State by state:

News from around the nation

ALABAMA Montgomery: Casino operators are lashing out at lawsuits filed by Alabama’s attorney general to try to shut down electronic gambling operations. Attorney General Steve Marshall filed suits last week that focus on slot machine-lookalikes.

ALASKA Anchorage: A $1.5 million federal grant is being awarded to the Aleut community on Alaska’s Saint Paul Island for its commercial fishing industry. Officials say the project to build a vessel repair and marine supply facility is expected to generate $22.6 million in private investment.

ARIZONA Tucson: A federal judge found Border Patrol agent Jesus Manuel Franco guilty of stealing $100,000 worth of gun parts and equipment from the agency, The Arizona Daily Star reports. A second accused agent was acquitted.

ARKANSAS Fort Smith: Site work has begun for a $16.5 million, star-shaped U.S. Marshals Museum in Arkansas, The Southwest Times Record reports. The museum’s board of directors is planning a September 2019 opening.

CALIFORNIA Los Angeles: State health officials say a deadly hepatitis A outbreak may take a year or more to abate, The Los Angeles Times reports. The illness has infected at least 568 people since last November.

COLORADO Denver: A cloudlike pattern that drifted across a Denver-area weather radar screen last week turned out to be a 70-mile-wide wave of painted lady butterflies.

CONNECTICUT East Hampton: Officials say an unattended pressure cooker likely caused a fire that cut short a wedding reception at St. Clements Castle and Marina in June, The Middletown Press reports.

DELAWARE Dover: Officials say Delaware residents will pay 25% more next year than this year for Affordable Care Act insurance. Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield is the only insurer providing ACA coverage in Delaware.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: District of Columbia officials say they won’t appeal a court ruling against a strict city gun law. The ruling makes it easier for gun owners to get concealed carry permits.

FLORIDA Tampa: Officials have concluded that a fire that destroyed the Lee Elementary Magnet School was caused by electrical failure and extensive water damage in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma. The report puts to rest rumors that the fire was set by someone angry that the school was named for Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

GEORGIA Atlanta: Worth County Sheriff Jeff Hobby and two deputies have been indicted after prosecutors say they carried out illegal body searches of high school students in April.

HAWAII Honolulu: Majority Leader Cindy Evans in the Hawaii House was removed from her leadership post for voting against the bailout bill for the Honolulu rail project, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports.

IDAHO Moscow: Authorities say a University of Idaho worker used his cellphone to call for help after being pinned when a one-ton concrete block fell on his leg, The Moscow-Pullman Daily News reports. Emergency workers used a forklift to rescue the worker.

ILLINOIS Wolf Lake: The Shawnee National Forest has closed one of its roads to ensure the safety of snake species that cross it on their way to hibernate, The

Evansville Courier and Press reports. Snake Road in the southern Illinois forest is about 2 1⁄2 miles long.

INDIANA Madison: A tip about a cobweb-covered bicycle rider led to the arrests of two men for allegedly stealing bikes, The Madison Courier reports.

IOWA Des Moines: City officials have approved $62,000 for a phone survey to explore whether to seek a 1-cent sales tax in Polk County, The Des Moines Register reports. The Iowa Department of Revenue says the tax could generate $79 million annually.

KANSAS Wichita: The Kansas Department of Education will use a $27 million federal grant to support literacy programs in state schools, The Wichita Eagle reports.

KENTUCKY Louisville: Officials say Kentucky plans to block 16,000 drivers from renewing their vehicle registrations for repeatedly failing to pay Ohio River bridge tolls. The targeted drivers have ignored multiple invoices.

LOUISIANA New Orleans: The FBI says a man was spotted last month outside its New Orleans field office removing copper from the site where a visitor center is under construction. Michael Bailey faces a charge of felony theft.

MAINE South Berwick: Police are investigating the “untimely death” last week of a South Berwick Pharmacy employee but say they don’t consider it suspicious. The Medical Examiner’s office will determine the cause of death.

MARYLAND Baltimore: Some Maryland school districts are considering staying open on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur next September. Others may try to stay open on President’s Day, The Baltimore Sun reports. Off days are limited because the school year must begin after Labor Day and end by June 15. MASSACHUSETTS Worcester: An 800-pound moose wandering near a local highway was tranquilized and moved to a rural area, The Telegram reports. Residents of a Worcester neighborhood said the moose had been wandering around there last Wednesday.

MICHIGAN Genoa Township: Cleary University officials have announced plans to build a housing complex and athletic facility in Livingston County. School officials say they expect to break ground on the housing complex next month.

MINNESOTA St. Cloud: St. John’s Episcopal Church has reached an agreement with the city over a tiny house built to shelter the homeless, The St. Cloud Times reports. Under the terms, the 123-square-foot house will be removed when a 384square-foot house that complies with the city code is completed.

MISSISSIPPI Jackson: The state is now collecting sales and lodging taxes from people renting rooms or vacation properties online. Officials say the properties meet the definition of a hotel under Mississippi law.

MISSOURI Kansas City: Missouri has re-emerged as a potential location for a Hyperloop track despite not earning a spot last month in a top 10 list of possible future routes. Hyperloop One, the company working to commercialize the idea, estimates the trip from Kansas City to St. Louis would take 31 minutes.

