News from across the USA

ALABAMA Marion: Hazel Mansell Gore has been inducted into the Alabama Women’s Hall of Fame. Gore, who died in 2001, practiced medicine and taught obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Alabama in Birmingham.

ALASKA Juneau: The Legislature rejected proposed pay increases for the governor, lieutenant governor and commissioners.

ARIZONA Phoenix: The CARE team assigned on Dec. 2 to review nearly 6,600 child abuse and neglect reports that weren’t investigated by child welfare officials reported that 9,177 children identified have now been seen and that approximately 6,325 cases have had a response.

ARKANSAS Little Rock: A federal judge struck down the state’s attempt to ban most abortions beginning 12 weeks into a pregnancy, saying viability, not a heartbeat, remains the key factor in determining whether abortions should be allowed.

CALIFORNIA Los Angeles: Internal records show that false fire alarms, balky elevators, a troublesome closed-circuit camera system and other problems plagued Los Angeles International Airport’s international terminal in the months after it reopened in September following a major upgrade, the Daily News reported.

COLORADO Colorado Springs: Call center giant Firstsource Solutions plans to close its center here in September, leaving all 300 employees at the center without a job.

CONNECTICUT Milford: A New Jersey man died after falling out of a canoe on Long Island Sound. The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection identified the boater as Jeffrey Young, 24, of North Caldwell, N.J.

DELAWARE Dagsboro: The State Police charged James Fisher, 55, with his 12th DUI offense after he crashed his car on Nine Foot Road. Fisher, who had a suspended license after 11 DUI convictions, was charged with felony DUI and other offenses.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Early voting begins today in the April 1 mayoral primary, days after federal prosecutors said that Mayor Vincent Gray, a Democrat, knew of a “shadow campaign” waged on his behalf to win in 2010, The

Washington Post reported.

FLORIDA Plantation Key: Documents detailing the protection of wading birds before the establishment of Everglades National Park are being digitized at the University of South Florida. The documents date from 1901 through the late 1940s, when exotic bird feathers were fashionable and bird populations plummeted.

GEORGIA Atlanta: Lawmakers will wrap up an unusually quick legislative session on Thursday. They cannot raise campaign money for the upcoming primary and general elections while the General Assembly is meeting.

HAWAII Honolulu: Warning signs were posted at a beach in the Waikiki neighborhood after a diver said he spotted an 8-foot Galapagos shark.

IDAHO Idaho Falls: The Idaho Falls City Council has approved spending $6,000 to remove Canada geese from the city’s greenbelt. The Post Register reported the

council made an agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services.

ILLINOIS Chicago: Tuesday is primary day in the race for governor. The four Republicans are state Treasurer Dan Rutherford, businessman Bruce Rauner and state Sens. Kirk Dillard and Bill Brady. The Democrats are Gov. Quinn and activist Tio Hardiman.

INDIANA Muncie: IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital will launch its police department April 3 in an effort to reduce the need to call outside agencies for help. Legislation signed into law last May allows the governing board of a hospital to establish a police department.

IOWA Iowa City: The Iowa City Community School District plans to eliminate 35 teacher positions and at least one administrator position for the upcoming school year as it looks to cut spending.

KANSAS Anthony: The U.S. Geological Survey reported an earthquake shook southern Kansas. The earthquake happened at 3:46 a.m. Sunday and measured 4.0 in magnitude.

KENTUCKY Morehead: Morehead State University wants to build a $50 million Music Academic and Performing Arts Education building to replace the Laughlin Health Building and Wetherby Gymnasium.

LOUISIANA Kenner: The Rivertown district received an official Main Street designation from the state, which will help the city bring new resources to the river area, work with state and other officials on its revitalization.

MAINE Bucksport: Maine officials are seeking input on a small area that is closed to lobster trapping and crabbing because of concerns about mercury contamination. A public hearing is being held today on the state’s closure of seven square miles to lobstering at the mouth of the Penobscot River. The hearing is at the Bucksport Middle School Performing Arts Center.

MARYLAND Annapolis: The House of Delegates today plans to vote on legislation that would let “certified physicians” discuss marijuana with patients and then recommend its use, The Washing

ton Post reported. Those patients

could then obtain medical marijuana from a licensed grower.

MASSACHUSETTS Boston: Former Boston mayor Thomas Menino, 71, has been diagnosed with an advanced form of an unknown cancer, the Boston Globe reported.

MICHIGAN Grand Haven: Vicki Cech will receive a Community Lifesaver of the Year award this week from the National Drowning Prevention Alliance. She has led numerous safety efforts and pushed for a state law enacted in 2006 that toughened penalties for stealing or vandalizing publicly owned marine-safety equipment. Cech’s son, Andy Fox, 17, drowned in September 2003 at Grand Haven State Park.

MINNESOTA Racine: A farmer has been cited in the apparent starvation deaths of 22 dairy cows, Mower County authorities said. The 52-year-old farmer, who had been in a car crash, was too injured to care for the cows but didn’t try to seek help for them, Sheriff Terese Amazi said.

MISSISSIPPI Vicksburg: The city fire department is part of a state-run pilot program that allows emergency medical workers to send their run reports to state officials and hospitals from the field. The reporting system uses a laptop computer, into which information is input on the type of injury or illness, symptoms, the patient’s medical history and the treatment provided.

MISSOURI Jefferson City: When the state receives an annual settlement payment from tobacco companies next month, the deposit will be less than half of its typical $130 million. That’s because an arbitration panel decided state officials in 2003 failed to diligently enforce the terms of a multistate tobacco settlement.

