News from across the USA

ALABAMA Montgomery: Alabama wildlife officials say they’re writing a large number of citations for baiting deer. State law forbids hunters from hunting over bait. But officials say there’s a false rumor that baiting is OK this year because of last year’s drought. ALASKA Ketchikan: About an acre owned by the Craig Tribal Association will be the first Alaska Native land to go into trust with the federal government, The Ketchikan Daily News reports. A perk of trusts includes the ability to tap into more federal funding. ARIZONA Flagstaff: Northern Arizona University is offering a doctorate program in astronomy. The Arizona Daily Sun reports that four students have enrolled so far. ARKANSAS Little Rock: Every third Monday in January, Arkansas state offices close in observance of the shared birthdays of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. But Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson wants to remove Lee from the holiday. Critics say that belittles the state’s Confederate heritage.

CALIFORNIA Newport Beach: A juvenile sea lion was so happy to be rescued after getting hooked by fishing gear off Southern California that it jumped into a Coast Guard boat. The animal is going to the Pacific Marine Mammal Center for rehabilitation and release. COLORADO Colorado Springs: A foyer leading to a three- star general’s office at the Air Force Academy has been renovated for $ 387,000. The Gazette reports that the bill is about $ 130,000 more than the average price of a home in the Pikes Peak region. CONNECTICUT East Haven: An animal rights group is offering a $ 5,000 reward for information that leads to a criminal conviction in the case of a pit bull found abandoned in a wire crate. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says the dog is recovering at a Connecticut shelter. DELAWARE Wilmington: Wilmington officials say they’ll have to pay $ 9 million or more to cover the health care costs for four firefighters injured in a blaze that killed three of their colleagues last year, The News Journal reports. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser is using the attention given to Friday’s presidential inauguration to put in a plug for helping the Arlington Memorial Bridge, WTOP reports. FLORIDA Tampa: Last weekend, Tampa restaurant owner Richard Gonzmart bought nearly every fiberglass figure left from the Lowry Park Zoo’s old Fairyland, The Tampa Bay Times reports. He plans to restore and display them for free.

GEORGIA St. Marys: The Georgia Radio Museum and Hall of Fame is moving its collection of antique radios, records and sound equipment from St. Marys to metro Atlanta, The News of Brunswick reports.

HAWAII Hilo: A court- appointed representative will determine if there are grounds for a civil suit on behalf of the estate of a boy whose mother recently pleaded guilty to manslaughter in his death, The Hawaii- Tribune Herald reports.

IDAHO Shoshone: A new mentor program through the Idaho Department of Correction needs more volunteers, The Times

News reports. About 150 mentors statewide have completed applications.

ILLINOIS Chicago: University of Illinois trustees will review a proposal that would boost the school’s goals for doing business with companies owned by minorities, women and people with disabilities, The News- Gazette reports.

INDIANA Evansville: Statistics show that a growing percentage of prisoners sentenced for federal drug crimes in southern Indiana are heroin offenders, The Evansville Courier & Press reports.

IOWA Des Moines: A state investigation has uncovered two Roosevelt High School bank accounts with $ 1.8 million in deposits that wrongly operated outside of the district’s oversight,

The Des Moines Register reports.

KANSAS Yoder: Authorities say a man was shot accidentally while trying to help kill a buffalo at a Kansas meat- processing business. The buffalo was being readied for butchering.

KENTUCKY Lexington: Kentucky is pulling out of a bid to host the 2022 World Equestrian Games. The Horse Park in Lexington, which hosted the 2010 games, had been competing with Slovakia.

LOUISIANA Houma: A segregation- era high school for black students will reopen next month in Louisiana as a museum celebrating African- American history, The Courier reports. MAINE Caribou: Maine’s potato industry will gather Wednesday in Caribou for a two- day conference related to all things tuber. The University of Maine Cooperative Extension is hosting the 32nd Annual Maine Potato Conference and Trade Show. MARYLAND Frederick: A Maryland school system employee who pointed out a student’s spelling error on Twitter was fired. Katie Nash tells The Frederick News- Post that she was fired after responding to the student’s Jan. 5 tweet asking that schools be closed “tammarow.” Nash responded, “But then how would you learn how to spell ‘ tomorrow?’” MASSACHUSETTS New Bed

ford: A $ 375,000 challenge grant has put completion of a project to restore the historic fishing schooner Ernestina- Morrissey within sight. Launched in 1894, the Ernestina- Morrissey is the official vessel of Massachusetts.

MICHIGAN Fraser: Repairs to a broken sewer line that caused a football field- sized sinkhole north of Detroit are estimated to cost more than $ 78 million. Macomb County Public Works chief Candice Miller says fixes could take about a year. MINNESOTA Collegeville: Large solar farms were relatively rare in Minnesota when the first solar panels were erected in a field near St. John’s University in 2009. The St. Cloud Times reports that the solar farm expanded in 2014 and now has added a third phase. MISSISSIPPI West Point: A landmark Mississippi antebellum home has been vandalized for the second time in three months. Clay County Sheriff Eddie Scott tells The Commercial Dispatch that deputies found the front door to the home kicked in last Friday. MISSOURI Granby: Another Missouri school district is considering whether to join 18 others with a four- day school week. East Newton Superintendent Todd McCrackin says his district expects a $ 350,000 drop in next year’s budget, The Joplin Globe reports. MONTANA Bozeman: A hotel in Yellowstone National Park has stopped renting rooms during a $ 7.9 million renovation, The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports. NEBRASKA Omaha: The main sponsor of a failed proposal to allow casino gambling in Nebraska is suing the polling company that failed to gather enough signatures to put the issue on the ballot last year, The Omaha World- Herald reports. NEVADA Las Vegas: A judge is allowing the Nevada treasurer’s office to continue to accept applications for the state’s voucherstyle Education Savings Account program, The Las Vegas ReviewJournal reports. NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: EPA data show a 91% decrease of reported chemical releases in New Hampshire form 2005 to 2015. NEW JERSEY Newark: An Am- trak supervisor has admitted that he fraudulently overbilled the passenger rail service for 192 overtime hours and 28 regular hours that he didn’t work. Prosecutors say Donald Harper Sr., a 19- year employee, faces up to a year in prison when he’s sentenced March 20.

