50 States

From USA TODAY Network and wire reports

Alabama

Montgomery: The number of COVID-19 patients in Alabama hospitals climbed to more than 900 on Monday – a number the state has not seen since February. There were 947 COVID-19 patients in state hospitals Monday, up from 204 at the beginning of July, according to numbers from the Alabama Hospital Association. The latest number is about a third of where the state was at the peak of the pandemic, when there were 3,000 virus patients in state hospitals in January. Dr. Scott Harris, who serves as Alabama’s health officer, said he is “extremely concerned” about the rise in cases. “It’s the perfect storm of large numbers of unvaccinated people and the delta variant which is highly infectious and much more transmissible than anything we saw before,” Harris said. Dr. Don Williamson, the former state health officer who now heads the Alabama Hospital Association, said the concern is the steep upward trajectory in numbers. Williamson said the state has the solution in the form of the vaccine, but “there is not a long line of people wanting to be vaccinated.” Health officials say the latest spike is associated with the delta variant which is exploiting low immunization rates, summer crowds and the end of cautionary measures like mask wearing.

Alaska

Juneau: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced plans to review whether a southeast Alaska wolf population merits Endangered Species Act protections. The plans are outlined in a document set to be published in the Federal Register on Tuesday. The document stated that a petition from conservation groups to protect the Alexander Archipelago wolf included information indicating protections might be warranted because of potential threats associated with logging, illegal and legal trapping and hunting, climate change and loss of genetic diversity. The agency said it is initiating a status review to determine if protections are warranted. An email seeking comment was sent to an agency spokesperson Monday. The wolves are found in the coastal rainforests of southeast Alaska and British Columbia and a petition filed last year by the Center for Biological Diversity, Alaska Rainforest Defenders and Defenders of Wildlife raised particular concerns about the wolves in Alaska and on southeast Alaska’s Prince of Wales Island. In 2016, the Fish and Wildlife Service determined the wolf did not warrant Endangered Species Act protections.

Arizona

Phoenix:Civil rights leaders, including the Revs. Jesse Jackson and William Barber, were among 39 people arrested Monday after refusing to leave the Phoenix office of Democratic U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who has faced unrelenting pressure from liberal activists over her opposition to ending the filibuster to pass voting rights legislation. Jackson, one of the nation’s most prominent civil rights leaders, said the U.S. is in a “civilization crisis” with “battle lines drawn,” and he urged activists to fight nonviolently for their rights. Sinema is among moderate Democratic senators who have ruled out changes to the filibuster, which she said encourages bipartisan cooperation and more lasting legislative compromises. Several hundred activists marched about a mile from a park to Sinema’s office in Phoenix’s Biltmore neighborhood, chanting “end the filibuster now.” Eliminating the filibuster would open the door for Democratic senators to enact voting rights bills and raise the federal minimum wage to $15, they said.

Arkansas

Little Rock: Gov. Asa Hutchinson said he planned to meet with House and Senate leaders about growing calls to allow schools to require face masks as the state reported 23 more deaths from COVID-19. The Republican governor said he planned to discuss the issue Tuesday with the GOP leaders of the state House and Senate, following calls from Democratic lawmakers and others to lift a state law banning mask mandates by state and local governments. The Little Rock School Board on Monday night passed a resolution urging a change in the law so districts could decide whether to require students and employees wear masks. Arkansas’ virus cases have been surging in recent weeks, fueled by the delta variant and the state’s low vaccination rate. The state’s deaths rose to 6,077. The number of people hospitalized rose by 61 to 980. University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Chancellor Dr. Cam Patterson tweeted that the hospital had 66 COVID-19 patients, surpassing the record it reached in January when it had 63.

California

Palm Springs:Monsoonal thunderstorms drenched the Coachella Valley early Monday, bringing flooded roadways, power outages and the wettest day for Palm Springs in more than 15 months. The Palm Springs International Airport collected nearly a half-inch of rain, setting a daily record. Monday's heavy rain was the largest single-day accumulation in the city since 0.46 fell on April 8, 2020. The heavy rain also impacted Monday's morning commute as intersections saw minor flooding. In Palm Springs, Indian Canyon Drive was closed between Sunrise Parkway and Garnet for several hours because of water washing over the roadway, but the road was reopened about 3:15 p.m. Monday, with the exception of one southbound lane. Near Mecca, Box Canyon Road was closed near Interstate 10 because of debris and flooding. Across the valley, the California Highway Patrol reported a sinkhole at Dillon Road and Thousand Palms Canyon Road, with residents advised to avoid the area. The weather also left several thousand residents in the Coachella Valley without power. Southern California Edison reported power outages impacted roughly 6,800 customers in the valley at the height of the storm, but that number dropped to approximately 1,500 customers by afternoon.

Colorado

Fort Collins:The first phase of the Larimer County Jail’s multimillion-dollar expansion project has wrapped up. Larimer County commissioners and other county officials toured the completed parts of the $80 million project last week, including a new kitchen, laundry area and boiler room. Construction on the first phase of the project was completed July 9. The new kitchen is about double the size and more open than the old kitchen, which jail Capt. Bobby Moll said will make it easier for jail staff to supervise those assigned to work in the kitchen. The jail works to provide meal options to accommodate religious and dietary needs, and the extra space in the new kitchen will give workers more space for food prep, Lt. Staci Shaffer said.

Connecticut

Hartford: Dr. Manisha Juthani, an infectious disease specialist at Yale School of Medicine, was nominated by Gov. Ned Lamont to serve as the next commissioner of the Department of Public Health. Juthani will succeed Dr. Deidre Gifford, the state social services commissioner who has also been leading the health agency since the departure of Renee Coleman-Mitchell in the early months of the coronavirus pandemic. Juthani was among the doctors who signed a letter in November to Lamont urging him to prohibit indoor dining, close gyms and ban nonessential social gatherings to slow the spread of the virus. Juthani will begin the new role on Sept. 20. At a news conference, she said she was eager to work on issues including health care equity and disparities in access to treatment. She also commended the health care workers and others who have helped the state through the pandemic.

Delaware

Wilmington:State Rep. Gerald Brady will not seek reelection when his term ends in 2022, he said Monday. The announcement came after a week of criticism and calls for his resignation after a an email sent by Brady using an anti-Asian racial slur.was published by The News Journal. The comments from Brady came from an email exchange with an out-of-state advocate regarding legislation intended to protect sex workers. That June 27 email was intended for a private citizen Brady knows, asking if they could read and summarize the study, said Drew Volturo, spokesman for the House Democratic Caucus. Instead, Brady hit reply and emailed the original sender. In Delaware, lawmaker emails are not considered public record. The response was shared with The News Journal. Brady’s actions “make it more difficult to effectively provide the kind of representation” constituents of his district deserve, he said in a statement on Monday.

District of Columbia

Washington:D.C. neighbors are calling for action from the city after three young men were shot on Q Street northwest Sunday afternoon, two of whom died, WUSA-TV reported. D.C. Police identified the two men killed as 22-year-old Javon Hill, Jr. and 19-year-old Tariq Riley. The third young man hit is recovering from gunshot injuries, according to police. Resident Brenda Stewart and her Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner, Karla Lewis, said they had been pressing the city to do more – to be more proactive – to no avail. “I don't have any answers, I just want some solutions," Stewart said. "I like to see some real masterminds in our community that can come up with some solutions.” Stewart said she's proud of her home and wants the city to take care of it. Lewis said they're working with Councilmember McDuffie's office to set up a community meeting to discuss solutions.

Florida

Orlando: Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said “we are now in crisis mode” when it comes to dealing with soaring numbers of COVID-19 infections. Florida accounted for a fifth of the nation’s new infections last week, more than any other state, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Now Orange County, the home to Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando Resort is seeing about 1,000 new cases a day, Demings said. “A thousand a day is extraordinary,” Demings said. “We are now in crisis mode … We as a community need to work together to slow this rate.” The positivity rate for the virus in the county of 1.4 million residents has tripled to 14% from about 4.3% a month ago. More than 61% of county residents have had at least one vaccination shot, and the mayor urged unvaccinated residents to get theirs as soon as possible. Demings said central Florida hospitals are approaching capacity. A medical officer at one of the state’s largest health systems said its number of COVID-19 patients is nearing a record high: 862, approaching the peak of 900 hospitalized patients with the virus in January.

Georgia

Savannah:For the first time, the Port of Savannah has moved 5.3 million 20-foot equivalent container units in a fiscal year, the Georgia Ports Authority said. That means it has grown its cargo volumes by 20% in fiscal year 2021. American companies are continuing to choose the Port of Savannah as a gateway to global trade, Gov. Brian Kemp said. Georgia’s ports are a key reason that it remains a strong state for business, the governor said. Georgia Ports Authority Executive Director Griff Lynch said the project to deepen Savannah Harbor, the Mason Mega Rail terminal and other capacity upgrades are preparing Georgia for future cargo demand. The Savannah Harbor Expansion Project is now nearly 90% complete, the Ports Authority said. The project is expected to finish in December. With a high-tide depth of 54 feet, the deeper harbor will allow vessels to take on heavier loads with fewer tidal restrictions.

Hawaii

Lihue: Kauai utility officials are installing glow-in-the-dark devices to prevent endangered nocturnal seabirds from crashing into power lines. The diverters help Newell’s shearwater, Hawaiian petrel and band-rumped storm petrel avoid power lines after dark. Kauai is considered an important breeding habitat for all of those species. The Kauai Island Utility Cooperative installed diverters on 109 power line spans last year and expects to install diverters on another 628 spans by the end of 2021, The Garden Island reported Monday. The cooperative said it is using reflective diverters that glow in the dark near residential areas, commercial districts and public roads. In remote areas, it’s using LED diverters that charge via a solar panel during the day to produce light that’s visible to birds at night. Bird diverters are estimated to be 40% to 90% effective in minimizing power-line collisions, depending on type and location.

Idaho

Boise: A federal court has temporarily halted a northern Idaho logging project in grizzly bear habitat following a lawsuit contending the U.S. Forest Service violated environmental laws. U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill ruled Friday in favor of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies and issued a preliminary injunction on the 2,500-acre Hanna Flats Logging Project in the Idaho Panhandle National Forest. The Forest Service and Idaho Department of Lands are partnering on the project under a program called the Good Neighbor Authority intended to speed up logging and forest restoration projects on U.S. Forest Service land by allowing state officials to take care of some of the work. The Forest Service said it doesn’t have to follow certain environmental laws because the project qualifies for a categorical exclusion under the Healthy Forest Restoration Act. The act allows the Forest Service to avoid some environmental studies if an area is designated as “wildland urban interface,” an area where homes and wildland intermingle, and that can leave homes vulnerable to wildfires. The Forest Service cited Bonner County’s wildfire protection plan that designates the area as wildland urban interface in saying the logging project qualified for the categorical exclusion. However, Winmill ruled that the project does not appear to qualify for an exclusion and halted logging until it rules on the merits of the case. The U.S. Department of Justice, which represents federal agencies in court cases, didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry sent through its online portal on Monday.

Illinois

Chicago: The city of Chicago and its police union announced they have reached a tentative contract agreement after four years of negotiations. The tentative contract is aligned with the consent decree entered into in 2019 that calls for reforms to how the Chicago Police Department operates, according to officials. The 236-page plan negotiated between Illinois and Chicago officials calls for more community policing, more data collection on how officers work and expanded training on the use of force. One provision will require officers to file paperwork each time they point a gun at someone, even if they don’t fire. The reforms in the contract includes the end to a ban on investigation of anonymous complaints and the changing of officer testimony after viewing video. In addition, officers can now be rewarded for reporting misconduct of other officers. The tentative contract calls for rank-and-file police officers to receive a 10.5% retroactive pay raise and 9.5% more through January 2025. The proposal represents an average annual increase of 2.5%.

Indiana

Indianapolis: The Department of Environmental Management forecasted high ozone levels Tuesday for four regions in the central, southern and western parts of the state. The alert covered Clark and Floyd counties in southeastern Indiana; Vigo, Carroll and Tippecanoe counties in west-central Indiana; Marion, Bartholomew, Boone, Brown, Delaware, Hamilton, Hendricks, Howard, Madison and Shelby counties in central Indiana; and Daviess, Dubois, Gibson, Greene, Knox, Perry, Pike, Posey, Spencer, Vanderburgh and Warrick counties in southwestern Indiana. Anyone sensitive to changes in air quality could be affected when ozone levels are high. Children, the elderly, and anyone with heart or lung conditions were advised to reduce or avoid exertion and heavy work outdoors. Ground-level ozone is formed when sunlight and hot weather combine with vehicle exhaust, factory emissions, and gasoline vapors. It can irritate lungs and can cause coughing and breathing difficulties for sensitive populations. The agency encouraged everyone to help reduce ozone by driving less; not refueling vehicles or using gasoline-powered lawn equipment until after 7 p.m.; and conserving energy by turning off lights and setting thermostats to 75 degrees or above.

Iowa

Des Moines:The Des Moines Metropolitan Wastewater Reclamation Authority has begun sampling sewage as part of a national program to track the spread of the coronavirus and its variants. The agency announced its participation Monday, the Des Moines Register reported. Agency workers began collecting samples last week and shipping them to a national lab in Maine. The effort is being funded by the federal government and is expected to continue for eight or nine weeks. Larry Hare, manager of the southeast Des Moines sewage treatment plant, said sewage sampling can inform officials if a dangerous virus or germ is circulating in a community. “It will tell us whether we’re behind the curve or ahead of the curve,” Hare said. He said the sampling is the first time the Des Moines agency has participated in a search for a virus, but it has previously provided samples for researchers looking for opioid drug use and other information.

Kansas

Overland Park: One of Kansas’ largest public school districts plans to require elementary students to wear masks this fall after a health official warned that the faster-spreading delta variant would lead to widespread infections among unmasked children. The Shawnee Mission district joins the Kansas City, Kansas, and Kansas City, Missouri, schools in requiring masks for some students. But Shawnee Mission is the only district to plan on mandating masks among the six in Johnson County, the state’s most populous county, The Kansas City Star reported. Shawnee Mission’s board voted 6-1 to require masks in elementary schools but keep them optional for middle and high schools. The district has 26,000 students, making it the third-largest in Kansas behind Wichita and Olathe. Johnson County Epidemiologist Elizabeth Holzschuh warned the board that the delta variant would become widespread in classrooms of unmasked elementary-aged students. The federal government has not authorized any vaccine for children under 12.

Kentucky

Frankfort: The Kentucky Department for Public Health is offering a coronavirus testing program for schools to assist with safe in-person learning for the upcoming academic year, Commissioner Steven Stack said. It is limited to staff and students of Kentucky K-12 public, private and charter schools. “We’ve been given $134 million by the federal government to create a testing program for K-12 schools, public and private, throughout the entire commonwealth,” Stack said. “I urge everyone who operates a school out there to explore the options and make testing available to keep yourselves safe.” Superintendents and school administrators can learn more at govstatus.egov.com/K-12-kentucky-school-testing-program.

Louisiana

New Orleans: Officials suspended visitation and volunteer programs in Louisiana’s eight state-run prisons Tuesday to guard against the spread of COVID-19. The action came in response to a fourth surge of the disease in the state, where hospitalizations – at more than 1,200 as of Monday – have more than doubled in 10 days. The suspension is effective immediately and will be reevaluated on Aug. 16, the Department of Corrections said in a news release. “In lieu of visitation, the Department will continue to offer two free phone calls per week to ensure inmates have continued connection to family and friends during this event,” the department said. “In addition, video calling remains available for a fee.” At least two major hospital systems in the state have announced the suspension of nonemergency surgeries that might require hospital admissions as COVID-19 hospitalization numbers grow. In the New Orleans suburb of Jefferson Parish, officials held a morning news conference to again urge people to get vaccinated. Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng, accompanied by the parish coroner and doctors from two local hospital systems, said new cases are evident in areas of the parish where vaccination rates are low.

Maine

Augusta: Public health authorities said a second case of a rare tick-borne infection has been located in the state. The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said laboratory tests confirmed a case of Powassan virus in a resident of Knox County. A Waldo County resident who is still recovering from the virus contracted it in June. The agency said about 25 cases of the disease are reported in the U.S. every year. Maine has had 10 cases since 2010. Symptoms of the disease can include fever, headache, weakness, confusion and memory loss. Severe infection can also lead to death. The Maine CDC said residents should take precautions, such as wearing repellent and protective clothing to avoid Powassan and other tick-borne infections.

Maryland

Annapolis: Gov. Larry Hogan honored deaf and blind swimmer Becca Meyers for courage in championing the disabled, after the three-time gold medalist withdrew from the Paralympics in Tokyo when told her mother couldn’t travel as her personal care assistant. Hogan presented a citation to Meyers during a news conference commemorating the 31st anniversary of the American with Disabilities Act. The certificate honored her “bravery for highlighting the issue of inequality and access for people with disabilities.” Hogan also signed an executive order declaring that Maryland will annually celebrate July as Disability Culture and Achievements Month. “Becca deserved to be able to compete, and while we’re all so disappointed for her, I got the chance to tell her just a moment before this started that I’m unbelievably proud of her for having the courage to speak up and to speak out about this injustice,” Hogan said. Meyers, 26, said the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee approved her mother to act as her assistant at all international meets since 2017 but the committee said her request to bring her mother this time was denied because of restrictions put in place by the Japanese government because of COVID-19. Meyers said she made the decision to withdraw to stand up for future Paralympic athletes, saying she didn’t want them to have to experience what she’s been through. “I hope to work with others to effect change so that no one ever feels afraid to travel with Team USA,” Meyers said.

Massachusetts

Provincetown: City officials have approved an indoor mask mandate to fight an outbreak of more than 500 new confirmed coronavirus cases in the vacation haven at the tip of Cape Cod. The town’s Select Board and Board of Health unanimously voted in favor of the mandate during an emergency joint meeting Sunday. “We are entering a new stage of COVID,” Town Manager Alex Morse said. “COVID, while depressing for many of us, is not going away anytime soon.” The boards had approved an indoor mask advisory last week, but it had not adequately succeeded in slowing the spread, he said. The new cases stem from a busy Fourth of July weekend, officials have said. The indoor mask mandate will become an advisory again when positivity rates drop lower than 3% over five days. The advisory can be lifted when the positivity rate drops lower than 2%.

Michigan

St. Ignace: Enbridge said it had retrieved an anchor that broke away from a maintenance vessel while on the bottom of the Straits of Mackinac. The mishap occurred June 21 as a contractor for the pipeline company was doing seasonal work on the underwater section of Line 5, an oil line that runs between Superior, Wisconsin, and Sarnia, Ontario. The section in the straits, which connects Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, is divided into two pipes about 1,200 feet apart. The anchor was deployed about midway between them. When the crew tried to raise it, the shackle connecting it to the cable failed, Enbridge spokesman Michael Barnes said. The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy ordered the company to remove the anchor, which took place Sunday. A crane on a barge was used to lift the 15,000-pound object to the surface, Barnes said. Pipeline operations weren’t affected, he said.

Minnesota

Fairmont: An announcer who was fired by an Iowa racetrack after a racist rant was back behind the microphone in southern Minnesota last weekend, but he did not receive a standing ovation as promised because he was apparently uncomfortable with that plan, according to the promoter of Fairmont Raceway. Lon Oelke is the full-time announcer at Fairmont Raceway, where he worked Friday – days after the Kossuth County Speedway in Algona, Iowa, cut ties with him after he went on a racist rant this month against Black fans and athletes who kneel during the national anthem as a protest against racial inequality. The Kossuth County Speedway said in a statement that its leaders “do not condone” Oelke’s comments, adding that management did not hear them during the race, but only after they gained attention on social media. “I think perhaps the whole thing is taken a little out of context with social media these days,” Fairmont track promoter Jon McCorkell told the Star Tribune, adding that he’ll “stick by my guy.”

Mississippi

Vicksburg: The Mississippi Department of Public Safety said it wants local officials to find a larger building for the state driver’s license office in Vicksburg. The department’s director of driver services, Kevin Raymond, told Warren County supervisors Monday that the county-owned building is too small to accommodate workers and visitors, the Vicksburg Post reported. Raymond said the driver’s license office needs an additional entrance, a second bathroom, a break room and more square footage. However, he said the state doesn’t provide money for those needs. Warren County pays most expenses for the building where the driver’s license office is housed, including cleaning services and utilities. The new space being considered is in the former Outlets of Vicksburg. It would be larger, have two restrooms, multiple entrances and a large parking lot. The lot would provide space for commercial driver’s license training, and the manager of the Vicksburg driver’s license office, Rhonda Howard, said that would make a big difference. Performing a commercial driver’s license road test now requires 11/ 2 -hour round trip to Pearl.

Missouri

Jefferson City: Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt has sued to halt a mask mandate that took effect Monday in the St. Louis area amid a rise in COVID-19 cases that are burdening a growing number of hospitals across the state. The mandate, one of the first to be reinstated in the country, requires everyone age 5 or older to wear masks in indoor public places and on public transportation in St. Louis city and St. Louis County, even if they are vaccinated. Wearing masks outdoors is strongly encouraged, especially in group settings. But the lawsuit said the mandates are “arbitrary and capricious because they require vaccinated individuals to wear masks, despite the CDC guidance that this is not necessary.” It also questions mandating children to wear masks in school, noting they are less likely to become seriously ill. “This continued government overreach is unacceptable and unconstitutional, especially in the face of a widely available vaccine,” Schmitt said in a news release. St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones said Schmitt would not be successful in his legal challenge. She noted that he filed an unsuccessful lawsuit last year against the Chinese government over the coronavirus, alleging that nation’s officials are to blame for the pandemic.

Montana

Livingston: Authorities in south-central Montana continued searching Tuesday for an inmate who overpowered a county jail guard, took the guard’s gun and car keys and escaped in a stolen minivan. Jordon Earl Linde, 34, is believed to have stayed in the Livingston-Shields Valley area after escaping from custody in Park County at about 11 p.m. Sunday, Sheriff Brad Bichler said in a social media post. Bichler encouraged Linde to no longer “prolong the inevitable” and turn himself in, or for anyone who has contact with him to do the same. Linde was arrested Saturday for felony drug charges and other alleged offenses. After stealing a Park County Detention Center minivan during his escape, he abandoned the vehicle and was believed to have stolen another – a gold Chrysler Town and Country minivan. Linde had a pistol and was considered armed and dangerous.

Nebraska

Omaha: An Omaha man has been indicted on a federal charge of bank fraud after prosecutors said he lied to get a loan through a federal program meant to help businesses struggling in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. M.A. Yah faces court next month and could get up to 30 years in prison if convicted, the office of the U.S. Attorney for Nebraska said in a news release. The indictment against Yah said he was director of The Heartland News – a nonprofit newspaper with a mission to end poverty and homelessness in the region – when he requested a Paycheck Protection Program loan of more than $100,000 for the business in April 2020. Paperwork filed by Yah said the loan was to support the newspaper’s payroll, but prosecutors said he lied about the number of employees and payroll of the nonprofit from the previous year. Reached by phone Tuesday, Yah denied the allegations, ut said he could not yet comment further on the charges. Yah said he planned to hire an attorney this week to fight the charge.

Nevada

Reno: A federal judge has denied environmentalists’ request for a court order temporarily blocking the government from digging trenches for archaeological surveys at a mine planned near the Nevada-Oregon line with the largest-known U.S. deposit of lithium. U.S. District Judge Miranda Du said in an 11-page ruling late Friday in Reno that four conservation groups failed to prove the trenches planned across a total of one-quarter acre would cause irreparable harm to sage brush that serves as crucial habitat for imperiled sage grouse. She said she plans to rule later this week on a request from a Nevada tribe to join the legal fight as a co-plaintiff and seek a similar restraining order based on claims the digging would disturb sacred burial grounds.Du emphasized she has placed the overall case on an expedited schedule and intends to issue a ruling on the merits by early next year. She noted any construction of the mine itself is unlikely to begin before the snow melts in the spring of 2022. Lithium Nevada Corp.’s proposed Thacker Pass mine is emerging as a key battleground in the debate over environmental trade-offs tied to President Joe Biden’s push for renewable energy. Lithium is a key component in electric vehicle batteries.

New Hampshire

Concord: Fine-particle air pollution concentrations have reached unhealthy levels statewide for people with lung diseases and those who are active outdoors as smoke from wildfires in the West and Canada reaches the area, the Department of Environmental Services said. The department said people should take precautions by limiting prolonged outdoor exertion. Current wind patterns are transporting waves of smoke from fires in the West and parts of Canada across much of the country, including New Hampshire, the department said. The smoke plumes also diffract light, causing a hazy appearance in the sky and reducing visibility of distant objects, the department said. Sensitive individuals include children, older adults and anyone with lung disease such as asthma, emphysema, and bronchitis. The air quality is expected to improve Wednesday as the wind is forecast to move the smoke plumes out of the area.

New Jersey

Newark: A $44 million federal grant announced Monday will be used to modernize, expand and reconfigure the road system at the port complex in Newark and Elizabeth, making it safer and cutting down on delays. Some of the most congested roads in New Jersey are at the port complex, where trucks roll through nonstop to pick up and drop off shipping containers at the nation’s second-busiest port. With container volume in the New York/New Jersey port system setting a record last year despite the disruptions to the global supply chain caused by the pandemic, the aging roads and interchanges in Newark figure to continue taking a beating. It’s estimated that 15,000 trucks use the roads each day at the northern access points to the port, which sit at the intersection of Interstate 78 and the New Jersey Turnpike across from Newark Liberty International Airport. The Port Authority, which operates the ports, said there were more than 400 truck accidents and three fatalities between 2005 and 2018. The grant comes from the Department of Transportation’s Infrastructure for Rebuilding America program, and will be used as part of the Port Authority’s 10-year, $176 million road network modernization project.

New Mexico

Santa Fe: State education officials released updated guidance on COVID-19 case reporting, masking requirements and vaccine considerations for K-12 schools this fall. The new rules give vaccinated students more chances to take off masks. It also allows them to avoid quarantines if there’s an outbreak on campus. Schools serving only middle or high school students can choose to allow vaccinated children to go without masks in most situations. But deciding which schools can unmask won’t be easy, and could hinge on vaccination rates. Under the new guidelines, local school officials are allowed to require universal masking in any school, even among students who volunteer proof of vaccine status in the form of a card or a screenshot of a Department of Health confirmation.

New York

New York City: Carlos Santana, LL Cool J and Barry Manilow are among the performers who will join previously announced headliners Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen and Jennifer Hudson at next month’s Central Park concert to celebrate the city’s recovery from the pandemic, Mayor Bill de Blasio said. The Aug. 21 concert will be broadcast worldwide on CNN and will also include performances by Elvis Costello, Andrea Bocelli, Wyclef Jean and Cynthia Erivo, the mayor said. Patti Smith will duet with Springsteen. “This is going to be an historic, monumental moment for all New Yorkers and all Americans,” de Blasio said. “I’ll put it plainly: You’re going to want to be here.” City officials said 80% of the tickets for the concert will be free. Free and for-purchase tickets will be released to the public in batches starting Monday at www.homecoming2021.com. Proof of COVID-19 vaccination will be required for entry, de Blasio said.

North Carolina

Currituck: The Currituck-Knotts Island ferry service is being suspended to alleviate a staffing shortage at the Hatteras terminal, according to the N.C. Department of Transportation’s Ferry Division. In a news release, the division said the Currituck-Knotts Island route will resume its scheduled service on July 31. Earlier this year, the department said its ferry service was facing a shortage of deck hands, seamen and captains. The Virginian-Pilot reported in the spring that there is often a waiting list to get a ferry job. But this year, the service needs to fill an expanded summer schedule. Jed Dixon, deputy director of the North Carolina Ferry Division, said the pandemic prevented an annual job fair that typically helps recruit enough employees. But he said that people could simply be choosing other careers. North Carolina operates 22 ferries on seven routes, and officials said about 2 million people ride the vessels each year. In April, the ferry service said it needed roughly 20 more employees.

North Dakota

Fargo:The Army has awarded a more than $13 million contract to Gast Construction Company, Inc. in Fargo to build a Remotely Piloted Aircraft operations center for the North Dakota Air National Guard’s 119th Wing. Republican U.S. Senator John Hoeven, a member of the Senate Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Committee, was able to secure $17.5 million for the construction of the facility, which is needed to support new advanced technology and equipment that is crucial to the mission’s long-term success, while also preventing interruptions for the wing’s operations. The Air Guard anticipates moving into the new facility sometime in fiscal year 2023.

Ohio

Athens: Ohio University has notified the Delta Pi chapter of Sigma Chi that it has been suspended for four years following an investigation by the school that revealed student code of conduct violations. The fraternity accepted responsibility for providing false information to school officials or law enforcement and two hazing-related counts. The suspension came about two weeks after the university found the Beta Chapter of Delta Tau Delta committed nine violations, including selling and distributing alcohol, reckless behavior and coerced consumption of alcohol. That fraternity was also suspended for four years. Members of the fraternities are prohibited from joining other frats on campus or starting their own, the school said. Both will be eligible to apply for reinstatement in 2025. Gov. Mike DeWine recently signed a measure that put in place tougher penalties for hazing at Ohio universities and colleges starting this fall. “Collin’s Law,” is named after Collin Wiant, an 18-year-old Ohio University freshman who died in 2018 after ingesting nitrous oxide at a different fraternity house, which was expelled in May 2019.

Oklahoma

Tulsa: The remains of 19 bodies exhumed as part of a city search for unmarked burials from the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre will be reinterred during a private ceremony Friday at Oaklawn Cemetery, city officials said. The bodies were exhumed in June and examined at an on-site laboratory by forensic anthropologist Phoebe Stubblefield, whose findings have not been made public, the Tulsa World reported. Efforts to identify the remains through records and possibly DNA are ongoing, according to the city. Stubblefield has said that the remains appeared to include men, women and children. In at least one set of male remains, a bullet was found in a shoulder. Other parts of the man’s remains showed similar signs of trauma, including to the head.

Oregon

Portland: Health officials in Oregon’s most populous county said they strongly recommend that people wear masks in all indoor public spaces regardless of vaccine status. Multnomah County officials said in news release that the advisory was issued in response to COVID-19 cases increasing largely because of the highly contagious delta variant. Public Health Director Jessica Guernsey said if people don’t act, an exponential rise in cases can be expected, especially in pockets with low vaccinations. County health officials are particularly worried about the delta variant, which is roughly twice as contagious as earlier virus strains and might cause more severe illness. Eight counties in Western Washington are also recommending people wear masks in public indoor settings as are officials in Los Angeles County and San Francisco Bay Area counties.

Pennsylvania

Harrisburg:Nearly 1,500 nursing home workers across Pennsylvania canceled a one-day strike Tuesday after they reached contract agreements with their employers. SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania had said that employees at 20 nursing homes were going to hold a one-day strike to draw attention to problems with the industry, such as low wages, short staffing and outdated state regulations. On Monday, the union first announced that workers had come to tentative contract agreements with Guardian Healthcare. Then late Monday afternoon, the union said workers at Priority-owned facilities had also come to preliminary agreements. “Our new agreements move us in the right direction but they are only a first step in an urgent and larger conversation about reforming our long-term care system,” said Matthew Yarnell, SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania’s president, in a statement. Workers will discuss the proposed agreements “over the next few weeks” and hold ratification votes, according to the union’s statement.