MONTANA Missoula: Volunteers have finished cleaning up debris and snow from an avalanche Feb. 28 that destroyed a home and buried three people, leading to the death of one woman.

NEBRASKA Chadron: Roughly 42,000 ponderosa pine seedlings will be planted in fire-damaged areas this spring.

NEVADA Reno: Local beer drinkers can start enjoying a craft beer made from hops grown locally in a couple of years. The Reno nonprofit organization Urban Roots is planting 10 different kinds of hops.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: A Senate committee is holding a hearing on whether to forgive hikers for any rescue expenses they’d otherwise owe New Hampshire for being negligent and getting into trouble if they buy a hike safe card. Wednesday’s hearing is on a House-passed bill that authorizes the Fish and Game Department to sell voluntary hike safe cards for $25 per person and $35 per family. People who obtain the cards would not be liable to repay rescue costs if their rescue was due to negligence on their part.

NEW JERSEY Newark: Women are leading the police department for the first time in its 125-year history. Sheilah Coley was confirmed as police director while Ivonne Roman was promoted to police chief. NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: KRQE-TV reported that the ABQ Biopark Zoo is caring for a new tiny bird known as the Socorro Dove. Zoo officials said the breed is extinct in the wild and only a hundred exist in captivity. The zoo currently houses 25 Socorro Doves as part of its special breeding program to increase the bird’s population. Zoo staffers said a white dove is serving as a foster mother to the new chick, which will join the flock this summer.

NEW YORK North Hudson: The Adirondack Forty-Sixers have proposed changing the name of East Dix Mountain to Grace Peak to honor climber Grace Hudowalski, who died in 2004 at 98. She was the first woman to climb all 46 Adirondack High Peaks.

NORTH CAROLINA Maxton: Operation Medicine Drop runs this week in dozens of cities to encourage people to properly dispose of old drugs they don’t need.

NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: The state is getting about $13 million in federal money for affordable housing projects on American Indian land in Fort Berthold, Spirit Lake and Trenton.

OHIO Columbus: The season’s severe weather has resulted in overtime totaling more than $4.6 million for state transportation workers, who often worked 12-hour shifts.

OKLAHOMA Tulsa: Tulsa County sheriff ’s deputies seized more than $4 million in heroin, meth and cocaine and arrested a Florida man after seizing a tractortrailer rig where the drugs were hidden. The drug bust is the largest in the history of the Tulsa County Sheriff ’s Office.

OREGON Union: The City Council unanimously approved an ordinance that prohibits peo- ple from feeding deer, raccoon, wild turkey and other wildlife within the city limits. Violators could face a citation.

PENNSYLVANIA Scranton: A newspaper said nearly half of the students in northeastern Pennsylvania schools are now getting free or reduced-price lunches.

The Times-Tribune reported that the number has grown by 19% over the past five years.

RHODE ISLAND North Kings

town: Authorities said two young Massachusetts men have spent the night in jail on charges stemming from racing on the Newport Bridge. Rhode Island state police said troopers recorded the two suspects racing their vehicles at 91 mph in a zone with a posted speed limit of 40 mph.

SOUTH CAROLINA Kershaw: Romarco Minerals of Toronto is proposing to spend more than $1 billion over 15 years to restart Haile Mine, a gold mine that has operated periodically since the 1820s. The Army Corps of Engineers is taking public comments on the draft environmental impact statement and will a hold public hearing in April.

SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: The statewide youth unemployment rate among workers 16-19 is 10.3%, the Argus Leader reported, well below the national average. In 2011, the rate was as high as 15.6%.

TENNESSEE Johnson City: East Tennessee State University anthropology professor Jay Franklin has received a $12,000 grant from the National Geographic/ Waitt Grant Program to fund mapping, travel and radiocarbon testing at a prehistoric shelter where primitive stone tools were found.

TEXAS College Station: Texas agriculture officials said cotton producers are expected to plant more acres this year as prices are increasing. The Bryan-College Station Eagle reported that the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service officials expect cotton plantings to stretch across at least 6.5 million acres. That’s 700,000 more acres than were planted in 2013.

UTAH Salt Lake City: Utah’s Democratic and Republican parties are holding neighborhood caucus meetings this week to choose local delegates and discuss election issues and candidates.

VERMONT Montpelier: A House committee on Thursday will hold a public hearing on increasing the minimum wage.

VIRGINIA Natural Bridge: Natural Bridge has opened for the first time since it was sold to a private conservation group. The 215-foothigh stone bridge that was once owned by Thomas Jefferson is destined to become part of the state park system.

WASHINGTON Tacoma: About 500 trees along 14 miles of Interstate 5 between Lakewood and Lacey will be removed to improve sight lines of new state traffic cameras.

WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said his office has returned $16.5 million to the general fund in the last 14 months. He said the Legislature will use $9 million returned in the last week to plug a budget gap and fund a program that enables senior and disabled residents to receive health care at home.

WISCONSIN Madison: A Wisconsin military training base is again set to hold its annual May open house after budget cuts scuttled last year’s event. Fort McCoy has scheduled its annual Armed Forces Day Open House for May 17.

WYOMING Casper: The North Platte River will be flushed this week as part of an effort to improve fish habitat. Compiled from staff and wire reports by Tim Wendel and Dennis Lyons. Design by George Petras. Graphics by Alejandro Gonzalez.