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CHICAGO — The state plans to close an institution for people with developmental disabilities and build a new psychiatric hospital in Chicago's south suburbs.

The Illinois Department of Human Services announced Friday that the Howe Developmental Center would close by July 2009. Residents will be transferred to other state-operated centers or community-based homes.

The state also plans to build a new psychiatric hospital to replace the Tinley Park Mental Center. The new hospital would open in 2010.

In the meantime, DHS spokesman Tom Green says the hospital will operate as a smaller facility with only about 25 beds instead of 75.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services says both Howe and Tinley Park have been stripped of federal health- care dollars.

HAMMOND — A federal court has approved a $4.5 million settlement between city officials and a Gary man who spent nearly 20 years in prison for a rape conviction before he was freed because of DNA testing.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Cherry on Tuesday threw out a 2006 federal jury award of $9 million to Larry Mayes, paving the way for the settlement.

A federal appeals court in Chicago ruled last month that it would accept Cherry's decision on the reduced settlement agreement.

Mayes, now 58, was found guilty by a Lake County jury in 1982 of raping a convenience store clerk during an armed robbery. He later won a new trial and was released from prison in 2001 after 21-year-old DNA evidence failed to conclusively link him to the crime.

The victim in the 1980 case identified Mayes in a lineup and provided investigators with other physical details leading to his conviction. Mayes' lawyers argued the city failed to properly train detectives to investigate rape cases and assemble suspect identification lineups.

CEDAR RAPIDS — A Marion man has been charged with filing a fraudulent tax return after he asked the IRS for a $240,000 refund claiming the U.S. is a "fictional entity."

Richard Mellor was charged in an indictment that was unsealed on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids.

Court records show that Mellor claimed the taxes were paid in error because the United States is a fictional entity and that he is not subject to the jurisdiction of the IRS.

Mellor sent a return to the IRS in August 2003, claiming he was owed a refund for all the taxes he's ever paid.

Records also show that Mellor claimed he is not a U.S. citizen, instead claiming he is a "citizen of Heaven."

Mellor was released on bond. Trial is set for Nov. 3.

TOPEKA — The Kansas Department of Transportation may not be able to proceed with some transportation projects because the federal highway trust is running out of money.

KDOT Secretary Deb Miller said Friday she has ordered contingency plans to deal with the situation. Typically KDOT bills the federal government between $3 million and $7 million a week for completed projects.

Miller said the situation will have an impact on cities and counties that need federal money to complete local projects.

The U.S. transportation secretary said the trust fund will run about $8.3 billion short by the end of September. The shortfall will mean short delays — and in some cases a temporary reduction — in payments to states for infrastructure projects the federal government has agreed to help finance.

DETROIT — Gov. Jennifer Granholm plans to take a five-day trade trip to Japan later this month in which she will try to lure companies to the economically struggling state.

She plans to visit 22 companies in four cities on the trip that begins Sept. 15. It will be her third trade trip to Japan, which she visited in 2005 and 2006.

The Democratic governor plans to meet with companies in the areas of alternative energy, advanced battery storage, chemicals, electronics, medical devices and advanced manufacturing.

Her office says meetings are scheduled with senior representatives from automotive companies such as Toyota Motor Corp., Nissan Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co.

A team of Michigan Economic Development Corp. officials, including CEO and President James C. Epolito, will accompany the governor.

Such trips are part of Granholm's effort to try to recruit high-tech, alternative energy and homeland security businesses.

Besides traveling to Japan, she also has visited Germany, Austria and Sweden.

JEFFERSON CITY — A pair of Missouri universities and electric companies announced plans Friday to use the carbon-dioxide pollution from coal-fired power plants to grow green pond scum that could be turned into biofuel.

The project at the Central Electric Power Cooperative's plants east of Jefferson City is starting out small. Only a relatively little portion of its carbon dioxide emissions will be diverted from its flues and pumped into pools of sunlit water teeming with algae.

The bubbling gas is a rich food for the plants, which will be harvested as an alternative fuel. Algae oil can be processed into biodiesel, its carbohydrates used for ethanol and its proteins for livestock feed.

