Around the nation
Harriet the bald eagle’s first eaglet hatches.
ALABAMA Auburn: A non-profit group called Baby Steps helps Auburn University students with unplanned pregnancies, The Opelika-Auburn News reported.
ALASKA Kenai: Regulators are considering reducing the amount of halibut that fishermen are allowed to catch along the Pacific coast next year.
ARIZONA Flagstaff: Northern Arizona missed out on a white Christmas, and if the lack of snowfall continues, scientists say ponderosa pines could be more susceptible to bark beetles and disease.
ARKANSAS Little Rock: State voters have approved medical marijuana sales. But Veterans Affairs doctors can’t recommend or prescribe it, and the VA won’t pay for it, because the federal government considers marijuana illegal.
CALIFORNIA Los Angeles: Borrowers under 21 who forget to return their library books on time will no longer be on the hook for fines at Los Angeles County libraries.
COLORADO Colorado Springs: The city’s urban deer population is said to be dangerously high, and the City Council is considering options to reduce it.
CONNECTICUT Hartford: The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection invites artists to submit waterfowl art to be considered for Connecticut’s annual Migratory Bird Conservation Stamp art contest.
DELAWARE Georgetown: Raja the cat is back with its owners after three years. Raja turned up in Delaware when a man brought the stray to the Brandywine Valley SPCA shelter.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: The city is the worst of 40 major U.S. metro areas at handling unexpected situations such as inclement weather, major crashes or other events, according to a study by Northeastern University’s Network Science Institute, WTOP radio reports.
FLORIDA Orlando: Biologists say surveys of endangered Florida grasshopper sparrows in the wild are discouraging, The Orlando Sentinel reports.
GEORGIA Macon: An increasing number of Georgia high school students enrolled in career pathway programs are earning diplomas, The Telegraph reported.
HAWAII Hilo: Hunting and trapping appear to be keeping down the number of feral pigs on the Big Island, wildlife officials said.
IDAHO Coeur D’Alene: After nine months of negotiations in a United Steelworkers Union strike against a Hecla Mining Co.-owned mine in Mullan, talks have stalled, the company said.
ILLINOIS Chicago: City police have rewritten rules on the use of Tasers to deter officers from using them on people who are running away or vulnerable to injury.
INDIANA Richmond: Reid Health is giving $1 million toward the demolition of its former hospital campus that’s been badly damaged by vandals and thieves.
IOWA Des Moines: Brett Vanderpool, a Des Moines police officer, is on leave after being accused of drunken driving.
KANSAS Topeka: The Topeka Zoo is the new home of an aging Malayan sun bear couple. HoHo and Cupcake are both 28.
KENTUCKY Arjay: The Bell County Sheriff ’s Office says an attack by two dogs left a woman dead and her husband injured. The man was able to shoot both dogs, killing one, but the other dog ran off.
LOUISIANA Garyville: A giant snapping turtle built of plywood and crab traps was set ablaze with scores of teepee-shaped bonfires on Christmas Eve, a tradition of fires along levees between New Orleans and Baton Rouge that draws thousands of tourists.
MAINE Falmouth: The University of Maine Cooperative Extension is looking to train the next generation of beekeepers by offering beginner courses and worshops on swarm management and honeybee diseases.
MARYLAND Rockville: The Montgomery County Council is taking steps to let residents pay their property taxes early in response federal tax reform.
MASSACHUSETTS Boston: A ceremony Friday aboard the USS Constitution will commemorate the
205th anniversary of a battle the warship fought during the War of
1812.
MICHIGAN Holland: Students from Hope College are sharing experiences of racism and homophobia to raise awareness, encourage discussion and change behavior.
MINNESOTA Minneapolis: City police removed a memorial that a white nationalist group created outside police headquarters to honor an Australian woman killed by a Somali officer last summer.
MISSISSIPPI Oxford: A planned gin distillery will have to get state revenue officials’ approval after Lafayette County supervisors rejected it, the Oxford Eagle reports.
MISSOURI St. Charles: A petition drive has been launched for a countywide smoking ban in St. Charles County.
