National Roundup

California
Curiosity beams new will.i.am song from Mars
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — Will.i.am has premiered his new single — from Mars.
The NASA rover Curiosity beamed to Earth his new song “Reach for the Stars” on Tuesday in the first music broadcast from another planet, to the delight of students who gathered at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to listen.
The song had been uploaded to the rover, which landed near the equator of Mars, and played back — a journey of some 700 million miles.
The musician, who promotes science and mathematics education, was among more than a dozen celebrities who were invited to JPL to watch Curiosity’s landing earlier this month. Others included Wil Wheaton, Seth Green and Morgan Freeman.
In 2008, NASA beamed the Beatles’ “Across the Universe” into the cosmos to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the song.

Kentucky
Distillery breaks ground on new visitor center
LAWRENCEBURG, Ky. (AP) — Crews have begun construction on a new $4 million visitor center for the Wild Turkey Distillery in Lawrenceburg.
Gov. Steve Beshear was among officials who attended a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday for the facility, which is expected to open in April, ahead of a new 125,000-square-foot packaging facility, which is set to open next fall.
Officials said the center will tell the about the history of the brand, which traces its roots to the 1800s, and broaden Wild Turkey’s role in the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, a tourist attraction that highlights six distilleries in the state.
Beshear said the center will be “a wonderful interactive experience” for visitors.

New Jersey
Feds: Letter carrier carried cocaine packages
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A mail carrier used her daily route to move cocaine shipments in falsely addressed packages on behalf of a drug trafficking organization based in Puerto Rico, federal authorities said Tuesday.
The U.S. attorney’s office in New Jersey said Christina Nunez has admitted receiving packages of cocaine from Puerto Rico and passing them to a co-conspirator in Camden.
Nunez, wearing prison scrubs and with her hair in French braids, didn’t enter a plea at her initial appearance in a Newark federal courtroom on Tuesday, and her attorney had no comment afterward. Nunez later was released on $100,000 bail and is subject to electronic monitoring.
Prosecutors say Nunez, who was assigned to a post office in Secaucus, was responsible for moving more than 18 kilograms of cocaine from October 2010 until her arrest on Aug. 24. The 30-year-old from Lyndhurst is charged with conspiracy with intent to distribute cocaine and mail theft. A spokesman for the U.S. Postal Service said her employment status following her arrest was not immediately known.

North Carolina
Ex-Butterball worker pleads guilty to abuse
RAEFORD, N.C. (AP) — A former employee of a Butterball plant in North Carolina has pleaded guilty to animal cruelty after he was seen on videotape abusing turkeys.
Brian Douglas was one of several people shown stomping, kicking and bashing live birds at the Shannon Butterball Farm in Hoke County last year. Six other workers were also charged in the case.
Douglas entered his plea Tuesday. He will serve 30 days in jail, followed by six months of probation and 36 months of supervised probation. He was also ordered to pay $550 in fines and to provide a DNA sample to the state.
A state agriculture official who tipped off the company about the cruelty case pleaded guilty in February to obstruction of justice.

Arkansas
Officer punished after fatal squad car shooting
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — An Arkansas police officer was reprimanded for not properly searching a young man who authorities said subsequently shot himself while handcuffed in the back of a patrol car.
Jonesboro Police Chief Michael Yates said Tuesday that an internal investigation found Officer Ron Marsh did not conduct a thorough enough search of 21-year-old Chavis Carter before Carter’s July 28 shooting death. An autopsy determined Carter shot himself in the head while he was under the influence of meth, though his family has continued to demand more answers about his death.
Marsh and another officer who stopped the truck in which Carter was a passenger were placed on paid administrative leave after the shooting, and Yates said they have since returned to work. Marsh will also have to undergo more training, in addition to the formal reprimand issued this week.
Marsh didn’t return a message left at the police department.
Police said the two searches of Carter turned up a small amount of marijuana but no gun. Questions about race have cropped up, too, because Carter was black and police have said Marsh and the other officer involved are white.
The internal investigation found no wrongdoing on the part of the other officer, Keith Baggett, Yates said.

New York
State probes growing energy drink industry
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — High-octane energy drinks including 5-Hour Energy and Monster that promise healthy bursts of energy are getting pulled over in New York.
New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman issued subpoenas this summer to the drinks’ makers, according to a person familiar with the inquiry, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the investigation hasn’t yet been made public.
Earlier this month, Monster Beverage Corp. disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that an attorney general had sent it a subpoena. The Corona, Calif.-based company didn’t reveal which state it was, but the person familiar with the inquiry said it was New York.
The maker of the ubiquitous 5-Hour Energy shots, Living Essentials LLC, disclosed the probe to investors in a recent private report, the person said. The person also said subpoenas were sent to PepsiCo Inc., which makes AMP energy drinks, in the investigation first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
The probe is examining how the drinks are made, often loaded with caffeine and sugar, along with what critics say is a mostly useless amount of Vitamin B, and how they are marketed at sports events and sometimes in bars.

Hawaii
Flight attendant’s career landing in Guinness book
HONOLULU (AP) — A flight attendant is landing in the Guinness World Records book after spending 63 years moving about the cabin.
Ron Akana, 83, worked his last route over the weekend on a United Airlines flight from Denver to Kauai, ending his career in the state where it began.
Hawaii, however, wasn’t his final stop. His destination was retirement in Boulder, Colo., where he has been living since 2002 to be closer to his grandchildren. He spent his first few days of retirement writing thank-you notes to well-wishers.
Akana joined the airline while a student at the University of Hawaii in 1949, when friends spotted a newspaper ad. “We didn’t even know what a flight steward was,” he recalled. “But it meant getting to the mainland, which was a huge deal in those days.
Over the years, he’s seen it all. Passengers would dress up, not down. Think suits, not flip-flops. Smoking was no big deal, not a federal offense.
Guinness World Records came calling a few months ago and later sent him a plaque recognizing him as the longest-serving flight attendant. He’s been told he’ll appear in the record book in October.