USA TODAY International Edition
50 ★ States
News from across the USA
ALABAMA Montgomery: About 80 inmates were released with ankle monitors as a 2021 law took effect requiring inmates to spend the final few months of their prison sentence on supervised release, the Alabama Department of Corrections said.
ALASKA Bristol Bay: The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency blocked a proposed mine heralded by backers as the most significant undeveloped copper and gold resource in the world because of concerns about its environmental impact on a rich aquatic ecosystem that supports the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery.
ARIZONA Peoria: Police arrested a man after authorities say he sexually abused a woman who was jogging.
ARKANSAS Little Rock: Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared a state of emergency due to the recent blast of wintry weather that covered roadways with treacherous ice.
CALIFORNIA San Mateo County: A child was taken to a trauma center after being attacked by a mountain lion, authorities said.
COLORADO Pueblo: A city councilor wants to introduce an ordinance that would seek to curb shoplifting by mandating jail time for people who steal more than $ 300 worth of items.
CONNECTICUT New Haven: A judge sentenced a man to 120 years in prison for the gruesome slaying of a father and son, part of a case that spanned more than three decades.
DELAWARE Wilmington: One man was killed and another was critically hurt in two separate pedestrian crashes, according to police.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: Police arrested a city employee over the fatal shooting of a 13- year old that has roiled the community.
FLORIDA Tallahassee: Gov. Ron DeSantis announced plans to block state colleges from having programs on diversity, equity and inclusion, and critical race theory.
GEORGIA Atlanta: House budget writers want to shift $ 100 million into the state employee health plan to reduce the sting of health insurance premium increases for public school districts.
HAWAII Maui: Three female employees filed lawsuits against the police department, alleging harassment and discrimination, Hawaii News Now reports.
IDAHO Caldwell: A dog that went missing in Kansas in 2015 was found by a woman in Idaho, the Idaho Statesman reports.
ILLINOIS Springfield: An appellate court upheld a temporary restraining order on enforcement of the state’s law banning semiautomatic weapons.
INDIANA Indianapolis: Former Gov. Mitch Daniels announced that he wouldn’t seek his state’s open U. S. Senate seat next year, ending weeks of speculation.
IOWA Des Moines: Gov. Kim Reynolds is using federal money to clear a backlog of grants requested by veterans in need of financial assistance.
KANSAS Topeka: Top Republican legislators are focusing on helping conservative parents remove their children from public schools over what’s taught about gender and sexuality rather than pursuing a version of what critics call Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law.
KENTUCKY Frankfort: A commission assigned to distribute money from a massive settlement with opioid companies has made its first funding award to help combat the state’s opioid epidemic, Attorney General Daniel Cameron said.
LOUISIANA New Orleans: A longtime civil district judge has announced plans to retire in May.
MAINE Augusta: A judge who has served for two decades at the Superior Court and District Court levels was tapped by Democratic Gov. Janet Mills to serve on the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.
MARYLAND Salisbury: A James M. Bennett High School student has been charged in connection with a school threat, the Wicomico County Sheriff ’ s Office announced.
MASSACHUSETTS Wellesley: An auto dealership has agreed to pay $ 350,000 to resolve allegations that it charged Black and Hispanic customers more than white customers for certain add- on products, the state attorney general’s office said.
MICHIGAN Lansing: House Democrats voted to move the state’s presidential primary to the fourth week of February and become a part of a new group of states slated to lead off the Democratic party’s presidential primary starting next year.
MINNESOTA St. Paul: Former U. S. Senator David Durenberger, a Republican who espoused a progressive brand of politics and criticized the GOP after his political career, died at age 88.
MISSISSIPPI Diamondhead: The state’s Department of Transportation has received a $ 60 million grant to make improvements to the Interstate 10 freight corridor, President Joe Biden’s administration announced.
MISSOURI Kansas City: The new $ 1.5 billion Kansas City International Airport will officially open Feb. 28, with a Southwest flight to Chicago Midway International Airport at 5 a. m. as the first flight out, city and airport officials said.