MONTANA Billings: Nearly 400 licenses for a special deer hunt sold out in less than four hours Tuesday.
NEBRASKA Omaha: A judge has dismissed a burglary charge against a bounty hunter who broke into and searched a home before realizing he was in the wrong house.
NEVADA Elko: Sixty residents are suing the city of Elko for more than $3.6 million over damage caused by extensive flooding last February.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Lincoln: Handcrafted ice castle sculptures will be ready for viewing here in early January. The ice is embedded with color-changing LED lights set to a musical soundtrack.
NEW JERSEY Eatontown: Officials say someone stole a dog from a local animal shelter on Christmas Eve. Staff members are reviewing security cameras to find out who made off with Tub Tub, the Asbury Park Press reports.
NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: A study by a health policy organization found that New Mexico is among the least prepared states for epidemics or other public health emergencies.
NEW YORK Johnsbury: The Open Space Institute has acquired a tract including Huckleberry Mountain in the Adirondacks with plans to transfer ownership to the state.
NORTH CAROLINA Fontana Dam: A rockslide dumped more than 2,500 truckloads of dirt and debris on Highway 28 in Graham County. Officials say it’ll likely be the end of February before the road is reopened.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: City residents opposed to demolishing a 134-year-old railroad bridge say BNSF Railway officials should allow them to turn it into a walking and biking trail.
OHIO Mansfield: A man bearing gifts visited the Richland Correctional Institution on Christmas Eve, but it wasn’t Santa Claus. Officials say the man tried to throw four packages containing tobacco, cellphones and marijuana over the fence.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: Regulators and scientists said the number of earthquakes magnitude 3.0 or stronger has fallen.
OREGON Nyssa: A truck-to-rail reloading facility aimed at solving the onion industry’s transportation problems in Idaho and Oregon is likely to be built within three years.
PENNSYLVANIA Erie: Forecasters say a Christmas Day storm dumped a record 34 inches of snow on Erie and 19 more inches fell before dawn Tuesday.
RHODE ISLAND: Two Democratic state lawmakers say they’ll reintroduce a bill to prevent presidential candidates from appearing on Rhode Island’s ballot unless they release their tax returns.
SOUTH CAROLINA Darlington: Investigators say three drive-by shootings in the city appear to be related. Two people were hurt.
SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: The state has reduced commitments of juveniles to detention centers by 56% over the last four years, a panel says.
TENNESSEE Nashville: Officials say high wind gusts toppled a 40-foot Christmas tree decked with 6,000 lights in Public Square Park. The Norway spruce had to be hauled away.
TEXAS Lufkin: Prosecutors want to seize more than $970,000 in property from a minister and his family who were convicted this summer of fraud for using hurricane relief funds to pay off personal expenses and fund their Jasper church.
UTAH New Harmony: A sheriff ’s deputy punched through a frozen pond on Christmas Day to rescue a drowning 8-year-old boy. The boy was airlifted to Dixie Regional Medical Center in St. George.
VERMONT Milton: Riley Fuels of Milton has been fined more than $18,000 by the state for illegally cutting open oil storage tanks and lighting the fuel on fire to get rid of the excess oil.
VIRGINIA Manakin-Sabot: A family of five lost their newly renovated home when a fire burned the structure to the ground last weekend, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.
WASHINGTON Seattle: A wrapped present that turned out to be a fruitcake temporarily halted ferry service at a Seattle ferry terminal Tuesday.
WEST VIRGINIA Bridgeport: State officials are expressing hope that a trade dispute over Canadian aircraft won’t affect hundreds of people working at Bombardier’s commercial aircraft service center.
WISCONSIN Madison: Longtime Mayor Paul Soglin, a Democrat, plans to launch a campaign for governor in a few weeks. At 72, he’d be the oldest of the nine top-tier candidates seeking to unseat Republican Gov. Scott Walker.
WYOMING Jackson: U.S. Rep Liz Cheney has introduced a bill to increase the number of days that heliskiing is allowed in wilderness-quality land south of Teton Pass.
Compiled from staff, wire reports