STATE-BY-STATE
News from across the USA
ALABAMA Montgomery: The founder of Selma’s annual Bridge Crossing Jubilee says the city wants more than $23,000 up front for police and other services for the event that commemorates the fight for voting rights. Hank Sanders says it’s an attempt to end, or put under city control, what has become a symbol for the right to march.
ALASKA Anchorage: Alaska’s Chugiak High School has banned the display of the Confederate flag. Some students posed for photos with a version of the flag inside the Anchorage-area school, The Alaska Star reports.
ARIZONA Tucson: Oracle State Park near Tucson will open seven days a week starting Wednesday, The Arizona Daily Star reports. The park closed in 2009 because of budget cuts and later reopened only on weekends. ARKANSAS Jonesboro: Arkansas State University has suspended all fraternity and sorority social events until April 1 after a student was accused of raping a woman at a fraternity party.
CALIFORNIA Los Angeles: A rare baby bongo was introduced to the public last week at the Los Angeles Zoo. The animal was born Jan. 20 and was kept behind the scenes for bonding time with its mother.
COLORADO Durango: Authorities say no charges will be filed against the operator of a lowflying drone that spooked a horse at a skijoring race, causing it to dart into a crowd and injuring three people, The Durango Herald reports.
CONNECTICUT Waterbury: Vandals defaced a giant cross overlooking this Connecticut city from the site of the former Holy Land theme park. Holy Land closed in 1984.
DELAWARE Dover: A lawyer is challenging the Delaware constitution’s requirement of political balance among state court judges. James Adams says that selecting judges partially on political affiliation violates the freedom of political association guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund has received a $10 million grant for its proposed education center in Washington, The Washington Post reports.
FLORIDA Jacksonville: Of the 33 sailors who died when the cargo ship El Faro sank in a hurricane in 2015, the families of 29 have reached settlements with the vessel’s owner, The Florida
Times-Union reports.
GEORGIA Savannah: Two bobcat kittens spotted recently on Jekyll Island could be an early sign that the elusive predators are making a comeback on the Georgia coast state park.
HAWAII Honolulu: The Honolulu City Council is considering expanding a law banning people from sitting or lying down on public sidewalks. Small businesses owners in certain areas say homeless encampments have caused them to lose money and customers. IDAHO Boise: A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by environmental groups involving an Idaho wolf- and coyote-shooting contest as part of a settlement that requires officials to give notice if another contest is planned.
ILLINOIS Kankakee: The bishop of the Joliet Diocese is asking three Catholic churches to merge in an effort to make up for a priest shortage. The request involves the St. Rose of Lima, St. Martin of Tours and St. Teresa parishes in Kankakee, The (Kana- kee) Daily Journal reports.
INDIANA Terre Haute: Four people were arrested in the death of a 9-year-old Indiana boy with cerebral palsy. Vigo County Sheriff Greg Ewing says the boy was blind and weighed less than 15 pounds. IOWA Ames: Iowa State University President Steven Leath won’t face charges over allegations that he used school airplanes for personal benefit. Leath has reimbursed the school for questionable flights.
KANSAS Colby: Three students at Colby High School in Kansas have confirmed cases of mumps, The Salina-Journal reports. Health officials are working to find where the students contracted the illness.
KENTUCKY Auburn: Two Amish men who sued the mayor and police chief of Auburn over an ordinance requiring horses to wear excrement-catching bags have voluntarily withdrawn the complaint, The Bowling Green Daily News reports.
LOUISIANA Baton Rouge: A Tulane University study finds that as many as 1,700 public school teachers in Louisiana have left classrooms because of the state’s tougher tenure law that took effect in 2012, The Advocate reports.
MAINE Falmouth: The Maine Department of Transportation is lowering the speed limit on Interstate 295 from Falmouth to Topsham by 5 mph. The new speed limit — 65 mph — will take effect March 27.
MARYLAND Cumberland: The Union Rescue Mission in Cumberland temporarily suspended its public meals program because of fighting and drug dealing earlier this month, the Cumberland Times-News reports.
MASSACHUSETTS Boston: The Boston Symphony Orchestra has announced a four-building expansion of Tanglewood, its summer concert venue in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts. MICHIGAN Traverse City: A jury awarded $5 million to a man who was injured in a 2013 food truck explosion at Michigan’s Leelanau Peninsula Wine, Food & Music Festival, The Traverse City Record-Eagle reports.
MINNESOTA St. Paul: Gov. Mark Dayton tapped former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Kathleen Blatz to lead the oversight agency of the Minnesota Vikings’ stadium. The selection follows a leadership shakeup at the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority earlier this month.
MISSISSIPPI Jackson: Mississippi lawmakers rejected an effort to punish universities for not flying the state flag that prominently features the Confederate battle emblem. All eight of the state’s public universities stopped flying it amid criticism that it’s racially insensitive.
MISSOURI Jefferson City: Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens is shunning the state airplane and instead is relying on private donors and campaign funds to pay for his flights. Since taking office in January, Greitens hasn’t flown on a state plane.
MONTANA Helena: Supporters of allowing Native American students to wear Indian regalia at graduation ceremonies want Montana lawmakers to pass a bill to that effect.
