose and improvement leads to healthier lifestyles for all our citizens,” said Carrie Langley, director of Cochise Health & Social Services. “Our staff are being encouraged to consider ways they can volunteer across this diverse region we serve as local government workers in our professional lives. And we are also encouraging our friends, neighbors, and other community members to join us.”

 

CALIFORNIA

● After 20 years in office, ORANGE COUNTY District Attorney Tony Rackauckas may have lost his race for another term in November, but he leaves behind an impressive legacy: an unusual DNA collection amassed over the past 20 years, The Orange County Register reported.

The collection of 176,000 samples, independent of the county Crime Lab, is mainly from non-violent suspects, collected with the notion that “today’s misdemeanant is tomorrow’s felon,” the newspaper wrote. Facing possible jail time, people charged with a misdemeanor could go home in exchange for paying a $75 processing fee and giving a genetic sample, an offer that local defense attorneys dubbed “spit and acquit.”

Rackauckas has provided more than 725 investigative leads over the years, including playing a part in the recent capture of the Golden State Killer, a serial killer, rapist and burglar.

INDIANA

The manager of the JASPER COUNTY Airport is visiting local schools to discuss starting an aviation education program for the 2019-2020 school year, The Rensselaer Republican reported. It’s a field that needs workers and pays starting salaries between $50,000 to $60,000. Airport Manager Ray Seif said there has been a shortage of pilots and mechanics. Other positions include jobs in aeronautical engineering, aircraft manufacturing, airlift ambulances, military aviation and crop dusting.

ILLINOIS

COOK COUNTY has discovered an innovative approach to helping “unadoptable” dogs, The Daily Herald reported. Earlier this year, the county Sheriff’s Office and Chicago Animal Care and Control started “Tails of Redemption,” an eight-week program that teams up “difficult” dogs and county jail detainees. The detainees (none of those selected are charged with violent crimes) train the dogs with the goal of making them adoptable.

One dog, Cookie, proved to be so smart and trainable that the sheriff’s office decided to train her as a drug-detection dog. “It is such an incredible program, when you think these dogs were unadoptable,” said Cara Smith, the sheriff’s chief policy officer. “I could not believe the transformation in these dogs.” Sheriff Tom Dart said he hoped detainees would also realize after changing the future for the dogs that they “have the power to change their own future as well.”

Cook County has started a program dubbed “Tails of Redemption,” where jail detainees help train “unadoptable” dogs. The program is beneficial for everyone involved. Photo courtesy of Cook CountyProgram

IOWA

O’BRIEN COUNTY supervisors recently approved a resolution that created a subfund in the county’s general fund for Caring for Kindergarten, an educational program that promotes healthy eating habits, the NorthwestIowa.com reported.

The program, spearheaded by county public health nurse Judy Nieuwenhuis, helps purchase healthy snacks for kindergarten students. The fund also accepts private donations. Nieuwenhuis also gives presentations to students on the benefits of healthy eating.

MARYLAND

● BALTIMORE COUNTY COUNCIL members voted to extend the county’s traffic camera program. Members approved a contract with American Traffic Solutions to take over the county’s red light and speed camera programs. The contract could be worth more than $21 million over 11 years if all of the renewals are exercised, The Baltimore Sun reported.

● HOWARD COUNTY officials recently kicked off construction of the Howard County Innovation Center, which will serve as a resource center for entrepreneurs and small businesses. “The opening of this Innovation Center is our latest commitment to attracting hightech and innovative businesses to Howard County,” said Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman. “This facility will help growing businesses develop as well as allow us to take the next steps in developing the Gateway Innovation District, the county’s next great economic center.”

MICHIGAN

Residents in LEELANAU COUNTY can now text 911. The county emergency manager, Matt Ansorge, said it opens opportunities for the deaf community and citizens that need 911 under sensitive circumstances like domestic violence or an intruder in the house, UpNorthLive.com reported.

The new system did not cost the county anything, because it was part of the dispatch system the county currently has. It just took some time to set up. “On the horizon, there will be the ability to send videos and pictures and whatnot, and we’ll be able to send those out to our responders in the field,” he said.