The potential benefits are twofold: a reduction in greenhouse gases and a homegrown fuel source.

Researchers at Lincoln University in Jefferson City already have been growing algae in labs while others at Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla have been experimenting with extracting biofuels from it.

Their agreement signed Friday with Central Electric and its affiliate, Associated Electric Cooperative Inc., will put their experiment to a real-world test.

LINCOLN — The state of Nebraska has added Merritt Reservoir in Cherry County to its health alert list for toxin from blue-green algae.

As of Friday, four of the state's lakes were on the list.

Alerts continue for Pawnee Reservoir in Lancaster County, Kirkman's Cove Reservoir in Pawnee County and Willow Creek Reservoir in Pierce County. An alert for Iron Horse Trail Lake in Pawnee County has been lifted.

The state plans to monitor 47 lakes through September.

People can still camp, fish and boat on lakes under the alerts but should not have full-body contact.

The algae are common in freshwater. Some types can produce dangerous toxins.

Drinking toxin-tainted water can cause vomiting, diarrhea, respiratory failure and, rarely, death.

COLUMBUS — The last major chain store is closing at a nearly vacant mall once teeming with shoppers near the Ohio Statehouse.

The Waldenbooks at Columbus City Center posted a notice this week that its final day will be Sept. 13, and the bookstore's going-out-of-business sale is under way.

The closing follows the recent departure of the mall's RadioShack store.

The downtown Columbus City Center had more than 100 stores when it opened in 1989 and thrived for more than 10 years until it steadily began losing out to newer shopping centers in the suburbs.

The city agreed to take control of City Center last year. Mayor Michael Coleman says a viable redevelopment plan has yet to take shape.

MANDAN — Crews working on a water reservoir project here unearthed wooden coffins that experts say date to the late 1800s.

Excavation stopped on Wednesday after workers dug up the graves, City Administrator Jim Neubauer said. "We are taking precautions," he said.

Paul Picha, chief archaeologist for the State Historical Society of North Dakota, said the construction crews apparently uncovered part of a cemetery. "They did encounter a number of human remains in the wood caskets," he said.

The matter is being turned over to the state Health Department. Picha said officials did not immediately know how many caskets or human remains might be involved, but that the remains would be treated respectfully.

The work is being done in the area of a known cemetery. Picha said officials believe the cemetery had once been separated into four parts, and "it appears to be one of those" that was dug up.

STURGIS — Sturgis Police Chief Jim Bush is not holding out the welcome mat to the Iron Pigs Motorcycle Club.

Several members of the national club, which is open to police and firefighters, have been charged in connection with a bar shooting during last month's annual motorcycle rally.

A member of the Hells Angels was wounded in the fracas and also faces a criminal charge.

Bush says he hopes the Iron Pigs don't return to Sturgis next year because he's sure that the Hells Angels will be there, and that could cause another clash.

MADISON — State regulators will hold hearings around southern Wisconsin next week on a proposed electric rate increase.

Wisconsin Power and Light Co. has asked the state Public Service Commission for permission to raise electric rates by 9.2 percent. That would translate to nearly $9 a month more for the average residential customer.

The commission plans to hold two public hearings each in Madison, Janesville and Fond du Lac simultaneously on Wednesday afternoon and evening.

Wisconsin Power and Light serves much of southern and central Wisconsin.

SASKATOON, Saskatchewan — Western Canada's two energy provinces will meet next week to discuss how they can work together to further their economies.

The first joint Alberta-Saskatchewan Cabinet meeting is set for Tuesday in Lloydminster, the city that straddles the boundary separating the two provinces.

Top items on the agenda include internal trade issues and First Nations employment and education, Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall said Wednesday.

"I think Saskatchewan families expect their politicians to work together at all levels where it's possible, and across jurisdictional lines," he said.

"The objective is to provide better service and perhaps to save taxpayers money."

Wall suggested the two provinces could also work together to provide better health care by jointly purchasing pharmaceuticals and providing seamless patient referrals.

Co-operation could also improve delivery of agricultural programs and streamlining transportation rules for trucks crossing the boundary, he said.

Wall also hopes to have joint cabinet meetings with Manitoba.