USA TODAY International Edition
50 ★ States
ALABAMA Birmingham: The Jefferson County Memorial Project is trying to establish a memorial to lynching victims to commemorate 30 people who were slain in area.
ALASKA Anchorage: The state’s Head Start early childhood education program is preparing to close pre-K classrooms and cut jobs due to budget vetoes by Gov. Mike Dunleavy.
ARIZONA Tempe: After confusion and outrage over Tempe Police Department’s new “positive ticketing” campaign, officials vow no one will be pulled over for following the law.
ARKANSAS Little Rock: The U.S. Department of Transportation is awarding $10.5 million to help pay for improvements to a rail line corridor that runs from McGehee, Arkansas, to Tallulah, Louisiana.
CALIFORNIA Sacramento: Three pharmaceutical companies are agreeing to pay the state nearly $70 million to settle allegations that they delayed generic drugs to keep prices high, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said Monday.
COLORADO Denver: Federal land managers say they’re reviewing a protest letter from the state Department of Natural Resources over the Trump administration’s management plan for public lands saying it doesn’t do enough to protect the Gunnison sage grouse, which is a threatened species, or migrating wildlife.
CONNECTICUT Bridgeport: Politicians and company executives joined Monday to flip the switch on the state’s newest power plant, Bridgeport Harbor Station Unit No. 5.
DELAWARE Dover: Gov. John Carney has signed a plastic bag ban into law.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: The U.S. House is preparing to hold its first full committee hearing since 1993 for a bill proposing to recognize the district as the nation’s 51st state. Democratic Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton announced Monday that it’s scheduled for Sept. 19.
FLORIDA Tallahassee: Insurance companies have yet to pay about 15% of claims made from Hurricane Michael in the Florida Panhandle.
HAWAII Honolulu: The city may lose $220 million in federal flood protection funding if local and state officials cannot agree on terms for the Army Corps of Engineers’ $345 million Ala Wai Flood Risk Management Project.
IDAHO Boise: The federal government has paid $24 million to farms and dairies in the state to help them survive financial losses caused by President Donald Trump’s trade wars. But farmers and industry leaders across the state say the payments don’t begin to cover what they’ve lost.
ILLINOIS Chicago: Mayor Lori Lightfoot marked the 100th anniversary of the 1919 race riots by vowing the city will chart a more equitable future. She made the pledge Monday during a commemoration of violence that’s become known as Red Summer.
INDIANA Indianapolis: The Indianapolis Public Schools district is looking to shift high school students away from traditional school buses to the city’s bus system.
IOWA Clinton: State safety regulators are proposing fines for two companies, including Archer Daniels Midland, involved in a fire and explosion at a grain silo that killed a firefighter and injured another.
KANSAS Sedan: A 15-foot fiberglass eagle that perched for 21 years atop a rotating sign at The Wichita Eagle’s former building is getting a new home at Quivira Scout Ranch, a Boy Scouts of America camp.
KENTUCKY Frankfort: State education officials say a growing teacher shortage has become critical.
LOUISIANA Baton Rouge: The state’s first medical marijuana products are one step from pharmacies, with final testing planned this week.
MAINE Augusta: The state kicked off its celebration of its bicentennial and separation from Massachusetts by raising flags statewide Tuesday.
MARYLAND Annapolis: Officials who visited public housing communities in the capital over the weekend heard from residents expressing concerns about gun violence, mental health and living conditions. Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman says everyone he spoke with called for fewer guns.
MASSACHUSETTS Boston: Newly released data shows city police are monitoring nearly 5,000 people – almost all young black and Latino men – in a secretive gang database.
MICHIGAN Flint: A woman says she was suspended from her job with the state because she posted a customer service number on a billboard to help people cut through red tape at the Department of Health and Human Services.
MINNESOTA St. Paul: State lawmakers have agreed on a plan to get emergency insulin to people who need it, but not on how to pay for it.
MISSISSIPPI Greenwood: This Mississippi Delta city is installing 38 speakers to play the blues and other regional music near downtown shops and restaurants. They should be ready in time for the Bikes, Blues & Bayous ride on Saturday.
MISSOURI Columbia: A proposal to restrict drink specials in this college town has lit up protesters. The Columbia Missourian reports that more than 100 people participated Monday in what was dubbed “A Protest Against Prohibition.”