Rhode Island

Providence: Public health officials are investigating a rise in the number of cases of Legionnaires’ disease in Rhode Island, the state Department of Health said. There have been 30 cases reported since June 2, the agency said in an emailed statement. Of those, 28 people have required hospitalization. The state has had an average of 10 cases per month in June and July since 2014, the agency said. No common source of exposure has been identified. “We know that Legionella bacteria grow best in complex water systems that are not well-maintained,” department Director Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott said in a statement. “When this water becomes aerosolized in small droplets, such as in a cooling tower, shower, or decorative fountain, people can accidentally breathe in the contaminated water. This is of particular concern now as some buildings’ water systems have been offline for a prolonged period due to the COVID-19 pandemic and are just now returning to service.” Legionella is especially a concern in buildings that primarily house people older than 65, buildings with multiple housing units and a centralized hot water system like hotels or high-rise apartment complexes. Symptoms, which typically start two to 10 days after breathing in the bacteria, can include cough, shortness of breath, fever, muscle aches, and headaches.

South Carolina

Lake Wylie: At least 80 dogs were taken out of a home because they were living in very poor conditions, deputies said. Two monkeys and a bird were also removed Monday from property in Lake Wylie, the York County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. “The smell about knocked me over. There were feces everywhere,” sheriff’s spokesman Trent Faris told reporters outside the home. The dogs were mostly smaller animals and were living inside and outside the home, deputies said. The animals have been taken to the county animal shelter to determine how healthy they are and if they can be adopted, authorities said. A man in the home was charged with ill treatment of and hoarding of animals and deputies said more charges are possible after a veterinarian examines the animals. Deputies said they found methamphetamine and several guns in the home as well. There were so many animals to examine that the York County Animal Shelter had to stop taking in other animals from the public on Monday.

South Dakota

Rapid City: The Great Plains Tribal Leaders’ Health Board is requiring all of its employees to be vaccinated for COVID-19. The board’s CEO, Jerilyn Church, has sent a memo to staff that said those working under the Health Board banner, including the Great Plains Tribal Epidemiology Center, Oyate Health Center and the We Are Warriors EOC will be required to be fully vaccinated by Sept. 21. “In accordance with GPTLHB’s duty to provide and maintain a workplace that is free of known hazards, GPTLHB has adopted this policy to safeguard the health of our employees and their families, our relatives and visitors, and the community at large from infectious diseases that vaccinations reduce,” Church said. Currently, 74% of the Health Board’s staff has received the vaccine, according to officials. But, with numbers on the rise and the emergence of the delta variant, mandatory vaccinations for all staff is a logical next step for the organization, Church said.

Tennessee

Memphis:An exhibit of artwork, costumes and props from The Walt Disney Co. archives is on display at the Graceland Exhibition Center. The 10,000-square-foot display, “Inside the Walt Disney Archives,” covers multiple Disney properties, ranging from Disney live action to animated films, Walt Disney’s personal effects, items from various Disney Parks and more. The exhibit premiered at D23 Expo Japan in 2018. The items are on loan to Graceland, Elvis Presley’s home in Memphis. Some items include Jack Sparrow’s compass from “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,” Mary Poppins’ original carpet bag, Wilson from “Cast Away,” Lumiere and Cogsworth props from 2017’s “Beauty and the Beast” and Congo Queen Model Boat from Disneyland’s Jungle Cruise. The exhibit will continue through Jan. 2, with special events planned through the run. Tickets are $15 for ages 11 and older and $8 for ages 5 to 10. There is no charge for children 4 and younger to visit.

Texas

San Antonio: A man elbowed a bailiff who was attempting to handcuff him after the man was convicted of killing a San Antonio police detective. Jurors deliberated about 25 minutes Monday before convicting Otis McKane, 40, of capital murder in the November 2016 fatal shooting of Detective Benjamin Marconi. Prosecutors were seeking the death penalty against McKane; the trial’s punishment phase was set to begin Tuesday afternoon. A bailiff was trying handcuff McKane when McKane elbowed him in the face before several officers pushed him into an adjacent room. District Attorney Joe Gonzales and defense attorney Joel Perez declined comment on the outburst. Gonzales said the bailiff was not seriously injured. Marconi was fatally shot as he sat in his patrol car during a traffic stop that did not involve McKane, authorities said. McKane, as he was being taken to jail following the shooting, told reporters that he “lashed out at someone who didn’t deserve it” because he was upset with the court system. McKane said he was angry because he had not been allowed to see his son during a custody battle.

Utah

Kanosh: A sandstorm caused a 22-vehicle pileup on a highway that left eight people dead, including four children, authorities said. The Sunday afternoon crashes on Interstate 15 near the town of Kanosh came at the end of a holiday weekend for the state that often leads to increased highway traffic. At least 10 people were taken to hospitals, including three in critical condition, according to the Utah Highway Patrol. Ground and air ambulances were used to transport crash victims. The pileup occurred during a period of high winds that caused a dust or sandstorm that reduced visibility, the highway patrol said. Five of the eight people killed were in one vehicle, and two others were in another vehicle, according to a news release. Another fatality was in a third vehicle. I-15 remained partially shut down late Sunday. Traffic was redirected around the crash site. Roadways on Sunday were full of drivers headed home after a long weekend to celebrate a state holiday recognizing Utah history and settlers from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who trekked west in search of religious freedom.

Vermont

Montpelier: Vermont’s congressional delegation sent a letter to the U.S. State Department on Tuesday asking it to direct sufficient resources to work through a backlog of requests for passports and renewals. The lawmakers also wrote they are hearing from a significant number of Vermonters having trouble with the main contact number, sometimes waiting on hold for hours. Earlier this month, the State Department reported a backlog of 1.5 million requests nationwide and said that the wait for a passport is now between 12 weeks and 18 weeks, even if people pay for expedited processing. The delay is because of ripple effects from the coronavirus pandemic that caused extreme disruptions to the process at domestic issuance facilities and overseas embassies and consulates. An email was sent to the State Department on Tuesday.

Virginia

Richmond: The two leading candidates in the closely watched race for governor said they will voluntarily disclose at least some information from recent tax returns before the November election. In response to questions from the Associated Press, the campaigns of Republican Glenn Youngkin and Democrat Gov. Terry McAuliffe made vague pledges to release unspecified details from their tax returns, but neither said they would make the documents available in full. “Glenn Youngkin will release information from his tax returns in recent years when his latest filings are complete, before November,” said spokeswoman Macaulay Porter. Christina Freundlich, a spokeswoman for McAuliffe, said he would share a summary of recent years’ returns before the election. Although it is not required for Virginia gubernatorial candidates to disclose their returns, there is some limited precedent for doing so. The complete documents could give a more nuanced look at a candidate’s income, tax deductions and philanthropy than the state’s mandatory disclosures do.

Washington

Yakima: The federal government has issued big fines against two Yakima County fruit companies for missing the annual deadline for filing forms reporting that their facilities store anhydrous ammonia. Stadelman Fruit LLC was fined $238,875 by the Environmental Protection Agency, and Hollingbery and Sons Inc. and the related Hollingbery CA and Cold Storage LLC were penalized a total of $118,200. The Capital Press reported the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act required companies that store hazardous chemicals to submit the forms by March 1 to state and local emergency planners, and the local fire department. Bud Hollingbery, president of the Hollingbery companies, said Friday his businesses have been sending in the information for years. In 2020, the employee who files the forms had a family emergency, and the forms weren’t submitted until May 12, he said. By then, according to EPA, the Hollingbery companies had committed 12 violations. Stadelman Fruit also was fined for missing the March 1, 2020, reporting deadline for its four cold-storage facilities in Zillah. Stadelman agreed to settle, but also did not admit to the allegations. Efforts to obtain comment from the company were unsuccessful.

West Virginia

Mount Hope: A new West Virginia highway marker commemorates the Siltix Mine explosion that killed seven people. The marker was unveiled last week in Mount Hope on the 55th anniversary of the blast, the Herald-Dispatch reported. The explosion was caused by the ignition of built-up methane gas, according to the marker, which also noted that 39 miners were able to escape unharmed. The marker is sponsored by Mount Hope Heritage & Hope and the National Coal Heritage Area Authority, along with the city of Mount Hope, the West Virginia Archives and History and the state Division of Highways. More than 1,000 highway markers note significant locations across the state.

Wisconsin

Milwaukee: The Milwaukee Common Council voted Tuesday to approve a $627,000 settlement with former Police Chief Alfonso Morales over his demotion last year. A federal lawsuit by Morales over his ouster would be dropped as part of the agreement. Morales has 21 days to sign off on the negotiated deal. The Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission, a citizen panel, unanimously voted to remove Morales as chief last August, claiming he failed to fulfill a list of directives. But Milwaukee County Judge Christopher Foley in December reversed the civilian commission’s decision to demote Morales to captain, which had prompted Morales to retire and sue. Foley at the time called the commission’s process “fundamentally flawed.” Under the agreement, the city and commission would not admit to any negligence or to having violated any contract or federal, state and local laws. The commission’s vote came days before an Aug. 1 deadline agreed to by both sides to resolve the matter.

Wyoming

Gillette: Recently retired U.S. Sen. Mike Enzi of Wyoming died Monday at 77. Enzi had been hospitalized with a broken neck and ribs three days after a bicycle accident near Gillette on Friday. Enzi was stabilized before being flown to a hospital in Colorado. He remained unconscious and was unable to recover from his injuries, former spokesman Max D’Onofrio said. Police said they have seen no indication anyone else was nearby or involved in the accident. Enzi fell near his home about 8:30 p.m. Friday, about the time Gillette police received a report of a man lying unresponsive in a road near a bicycle. Enzi, a Republican, retired in January after four terms as senator. He previously was a state lawmaker and mayor of Gillette, where he owned a shoe store. Enzi is survived by his wife; two daughters, Amy and Emily; a son, Brad; and several grandchildren.

School food shortages, elk sheds tire: News from around our 50 states

From USA TODAY Network and wire reports

Alabama

Alexander City: Schools across the state have been facing food shortages, education officials say. Disruptions in the workforce needed to serve and deliver meals – along with supplies of food and packaging materials – are behind the shortages, Al.com reports. State education officials say every school district in Alabama is facing shortages to some degree. Alexander City Schools recently warned parents that it’s experiencing supply chain issues with its food vendors. In recent weeks, the school system hasn’t received food deliveries because suppliers are short on supplies, drivers and warehouse employees. The school system asked parents to feed breakfast to their students at home if possible. In southeast Alabama, Dothan City Schools asked parents last month to prepare for a possible shift to remote learning due to the district’s food supply issues.

Alaska

Anchorage: Several Republican state lawmakers are urging easier access to ivermectin amid the pandemic, though that drug is not authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for preventing or treating COVID-19. Senate Majority Leader Shelley Hughes of Palmer said she urged Gov. Mike Dunleavy and the state health commissioner to consider supplying Alaskans with vitamins and drugs, including ivermectin, “that some Alaskan physicians are prescribing but pharmacies aren’t filling.” Three Republican House members testified about ivermectin at a recent state pharmacy board meeting, Alaska Public Media reports. “Maybe the pharmacists could be directed – or directed’s the wrong word – suggested that they allow the doctors to actually be doctors and do their jobs,” said Rep. Kevin McCabe of Big Lake. In a letter to the House members after the meeting, the board’s chair, Justin Ruffridge, a Kenai Peninsula pharmacist, noted potential legal liability for pharmacists for drugs they dispense and said pharmacists were free to use their “professional judgment” when deciding whether to fill prescriptions. He said the board has not threatened pharmacists’ licenses around the issue but said reports of misuse of ivermectin to treat COVID-19 “should give most prescribers and pharmacists reason to pause.”

Arizona

Phoenix: A judge has blocked the state from collecting $1.1 million from the city of Flagstaff to compensate for its minimum wage that is higher than the state’s rate, ruling that the state missed a deadline for the assessment and was stretching a law targeting higher voter-approved city wages to collect its indirect costs. But the ruling from Maricopa County Superior Court Judge James Smith released Monday sidestepped the question of whether the assessments are unconstitutional. The state minimum wage reached $12 an hour in 2020 with inflation adjustments after that and now stands at $12.15 an hour. Flagstaff voters in 2016 phased in higher city minimum wages, which hit $15 per hour this year with annual increases thereafter. Smith’s ruling said a law enacted by the Republican-controlled Legislature in 2019 targeting higher local minimum wages set a July 31 deadline for setting the yearly assessment. The state missed that deadline. The judge also said the state can’t charge for the indirect costs of Flagstaff’s higher minimum wage, which is what it did in coming up with the $1.1 million figure. The state is exempt from paying the higher minimum wage Flagstaff voters approved in 2016, and the law authorizing assessments does not specifically say the state can calculate the indirect costs of paying contractors.

Arkansas

Little Rock: Lawmakers sent the governor a congressional redistricting plan that critics say weakens the influence of minority voters in the Little Rock area by splitting the state’s most populous county among three U.S. House districts. The measure splits portions of Pulaski County, a heavily Democratic county that includes Little Rock, among the 1st, 2nd and 4th congressional districts. The county is currently in the 2nd District, which Democrats have tried unsuccessfully to flip in recent years. Republicans hold all four of the state’s U.S. House seats and a majority of both chambers of the Legislature. Democrats have criticized the plan for moving predominantly Black and Hispanic precincts out of the 2nd District and accused Republicans of trying make a GOP district even redder. Arkansas is the only former Confederate state that has not elected a Black representative to the U.S. House. “It’s going to disenfranchise African American communities, regardless of the intent,” state Rep. Fred Love, D-Little Rock, said before the House approved the measure last week. Supporters of the plan say splitting Pulaski County makes sense given its location in the middle of the state. They also say it helps limits the number of counties split up. Opponents of splitting up counties have said it divides up communities and their interests.

California

Santee: Recordings indicate the pilot of a twin-engine plane nose-dived into a San Diego suburb despite a growingly concerned air traffic controller who repeatedly warned the pilot to climb in altitude – information that will be examined by investigators who arrived at the crash scene Tuesday. The Cessna 340 smashed into a UPS van, killing the driver, and then hit two houses to ignite just after 12 p.m. Monday in Santee, a suburb of 50,000 people east of San Diego. United Parcel Service of America Inc. held a moment of silence Tuesday for van driver Steve Krueger, who was remembered for making work better with his laugh, the company said in a statement. The plane’s owner, an Arizona physician, also died, and an elderly couple whose home went up in flames after it was hit suffered burns. It was unclear whether others were on board the plane. An investigator from the National Transportation Safety Board arrived at the crash scene Tuesday morning, according to agency spokeswoman Jennifer Gabris. Investigators will review radar data, weather information, air traffic control communication, airplane maintenance records and the pilot’s medical records, she said. The plane had planned to land at Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport in San Diego when it crashed.

Colorado

Pine: Wildlife officials say an elusive elk that has been wandering the hills with a car tire around its neck for at least two years has finally been freed of the obstruction. The 41/ 2 -year-old, 600-pound bull elk was spotted near Pine Junction, southwest of Denver, on Saturday evening and tranquilized, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Officers with the agency had to cut off the elk’s five-point antlers to remove the encumbrance because they couldn’t slice through the steel in the bead of the tire. “We would have preferred to cut the tire and leave the antlers for his rutting activity, but the situation was dynamic, and we had to just get the tire off in any way possible,” Officer Scott Murdoch said. Murdoch and fellow officer Dawson Swanson estimated the elk shed about 35 pounds with the removal of the tire, the antlers and debris inside the tire. Wildlife officers first spotted the elk with the tire around its neck in July 2019 while conducting a population survey for Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep and mountain goats in the Mount Evans Wilderness. They said they have seen deer, elk, moose, bears and other wildlife become entangled in a number of items, including swingsets, hammocks, clotheslines, decorative or holiday lighting, furniture, tomato cages, chicken feeders, laundry baskets, soccer goals and volleyball nets.

Connecticut

Simsbury: A plot of land that was once a thriving tobacco farm where Martin Luther King Jr. worked as a college student in the 1940s will be protected for its historic and cultural significance to the state’s civil rights history. Last month’s finalized sale of the 288-acre parcel of land was announced Friday. The nonprofit Trust for Public Land and the town of Simsbury plan to hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony Saturday for the Meadowood site. Nearly 130 acres will be set aside for recreational access and roughly 120 acres for working farmland. The rest will be saved for future needs of the town of Simsbury, while 2 acres will be kept for historic preservation purposes. Simsbury voters in May overwhelmingly authorized $2.5 million to purchase the property. Various state agencies, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the George Dudley Seymour Trust, individuals and foundations have provided an additional $4 million. Historians believe King’s experiences in Connecticut influenced his decision to become a minister and civil rights leader. He was among a group of students from Atlanta’s Morehouse College recruited by tobacco growers to work in the fields to earn money for tuition. “On our way here we saw some things I had never anticipated to see,” King wrote his father in June 1944. “After we passed Washington there was no discrimination at all. The white people here are very nice. We go to any place we want to and sit any where we want to.”

Delaware

Dover: The state auditor, who is responsible for rooting out government fraud, waste and abuse, was indicted Monday on public corruption charges. An indictment issued by a New Castle County grand jury charges Kathleen McGuiness, 58, with felony counts of theft and witness intimidation, plus misdemeanor charges of official misconduct, conflict of interest and noncompliance with state procurement laws. Prosecutors said the charges include allegations that McGuiness hired her daughter and one of her daughter’s friends, both high school seniors at the time, as temporary employees in May 2020, even though other temporary employees had to leave their positions because of the lack of available work amid the coronavirus pandemic. Authorities said Elizabeth McGuiness, who has not been charged, continued to be paid even after enrolling at a college in South Carolina last August, and she was still listed as an employee as recently as Aug. 28 of this year. She was initially listed as a “public information officer” and later as an “intern.” McGuiness also is charged with orchestrating a 2019 no-bid “communications services” contract for a company she had used as a campaign consultant when running for lieutenant governor in 2016.

District of Columbia

Washington: Howard University and Netflix have announced a $5.4 million endowed scholarship to honor the late actor, writer, producer and Howard alumnus Chadwick Boseman, WUSA-TV reports. The Chadwick A. Boseman Memorial Scholarship will provide incoming students in the College of Fine Arts, recently named for Boseman, with a four-year scholarship to cover the full cost of tuition, the university said. “This scholarship embodies Chadwick’s love for Howard, his passion for storytelling, and his willingness to support future generations of Howard students,” Howard University President Dr. Wayne A.I. Frederick said in a release. “I am thankful for the continuous support and partnership of Chadwick’s wife, Mrs. Simone Ledward-Boseman, and to Netflix for this important gift.” The scholarship was established with the support of Ledward-Boseman, with Netflix as the inaugural donor. The first four scholarships were earmarked for one recipient in each class beginning this fall, and they’ll continue to be distributed to an incoming freshman every year. The university said the scholarship will focus on students who exemplify exceptional skills in the arts, reminiscent of Boseman, and who demonstrate financial need.

Florida

Orlando: The state is investigating dozens of local governments, performing arts centers, the Miami Marlins, a law enforcement counterterrorism unit and a concert by singer Harry Styles for violating a law prohibiting businesses and governments from requiring people to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination. About 120 cases are being reviewed for violations of Florida’s “vaccine passport” law, which took effect last month and can result in a $5,000 fine per violation, according to a public records request from the Orlando Sentinel. The law is being challenged in court and conflicts with a Biden administration order that companies with over 100 employees require them to be vaccinated or face weekly coronavirus testing. In central Florida, the list includes Orange County government; the Orange County Convention Center; AdventHealth, one of the state’s largest health care systems; several performing arts venues; and the Amway Center, which is home to the Orlando Magic and recently hosted a concert by Styles whose tour mandated attendees either be vaccinated or have a negative test. “At this point … the courts have not reached the final decision, but the indication is that the Florida law flies in the face of our Florida Constitution and perhaps in the face of common sense,” Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings told the newspaper.

Georgia

Atlanta: Officials in Fulton County, where election operations are already under review by the state, have fired two workers accused of shredding paper voter registration applications, according to a county statement released Monday. Preliminary information indicates the employees checked out batches of applications for processing, and they are alleged to have shredded some of the forms, the Fulton County statement said. Fellow employees reported the alleged actions to their supervisor Friday morning, and the two employees were fired that day. The county statement said the applications were received in the past two weeks. Fulton County includes most of the city of Atlanta, where voters are set to go to the polls Nov. 2 to elect a mayor, City Council members and other municipal officials. The deadline to register to vote in that election was Oct. 4. It’s not immediately clear whether the 300 voter registration records in question were lost, county spokeswoman Jessica Corbitt said. “Normally, processing a voter registration application involves entering them in the state system, updating them, verifying their information,” she said. “That is the matter that’s under investigation – was that process completed.” Voters don’t register by party in Georgia, so the applications had no party affiliation.

Hawaii

Wailuku: The median sales price of a single-family home in Maui County dropped below $1 million last month as people priced out of the market have chosen to pause their homebuying. The Maui News reports the median sales price for a single-family home in the county stood at $996,500 in September. That’s up 27.3% from the same month last year. But it’s below levels from May through August, when the median topped $1 million for four straight months. Median sales prices for single-family homes in Kauai and Honolulu counties have also topped $1 million this year. The September report from the Realtors Association of Maui said declining affordability has had “a significant impact” on homebuyers who have been priced out of the market. Association President Keone Ball said Sunday that he believes prices will go back up. “The problem is the volume – you know, there isn’t enough for sale,” he said, noting that low inventory combined with high demand for affordable housing is also a nationwide problem. Pending sales decreased 4.3% for single-family homes in Maui County but increased 5.7% for condominiums. Ball said investment in condos may have spiked due to the settling of the COVID-19 pandemic, affordability and condominiums being “the only option.”

Idaho

Boise: State officials will make available up to $200,000 to be divided into payments for hunters and trappers who kill wolves in the state through next summer. The Idaho Department of Fish and Game late last month entered into an agreement with a nonprofit hunting group to reimburse the expenses for a proven kill. The agreement follows a change in Idaho law aimed at killing more wolves that are blamed for attacking livestock and reducing deer and elk herds. Montana this year also expanded when, where and how wolves can be killed. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, at the request of environmental groups concerned about the expanded wolf killing in the two states, last month announced a yearlong review to see if wolves in the U.S. West should be relisted under the Endangered Species Act. Idaho has managed wolves since they were taken off the list in 2011. State wildlife managers had been incrementally increasing wolf harvest during that time – but not fast enough for lawmakers, who earlier this year passed the law backed by some trappers and the powerful ranching sector. Republican Gov. Brad Little signed the measure lawmakers said could lead to killing 90% of the state’s 1,500 wolves before federal authorities would take over management.

Illinois

Chicago: Al Capone died nearly 75 years ago, but it’s clear interest in the infamous Chicago gangster is very much alive after some of his prized possessions were auctioned off over the weekend for at least $3 million. The Chicago Tribune reports Capone’s family sold several of his belongings, including what was billed as his favorite gun, at auction in California, where his three surviving granddaughters live. The event, called “A Century of Notoriety: The Estate of Al Capone,” was held at a private club in Sacramento and attracted nearly 1,000 registered bidders, including 150 who attended the nearly four-hour-long event in person. Among the items up for auction was a bear-shaped humidor as well as diamond jewelry and some family photographs. The most popular item proved to be Capone’s favorite Colt .45-caliber semi-automatic pistol, which went for $860,000. The story of Capone, the original “Scarface,” is a familiar one, thanks in large part to a host of movies, television shows and books about the mobster. Called Public Enemy No. 1 after the 1929 “Valentine’s Day Massacre” in which seven members of a rival bootlegger gang were gunned down in a Lincoln Park parking garage, Capone was convicted of income tax evasion in 1934. He spent 11 years locked up in Alcatraz and died of a heart attack in 1947.

Indiana

Indianapolis: More than 6,600 Afghan refugees who began arriving at the Indiana National Guard’s Camp Atterbury training post nearly six weeks ago are awaiting resettlement. Additional evacuees are expected to arrive in the coming weeks, although it’s unclear how many, said Mark Howell, regional spokesman for the federal Transportation Security Administration overseeing Operation Allies Welcome. Officials said they’re also uncertain if the refugees will be permanently resettled by early November, as hoped. Howell said Friday that many Afghans are still completing medical and security screening checks. Once cleared, they’ll work with nongovernmental organizations to determine housing assignments, sponsor families and work authorizations before they can leave the post. Camp Atterbury, about 25 miles south of Indianapolis, is one of eight sites in the U.S. that the Department of Defense is using for Afghan special immigrant visa applicants, their families and other Afghan personnel. Exodus Refugee Immigration, an Indianapolis agency, has helped at least four Afghan families resettle in the city in the past month, Executive Director Cole Varga said. They were all U.S. citizens or had visas and family ties to the area. It’s unclear how many Afghans have resettled in Indiana, but the state is projected to take 490, according to U.S. officials.

Iowa

Des Moines: A judge has found a local activist guilty of a felony theft count for taking a police flyer used to identify protesters from an officer’s back pocket during a protest last year. Alexandria Dea, 27, was found guilty of first-degree theft Monday by Judge David Porter after she waived her right to a jury trial and consented to allow the judge to base his decision on facts already on the record. Dea is expected to seek a deferred judgment when she’s sentenced Dec. 7. Prosecutors have said Dea picked up and threw a police radio that fell to the ground as the officer scuffled with a protester July 1, 2020. She was also accused of taking the intelligence bulletin from an officer’s back pocket during the confrontation, then giving it to another Black Lives Matter activist who gave it to a television reporter. Dea and the other activist had also initially been charged with a rarely used count of leaking intelligence data, but the charge was dismissed in July after a judge ruled that the bulletin did not count as “intelligence data.”

Kansas

Kansas City: An organization run by rapper Jay-Z has facilitated donations totaling $1 million for an effort to investigate wrongful convictions in Wyandotte County. The money was raised by Team Roc, which is the criminal justice division of Jay-Z’s entertainment organization, Roc Nation, the Kansas City Star reports. Tricia Rojo Bushnell, executive director of the Midwest Innocence Project, called it “a huge investment,” adding that the ability to look at these cases is going to shine a light on what the group needs to do to provide a just criminal legal system in Wyandotte County. Among those injustices is the wrongful conviction of Lamonte McIntyre, who spent 23 years in prison for two murders he did not commit in Kansas City, Kansas. Another is the case of Olin “Pete” Coones Jr., who spent 12 years in prison before he was exonerated of a Wyandotte County murder – only to die from cancer that went undiagnosed 108 days after he was freed. About 40 others have asked the innocence project to investigate their convictions in Wyandotte County, Rojo Bushnell said Monday. In September, Team Roc filed a petition seeking records from the Kansas City, Kansas, police department related to what it calls a history of officer misconduct within the agency.

Kentucky

Louisville: The city has agreed to pay $75,000 to a couple who say police removed them from their car and frisked them because they were Black and driving a nice vehicle. But in an unusual condition of the payment, the couple and their lawyers are forbidden from criticizing the Louisville Metro Government or the police officers involved. The prohibition includes criticisms in statements to the media or on social media, according to a copy of the settlement obtained under open records laws. Michael Abate, a lawyer for the Louisville Courier Journal and the Kentucky Press Association, said the stipulations are “totally improper.” “The city is paying to silence its critics,” he said. “It is paying them off. And it seems designed to impede reform. It is bad policy and really troubling.” In a statement, First Assistant County Attorney Ingrid Geiser said the couple “are not prohibited from talking truthfully about what happened during their traffic stop,” though she said the language “should have more accurately reflected the agreement of the parties.” In their federal lawsuit, Anthony Parker Sr. and Demetria Firman, who are now married, say they were pulled over in 2018 for failing to use a turn signal, but body camera footage from one of the officers showed their turn signal was on.

Louisiana

Baton Rouge: The state’s problem of wasted COVID-19 vaccine shots continues to balloon, with about 224,000 doses thrown out across Louisiana as health providers can’t find enough residents willing to roll up their sleeves. The number of trashed doses has nearly tripled since the end of July, even as the state grappled with a fourth, deadly surge of the coronavirus pandemic during that time that led to increased interest in the vaccines. The latest data provided by the Louisiana Department of Health showed 223,918 doses of the two-shot Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine have been thrown out. That’s relatively small compared to the 4.4 million vaccine doses administered around the state. But while waste is not uncommon in mass immunization efforts, the throwing away of doses in the United States comes as millions of people around the globe still are waiting for the opportunity to get inoculated against COVID-19. Most of Louisiana’s wasted vaccine doses happened because vials containing the shots were opened, but hospitals, clinics, pharmacies and other providers couldn’t find someone to take the doses, health department spokesperson Kevin Litten said. More than 21,500 shots simply weren’t used before their expiration dates. Louisiana has one of the nation’s lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates.

Maine

Augusta: Environmental regulators will soon undertake a statewide investigation to find concentrations of long-lasting environmental pollutants. The investigation stems from the state’s efforts to mitigate a class of chemicals known as PFAS, also called “forever chemicals.” The substances are a problem in some parts of Maine because of the long-standing use of municipal sludge and paper mill waste as farm fertilizer, the Portland Press Herald reports. The state set aside $30 million to test for the chemicals and install filtration systems in areas with contaminated water. Maine officials also plan to help farmers and start cleaning up sites, the Press Herald reports. Maine is hiring and training 17 new staff members for the effort. The state needs to decide which of more than 500 sludge application sites should be prioritized for testing. Sewage sludge as farm fertilizer has caused environmental problems in other parts of the country as well. The chemicals also carry human health risks.

Maryland

Gaithersburg: Four police officers will not be charged for fatally shooting a Black man they said fired first during a late-night foot chase in January. A grand jury declined to charge the officers from the Gaithersburg Police Department due to lack of evidence in a decision announced last week. The officers, members of a plainclothes street crimes unit, told investigators they saw a “muzzle flash” from a gun aimed at them by Kwamena Ocran, 24, according to their recorded statements released by Montgomery County prosecutors. One officer said he heard a round pass by his head. All four fired on Ocran, who was running away from them. He was hit eight times, according to a report from prosecutors. The shooting happened outside an apartment complex after officers said they received a tip that Ocran was illegally carrying a gun he intended to sell, according to the report. The incident was not recorded on video. Another officer arrived at the scene moments later and recorded footage of a gun next to Ocran’s body, but investigators could not find evidence he had fired it. Crime scene technicians failed to find shell casings from Ocran’s gun – only the 23 shell casings from the officers’ guns, prosecutors said. Howard County Deputy State’s Attorney Christopher Sandmann told The Washington Post that investigators had prepped Ocran’s hands for gunshot reside analysis, but there was a “mistake or miscommunication,” and his hands were never swabbed.

