Fined over phallic-looking starship; expulsion urged in sex scandal; fake bug man

MONTICELLO, Ind. — A crew using a crane in a northern Indiana lake stumbled onto a submerged pickup truck that was stolen 15 years ago from a Chicago suburb.

Twin Lakes Enterprises staff called local police Tuesday morning after the crane raised a vehicle's door from Lake Shafer, where the crew was doing work.

The Kokomo Tribune reports that White County and Monticello police used sonar to determine that a truck was on the lake bottom.

Monticello police divers hooked a cable to the truck and towed it to the surface of the lake, about 75 miles northwest of Indianapolis.

Police determined the heavily damaged 1996 Chevy S-10 was reported stolen in 2000 from the Wood Dale, Illinois, area.

A subsequent search of the nearby lake bottom turned up nothing else.

Kansas State will pay a $5,000 fine and its marching band will perform without its director later this season as part of self-imposed sanctions following a routine that turned into a widespread social-media meme over the weekend.

The school also said Tuesday it would require approval of all future halftime shows after the Big 12 warned of potential sportsmanship and ethical conduct violations.

The controversy erupted after Saturday's space-themed halftime show during the team's home opener against South Dakota. One formation featured the Kansas State band forming the University of Kansas mascot and a phallic-looking Starship Enterprise crashing into it.

Kansas State president Kirk Schulz quickly tweeted an apology for the performance, and band director Frank Tracz issued a statement Sunday in which he said "there was absolutely no intent to display anything other than the Enterprise and the Jayhawk in battle."

"Our response has nothing to do with any perverted social media," Kansas State athletic director John Currie said Tuesday. "Our response is solely the fact we portrayed the disintegration of the Jayhawks by the Starship Enterprise."

Currie said that was deemed by the Big 12 office to be an unsportsmanlike act.

Kansas State came under scrutiny last season when fans rushed the court after a victory over the Jayhawks in men's basketball, with some physically jostling players. The school responded this fall by asking students picking up football tickets to sign a sportsmanship code of conduct.

"This is very significant as it relates to the new sportsmanship rules," Currie said. "I believe that the Big 12 Conference and our university and our president are trying to be leaders in sportsmanship. That is a significant aspect of this."

The entire episode generated thousands of responses on Twitter, ranging from humor to outrage. Even actor William Shatner, who portrayed Captain Kirk on "Star Trek," chimed in on his Twitter account after the sanctions were announced Tuesday: "I think it's time for the (at)Big12Conference leaders to step down and get their eyes checked. What a travesty!"

Currie said school officials reached out to their counterparts at Kansas, but he does not believe that the University of Kansas or its band was ever in contact with the Big 12.

"Frankly, bands have been poking fun at each other for hundreds of years. I can remember growing up and hearing different fight songs that criticize rivals and all that stuff," Currie said. "The reality of it is that as things have evolved over the years, things get amplified."

Currie said the fact that Kansas State was playing South Dakota, rather than Kansas, made the use of the Jayhawk mascot as a central part of the show an exercise in poor taste.

"It would have been different if it was a coyote out there or something like that," he said. "I understand the historical joshing that goes back and forth, but Saturday was about K-State and all the stuff going on. It was about our band and how hard they work, our students and everybody that goes into making K-State such an incredible atmosphere."

DES MOINES, Iowa — A property tax cut approved two years ago is a significant ongoing cost for the state budget, State Auditor Mary Mosiman cautioned Tuesday.

Mosiman provided a review of the state budget plan negotiated by the governor and Legislature for the fiscal year that began July 1. She said a complete analysis of all budget funds shows the state will spend about $8.4 billion this year and that there are enough resources to cover the expenditures and leave a surplus balance.

According to Mosiman's report, the property tax cut — approved in 2013 — will cost the state $253 million in the current fiscal year. Mosiman noted this commitment will continue over multiple years, a practice she says doesn't follow sound budgeting principles.

Overall, Mosiman said the state has resources to cover all commitments. And she said the state has done a good job maintaining reserve funds and limiting use of one-time resources for ongoing expenditures. Still, Mosiman noted some concerns, including that some surplus budget dollars carried over from previous years are being spent.

Lawmakers in the Republican controlled Iowa House sought this year to ensure that the state general fund will not spend more than the available revenue. The general fund appropriations are $7.165 billion and the projected revenue is $7.176 billion. The auditor's analysis is that some surplus money will still be needed when state budgeting rules are fully applied.