NEW MEXICO Espanola: A troubled New Mexico school district whose finances were recently taken over by the state now faces legal action for refusing to turn over records. Officials say it’s taken the Espanola Public Schools District more than six months to provide 1% of the documents requested.

NEW YORK Albany: New York is accepting applications from groups that want to boost tourism and economic development in the Adirondacks and Catskills. The state has earmarked $ 800,000 for so- called smart growth grants in those areas.

NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: An Iredell County woman is comparing her latest lottery win to being struck twice by lightning. Lisa Williard is one of three people to split the $ 1,065,423 jackpot in last Thursday’s Cash 5 drawing. Williard also won a Cash 5 prize of $ 363,041 in 2008.

NORTH DAKOTA Minot: The Minot area’s emergency shelter services for women and children are facing high demand. The

Minot Daily News reports that the Minot Housing Authority has nearly 500 households on a waiting list for housing vouchers.

OHIO Toledo: A display featuring photos of former Toledo mayors has a small flaw. It turns out that the photo thought to be Toledo’s first mayor is actually a photo of his son, The Blade reports. Historians say it’s unlikely that a photo of Mayor John Berdan, who was elected in 1837, exists because he died in 1841, just after the first photographic process was introduced. OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: A measure filed ahead of Oklahoma’s legislative session would let voters decide whether the state Commissioner of Labor should still be elected or appointed by the governor. OREGON Milton- Freewater: Oregon’s largest grower and packer of fresh apples has been bought by a family- owned fruit company. The Capital Press reports that the sale of Earl Brown and Sons of Milton-Freewater allows the Browns to remain and manage local operations. Financial terms weren’t disclosed. PENNSYLVANIA Philadelphia: The American Friends Service Committee is celebrating 100 years of activism with a “Waging Peace” exhibit at Philadelphia’s African American Museum. The exhibit runs through April 30. RHODE ISLAND South Kings

town: The University of Rhode Island is giving away 300,000 packets of seeds in its master gardener program. The deadline for ordering seeds is Feb. 10. SOUTH CAROLINA Hilton Head

Island: Two sisters hoping to spend some vacation time on Hilton Head Island paid to rent a condominium from late January to early April. But the condo apparently doesn’t exist, The Island Packet reports. SOUTH DAKOTA Mitchell: The grand opening of Mitchell’s $ 15.3 million fine arts center has been delayed to April 9. But The Daily Republic says the facility will be open for events and students on Feb. 1. TENNESSEE Chattanooga: A Chattanooga pipeline reopened less than a week after it was closed because of a gasoline leak. The line near Signal Mountain was repaired after a resident reported smelling the fuel. Officials estimate that about 630 gallons of gasoline leaked near Shoal Creek. TEXAS Brownsville: Brownsville is removing its $ 1- a- bag fee on plastic shopping bags in exchange for the Texas Attorney General’s Office dropping a lawsuit against the city. The state contends the fee, in effect for six years, is an extra tax, KRGV- TV reports. UTAH Salt Lake City: Utah state prisoners can read violence- laced novels and books such as Games of Thrones, but are barred from accessing two guidebooks on manipulation, The Salt Lake Tribune reports. VERMONT Montpelier: The Vermont Supreme Court says buildings are allowed to be ugly. The court ruled in response to challenges by landowners who said planned solar developments would be ugly and hurt property values. The Rutland Herald reports that the court found that unsightliness does not render a building a nuisance under the law. VIRGINIA Richmond: The Republican Governors Association has donated $ 5 million to a political action committee to help the GOP take back the Virginia governor’s mansion. Democrats have won three of the past four governors’ races in Virginia, but an RGA spokesman says the group sees Virginia as “a race that’s very vulnerable for party flip.” WASHINGTON Seattle: The federal government is considering whether it should set up an area off Washington’s coast where endangered killer whales would be protected from motorboats and other disturbances. Most motorized vessels would be banned under a proposed whale protection zone. Puget Sound orcas face multiple threats, including pollution, lack of prey and impacts from boats. WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: West Virginia Gov.- elect Jim Justice has announced he’ll appoint Alan Larrick as director of the West Virginia Lottery. Larrick has been an attorney in Beckley for 38 years. WISCONSIN Superior: A custom boat building company in Superior has received a $ 6.2 million contract to build 40 riverboats for a Texas tourist attraction. The contract means more jobs at Fraser Shipyards’ Lake Assault Boats, Wisconsin Public Radio reports. WYOMING Cheyenne: Jurors acquitted a man in a cockfighting case that put his then- girlfriend on probation. The Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports that deputies and animal control officers seized 75 roosters.