Massachusetts

Boston: A letter written by founding father Alexander Hamilton during the Revolutionary War and believed stolen decades ago from the state archives has been returned following a federal appeals court decision, officials said Tuesday. Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin hailed the homecoming, after last week’s decision by the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a previous ruling by a district court judge. The letter was reputedly stolen between 1938 and 1945 by a “kleptomaniacal cataloguer” who worked at the archives, according to the court decision. Hamilton wrote the letter to the Marquis de Lafayette, a French aristocrat who served as a general in the Continental Army. Dated July 21, 1780, the letter resulted in Massachusetts sending troops to Rhode Island “to bolster the embattled French forces,” the appeals court wrote. Galvin, whose office oversees the archives and the Commonwealth Museum, said he was pleased the court ruled “that this historical treasure belongs to the people.” The letter is expected to be put on display at the museum for special events, including the annual Independence Day celebration, Galvin said.

Michigan

Center Line: An employee at a suburban Detroit nursing home filled out absentee ballot applications for two dozen residents without consulting them before the 2020 election, authorities said Monday. The case was one of three cases of alleged fraud announced by the state. “Our election system is secure, and today’s charges demonstrate that in the rare circumstances when fraud occurs, we catch it and hold the perpetrators accountable,” Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said. A woman who worked at the Father Murray home in Center Line was charged with election forgery and signature forgery. In another case, a Detroit woman was accused of signing her grandson’s name on an absentee ballot and returning it, even though he had decided to vote at a polling place. In a third investigation, a woman who served as a guardian was charged in several communities after authorities said she fraudulently submitted 26 absentee ballot applications and sought to have ballots mailed directly to her. Benson and Attorney General Dana Nessel praised local election officials for noticing irregularities. “We will not hesitate to prosecute anyone who attempts to undermine our elections,” Nessel said.

Minnesota

Beaver Bay: A Lake Superior lighthouse plans to welcome visitors back for an annual memorial honoring the sailors who died when the Edmund Fitzgerald sank. Every Nov. 10, the day the ship sank in a gale in 1975, the Split Rock Lighthouse just south of Beaver Bay holds a beacon lighting. Lighthouse officials announce the names of all 29 sailors who died as a bell tolls, Minnesota Public Radio reports. The lighthouse didn’t allow visitors to attend last year’s ceremony because of COVID-19 concerns. People had to listen through an online livestream. Lighthouse officials say this year’s ceremony will be a hybrid, with the lighthouse grounds open to the public and a livestream on the Minnesota Historical Society’s Facebook and YouTube pages for those who can’t attend. The ceremony will begin at 4:30 p.m. “There’s something about being here on site and hearing the bell ring and the names being read off and then seeing the beacon turned on right after that. There’s just something very special about that,” said Hayes Scriven, the lighthouse site manager. “It’s just a way to connect with the past and remember that Lake Superior is a fickle animal, and you’ve got to respect the power and not take it for granted.”

Mississippi

Jackson: The Mississippi Book Festival is being shown online after the in-person event was canceled because of concerns about the coronavirus pandemic. Organizers say videos of 31 panel discussions have been recorded in the past month. Those became available Tuesday on the festival’s website, msbookfestival.com. “We’ve got an amazing group of authors and moderators who have rallied to record more than 35 hours of great conversations about books and writing,” Executive Director Ellen Daniels said in a news release. “Honoring these writers and continuing to engage our loyal and growing community of book lovers is what the festival is all about.” Among the authors speaking are Curtis Wilkie, Kiese Laymon, Nic Stone, W. Ralph Eubanks, Jerry Mitchell, Catherine Pierce, Beth Ann Fennelly, Mitch Landrieu, William Ferris, Angie Thomas, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Robert Khayat and Kai Bird. The festival originally was scheduled for Aug. 21 at the Mississippi Capitol and nearby Galloway United Methodist Church in downtown Jackson. Organizers switched to the online format because the state was experiencing a surge of COVID-19 cases at the time.

Missouri

Kansas City: Data shows that most of the people who participated in the state’s COVID-19 vaccine lottery were already immunized before the program started. The incentive program was started in July as Missouri struggled to control a surge of coronavirus cases driven by the more transmissible delta variant in less-vaccinated communities. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services conducted the last of the drawings in the program Friday. Among the participants, 57,117 adults got the shot after the program was announced, while nearly 600,000 got the shot beforehand, The Kansas City Star reports. The program also had more than 39,000 entries from children 12 and up. In total, the state will pay out $9 million to 900 prizewinners, who will each receive $10,000 in either cash or, for the youth winners, scholarship accounts. Anyone who had gotten at least one dose of a vaccine was eligible to enter, but separate drawings were conducted for those who had already gotten a shot, making the odds of winning higher for the newly vaccinated. Just over 48% of Missouri’s total population is fully vaccinated now, up from about 40% when the incentive program was announced.

Montana

Helena: All local calls in the state must be dialed with the 406 area code to connect beginning Oct. 24 due to changing federal regulations. Montana’s 406 area code currently allows seven-digit dialing to complete local calls. That will change this month due to a Federal Communications Commission order designating 988 as the new nationwide number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Some seven-digit phone numbers in Montana’s 406 area code begin with 988. To prevent misdialing the 988 Lifeline, all local calls in Montana must be dialed with the area code. Calls that are currently considered local for billing purposes will continue to be billed as local calls. Existing seven-digit phone numbers will not change but will require the 406 area code to connect. Three-digit dialing services, such as the 911 emergency number, will continue to work as a three-digit number with no need to dial an area code. Along with manually dialed calls, all services that use automated dialing will need to be updated to include 10-digit phone numbers. The 988 number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline will be available beginning July 16, 2022.

Nebraska

Omaha: Police are investigating after downtown pedestrians were forced to dodge deck chairs, tables and bricks thrown from a rooftop. The Omaha World-Herald reports the incident happened Saturday night when items were thrown from the roof of the nine-story Old Market Lofts apartments. Omaha resident Lisa Brauer told the newspaper she was nearly struck by several objects. Brauer, who works for Park Omaha, was checking parking meters when she was nearly hit by a rock. That was followed by a metal table, a metal chair and a grill rack, all landing within inches of her. A police report said a pickup truck was hit by something and sustained $2,000 in damage. No arrests have been made.

Nevada

Reno: Two historic locomotives that were part of the pioneering shift from steam-powered to diesel-electric trains in the mid-1900s are coming back to their home in a northeast Nevada railyard. Built in 1951, Locomotive 201 is the last survivor among 38 experimental models manufactured by the American Locomotive Company. It is scheduled to be loaded onto a truck Nov. 2 at the Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie, Washington, where it still sometimes pulls excursion trains on the museum’s Snoqualmie Valley Railroad. The truck hauling the 286,000-pound engine will take four or five days at a top speed of about 35 mph to make the 900-mile trip back to Ely at the Nevada Northern Railway Museum near the Nevada-Utah line, railway President Mark Bassett said. Details are still pending for the return from Delta, Utah, of the No. 401, the first special-duty model General Motors built in 1952 in its Electro-Motive Division. It was the only one painted in the “Desert War Bonnet” scheme, a cream, scarlet and black design that remains on it today. It became known as the “Last Empress of Ely.” “These both are one-of-a-kind locomotives,” Bassett said. “Both have a story to tell, and they are both tied into the early days of dieselization of the Nevada Northern Railway.” The museum plans to restore each and eventually return them to operation for tour rides.

New Hampshire

Concord: For the first time, New Hampshire’s only state-run psychiatric treatment facility has negotiated contracts with all major insurance carriers in the state. Carriers now under contract with New Hampshire Hospital include Aetna, Ambetter, Anthem, Cigna, Harvard Pilgrim and United Health Care, state officials said. “Over the past few years, we have made significant strides to rebuild New Hampshire’s mental health system, and those critical efforts will continue,” Gov. Chris Sununu said in a statement. “Having insurer contracts in place is an important step and will help alleviate the financial uncertainty that has been a challenge for patients at New Hampshire Hospital for decades.” Previously, special case agreements were negotiated on a patient-by-patient basis. However, some care was uncompensated. The practice of New Hampshire Hospital is to accept all patients regardless of insurance coverage. New Hampshire Hospital is currently the only inpatient institute for adults with serious mental illnesses in the state.

New Jersey

Trenton: No one understands the stress a nurse faces on the job better than another nurse. And nothing has caused more stress for nurses than the COVID pandemic, as front-line caregivers guard against exposure to the coronavirus, witness patient deaths, and worry about family members and friends becoming infected. A confidential mental health help line, staffed by current and retired nurses, was launched Monday for nurses and their family members in the state. The Nurse2Nurse help line – at 844-687-7301 – is based at Rutgers Behavioral Health Services and available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. “It’s in our hearts to help the healers,” said Barbara Brilliantine, one of the nurses staffing the help line. “We’ve walked in their shoes.” The counselors include active and retired nurses who receive training in reciprocal peer support and wellness principles and are mental health and peer support specialists. Services are also available through virtual support groups, wellness webinars and other resources at nurse2nursenj.com. Information provided on the calls is confidential, the sponsors say. The website says the project is not affiliated with any health care system or nursing organization, and no information from the calls will be shared with employers, co-workers or peers.

New Mexico

Santa Fe: The final price tag for a settlement reached by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and a former campaign spokesman to settle accusations of harassment is now $150,000. The latest round of payments was disclosed in a mandatory campaign finance report that the Democrat’s campaign filed Monday. The twice-annual report on spending and contributions shows the incumbent has raised $2.5 million since April for her reelection bid as several Republicans are vying to take back the office. GOP state Rep. Rebecca Dow raised more than $440,500 since announcing her candidacy in early July. Her campaign said she has received contributions from more than 1,300 donors. In the settlement involving Lujan Grisham, former campaign staffer James Hallinan had accused Lujan Grisham of dropping water on his crotch and then grabbing his crotch in the midst of a campaign staff meeting prior to the election – accusations that the governor denies. Lujan Grisham said earlier this year that she decided to resolve the matter because she wanted to focus her attention on the pandemic. At the time, the governor said there hadn’t been any other financial settlements and nondisclosure agreements of a similar nature.

New York

Albany: Recreational marijuana legalization is moving into a new phase. After stifling staff delays brought on by political infighting, newly minted members of the state Cannabis Control Board are now interpreting and shaping the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act, the cannabis law approved by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and lawmakers last spring. Much of what the redefined medical cannabis program and the implementation of the potentially lucrative legal market will look like in the Empire State is in the purview of the five-person panel, which had its first meeting last week. The board must do that work while putting particular emphasis on social equity and repairing the harms done during the substance’s prohibition. Already, language in the law has legalized possession of 3 ounces of cannabis for people 21 and over. However, some of the regulations for localities, as well as the licensing process and social equity provisions, have yet to materialize. Kristin Jordan of Park Jordan, a commercial real estate brokerage and cannabis industry advisory firm, said the cannabis regulators don’t have a model in other states in how to legalize while accentuating social equity. “So I think more than anything we’ve got a roadmap of what didn’t work,” said Jordan, the firm’s founder and CEO.

North Carolina

Raleigh: Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson is facing calls to resign from elected officials and LGBTQ advocacy groups over comments he made criticizing sexual education and likening gay and transgender people to “filth.” “There’s no reason anybody anywhere in America should be telling any child about transgenderism, homosexuality, any of that filth,” Robinson said at Asbury Baptist Church in Seagrove. The state’s highest Republican executive officeholder, already the focus of criticism for trying to influence how racism can be discussed in public schools, is getting more pushback since Right Wing Watch, a project of the progressive advocacy group People for the American Way, posted the video on social media last week. The Human Rights Campaign, Equality North Carolina, prominent Democratic lawmakers and the White House have condemned the remarks, with some demanding the lieutenant governor’s resignation. In a video posted on his Facebook page Saturday, Robinson narrated over images depicting gay sex that were taken from “Gender Queer,” an illustrated book he claimed “is currently in North Carolina schools,” though it wasn’t mentioned in the 831-page report he released in August highlighting cases of alleged “indoctrination.” In 2017, Robinson wrote: “You CAN NOT love God and support the homosexual agenda.”

North Dakota

Bismarck: State wildlife officials are urging people to keep an eye out for migrating whooping cranes. The North Dakota Fish and Game Department says a portion of a population of 500 cranes is crossing the state on a 2,500-mile migration from nesting grounds at Wood Buffalo National Park in Canada to wintering grounds in Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Texas. The agency says anyone who spots cranes should leave them alone but record the date, time and location along with the birds’ activities and report the sighting to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The reports help biologists locate crane habitat areas, monitor marked birds, and determine population numbers and migration routes.

Ohio

Nelsonville: Thanks to a long-forgotten state law from 1953 and a community dinner, the city has challenged the results of the 2020 U.S. census. The results of last year’s count had downgraded the Athens County community from a city to a village after counting 4,612 residents – a 780-person drop from the 2010 census. Under Ohio law, the 5,000-resident level demarcates the difference between a city and a village. “We knew it was wrong,” City Auditor Taylor Sappington said. On Tuesday morning, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose agreed, restoring Nelsonville’s city status. Sappington set out to prove the city’s case by collecting census information and signatures from the town’s 5,373 residents. After a preliminary federal census report demotes a city to a village, state law gives a city auditor the authority to conduct a re-enumeration if the municipality’s governing body passes a resolution directing the auditor to do so, according to a statute in the Ohio Revised Code. After the City Council took that action, Sappington appointed five enumerators, who canvassed each block of Nelsonville over 10 days. Last week, volunteers served ham, green beans, cheesy potatoes, salad and rolls donated by Texas Roadhouse at a free community dinner where residents could come down to the town square to be counted, Sappington told council members Monday night. “I’m so proud of this community,” he said.

Oklahoma

Tulsa: The city and Tulsa County have each announced they will officially recognize Juneteenth as a holiday. June 19 will be an additional paid holiday for city and county employees beginning in 2022. June 19, 1865, is the day Union soldiers brought the news of freedom to enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas – some 21/ 2 years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation had freed slaves in Southern states. “Juneteenth is an important day in our country’s history, and I’m glad we are able to celebrate freedom for all Americans in this way by joining Tulsa County in adding Juneteenth to our official holiday schedule,” Mayor G.T. Bynum said in a statement Monday announcing the holiday. A 1921 massacre in Tulsa left an estimated 300 Black people dead at the hands of white mobs. Then-President Donald Trump scheduled his first campaign rally amid the coronavirus pandemic for June 19, 2020, in Tulsa but later rescheduled the rally for the following day amid widespread criticism from Black leaders. In June, President Joe Biden signed legislation officially recognizing the day as a federal holiday.

Oregon

Salem: Former Oregon Secretary of State Bev Clarno and three other Republicans have filed a lawsuit to challenge new congressional districts recently passed by state lawmakers. They say the new maps are partisan gerrymandering, unconstitutional and contrary to state law. Oregon Public Broadcasting reports the suit, filed Monday in Marion County Circuit Court, is the first such attempt to alter the six-district map that Democrats pushed through during a contentious special legislative session last month. That session nearly ended in a Republican walkout after House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland, reneged on a deal to grant the GOP an equal say in new congressional and legislative maps. Instead, Republican lawmakers showed up on the last possible day and allowed Democrats to pass a map that could lead to Democratic control of five of the state’s now-six seats in Congress. Oregon picked up an additional U.S. House seat because of population gains recorded by the recent U.S. census. The suit notes that four of the state’s six new congressional districts include part of the Portland metro area, which the Republicans say is a sign Democrats improperly stocked the districts with left-leaning voters. They have asked the court to block the plan and draw its own.

Pennsylvania

Harrisburg: Total enrollment at Pennsylvania’s 14 state-owned universities has declined to the lowest level in decades, according to data released Monday. The State System of Higher Education figures indicate loss of another 5,000-plus students this fall, dropping the universities’ total enrollment below 89,000 students – a level not seen in more than three decades, dating nearly to the system’s founding, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports. PennLive.com reports the percentage drop in enrollment was the highest in well over two decades. System officials earlier warned state lawmakers and others that the 2021-22 year would be a “very challenging” one for enrollment, citing factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The system, founded in 1983, saw its enrollment peak at about 119,500 students in 2010 but saw the total drop to 94,000 last year. A review of system data indicates that the current total below 89,000 is lower than in any year since 1989, the Post-Gazette reports. Chancellor Dan Greenstein said the drop likely stems from the pandemic finally catching up with the system, which had avoided the declines other institutions saw last year. He said anecdotal accounts point to the pandemic’s impact on family incomes and students taking advantage of $15 and $20 per hour wages some firms are offering.

Rhode Island

Providence: Mayor Jorge Elorza wants to spend up to $1.6 million in federal coronavirus relief funding to establish nonviolence training and youth mentorship programs to address an increase in violence in the city. Providence recently opened requests for proposals for both initiatives, planning to allocate up to $500,000 in American Rescue Plan funds for training and up to $1.1 million for mentorship. Elorza said the idea began taking shape in May when nine people were injured in a shooting. “I reached out to some community leaders, sort of on the front line of things, and I asked them to put me in contact with families, mothers who had lost children, people who were either on parole or on probation, but were trying to turn their life around, and other folks who are on the front lines of living and working with these issues,” Elorza said. It became clear that the city was in need of more opportunities for youth, he said. There have been 20 homicides in the city this year. The five-year average for this point in the year is 11.

South Carolina

Columbia: The South Carolina State Fair returns Wednesday after a hiatus brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. Last year’s event was drive-thru only due to a high number of COVID-19 cases. On Tuesday, Department of Health and Environmental Control officials reported that such cases have dropped below 1,000 for the first time since July. More than 50% of South Carolinians are fully vaccinated against the disease caused by the virus. State fair officials have instituted new protocols to prevent the virus’s spread, including increased cleaning, hygiene signage, hand sanitizer stations and reminding guests that in Columbia they must wear a face covering, WIS-TV reports. Guests are also encouraged to socially distance, use card and touchless methods for payments, and not come to the fair if they aren’t feeling well. The event, which runs through Oct. 24, includes rides, food, agriculture and livestock shows, crafts, art and a cookie kitchen.

South Dakota

Sioux Falls: Lawmakers redrawing the state’s political boundaries kicked off a three-day tour of public input meetings Monday amid intraparty Republican bickering and competing proposals for new legislative districts. The House and Senate committees, both dominated by Republicans, had previously sought accord in the once-in-a-decade process. But at a public input meeting in Box Elder, the schism between the House and Senate was on full display during the tour, dubbed “the redistricting roadshow” by lawmakers. The Legislature will convene Nov. 8 to consider new political boundaries, which must also be approved by Gov. Kristi Noem. If they can’t reach a consensus by Dec. 1, redistricting would be determined by the state Supreme Court. As Republicans accused each other of gerrymandering and “D.C. political tactics,” members of Native American communities used the meetings to press for greater representation in the Legislature. At the first meeting Monday, advocates pushed for compact political boundaries around northern Rapid City, which has a large number of Native Americans, that would allow the community to elect someone who represents its interests. The lawmakers are making seven stops this week, culminating with two meetings in Sioux Falls on Wednesday.

Tennessee

Nashville: A federal judge on Tuesday slightly tweaked his order requiring Knox County schools to implement a school mask mandate, saying officials would be allowed to approve exemptions on a case-by-case basis. In his 14-page ruling, however, U.S. District Judge J. Ronnie Greer warned school officials – who had previously refused to adopt a mask mandate amid the COVID-19 outbreak – that the new mask exemption policy must not be abused. “The court reminds the Knox County Board of Education that its school system is no longer under a voluntary mask mandate; rather, it is under a court-ordered mask mandate,” Greer wrote. “The record evidence supports the need for – and the court ordered – a universal mask mandate, and the court fully expects its mask mandate to be exactly that: universal, to every possible extent, with ‘very few’ medical exemptions.” The Knox County Board of Education must file monthly status reports that identify not only the number of exemptions for students, employees and visitors but also the specific reasons for the exemptions. Greer said he would impose “considerable sanctions” if the education board did not comply with his latest order.

Texas

Houston: The state’s child welfare agency is being accused of removing a webpage that provided information about a suicide prevention hotline and other resources for young LGBTQ people, following criticism by one of Gov. Greg Abbott’s primary challengers. The Houston Chronicle reports Abbott challenger Don Huffines posted a video on Twitter in August accusing the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services of “promoting transgender sexual policies to Texas youth.” Within hours of the video being posted, the webpage was removed. The page appeared in a section of the agency’s website called “Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation.” Also gone was the entire website for the Texas Youth Connection, a division of Family and Protective Services that steers young people in foster care to various resources, including education, housing and those on its LGBTQ page. “These are not Texas values, these are not Republican Party values, but these are obviously Greg Abbott’s values,” Huffines said in his video. Abbott, who appoints the department’s commissioner and nine-member council, didn’t respond to the newspaper’s request for comment. Agency communications obtained through a public records request show that employees discussed removing the page in response to Huffines’ tweet.

Utah

Salt Lake City: Lawyers for Gov. Spencer Cox’s former campaign manager, who resigned last week after an investigation substantiated claims of sexual misconduct made against him by a female campaign employee, are calling the accusations baseless. In a statement Friday, lawyers representing Austin Cox said the relationship in question was a long-term one between two young adults that he ended earlier this year, KUTV reports. “Our client unequivocally and emphatically denies any allegations to the contrary,” the statement said. The Republican governor said Thursday that an independent investigation found cause to terminate Austin Cox, his 2020 campaign manager, but he resigned before its completion. The investigation also revealed previously unreported “hostile conduct” toward other members of the team. Austin Cox’s attorneys on Friday additionally criticized a joint statement from the governor and Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson on Thursday that condemned the former campaign manager’s behavior. KUTV requested to speak with Austin Cox on Friday, but his attorney declined their request for an interview. The governor and former campaign manager are not related.

Vermont

Bennington: An Abraham Lincoln statue at a museum was vandalized with the number “38,” which police say they believe is a reference to the execution of 38 Native Americans ordered by the former president in 1862. Police said an employee at the Bennington Museum arrived Sunday morning to find a large “LAND BACK” banner had been put up between two light poles at the entrance to the museum’s courtyard. The Lincoln statue in the courtyard had reddish spray paint on its face and hands, along with the number “38” painted on its chest, police said. Officials said it is expected to cost several thousand dollars to repair the statue and remove the paint. Police said they believe the vandalism is a reference to the Dakota 38, who were executed after the 1862 Dakota War, also known as the Sioux Uprising of 1862. A military commission sentenced 303 Sioux fighters to be executed. Lincoln reviewed the cases and decided there was evidence that 39 Sioux were guilty of murder or rape during the uprising and ordered their execution. The remaining 264 sentences were commuted. One of those sentenced to be executed received a reprieve. The Bennington Museum describes itself as a museum of art, history and innovation.

Virginia

Richmond: Former President Barack Obama will campaign with fellow Democrat Terry McAuliffe in the final stretch of the gubernatorial race. “The stakes could not be greater,” McAuliffe said as he announced the news Tuesday morning on MSNBC. McAuliffe’s race against the GOP nominee, first-time political candidate Glenn Youngkin, is tightening, according to the latest polls. His effort to win a second, nonconsecutive term in office is one of only two regularly scheduled governor’s races in the country this year and is being closely watched for indications of voter sentiment ahead of next year’s midterms. McAuliffe’s campaign announced that Obama will join him in Richmond on Oct. 23 to mobilize Virginians during early voting, which began weeks ago and runs in person through Oct. 30. Obama rallied Democrats in Virginia’s capital city in 2017 before Ralph Northam beat Republican gubernatorial nominee Ed Gillespie by nearly 9 percentage points. He’ll follow other high-profile Democrats visiting the commonwealth to support McAuliffe. First lady Jill Biden is set to visit on Friday. Stacey Abrams, the voting rights activist, grassroots organizer and former Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate, will campaign with McAuliffe in Norfolk and northern Virginia on Sunday.

Washington

Seattle: Rewards totaling $2.5 million are now being offered for information that helps solve the killing of federal prosecutor Thomas C. Wales in Seattle 20 years ago. Nicholas Brown, newly sworn in as the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington, announced Monday at a ceremony marking the anniversary of Wales’ death that the Justice Department had doubled its reward to $2 million, in addition to about $500,000 being offered by the National Association of Former U.S. Attorneys. Brown also said his office – long recused from the case – is taking on leadership of the investigation, as there are few remaining assistant U.S. attorneys in Seattle who worked with Wales. The investigation had been overseen by a special prosecutor in New York, Steve Clymer; transferring the oversight to Seattle will allow for fresh eyes and additional resources, Brown said. “Twenty years is far too long for this crime – this attack on the American justice system – to go unresolved,” Brown said. Wales was an 18-year veteran of the U.S. attorney’s office who focused on white-collar crime and also served as president of a gun-control group called Washington CeaseFire. A gunman shot him through a basement window of his home Oct. 11, 2001.

West Virginia

Charleston: Lawmakers endorsed proposed maps of congressional and state legislative districts during a special session on redistricting Monday, setting up a potential fight between two of the state’s current members of Congress. West Virginia lost one of its three U.S. House seats after the 2020 census, and lawmakers are trying to redraw the state into two congressional districts. In the proposed map, Rep. David McKinley and Rep. Alex Mooney would be in the same district. All three current U.S. House members from West Virginia are Republicans. The state Senate redistricting committee forwarded its versions of congressional and state Senate maps Monday. Earlier in the day, a map that reconfigures all 100 House of Delegates seats into separate, single-member districts was endorsed by a House committee. The maps now go before the committees’ respective full chambers. The congressional redistricting map endorsed by the House committee would split the state roughly into north and south sections. The 1st District would include both panhandles and much of the northern part of the state along with Wood County on the western edge. The 2nd District would include the southern coalfields and the Greenbrier Valley, extending north into Ritchie County.

Wisconsin

Madison: The state’s Democratic attorney general, who represents the state elections commission, on Monday called for a Republican-ordered investigation into the 2020 presidential election to be shut down, saying it is a partisan political effort that lacks credibility, wastes taxpayer money and is not serious. “This investigation suffers from glaring flaws that destroy any credibility its results could have had,” Attorney General Josh Kaul said at a news conference. “Shut this fake investigation down.” Kaul’s comments came after the Republican leader of the Assembly election committee said she’s been kept out of the loop and doesn’t agree with moves being made by the leader of the probe. The latest twists comes after Michael Gableman, the retired Wisconsin Supreme Court justice leading the investigation, issued a video over the weekend taking aim at Gov. Tony Evers. The Democratic governor told local election officials they should be “lawyered up” and called the taxpayer-funded investigation a “$700,000 boondoggle.” Gableman called that “an incomplete and misguided view” of the probe. Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos ordered the investigation under pressure from Donald Trump, who has falsely claimed he won Wisconsin last year.

Wyoming

Cody: Rapper, music producer and clothing entrepreneur Kanye West has put his ranch and business properties in northwestern Wyoming up for sale. The West Ranch, formerly known as Monster Lake Ranch, went on the market Monday for $11 million. The property sprawls across 6 square miles of open land and tree-studded hills and outcrops about 6 miles south of Cody. The property features lakes, a lodge, a commercial kitchen, equipment sheds, a horse facility, corrals and a go-kart track, according to the DBW Realty listing. The listing came days after West listed his seven commercial properties in Cody for more than $3.2 million, the Cody Enterprise reports. The ranch, which leases additional land owned by the U.S. government, was listed for $13.3 million before West bought it in 2019, though it’s unknown how much he paid for the property. Wyoming law does not provide for public disclosure of real estate sale amounts. West moved from California to Wyoming in 2019 and set about basing at least some of his clothing business in Cody, a city of about 10,000 on the eastern approach to Yellowstone National Park. It wasn’t clear if the property sales mean West is leaving Wyoming or just reorganizing his business there.

From USA TODAY Network and wire reports

Mining fight, pocketknife record: News from around our 50 states

From USA TODAY Network and wire reports

Alabama

Birmingham: The state’s best hope for avoiding another holiday spike of COVID-19 infections and deaths lies in large part on people who’ve not been vaccinated getting a jab this week, the state health officer said Friday. Dr. Scott Harris, head of the Alabama Department of Public Health, said it takes five or six weeks for someone to gain the maximum amount of immunity after the initial vaccine in a two-shot process. That means time is nearly up for people to start the vaccination process and have “the safest possible Thanksgiving,” he said. Harris said he’s “cautiously optimistic” that the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays won’t be as deadly as last year because of vaccinations and the large number of people who have antibodies after contracting COVID-19, but there are no guarantees. “We just don’t know,” he said. While statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that more than 2.6 million people in Alabama have gotten at least one vaccination, only 2.1 million residents, or 43% of the state’s population, are fully vaccinated – among the worst rates in the nation. More than 14,700 people have died of COVID-19 in Alabama, giving the state the fourth-worst death rate nationally, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University.

Alaska

Juneau: A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck off the coast early Monday in what the Alaska Earthquake Center called an aftershock of an 8.2 quake from late July. Monday’s earthquake was felt throughout the Alaska Peninsula and Kodiak Island, according to the Alaska Earthquake Center. It occurred about 70 miles east of Chignik, a community of about 90 people on the Alaska Peninsula. Chignik is about 450 miles southwest of Anchorage and 260 miles southwest of Kodiak. The center had not received reports of significant damage but also relies on self-reporting, said seismologist Natalia Ruppert. Jeremy Zidek, a spokesperson for Alaska’s emergency management office, said the office was contacting communities and had no reports of damage so far. The U.S. Geological Survey on Twitter had reported a preliminary magnitude of 6.5 that was later revised to 6.9, which ties another earthquake that hit Alaska in August. The two 6.9 quakes were the largest aftershocks tallied since the United States experienced its largest earthquake in the past half-century, the magnitude 8.2 quake that struck south of the Alaska Peninsula on July 28. It was widely felt but caused no major damage in the sparsely populated region closest to it.

Arizona

Phoenix: Opponents of a nearly seven-year-long process to exchange Oak Flat, a 2,200-acre site in Tonto National Forest, to a copper mining company cheered to learn that a recent survey found 74% of likely Arizona voters do not approve of the mine. And a new report has revealed the mine would use enough water to supply a city of 140,000 annually for its estimated life. Legislation to repeal the land deal has been pushed forward, and a lawsuit filed in January will be heard in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals this month. To obtain the ore, Resolution Copper plans to use a method known as block cave mining. Eventually, the ground under Oak Flat would subside, leaving behind a crater about 1,000 feet deep and nearly 2 miles across. Opponents also fear underground water channels and major aquifers might be damaged or destroyed. Oak Flat is a sacred site to Western Apaches and holds great cultural significance for other tribes in the region. Known to the Apaches as Chi’chil Bildagoteel, Oak Flat had been withdrawn from mining claims since the Eisenhower administration. To boot, it’s one of Arizona’s rare riparian habitats, providing water and shelter for animals, birds and plants, including the Emory oak, a staple in Apache peoples’ diets for centuries. And the area is popular with recreationists.

