STATE-BY-STATE
ALABAMA Florence: A mock-up of the city’s Singing River music sculpture has been unveiled in preparation for building the 20-foot aluminum depiction of a trumpet player, a nod to city native W.C. Handy.
ALASKA Anchorage: Plastic grocery bags are going away in Wasilla starting July 1, KTUU-TV reports.
ARIZONA Kingman: Mohave County authorities are searching for a woman who was mistakenly released from jail. Melissa Bexell was being held on theft and obstructing charges.
ARKANSAS El Dorado: The executive administrator of Union County’s tax collector’s office has resigned after a lengthy dispute over a background check that showed an embezzlement accusation over seven years ago, The El Dorado News-Times reports.
CALIFORNIA Monterey: A pod of 12 gray whales passing through Monterey Bay was captured on video by a drone, The San Francisco Chronicle reports.
COLORADO Greeley: The runner-up in the local City Council race will take office after the winner was forced out because of a 1978 forgery conviction, The Greeley Tribune reports.
CONNECTICUT Stamford: The city has removed gender pronouns from its written rules, The Advocate reports. Officials replaced “he/she” references with titles, such as clerk.
DELAWARE Dover: State lawmakers are considering stiffer penalties for cigarette smugglers.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: A historic tavern building in suburban Washington was damaged by flooding when a sprinkler pipe burst during the freezing weather. Gadsby’s Tavern Museum is temporarily closed.
FLORIDA Yulee: A construction crew found a rusted mortar shell while doing road work, forcing a detour, The Florida Times-Union reports.
GEORGIA Cumming: Four deputies were treated for smoke inhalation after helping to put out a dryer fire at the Forsyth County Detention Center, Atlanta Journal-Constitution says.
HAWAII Honolulu: A former school official who stole more than $3 million from University of the Nations was sentenced to more than nine years in prison, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports.
IDAHO Moscow: A judge denied a motion to withdraw pleas from a man convicted of killing three people, The Lewiston Tribune reports. John Lee claimed he was “psychologically coerced” into a plea deal.
ILLINOIS Springfield: Gov. Bruce Rauner says the state will replace plumbing at the Illinois’ Veterans Home in Quincy. The facility has been troubled by Legionnaires’ disease, with 13 deaths since 2015.
INDIANA Lynnville: Crews used barricades to guide some 80 cows into trailers after a truck hauling them overturned on Interstate 64 in Warrick County, WFIE-TV reports.
IOWA Davenport: A man with a record of robberies was sentenced to 15 years in prison for an April 20 heist that netted less than $1,100 at Bank of the West in Coralville.
KANSAS Topeka: Outgoing Gov. Sam Brownback is counting on state revenue growth to pay for his proposal to boost public school funding by $601 million over five years.
KENTUCKY Berea: Police say a man driving a motorhome crashed through barriers closing a section of Interstate 75, prompting a police pursuit that ended when the vehicle slammed into construction equipment and burst into flames, killing the motorhome’s driver.
LOUISIANA New Orleans: Animal rights advocates want a judge to stop Fort Polk from rounding up hundreds of feral horses that Army officials consider “trespass” animals posing a safety risk in training areas.
MAINE Bangor: The state university system is exploring changes to its free speech policy, The Bangor Daily News reports. The policy would prohibit faculty from engaging in political activity while on the job or acting in an official capacity.
MARYLAND Linthicum: A man with dementia who wandered away from his wife at a Costco store was found dead a week after he disappeared.
MASSACHUSETTS Framingham: A radiology lab says it lost a portable hard drive that may contain the personal information and X-ray images of almost 9,400 patients, The Metro West Daily News reports.
MICHIGAN Ann Arbor: The Zeta Beta Tau fraternity revoked the charter of its University of Michigan chapter following an investigation into alleged hazing.
MINNESOTA Minneapolis: The state’s Human Services Commissioner says she’ll appeal a judicial panel’s approval of conditional release for a serial rapist who targeted teenage girls in the 1970s and 1980s.
MISSISSIPPI Jackson: A federal judge has cleared the way for a race discrimination lawsuit to proceed against the Harrison County coroner, who is accused of favoring white-owned competitors of six black-owned funeral homes.
