STATE-BY-STATE

News from across the USA

ALABAMA Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama has opened the $10 million Stran-Hardin Arena for adapted athletes and will have its first wheelchair basketball home games on Saturday, The Tuscaloosa News reports.

ALASKA Juneau: A state lawmaker is proposing regulations that would require Internet service providers in Alaska to practice net neutrality.

ARIZONA Tucson: Officials at Tucson International Airport say a newborn was found abandoned in a restroom. Police are reviewing security camera footage to identify who left the baby.

ARKANSAS Little Rock: A report by Hunger Free America says almost one-fifth of the state’s residents often don’t know how they’ll get their next meal, The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports.

CALIFORNIA Seal Beach: Authorities say about 50 people on a party bus were questioned after a CVS pharmacy clerk said he was beaten up and robbed by people in the group, the Los Angeles Times reports.

COLORADO Pueblo: Authorities are investigating the butchering of a family’s horse at their ranch, The Pueblo Chieftain reports. The 22year-old animal was found essentially in pieces, with all the meat stripped from its bones.

CONNECTICUT Darien: State Police say a woman driving the wrong way on Interstate 95 crashed into a trooper who was dispatched to stop her. Police charged her with DUI and say she thought she was in New Jersey.

DELAWARE Dover: Police are offering residents web-based crime maps that show what crimes are occurring in their neighborhoods, the Delaware State News reports.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: The Vatican has designated a historic Catholic church in suburban Washington as a basilica. St. Mary Catholic Church, founded in 1795, traces its history to George Washington.

FLORIDA Fort Myers: Scientists warn that a red tide is re-emerging along Florida’s southwest coast even after a recent cold front knocked it back, The News-Press reports.

GEORGIA Albany: A former administrator in the state university system was named interim president of Albany State University. Marion Fedrick will take the position Feb. 1.

HAWAII Honolulu: State officials say a body was discovered near a runway at Honolulu’s Daniel K. Inouye International Airport last weekend.

IDAHO Boise: The 2018 Idaho Medal of Achievement has been awarded to the late Marilyn Shuler, the longtime chair of the Idaho Human Rights Commission.

ILLINOIS Peoria: The Peoria Zoo is asking for ideas on naming a baby giraffe born this month, The (Peoria) Journal Star reports. The zoo will announce the winning name on March 1.

INDIANA New Albany: Indiana University Southeast has received a twoyear, $240,000 grant to help local teachers update their science, technology, engineering and math courses, News and Tribune reports.

IOWA Des Moines: Iowa will soon require that ignition interlocks have cameras so that drivers required to take breath tests don’t have other people start the vehicles, The Des Moines Register reports.

KANSAS Kansas City: A biker group chapter is helping victims of child abuse as they face their alleged attackers in court. Authorities say the Kaw River Chapter members provide emotional support.

KENTUCKY Bowling Green: A businessman convicted of defrauding people who invested in a natural gas pipeline faces up to 20 years in prison. Court papers say Clay Shelton used investors’ money for other purposes.

LOUISIANA Baton Rouge: Fishery regulators say the harvest of recreational greater amberjack will close in Louisiana waters on Jan. 27.

MAINE Orono: The University of Maine System says it has achieved its goal of buying more than 20% of its food locally.

MARYLAND Annapolis: State hunters who didn’t get their fill of turkey in the fall season will get another chance with a threeday winter season beginning Thursday.

MASSACHUSETTS Boston: Police say a slow-speed chase that began in Ludlow ended when the pickup truck driver ran out of gas in Springfield, The Republican reports.

MICHIGAN Traverse City: Rising water levels in Lake Michigan and Lake Huron are keeping shoreline stabilization and dock firms busy, the Traverse City Record-Eagle reports.

MINNESOTA Minneapolis: Authorities say state farmers produced slightly smaller corn and soybean crops last year than in 2016, but they produced a record sugar beet crop of 12.5 million tons.

MISSISSIPPI Picayune: The Pearl River County school district plans to consolidate lower and upper elementary schools into Pearl River Central Elementary School with grades K-5, The Picayune Item says.

MISSOURI Springfield: Greene County has hired a private firm to perform autopsies for $1,500 each while it searches for a full-time medical examiner, The Springfield News-Leader reports.