Arkansas

Fort Smith: The city violated state law with its removal last year of a historical display that included a Confederate flag, a judge ruled. In an order filed last week, Sebastian County Circuit Judge Gunner DeLay found that the city is in violation of the Arkansas State Capitol and Historical Monument Protection Act, which didn’t take effect until April of this year, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports. DeLay found that the flags and bronze markers that were removed from Riverfront Park in April 2020 are a “historical monument” even though they are no longer displayed. The display was put up in 2001 and also included the French flag and old 15-star and 20-star American flags, among others. This June, attorney Joey McCutchen filed a lawsuit alleging the city violated the new state law by not replacing the display or obtaining a waiver from the Arkansas History Commission. An email exchange in June 2020 among City Administrator Carl Geffken and other officials indicated the flags were initially removed because they were tattered and needed to be replaced. Geffken wrote that he and others discussed changing the flags flown at the park after the May 2020 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody. He also said his decision to remove the flags would maintain “a piece of history from potential harm.”

California

Huntington Beach: A Southern California beach that was closed more than a week ago because of a leak of crude oil from an undersea pipeline reopened Monday, far sooner than many expected. Huntington Beach’s city and state beaches reopened after officials said water quality tests revealed no detectable levels of oil-associated toxins in the ocean water. Early Monday morning, surfers bobbed in the waves, and people walked along the shoreline, some with dogs jumping and playing in the water. Andrew Boyack, a 54-year-old commercial photographer, was eager to get back to surfing the waves he usually rides three or four times a week. “There’s lots of guys out, so I figure it’s probably all right, and I guess they tested it,” he said while rinsing off at an outdoor beach shower. Huntington Beach and nearby coastal communities reeled from last week’s spill that officials said sent at least about 25,000 gallons and no more than 132,000 gallons of oil into the ocean. It was caused by a leak about 5 miles off the coast in a pipeline owned by Houston-based Amplify Energy that shuttles crude from offshore oil platforms to the coast. The cause is under investigation, and officials said they believe the pipeline was likely damaged by a ship’s anchor several months to a year before it ruptured. It remains unknown when the slender, 13-inch crack in the pipeline began leaking oil.

Colorado

Denver: Body camera footage released Friday in the case of a police officer accused of using a chokehold during an arrest shows him putting his arm around a man’s neck and holding it there for about 10 seconds shortly after handcuffing him. While holding the standing man around his neck during the June 7 arrest at a city building in Greeley, Officer Kenneth Amick accused him of trying to grab the officer’s hands. The man denied it, his voice distorted, while still in the hold. Amick released the chokehold after another officer stepped toward them and said: “Take it easy. Take it easy. Take it easy.” A judge ordered the release of the video Thursday, siding with a coalition of news media. The coalition argued that it should be released under a Colorado law enacted this year in response to nationwide protests over the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis. It generally requires that footage be made public, upon request, when a complaint is lodged against a police officer. Amick, charged with second-degree assault, is scheduled to enter a plea Oct. 22. Weld County District Court Judge Vincente Geraldo Vigil had earlier blocked the release of footage after Amick and prosecutors argued it could prejudice a potential jury. On Thursday, he ruled such concerns can be dealt with during jury selection, KDVR-TV reports.

Connecticut

Hartford: Online gambling is coming to the state, on a limited basis. A “soft launch” beginning Tuesday will allow several hundred people to open accounts to wager for a seven-day period. The state marked the first day of its long-awaited rollout of legalized sports and internet wagering Sept. 30, when Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods held events to mark the grand opening of temporary sports betting venues. In addition to the two tribal casinos, the Connecticut Lottery Corporation, the state’s quasi-public lottery, will offer online sports wagering and retail sports betting at 15 locations. The soft launch allows people to gamble using their phones, tablets and other online devices. Once the launch is completed, online gambling will be available statewide. “After more than a decade of advocacy and negotiation, statewide sports betting and iGaming is finally coming to Connecticut,” Rodney Butler, chairman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, told the Hartford Courant. ”We’ve made it to the finish line, and we’re excited to finally launch.” The Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, which operates Foxwood, has partnered with DraftKings Inc., and Mohegan Sun, operated by the Mohegan tribe, has partnered with FanDuel. The lottery’s partner is Rush Street Interactive.

Delaware

Newark: The University of Delaware is bringing to fruition its plans to develop a science and technology-focused campus at the sprawling former Chrysler plant in the city. The university on Thursday officially opened the Ammon Pinizzotto Biopharmaceutical Innovation Center, a six-story, 220,000-square-foot building designed to bring together UD students, researchers and industry workers focused on “life-saving medicines and transformational treatments.” It’s one of a series of buildings to open or break ground amid the COVID-19 pandemic at what’s now the UD Science, Technology and Advanced Research Campus. The new innovation center – nicknamed AP BIO by officials – is among the most advanced UD facilities. Charles Riordan, UD’s vice president of research, scholarship and innovation, called it “the most interdisciplinary building” in the school’s history. It houses the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals, a federally sponsored private-public partnership that aims to accelerate biopharmaceutical innovation; the Delaware Biotechnology Institute, a support and research group formed by Delaware’s research organizations; the university’s department of biomedical engineering; and research laboratories in pharmaceutical discovery and molecular and medical sciences.

District of Columbia

Washington: A new bike path is in the works for the National Mall, WUSA-TV reports. This week, the D.C. Department of Transportation, in partnership with the National Park Service, will begin implementing safety improvements on 15th Street, including two-way protected lane for bicyclists. “This project will improve pedestrian safety for visitors to the National Mall and create a north-south bicycle connection between the White House, National Mall and the Jefferson Memorial,” Mike Litterst, chief of communications and spokesperson for the National Mall and Memorial Park, said in a release. NPS said it will install an additional projected lane on East Basin Drive Southwest next spring that will connect with the multiuse trail on the 14th Street bridge. Construction on 15th Street will last through the fall and involve temporary lane closures for drivers. When the work is complete, there will be three lanes open to drivers on 15th Street – one southbound and two northbound. Pedestrians and bicyclists can continue to use the sidewalks along 15th Street until the project is complete, but they should expect a limited number of disruptions due to construction activity.

Florida

Tallahassee: The activist who led a movement to allow most former felons in Florida to vote has gotten more of his own civil rights restored under a new state clemency program. Desmond Meade, head of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, announced in a Twitter video Saturday that he can now run for office, serve on a jury and take the bar exam to become a lawyer. Meade has a law degree from Florida International University. “This is good,” Meade said on the video. “The restoration of my civil rights definitely helped remove some hurdles for me.” Meade, 54, was a leader in the successful 2018 effort to enact a voter-approved constitutional amendment restoring voting rights to felons whose sentences are complete. The GOP-led Legislature later passed a measure requiring all financial obligations such as fines to also be completed, which critics said primarily disenfranchises minorities and poor people. Meade, who served time for drug and firearms offenses, already had regained the right to vote. The other rights were automatically restored under a policy adopted in March by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet. Meade last month was awarded a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” of $625,000 in recognition of his work. He said it will be used to pay off law school loans and continue his work for people convicted of felonies.

Georgia

Savannah: City officials say bars and restaurants are toasting a successful trial run at serving to-go orders of beer and cocktails in aluminum cups. Georgia’s oldest city recently ended a two-month pilot aimed at seeing whether businesses can reduce their use of plastic cups by switching to aluminum ones that people can reuse or recycle. Sipping from to-go cups of alcohol on the streets of the downtown historic district has long been a part of Savannah’s bustling nightlife. City Alderman Nick Palumbo pushed for the trial to let businesses test the aluminum cups. The City Council agreed to temporarily add aluminum alongside paper and plastic cups allowed for serving to-go drinks during the pilot period. Bars and restaurants ended up using about 50,000 aluminum cups. “We know that diverted 50,000 pieces of plastic out of the waste stream, out of our environment, which is just a huge hit,” Palumbo said. Carey Ferrara of the Gaslight Group, which owns several Savannah restaurants, agreed the pilot was successful. She said the biggest downside is that the aluminum cups cost at least four times more than plastic. She said businesses might be able to reduce the extra cost by combining their orders. “We can work together to purchase the cups in a quantity to make the price low enough for us,” Ferrara said.

Hawaii

Naalehu: Two strong earthquakes struck off the coast of the Big Island on Sunday, rattling residents and causing items to fall off shelves. The U.S. Geological Survey said the first quake had a magnitude of 6.1 and struck about 17 miles south of Naalehu. The agency said a 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck about 20 minutes later in the same area. The National Weather Service in Honolulu said there was no tsunami threat. At a gas station in Naalehu, the refrigerator display doors were opened by the shaking, and items fell to the ground. No injuries were immediately reported. The Hawaii Department of Transportation said there was no damage from the earthquake at airport runways, commercial harbors or highway bridges.

Idaho

Boise: The Idaho Press Club has dropped its request that a judge hold Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin in contempt of court for refusing to turn over public records related to her education task force. Attorneys for the state press association and the lieutenant governor’s office filed the agreement to drop the contempt request Friday afternoon, according to court documents. McGeachin and her chief of staff, Jordan Watters, have repeatedly ignored requests for comment from the Associated Press. The Idaho Press Club sued McGeachin in July after several journalists said she wrongly denied public record requests for materials relating to her new Education Task Force. The task force was tasked with investigating alleged “indoctrination” in the state’s public school system, something McGeachin said was necessary to “protect our young people from the scourge of critical race theory, socialism, communism and Marxism.” The lieutenant governor lost the lawsuit, and Fourth District Judge Steven Hippler ordered her to release the documents. But McGeachin didn’t immediately release the materials, and a few weeks after Hippler’s ruling she formally asked the judge to reconsider the matter. Her office finally released the records shortly after the Idaho Press Club asked the judge to hold McGeachin in contempt of court.

Illinois

Springfield: The Old State Capitol has reopened to visitors after interior renovations were completed. Visitors will see a new feature, an education gallery and video room. Exterior work on the dome of the building continues, but indoor plaster work and painting is finished, allowing the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to open for tours Thursday. Its hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. The building served as Illinois’ Capitol from 1840 to 1876. Abraham Lincoln served in the Legislature there and in 1858, as a candidate for the U.S. Senate, delivered his famous “House Divided” speech in the Hall of Representatives. When work began in March, officials indicated the building would only be closed through April. But officials said the project met with unforeseen delays, according to historic sites superintendent Justin Blandford. Combined with the COVID-19 pandemic, the reopening was delayed. The $1.5 million project, under the management of the Illinois Capital Development Board, involves installing a new roof on the drum that supports the dome and restoration of the drum’s columns and windows. Work on the outside of the dome is marked by the construction scaffolding that surrounds it.

Indiana

Fort Wayne: Former Vice President Mike Pence climbed on horseback during a ride by a veterans group trying to reduce suicides among military veterans. Pence joined members of the nonprofit organization BraveHearts for a Saturday ride in Fort Wayne aimed at raising awareness about the suicide issue. The national group uses the riding and care of horses in therapy for veterans suffering with depression or other emotional troubles. Pence rode for part of the route, talked and posed for photos with residents and riders, and spoke during a ceremony at the ride’s conclusion. The former Indiana governor said he was inspired by the group’s recognition that some veterans have wounds “that can’t be seen with the human eye.” “They are the burden of the heart and the mind that over generations in America that have really gone unspoken of,” Pence said. “But I’m proud to say now we’re recognizing as a nation the unseen injuries of our heroes.” About 30 horses and riders followed the full 20-mile route through Fort Wayne – a distance referring to the estimated 20 veterans a day who die from suicide.

Iowa

Des Moines: Debates over COVID-19 mitigation strategies and how race should be discussed in classrooms are fueling frenetic energy around suburban school board races. A wave of conservative candidates and their supporters are urging their neighbors to take their frustrations to the polls. Although the races are nonpartisan in Iowa – party ID doesn’t appear on the ballot – they’re gaining attention from Republican leaders at both the state and national levels. In Waukee, a slate of parents backed by the local Republican Party is warning about “harmful ideology” in schools. In Southeast Polk, a candidate hosted an event for parents to get their mask mandate exemption forms notarized. And in Ankeny, a school board candidate who inspired the state’s law prohibiting mask mandates in schools has the endorsement of Gov. Kim Reynolds. Their platforms are part of a nationwide backlash from the defining events of 2020: the coronavirus pandemic and the rise of attention on racial justice issues after the murder of George Floyd, a Black man in Minnesota who was choked to death by a white police officer. The rancor has risen to such a level across the country that a nonprofit that represents school boards has asked federal officials to step in to protect elected officials and school leaders from physical violence.

Kansas

Wichita: A major water line break that forced residents to boil their water before using it for several days highlights concerns about aging infrastructure in the state’s largest city. The water main break that forced the boil order last week happened after the city’s water plant lost part of its power supply, so the pumps sending water throughout the system automatically shut down. The boil order was lifted for Wichita on Saturday. “That was an abrupt shutdown,” Director of Public Works and Utilities Alan King said. “When we brought the pressure back up and to pressurize the system, that was a rapid decrease in pressure (followed by) a rapid increase in pressure, and both of those are not friendly to pipes, especially older pipes.” The Wichita Eagle reports that a 2017 assessment found 99% of the city’s water treatment plant was in poor condition, and the entire raw water pipe system was in very poor condition. Recent reports have said Wichita’s water supply needs hundreds of millions of dollars in investments and near-constant repair and replacement. The city is aware of the fragile state of its water supply and has budgeted $10 million a year in its most recent capital improvements plan for repairs, replacements and maintenance of distribution lines. A new water plant under construction won’t be ready until 2024 at the earliest.

Kentucky

Radcliff: It was no small feat, but now a local landmark is part of the Guinness Book of World Records. What started as a sharp idea in 2017 has turned into a crowning moment for Red Hill Cutlery and its owners, Lonnie, Jason and Josh Basham. The company has received confirmation that it does indeed own the world’s largest pocketknife at 34 feet, 6 inches. The business will hold a formal celebration this week. “It means a lot for us,” Jason Basham said. “It gives us an identity that sets us apart from any other knife store of its kind.” The idea started when the family began building a new location for Red Hill Cutlery and its American Pocketknife Museum in Radcliff. They gathered inspiration from a Barlow pattern pocketknife in Lonnie Basham’s personal collection. Josh Basham said the pattern has been interwoven with American history dating back to the 1600s. “The Barlow goes back to Huckleberry Finn,” he said. “You can go back in history, and the Barlow was one of the most notorious knives carried by U.S. presidents.” The world’s largest pocketknife is held open by a single pin, Lonnie Basham said. “We could pull out that one pin and it would close, but it would take a crane to do it because it’s so heavy,” he said. A community event acknowledging the Guinness recognition is set for 1 p.m. Wednesday.

Louisiana

New Orleans: The city hopes a temporary shift to once-weekly garbage collections will help address the piles of trash and debris that have piled up along streets across much of New Orleans. Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s administration announced the change to its solid waste collection Saturday as a way to bring a level of consistency to residents. “We are collectively beginning to see the progress on the ground, but it’s time to bring some predictability so that our residents can better prepare for their trash collection,” Director of Sanitation Matt Torri said in a statement. The city’s two primary solid waste contractors, Metro Service Group and Richard’s Disposal, are supposed to collect garbage twice a week, but they have fallen behind throughout the year primarily because of staffing shortages brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. After Hurricane Ida, the situation worsened. Torri said the shift to once-weekly pickup is “temporary,” but the administration is not committing to any collection schedule in the future. Cantrell announced Sept. 23 that she had hired four emergency contractors to clear out the backlog while Metro and Richard’s resumed regular collections. That effort is expected to last a month and cost and estimated $20 million to $30 million, The Times Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate reports.

Maine

Portland: Prices for the state’s most beloved export are much higher than typical right now because of high demand and the possibility that those who catch lobsters are having a slower season. Maine lobsters usually become less expensive over the course of the summer because of the increase in catch off the state’s coast. But this year, wholesale prices that typically fall to the $8 or $9 per pound range never fell below $10.50. And they’ve soared even higher in early fall, eclipsing recent records and causing consumers to fork over more money at seafood counters. Members of the industry said interest in lobster from food processing companies and international buyers is driving heavy demand for the crustaceans. Meanwhile, the fishing season might be slightly off the pace of recent years, so supply is stretched thin, they said. “The season has been maybe a little bit below average, but the price has been pretty decent, so I think we’re going to be OK,” said Kristan Porter, a lobster fisherman and president of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association. America’s lobster industry, based mostly in Maine, goes through pricing ebbs and flows over the course of a typical year. Lobsters are typically heavily fished in summer, when they shed their shells and many reach legal size.

Maryland

Annapolis: Lumped into the “Other” racial and ethnic category, American Indians and Alaska Natives are effectively invisible on the state’s COVID-19 website. More than 120,000 people who identify as Native American live in Maryland, but without public-facing numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths, it is a mystery how many the disease has affected – and how many resources should be allocated to help them. “Not only is that bad public health, but it’s also very dehumanizing for American Indians and Alaska Natives on our native lands,” Kerry Hawk Lessard, executive director of the health services nonprofit Native American Lifelines of Baltimore, told Capital News Service. The Maryland Department of Health puts American Indians and Alaska Natives in the “Other” category for COVID-19 cases and death numbers “due to low statistical occurrence given the population of Native Americans in the state,” department spokesperson Andy Owen wrote in an email to Capital News Service. However, American Indians and Alaska Natives are at the highest risk for death and hospitalization from COVID-19 among all races and ethnicities, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “There is no regulation that requires this manner of reporting,” Owen wrote.

Massachusetts

Boston: Kenya’s Benson Kipruto won the pandemic-delayed Boston Marathon on Monday when the race returned from a 30-month absence with a smaller, socially distanced feel and moved from the spring for the first time in its 125-year history. Although organizers put runners through COVID-19 protocols and asked spectators to keep their distance, large crowds lined the 26.2-mile course from Hopkinton to Boston as an early drizzle cleared and temperatures rose to the low 60s for a beautiful fall day. They watched Kipruto run away from the lead pack as it turned onto Beacon Street with about 3 miles to go, and he broke the tape in 2 hours, 9 minutes, 51 seconds. Diana Kipyogei won the women’s race to complete the eighth Kenyan sweep since 2000. Marcel Hug of Switzerland won the men’s wheelchair race earlier despite making a wrong term in the final mile, finishing the slightly detoured route just seven seconds off his course record in 1:08:11. Manuela Schar, also from Switzerland, won the women’s wheelchair race in 1:35:21. Hug, who has raced Boston eight times and has five victories here, cost himself a $50,000 course record bonus when he missed the second-to-last turn, following the lead vehicle instead of turning from Commonwealth Avenue onto Hereford Street.

Michigan

Detroit: One of the city’s most iconic landmarks, a site familiar to music lovers around the world, is gearing up for a dramatic new look. The Motown Museum has unveiled renderings that depict a crisp, lush, bustling outdoor plaza at Hitsville U.S.A. Officials say they’re aiming to create a welcoming hangout for visitors, inspired by the days when artists and fans strode Motown’s front lawn in search of musical opportunity and glory. And they want to foster a Motown experience before guests even step through the doors. The space, part of the museum’s ongoing $55 million expansion, will be a mix of hardscapes and softscapes: The plaza will be tiled with granite pavers and adorned with benches, flower beds and foliage, including a new line of trees on the property’s west side. A new surround-sound system will envelop visitors in Motown songs as they step onto the grounds, while the space will be bathed in light at night. A permanent stage will host scheduled performances and pop-up music sets, helping address one of the most common questions from tourists in Detroit: “Where can I go to hear Motown music?” The front-yard transformation, now underway and scheduled for completion next summer, is the second of three construction phases in the museum’s expansion project, launched in 2016.

Minnesota

St. Paul: The state imposed an emergency order Monday blocking importation and movement of deer into and within the state to slow the spread of chronic wasting disease from deer farms and protect the state’s wild deer herd. “This disease poses a clear, immediate and serious threat to Minnesota’s wild deer, and these actions reflect what’s at stake,” Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Sarah Strommen said in a news release. The decision came after the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported last month that a Wisconsin deer farm where the disease was detected sold nearly 400 deer to 40 farms across seven states in the past five years. The Minnesota DNR said it learned Sept. 27 that Minnesota farms received five deer from the Wisconsin farm. A farm in Stillwater received two of the deer in 2016. That farm has since closed, and the deer were shipped back to Wisconsin in 2019. The other three deer went to a farm in Clear Lake in 2017. That farm is active but under quarantine. Regulators have yet to approve a live test for CWD, which is similar to mad cow disease. It attacks deer’s brains, causing them to act strangely, lose weight and die. It’s always fatal to deer or elk. It’s caused by an abnormal proteins, prions, that can persist in the environment and spread to other deer.

Mississippi

Jackson: Child care providers are complaining that they are being forced to endure financial hardships, with some even being forced to close their doors, because of the challenge of accessing federal funds through the Mississippi Department of Human Services. Deloris Suel, president of the Child Care Directors Network Alliance, told WLBT-TV the state has failed to distribute half a billion dollars in federal money meant to help support child care providers from the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act and the American Rescue Plan Act. Bob Anderson, executive director for the Department of Human Services, told the television station the agency is not sitting on federal child care money, but officials want to distribute the funds “responsibly, prudently and carefully” and within the parameters of state and federal guidelines. Anderson said the state will be reviewed and audited for every dollar that is awarded. Anderson said that during the pandemic, the state provided thousands of dollars of cash grants to child care providers, and it’s still waiting for hundreds to provide documentation on how the funding was spent. Suel said many child care providers don’t understand the process because it is too complicated and filled with barriers. She said a lot of providers are struggling to stay afloat.

Missouri

Columbia: Elected officials have voted to remove two courthouse murals that show a white man pointing a gun at a Native American man and an attempted lynching. The Boone County Commission made the decision Thursday after lawyers raised concerns. The murals, painted by Sidney Larson in 1994, will be placed in storage. The murals depict multiple scenes from Columbia’s history, including when Southern guerrillas terrorized Union loyalists in 1864. Another scene shows a white man being punished for stealing a cow. Three shirtless Black men also are shown chained by their ankles as they carry a plank. The majority of those who spoke at a public hearing late last month were in favor of the murals’ removal from the courthouse. Among them them was attorney Gary Oxenhandler, who said having the art in the courthouse is a wedge. “Boone County can either be a justice leader or an embarrassing media soundbite,” he said at the hearing. “I have never met a person of color who needed to be reminded their ancestors were lynched by mobs or beaten by police.”

Montana

Busby: Researchers are looking for the graves of nine soldiers killed in the Battle of the Rosebud, the largest battle of the Plains Wars. The fighting involved the U.S. government, committed to confining the Indigenous peoples of the continent to reservations, and the Cheyenne and Lakota who continued to resist, the Billings Gazette reports. To prevent their bodies from being discovered, men under the command of Gen. George Crook built a massive fire over the grave. Once it was snuffed out, they rode horses over the burned earth and covered any trace of who laid below. With much of the battlefield largely unchanged over the next 145 years, a team of researchers conducted a survey last week trying to find those nine men. The hunt for the soldiers’ grave – one of several projects intended to clarify the events of a day often overshadowed by the obliteration of Lt. Col. George Custer and his 263 soldiers – is the result of a partnership among Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, tribal officials, the State Historic Preservation Office and faculty with Colorado Mesa University. “What we’re trying to do is put together the physical history of the battle and see how it fits with Native American oral accounts and written records. We look at it as a crime scene, quite in the literal sense,” said Doug Scott, an expert in forensic and military archaeology with Colorado Mesa University.

Nebraska

Lincoln: Officials are refusing to release presentations the state has received from a nonprofit group that is analyzing criminal justice data to help Nebraska deal with severe overcrowding in its prison system. Gov. Pete Ricketts’ office refused the Omaha World-Herald’s request for those reports from the Crime and Justice Institute because the group of state officials who heard the presentations isn’t a public body, and officials said the information is still in draft form. “If there’s any legislation that comes out of it, it will go to a hearing just like any other bill, and the public will have a chance to weigh in on that,” Ricketts said. At some point, he said, data will be released in support of any prospective legislation. The director of the Nebraska ACLU, Danielle Conrad, said it doesn’t make sense to her that presentations given to a committee composed of public officials would be considered drafts. The ACLU, which has opposed Ricketts’ proposal to build a new prison, said state officials should uphold Nebraska’s “strong and proud tradition of open government” and release the reports. State Corrections Director Scott Frakes is expected to address prison overcrowding concerns when he testifies before the Legislature on Wednesday, but it doesn’t appear likely he will address the work state officials are doing with CJI.

Nevada

Las Vegas: Health officials report a dramatic increase in drug overdose deaths in the state between 2019 and 2020. Accidental overdoses among Nevadans totaled 788 in 2020, a 55% increase from 510 in 2019, the Nevada Overdose Data Program reported Thursday. The number of overdose deaths among people younger than 25 nearly tripled, from 38 in 2019 to 106 in 2020. According to the state’s drug overdose reporting system, 1 of every 2 overdose deaths involved a person with a mental health problem, while 3 in 4 overdose victims had an identified substance misuse problem not related to alcohol. The opioid overdose antidote naloxone is available free statewide, and the overdose data program encourages Nevadans to learn about the life-saving resource. Naloxone can be obtained in Nevada without a prescription. In 2015, Nevada adopted the Good Samaritan Overdose Law, which protects a person from prosecution for many narcotics-related offenses when seeking medical assistance for another person for a drug-related emergency.

New Hampshire

Concord: The New Hampshire Department of Insurance has launched the state’s new HealthCost website to help people compare prices across health care facilities. The site, launched Friday, also includes information on health insurance and an interactive tool to compare hospitals’ quality of care, cleanliness and customer satisfaction. The site can be accessed at nhhealthcost.nh.gov. NH HealthCost, created by the Insurance Department in 2007, uses paid claims data collected from New Hampshire’s health insurers to show patients – insured and uninsured – an estimated price for a procedure. Patients can access the total costs of their procedures, including physician fees, lab fees and facility fees.

New Jersey

Maplewood: Outrage swept social media Friday over allegations that a teacher had pulled a hijab from the head of a second grade student. For Muslims, many of whom view the hijab as an expression of faith, the alleged episode was hurtful and offensive and highlighted what community leaders say is a larger problem of bias in the classroom. “This is really a wake-up call for districts,” said Nagla Bedir, founder of Teaching While Muslim, a New Jersey-based nonprofit focused on education and anti-bias training. “A lot of schools across the country have tried to be more inclusive and anti-racist, but part of anti-racism is also (teaching about) Islamophobia.” The South Orange-Maplewood School District said it was investigating the allegations, which were detailed in an Instagram post Thursday by Olympic fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad, a Maplewood native who said she is friends with the child’s mother. The bronze-medal winner was the first Muslim American woman to wear a hijab while competing at the Olympic Games. Muhammad said the teacher “forcibly removed” the girl’s hijab in class. The teacher “told the student that her hair was beautiful and she did not have to wear hijab to school anymore,” she wrote. “Imagine being a child and stripped of your clothing in front of your classmates. ... This is abuse.”

New Mexico

Santa Fe: A coalition of environmental groups is raising concerns about Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s plans to turn the state into a hydrogen fuel hub. The Democrat, who is running for reelection, has set a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions at least 45% by 2030 as compared to 2005 levels. The Natural Resource Defense Council, the Rio Grande Chapter of the Sierra Club, the New Mexico Environmental Law Center and two dozen other organizations argue in a letter sent to the governor and other top elected officials last week that large-scale development of hydrogen risks incentivizing new oil and natural gas fields. Hydrogen fuel cells can power vehicles to reduce transportation emissions, but most energy used to produce hydrogen comes from natural gas. Some are hopeful that hydrogen can be produced by using electricity generated from solar or wind power to separate hydrogen and oxygen in water. However, the letter warns of excessive water use in a state where the commodity is already scarce. The groups urged the governor to focus on wind and solar energy instead. Lujan Grisham has expressed interest in speaking at a climate change conference next month. Earlier this year, she asked President Joe Biden to exempt oil and gas producers in New Mexico from a drilling moratorium.

New York

New York: The city’s annual Columbus Day Parade returned Monday after being canceled last year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Marching bands and floats traveled up Fifth Avenue as spectators waved green, white and red Italian flags. Organizers said 35,000 marchers took part in the parade, and tens of thousands more watched. Billed as the nation’s largest celebration of Italian American pride, the Columbus Day Parade has faced criticism in recent years from activists who fault the 15th-century explorer Christopher Columbus for his brutal treatment of Indigenous people in the West Indies. Some communities have responded to the controversy by replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day, and President Joe Biden on Friday issued the first-ever presidential proclamation of Indigenous Peoples Day, which was observed Monday along with Columbus Day. Born in the Republic of Genoa, part of modern-day Italy, Columbus sailed from Spain in August 1492 and landed on an island in the Bahamas on Oct. 12 of that year. Many of the native people were forced into servitude. Multitudes died of disease. Spain repopulated the workforce with African slaves. President Benjamin Harrison proclaimed the first national Columbus Day in 1892 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of his “discovery” of the Americas.

North Carolina

Raleigh: The N.C. Department of Transportation has signed a $432 million contract to rebuild 8 miles of Interstate 95 through one county with an eye on eliminating a recurring flooding problem. Flooding resulting from Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and Hurricane Florence in 2018 closed the highway in Robeson County for several days, The News & Observer of Raleigh reports. Starting next year, contractors will begin work on widening I-95 from four lanes to eight and replace bridges at three interchanges. Contractors will use fill dirt to raise the highway above its current elevation through Lumberton, said Matt Lauffer, NCDOT’s hydraulics design engineer. Lauffer said the work aims to raise all bridges and culverts high enough to handle a 100-year flood, plus provide an 18-inch cushion so items floating underneath can pass. The project also calls for a new, higher bridge to carry I-95 over the Lumber River, where floodwaters left the interstate impassable for several days after both hurricanes. Construction on the Lumberton section of I-95 is scheduled to begin next summer and be completed by late summer 2026. NCDOT expects to award two more contracts to widen another 15 miles of I-95 between Lumberton and Fayetteville, starting next fall.

North Dakota

Bismarck: The abrupt closure of a photography business has left couples in a four-state area scrambling to locate wedding photos or find new photographers for upcoming nuptials. Glasser Images owner Jack Glasser said in a statement Friday that due in large part to COVID-19, the Bismarck studio “simply couldn’t keep up with our ongoing costs, debt repayment, salaries, rent and other business expenses.” He told customers in an email that he cannot offer refunds. The move has Johnny Thompson and wife Crystal Brunner-Thompson wondering if they will ever receive photos of their August wedding. They paid more than $2,000 for the Bismarck event. “I’m an only child,” Brunner-Thompson said. “My parents are never going to get to do this again. I have no photos with my parents. I’d never seen my dad get emotional. It’s just stuff you can’t get back.” Glasser Images photographed weddings throughout the Dakotas, Minnesota and Colorado without charging for travel costs, according to the company website. The North Dakota Attorney General’s Office said it had fielded more than 170 complaints about the situation by Friday afternoon and was investigating. Glasser’s attorney, Tim O’Keeffe, told The Bismarck Tribune he and Glasser will try to talk with customers in the coming days.