MISSOURI Cape Girardeau: Southeast Missouri State University will cut 35 to 40 jobs over the next five months to balance its budget. No faculty members will lose their jobs.
MONTANA Great Falls: The state Livestock Loss Board is compensating producers for animals killed by mountain lions, The Great Falls Tribune reports.
NEBRASKA Omaha: A banker was sentenced to three years of supervised release for misapplying funds and forging documents. Authorities say Keith McCormick has already paid $122,000 restitution.
NEVADA Las Vegas: Nature lovers will soon have to pay more to visit the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. Park fees for the 13-mile scenic drive and campground will increase Feb. 20 from $7 to $15 for a car or truck.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: The organization appointed to take over Serenity Place, one of the state’s largest drug treatment centers, is close to deciding which programs it will continue.
NEW JERSEY Paterson: Authorities found 12 neglected and caged dogs in an empty home and are working to identify the owner.
NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: Mayor Tim Keller says the city’s transit project is riddled with problems, including uneven bus stop platforms, a station built too close to an intersection and various bus issues.
NEW YORK Bridgeport: The Oneida
Indians will open their third upstate casino March 1. The tribe says the Point Place Casino will have 500 slot machines and 20 table games.
NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: In a deal with state regulators, Duke Energy will pay an $84,000 penalty and take steps to stop potentially toxic waste leaks from three coal-fired plants.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: Police arrested a man waving a machete and yelling incoherently at a local Walmart. No one was hurt.
OHIO Pandora: Authorities say a woman found dead outside the nursing home where she lived died of hypothermia. Phyllis Campbell, 76, lived in the Hilty Home.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: A survey finds that many students who enrolled in a virtual charter school left their previous school because of bullying or problems with administrators, The Oklahoman reports.
OREGON Portland: The government will temporarily halt a beaver-killing program. Environmental groups say that beaver dams provide critical habitat for endangered fish species.
PENNSYLVANIA Pittsburgh: The National Aviary has a new resident. Vivien Leigh, a 5-month-old two-toed sloth, was introduced last week, acquired from a Florida breeder.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: The 110-foot sloop-of-war Providence, the state’s official tall ship, will leave Rhode Island next year for Virginia, The Providence Journal reports. A foundation that bought the vessel for $175,000 plans to renovate it.
SOUTH CAROLINA Rock Hill: Two men are charged with giving their guns to a girl to put in her backpack during a traffic stop by police, The Herald reports. Officers found two guns in a cheetah-print backpack, along with school work.
SOUTH DAKOTA Rapid City: Police officials are using a $750,000 grant to create a unit offering social services to help the homeless and people with mental health or substance abuse issues, the Rapid City Journal says.
TENNESSEE Memphis: Christian publisher Bethany House has canceled plans to publish a book by a pastor accused of a 1998 sexual assault.
TEXAS San Angelo: A woman seeking the Democratic nomination for governor is listed as ineligible for the March 6 primary after her $3,750 filing fee check bounced, The San Angelo Standard-Times reports.
UTAH Spanish Fork: Health officials say people who visited two restaurants here last month, a Sonic DriveIn and an Olive Garden, may have been exposed to hepatitis A.
VERMONT Montpelier: The state airplane has been sold. The 1962 Cessna brought $85,500 at an auction, WCAX-TV reports.
VIRGINIA Richmond: The number of women in state prisons is near record highs — 3,236 at the end of 2015, The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports.
WASHINGTON Everett: A lawyer wearing a fake beard and dark glasses was arrested in what police describe as an attempted bank robbery, The Daily Herald reports.
WEST VIRGINIA Bluefield: A former funeral director who filed false insurance claims for services for clients who were still alive was sentenced to a year and a month in federal prison.
WISCONSIN Kenosha: The local school board reached an $800,000 settlement in a discrimination case filed by a transgender high school student, The Kenosha News reports.
WYOMING Casper: State lawmakers are considering a measure to nearly double the size of Medicine Lodge State Archaeological Site in the Bighorn Mountains. Officials say the park needs more campsites and trails, Casper Star-Tribune reports.