House Republicans spokesman Colin Tadlock said they were satisfied that the current budget does not spend more than is coming in and said there was simply a "difference of opinion" over whether surplus dollars were being spent.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Five Minnesota cities' public water supply systems will be re-analyzed after an internal review uncovered evidence of misconduct by a longtime employee in the state's Public Health Laboratory, the Minnesota Department of Health said Tuesday.

The review found the employee was not recalibrating an instrument and avoided quality control steps, calling the reliability of some water testing data into question, the department said.

The employee, who was not identified, was removed from lab duties and put on leave while an outside investigation is conducted. Re-analyzing the data will cost an additional $50,000 to $75,000 and will come out of the public health lab's budget, State Health Commissioner Dr. Ed Ehlinger told reporters.

"We cannot excuse scientific misconduct," Ehlinger said. Re-analyzing the data will take one or two months.

The Health Department said the internal review indicates only one employee was involved and that there is no immediate public health risk. But the allegedly improper work raises questions about the reliability of some water testing data used by the Health Department's Environmental Health Division and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency for projects dating to at least May 2013, the department said.

The initial focus is on 2,200 analyses conducted by the employee between May 2013 and May 2015. That is less than 1 percent of the 325,000 total analyses performed during that time by the employee's section of the lab, the department said.

Top priority will be given to re-analyzing public water systems, Ehlinger said. The group includes systems in Edina, St. Louis Park, Spring Park, Kasota and Brooklyn Center, as well as several private drinking wells in Baytown Township and adjacent areas of Washington County and private wells near the Lindala Sanitary Landfill in Wright County.

The alleged misconduct involved analysis of drinking water and untreated groundwater and surface water. The samples were tested for volatile organic compounds and gasoline and diesel products.

Officials expect the investigation to be done by early October, Ehlinger said. A motive for the alleged misconduct is not known.

CHICAGO — A state law signed by Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner has elevated civics to required course for high school graduation, marking the first time the state has enforced such a requirement in a decade.

Under the new law, public schools are now required to offer two years of social studies, including at least one year of U.S. history or a combination of U.S. history and American government. Public schools also must teach American patriotism and principles of representative government, as well as proper use of the American flag.

Many school districts across Illinois will need to prepare to offer the kind of civics instruction required in the state new law, which calls for civics course content focusing on "government institutions, the discussion of current and controversial issues, service learning, and stimulations of the democratic process," the Chicago Tribune (http://trib.in/1JPQELx ) reported.

Those activities go beyond teaching the three branches of government or the Bill of Rights, and civics instruction likely will be aimed at juniors and seniors because they are more mature than younger high school students, according to educators.

"We're talking about controversial issues all the time ... there's always the biggies: gun control, racial profiling, abortion ... the big things that are news," said Lisa Willuweit, the humanities division head who oversees social studies at West Chicago's Community High School.

About 60 percent of the state's high schools already required a civics or government course, but it's unclear how many of them offer courses including elements of the new law, said Shawn Healy, a civics scholar at the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, who chaired a state-appointed task force on civics education.

The Illinois Board of Education is working with school districts to help them determine whether they must offer a separate civics course or they can incorporate civics into existing social studies courses.

TOPEKA, Kan. — The Kansas owner of a dinosaur skull found in 2012 in South Dakota field said the fossil is thought to be a new species and genus of the ceratopsian.

Professional fossil hunter John Carter, of Buffalo, South Dakota, discovered the skull and with the help of others, removed the object that was covered with four to six inches of ironstone from the ground.

Lawrence artist Alan Dietrich later purchased the fossil and hauled it to a paleontologist's laboratory who removed the ironstone. With the rock removed, the fossil stands about 6 feet and weighs about 600 to 750 pounds.

The director of the Utah State University Eastern Prehistoric Museum confirmed the fossil was a new species of the certaopsian, a family of dinosaur that lived mostly during the Cretaceous Period and includes the triceratops, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported.

Dietrich said the skull is "extraordinary" because of the placement of its 17-inch nose horn, plus other unique characteristics. He said he might display it at the Denver Coliseum Mineral, Fossil and Gem Show scheduled for mid-September and the Tuscon Gem, Mineral and Fossil Showcase early next year.

Dietrich said he believes the fossil likely will be snapped up by a museum, adding that it's important that it go to such a facility so it will be in the "public domain" and so articles describing the skull can be published in scientific journals.

STURGIS, S.D. — An early morning fire has destroyed a popular Sturgis saloon that billed itself as the "world's largest biker bar."

Crews from Fort Meade and the Sturgis Volunteer Fire Department responded to the Full Throttle Saloon on South Dakota Highway 34 about 12:30 a.m. Tuesday and found heavy smoke coming from the building.