Ohio

Columbus: Alumni of Ohio Wesleyan University are speaking out after their alma mater was used to film a U.S. Senate campaign ad that demonizes athletes who kneel during the national anthem. GOP candidate Mike Gibbons released an ad last month that paints Democrats, corporations and media as anti-faith and claims they want to “replace God with government.” The video also takes aim at former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who started a movement after he refused to stand during the anthem to protest racial injustice. “I believe in an America where we kneel in devotion, not disrespect,” Gibbons says, as an image of Kaepernick flashes across the screen. The ad also shows an anti-critical race theory sign. Gibbons’ campaign filmed the ad at OWU’s Selby Stadium, which one former student who played football there quickly noticed. Alumni say the ad is divisive and contrary to the Delaware, Ohio, liberal arts school’s values of diversity and inclusion. Gibbons, who played football at Kenyon College, is running in the crowded race to replace retiring Sen. Rob Portman. The ad was part of a $10 million ad buy aimed at keeping him on air until the May primary.

Oklahoma

Oklahoma City: Architectural consultants hired by the Oklahoma County Criminal Justice Advisory Council have shared two multimillion-dollar options for the future of the Oklahoma County Jail, but some citizens are calling for investments in social services instead. The options, one to build an entirely new facility and a second to renovate the existing facility and add an annex, both come with price tags of several hundred million dollars. A new facility valued at $300 million would allow the county to abandon the current, troubled, 30-year-old high-rise facility. Renovation, according to architectural consultants John Semtner and Jeff Bradley, is possible but would mean added time and complexities due to years of deferred maintenance and the requirement to move detainees while each floor of the 13-story building is being worked on. Still frustrated with what they view as a lack of overall progress by the jail trust, some citizens called Thursday’s meeting at which the options were unveiled a sales pitch rather than a listening session. Others argued with assessments of the size of the jail. Many residents cited concerns that building a new, possibly bigger jail would just lead to county officials trying to fill it, recreating the same conditions that exist in the current jail.

Oregon

Salem: Gov. Kate Brown is requesting disaster relief from the federal government for the state’s strained commercial salmon industry. The governor submitted the formal aid request last week to the U.S. Department of Commerce, Oregon Public Broadcasting reports. Brown wrote that the economic return from commercial salmon fishing along most of the coast since 2018 has been less than one-third of what it was in previous years. She said the trend is having severe effects on already distressed rural communities and businesses that depend on salmon. “While economic assistance will be essential to address the impacts of closures and restrictions on our salmon fisheries, it is vitally important that federal, state, tribal, and local governments continue to work together to recover and restore salmon populations and develop management strategies to ensure the long-term health and sustainability of our salmon fisheries,” she said in the letter. State Rep. David Gomberg, D-Otis, is the chair of the Legislature’s Oregon Coastal Caucus, which urged Brown to seek disaster aid. If the relief money comes through, Gomberg said it will help buy time while longer-term solutions are worked out. There is no timeline for when the U.S. Department of Commerce might make its decision.

Pennsylvania

Kennett Square: President Joe Biden attended his nephew’s wedding in the state where he was born Monday before returning to Washington for the week. The president and his wife, Jill Biden, attended the wedding of Cuffe Owens, the son of Biden’s sister Valerie Biden Owens, to Meghan O’Toole King. King is a former cast member on “The Real Housewives of Orange County,” while Owens is an attorney. The event was held at Biden Owens’ home. King shared a photo of the two on Instagram in September, writing: “meet my man.” Joe Biden had a quiet weekend in Wilmington, Delaware, visiting church early Sunday but otherwise keeping to his home. King was previously married to retired MLB player Jim Edmonds.

Rhode Island

Providence: Johnson & Wales University is suing its insurer over financial losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic, alleging the company breached its contract because it did not allow the university to claim pandemic-related economic losses. The university, whose main campus is based in Providence, said the American Guarantee & Liability Company’s current policy does not have preventive pandemic-related coverage in its insurance policy to cover economic losses. As a result of the pandemic, the university said it lost enrollment, tuition, housing and dining revenues while expensing additional COVID-19 safety protocols. In the lawsuit, Johnson & Wales asked the court to rule that the insurer must cover its financial losses “totaling many millions of dollars.” A spokesperson for Zurich Insurance Group, American Guarantee’s parent company, did not respond to an email seeking comment. The company has also not yet responded to the lawsuit in court.

South Carolina

Columbia: An appellate court is set to debate a lawsuit challenging South Carolina’s abortion law about a week after the U.S. Supreme Court considers a similar measure in Mississippi. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has tentatively scheduled the South Carolina case for oral arguments the week of Dec. 6, according to an order from the court posted Friday. Planned Parenthood is suing South Carolina over the measure, which was signed into law by Republican Gov. Henry McMaster earlier this year and requires doctors to perform ultrasounds to check for a so-called fetal heartbeat. If cardiac activity – which can typically be detected about six weeks into pregnancy – is detected, the abortion can only be performed if the pregnancy was caused by rape or incest or if the mother’s life is in danger. Opponents have argued that many women do not know they are pregnant at six weeks and that with such an early deadline, the law gives women little time to consider whether to have an abortion. Medical experts say the cardiac activity is not an actual heartbeat but rather an initial flutter of electric activity within cells in an embryo. They say the heart doesn’t begin to form until the fetus is at least 9 weeks old, and they decry efforts to promote abortion bans by relying on medical inaccuracies.

South Dakota

Sioux Falls: The Boy Scouts of America are set to sell a campground to the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Department for $2million. Department officials confirmed at their October meeting that the Boy Scouts are ready to finalize the sale of the 223-acre campground to the agency in late November. The state appraised the property at $3.59 million earlier this year. The campground sits between Newton Hills State Park and the Johnson Game Production Area. Boy Scout leaders have talked about selling it since 2011. A push from national Scout leaders to upgrade existing facilities led them to approach GFP officials about a sale last year. The campground was built during the 1930s and would require extensive improvements to bring it up to Boy Scouts of America standards.

Tennessee

Nashville: State agriculture officials are offering to share the costs with landowners who are interested in improving the forests and watersheds on their properties near two rivers. The state Department of Agriculture says the Duck and Elk Watershed Initiative is open for applications until Oct. 29. The counties in the watershed of the Duck and Elk rivers include Bedford, Coffee, Dickson, Franklin, Giles, Hickman, Humphreys, Lewis, Lincoln, Marshall, Maury, Moore and Williamson. Eligible activities include tree planting, forest improvement, invasive plant management and prescribed burning. The activities should be implemented from January through May of next year. The Division of Forestry is offering free site visits and consultations on action plans to improve the watershed.

Texas

Houston: Executions in the nation’s busiest capital punishment state face delays amid legal questions about Texas’ refusal to allow spiritual advisers to touch inmates and pray aloud as condemned individuals are being put to death. It’s unclear when Texas may carry out another execution after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to hear religious freedom claims from death row inmate John Henry Ramirez. The court blocked his execution last month, about three hours after it could have been carried out. Several other inmates have since made similar claims, and courts have put some of their executions on hold. “It would be unusual for somebody who has the same issue to not get a stay while the Supreme Court is deciding that issue. It would be very unusual,” said Michael Benza, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. A ruling from the Supreme Court could be months away. It’s set to hear oral arguments Nov. 1. Ramirez says the state is violating his religious freedom by not letting his spiritual adviser lay hands on him and pray out loud as he is executed. Texas prison officials say that direct contact poses a security risk and that prayers said aloud could be disruptive.

Utah

Farmington: An unexpected snowstorm forced the rescue of dozens of runners in a long-distance trail race in the mountains of northern Utah. None of the 87 or so runners rescued Saturday was hospitalized, though several were treated for hypothermia, and one was hurt in a fall, according to Davis County Sheriff Kelly Sparks. “We feel very fortunate today that there were no serious injuries,” Sparks said. The 50-mile race in the Francis Peak area between Ogden and Salt Lake City began at 5 a.m. Severe weather struck about four hours later. Some runners were wearing just shorts and a T-shirt, authorities said. Race organizers had told runners to expect rain, but the rain turned to snow, runner Kelcey McClung Stowell said. “We thought, ‘We’ll be OK once we get to Francis Peak, and then we start coming down the mountain. We’ll be out of the snow, and it’ll be fine,’ ” Stowell said. “But it just turned terrible. It was just like a blizzard up there.” Temperatures plummeted to 20 degrees Fahrenheit, and as much as 18 inches of snow fell in strong wind. Rescuers using snowmobiles and other vehicles caught up with runners on the route and got them out of the mountains, KSL-TV reports. All runners were accounted for by 2:45 p.m.

Vermont

Weybridge: After erosion washed away some graves at an old cemetery near a riverbank, the remains of two Revolutionary War soldiers and others buried there will be moved to a new resting place. Revolutionary War soldier Josiah Clark, who fought at the 1775 Battle of Bunker Hill in Massachusetts, was buried in the Stow cemetery in Weybridge in 1835. Erosion over the years left his grave perched on the edge of the steep eroding bank, so his bones were exhumed in 2019. Revolutionary War soldier William Haven is also buried there, a bit farther back from the bank. The roughly 20 graves eventually will be moved to the Old Weybridge Hill Cemetery. An archeological team from the University of Vermont is now working to remove graves along the bank, starting with the ones most at risk, Tom Giffin, president of the Vermont Old Cemetery Association, said Monday. “I feel relieved that they’ll not be washed over the bank and go down Otter Creek. I thought that was awful wrong,” Giffin said. “My big thing is this is a history of the United States, as well as a history of Vermont, as well as a history of Weybridge.” The archeological team, including students, started its work last week, and the first reinternments are expected to take place next spring.

Virginia

Alexandria: More than $33 million in U.S. Department of Justice grants has been awarded to 26 Virginia-based public and nonprofit organizations to fund programs that address violence against women, a federal prosecutor says. Acting U.S. Attorney Raj Parekh said in a news release Friday that the grants will provide funding and essential services to vulnerable communities – especially women, people with disabilities and immigrants – who are victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. The department’s Office on Violence Against Women selected organizations from across the Eastern District of Virginia to receive funding through 42 separate grants. The money will allow the organizations to better address a wide variety of needs and issues facing victims of domestic and sexual violence. The recipients include state government entities that provide services throughout the commonwealth, as well as nongovernmental organizations that provide technical training and assistance nationwide. In addition, grants were awarded to universities to combat domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking on campus. Multiple nonprofit organizations that provide direct services to victims and survivors in the district also received funding.

Washington

Olympia: A mandatory payroll tax to fund the state’s new long-term care program will start coming out of most workers’ paychecks in January. The insurance benefit, dubbed the WA Cares Fund, is a first-in-nation public insurance program aimed at helping older residents age in their own homes, The Seattle Times reports. The plan, signed into law in 2019 through the Long Term Care Trust Act, will use a 0.58% payroll tax to pay up to a $36,500 benefit for individuals to pay for home health care and an array of services related to long-term health care including equipment, transportation and meal assistance. The plan is expected to save $3.9 billion in state Medicaid costs by 2052, and eligible beneficiaries will be able to begin collecting benefits starting in 2025. The program has drawn both ire and praise from advocacy groups and politicians. Advocates cite a rapidly aging population and high premiums on the current private long-term care market, while critics have lambasted the plan as expensive, unnecessary and inflexible in terms of eligibility and payout.

West Virginia

Davis: Two locations have been added to a new program to protect rare plant and animal species. Bald Knob and the Canaan Valley wetlands are the first sites in the West Virginia Natural Areas Program, the state Division of Natural Resources said in a news release. The program places extra protection on areas with significant conservation needs under the agency’s administration. Both areas are within the Canaan Valley Resort State Park. The areas include more than 2,200 acres of rare conifer swamps and red spruce forest with more than 40 rare plants, 12 rare invertebrates and several animals unique to the area, the agency said. “These two areas have the state’s highest concentration of federally listed species and species of greatest conservation need, and this designation is going to give us the awareness and resources we need to make sure they are properly managed,” said Scott Warner, the division’s assistant chief of wildlife diversity.

Wisconsin

Oneida: Gov. Tony Evers issued a formal apology Monday for the state’s role in Native American boarding schools, joining with tribal leaders at an Indigenous Peoples Day event. Evers signed an executive order that also formally supported the previously announced U.S. Department of the Interior investigation into the schools and asked that anything done in Wisconsin be conducted in consultation with the state’s tribes. Wisconsin is home to 11 recognized American Indian tribes. Starting with the Indian Civilization Act of 1819, the U.S. enacted laws and policies to establish and support Indian boarding schools across the nation. For more than 150 years, Indigenous children were taken from their communities and forced into boarding schools that focused on assimilation. Records show that Wisconsin was home to at least 10 day and boarding schools attended by thousands of American Indian children between the 1860s and 1970s, the governor’s office said. Additionally, hundreds of children were sent from Wisconsin to attend out-of-state schools, the governor’s office said. The lack of available and reliable documentation related to the schools makes it challenging to know the full scope of what happened in Wisconsin, Evers’ office said.

Wyoming

Laramie: A lab at the University of Wyoming is monitoring wastewater in six communities to track the coronavirus’ presence in the state, the Casper Star-Tribune reports. Funded by an $800,000 state grant, the university’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources is regularly testing wastewater from Cowley, Deaver, Hudson, Laramie, Pinedale and Powell as part of a 30-town tracking effort to see where COVID-19 may be going undetected, according to the newspaper.

From USA TODAY Network and wire reports

News from around our 50 states

From USA TODAY Network and wire reports

Alabama

Carbon Hill: Two city leaders have resigned after their mayor posted a comment on Facebook about “killing out” socialists, “baby killers,” and gay and transgender people. But Mayor Mark Chambers refused to step down and told residents he plans to run for re-election. Protesters staged a die-in and then confronted Chambers at a meeting Monday, where he sat between two empty chairs. Some asked just how he’d like to kill them. One carried a sign saying, “If you kill me, my ghost will haunt you.” The meeting soon ended, with Chambers walking out past people calling for him to resign. He met privately beforehand with a small group of protesters. Resident Rawsy McCollum says the mayor apologized and said his comments shouldn’t have been public. But McCollum says he shouldn’t have voiced hatred at all, and it’s time for him to go.

Alaska

Anchorage: Alaska Natives are sharing their world with a general audience in the nation’s first-ever children’s series featuring indigenous leads. “Molly of Denali” premieres Monday on PBS Kids. The animated show highlights the adventures of a 10-year-old Athabascan girl, Molly Mabray. Her family owns the Denali Trading Post in the fictitious community of Qyah, which has a diverse population. Native Americans voice the indigenous characters. The series is co-produced by Boston-based WGBH and animation partner Atomic Cartoons in collaboration with Alaska Native advisers and script writers. The 30-minute show will run mornings seven days a week. WGBH executive producer Dorothea Gillim says PBS ordered 38 half-hour episodes besides the hourlong premiere. Each episode also includes a short video featuring real Alaska Native children living life in the vast state.

Arizona

Chandler: Dozens of city employees in this Phoenix suburb will use self-driving vehicles at work in partnership with Waymo, an autonomous vehicle company. The partnership will begin this month as Chandler evaluates whether using the autonomous vehicles cuts costs to maintain and operate its vehicles and makes employees more productive. Officials say the program will last at least a year. Chandler has been a leader on testing autonomous vehicles in metro Phoenix. Waymo, formerly known as the Google self-driving car project, has been testing its autonomous vehicles in the area since 2016. The partnership will let employees use the Waymo app to schedule rides to work meetings within the company’s service area.

Arkansas

Little Rock: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will visit the city later this year as part of a lecture series put on by the Clinton Foundation and the Clinton School of Public Service. Ginsburg became the second female justice of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1993 after then-President Bill Clinton nominated her to the post. She’s to speak Sept. 3 on the campus of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Ginsburg missed six days of arguments last term as she recovered from surgery for lung cancer, but she returned to the bench in February. In March, fans marked her 86th birthday by wearing workout gear and exercising in front of the high court in a nod to Ginsburg’s well-known workout routine. The Little Rock event is open to the public.

California

Sacramento: The state Senate on Monday sent legislation to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk that will spend $130 million a year over the next decade to improve drinking water for about a million people. Roughly 1 million of California’s nearly 40 million residents don’t have access to clean drinking water because of pollution from humans or natural causes, a fact state lawmakers have called an embarrassment for a state with the fifth-largest economy in the world. The problem is statewide, but it is concentrated in the Central Valley – the capital of the state’s $20 billion agriculture industry. Senators approved the measure 38-1. Newsom had proposed a tax on most residential water bills to address the problem. But state lawmakers were wary of approving a new tax in a year when they had an estimated $21.5 billion surplus. Instead, on Monday the state Senate approved a bill that would authorize spending up to $130 million each year on the state’s distressed water districts, with most of it coming from a fund aimed at fighting climate change.

Colorado

Colorado Springs: A giraffe herd at a local zoo has welcomed its 16th member following the birth of a calf. The 10-year-old reticulated giraffe named Msitu gave birth Saturday at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. The zoo says the calf was about 6 feet tall at birth and weighed more than 150 pounds. Zoo officials say the mother and calf appear to be doing well. The sex of the calf has not yet been confirmed. The zoo waits 30 days before naming babies. Pregnancies for reticulated giraffes can last up to 15 months. The calf is Msitu’s third. She gave birth to Emy in 2013 and to Rae in 2017. Emy lives at a zoo in Peoria, Illinois. Rae remains with the Colorado Springs herd.

Connecticut

Norwalk: A federal judge has cleared the way for state and federal transportation officials to move forward with a $1.1 billion replacement of a 122-year-old movable railroad bridge in the city. U.S. District Court Judge Stefan Underhill ruled Monday against opponents who had filed a lawsuit that argued there are cheaper alternatives for replacing the Walk Bridge. The Norwalk Harbor Keeper and others say that unlike a century ago, few boats with tall masts currently pass in and out of the Norwalk River. They had suggested replacing the bridge with a fixed bridge that would save taxpayers money and cause less disruption to the environment. In his ruling, Underhill said the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue. He also found the government made its decision properly after considering other options.

Delaware

Dover: Leo E. Strine Jr., the state’s witty and sometimes controversial Supreme Court chief justice, is stepping down from the bench with about half his term remaining. Strine delivered his resignation letter to Gov. John Carney on Monday, saying he plans to retire in the fall. A press release from the governor’s office did not detail Strine’s reasons, and the chief justice’s spokesman said he is on vacation and not available for comment. During his tenure, the court invalidated the state’s death penalty, ruled on controversial land use issues and weighed in on billion-dollar business disputes. His stepping down begins a process in which Carney will nominate his successor, a dance that will be watched closely by legal and corporate circles around the world given Delaware’s prominence in business.

District of Columbia

Washington: The National Zoo says the first documented Asian water dragon to be born from the DNA of a single parent has died. The Washington Post reports the zoo says the 2-year-old female lizard died from blood cancer in mid-June. The lizard was born in 2016 through a process known as facultative parthenogenesis, which is when female creatures that can produce sexually instead produce offspring on their own. The lizard was hospitalized after workers found it struggling to breathe. It was later found dead. The zoo says water dragons are native to Southeast Asia and have a life expectancy of up to 15 years. They’re named after their defensive strategy that involves submerging themselves in water and holding their breath for up to 25 minutes.

Florida

Tallahassee: Voting rights advocates have filed suit against the Florida secretary of state over a new law they say makes it impossible to hold early voting on college campuses. They argue that the law disenfranchises young voters. The measure requires early voting locations to have “sufficient non-permitted parking,” which critics say would virtually ban sites on colleges campuses because of their restrictive parking rules. It was part of a broader voting bill signed into law last month by Gov. Ron DeSantis. The lawsuit against Secretary of State Laurel M. Lee was filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Tallahassee. Lee did not have a direct hand in drafting the law but would have to enforce it. The plaintiffs include the League of Women Voters and eight young voters.

Georgia

Atlanta: Scientists are learning more about suicides among the state’s farmers – and they say the aftermath of Hurricane Michael could bring more risks to rural areas. New research shows that relationship issues, health-related problems and financial hardship are among the most common factors. A University of Georgia researcher believes Hurricane Michael could pose an additional threat to Georgia’s farming community. Anna Scheyett, dean of the University of Georgia School of Social Work, says farmers are very resilient – but they’re also vulnerable and need support. WABE Radio reports that Scheyett examined 106 cases of suicide among farmers and agriculture workers, which were recorded in the Georgia Violent Death Reporting System from 2008 to 2015.

Hawaii

Honolulu: A large missile defense radar mounted on a modified floating oil platform has returned to the state. Missile Defense Agency spokeswoman Maria Njoku told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser the radar is back at Pearl Harbor for regular maintenance and installation of system upgrades. She says shore personnel will conduct inspections and surveys, and crew members will receive training. The Missile Defense Agency plans to keep the $2 billion Sea-Based X-Band Radar at sea for more than 300 days in the next fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 to “address the continued missile test activity in North Korea.” The agency plans to have the radar spend 330 days at sea each year between 2021 and 2024. The military is planning to build a series of land-based sensors that will also track ballistic missiles.

Idaho

Boise: Environmental groups say a U.S. Forest Service plan to improve wildlife habitat in eastern Idaho will do the opposite and takes an illegal shortcut around environmental laws. Alliance for the Wild Rockies and two other groups filed a lawsuit in federal court last week seeking to halt the Rowley Canyon Wildlife Enhancement Project in Bannock County. The Forest Service in June approved the project that would remove more than half of the juniper trees on about 1,300 acres and remove shrubs on another 400 acres. Federal officials say that will improve habitat for deer, elk and grouse. The environmental groups say it instead will allow cheatgrass and other invasive plants to move in and destroy good habitat.

Illinois

Springfield: The Illinois State Museum Society is offering day trips for people to explore the state’s history and culture this summer by coach bus. The first trip, scheduled Aug. 10, will feature a visit to the Illinois State Museum Lockport Gallery and a 90-minute walking tour of the Old Joliet Prison. The facility was Illinois’ second state prison and operated from 1858 to 2002. It was famously featured in the movie “The Blues Brothers.” The second trip, Sept. 14, will focus on African American history. The first stop will be in New Philadelphia, the site of the first town platted and registered by an African American. The group will then visit the Huck Finn Freedom Center in Hannibal, Missouri. Trips range in cost from $114 to $149.

Indiana

Bloomington: Tiles with images of swastikas that were installed more than a century ago have been removed from the walls inside an Indiana University building. The school says the tiles at the Indiana University School of Public Health classroom building were installed before the swastika was adopted as the symbol of the Nazi Party. They’re among tiles that include symbols from different cultures. The (Bloomington) Herald-Times reports an explanation of the symbol’s history was posted near the tiles for many years, but some still found the tiles offensive. The school says the swastika tiles will be sanded to remove the symbol and remounted. The tiles were installed during the construction of the original IU Men’s Gymnasium in 1917. It’s now part of the IU School of Public Health classroom building.

Iowa

Des Moines: A southwest Iowa man has won his free speech legal battle with a sheriff’s department and two officers who charged him with harassment for writing a social media post that profanely criticized a deputy. The Adams County Sheriff’s Office will pay Jon Richard Goldsmith $10,000 to settle a federal lawsuit he filed in May alleging violations of his free speech rights, retaliation and false arrest. The sheriff’s office agreed to a court order filed Monday that prohibits it from bringing criminal charges against or threatening to criminally charge citizens on the basis of the lawful comments, posts or other speech protected by the First Amendment. The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa represented Goldsmith in the lawsuit against Adams County, Deputy Cory Dorsey and his supervisor.

Kansas

Wichita: A violent crime rate about twice the national average has prompted city law enforcement officials to join a national program that aims to drive down crime. The Wichita Eagle reports the city is among 10 selected this year to participate in the U.S. Department of Justice National Safety Partnership. Wichita cited the latest figures published by the FBI and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation in its application for the program. Shootings have climbed steadily since 2014. Murders, rapes and aggravated assaults all ticked up between 2016 and 2018. And domestic violence now accounts for nearly half of all aggravated assaults reported in the city. The partnership will provide training and technical assistance to the department at no cost.

Kentucky

Lexington: The city is ramping up the horseplay with a simple message to prospective visitors: Won’t you be my neighhhbor? As part of an ad campaign, VisitLEX, Lexington’s Convention and Visitors Bureau, dressed up a horse as Fred Rogers, the writer and host of preschool television series “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” The star of the campaign is Hank, a 21-year-old horse from the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. Hank’s outfit was designed by Lexington-based fashion designer Soreyda Benedit Begley. Coincidentally, the horse’s name almost matches that of Tom Hanks, who will portray Rogers in the upcoming film “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” set to be released in November. Lexington, surrounded by more than 400 horse farms, claims to be the horse capital of the world.

Louisiana

Covington: A dispute is developing over whether a hotel and conference center should be developed at a state park. A study paid for by the St. Tammany Parish Tourist and Convention Commission says the project should be built at Fontainebleau State Park near Mandeville. The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate reports that the proposed lodge and conference center would offer views of Lake Pontchartrain. It is projected to generate $1.8 million in cash flow in 2021, its first year. That’s projected to grow to nearly $2.3 million by 2025. Critics of the plan say it will draw commerce away from existing businesses in Slidell and Covington. They also question the need for more revenue at a park that they said brings in $1.3 million a year, with expenses of $1.2 million.

Maine

Augusta: A new state law is designed to prevent young children from being suspended or expelled from schools. Democratic Gov. Janet Mills has signed “An Act to Promote Social and Emotional Learning and Development for Young Children” into law. The proposal by Democratic Sen. Cathy Breen of Falmouth is intended to cut down on suspension and expulsion rates by providing a consultation program for teachers and parents of young children. Senate Democrats say the proposal will create a voluntary program that makes consultants with advanced training in mental health and child development available to help “contain the impact of challenging behaviors in the classroom.” The Democrats say Maine has the second-highest rate of preschool student expulsion in the country, and that causes disruptions in the education of the children.

Maryland

Annapolis: An area in the state that’s home to abandoned World War I-era steamships has been designated a new national marine sanctuary. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the state of Maryland and Charles County announced the Mallows Bay-Potomac River National Marine Sanctuary on Monday. It contains more than 100 abandoned steamships and vessels that were built as part of the nation’s engagement in World War I. It’s about 40 miles south of Washington, D.C., along an 18-mile stretch of Potomac River coast in Charles County. Maryland nominated the area for sanctuary designation in 2014 to conserve the shipwrecks and increase opportunities for public access, tourism and economic development. The sanctuary designation will take effect following 45 days of congressional session after publication of the action in the Federal Register.

Massachusetts

Boston: A replica of the Mayflower will be sailing to the city as part of commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrims’ landing in Massachusetts. Organizers say the Mayflower II will be on display at the Charlestown Navy Yard from May 14 to May 19, 2020, and visitors will have an opportunity to board the ship for free. The vessel has been undergoing a $7.5 million restoration at the Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut since 2016. The original Mayflower was lost to history after returning to England following its famous 1620 voyage to the New World. The full-scape replica ship was built in England in the 1950s and has been berthed in Plymouth Harbor. Plans are to bring it back to Plymouth following the Mayflower Sails 2020 event.

Michigan

Lansing: The governor has signed legislation honoring the late Queen of Soul with a highway designation. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Monday approved the bill to designate a portion of M-10 in Detroit as the “Aretha L. Franklin Memorial Highway.” Franklin died in the city last year after battling pancreatic cancer. Whitmer, a Democrat, noted in a statement that Franklin’s “creativity and voice contributed to our musical and cultural history in Michigan.” Supporters of the designation say dedicating a portion of the highway is a way to honor the musical and cultural icon, who grew up in Detroit and learned the gospel fundamentals at New Bethel Baptist Church. Some Republicans who opposed the bill, however, have said such designations should only go to fallen first responders and military veterans.

Minnesota

Minneapolis: Two University of Minnesota students are launching a prescription drug repository program to redistribute unused medications to people who are struggling to pay for their medicine. Minnesota Public Radio News reports that pharmacy students Rowan Mahon and Hannah Van Ochten were behind the bill to set up the repository, which will begin next year. Gov. Tim Walz approved a state health budget that included the measure this spring. The new law allows care facilities to send unused pills to a central repository, where they’ll undergo safety checks. Mahon says the medicine can’t be expired or show signs of tampering. Once cleared for use, the drugs can be distributed at reduced prices for people in need. Mahon is applying for grants and fundraising to get the program off the ground.

Mississippi

Gulfport: Toxic bacteria are keeping swimmers out of the water on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and it will be weeks before financial information shows whether beach closures are hurting the local economy. The communications director for the tourism agency Coastal Mississippi, Erin Rosetti, says she’s seeing fewer people hanging out on the sand. “We do see people on the beach. However, we don’t see them en masse as we are used to during this month,” Rosetti said Monday. The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality is warning that people and pets should stay out of saltwater near the mainland beaches. The agency started closing some beaches June 22 and on Sunday closed the last two sections near the Alabama line. While the water is off limits, people can still be on the sand.

Missouri

St. Joseph: Officials say a letter filled with a white, granular substance that spurred an evacuation contained human ashes. St. Joseph spokeswoman Mary Robertson said the city finance department evacuated Monday after a staffer opened the letter and saw a bag filled with a white substance inside. The envelope was addressed to the mayor and had been cut open and re-taped shut. Robertson says once emergency officials were able to safely open the envelope, they found a letter explaining that it contained the ashes of a former resident who died last year and had wanted her ashes to be spread around City Hall. Hazmat officials confirmed the substance was human ashes. Robertson says she’s not sure if the ashes will be spread at City Hall.

Montana

Bozeman: In their quest to develop an improved computer that could one day be used in NASA spacecraft, Montana State University researchers have tinkered with their creation on the laboratory bench, dangled it from high-altitude helium balloons, sent it to the International Space Station and launched it into Earth’s orbit on a bread loaf-sized satellite. Now it will go to the moon. NASA announced that an MSU team led by Brock LaMeres has won a coveted spot on a 2020-2021 lunar mission that will be the biggest trial yet for the radiation-tolerant computing concept LaMeres conceived more than a decade ago. “Talk about a moonshot,” said LaMeres, professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering in MSU’s Norm Asbjornson College of Engineering. “The dream has always been to get (this technology, called RadPC) that far out into space.”

Nebraska

Denton: The state Game and Parks Commission is inviting families to experience prairie wildlife and enjoy time together during a bioblitz scheduled for Saturday at Denton Prairie in southeast Nebraska. A bioblitz is an intense survey of species within a designated area. Attendees will count as many living things as possible in three hours, with teams looking for birds, insects, plants and more. The day will begin at 7 a.m. with a bird banding demonstration. Participants will begin looking for species about 9 a.m. and halt at noon. Water and snacks will be available; participants are encouraged to bring their own water bottles. Denton Prairie is a part of the Prairie Corridor on Haines Branch, a tallgrass prairie passage that connects Pioneers Park Nature Center to Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center.

Nevada

Ely: Federal officials say they plan to round up as many as 800 wild horses from vast range in eastern Nevada to reduce what land managers call damaging overpopulation. The Bureau of Land Management says the operation was scheduled to begin Tuesday in a public land study area known as the Triple B Complex. The complex covers about 2,500 square miles in the bureau’s Elko and Ely districts. A statement says helicopters will be used, the roundup should last less than four weeks, and the aim is to reduce the number of wild horses from an estimated 3,400 to about 2,600. The bureau says agents will escort public observers at pre-scheduled times, and captured horses will be checked by a veterinarian and offered for adoption or sale through a bureau program in Sparks.