MONTANA Kalispell: More than 3.3 million people visited Glacier National Park last year, making it the busiest in the park’s 108-year history, The Flathead Beacon reports.

NEBRASKA Omaha: Enrollment is up at the Virtual School, the city’s experiment in online learning, the Omaha World-Herald reports.

NEVADA Reno: The El Dorado Arts Council has opened an exhibition celebrating the 1960 Winter Olympics held at Squaw Valley, the Tahoe Daily Tribune reports.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Plainfield: A man who was acquitted on charges of trying to get his ex-wife killed wants police to return about $21,000 seized during the investigation, the Valley News reports.

NEW JERSEY Trenton: Former Wall Street executive Phil Murphy succeeded Chris Christie as governor on Tuesday, promising to transform the state into a liberal beacon that fights back against President Trump.

NEW MEXICO Carlsbad: Officials at Carlsbad Caverns National Park say the park’s secondary elevators will be out of service for maintenance Monday through Wednesday. The primary elevators are being rebuilt.

NEW YORK Albany: State lawmakers want to know whether an initiative aimed at reducing property taxes is working as intended.

NORTH CAROLINA Fayetteville: Four women accused of forcing children to work in fish markets for little or no money have turned themselves in. The women face child abuse and other charges.

NORTH DAKOTA Minot: A man serving a 10-year prison sentence for possession of child pornography is appealing a court order to destroy his Xbox and PlayStation 2, The Daily News reports.

OHIO Dayton: The National Aviation Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony was held for decades in this Ohio city before moving to Fort Worth, Texas, last year. Now, Dayton wants it back for this year’s ceremony, The Dayton Daily News reports.

OKLAHOMA Duncan: Police are investigating after a young girl was killed by a pet dog at her home. As police approached, the dog charged one officer, who fatally shot the animal.

OREGON Portland: Police say someone used a forklift to steal an ATM at a Wells Fargo bank, KOIN-TV reports.

PENNSYLVANIA Punxsutawney: A doctor is accused of over-prescribing opioids that authorities say caused two siblings he was treating to overdose, including one who died.

RHODE ISLAND Warwick: Officials say arson is to blame for fires that heavily damaged two unoccupied cottages overnight.

SOUTH CAROLINA Fort Mill: A pair of gun-toting customers are credited with stopping a pipe-wielding attacker making death threats and smashing vehicles at a car dealership, The Herald of Rock Hill reports.

SOUTH DAKOTA Custer: Crews are working through cold temperatures to rebuild fences to contain Custer State Park’s buffalo. A wildfire burned 16 miles of park fencing, the Rapid City Journal reports.

TENNESSEE Maryville: Authorities say a suspect in the wounding of a police officer during a traffic stop was captured in Blount County.

TEXAS Galveston: Business leaders have suggested building a land bridge from the city to Pelican Island to replace a more than 60-year-old drawbridge, The Daily News reports. Engineers estimate the cost at more than $200 million.

UTAH Provo: A group determined to tackle pollution at Utah Lake is proposing building an island city to help stymie toxic algae blooms that plague the water, KSL-TV reports.

VERMONT St. Johnsbury: Authorities say the driver of a snow plow parked the truck too close to train tracks. The Caledonian-Record reports that the train clipped the plow, shoving it into a nearby building’s stairway that was smashed to pieces.

VIRGINIA Richmond: State lawmakers are working on raising the felony theft threshold from $200 to $500. Virginia has kept the bar at $200 since 1980 and is tied with New Jersey for the lowest in the country.

WASHINGTON Kingston: Port commissioners have voted to sell the former ferry Kingston Express for $250,000 to Pacific Cruises Northwest, The Kitsap Sun reports.

WEST VIRGINIA Parkersburg: Authorities say the bodies of a 56-yearold man and his 18-year-old daughter were found after a vehicle sank in Laurel Creek. The creek was swollen from heavy rain.

WISCONSIN Madison: Private attorneys are pushing for a pay raise when they’re appointed to represent criminal defendants who can’t afford a lawyer, The Wisconsin State Journal reports. The current $40-an-hour rate is the nation’s lowest.

WYOMING Riverton: A new Tribal Court began operating on the Wind River Reservation this week, replacing the former Court of Indian Offenses, The Riverton Ranger reports. The change is part of a revision of joint programs between the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapahoe tribes, which share the reservation.

Compiled from staff, wire reports