USA TODAY International Edition
50 ★ States
News from across the USA
ALABAMA Auburn: A new ranking credits Auburn University with having the nation’s happiest college students, while the University of Alabama, its rival, is No. 2 at partying. Auburn comes in No. 1 on this year’s list by the Princeton Review in terms of having a happy student body.
ALASKA Anchorage: A Russia-designed floating nuclear power plant has begun its journey through the Arctic Ocean this month, causing concerns in the Frontier State. Alaska Public Media reports the 472-foot barge launched in St. Petersburg, Russia, and will continue along the coast to the Bering Strait separating that nation from Alaska. Alaska advocates say they are concerned about potential radiation.
ARIZONA Scottsdale: The Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center is asking for food donations via its Amazon wish list, citing a policy change tied to an existing supplier.
ARKANSAS Mansfield: Officials say a series of escapes from the Mansfield Juvenile Treatment Center is a symptom of larger problems with the facility, the Southwest Times Record reports. Arkansas Department of Human Services officials say the facility has security protocols, a lack of staff training and a climbable fence that have created an environment that since December has allowed 12 youths on four occasions to escape.
CALIFORNIA Santa Ana: Orange County, long known as a national GOP stronghold, now has more registered Democrats than Republicans.
COLORADO Denver: Thousands of people have hiked up to a popular scenic lake using a new reservation system. The Denver Post reports that White River National Forest officials received five out of five stars on a shuttle service implemented in May from more than 95% of survey respondents visiting Glenwood Canyon’s Hanging Lake.
CONNECTICUT New London: Construction of the National Coast Guard Museum is expected to begin early next year. The final design calls for an 80,000-square-foot, five-story, interactive, environmentally friendly museum on the city’s waterfront.
DELAWARE Wilmington: Private donors have pledged to replace a memorial plaque dedicated to lynching victim George White that was recently stolen. Delaware State University official Steven Newton said the school would donate funds. Public Archives director Stephen Marz said private donors have also begun contributing to replacement costs.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: The first black woman to serve as American University’s student government president has won a lawsuit against a neo-Nazi website operator who orchestrated an online harassment campaign against her. A federal judge granted default judgment Friday to Taylor Dumpson and awarded her more than $725,000 after The Daily Stormer founder Andrew Anglin and a follower failed to respond to her lawsuit.
FLORIDA Naples: A wolf-dog hybrid that escaped from Shy Wolf Sanctuary after jumping a 10-foot fence has been captured.
GEORGIA Atlanta: A court order has stopped demolition after it had already begun on a downtown building where the first country hit song is believed to have been recorded.
HAWAII Honolulu: Experts say two native bird populations in the state have declined by more than half and could face extinction. Hawaii News Now reports Maui Forest Bird Recovery Project discovered 312 Maui parrotbills and 2,411 crested honeycreepers remain in the wild.
IDAHO Boise: Ranch owners want construction of a trail connecting the popular tourist destinations of Redfish Lake and Stanley stopped and additional work to make it a smooth path for hikers and bikers prohibited.
ILLINOIS Springfield: Gov. J.B. Pritzker has signed legislation he says will remove a barrier for teacher candidates and help address a statewide shortage of teachers. The new law eliminates a requirement that teacher candidates pass a test of basic skills to get an educator license. Supporters say the test was unnecessary because admission to a teacher preparation program already demonstrates candidates have basic academic skills.
INDIANA Indianapolis: In the past two decades, the state’s littleknown caviar industry has pumped millions of dollars into the economies of some of southern Indiana’s poorest counties. But the Indiana Department of Natural Resources is considering a proposal to stop sanctioning commercial fishing for roebearing species.
IOWA Ankeny: Court records show a newspaper carrier helped save a woman caught in a sex trafficking ring. One of the Des Moines Register’s delivery workers, Lavon Franz, was on her paper route early July 28 when she saw a woman waving her arms on the side of the road.
KANSAS Topeka: The state plans to begin moving inmates to a private prison in Arizona by the end of the summer to help relieve crowding in state prisons.
KENTUCKY Bowling Green: The city has been named one of the nation’s top destinations for bachelor parties. In Men’s Journal’s recent list, Bowling Green is No. 2, citing the National Corvette Museum and promoting spelunking at nearby Mammoth Cave National Park.
LOUISIANA Rockefeller Wildlife
Refuge: The state will build 3 miles of breakwaters to protect this wildlife refuge where the shoreline is rapidly eroding and the bottom is extremely soft. A news release says the new work adds to 4 miles of breakwaters already sheltering the Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge.
MAINE Portland: A survey indicates the cruise ship industry is an important source of return visitors to the state. The survey found that cruise ship passengers don’t make a huge economic impact during their brief visits ashore but that 1 in 3 of them plans to return in the near future.
MARYLAND Baltimore: The city’s police commissioner has named Brian Nadeau, a senior FBI agent, as the head of the police department’s Public Integrity Bureau.
MASSACHUSETTS Springfield: Officials are embracing a controversial tactic amid a dramatic spike in fatal overdoses – sending men to jail for court-ordered addiction treatment. Hampden County Sheriff Thomas Cocchi has designated a jail wing for the treatment of men civilly committed for substance abuse reasons.
MICHIGAN Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan will install locks on all classroom and lab doors inside a building where reports of an active shooter triggered campuswide panic last spring.
MINNESOTA Roseau: Local officials say they’re not optimistic about a return to normal hours at two customs stations used by many residents on both sides of the state’s border with Canada who had built their lives around the old order of easy crossings. U.S. Customs and Border Protection cut the hours of the stations in Roseau and Lancaster in January 2018 as it shifted officers to the Mexican border. Many officers are returning home, but they may be diverted to other crossings with higher traffic.