New Hampshire

Concord: The state is increasing its efforts to serve its aging population. Republican Gov. Chris Sununu last week signed a bill to create a commission to advocate for elderly residents. The commission will replace a small committee within the Department of Health and Human Services that was composed mostly of volunteers. The new group will include representatives from seven state agencies and a full-time director. Doug McNutt of AARP New Hampshire told New Hampshire Public Radio the state needs to do a better job of adapting to issues affecting the aging population, including workforce issues and housing. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, New Hampshire is the second-oldest state. Maine has the highest median age, with New Hampshire and Vermont right behind.

New Jersey

Jersey City: Gov. Phil Murphy has signed legislation aimed at helping first responders to the Sept. 11 attacks. The Democrat signed the bills Monday at Liberty State Park, across the Hudson River from the site of the 2001 attacks. One measure permits volunteer first responders to qualify for disability pensions when they retire. It’s aimed at helping those who were not on duty but who helped after the World Trade Center towers fell. A legislative estimate says it’s unclear how much the change would cost. It depends on how many retirees apply, and the estimate doesn’t specify a possible number. The other measure makes it easier for first responders to get workers compensation by removing the burden of proving the cause of an illness in certain cases.

New Mexico

White Oaks: A saloon in this ghost town attracts regulars with diverse backgrounds and opinions with a promise to “have dialogue.” The Albuquerque Journal reports the No Scum Allowed Saloon pulls in people from around the state and sometimes tourists from overseas because of its reputation and catchy name. Saloon owner Karen Haughness, one of nine people who live in White Oaks, says the saloon’s regulars often exceed the town’s population. She says the establishment cultivates civil discourse among visitors. The town was founded after gold was discovered in the region in 1879. Outlaw Billy the Kid is said to have visited White Oaks often looking for a good time. White Oaks is 160 miles southeast of Albuquerque.

New York

Albany: A county clerk in western New York has filed a lawsuit challenging a new state law authorizing driver’s licenses for immigrants who are in the country illegally. Erie County Clerk Michael Kearns filed the federal court challenge late Monday. The suit seeks a court injunction blocking the law while its constitutionality is reviewed by the court. The lawsuit names Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Attorney General Letitia James, both Democrats, as defendants. Kearns says the law forces county clerks to violate their oaths of office by granting licenses to immigrants who have broken immigration law. Supporters of the measure, which passed last month, say they expected a lawsuit and carefully crafted the law to withstand court scrutiny. Twelve states already have similar laws.

North Carolina

Raleigh: Legislation designed to give prosecutors a new tool to convict drug dealers and to require public schools to teach more finance education is now law. The bills are among a dozen Gov. Roy Cooper said Monday that he’s signed into law. One bill makes it a felony to illegally sell drugs that result in an overdose death, punishable by up to 40 years in prison. Supporters say the “death by distribution” law will help fight the opioid epidemic, but critics say it will deter people from calling 911 during an overdose. Another new law requires high school students to pass a personal finance and economics class to graduate. Some teachers worry this will detract from other instruction, but supporters believe financial literacy is critical to real-world success.

North Dakota

Bismarck: State officials are looking for help collecting an insect that attacks an invasive plant. The state departments of Agriculture and Trust Lands as well as several county weed boards are trying to round up flea beetles and disperse them to feed on leafy spurge, one of North Dakota’s worst noxious weeds. They’ve been running collection days at different locations around the state since late June. The next scheduled day is Thursday along Franks Creek Road north of Fryburg in Billings County. Collection efforts are slated for 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Collectors should bring sweep nets and coolers with ice packs for transporting the beetles.

Ohio

Wapakoneta: This small city is shooting for the moon in celebrating its native son’s history-making walk 50 years ago this month. The hometown of Neil Armstrong has expanded its usual weekend “summer moon festival” to 10 days of Apollo 11 commemorations, starting this Friday. Tens of thousands of visitors – the biggest crowds here since Armstrong’s post-mission homecoming – are expected. There will be hot air balloons, ’60s-themed evenings, concerts, rocket launches and a visit from five other Ohio astronauts. And “the world’s largest moon pie,” all 50 pounds of it. Event planning began two years ago in this city of about 10,000 that has added nearly 3,000 residents since 1969 but retains that everybody-knows-everybody rural town feel.

Oklahoma

Kingfisher: No injuries or damage have been reported following several small earthquakes in central Oklahoma. The U.S. Geological Survey says a magnitude 3.1 temblor was recorded at 9:44 a.m. Tuesday 7 miles west of Kingfisher, or about 35 miles west of Oklahoma City. The earthquake was recorded at a depth of 4 miles. Two other earthquakes, both magnitude 2.6, were recorded in the same area Tuesday. Thousands of earthquakes in Oklahoma in recent years have been linked to the underground injection of wastewater from oil and gas production. The USGS reports the number of magnitude 3.0 or greater earthquakes is on pace to decline for the fourth straight year after state regulators began directing producers to close some wells and reduce volumes in others.

Oregon

Salem: A state Senate committee has placed conditions by which Sen. Brian Boquist, R-Dallas, must abide if he enters the Capitol building, stemming from threats he made more than two weeks ago against the Senate president and Oregon State Police. Until a full investigation into his comments is complete, Boquist must give 12 hours advance notice to the secretary of the Senate before he intends to be in the Capitol. When he is in the building, State police will bolster their presence. The Senate Committee on Conduct also voted Monday to advise Boquist he cannot retaliate against anyone who raised concerns about safety because of his comments or anyone who is participating in the investigation. During a recent GOP walkout to protest a cap-and-trade bill, Boquist told state police to “send bachelors and come heavily armed” if they came after him.

Pennsylvania

Altoona: A convenience store chain is putting Bitcoin ATMs in six shops around the state, giving customers the ability to buy and sell the cryptocurrency with U.S. dollars. Sheetz, based in Altoona, announced Tuesday that it has teamed up with Coinsource to put the ATMs in the five Pennsylvania stores and a shop in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Ryan Sheetz, a vice president at the company, says the family-owned chain is always trying to be innovative and give customers what they want. Customers must enroll with Coinsource before they can use the ATMs. Then they’ll be able to make transactions from $5 to $5,000 per day from the machines.

Rhode Island

South Kingston: State officials are telling visitors to a local pond to watch out for jellyfish. The Department of Health says five people have been treated in emergency rooms after being stung by jellyfish at Potter Pond in South Kingston. Experts say the type of creatures involved, known as clinging jellyfish, are small – about the size of a dime – but pack a powerful sting. Symptoms can range from mild discomfort to severe pain and occasionally even respiratory or neurological problems. People wading in the pond are advised to wear protective clothing and take other precautions. Officials say clinging jellyfish typically attach themselves to underwater aquatic vegetation and algae and have been found in other ponds and estuaries. They are not typically found on ocean beaches.

South Carolina

Greenville: Police say a woman stole a vehicle after throwing a snake at the driver, then crashed through barricades set up for a pole-vaulting exhibition. In a statement, Greenville Police identified the suspect as 29-year-old Hilmary Moreno-Berrios. They she was hurt in Friday’s crash and released from the hospital Monday. Authorities say Moreno-Berrios demanded a woman’s keys and threw a live black snake at her. They say she then drove the stolen SUV, with the snake still in it, into barriers set up for the Liberty Bridge Jump-Off. Moreno-Berrios is charged with carjacking, malicious damage to property and five traffic violations. It wasn’t known whether she had a lawyer to contact for comment on her behalf. Police say the snake wasn’t venomous and was released in nearby woods.

South Dakota

Fort Pierre: A new proposal would ban transporting deer and elk carcasses in some parts of the state to help slow the spread of chronic wasting disease. The South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Commission on Tuesday gave preliminary approval to the most restrictive options presented to the commissioners for transporting mule deer, whitetail deer and elk carcasses into and around South Dakota. A final decision is expected in September. If approved, the restrictions would go into effect July 1, 2020. Chronic wasting disease has been found in free-ranging deer and elk in southwestern South Dakota. Staff urged the commission to adopt the most restrictive options to slow the disease’s spread to the rest of the state. CWD is a fatal disease that strikes the nervous system in deer, elk and moose.

Tennessee

Pigeon Forge: Laura Mabel Francatelli survived the sinking of the Titanic wearing a life jacket she cherished for the rest of her long life. Now, for the first time in 107 years, Francatelli’s jacket is on public display. It’s one of six on exhibit through December at the Titanic Museum Attraction in Pigeon Forge. The six life jackets – two linked to surviving passengers and four others with sadder, less certain pasts – are half of the 12 known to still exist from the Titanic. “It’s very poignant,” says Paul Burns, the museum’s curator. “This was a tragedy for the survivors and the victims.” Francatelli’s life jacket was unveiled Tuesday in a ceremony at the museum. Musicians performed “Nearer My God to Thee” – the last song Titanic musicians played – to begin the event.

Texas

Galveston: A borrowed ship has become the floating summer school home for more than 300 maritime students and staff from Texas A&M University at Galveston. The Galveston County Daily News the Golden Bear departed Saturday from the Port of Galveston as part of Sea Aggies training. The 500-foot vessel is normally operated by the California State University Maritime Academy. The Golden Bear set sail with about 260 members of the Corps of Cadets, plus 70 faculty and staff, for two months in the Gulf of Mexico and ocean experience. Daryn Taylor, a senior, says the voyage combines the stresses of college life and being on a working vessel in the open sea. Texas A&M has a smaller training ship, the General Rudder, which can accommodate 50 students.

Utah

Salt Lake City: Four famous paintings will be showcased in the Utah Museum of Fine Arts beginning this fall. The Smithsonian American Art Museum announced Monday that Utah is one of five states in the West selected to host works from American painter Georgia O’Keeffe and others as part of a new initiative to share art with smaller cities throughout the United States. From Oct. 25 until Oct. 4, 2020 visitors can view paintings from O’Keeffe and fellow American painters Thomas Moran and Alma Thomas. A fourth artwork by Mexican painter Diego Rivera will also be on display in a separate project. The museums will contribute their own artwork to a traveling exhibition that will end at the Smithsonian in 2023.

Vermont

Montpelier: Vermont Attorney General T.J. Donovan wants state police to have body cameras. WCAX-TV reports the state police say they’d like to supply troopers with body cameras, but they don’t have the approximately $260,000 a year needed to store the information. Donovan says body cameras have limitations, but they still provide the best evidence as to what happened in some situations. He says they are good for the officer and the citizens because they provide “a true and accurate picture of what transpired at the scene.” Currently members of the state police tactical teams wear body cameras, but troopers do not while on routine patrol. State police officials say obtaining body cameras for all troopers is one of the agency’s top priorities.

Virginia

Lynchburg: With about a year left before the prescribed closure of the Central Virginia Training Center, the state has moved most of its patients with intellectual and physical disabilities into community-based care settings. But the state is still struggling to comply with other requirements in a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice and has not yet determined the fate of the complex. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that the commissioner of the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services told a legislative subcommittee Monday that the state has made “excellent progress” in transitioning patients. A DOJ investigation found that the way Virginia treated disabled people in training centers violated their civil rights. Since then, the number of people living in the large institutions has dropped by 89%, from 1,084 to 116.

Washington

Seattle: The state is suing the Navy over its expansion of jet operations on Whidbey Island. Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced the federal lawsuit Tuesday, saying the Navy failed to adequately examine the effects that having nearly 50,000 flights per year would have on people or wildlife. The Navy in March authorized the expansion of its Growler program by up to three dozen jets, adding to the 82 already based on Whidbey Island. The jets conduct electronic warfare to jam enemy communications and launch systems. The Navy’s public affairs office said it does not comment on litigation. Ferguson said that while the Navy has an important job, and its crews must be able to train, it must also follow its obligations to avoid unnecessary harm to human health and the environment.

West Virginia

Pineville: Nicole Sadecky, a graduate student at West Liberty University, has spent the past year wading the shallows of two southern West Virginia streams, tracking the movements of Cambarus veteranus, colloquially known as the Guyandotte crayfish. She hopes her research might someday help get the rare crawdad off the federal Endangered Species List. The Guyandotte crayfish, once thought extinct, was rediscovered in 2009 by Sadecky’s mentor, West Liberty professor Zac Loughman. Historically, the creature had been found in eight streams, all tributaries to the upper Guyandotte River in Wyoming and Logan counties. Loughman found it at only one site in only one Wyoming County stream, Pinnacle Creek. Subsequent studies discovered the species’ presence in Clear Fork, another Wyoming County stream a dozen miles to the northwest, but that turned out to be the extent of it.

Wisconsin

East Troy: Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Neil Young and the Dave Matthews Band will headline Farm Aid 2019 when the music and food festival visits the state’s dairy country this fall. Tickets for the Sept. 21 event at the Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy go on sale Friday. Farm Aid says the farming economy this year resembles how things were when Nelson founded Farm Aid in 1985. Nelson says devastating weather, low prices, and current federal farm and trade policies pose enormous challenges to family farmers struggling to keep their farms. Other performers include Bonnie Raitt, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Margo Price, Jamey Johnson, Tanya Tucker, Brothers Osborne, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, Yola, and Particle Kid. Farm Aid has raised $57 million since 1985.

Wyoming

Casper: State and tribal officials are trying to make it easier for people to use tribal identification to register to vote. The Casper Star-Tribune reports Wyoming Secretary of State Ed Buchanan met with leaders of the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes last week to talk about how the state could allow tribal IDs to be the only form of identification tribe members would need to register. Tribal IDs can currently be used to register, but a driver’s license, its number or a Social Security number must also be presented. The meetings came after the Wyoming Democratic Party alleged that members of the two Wind River Reservation tribes had difficulties registering to vote for last year’s election. An investigation determined election workers followed the law, and no eligible tribal members were prevented from voting.

From USA TODAY Network and wire reports

Sandy Hook memorial, rabid bats, Tour de Turtles: News from ...

From USA TODAY Network and wire reports

Alabama

Dothan: Police searching the home of a man suspected of attacking a woman in her home found more than 400 pairs of women’s panties, authorities said. Investigators also found dozens of photos of John Thomas Uda’s co-workers taken without their permission from the neck down, leading to 50 counts of voyeurism, Dothan police told news outlets. Uda, 27, also is charged with attempted rape, three counts of burglary, aggravated criminal surveillance and two counts of illegal possession of a credit card. Police are trying to figure out how many of those 400 paris of women’s underwear, which had been worn, might have been stolen. Investigators said worn panties can also be bought on the internet. Uda was accused in 2019 of stealing women’s underwear from laundromats, authorities said. Jail records did not indicate if Uda had an attorney.

Alaska

Nome: A miner who said he was harassed by a bear for seven straight nights in the tundra near Nome was rescued when a passing Coast Guard helicopter spotted an SOS, the internationally recognized sign for help, on top of his cabin. The man, who was not identified by the Coast Guard in a statement, was taken to waiting rescue personnel in Nome. The helicopter crew was flying from Kotzebue to Kodiak on July 16 when it saw the SOS on top of the building. The crew circled back over the mining camp and saw a man waving his arms, another recognized sign of distress, the Coast Guard statement said. The man requested medical assistance after the helicopter landed, saying he had been attacked by a bear a few days earlier. The man appeared to have a leg injury and bruising on his torso, the Coast Guard said. The man said the bear had returned to his camp and harassed him every night for the previous week, according to the statement. Friends the same day the man was found had reported him overdue when he hadn’t returned to Nome. The Coast Guard statement didn’t specify what type of bear was involved.

Arizona

Page:Lake Powell, the second-largest reservoir on the Colorado River, is about to hit the lowest water level since it was filled in 1963, the Bureau of Reclamation said. As of Friday afternoon, agency data showed the elevation at 3,555.35 feet above sea level. Despite the recent rain, officials anticipated the levels to decline to 3,555.1 feet by last weekend. The last time the reservoir dropped that low was in 2005, during the early days of a prolonged drought that continues to linger to this day. Once it falls below that level, it will mark a new low in the reservoir’s history. “The fact that we’ve reached this new record underscores the difficult situation that we’re in,” said Wayne Pullan, regional director for the Upper Colorado Basin at the Bureau of Reclamation, which manages Glen Canyon Dam, during a press call to discuss the milestone. Because of the low water levels, the bureau plans to release water from three upper basin reservoirs downstream into Lake Powell ahead of schedule. The emergency measure is intended to help ensure the water level remains high enough to keep the hydropower turbines spinning and generating electricity.

Arkansas

Little Rock: Arkansas’ coronavirus cases rose by nearly 2,000 on Friday as the state’s COVID-19 surge prompted the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences to scale back its hospital visitor policy. The Department of Health said the state’s virus cases rose by 1,987 to 372,313 total since the pandemic began. The state’s COVID-19 hospitalizations rose by 22 to 871, with 328 in intensive care and 159 on ventilators. UAMS announced that beginning Monday it will change its visitation policy to limit patients to one visitor per day. Previously, patients could have multiple visitors a day as long as only one visitor was in the patient’s room at a time. UAMS said it will continue to allow additional visitors for end-of-life situations. UAMS will continue to require visitors to pass a daily health screening and wear a photo ID badge and a face mask. Hospital visitors will also be required to stay in the patient’s room at all times.

California

San Diego: An unvaccinated snow leopard at the San Diego Zoo has contracted COVID-19. Caretakers noticed that Ramil, a 9-year-old male snow leopard, had a cough and runny nose on Thursday. Later, two separate tests of his stool confirmed the presence of the coronavirus, the zoo said in a statement Friday. Ramil is not showing additional symptoms, the zoo said, but because he shares an enclosure with a female snow leopard and two Amur leopards, the staff assumes they have been exposed. As a result, the animals were quarantined and their exhibit was closed. It’s unknown how Ramil got infected. In January, a troop of eight gorillas at the zoo’s sister facility, San Diego Zoo Safari Park, contracted COVID-19 from a keeper who had the virus but showed no symptoms. The gorilla troop, which has since recovered, became the first known example of the virus infecting apes. The case prompted the zoo to request an experimental COVID-19 vaccine for animals for emergency use. The vaccine from Zoetis, animal health company that was once part of Pfizer, was administered to species most at risk of contracting COVID-19, including several primates and big cats.

Colorado

Windsor:The city closed Windsor Lake on Friday afternoon and shifted planned activities this week because of the detection of blue-green algae in the water. The lake, swim beach and dog park are closed to the public until further notice while the city works with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to monitor bacteria levels. Permitted boats are allowed on the lake “to assist in agitating the water,” but tubing, water skiing and other water activities are not allowed. The algae was detected in a precautionary water test July 19. On July 20, the town put out an algae advisory and put signs around the lake, but staff had not yet identified any toxins. Blue-green algae are known to spread rapidly and can be a result of hot weather, stagnant water and stormwater runoff. CDPHE said that the algae, while common in Colorado, can sometimes produce toxins that can harm people and be fatal to dogs and other animals.

Connecticut

Newtown: After nearly eight years of discussion and planning, a memorial to the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting is nearing construction with the goal of offering a peaceful place for reflection. A groundbreaking ceremony is planned next month at the site down the street where the shooting occurred that killed 20 first graders and six educators in Newtown on Dec. 14, 2012. Construction will be finished before the 10th anniversary next year, officials said. The State Bond Commission approved $2.5 million for the project on Friday, which the town will use to defray much of the $3.7 million local voters approved in April for the total cost of the memorial. The key area of the memorial will be a water feature with a sycamore tree in the middle and the victims’ names engraved on the top of the surrounding supporting wall. The water flow has been designed so floatable candles, flowers and other objects will move toward the tree and circle around it. Pathways will take visitors through a variety of plantings, including flower gardens.

Delaware

Dagsboro: A historic chapel that predates the Revolutionary War has reopened to the public following a 16-month closure because of the pandemic. Prince George’s Chapel in Dagsboro welcomed the public for monthly tours Sunday, the Delaware State News reported. “It wasn’t worth even trying to open it up with all the restrictions and everything. So we’ve had it shut down,” Brian Baull, president of the nonprofit organization that serves as caretaker for the chapel, told the newspaper. Tours, which will take place the fourth Sunday of each month, are free. Construction on the chapel began in 1755 and was completed two years later. It was deeded to the state of Delaware in 1967, restored and reopened as a museum. In 1971, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Its most prominent feature is a vaulted ceiling made of heart-of-pine planks, the newspaper reported.

District of Columbia

Washington:Mayor Muriel Bowser has activated the District's Heat Emergency Plan for the first half of this week, WUSA-TV reported. The plan goes into effect when the forecast of the temperature or heat index in the District is 95 degrees or higher. That causes the city to open cooling centers for residents seeking relief from the heat. A list of District cooling centers can be found here. In addition, the city recommends that residents stay indoors, find places in the shade or with air conditioning to seek relief from the heat; check on neighbors – children, the elderly and those with access and functional needs are the most vulnerable in the community; dink plenty of water and wear lightweight, loose-fitting clothing; do not leave children or pets in vehicles; pet owners should keep pets indoors, walk pets early in the morning and give pets plenty of water.

Florida

Marathon: A juvenile green sea turtle rehabilitated at the Keys-based Turtle Hospital has been fitted with a satellite-tracking transmitter and released from a Keys beach to join the 14th Tour de Turtles, a marathon-like race that follows long-distance migration of sea turtles over three months. The educational outreach program organized by the Sea Turtle Conservancy raises awareness about sea turtles and threats to their survival. “The Tour de Turtles is an online educational program where, starting August 1, we’re tracking 19 turtles from Florida, Panama, Costa Rica and Nevis,” said Dan Evans, a senior research biologist with the Sea Turtle Conservancy. “It’s the idea that we’re tracking which turtle swims the furthest distance over three months.” Dubbed “Lucky Pulse” by her rescuers for a pulse-like marking on her head, the Keys turtle was released Friday to raise awareness about her own affliction. She was found off the Keys on March 17, entangled in fishing trap line and covered with fibropapilloma, debilitating tumors that develop from a herpes-like virus that affects sea turtles around the world. After the tumors’ removal, Lucky Pulse’s recovery included blood transfusions, breathing treatments, a broad spectrum of antibiotics, fluids, vitamins and a diet of seafood and greens.

Georgia

Columbus: Residents at a mobile home park said they have had almost no water service for the past three weeks. So little water comes out of the pipes that it is almost impossible to flush toilets, wash dishes or take a bath at the Sea Breeze Mobile Home Park in Columbus, WRBL-TV reported. The water also isn’t safe to drink. “I had to spend three days in the hotel, me and my 8-year-old and my wife. That was money coming out of our pocket,” resident Jeffery Williams said. Water has been restored to some areas of the mobile home park and a citation has been issued to owner Fountain Bleau Capital LLC, said Columbus Inspection and Code Enforcement Director Ryan Pruett. The Massachusetts owner of the park said the maintenance staff was infected with COVID-19 and that delayed fixing the water problems.

Hawaii

Hilo: A lawsuit challenging using police forces from other islands to respond to protests over a giant telescope planned for Hawaii’s tallest mountain is headed to the state Supreme Court. Police officers from Oahu and Maui flew to the Big Island in 2019 to help control protesters who blocked the mountain’s access road. Opponents of the Thirty Meter Telescope said it will desecrate land held sacred by Native Hawaiians. Big Island resident E. Kalani Flores’ lawsuit against police chiefs of the Hawaii County, Maui County and Honolulu forces argued his rights to observe Native Hawaiian cultural practices on Mauna Kea were violated by the police presence. The state Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case next month, Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported. The lawsuit said police violated a state statute that a police chief can operate on a neighboring island if doing so is required in the pursuit of an investigation that started in that chief’s jurisdiction. The lawsuit was initially dismissed because of a technicality and later went before the state Intermediate Court of Appeals, which ruled in favor of the police chiefs.

Idaho

Ketchum: A multiyear project to improve forest health in and around one of the nation’s top ski destinations has begun in central Idaho. The 10-year Bald Mountain Stewardship Project is intended in part to reduce the chances of a wildfire at Sun Valley Resort’s Bald Mountain ski area that operates on U.S. Forest Service land. The Idaho Mountain Express reported that work has started on the Forest Service’s plan to reduce fuel, restore forest health and enhance recreation opportunities. The ski area is a huge economic driver. But pine beetles, dwarf mistletoe and white pine blister rust are killing trees on the ski-run-carved mountain that forms a scenic and much-photographed backdrop for the resort towns of Ketchum and Sun Valley. Experts said the aging forest long protected from wildfires is at risk, leading to the project that also will clear debris within the ski area. The 9-square-mile project includes Sun Valley Resort’s nearly 5-square-mile ski area, of which about 4 square miles is skiable terrain. Officials said wildfires in 2007 and 2013 surrounded 9,150-foot Bald Mountain with burned forest, creating an island of green trees and increasing bark beetle attacks.

Illinois

Rockton:Officials have found elevated levels of harmful metals in groundwater monitoring wells at a Rockton Superfund toxic waste site. But the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency noted that the substances were not found in the municipal water system for the Village of Rockton. Its water was tested June 21. Testing of private wells near the site will begin soon. The metals discovered include antimony, cadmium, chromium and nickel. Some metals are essential nutrients, but others can cause health problems. The results came from wells that check groundwater on the site of the former Beloit Corp. toxic waste investigations at the former manufacturer of paper-making products have been underway since 1992. Elevated metal levels were found in 16 of 20 monitoring wells. All are contained on the Superfund site. The samples were collected following the June 14 explosion and devastating fire at Chemtool Inc., located on the Superfund site. Metals were not previously a concern on the Beloit Corp. property. State officials are investigating their source. Officials said that until testing is completed, those with private wells living in the Blackhawk neighborhood adjacent to Chemtool should use bottled water for drinking and cooking.

Indiana

Burns Harbor: Indiana’s Lake Michigan port has seen a big increase in shipments this year as the global economy rebounds from the coronavirus pandemic. In June, the port handled a 52% spike in cargo. So far this year, the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor has had more than a 36% increase in maritime tonnage compared with the same period last year, said Vanta E. Coda II, chief executive of the Indianapolis-based Ports of Indiana port authority. “Steel is up more than 100% and limestone has climbed nearly 90%, too. We look forward to additional growth in the second half of the year,” Coda said. Through the end of June, international cargos shipped through the St. Lawrence Seaway to Great Lakes ports are up by 8.37% to 12.9 million tons, The (Northwest Indiana) Times reported. Great Lakes shipping officials attributed the boost to increased domestic construction, manufacturing activity and global export demand. Shipments of cement are up 36%, gypsum 79% and general cargo 61%. Iron ore volumes are up 14%, partly because of exports to Asia and Europe. Coke, another steelmaking input, is up 125%, partly because of exports to France, the Netherlands and other European countries.

Iowa

Cedar Rapids: Forty Iowans, including some from the Cedar Rapids area, had to undergo treatment for rabies after they were potentially in contact with a rabid bat at the zoo in Omaha, Nebraska. More than 180 individuals were advised to receive the rabies post-exposure prophylaxis, which contains the rabies vaccine, after a wild bat was found near a person attending one of the Henry Doorly Zoo’s multiple overnight campouts at the aquarium earlier this month. A total of 186 overnight campers, including youth and adult groups, were contacted by the Nebraska public health department, the Omaha World-Herald reported. Among those were dozens of Iowans, mostly adolescents and their parents, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health. Linn County Public Health said anyone locally who has been impacted has been contacted and the appropriate follow-up has been conducted. Public health officials in Nebraska recommended all campers who stayed at the zoo overnight June 29, June 30, July 2 and July 3 receive prophylaxis. The recommendation came after a camper staying in the aquarium the night of July 3 woke up to a wild bat near her head. A team found seven bats in the building, one of which tested positive for rabies, a news release from the zoo stated.

Kansas

Topeka:Union members at the Frito-Lay plant in Topeka have approved a new contract and will return to work Monday, ending a nearly three-week strike at the plant, union officials said. Members of Local 218 of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers union approved the contract Friday. It gives all union members a 4% pay raise over two years and guarantees workers at least one day off each week, The Topeka Capital-Journal reported. More than 500 of the 850 employees represented by the union went on strike on July 5, complaining of a toxic work environment, forced overtime and a lack of pay raises. Workers said the shifts were caused by a severe staffing shortage at the plant. Carolyn Fisher, spokeswoman for PepsiCo., Frito-Lay’s parent company, said the contract allows the company to rebid its entire facility, or parts of it, once during the two-year contract. Labor-management committees will be formed to make recommendations on staffing and overtime and shape the rebid process.

Kentucky

Frankfort: Two members of Kentucky State University’s governing board resigned days before the abrupt departure of the campus president, adding to the upheaval in the highest ranks of the school as it faces an independent investigation into its finances. Soon after M. Christopher Brown II’s resignation as school president last week, Gov. Andy Beshear called for an independent accounting of KSU’s finances and signed an order empowering the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education to provide guidance and oversight during the review. The development came as Kentucky’s sole public historically Black university contended with concerns about its financial health and lawsuits alleging misconduct by campus officials. In the days before Brown’s departure, Candace McGraw submitted her resignation from the school’s Board of Regents. In her resignation letter, McGraw said she was “not fully aware of the time needed to engage fully in order to ensure the ongoing success of the university.” McGraw, a recent board appointee, is CEO of Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. Paul Harnice also resigned from the school’s board before Brown left, The State Journal reported. Harnice’s resignation letter did not provide an apparent reason for his resignation, The State Journal reported.

Louisiana

Baton Rouge: With more than 1,000 people hospitalized with COVID-19 across Louisiana, Gov. John Bel Edwards encouraged everyone, whether vaccinated or not, to wear masks indoors if they can’t stay distanced from others. But the Democratic governor stopped short of issuing a statewide face covering mandate or new restrictions on activities and businesses amid the state’s fourth spike of COVID-19, driven by the highly contagious delta variant. Louisiana – which has among the nation’s lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates – is seeing thousands of new confirmed cases of the coronavirus illness each day, and its hospitalizations have surged in recent weeks. Edwards said Louisiana has the highest rate of new COVID-19 cases per capita in the nation and has been labeled a “state of concern” by the White House. Edwards placed the blame squarely on people refusing to get immunized against the coronavirus in a state where only about 48% of those eligible for the vaccines have gotten at least one shot.

Maine

Portland: Maine is home to the last wild Atlantic salmon populations in the U.S., but a new push to protect the fish at the state level is unlikely to land them on the endangered list. Atlantic salmon once teemed in U.S. rivers, but now return from the sea to only a handful of rivers in eastern and central Maine. The fish are protected at the federal level under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, but a coalition of environmental groups and scientists said the fish could be afforded more protections if they were added to Maine’s own list of endangered and threatened species. State law allows Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher to make that recommendation, but his office told the Associated Press he does not intend to do it. The department has done extensive work to conserve and restore the fish, and Keliher “does not believe a listing at the state level would afford additional conservation benefits or protections,” said Jeff Nichols, a department spokesperson. The environmentalists who want to see the fish on the state list said they’re going to keep pushing for it and other protections. Adding the fish to the state endangered list would mean conservation of salmon would be treated as a bigger concern in state permitting processes, said John Burrows, executive director for U.S. operations for the Atlantic Salmon Federation.