MONTANA Billings: Federal wildlife officials say a cat-sized predator that lives in old-growth forests of the Northern Rockies isn’t in danger of extinction despite worries about habitat loss. Northern Rockies fishers are now limited to an area straddling the Montana-Idaho border.

NEBRASKA Omaha: Officials canceled scheduled talks last week at Millard North and Millard South high schools by a Palestinian Christian speaker amid concerns that Jewish students at one of the schools were being harassed ahead of the visit, The Omaha World-Herald reports.

NEVADA Carson City: Violinist Carla Trynchuk, a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music in New York, will help the Carson City Symphony open its 34th season on Oct. 22, the Nevada Appeal reports.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: State revenue is showing signs of leveling off. That’s the view of economist Greg Bird of the New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies. Bird cites a slowdown in growth rates of four state taxes.

NEW JERSEY Asbury Park: Prop weapons were banned at

Asbury Park’s Zombie Walk on Saturday. Organizers made the decision in response to the mass shooting in Las Vegas.

NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: The National Museum of Nuclear Science and History unveiled its newest piece on Friday — a replica of the world’s first nuclear bomb to be detonated, The Albuquerque Journal reports.

NEW YORK New York: Federal transportation officials are investigating a crash last month between a civilian-operated drone and an Army helicopter that was in New York to provide security for the United Nations General Assembly. The helicopter’s main rotor blade was damaged but it landed safely.

NORTH CAROLINA Greensboro: The University of North Carolina- Greensboro is celebrating its 125th birthday, and its executive pastry chef is baking a cake to fit the occasion. So the cake, covered by white icing and trimmed in the school colors of blue and yellow, is 125 feet long.

NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: The Department of Energy is proposing compensation for power plants to keep coal on hand, a move that would add value to North Dakota’s coal, The Bismarck Tribune reports.

OHIO Canton: Vandals again have damaged a memorial honoring former President William McKinley, The Canton Repository reports. Authorities say two bronze window covers were unbolted from the base of the Canton memorial.

OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: Fifteen Oklahoma tribes will split $18 million in federal grants to address issues such as substance abuse, violence against women and community policing, The Oklahoman reports.

OREGON Portland: Police arrested three teenage girls on suspicion of being involved in a series of strong-arm carjackings, The Oregonian reports. Authorities say the crimes did not involve weapons but that force was used.

PENNSYLVANIA Lancaster: A man faces at least six months in prison for fatally stabbing a dog that he believed put a hex on him while he was high on methamphetamine. Joseph Elliott pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of animal cruelty. RHODE ISLAND Providence: Mayor Jorge Elorza says he expects the city will post a budget surplus of more than $10 million, wiping out Providence’s cumulative deficit. Elorza says that would leave the city with a balance of $7 million — and its first “rainy day fund” since 2011, The Providence Journal reports.

SOUTH CAROLINA Union: A former group home manager is accused of stealing from several disabled residents to shop for herself at Wal-Mart and other stores. Rhonda Keisler faces three counts of exploitation of a vulnerable adult and three counts of breach of trust of more than $10,000.

SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: A St. Bernard in South Dakota has set a world record for having the longest tongue on a dog. Mochi, also known as Mo, has a tongue measured at 7.31 inches, according to Guinness World Records. Mochi’s owner, Carla Rickert of Sioux Falls, says her dog slobbers more than usual when she’s nervous.

TENNESSEE Kingsport: Eastman Chemical says it doesn’t expect coal gas explosions at its Tennessee plant to threaten human health or cause long-term environmental impacts. Officials say there were no injuries beyond minor first aid in the pair of explosions last week. The cause is under investigation.

TEXAS Dallas: Southern Methodist University has suspended its Beta Lambda fraternity chapter that’s accused of forcing new members to eat hot peppers and red onions and drink milk until they threw up, The Dallas Morning News reports.

UTAH Springville: A film producer has signed a lease on the Rivoli Theater in Springville. Melissa Cannon plans to renovate the space that has shown movies and performances since 1937, The Daily Herald reports.

VERMONT Maidstone: A man facing wildlife violations for bringing eastern hognose snakes to Vermont says he didn’t realize the snakes weren’t native to the state. A dozen of the snakes were found at David Buyak’s property in Maidstone.

VIRGINIA Petersburg: City taxpayers spent more than $1 million in the last year on consultants hired to pull Petersburg from the brink of insolvency. At one point last fall, the city had only $75,000 in its checking account. City officials now estimate $2 million in savings left over from the fiscal year that ended June 30.

WASHINGTON Seattle: A former worker for a Catholic health care system is suing the group, saying its insurance plan refused to cover gender-reassignment surgery for her teenage son. The ACLU of Washington filed the suit against Vancouver-based Peace-Health, which operates 10 medical centers. WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: West Virginia’s largest school district is working with the state’s Department of Education to offer a full-time online program, The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports.

WISCONSIN Madison: University of Wisconsin System regents have adopted hiring policy changes that clear the way for non-academics to lead state colleges. Under the plan, campuses can’t block people who lack terminal degrees and tenure from serving as system president, chancellors or vice chancellors.

WYOMING Cheyenne: A Highway Patrol traffic stop on Interstate 80 last month resulted in the seizure of nearly 200 pounds of marijuana from a horse trailer. Officials estimate the street value of the marijuana at $394,000.