Shawn Barrows, Sturgis' assistant fire chief, said firefighters tried to get inside the bar but heavy heat and smoke forced them to battle the blaze from the outside in heavy winds.

"We tried making access through the west side walk-in doors, but they were locked," Barrows told the Rapid City Journal. "We came around to the front-side garage doors on the north side of the building and cut a hole in it to make entry to the building."

The cause of the fire remains under investigation. A representative of the State Fire Marshal's office in Rapid City had been on scene and was expected to return later Tuesday.

The fire may have gained momentum when it hit the distillery portion of the bar. Barrows said he was told by a Meade County Sheriff's deputy that there was 500 gallons of grain alcohol in the building.

Some 45 firefighters fought the blaze, and their efforts were complicated by the lack of fire hydrants or a ready water supply at the site. Water had to be trucked in and held in holding tanks.

The bar's main building was gutted by 3 a.m. No injuries were reported.

Saloon employee Dean Mauldin, who was looking over the smoldering wreckage on Tuesday morning, said it gave him a sick feeling.

"Eleven years of my life burned up right here," he said.

The bar featured such amenities as zip lines, musical stages and rental cabins and had been the subject of a reality television series. Full Throttle owner Michael Ballard could not be reached for comment by the Associated Press on Tuesday.

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. — A 36-year-old Colorado man has been arrested on suspicion of stealing two all-terrain vehicles and a trailer from a western Nebraska sheriff's department.

The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office said in a news release Tuesday that Richard Keith will face a theft charge and said more arrests are expected. Chief Deputy Roland Kramer says Keith, of Evans, Colorado, remains in Lincoln County Jail. Online court records don't list the name of an attorney who could be contacted to comment on Keith's behalf.

The Sheriff's Office says the ATVs and trailer were taken from a Lincoln County Roads Department lot in North Platte late on July 29 or early on July 30. The items were recovered last month in the Greeley, Colorado, area.

NEW MIAMI, Ohio — Police in a southwest Ohio village are balking at filing prescription drug theft reports because of skepticism about their authenticity.

New Miami Police Chief Dan Gilbert tells the Hamilton-Middletown Journal-News the department has seen too many fraudulent ones filed by drug abusers and dealers, who then take police reports to doctors or pharmacies to get more drugs in the village of 2,200 people.

"We don't want to be a part of the pipeline putting more drugs on the streets," Gilbert said.

New Miami resident Cleta Leugers said she was surprised to be rebuffed when she called to report that her anxiety medication had been stolen.

"They told me they didn't take reports because there was so much drug activity," she said. "I don't think that's right."

Leugers blamed boys who cleaned her house for taking her pills. Gilbert said there were some questions about her account, so he decided against making a report.

Other departments in Butler County agree there is more scrutiny of prescription drug theft reports. The county north of Cincinnati has been struggling with drug abuse, especially deaths from heroin.

Officers in Middletown and Hamilton say detectives handle drug theft investigations. If the case seems suspicious, they can take steps to check drug history including with a database that tracks prescription histories.

The Ohio Automatic Rx Reporting System (OARRS) was established through the Ohio State Board of Pharmacy and is available to prescribers, pharmacists and law enforcement officers. Officials say it is a tool to help health care professionals provide better treatment while quickly identifying drug-seeking behaviors.

Police in Fairfield say they have given people a form to have the pharmacist fill out that includes a check on their prescription history. They can then bring the form back for a police report.

"We don't get many back," police spokesman Doug Day said.

FARMINGTON, Mo. — An eastern Missouri man has been sentenced to seven years in prison for claiming to be a "bug guy" and stealing from several residences.

The Daily Journal newspaper in Park Hills, Missouri  reports that 26-year-old Justin Layne Burns, formerly of Farmington, was convicted of five counts of possession of a controlled substance. Five counts of first-degree burglary were dropped.

The investigation began in February after a Farmington woman complained that Burns entered her apartment after saying he was with A-1 Pest Control. She later found that prescription pills were missing.

Police in nearby Park Hills were already investigating Burns on similar accusations.

VERMILION, Ohio — Police say a 14-year-old student in northern Ohio has been charged as a juvenile with aggravated menacing after sending another student a text message that said "I'm gonna kill everybody" and included gun and knife symbols.

The Chronicle-Telegram in Elyria (eh-LEER'-ee-uh) reports the student from Vermilion High School told a school resource officer he sent the text jokingly last week and didn't intend to harm or scare anyone.

The newspaper says the female student who received the text asked to whom the threat was directed, and the sender listed four girls' names. The principal notified the officer when he learned about the text.

The Erie County juvenile prosecutor decided to charge the boy, who didn't have prior disciplinary problems at the school.