Maryland

Oakland: A state police helicopter hoisted an injured swimmer to safety in western Maryland. The helicopter was dispatched shortly after 5 p.m. Friday to rescue a swimmer who sustained a head injury after slipping on a rock at Swallow Falls along the Youghiogheny River in Garrett County, state police said in a news release Saturday. The helicopter was requested partly because of the steep terrain and nature of the victim’s injuries, police said. The helicopter hovered 275 feet above the river as a trooper with medical equipment was lowered to the scene to prepare the patient for an aerial extraction, the news release said. Once the patient was secured inside the AW-139 helicopter, the crew provided medical care during the trip to a hospital in Morgantown, West Virginia. The patient wasn’t identified, and the person’s condition wasn’t immediately known.

Massachusetts

Boston: A rare first-place medal from the first modern Olympic Games has sold for more than $180,000. Boston-based RR Auction said Friday that the winning bidder for the silver medal from the 1896 games in Athens, Greece, was a collector based on the East Coast. The company estimated before the auction that the first place medal could fetch about $75,000. At the inaugural Olympiad, first-place winners were awarded silver medals and second-place finishers earned bronze, the auction house said. There was no award for placing third. Unlike today’s games where thousands of athletes compete, just 250 were featured at the first modern games, the company said. Other notable items sold include a gold medal bestowed on the Argentine men’s soccer team during the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics that went for more than $97,000. A gold medal for the U.S. men’s basketball team during the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics also sold for more than $83,000 and a gold medal awarded to Swedish wrestler Ivar Johansson during the 1932 Los Angeles Summer Olympics sold for more than $45,000.

Michigan

Corunna: Elected officials in Shiawassee County who gave themselves bonuses of $65,000 with federal COVID-19 relief aid said they will return the money following days of criticism. County commissioners acted after the county prosecutor said the payments were illegal, The Argus-Press reported. The Michigan Constitution bars additional compensation for elected officials “after services had already been rendered,” prosecutor Scott Koerner said Friday. The commissioners, all Republicans, voted on July 15 to award themselves $65,000 as part of a plan to give $557,000 to 250 county employees as “hazard pay” for dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. The smallest amounts for recipients were $1,000 to $2,000. But County Board Chairman Jeremy Root got $25,000. Two more commissioners received $10,000 each, and four others received $5,000 each. The commissioners awarded money to other elected officials, including the prosecutor, the sheriff and the county clerk, all Republicans. They, too, said they would give it back. Two Michigan congressmen, a Democrat and a Republican, said federal virus aid wasn’t intended to reward elected officials.

Minnesota

Blaine: A crane fell over at a construction site in the Minneapolis suburb of Lexington on Friday, causing a power outage for nearly 900 customers in the area as temperatures climbed into the mid-90s. There were no injuries reported. A dispatch supervisor with the Centennial Lakes Police Department said the call came in shortly before 12:30 p.m. The crane fell into power lines and onto the partially constructed building. Dispatch supervisor Donnelle Lawrence said the building was evacuated. The collapse also caused a small grass fire, which was quickly extinguished, Lawrence said. Xcel Energy reported reported nearly 900 customers in the areas of Blaine, Circle Pines and Lexington were without power after the collapse according to its online outage map. Temperatures were in the mid-90s on Friday afternoon and the area was under a heat advisory, as forecasters said the combination of heat and humidity made the temperature feel like it was 100 degrees.

Mississippi

Jackson: Even as COVID-19 cases have increased rapidly in Mississippi in recent days, some school districts are saying masks will be optional for students, teachers and staff. Among the districts taking that approach is the state’s largest one, DeSoto County School District. “Right now, there are no state mandates or local mandates requiring masks,” Superintendent Cory Uselton told WMC-TV. “Last year, we were under a mask mandate because of the governor’s executive order. There’s no executive order in place right now, so that will be a parental decision.” As part of its guidance for K-12 school settings, the State Department of Health recommends masks for anyone not fully vaccinated. It also recommends people 12 and older get vaccinated. Instead of encouraging either of those things, the DeSoto District will give families information from the health department, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and American Academy of Pediatrics, Uselton said.

Missouri

O’Fallon: St. Louis city and county officials said they will require masks in some public places starting Monday, citing a sharp increase in COVID-19 cases spurred by the delta variant. Masks will be mandatory in indoor public places and on public transportation for everyone age 5 or older, even for those who are vaccinated, officials said in a news release Friday. Masking outdoors “will be strongly encouraged,” especially in group settings. The decision comes as both of Missouri’s urban areas are seeing a big uptick in cases in hospitalizations that began in rural areas of the state, especially in southwestern Missouri. The Kansas City Star reported Friday that medical leaders in that region appear to be on the verge of calling for a new mask mandate there, as well.

Montana

Helena: Five firefighters were injured when a thunderstorm and swirling winds in central Montana blew a lightning-caused wildfire back on them, federal officials said. All five remained in medical facilities and were still being evaluated and treated Saturday, a day after they were injured, Bureau of Land Management spokesperson Mark Jacobsen said. He declined to release the extent of the firefighters’ injuries or specify where they were being treated. They had joined other crews working on the 1,300-acre fire burning in rough, steep terrain about 36 miles northwest of the town of Jordan. They were building a defensive fire line Thursday when the weather shifted, Jacobsen said. “Numerous wind shifts and rapid rates of spread resulted in erratic fire behavior as thunderstorms and associated cells were passing over the area when the incident occurred,” he said. Other firefighters in the area were able to call for help and the injured firefighters – three U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service crew members from North Dakota and two USDA Forest Service firefighters from New Mexico – were evacuated, Jacobsen said. Meanwhile, Gov. Greg Gianforte announced Friday that crews from Utah and California were coming to Montana on Saturday to help fight fires. Utah will send two task forces with a total of seven engines and 25 personnel, and California is sending a strike team with five engines and 20 personnel, Gianforte said. The teams will be in Montana for two weeks, and Montana will pay their costs, the governor said.

Nebraska

Omaha: Nearly 50 Nebraska school boards have objected to proposed state health education standards that include lessons for young children on gender identity and gender expression. State Sen. Joni Albrecht said 47 school boards across the state have either adopted resolutions or sent letters opposing the first draft of the standards that the Nebraska Department of Education is considering. Albrecht was part of a group of 30 state senators who signed a statement urging school districts to object to the standards. The standards would be optional if they’re approved, according to the Omaha World-Herald. Under the proposed standards, kindergartners would learn about different kinds of family structures, including same-gender families. First-graders would be taught about gender identity and gender stereotypes. Sixth-graders would learn about a range of identities related to sexual orientation, including heterosexual, bisexual, lesbian, gay, queer, two-spirit, asexual and pansexual. They would be taught the differences between cisgender, transgender, gender nonbinary, gender expansive and gender identity. The proposal has faced strong opposition from Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts, who has no direct influence over the state board, and large crowds have attended state education board meetings. State Education Commissioner Matt Blomstedt told school districts in a letter earlier this month that there would be changes in the second draft of the standards. He said that next draft will remove many of the explicit examples and make clear that discussions of sensitive health-related topics should be “thoughtfully conducted with parental input at a local level.”

Nevada

Las Vegas: Coronavirus numbers remained high in Nevada as the state reported more than 1,000 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases, at least 20 deaths and hospitalizations climbing past the 1,000 plateau for the first time in more than five months, state health officials said. The 1,003 new cases reported by the state Department of Health and Human Services nearly matched the 1,004 new cases reported on Tuesday. It was the highest since 1,070 cases were recorded Jan. 30, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. The updated figures pushed totals to 349,043 COVID-19 cases and 5,817 deaths statewide since the pandemic began in March 2020.

New Hampshire

Concord: New Hampshire residents can’t be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to access public facilities, benefits or services under a bill signed into law by Gov. Chris Sununu. Supporters said the bill signed this week establishes “medical freedom” by specifying that all residents have the “natural, essential and inherent right to bodily integrity, free from any threat or compulsion by government to accept an immunization.” It does not, however, supersede the state law regarding vaccinations as a prerequisite for admission to school. That law lists seven required vaccinations but does not include the COVID-19 vaccine. The new law also does not apply to county nursing homes, the state psychiatric hospital or other medical facilities operated by the state or other governmental bodies. And it allows mandatory immunizations in prisons and jails when there is a significant health threat.

New Jersey

Secaucus: New Jersey on Friday took the first step to rid the lower Hackensack River of heavily contaminated sediment dating from the state’s industrial past. State Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn LaTourette announced the commitment of Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration to seek placement of the 23-mile stretch of river on the federal government’s list of Superfund toxic sites. Approval would mean access to federal funding and would enable the Environmental Protection Agency to seek the parties responsible for polluting the waters to help fund the remediation, once identified. “Designating the lower Hackensack River as a federal Superfund site will provide the tools we need to remove decades of contamination that have polluted river sediments and restore the natural resources that have been impaired for far too long,” LaTourette said. A previous EPA study found elevated levels of cancer-causing dioxin, cadmium, lead, mercury and PCBs in sediment sampled from the river’s mouth at Newark Bay to the Oradell Reservoir. Achieving Superfund status could take years to complete. “I realize that this is one step in the process and that cleanup will take time,” said Hackensack Riverkeeper Bill Sheehan. He said he has been working to get the designation since 2015.

New Mexico

Santa Fe: New Mexico schools plan to spend the bulk of the federal coronavirus relief money they have received on technology and building upgrades rather than student learning loss. A report this week before the New Mexico Legislature’s budget committee showed school districts and charters plan to spend 38% of the $490 million they received thus far on technology and HVAC systems. T he Santa Fe New Mexican reported that schools plan to spend 9% of the funds on learning loss programs and 8% on interventions for at-risk students. The budget committee’s program evaluation manager Micaela Fischer told lawmakers those numbers were surprising because students likely missed out on learning because of the shift to remote classrooms during the pandemic. Los Alamos Public Schools is an exception to the trend and plans to spend all of the money it received from a December coronavirus relief package to address learning loss with summer and after-school programs.

New York

Yonkers: Police and bystanders lifted a car to free a trapped baby after a suspected drunken driver struck the girl and her mother and then plowed through a storefront with the pair on the hood. The crash and rescue were recorded on video released by Yonkers Police. It showed a Hyundai Elantra striking a curb and parked car Friday before driving into a woman as she crossed the street with a child in her arms. With the woman and child on the hood of the car, it accelerates through the storefront of a barber shop. Police body camera footage from inside the building showed Yonkers Officers Rocco Fusco and Paul Samoyedny, who had been having breakfast nearby, frantically working with bystanders to lift the heavily damaged car and pull the crying 8-month-old girl from beneath it. “Luckily, two veteran officers of Yonkers’ finest just happened to be getting breakfast next door and quickly took action along with members of the community to rescue a child trapped under the vehicle and render aid to her mother,” Police Commissioner John Mueller said in a news release. “The actions taken are nothing short of heroic.” The baby sustained a skull fracture and burns to her back and foot. Her 36-year-old mother broke a leg, the news release said. The 43-year-old male driver and a female passenger were not injured. The driver, from Yonkers, was charged with driving while intoxicated, vehicular assault and aggravated unlicensed operation.

North Carolina

Ocracoke: Transportation officials said successful drone flights this week to Ocracoke have them hopeful that it might soon get easier to deliver vital supplies to the remote Outer Banks island amid bad weather. The Department of Transportation’s Division of Aviation and U.S.-based drone logistics company Volansi completed two successful trial flights of a delivery drone from a ferry dock in Hatteras to Ocracoke Island, the department said in a news release. “This is a tremendous first step in better connecting Ocracoke Island to potentially life-saving supplies and equipment,” Secretary of Transportation Eric Boyette said in a statement. “Today, Ocracoke Island is accessible only by plane or by boat. What we’re working on here is an entirely new, third method of serving the needs of Ocracoke’s people.” The tests involved an 8-mile round-trip flight averaging 18 minutes in flight time. The first delivered a small survival kit, space blankets and a chocolate muffin to Ocracoke, and the second delivered bottles of water, according to the news release. The next test, at a time to be determined, will involve a longer flight, the department said.

North Dakota

Bismarck: The federal government has denied a request by North Dakota leaders to allow ranchers struggling with drought to hay idled grassland while it’s still of good quality. The Bismarck Tribune reported the state Agriculture Department is looking into the reasons why the request was denied. The federal government is allowing limited emergency grazing of Conservation Reserve Program land, which typically is idled under a government program that pays farmers to protect erodible land and create wildlife habitat. North Dakota ranchers all summer have been seeking federal government permission to also hay that land. The CRP typically doesn’t open until after nesting season ends, to protect wildlife populations. The season in North Dakota ends Aug. 1. Ranchers said that after that day, grass might not be of good enough quality to make it worthwhile to hay. State officials and members of North Dakota’s congressional delegation this summer have pushed the U.S. Department of Agriculture for earlier CRP haying. State Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring earlier this week made another plea. His department has received hundreds of calls from ranchers in recent weeks about the issue.

Ohio

Cincinnati:The Cincinnati Black Music Walk of Fame is officially scheduled to open next summer. Plans for the interactive park and star-studded path were unveiled Saturday during an induction ceremony. The crowd was lively while the P. Ann Everson-Price & The All-Star Band played tributes to the walk's first inductees as well as other famous Black musicians and funk artists. The first four inductees to receive stars on the Walk of Fame will be Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Bootsy Collins, King Records icon Otis Williams, and Grammy Winners The Isley Brothers and the late Gospel great Dr. Charles Fold. The Cincinnati Black Music Walk of Fame is intended to stand toe-to-toe with The National Museum of African American Music in Nashville, Tennessee; Atlanta’s Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame; and Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee. Like the Hollywood Walk of Fame, each inductee will have their name placed on a star on the walkway. The funding for the park and walkway will come from the $159 million stimulus fund that was awarded to the county. The Hamilton County Commission unanimously voted in favor of the park while deciding on how to spend the county's stimulus money. The park was awarded $9 million. Procter and Gamble has also partnered with the project and will pay for the new inductee stars for the next several years.

Oklahoma

Oklahoma City:The owner of a dilapidated Oklahoma Panhandle wind farm has presented plans to clean up the most dangerous of the wind turbine towers. The plans are to address dangerously broken-down towers and turbines of the 60-tower KODE Novus I and II wind farm near Guymon, The Oklahoman reported. Owner Olympia Renewable Platform LLC has hired a contractor to remove broken blades from seven towers and topple a couple of others topped with burned-out generator nacelles. The company assured the repair work could begin next month and take 20 to 30 days to complete, depending on wind conditions. Dozens of wind turbines in the complex have been locked down and aren’t part of the cleanup plan. Oklahoma Corporation Commission officials have determined that the dilapidated wind towers are dangerous to the public, which had easy access to the scene until Olympia erected temporary fencing around it. The complex was developed and owned by a subsidiary of a South Korean company until it went bankrupt.

Oregon

Portland: Low oxygen levels measured off the coast of Oregon and Washington are raising concerns of large “dead zones” that could decimate crabs and bottom-dwelling fish within them. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said this week that researchers have detected unseasonably low oxygen levels in a large area off the Pacific coast, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported. Year after year of low oxygen levels beginning in the early 2000s led researchers to determine Oregon now has a “hypoxia season” – just as it has a fire season – and this year’s hypoxia season has arrived far earlier than usual. The start of the hypoxia season is marked by the upwelling of cold bottom water. Winds initiated that upwelling this year around March. Chan said that’s the earliest Oregon ocean-watchers have seen in 35 years. That could have major implications for coastal economies, particularly related to the Dungeness crab. Dead zones happen as winds pick up, driving cold water from the bottom of the ocean toward the surface, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That contributes to blooms of phytoplankton, which once they die, sink to the ocean floor. Bacteria consume oxygen while decomposing the plankton.

Pennsylvania

Harrisburg: President Joe Biden will head to the Allentown area Wednesday as he fights for passage in the Senate of a nearly $1 trillion infrastructure measure that a bipartisan group of senators brokered with him. The White House is billing Biden’s visit to Macungie as a stop to “emphasize the importance of American manufacturing, buying products made in America, and supporting good-paying jobs for American workers.” It gave no other details of the visit – Biden’s second to Pennsylvania so far this month after he went to Philadelphia last week to speak on voting rights. In the Senate, Republicans rejected an effort this week to begin debate on the infrastructure deal. Supporters said they need more time before another vote, possibly next week. Macungie is near the home of Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, who voted against opening debate. In a statement after the vote, Toomey echoed other Republicans in pointing out that crucial details about the deal are not completed. Should an agreement be reached on those, Toomey said he will consider the measure “based on its substance.” Pennsylvania’s other U.S. senator, Democrat Bob Casey, voted with other Democrats to start debate.

Rhode Island

Providence: Environmental officials in Rhode Island have extended their ban on shellfish harvesting in certain areas of the state. The state Department of Environmental Management said a ban that was set to expire Sunday will be extended until further notice. The announcement covers what it refers to as the “Lower Providence River Conditional Area E” and “Upper Bay Conditional Area A.” The closures were enacted after recent heavy rainfall and are being extended because test samples showed continued high bacteria levels in the water. At least one other shellfish area in Greenwich Bay reopened to harvesting Sunday, and two others in Mt. Hope Bay and the Kickemuit River are open, the agency said.

South Carolina

Nichols: A utility is building walls around an electric substation to prevent it from being overrun by floodwaters in the first-of-its-kind project in South Carolina. Duke Energy is spending $1.6 million on the Nichols project to protect a substation that has flooded twice in the past five years, utility spokesperson Ryan Mosier told the Morning News of Florence. The substation was flooded in 2016 in Hurricane Matthew and 2018 in Hurricane Florence. In 2018, the substation, which takes high voltage power from plants and converts it to lower voltage electricity for homes, was out for five weeks, Mosier said. The substation is surrounded by reinforced fiberglass walls. Crews put up aluminum gates when flooding is threatened, which keep water out but allow crews access inside. The walls are 6-to-8 feet tall with access gates. The gates are installed when the company forecasts potential flooding. Crews can also quickly access the substation for maintenance. Duke Energy has already installed the walls at facilities in Lumberton and Wallace in North Carolina and plans four more projects, Mosier said, Other nearby substations to Nichols are on higher ground and didn’t need the walls, said Davy Gregg, a Duke Energy supervisor for the Marion County area.

South Dakota

Sioux Falls:A replica of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier came to Sioux Falls over the weekend as part of a honorary tour to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the monument. The half-scale replica was at the South Dakota Military Heritage Alliance and crowds came to view it and learn more about its history. The original Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is in Arlington Cemetery in Virginia, across the Delaware River from the nation’s capital.. The replica is part of a traveling exhibition called A Call to Honor: Tomb of The Unknown Soldier. The Americanism Committee of the Exchange Club in Rome, Georgia, is responsible for the exhibition and brings the replica to all parts of the United States.

Tennessee

Nashville:The bust of Confederate general and early Ku Klux Klan leader Nathan Bedford Forrest that had been prominently displayed inside the state Capitol for decades – over objections from Black lawmakers and activists – was removed from its pedestal Friday. The image of Forrest has sparked protests since its installation in 1978 as defenders sought to tout his legacy while critics objected to honoring a historical figure who supported the South’s secession. Over the years, some suggested adding historical context next to the bust. Yet many others, including Republican Gov. Bill Lee, successfully argued for moving it to the Tennessee State Museum, just north of the Capitol. Forrest was a Confederate cavalry general who amassed a fortune before the Civil War as a Memphis slave trader and plantation owner. Later, he was a leader of the Klan as it terrorized Black people. The busts of Union Navy Adm. David Farragut and U.S. Navy Adm. Albert Gleaves also were moved to the museum on Friday, part of an agreement used to win over the votes needed on key panels that military leaders shouldn’t be displayed in the Capitol.

Texas

Dallas: The Dallas area was the country’s top market for commercial property investments in the first half of 2021. Dallas retained the top real estate spot it gained last year during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report by Real Capital Analytics. Through the first six months of this year, Dallas saw almost $13.4 billion in commercial property deals – 43% more than in the same period a year ago. Last year, more than $19.7 billion in commercial real estate deals were recorded in the local market. Sales of dozens of local apartment communities and warehouses, plus the $700 million purchase of Uptown Dallas’ Crescent complex, all contributed to the huge volume of property investments in the area this year. The Crescent was ranked as the second-largest commercial property deal in the country in the first six months of 2021.

Utah

Salt Lake City:People in Utah gathered to celebrate the state’s history and recognize early Mormon pioneers who trekked west in search of religious freedom. Pioneer Day is a beloved only-in-Utah holiday every July 24 that features parades, rodeos, fireworks and more. The festivities were canceled last year because of the pandemic. Hundreds of people on Friday camped and staked out spots along the parade route in downtown Salt Lake City. Pioneer Day marks the date in 1847 when Brigham Young and other Mormon pioneers, many pulling handcarts, ended their treacherous journey across the country from Illinois to the Salt Lake Valley. Many businesses and government offices close for the state holiday.

Vermont

Montpelier: Signs will be posted near eight Vermont ponds where the use of baitfish is prohibited to protect native brook trout, the Fish and Wildlife Department said. 1/ 2 “Wild native brook trout thrive in ponds where there are simple fish communities with no or few other fish species,” department fisheries biologist Jud Kratzer said in a statement earlier this week. “Adding new fish species, even minnows, disrupts a long-established food chain. Trout populations suffer as a result.” Brook trout are native to the eastern United States but no longer exist in much of their original range, the department said. Signs will be posted at public access points near Beaver Pond in Holland; Blake Pond in Sutton; Cow Mountain Pond in Granby; Jobs Pond in Westmore; Lewis Pond in Lewis; North Pond in Chittenden; Unknown Pond in Avery’s Gore; and Noyes Pond in Groton.

Virginia

Culpeper: Virginia’s government watchdog said the commonwealth’s land conservation easement program that offers participants tax breaks needs improvement. Auditors with the Office of the State Inspector General found items such as trash, old tires, inoperable vehicles and a manure storage area containing dead cattle parts on properties with easements it inspected, the Culpeper Star-Exponent reported. “Virginia provides tax credits up to $75 million per year for conservation easements and land donations,” Inspector General Michael Westfall said in a statement. “In effect, Virginia is paying for natural resource preservation through these tax credits.” There’s a $1 million tax credit value threshold for a Department of Conservation and Recreation quality review of an easement. Among the watchdog’s recommendations was lowering that threshold. But Dan Holmes, director of state policy for the Piedmont Environmental Council, told the newspaper the tax credit was a valuable tool and questioned the audit’s conclusions and methodology.

Washington

Seattle: Mayor Jenny Durkan and other city officials plan to add a response unit for 911 calls that don’t require typical, armed police officers. Officials said they are still working out details, and it won’t launch until at least next year, The Seattle Times reported. Durkan said the idea is to provide 911 dispatchers with a new option for certain calls, such as wellness checks, that are associated with neither criminal nor medical emergencies. The mayor said it could be similar to the city’s Health One program, which sends firefighters and social workers to nonemergency medical calls. It will likely be staffed by civilian city employees, possibly partnered with certain officers, she said. The responders will know deescalation techniques and how to guide people to social services, she said, adding that it might be called “Triage One.” Durkan said she intends to include funding for the new option in her 2022 budget proposal, which is due in September. She hasn’t said what it might cost but said it would start as a pilot program, with limited capacity.

West Virginia

Charleston: The state treasurer’s office raised nearly $140,000 for law enforcement agencies through its unclaimed property firearms auction. This year’s event had record inventory – more than 500 firearms lots – because the pandemic prevented the treasurer’s office from holding an auction last year, Treasurer Riley Moore’s office said in a news release. The treasurer’s office raised $139,790 during the auction. Under state law, state and local law enforcement agencies can turn over unclaimed, seized or outdated firearms in their possession to the treasurer’s office for auction, and the proceeds can be returned to the law enforcement agency. This year’s auction attracted more than 60 federally licensed firearms dealers. Bidders must be a valid, licensed federal firearms dealer. The event isn’t open to the general public.

Wisconsin

Madison: The University of Wisconsin System plans to offer nearly $500,000 in scholarships this fall to students who have been vaccinated against the coronavirus. System President Tommy Thompson said all vaccinated students at regional four- and two-year campuses that get at least 70% of their students vaccinated by Oct. 15 will be eligible for a drawing for a $7,000 scholarship. Seventy students will win, with more winners coming from campuses with larger enrollments. UW-Madison students won’t be eligible, Thompson said, because Chancellor Rebecca Blank is working on her own vaccination incentive programs. Asked for details on Blank’s plans, UW-Madison spokesman John Lucas said the flagship university is “on a path” to reach 80% vaccination among students and is “considering incentives” but had nothing to announce. Thompson has called for campuses to offer at least three-quarters of their courses in-person this fall. He said he set the vaccination threshold at 70% for the scholarship drawing because that’s generally considered the minimum for herd immunity.

Wyoming

Casper: Officials expect moderate to extreme drought to persist and spread throughout Wyoming. The multiyear drought is the state’s worst since 2013. Last year was Wyoming’s fifth-driest and 16th-warmest since 1895, the Casper Star-Tribune reported. Even parts of the state with average or above-average precipitation got it earlier in the year than usual, leaving those areas just as susceptible to drought now, Wyoming Game and Fish Department terrestrial habitat supervisor Ian Tator told the state Game and Fish Commission last week. “On a statewide basis, there’s nowhere that’s doing fantastic,” Tator said. Fishing spots also face strain as water levels fall and temperatures rise, state fisheries management coordinator Dave Zafft told the commission.

Registration now open for Oregon Wine Symposium

Victor Panichkul

Statesman Journal

Registration is now open for the largest annual wine industry educational event in the Pacific Northwest.

The Oregon Wine Symposium is scheduled for Feb. 24-25 at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland.

In addition to speakers and seminars, there will be more than 145 trade show exhibitors showcasing a wide range of products.

Keynote speaker Michael Dorf, founder and CEO of City Winery, a unique urban wine venue that combines live music with winemaker tastings and talks, will share his story of growing his innovative wine business from scratch. With City Winery venues now in New York, Chicago, Nashville and Napa, Dorf is redefining the experience of wine and culture across generations, according to Michelle Kaufmann, communications manager at the Oregon Wine Board.

A variety of other sessions will give attendees advice on a variety of topics including: drivers of profitability in the wine industry, differentiating your brand through storytelling and choosing a fermentation vessel.

Also open for registration is the annual Oregon Wine Symposium Awards dinner, held at the Doubletree Portland on Feb. 24.

The fee for the symposium is $175 for single or $140 for multiple attendees for Oregon Wine Association members, $210 for single and $175 for multiple attendees for non-OWA members, and $75 for students. Tickets for the awards dinner are $125 each. For information or to register, go to symposium.oregonwine.org.

Leaning Tower of Dallas, John Glenn: News from around our 50 states

From USA TODAY Network and wire reports

Alabama

Montgomery: A bill to allow medical marijuana cleared its first hurdle Wednesday in the Legislature, giving hope to advocates after years of setbacks. Audience members applauded as the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 8-1 for the bill, putting it in line for a Senate floor vote later this session. The bill by Republican Sen. Tim Melson would allow people to be prescribed medical marijuana for 15 conditions – including cancer, anxiety and chronic pain – and to purchase cannabis products at a licensed dispensary. The bill would allow marijuana in forms such as pills, gelatinous cubes, oils, skin patches, gels and creams but not products consumed by smoking or vaping. The bill drew opposition from some law enforcement and conservative groups. They expressed concern about dosing, safety and the potential for abuse.

Alaska

Juneau: The Alaska Democratic Party is preparing to debut a new voting system for its upcoming presidential primary, officials say. The April 4 primary will use a ranked-choice, vote-by-mail system, The Anchorage Daily News reports. The new system will not have the problems that plagued Iowa’s first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses, Alaska Democratic Party Executive Director Lindsay Kavanaugh says. A significant change is the decision to drop the caucus system, which the state party used in 2016. “They’re a fairly antiquated method of determining presidential preference,” Kavanaugh says. Presidential primaries are run by the party, rather than the state, and operate under different rules from the Aug. 18 state primary or the Nov. 3 general election. Alaskans complained in 2016 about overcrowding, long waits and the inaccessibility of the existing system for picking presidential candidates.

Arizona

Phoenix: Advocates for overhauling the state’s criminal justice system want to put a proposal on the November ballot that would cut the sentences of non-dangerous offenders for good behavior. A ballot proposal filed Tuesday would allow for the release of non-dangerous offenders after serving 50% of their sentences. Currently, inmates generally must serve 85% of their punishments. The latest measure wouldn’t apply to people convicted of sexual assault, murder or dangerous crimes against children. The proposal also would authorize the use of state revenue from medical marijuana sales to hire more substance abuse counselors for inmates. Proponents say there aren’t enough counselors in state prisons. Organizers have until early July to gather the 237,000 signatures needed to put the measure on the ballot for voters to decide.

Arkansas

Fayetteville: The University of Arkansas and a former student have reached a settlement agreement in a lawsuit alleging school officials acted with “deliberate indifference” after she reported being sexually assaulted by another student on campus. The student will receive $100,000, with another $15,000 going to her attorneys to cover legal expenses. A jury trial had been scheduled for March, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports. Both sides filed a joint stipulation Monday in U.S. District Court in Fayetteville that the case be dismissed with prejudice, so it cannot be filed again. The student, who was 19 when she reported the attack in October 2014, filed the Title IX lawsuit in 2016. Title IX prohibits sex-based discrimination at schools receiving federal funding.

California

Los Angeles: Concerned that elephants and other animals have been used as props at Hollywood parties, the Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to ban the use of wild, exotic and dangerous animals for entertainment. The council voted 14-0 to make it illegal to require such animals to perform tricks, give rides, or be provided for “the entertainment, amusement, or benefit of a live audience, whether or not a fee is charged.” The issue came up four years ago when “a baby giraffe and elephant were being marched up the Hollywood Hills for a house party,” says David Ryu, the councilman who sponsored the ordinance. He calls such uses barbaric. The law covers a wide variety of animals, from lions, tigers, wolves and bears to gorillas, snakes over 8 feet long and all venomous snakes. State law already banned the use of exotic and wild animals in circuses, but the city law covers a broader range of entertainment, while exempting zoos and filming.

Colorado

Vail: Days after an avalanche killed two motorized snowbike riders near this resort town, large avalanches continue to rain down on the state’s mountains, prompting avalanche experts to urge backcountry recreationists to remain especially cautious despite the lull between storms. Saturday’s avalanche was one of nearly 50 in Colorado over a span of just three days, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center. As of Tuesday, the CAIC had reported 344 natural, human-triggered and controlled avalanches in February alone, including 48 from Saturday through Monday. Several storms – each dumping multiple feet of snow – have hammered the central and northern mountains this month, and dangerous avalanches persist in the central and northern mountains, the CAIC said in a Tuesday report.

