EAST
ILION, N.Y. (AP) — A human skeleton that's missing three fingers has gone totally missing. Police said the skeleton was stolen from the Herkimer County BOCES Nursing Training Program at the former Mohawk Valley General Hospital. The school has owned the male skeleton since 1963. Aside from the missing fingers, the skeleton is said to be in excellent condition — and valued at between $5,000 and $6,000.
DERBY, Vt. (AP) — A man paralyzed in a 2002 motocross accident lost his latest court bid to hold the track and the Vermont Motocross Association liable for his injuries. The state Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that Clint Provoncha had waived his right to sue in signing a race-day entry form before the accident.
SOUTH
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The Legislative Council blocked a state personnel board plan that would have allowed agencies to furlough employees for up to 24 days a year. State Personnel Director Jackie Graham said layoffs are the only option now, while furloughs would have allowed employees to keep their benefits and health insurance. The furlough plan was opposed by the Alabama State Employees Association.
MAGEE, Miss. (AP) — A Simpson County couple is searching for lost mementos after last week's powerful tornado, and pieces of their lives are turning up far away. Love letters and mail have been found about 50 miles from Brian and Shawna Mangum's wrecked home. A picture was located near the Alabama-Mississippi state line about 145 miles away. The Mangums lost almost everything to the tornado.
MIDWEST
COLUMBUS, Ind. (AP) — A minister is refusing to leave his church in a city-owned building that is scheduled to be demolished for a street widening project. The Rev. Charles T. Goodin says God wants him to stay in the building used by The Upper Room Full Gospel Tabernacle's 12- to 15-member congregation. Goodin has paid the city $150 a month for 31 years.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Churches and other places of worship could let security guards carry concealed handguns, under a bill that advanced in the Nebraska Legislature. A 2006 law allows Nebraskans who get permits to carry concealed handguns. State lawmakers voted 40-4 to advance a bill that also prohibits cities from having their own concealed-weapons bans.
WEST
PHOENIX (AP) — This March was one of the driest on record across the river basins that supply water for cities in the Phoenix metropolitan area, and that might keep Arizona's decade-long drought intact for another year. Experts said the basins will likely produce only about two-thirds their typical flow into storage reservoirs.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Federal monitoring of the Salt Lake City School District over its English as a Second Language teaching has ended. The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights was monitoring the district over a discrimination complaint that alleged there were too few ESL-endorsed teachers. In 2001 the district had 97; today it has about 900.