MONTANA Helena: The city won’t pursue criminal charges against Secretary of State Corey Stapleton for using a state pickup truck to travel home on weekends.
NEBRASKA Lincoln: The city has been awarded a $2.6 million federal grant to buy more electric buses.
NEVADA Las Vegas: A jump in winnings by casinos in June helped push statewide revenue figures up a tick, to more than $11.9 billion to end the fiscal year.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Stratham: A police officer says the kitten he was trying to pick up in a parking lot turned out to be a bobcat, which then jumped on the roof of a Burger King. Officer Matt Callahan tells Seacoastonline.com he stood in the drive-thru line to alert customers. The bobcat was captured and released at a wildlife refuge.
NEW JERSEY Trenton: A federal judge has upheld the state’s law that lowers the number of bullets a gun can hold.
NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: Less than a third of all students in the state are proficient in reading, and only about one-fifth are proficient in math, results released Friday show.
NEW YORK New York: A judge says the owners of the Woodstock music festival name can license it to create a marijuana brand marking the 50th anniversary of the famed gathering.
NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: The Tar Heel State has a new state park and three new state trails. This month Gov. Roy Cooper signed a bill adding Pisgah View State Park in Buncombe and Haywood counties. He also signed bills adding Northern Peaks State Trail, the Wilderness Gateway State Trail and the Overmountain Victory State Trail.
NORTH DAKOTA Williston: A study by the U.S. Geological Survey says it could take hundreds of years for salt concentrations in Williston Basin to return to normal levels in groundwater after oil and gas extraction.
OHIO Columbus: State prison officials say inmates may soon be offered tattoo removal services.
OKLAHOMA Pawhuska: Director Martin Scorsese has met with the principal chief of the Osage Nation to discuss filming his upcoming adaptation of “Killers of the Flower Moon.”
OREGON Portland: The city is finalizing an $80,000 settlement to end a lawsuit by a former employee who alleged “extreme hazing” by city transportation workers.
PENNSYLVANIA Pittsburgh: A regatta that’s been a city tradition for over four decades has been canceled days before its opening. Attorney Charles Scholz says the EQT Three Rivers Regatta’s promoter hadn’t secured proper permits or paid vendors.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: The state has enacted a “student loan bill of rights” to protect borrowers from deceptive lending practices.
SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: More than 100 students who are in juvenile jails across the state are getting their high school diplomas. The Department of Juvenile Justice says a ceremony with caps and gowns will take place Wednesday in Columbia.
SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: A political activist has asked a federal judge to block a new state law that would place requirements on groups promoting ballot measures.
TENNESSEE Gatlinburg: A group of eight Girl Scouts from across the U.S. spent part of their summer volunteering in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The high schoolers rehabilitated trails, cleaned campgrounds, removed invasive plants and provided educational programs.
TEXAS Westphalia: A historic rural Roman Catholic church has burned to the ground. Photos on the Austin Catholic diocesan Facebook page show the Church of the Visitation fully engulfed in flames Monday, before being reduced to ashes.
UTAH Salt Lake City: San Juan County paid a consulting firm nearly $500,000 to lobby against the designation of the Bears Ears National Monument and for the downsizing of it after it was created, according to newly released public records.
VERMONT Burlington: Hikers and climbers can once again enjoy the state’s cliffs Thursday, as nesting season for peregrine falcons ends.
VIRGINIA Norfolk: Collecting tolls in the Hampton Roads region generates about $180 million a year – nearly twice the size of the region’s fishing and farming sectors combined, The Virginian-Pilot reports.
WASHINGTON Kitsap: A state law enabling individual criminal records to be cleared has taken effect.
WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: Some state employees are getting a pay raise next month. The minimum salary at the lowest pay grade will increase from $16,008 to $18,249.
WISCONSIN Bayside: Schlitz Audubon Nature Center is about to undertake the biggest land improvement project in its nearly 50-year history. The project, set to begin Thursday and run through mid-September, will restore ravines that have deteriorated due to heavy storms.
WYOMING Casper: The Northern Arapaho Tribe is opposing Aethon Energy’s plans to put more than 8 million gallons of polluted water into two creeks.