Connecticut

Hartford: A Connecticut State Police sergeant says in a lawsuit that state public safety Commissioner James Rovella retaliated against him because the sergeant reported the sexually inappropriate conversation of a colleague. Sgt. Timothy Begley says in his suit that he was reassigned from the state police counterterrorism unit to a midnight patrol shift last March in apparent retribution for his role in filing a complaint with the state Equal Employment Opportunity Office on behalf of a female member of the unit who complained of a colleague’s sexually inappropriate remarks, the Hartford Courant reports. At the time, the officer who made the alleged remarks was a Hartford police officer, and Rovella was chief of the Hartford department. Rovella became the head of the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, which oversees state police, in February 2019. Days later, he was reassigned to a shift designed to punish him, according to the suit.

Delaware

Stanton: Four people were found dead at a homeless camp Tuesday, possibly from carbon monoxide poisoning linked to a heater discovered inside their tent, according to a family member and authorities. An autopsy will determine the four adults’ causes of death, but no foul play was suspected, Delaware State Police confirmed in a statement Tuesday. Bruce Messick, who identified himself as a family member of two of the victims, said he went to check on his brother and nephew that afternoon in the woods off Route 7 in Stanton, where he found the group dead inside a tent equipped with a propane heater. Messick said his family members had been homeless for years, and he often brought food and money to them. The almost-full propane tank being used by the four victims to keep warm had recently been dropped off, he said, and temperatures below freezing had been recorded throughout the week.

District of Columbia

Washington: A control tower at Ronald Reagan National Airport was evacuated late Wednesday morning, causing brief delays, WUSA-TV reports. The evacuation came after a sprinkler system used to manage fires went off, causing emergency officials at the airport to take action. Planes both in the sky and on the tarmac waited for the control tower to resume operations after a brief delay from the evacuation. According to fire and rescue personnel with Reagan, the tower was evacuated within 30 minutes of the original alarm, and no present danger existed. As of 11:30 a.m, flights and departures resumed back to their normal schedules. People were seen filing back into the control tower.

Florida

Tallahassee: The state cannot, for now, bar felons who served their time from registering to vote simply because they have failed to pay all fines and fees stemming from their cases, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Tallahassee federal judge’s preliminary injunction that a state law implementing Amendment 4 amounted to an unfair poll tax that would disenfranchise many of the released felons. Helen Ferre, chief spokeswoman for Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, said the state would immediately ask the entire 11th Circuit to reconsider the ruling. The case is one of several now before judges amid high-stakes legal skirmishes over Florida elections, which have drawn national scrutiny because of the state’s perennial status as a political battleground and the razor-thin margins deciding some high-profile contests.

Georgia

Atlanta: A former sheriff has been chosen to lead the state Department of Public Safety on an interim basis after its prior chief resigned in the aftermath of a cheating scandal involving state troopers. Former Tift County Sheriff Gary Vowell, who retired from office in 2012, was approved to step in as Georgia’s interim public safety commissioner by the agency’s board Wednesday, Gov. Brian Kemp announced. Vowell will take over for Col. Mark McDonough, who resigned last week at Kemp’s request. The turnover at the top of the agency that oversees the Georgia State Patrol comes after an entire graduating class of the State Patrol’s Trooper School was fired or resigned in January over accusations of cheating on an online exam. Thirty troopers who were August graduates of the school were fired, and another resigned. The exam in question dealt with operating speed detection equipment.

Hawaii

Honolulu: Sightseers will soon have an opportunity to experience history while viewing Oahu when a vintage World War II fighter plane begins passenger flights. A private company has modified a P-51D Mustang to allow space for the pilot and a backseat passenger beginning in March, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports. Wings Over Pearl is expected to take passengers up in a 1944 Mustang owned by the Erickson Aircraft Collection, which participates in global air shows and operates paid flights from its hangar at Madras Airport in Oregon. A 15-minute tour of Pearl Harbor, Wheeler Army Airfield and the Haleiwa Fighter Strip is expected to cost $2,900. A 30-minute ride that includes flights around Pearl Harbor, Wheeler, Haleiwa, Bellows Airfield, Kahuku Army Airfield, and the former Naval Air Station Barbers Point is scheduled to cost $3,400. The P-51 was regarded as one of the best fighter planes of the European theater in the latter part of WWII.

Idaho

Boise: The state Department of Parks & Recreation has asked residents for donations to combat years of budget cuts for trail maintenance across the state. The department has plans to debut a voluntary, donation-based initiative to secure funds for nonmotorized trails, the Idaho Statesman reports. “The trails are disappearing. They’re just going away,” department coordinator Tom Helmer said. The initiative would use donations to fund trail preservation, mirroring the model used in the state for motorized trails, which are funded by registration fees for off-highway vehicles, Helmer said. The funds could also be used to maintain backcountry trails on Forest Service land to nonmotorized paths on county property, he said. Multiple federal and state land management agencies have faced budget cuts causing trails to become overgrown, blocked by debris, washed out or impassable.

Illinois

Chicago: The city’s streets are now being illuminated by 200,000 LED streetlights that will significantly reduce its electricity bills, transportation officials announced Monday. Chicago’s Department of Transportation is aiming to install 270,000 LED streetlights by 2021, replacing high-pressure sodium lights that officials said are less efficient. The city estimates the change will cut electricity costs by $100 million during the program’s first decade. The department also announced plans for a citywide lighting management system to better detect outages. Residents still are encouraged to report outages to the 311 system via phone call or text messages. More installations are planned this year in communities on the city’s North and South sides.

Indiana

Monticello: The city’s Twin Lakes region was shocked Tuesday when the California-based owner of Indiana Beach told community leaders the amusement park, open for nearly 100 years, would close. “We didn’t see this coming at all,” said Randy Mitchell, White County economic development director. Mitchell had met Tuesday morning with White County commissioners and council members to relay word that things were going well for the amusement park tucked along Lake Shafer, based on reports Mitchell said he received from Gary Fawks, the local manager of Indiana Beach. On Tuesday afternoon, Mitchell said he met with Gregg Borman, senior vice president of operations for Apex, who told him the company was closing Indiana Beach and three other amusement parks it owns across the country for financial reasons. Mitchell said Borman indicated that Indiana Beach – long known for its slogan and jingle, “There’s more than corn in Indiana” – was marginally profitable. But Mitchell said he was told Apex wasn’t in a position to continue to make capital improvements to the rides.

Iowa

Des Moines: A Republican bill that would ban health care providers from administering the widely discredited practice of conversion therapy on LGBTQ children, while carving out exemptions tied to religious professionals and family, will not advance this year. But the chairman of the House State Government Committee, Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, R-Wilton, said he’s determined to bring the issue back next session. Kaufmann’s bill includes provisions outlining that the bill would not be interpreted to apply to a clergy member or a religious counselor who is acting in a pastoral or religious capacity, or to a parent or grandparent of a minor who may also be a health care professional but is acting as a parent. Rep. Mary Mascher, D-Iowa City, said she couldn’t support the religious exemption in the bill. “I feel that that is state-sanctioned child abuse, and why would we as a state believe or condone that in any way, shape or form?” she said.

Kansas

Junction City: Pit bull supporters are calling for this military town to lift its ban of the breed. The Hays Post reports that Kim Bradney of Legalize Bully JC says the ban forces some people in the community near Fort Riley to choose to live in surrounding communities with friendlier pit bull policies. She said the more than 20-year-old ban has left animal shelters flooded with dogs that aren’t adoptable. She said several other cities in the state already have removed their bans. Commissioner Ronna Larson asked city staff to check into different ordinance options. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has long opposed breed-specific legislation, saying there’s no evidence such laws increase safety.

Kentucky

Frankfort: Calling diabetes a health epidemic, Gov. Andy Beshear joined a bipartisan group of lawmakers Tuesday to push for a cap on out-of-pocket costs for many Kentuckians relying on insulin. The bill, co-sponsored by more than 70 lawmakers, has cleared a House committee and is awaiting action in the full House before it could advance to the Senate. House Bill 12 would limit out-of-pocket costs at $100 per prescription for a 30-day insulin supply. That cap would apply to people with commercial health insurance plans. About 500,000 Kentuckians are diagnosed with diabetes. Some can’t afford insulin or ration supplies because of costs, the bill’s supporters said. Hardest-hit families pay more than $1,000 a month for supplies, they said. Insulin is used to keep people’s blood sugar at safe levels. “Insulin is not something diabetics take out of convenience,” Beshear said. “They take it just to stay alive.”

Louisiana

Baton Rouge: Gov. John Bel Edwards’ allies have announced the formation of an outside organization to promote his agenda as he readies for the first legislative session of his new term. The political nonprofit, called A Stronger Louisiana, doesn’t have to disclose the donors funding its mission, a type of organization commonly called a “dark money” group. The president of A Stronger Louisiana is listed in documents as Randy Morris, an Edwards campaign contributor and owner of West Carroll Health Systems. The group’s creation was announced Tuesday by Edwards’ reelection campaign manager, Richard Carbo, who said the political nonprofit “is committed to supporting bipartisan solutions that move Louisiana forward.” In a statement, Carbo said the organization also will “work to hold elected officials accountable and promote transparency, ethics and accountability.”

Maine

Augusta: Fishermen are running out of time to apply to participate in a lottery for a license to harvest baby eels, which are among the most valuable resources in the state. Fishermen catch baby eels, called elvers, from rivers and streams in Maine so they can be used by aquaculture companies. The eels are raised to maturity for use as food. Maine is taking entries for the elver license lottery until Friday at 4:30 p.m. There are nine available licenses. The state caps the total number of elver licenses at 425. The elvers were worth more than $2,300 per pound in 2018, which was a record-breaking year for the fishery. They’re typically worth well over $1,000 per pound even in a below-average year. The elvers are subject to strict quotas designed to prevent overfishing.

Maryland

Baltimore: Community groups, civic organizations and resident volunteers can now sign up to participate in a citywide spring cleanup effort and, in exchange, earn credits toward their stormwater fee. The city’s Department of Public Works on Tuesday began registering volunteers for the April 18 event. People interested in participating must call 311 and provide a specific location to be cleaned and the number of volunteers who will assist in the effort. Trash bags will be provided to those registered. The department will collect the debris. Participants have to fill out paperwork to receive the stormwater credit. Registration for the annual event is open through April 9.

Massachusetts

Boston: The New England Aquarium has a new resident: a bright blue lobster. The Boston aquarium was recently gifted the colorful crustacean that was caught in the wild by Patriot Seafoods. It’s on display in the aquarium’s Isle of Shoals exhibit after a 30-day quarantine to ensure it’s healthy. The aquarium says incidence of blue lobsters in the wild is estimated to be about 1 in 2 million. The blue lobster joins other oddly colored lobsters already at the aquarium, including a yellow lobster, a calico lobster and a half-black, half-orange lobster, which the aquarium calls the “Halloween” lobster.

Michigan

Frankfort: An organization responsible for maintaining a historic lighthouse hopes that improving the site’s shoreline protection system will minimize damage from Lake Michigan’s high water levels. High water is causing problems for properties all along Michigan’s shoreline, including the Point Betsie Lighthouse on the northeastern shore of Lake Michigan, the Record-Eagle reports. A crack in the cement barrier intended to prevent erosion in front of the lighthouse is a high priority. The Friends of Point Betsie Lighthouse began a $1 million fundraising campaign last year to pay for the work. Dick Taylor, president of the group, said a request for engineering study proposals has been issued. The project requires permits from Michigan’s Department of Environment and other state and federal agencies, he said. The lighthouse was established in 1858. The site also includes a restored keeper’s residence and a museum for visitors.

Minnesota

St. Paul: Groups calling for changes in the state’s criminal justice system to make it easier for people to turn their lives around said Wednesday that they’re optimistic some of the proposals they’re promoting may become law this year. The Minnesota Second Chance Coalition held its annual rally at the Capitol. At a news conference beforehand, leaders said they have grounds for hoping that a proposal to stop suspending drivers’ licenses for unpaid traffic tickets will finally get enacted. The bill has significant support in both the GOP-controlled Senate and among Republicans in the Democratic-controlled House, said Anna Odegaard of the Minnesota Asset Building Coalition. She listed its main sponsor, Burnsville Republican Dan Hall, and two key co-sponsors: Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, of Nisswa, and GOP Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen, of Alexandria, a retired sheriff.

Mississippi

Columbus: A renewable energy company will build a 200-megawatt solar facility in northeast Mississippi, under a contract with the Tennessee Valley Authority. TVA awarded the contract to Florida-based Origis Energy, the Commercial Dispatch reports. Johan Vanhee, chief commercial and procurement officer for Origis, met with landowners of the proposed site last week near Columbus. Construction is tentatively set to begin the second half of 2021. The contract says Origis will begin providing energy to TVA in October 2022. The 200-megawatt site will use the energy produced by 650,000 solar panels, enough power to serve 45,920 homes. Origis, through its subsidiary MS Solar 5, originally planned to build a $200 million, 350-megawatt facility, the maximum amount of energy capacity at TVA’s new substation located at Infinity.

Missouri

St. Louis: State officials are spending $3.6 million to purchase a new helicopter to help fight fires, survey flooding and manage wildlife. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the Airbus H125 is expected to be delivered to wildlife officials from a dealer in Texas no later than mid-June. State bidding documents released Tuesday provided details about the purchase. Missouri Department of Conservation spokeswoman Candice Davis said it will allow the agency to monitor the state’s growing bear population and generate wildlife population estimates. After flooding, it also will help officials survey areas that can’t be reached by land. The new helicopter, which can be configured to hold as many as six passengers, replaces a 1995-era chopper that was deemed insufficient for further work.

Montana

Kalispell: A proposal by wildlife managers to extend the wolf hunting and trapping seasons in northwestern Montana was rejected, a wildlife commission said. The state Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks voted last week to maintain the hunting and trapping seasons from Sept. 15 to March 15, the Daily Inter Lake reports. The proposal would have lengthened the hunting season by six weeks, from Aug. 15 to March 31, and increase the individual hunting quota from five to 10 wolves affecting Region One, which covers Lincoln, Flathead, Sanders and Lake counties, commission officials said. The two proposals received about 1,000 comments online and dozens during the meeting Thursday from people as far away as Arizona.

Nebraska

Lincoln: The state’s pardons board refused Tuesday to pardon the murder conviction of the ex-girlfriend of Charles Starkweather, the infamous killer who went on a rampage in the 1950s that was later immortalized in movies, books and two hit songs. The board voted 3-0 to deny the application from Caril Ann Clair, even though some relatives of Starkweather’s victims lobbied in her favor. The board is composed of Gov. Pete Ricketts, Attorney General Doug Peterson and Secretary of State Bob Evnen, all Republicans. Clair, who was known as Caril Ann Fugate at the time, was 14 when Starkweather, then 19, went on a killing spree in 1957-58 that left 11 people dead, including her mother, stepfather and baby half-sister. The murders formed a loose basis for the 1973 movie “Badlands,” with Sissy Spacek and Martin Sheen, as well as other films. The killings were the subject of Bruce Springsteen’s song “Nebraska” and referenced in Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire.” Clair spent 17 years in prison on a murder conviction before she was paroled in 1976.

Nevada

Las Vegas: School district officials are investigating allegations that a class was playing a game of “Duck, Duck, Goose” that invoked slavery. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports the principal at Rowe Elementary School issued a message to parents about the reported incident. Principal Jeffrey Schaber said no behavior that contradicts having “an inclusive community” would be tolerated. A parent posted on Facebook that her kindergarten-age daughter last week was taught to play “Duck, Duck, Goose,” but as “Hunter Chase the Slave.” It was not clear if this occurred in front of a teacher. Schaber said the incident is being thoroughly investigated.

New Hampshire

Concord: A change in construction development rules in the state puts endangered species at a greater risk of facing harm, according to environmental groups. The state’s Department of Environmental Services changed its construction permit rule in December after it deemed a state Supreme Court interpretation of the previous rule to be unrealistic. For years, the rule mandated that development projects “not result in adverse impacts” to a list of more than 50 animals deemed threatened or endangered by the state, New Hampshire Public Radio reports. Advocates say the change, which the agency wants to make permanent, softens protections for the New England cottontail, golden eagle, frosted elfin butterfly and other animals along with some that are subject to separate federal protections.

New Jersey

Trenton: New Jersey, four other states and New York City are suing the Trump administration again to try to force it to clamp down on upwind states that contribute significantly to poor air quality in the Garden State. The lawsuit, filed by New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal on behalf of the states, said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has failed to address the issue even after an appeals court ruled last year that it must do so. “We already beat EPA in court and won an order demanding the federal government tackle out-of-state pollution, and yet EPA still did not act,” Grewal said in a statement. “Enough is enough: this is a serious environmental and public health problem, and it demands a serious response from Washington.” Prevailing winds send pollution into New Jersey from states like Pennsylvania and Ohio where there are coal-burning power plants. That causes ozone levels to spike to unhealthy levels in New Jersey several days a year.

New Mexico

Moriarty: Three school districts will be rolling out the state’s first propane-fueled buses for the upcoming school year. Districts that serve schools in Los Lunas, Magdalena and the Moriarty area have purchased propane buses as part of a partnership with the state Public Education Department. Officials say the 17 new buses will help cut costs, since propane prices average 50% less than diesel, and maintenance costs are expected to be less. The buses also emit less pollution. Teresa Salazar, the superintendent of the Moriarty-Edgewood School District, said the district has had to dip into operational funds to supplement transportation costs over the past several years. Other school districts have expressed interest. Officials with Blue Bird, which made the buses, and the engineering company ROUSH CleanTech plan to continue working with districts, transportation contractors and the Public Education Department to bring more propane buses to the state.

New York

Spring Valley: A man stabbed a library security guard to death after she told him to turn his music down, authorities said Wednesday. Blanchard Glaudin, 25, has been charged with second-degree murder in Tuesday’s stabbing of Sandra Wilson inside Finkelstein Memorial Library in Spring Valley, Rockland County District Attorney Thomas E. Walsh II said. Glaudin was tackled by library patrons after the stabbing. Wilson was pronounced dead at Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern. Spring Valley Police Chief Paul Modica said Glaudin stabbed Wilson after she told him to turn his music down. “She was at the computer terminals and told him he had to turn it down,” Modica said. “That was it.” Glaudin was being held without bail, and it was not clear whether he had an attorney who could speak for him.

North Carolina

Raleigh: Actor and activist Mark Ruffalo has visited North Carolina to push for policies to eliminate chemical pollution from industrial products, like those discharged into the Cape Fear River for years. Ruffalo spoke Wednesday at a Legislative Building news conference in Raleigh to highlight the challenges of communities affected by what are known as PFAS, or “forever chemicals.” These compounds include GenX, which is used in producing nonstick surfaces. Little research exists about the health effects of chemicals like GenX, which has been used at the Chemours Co. plant near Fayetteville. The event was sponsored by the North Carolina Conservation Network, Clean Cape Fear and the Center for Environmental Health. State legislators and residents also spoke. Ruffalo is known for his roles in the “Avengers” movies, “Thanks for Sharing” and others. He also recently played an environmental defense attorney in “Dark Waters.” Ruffalo participated in an event in Wilmington on Tuesday evening that included a screening of “Dark Waters.” He also spent some time with Attorney General Josh Stein earlier Wednesday.

North Dakota

Bismarck: Transportation officials say the final number is in on traffic fatalities in the state last year. The state Department of Transportation and Highway Patrol say a total of 100 people were killed on North Dakota roadways in 2019. That’s a decrease of five fatalities compared to 2018 and the lowest number of deaths in 15 years, officials said. “Traffic fatalities have been on a downward trend since 2012,” DOT Director Bill Panos says. “Vision Zero continues to work toward the goal of zero fatalities and serious injuries on North Dakota roads because even one fatality is too many.” Of the 100 fatalities in 2019, 47% were not wearing their seat belt, 42% were alcohol-related, and 24% were speed-related, according to the department’s data. Victims ranged in age from 3 to 93 years old, and 82% were North Dakota residents.

Ohio

Columbus: Fans of the late astronaut and U.S. Sen. John Glenn are working to bring a statue of his likeness to the Statehouse to mark major future milestones, such as his birthday and the anniversary of his famous space flight. Thursday marks 58 years since Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth, making him an instant national hero in 1962. He returned to space in 1998, at age 77, as part of NASA research on aging. State Rep. Adam Holmes, a Zanesville Republican, has proposed temporarily placing a statue of Glenn on Statehouse grounds beginning with what would have been his 100th birthday on July 18, 2021. Under his plan, it would return again Feb. 20, 2022, for the 60th anniversary of Glenn’s orbital flight in Friendship 7. The $80,000, 7-foot bronze statue of him that is being eyed by Holmes was crafted by Alan Cottrill, who was born and raised in Zanesville, a short drive from New Concord, where Glenn was born.

Oklahoma

Oklahoma City: State officials were forced to revise the language on a new state branding website after backlash over its exclusion of Native Americans’ historical roots in the state. Hundreds of thousands of dollars, coming from the state and private groups, were spent on the attempted rebranding of the Sooner State as a place of opportunity that best represents its heritage, history and people, Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell said. But officials failed to recognize the ties one crucial group has to the state: Native Americans. On the website that provides information on the advertising endeavor, a paragraph described Oklahoma’s history as beginning with the 1889 Land Run,when thousands of Americans took over what the U.S. government at the time called unclaimed territory and what has become known as the Oklahoma Land Rush. But Native American tribes have been living in Oklahoma for hundreds of years, well before the Land Run.

Oregon

Portland: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement subpoenaed a sheriff’s office in the city’s suburbs Tuesday for information about two Mexican citizens wanted for deportation, a move that is part of a broader escalation of the conflict between federal officials and local government agencies over so-called sanctuary policies. ICE, the Homeland Security agency responsible for arresting and deporting people in the U.S. illegally, served the Washington County Sheriff’s Office in Hillsboro with the subpoenas in an attempt to get more information about two men, including one who has already been released from custody, said ICE spokeswoman Tanya Roman. Oregon’s 1987 sanctuary state law, the nation’s first, prevents law enforcement from detaining people who are in the U.S. illegally but have not broken any other law.

Pennsylvania

Philadelphia: The 1.3 million Roman Catholic parishioners of the archdiocese of Philadelphia have a new spiritual leader. Fifty-eight-year-old Nelson Perez, who spent most of his early pastoral career in the area, assumed the post of archbishop in a ceremony Tuesday at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul. Perez, the former bishop of Cleveland, is the first Hispanic archbishop to lead the five-county archdiocese. He is the 14th Roman Catholic bishop and 10th archbishop of Philadelphia. He succeeds Archbishop Charles Chaput, who stepped down after turning 75 last year, the traditional retirement age for Catholic bishops. The Mass of Installation followed a procession of hundreds of cardinals, bishops, priests, deacons and seminarians to the city’s cathedral church. Perez attended the diocesan seminary in Philadelphia in the 1980s and served in a number of Philadelphia parishes before being named as an auxiliary bishop in Rockville Centre, New York, and then bishop of Cleveland in 2017.

Rhode Island

Pawtucket: A new report on the closure of a hospital two years ago says nearby communities have been left with less access to emergency care and put pressure on other area hospital emergency rooms. The independent report on the January 2018 closure of Memorial Hospital in Pawtucket released this month was compiled by public health research and consulting firm John Snow Inc. and paid for by Care New England, Memorial’s operator. It concluded that Memorial’s closure “removed a nucleus of health care services for communities with high health care need,” including Pawtucket, Central Falls and Cumberland, whose residents have a higher rate of emergency room use than the state as a whole. Also, the dispersion of patients from Memorial resulted in “an immediate system-wide impact,” evidenced by increased wait times at emergency departments at other area hospitals.

South Carolina

Columbia: The first of more than a dozen hearings by the General Assembly on whether South Carolina should sell its state-owned utility had senators on Tuesday questioning the officials who reviewed the proposals. The Department of Administration released a 111-page report Tuesday detailing NextEra Energy of Florida’s bid to buy Santee Cooper, Dominion Energy of Virginia’s offer to manage it and one deal to let Santee Cooper reform itself. The Senate Finance Committee got the first crack at getting more information and spent nearly six hours discussing the plans at an initial meeting. Senators asked about a 42-page bill that NextEra says lawmakers must pass for the deal to go through but that includes allowing NextEra to bypass regulators. Some lawmakers said bypassing regulators is what got Santee Cooper into $4 billion of debt for its minority share in two nuclear plants that were never finished.

South Dakota

Pierre: The state House passed a bill Tuesday pushed by Gov. Kristi Noem that would revamp South Dakota’s riot laws with criminal and civil penalties for those who urge rioting. The push has sparked conflict between Noem and Native American tribal members, who say the law is an attempt to “silence” peaceful protests against the Keystone XL pipeline. The governor argues that the law does not apply to peaceful protests and is intended to enforce the rule of law in the state. Noem has attempted to foster cooperation on other issues in the past week. As the House passed the bill, a protester named Tasina Smith shouted from a balcony overlooking the floor of the House, yelling that law enforcement at Standing Rock had used laws on “incitement to riot” against people who were peacefully protesting. She was escorted out of the room by security. Others demonstrated before the vote in the central hall of the Capitol building. “Kristi Noem, we are not a riot,” nearly a dozen protesters chanted as they danced to a drumbeat and held banners to protest the “riot boosting” bill.

Tennessee

Nashville: A small group of state lawmakers advanced a proposal for a nonbinding resolution Tuesday stating that the state recognizes CNN and The Washington Post as “fake news.” Republican Rep. Micah Van Huss, the sponsor, said the measure is needed because his constituents are “tired of these elitists in the media” and wanted to condemn the news organizations for their coverage of President Donald Trump and his supporters. No other news organizations were listed in the proposed resolution. Four Republicans supported the measure in advancing it out of House Constitutional Protections and Sentencing Subcommittee, while one Democratic member opposed. Two Republicans declined to vote. The proposal now goes to the full House Judiciary panel for consideration. Democrats quickly criticized the measure.

Texas

Dallas: A social media sensation dubbed the “Leaning Tower of Dallas” was born when a portion of a building survived an implosion. After the implosion Sunday failed to bring down the core of the 11-story former Affiliated Computer Services building, the online jokes and photos began. Many, inspired by Italy’s Leaning Tower of Pisa, posted photos showing themselves pretending to prop up the lopsided tower. One Twitter user quipped, “Oops, an implosion masterpiece!!” Another asked, “Who needs Pisa? We have the Leaning Tower of Dallas.” An online petition even popped up to “save this landmark from destruction.” Lloyd Nabors, whose company is handling the demolition, said crews will use a wrecking ball to take down the remaining tower, which included the elevator shafts. The building is being demolished to make way for a $2.5 billion mixed-use project.

Utah

Salt Lake City: A proposal to require warning labels on pornography passed the state House on Tuesday, a move an adult-entertainment industry group called a dark day for freedom of expression. GOP state Rep. Brady Brammer, the lawmaker behind the plan to mandate the labels about potential harm to minors, says it’s aimed at catching the “worst of the worst.” The measure would allow private citizens to file complaints and carries a potential penalty of up to $2,500 for each violation. It now moves to the Utah Senate for consideration. Republican lawmakers praised the idea from Brammer, calling it a creative way to deal with the increasing availability of pornography online. It would apply to any material that appears in Utah and would be enforced through civil rather than criminal courts, allowing the state and private groups to file suit against producers.

Vermont

Burlington: Roughly 3 in 4 Vermonters support the legalization and regulation of cannabis sales, according to a recent statewide survey. In anticipation of a major vote by the Vermont House of Representatives on a bill that would regulate and tax the sale of cannabis, nearly 900 residents were surveyed. The poll, commissioned by the nonprofit advocacy group Marijuana Policy Project, was conducted by national Democratic firm Public Policy Polling. The results show support for a commercial market across many demographic groups, including Republicans (58%), residents 65 and older (69%) and Vermont’s most educated residents (84%). Meanwhile, 19% remain opposed. Among other results, the survey found 87% of respondents supported the continuation of medical cannabis.

Virginia

Virginia Beach: An upcoming ad campaign for the city will feature a new song by Grammy-winning hometown superstar Pharrell Williams. The singer, rapper and producer contacted the city last year asking how he could help after the mass shooting at a municipal building in May, Deputy City Manager Ron Williams told The Virginian-Pilot. That led to a a multiyear plan involving the singer in tourism and economic development initiatives, he said. As part of that, Pharrell Williams will narrate two 60-second commercials with his soon-to-be-released song, “Virginia.” The spring tourism campaign will also include window signs as well as items from the singer’s clothing lines emblazoned with a “We’re open” slogan.

Washington

Seattle: The City Council has voted to allow the creation of up to 40 tent cities, tiny house villages, or parking lots where people living in their cars can camp – a sharp increase from the number the city currently allows. The Seattle Times reports the ordinance approved Tuesday reflects a dramatic shift in Seattle’s attitude toward these temporary places for homeless people to live while waiting to get into housing: It allows encampments to exist indefinitely with renewal of a permit once a year and allows them in residential zones. The first city-permitted tent cities opened in 2015. Because of opposition at the time, the city adopted legislation, which expires next month, that applied a built-in sunset to some of the villages. This new ordinance has no such end date.

West Virginia

Charleston: The state may soon require the speedy testing and collection of rape kits under a bill heading to the governor’s office to be signed into law. The House of Delegates gave final passage to the proposal Tuesday after approving a minor Senate amendment. The measure would require the kits to be submitted to the state police’s forensic lab within 30 days or as soon as possible after collection. The kits could also be tracked, and law enforcement would have to get a court order before disposing of the examinations. The bill comes during a national push to clear backlogs of the kits, with more than 20 states approving bills to require submission guidelines or kit audits in the past two years, according to the advocacy group End the Backlog. West Virginia officials in 2015 started an initiative to test nearly 2,400 shelved rape kits, some of the which dated back to the 1980s.

Wisconsin

Milwaukee: The count for the 2020 U.S. census will officially begin in less than a month, and as it nears, officials are ramping up recruitment efforts for census takers. “It’s crunch time,” said Sharon Robinson, co-chair of the Greater Milwaukee Complete Count Committee. “Our communications team has really been working hard behind the scenes. You will see massive visibility.” Gina Manley, partnership coordinator for the Chicago Regional Census Committee, said the bureau is trying to hire locally and emphasized the position’s flexible hours and the pay, which ranges from $17 to $24 statewide. “We want it to be neighbors knocking on neighbors’ doors,” she said. A U.S. Census Bureau representative estimated that Milwaukee County is short about 1,000 census takers, while Wisconsin overall is short more than 13,000.

Wyoming

Jackson: Federal officials are allowing a scenic helicopter business to resume flights in Jackson Hole despite opposition. Wind River Air owner Tony Chambers plans to continue flights no later than early summer following a letter from the Federal Aviation Administration. “I was pleased, but I was also expecting exactly that,” Chambers told the Jackson Hole News&Guide. The Jackson Hole Airport board has acknowledged an obligation to accommodate Wind River Air but has also tried to find a way to slow or stop the business venture amid opposition from a variety of groups including the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance and National Parks Conservation Association. The commercial airport within Grand Teton National Park is one of the busiest in Wyoming. Opponents worry about helicopter noise in places including the Leidy Highlands and Jedediah Smith Wilderness just west of Grand Teton.

From USA TODAY Network and wire reports