USA TODAY International Edition
50 ★ States
News from across the USA
ALABAMA Montgomery: Defense Secretary Mark Esper says Air Force Maj. Gen. James B. Hecker is being promoted and will oversee the Air University in Montgomery.
ALASKA Anchorage: The Department of Health and Social Services reports a person experienced PSP symptoms after eating a clam harvested near Perryville, the first reported illness this year.
ARIZONA Phoenix: Environmental regulators have issued a high pollution advisory for ozone for the Phoenix metropolitan area.
ARKANSAS Jasper: City leaders are planning to draft an ordinance next month addressing a problematic rooster that has been attacking pedestrians.
CALIFORNIA Sacramento: Gov. Gavin Newsom says he is encouraged by Chevron’s efforts to clean up what has turned into the state’s largest oil spill in decades.
COLORADO Denver: Metropolitan State University of Denver is conducting environmental testing at a campus building where four university employees have been diagnosed with three types of cancer.
CONNECTICUT Hartford: A new analysis shows Connecticut outpaces other states and the federal government by employing women in the highest levels of state government.
DELAWARE Wilmington: The state’s next medical marijuana dispensary will open next to retail stores on Concord Pike across from Brandywine Town Center.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: Some subcontractors for a homeless shelter say they’re struggling to get paid despite finishing work nearly a year ago.
FLORIDA Miami Beach: Wildlife officials are patrolling state waters during an annual two-day spiny lobster sport season to make sure divers are following the rules.
GEORGIA Americus: Authorities say two people are dead after a small plane crashed in a pecan orchard.
HAWAII Lihue: A Kauai beach park has reopened following a $6 million repair project.
ILLINOIS Peoria: The city is receiving more than $2.3 million in federal grants to upgrade its fleet of buses to make them more environmentally friendly.
INDIANA Peru: A proposed 9,200head hog farm is moving forward despite opposition from residents who say it will hurt property values and environmentalists worried about its proximity to a large reservoir.
IOWA Des Moines: Japanese beetles and thistle caterpillars have been abundant and wreaking havoc throughout the month.
KANSAS Lawrence: Two months after Perry Lake flooded, the Kansas National Guard continues to deliver water to residents in a nearby village – and the effort could continue until mid-September.
KENTUCKY Owensboro: The Kentucky National Guard says more than 150 soldiers are deploying to the Middle East. Soldiers with the 206th Engineer Battalion are headed to the U.S. Central Command Area of Operations to conduct construction missions in support of Operation Inherent Resolve.
LOUISIANA Lake Charles: Sowela Technical Community College says a $1 million donation from an energy company will be used to give its students hands-on experience in oil and gas work at a new “pipeline academy.”
MAINE Bangor: The Bangor State Fair started Thursday and runs through Aug. 3. The event takes place near Cross Insurance Center and usually draws more than 40,000 visitors.
MARYLAND Annapolis: A professor who was removed by the U.S. Naval Academy after an investigation into his conduct in class was reinstated to his job by a federal board .
MASSACHUSETTS West Springfield: Police are warning hikers to be on the lookout for aggressive yaks. West Springfield police say a hiker in the Bear Hole Reservoir recreation area was charged by three yaks at about 8 p.m. Wednesday.
MICHIGAN Dayton Township: A man shot and killed an escaped alligator after he says the reptile lunged at him at his property.
MINNESOTA Sauk Rapids: Even though the 107th annual Benton County Fair, which runs July 30Aug. 4, has a few new features this year – expanded robotics demonstrations and new food vendors – much of the fair is still the same tried and true family friendly festival.
MISSISSIPPI Jackson: Water contact warnings are in place for all Mississippi beaches because of a harmful bloom of blue-green algae, but at other times, water contact warnings and advisories are issued for another reason: fecal matter.
MISSOURI Jefferson City: Gov. Mike Parson says Col. Levon Cumpton will become the state’s adjutant general beginning Aug. 2.