MONTANA Billings: Two ranchers have pleaded guilty to fraud in federal court in separate cases, one involving a scheme to defraud local financial institutions, the second involving a scheme to defraud the Bureau of Land Management of grazing fees.
NEBRASKA Omaha: A man with an AR- 15- style rifle and more than a dozen ammunition magazines opened fire inside a Target, sending panicked shoppers and employees scrambling for safety before he was fatally shot by police, authorities said. No injuries were reported.
NEVADA Las Vegas: The year 2022 was good for gambling and tourism, where winnings at casinos statewide set calendar year records and Las Vegas visitor tallies nearly reached levels before the coronavirus pandemic.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: The U. S. District Court building in the city was evacuated because of a possible hazardous substance, but preliminary testing suggested that it wasn’t hazardous, an FBI spokesperson said.
NEW JERSEY Holmdel: Detectives are searching for an older man who police say walked into Kay Jewelers on Route 35 with a handgun and robbed the place of jewelry.
NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: One of the governor’s picks for a powerful regulatory commission has recused himself from any decisions involving a proposed multibillion- dollar merger between a U. S. subsidiary of global energy giant Iberdrola and the state’s largest electric utility.
NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: Senate Republicans have introduced sweeping legislation that would bar instruction about sexuality and gender identity in K- 4 public school classes and give parents greater authority over their children’s education and health care.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: Gov. Doug Burgum named Kuldip Mohanty as the state government’s new information technology chief, the Bismarck Tribune reports.
OHIO Cincinnati: One of former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder’s lawyers questioned the fitness of U. S. District Judge Timothy Black to preside over the corruption trial.
OKLAHOMA Tulsa: The U. S. Department of Transportation announced it is awarding Oklahoma an $ 85 million transportation grant, the largest in state history, for reconstruction of the Interstate 44/ U. S. 75 corridor.
OREGON Salem: Gov. Tina Kotek is requesting that $ 1 billion in spending go toward building and maintaining affordable housing in a bid to address the state’s interconnected housing and homelessness crises.
PENNSYLVANIA Harrisburg: Gov. Josh Shapiro has signed an executive order aimed at reducing long wait times for professional applicants seeking to enter their fields.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: Gov. Dan McKee and other top officials urged the state legislature to pass a bill banning assault weapons.
SOUTH CAROLINA Spartanburg County: A local Sons of Confederate Veterans group won a battle in its efforts to fly a giant Confederate flag atop a flagpole along Interstate 85.
SOUTH DAKOTA Pierre: A state House committee voted to advance a bill that would ban gender- affirming care for transgender youth.
TENNESSEE Nashville: The Tennessee Department of Children’s Services is requesting a quick influx of $ 26.6 million, aimed at keeping youth from having to sleep in administrative state offices or in transitional housing, among other problems.
TEXAS El Paso: After a failed attempt last year, the city council voted 7- 1 to deprioritize police investigations into women suspected of having undergone an abortion and medical providers suspected of providing one.
UTAH St. George: Citing its growing student body and a lack of available housing on campus, Utah Tech University officials announced they plan to break ground next month on a new five- story student housing complex.
VERMONT Alburgh: A brawl broke out among spectators at a middle school basketball game, and a 60year- old man died, police said.
VIRGINIA Richmond: The Virginia Department of Education acknowledged that an error in a mathematical formula it provides to local K- 12 school divisions led some schools to expect more state funding than they are set to receive.
WASHINGTON King County: The largest glacier between the high peaks of Mount Rainier and Glacier Peak has melted away after a long battle with global warming.
WEST VIRGINIA Martinsburg: The co- owner of a water laboratory pleaded guilty in federal court to submitting false results for a city’s public drinking water samples that were never tested, prosecutors said.
WISCONSIN Milwaukee: Red- light cameras and automated speeding tickets would be allowed under a bipartisan bill put forward Tuesday.
WYOMING Grand Teton National Park: A woman was arrested after police say she fled from authorities and led them on a high- speed chase, Jackson Hole Daily reports.