MISSISSIPPI Oxford: A pizza shop is offering free pies for immigrants and refugees in response to immigration raids at seven poultry plants elsewhere in the state. Dodo Pizza owner Alena Tikhova tells WMC-TV she’s making the offer because she moved from Russia four years ago and wants to offset “hate and cruelty” that she sees against people from abroad.
MISSOURI St. Louis: Washington University plans to open a center aimed at becoming a national leader in research and learning on the issue of race. St. Louis Public Radio reports the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equity will open in October.
MONTANA Missoula: Forest Service officials have proposed increasing prices and charging new fees for rental cabins and campgrounds in the Lolo National Forest.
NEBRASKA Omaha: The state Supreme Court on Friday upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by a group of tanning salon owners who had claimed the Nebraska Cancer Coalition defamed them and hurt their businesses with an anti-indoor tanning message.
NEVADA Las Vegas: Transportation officials are marking what they call “substantial completion” of three years of work on a $1 billion upgrade of Interstate 15, the state’s busiest freeway, near downtown and the Las Vegas Strip.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: Gov. Chris Sununu has vetoed a bill that would have re-established and raised the state’s minimum wage, saying it would have had a detrimental effect on workers.
NEW JERSEY Westfield: A house whose current owners were scared off the property by a series of threatening letters has sold for $400,000 less than they paid. Derek and Maria Broaddus bought the home for $1,355,657 in 2014 but didn’t move in after receiving the first of four letters from the anonymous writerasking if they were bringing “young blood” into the home and seeking the names of their two children.
NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: A smattering of heroin hotspots dotted an online map of the state’s largest city Friday as officials announced the new mapping tool, saying they plan to use it to track drug-use migration across the area. Bernalillo County officials said the GIS map will show the public where used needles and syringes have been collected by county cleanup crews and volunteer groups.
NEW YORK Macedon: Singer Alicia Keys and music producer husband Swizz Beats are planning to create a performing arts center at an industrial site in this rural town.
NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: The state has a new law focused on ridehailing companies like Uber and Lyft that supporters contend will improve safety. Starting in October, such cars must have front license tag numbers. By next summer, they’ll have to display their company’s logo to be clearly visible.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: The huge white tube between Washburn and Underwood that once carried coal over U.S. Highway 83 is coming down. The Bismarck Tribune reports the tube that for decades served as a landmark along the road is being removed Monday.
OHIO Wilberforce: A historically black university is advancing its plans to become the first public institution in the state to conduct hemp research. Central State University announced Thursday that it’s received $7.1 million in contributions toward current initiatives, including its new hemp research program.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: The state’s treasurer says overall receipts to the treasury are continuing to rise, but he warns there are signs of a potential economic slowdown on the horizon.
OREGON Salem: Gov. Kate Brown has decided not to veto a bill that will ease rules for farmers clearing out irrigation ditches, her office told Oregon Public Broadcasting.
PENNSYLVANIA Philadelphia: Workers have started to neutralize a highly toxic chemical, hydrofluoric acid, on the site of a massive refinery that’s been shut down since explosions and a blaze June 21.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: The state’s oldest black church celebrated its 200th anniversary over the weekend. The Congdon Street Baptist Church opened in 1819.
SOUTH CAROLINA Blythewood: “School Prayer Zone” signs are cropping up near some schools. News outlets report the white and fluorescent green signs show two figures kneeling in prayer, their hands clasped above the words “2 Chronicles 7:14.” The Bible verse promises those who pray and “turn from their wicked ways” will be forgiven. The $714 signs by nonprofit Christ Teens can be seen in several counties and resemble official South Carolina Department of Transportation signs.
SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: The military says recent high-altitude balloon flights over the state complied with federal laws against conducting surveillance on civilians.
TENNESSEE Memphis: Health officials say this year’s first human case of West Nile virus in the state has been reported in Shelby County.
UTAH Salt Lake City: Voter fraud is rare in the state and typically involves parents submitting ballots for children who are away from home serving missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the lieutenant governor says.
VERMONT Burke: Law enforcement is suggesting that the town require bicyclists to ride single-file on town roads. The Kingdom Trail Association attracts thousands of mountain bikers and others to a trail network in the Northeast Kingdom. Caledonia County Sheriff’s Deputy Joe Rossi says some of the roads in the area are narrow and twisty.
VIRGINIA Norfolk: A federal judge ruled Friday that a school board’s transgender bathroom ban discriminated against a former student, Gavin Grimm.
WASHINGTON Tacoma: Water has gushed from a glacier on Mount Rainier, damaging a road and trail as it flowed down.
WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: Gov. Jim Justice says he’s asked his administration to see what it can do to prevent the closure of Ohio Valley Medical Center in Wheeling.
WISCONSIN Manitowoc: A judge has rejected a man’s bid for a new trial in a killing featured in the Netflix series “Making a Murderer.” Judge Angela Sutkiewicz on Thursday denied Steven Avery’s request in the 2005 killing of photographer Teresa Halbach.
WYOMING Gillette: The city attempted to break the Guinness World Record for the most sparklers lighted simultaneously over the weekend. Organizers were hoping for about 2,000 people to participate in Saturday night’s effort. The current mark of 1,713 was set in August 2018 in the Japanese city of Takarazuka. Jessica Seders, executive director of Gillette Main Street, told the Gillette News Record she believes the effort was record-breaking.