STATE-BY-STATE

ALABAMA Springville: Authorities say a convicted murderer attacked a guard at the St. Clair Correctional Facility with a makeshift weapon. The guard’s injuries were not life threatening.

ALASKA Anchorage: Police say the city set a record with 35 homicides last year, KTUU-TV reports. Eleven cases are still under investigation.

ARIZONA Picacho: Twelve people taking an ostrich farm tour in Pinal County were injured when their truck rolled over.

ARKANSAS Scott: Police say a woman who was kidnapped and thrown from a bridge into the frigid Arkansas River swam to safety, KATV reports.

CALIFORNIA Arcadia: A spinning windmill atop a Denny’s restaurant broke off and fell on the business last week. The windmill built in 1967 was a local landmark, The Pasadena StarNews reports.

COLORADO Longmont: A city official who allowed warrantless police searches of subsidized housing no longer works for the local housing agency, The Times-Call reports.

CONNECTICUT Simsbury: A barn fire at Folly Farm, an equestrian training and boarding facility, killed 24 horses. The cause is under investigation.

DELAWARE Wilmington: State firefighters will soon use a universal mayday signal if a colleague gets into trouble, The News Journal reports.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Seven people were hospitalized in suburban Washington when a suspect being chased by police ran a red light and collided with a van.

FLORIDA Tallahassee: A judge ordered R.J. Reynolds to keep paying the state millions of dollars in tobacco settlement money despite selling off major brands. The company sold its Kool, Winston, Salem and Maverick brands to Imperial Tobacco Group in 2015.

GEORGIA Atlanta: The arts and entertainment publication “Creative Loafing” has reduced its staff and says it’s returning to its roots with more freelance contributions, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

HAWAII Kailua-Kona: Guinness World Records has confirmed that a woman found the world’s heaviest avocado, West Hawaii Today reports. Pamela Wang of Big Island found the whopping 5-pound, 3.6-ounce avocado while taking a walk.

IDAHO Salmon: State officials last week declared air quality in this town unhealthy due to stagnant air that elevated pollutant levels. All outdoor burning was prohibited.

ILLINOIS Chicago: A man who got stuck inside a clothing donation box was rescued by firefighters.

INDIANA Indianapolis: Members of an Indiana National Guard unit based in Kokomo are being deployed to Kuwait. About 250 members of the 38th Sustainment Brigade will leave Tuesday.

IOWA Des Moines: Ethanol plants in the state produced a record amount of the gasoline additive last year, narrowly topping the 2016 record.

KANSAS Topeka: The state is delaying the launch of a new computer system for issuing driver’s licenses. The KaniLicense system had been scheduled to launch Tuesday.

KENTUCKY Frankfort: State parks officials say the amphitheater at My Old Kentucky Home State Park at Bardstown has closed due to electrical and structural issues.

LOUISIANA Baton Rouge: A state appeals court upheld a judge’s decision awarding more than $90,000 to an Assumption Parish family whose home was mistakenly raided by police in a 2013 drug investigation, The Advocate reports.

MAINE Portland: Maine’s wild blueberry industry credits school programs for a 57% growth in sales during 2017.

MARYLAND Annapolis: The curator of the U.S. Naval Academy Museum rediscovered 46 flags that were concealed in boxes and out of view for nearly a century. Many of the flags were captured by the Navy in conflicts throughout the 19th century, from the War of 1812 to the Spanish-American War.

MASSACHUSETTS Salem: A former Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who was convicted of staging his own shooting a decade ago is now accused of forging part of his dead son’s will.

MICHIGAN Grand Rapids: Police are warning residents to be on the lookout for counterfeit cash. Seven incidents have been reported since Dec. 1 involving fake $50 and $100 bills.

MINNESOTA Minneapolis: The University of Minnesota’s new energy plant is expected to save about $2 million in utility costs, Minnesota Public Radio reports.

MISSISSIPPI Jackson: State lawmakers convene Tuesday for the 2018 session, and efforts to increase road and bridge spending is a priority. But supporters say an outright tax increase has little backing.

MISSOURI Clayton: The St. Louis area’s wintertime tradition of carriage rides is on hold until the weather warms up.

MONTANA Columbia Falls: Three tour boats that plied the waters of Glacier National Park for more than 80 years are now on the National Register of Historic Places.