NEBRASKA Lincoln: The University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Phi Kappa Psi fraternity is suspended until December 2018. Last week, the university said it found evidence of questionable treatment of pledges and of members damaging property at other fraternity houses.
NEVADA Las Vegas: After more than a decade of controversy, Clark County commissioners have agreed to a developer’s plan to build more than 5,000 homes within sight of the Red Rock Canyon National Recreation Area, a popular hiking, biking and climbing location.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: A New Hampshire farm that posted a video of a newborn Scottish Highland calf named Pitcher Diego came under fire from animal rights supporters who don’t want the animal slaughtered. Owner Brian Farmer says the animal’s strong body and gentle disposition make it a good candidate for breeding.
NEW JERSEY Hillside: A black New Jersey police officer sued her department, saying she endured years of racial and gender discrimination that included supervisors telling her to style her hair like a white officer’s. Hillside Sgt. Qiana Brown is seeking undisclosed damages, back pay and seniority.
NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: New Mexico lawmakers are working on a measure to adorn special license plates with hot peppers. Researchers say the state’s soil and weather combine to give its peppers a unique flavor and character.
NEW YORK Niagara Falls: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is still pursuing a privately operated lodge at the state-owned Goat Island near the brink of Niagara Falls. But some preservationists and local officials complain that the project would spoil the island’s beauty.
NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: A whistleblower lawsuit accuses two North Carolina district attorneys of conspiring to hire each other’s wives and allow them to collect salaries for little work.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: The North Dakota Brain Injury Network is launching a campaign, “Know Your Noggin,” to bring awareness to traumatic brain injuries,” The Bismarck Tribune reports.
OHIO Sandusky: An assisted living center caretaker who police say performed a sexually provocative dance on a 100-year-old resident with dementia was doing it as a prank and trying to make the man feel good, her attorney said. Brittany Fultz, 26, was fired.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: The Oklahoma Supreme Court says a man from Syria who says he was tortured in his home country after converting to Christianity at a Tulsa church has no legal recourse against the church, which published his name and baptism online.
OREGON Salem: An Oregon lawmaker wants to replace the state bird, The Statesman Journal reports. If state Sen. Fred Girod gets his way, the osprey will replace the western meadowlark.
PENNSYLVANIA Philadelphia: Some supermarkets and beverage distributors say they’re gearing up for layoffs because Philadelphia’s new soda tax has cut beverage sales by as much as 50%, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: Former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee criticized his successor’s decision to attend a Silicon Valley summit sponsored by the same company she spoke out against days earlier for its role in the failed rollout of the state’s new public benefits system.
SOUTH CAROLINA Charleston: Police in Charleston are looking for a suspect with expensive taste. Surveillance video shows a man walking into the local Gucci Store on Feb. 17 and using a cane to knock a $24,000 yellow crocodile skin purse to the floor, then picking it up and walking out, The
Post and Courier reports.
SOUTH DAKOTA Rapid City: Two South Dakota men are charged with illegally baiting mountain lions with deer carcasses, The Rapid City Journal reports. Game and parks law enforcement officers set up a surveillance camera after spotting dead deer piling up in a canyon.
TENNESSEE Memphis: Kings of Leon, Death Cab for Cutie and Snoop Dogg are among the musical acts scheduled to perform at the Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis set for May 5-7.
TEXAS Houston: Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez says he’s ending a partnership with federal immigration officials that had county jailers detain inmates in the country illegally for possible deportation. Gonzalez tells the
Houston Chronicle that his deputies need to focus on other concerns, such as a shortage of jail staff. Federal officials will still screen inmates to determine their immigration status.
UTAH Salt Lake City: Religious groups and advocates for the poor say a plan by Utah lawmakers to raise the sales tax on groceries would hurt low-income families and drive them further into poverty.
VERMONT Montpelier: Vermont lawmakers are considering a bill that would put “gender-free” signs on public, single-occupancy bathrooms in public places like schools, restaurants, stores and government buildings.
VIRGINIA Richmond: A man who spent more than three decades in prison for a crime he didn’t commit could be getting $1.55 million from Virginia. The
Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that Keith Allen Harward was released from prison last April after DNA evidence cleared him of a 1982 murder and rape in Newport News.
WASHINGTON Airway Heights: The Kalispel Tribe is plannning a $20 million expansion of its Northern Quest Resort and Casino to draw in more families. The project will include child-care facilities, a youth arcade, restaurants and retail space. The expansion also calls for construction of an upscale RV park.
WEST VIRGINIA Huntington: Huntington will hold a public meeting Tuesday about recommendations for a neighborhood redevelopment project. The work would involve former industrial properties that have potential environmental issues in the Highlawn neighborhood. Implementation is set to start this spring.
WISCONSIN Marshfield: A homeless man who police say was living in a closet at Ministry St. Joseph’s Hospital in Marshfield faces trespassing and other charges, WSAW-TV reports. Patients complained that the man was walking the halls day and night.
WYOMING Cheyenne: Prosecutors found no criminal wrongdoing in the case of a horse that survived eight weeks in the Wyoming wilderness after being left behind when it became too sick to move. The backcountry guide outfit that left Valentine behind defended the company’s actions. The horse was retrieved in December.