NEVADA

● The NFL’s Raiders may get a nearly half-million-dollar rebate from CLARK COUNTY if commissioners cut developer fees for expedited building and zoning reviews. The ordinance would reduce charges for future projects and repay developers that purchased expedited services this year, including $460,000 to the football team that is relocating from ALEMEDA COUNTY, Calif. Also benefitting from the fee cuts would be The Palms resort, which would get $194,000 in connection with a remodeling project and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority would be repaid $2,300 for an expansion project, according to The Las Vegas Review-Journal.

● DOUGLAS COUNTY now has a 24/7 telephone hotline and online reporting platform for neighbors to report issues with vacation home rentals. Operators will assess the situations and address problems in real time to ensure the accountability of hosts and guests while conserving law enforcement resources.

OHIO

The state’s medical marijuana legalization in 2016 left it up to employers to determine their own policies, and SUMMIT COUNTY is taking that up. The County Council is considering just such a policy. It would allow employees to use medical marijuana, but forbid them from working under the influence, have medical marijuana or paraphernalia on county property or in a county vehicle. They would need to report it to the county executive’s designee and provide evidence of being registered with the state patient registry.

They would also have to present a recommendation from a medical doctor certified to recommend its use and evidence of it being obtained from a licensed marijuana dispensary. Any employee testing positive for medical marijuana after an accident would be ineligible for workers’ compensation, according to The Akron Beacon Journal. Employees who perform “safety sensitive duties” would not be able to use medical marijuana. That includes having a commercial driver’s license or carrying a firearm for their jobs.

TENNESSEE

All SHELBY COUNTY employees, including temporary workers, will earn at least $15 starting Jan. 1 after the County Commission passed a resolution to that effect first proposed by Mayor Lee Harris. The Commercial Appeal reports that the county’s living wage is set at $14.48 an hour and will be in effect until Dec. 31, 2019, or when the county’s living wage equals or exceeds $15 an hour, whichever is sooner.

TEXAS

HARRIS COUNTY has begun purchasing homes in a floodplain that were damaged by Hurricane Harvey, homes that are so susceptible to flooding that engineers have concluded the cost to protect them cannot be justified. The county’s flood control district has used $53 million from the $2.5 billion flood infrastructure bond approved by voters over the summer, and $159 million from FEMA.

Twelve homes have been purchased so far, The Houston Chronicle reported, and another 512 homes are in the buyout process. Up to 400 more could be purchased using this funding source.

The 10-year bond is fueling a plan that would combine $180 million in local funding and $550 million in federal money to buy a total of 3,600 buildings, double the number of homes the flood control district’s buyout program has purchased in its 33-year history.

UTAH

In what could be considered election overtime, SALT LAKE COUNTY Mayor Ben McAdams (D) won the race for Utah’s 4th Congressional District, Nov. 20. McAdams’s race pitted him against incumbent Rep. Mia Love (R), who was in office for two terms.

VIRGINIA

Residents in BOTETOURT COUNTY may now raise poultry, rabbits and honey bees in their backyards. The Board of Supervisors approved amendments to the county’s land use plan to that effect, stemming from a request from a local beekeeper at the beginning of the year. Residents will need a minimum of 12,000 square feet to have honeybees and a minimum of 15,000 square feet for any poultry or rabbits. Budding chicken owners initially filed an application for an amendment in 2012, but withdrew it when the planning committee was cool to the idea, The Roanoke Times reported.

WISCONSIN

DANE COUNTY Executive Joe Parisi has asked local government leaders to accelerate their efforts to reduce carbon emissions. The county has converted 70 percent of its vehicles to run on cleaner-burning, compressed natural gas generated by rotting trash at the county landfill. By the end of 2019, nearly half of its entire fleet of snowplows will have been converted.

WYOMING

The public will retain complete access for a 657-acre plot of state land after PARK COUNTY Commissioners decided against making changes to the area known as Beartooth Ranch.

The state Legislature Joint Agricultural Committee asked the commissioners for feedback regarding a draft letter it was considering sending to the state’s U.S. congressional delegation, to assemble stakeholders to address the legal status, permissible uses and future of Beartooth Ranch.

Residents worried federal involvement might not only loosen but even eliminate all protections in the current memorandum of understanding (MOU) from the public piece of land, including preventing the land from being sold.

The MOU designates that the area be used “solely as a public area reserved for recreational or historic purposes or for the preservation of natural conditions,” The Jackson Hole News and Guide reported.