MONTANA Helena: Authorities say more than two dozen children who were removed from an alternative treatment center are being interviewed as part of an investigation into allegations of physical and psychological abuse.
NEBRASKA Lincoln: A New York company is preparing to build a 230-megawatt solar power farm east of Nebraska’s capital city, making it the largest solar installation in the state.
NEVADA Reno: Boat inspectors recently prevented two vessels infested with invasive mussels from launching at Lake Tahoe.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: The state’s recent efforts to reduce the number of patients waiting for days or sometimes weeks in emergency rooms for inpatient psychiatric care appear to be paying dividends.
NEW JERSEY Wall: The checkered flag will wave for the final time at the Wall Stadium speedway next year, track owners announced Wednesday. The 2020 racing season will be the last for the nearly 70year-old racetrack. Developer Pulte Homes plans to build nearly 350 homes on the site, which has held auto racing events in some form since 1950.
NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has ordered state flags be lowered to half-staff on Friday in honor of a Roswell firefighter who has died from injuries suffered in the line of duty.
NEW YORK Albany: Portions of two upstate highways are being renamed to honor state troopers killed in the line of duty.
NORTH CAROLINA Asheville: The bleachers might be a bit more crowded for Madison High School football games and other athletic events next season after engineers recommended blocking off roughly one-third of seating on the home side of O.E. Roberts Stadium for safety reasons.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: North Dakota health officials still don’t know the cause of two pipeline spills last week that leaked oilfield wastewater into a tributary of the Missouri River and another that spread over pastureland.
OHIO Columbus: The state has closed five rides at the Ohio State Fair, with one permanently shut down because of “visible corrosion.”
OKLAHOMA Kingfisher: No injuries or damage have been reported following a small earthquake in central Oklahoma, the fourth such earthquake in the area in less than three weeks.
OREGON Salem: The cost of a liquor license in Oregon is going up for the first time in 70 years after newly passed legislation doubled the amount the agency will charge bars, restaurants, breweries and wineries for the right to sell alcohol to customers.
PENNSYLVANIA Middleburg: A lost bracelet that belonged to a soldier from Pennsylvania killed during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II will be returned to his daughter.
RHODE ISLAND Warwick: A delay in an international flight route coupled with airline service cuts has left T.F. Green Airport with fewer passengers.
SOUTH CAROLINA Clemson: An estimated 600 to 700 members of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club are set to ride into Clemson from July 29 to Aug. 2 for their national gathering.
SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: Police will hold a town hall in east Sioux Falls on Tuesday to address several gunshot incidents in the area.
TENNESSEE Knoxville: A bridge on Asheville Highway was named to honor the three victims of the fatal 2014 Knox County Schools bus crash.
TEXAS Amarillo: A school district in the Texas Panhandle will begin drug testing students as young as 12 years old who are interested in playing sports or participating in other extracurricular activities. Testing
UTAH South Ogden: Officials are searching for a source of possible contamination after dozens of fish and a few ducks were found dead in a creek.
VERMONT Salisbury: University of Vermont herpetology lecturer James Andrews estimates that the population of the northern leopard frog has leaped a hundredfold in a region near the Otter Creek in Addison County primarily because of the wet spring.
VIRGINIA King George: A bald eagle injured in a fight at an area landfill last month is ready to fly again. The Wildlife Center of Virginia plans to release the eagle Friday in Caledon State Park.
WASHINGTON Seattle: The state is rolling out same-day voter registration for the primary election next month. The Seattle Times reported Wednesday that residents for the first time will be able to register or update their existing registrations at county auditor or elections offices until the end of the primary period on Aug. 6.
WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: West Virginia’s congressional delegation is asking President Donald Trump to authorize federal disaster relief funds after flash flooding damaged the state’s eastern highlands last month.
WISCONSIN Madison: The University of Wisconsin would be able to increase tuition no greater than the rate of inflation under a bill being proposed in the state Legislature.
WYOMING Fort Laramie: Gov. Mark Gordon has declared a state of emergency to help farmers in Wyoming and Nebraska affected by an irrigation system failure.