NEBRASKA Omaha: The Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium in Omaha is accepting discarded Christmas trees to use as toys for its animals, The Omaha World-Herald reports.

NEVADA Reno: A Washoe County woman convicted of several theft and property crimes was sentenced to up to 25 years in prison as a habitual criminal.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Manchester: Bed bugs forced the closure of the urgent care clinic at the city’s Veterans Affairs Medical Center, New Hampshire Public Radio reports.

NEW JERSEY Trenton: A state law with a 2% limit on arbitration pay raises for police and firefighters expired Monday, and a debate is starting on whether a limit is needed.

NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: The University of New Mexico will transform a vacant biology building into a teaching center for the sciences and museum studies, the Albuquerque Journal reports.

NEW YORK New York: The operator of a ferry that got stuck last week on a Jamaica Bay sandbar says the boat apparently went off its usual route.

NORTH CAROLINA Manns Harbor:

The state Ferry Division is making progress on two new vessels and cutting back some winter service, The Virginian-Pilot reports.

NORTH DAKOTA Wahpeton: The agriculture department at the North Dakota State College of Science is developing a land lab on 92 acres, the Wahpeton Daily News reports.

OHIO Toledo: Prosecutors say seven people are charged in a scheme to smuggle teenagers into the country to work on an Ohio egg farm as virtual slave laborers.

OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: The state is investigating possible foodstamp fraud at two addiction recovery centers, The Oklahoman reports. People who attended one center say their food stamps were confiscated by officials there. At the other center, some attendees reported being fed expired food donations and restaurant leftovers.

OREGON Bend: Gas stations in rural Oregon counties can let customers pump their own fuel under a new state law, but many say they’ll continue to pump gas for customers, The Bulletin reports.

PENNSYLVANIA Harrisburg: Drivers on the Pennsylvania Turnpike will pay a higher toll starting Jan. 7. The most common tolls for passenger vehicles will go from $1.23 to $1.30 for E-ZPass users and from $1.95 to $2.10 for drivers paying in cash.

RHODE ISLAND Exeter: Animal welfare authorities accompanied by state police seized 24 dogs as well as rabbits, goats and chickens from a home here. Officials say the homeowner will face a misdemeanor charge.

SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: Some state troopers have been buying and bringing their own high-powered rifles to work to replace less lethal state-issued shotguns, The Post and Courier reports. So officials are seeking $500,000 in next year’s budget to equip all troopers with AR-15 rifles.

SOUTH DAKOTA Wessington

Springs: Jerauld County Sheriff Jason Weber says big game violations in a popular local hunting area are getting out of control, the Mitchell Daily Republic reports.

TENNESSEE Nashville: Vandals painted a statue of Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest pink last week. The privately owned statue sits along Interstate 65 in Nashville.

TEXAS Dallas: Charter schools have some of the state’s largest class sizes, The Dallas Morning News reports.

UTAH Logan: The Utah Avalanche Center says a snowmobiler had minor injures after getting caught in an avalanche, The Deseret News reports. Family members dug out the rider.

VERMONT Brattleboro: Officials say no dry cleaning chemicals were found during air quality tests at the city’s Head Start school, The Brattleboro Reformer reports. The school is near a dry cleaning business that closed more than 10 years ago.

VIRGINIA Falls Church: A suspect wearing a T-shirt that said “Trust Me” allegedly stole a car with an accomplice, The Washington Post reports. An unlocked Honda Civic was taken as it warmed up in Fairfax County.

WASHINGTON Seattle An anti-tax activist says his initiative to toss out Sound Transit’s car-tab taxes and instead tax every vehicle in the state at $30 failed to draw enough signatures to get on the ballot this year, The Seattle Times reports.

WEST VIRGINIA St. Albans: A twoday river festival will coincide with the annual 12-mile Tour De Coal community float in June, The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports. The Yak Fest — short for “kayak” — will include displays of watercraft, paddleboards, fishing kayaks and fishing gear.

WISCONSIN Madison: Researchers from Northland College set up 25 trail cameras on Madeline Island to get a better picture of wildlife diversity on Lake Superior’s Apostle Islands, Wisconsin Public Radio reports. WYOMING Casper: State lawmakers are looking to simplify how speeding tickets are written and reduce the fines, The Casper Star-Tribune reports. State law now has nine speeding categories relating to location and road type with up to 40 different fine amounts.