STATE-BY-STATE

ALABAMA Dothan: A $23 million funding proposal could expand pre-K programs in Alabama, The Dothan Eagle reports. The state has increased the number of 4-year-olds enrolled from 6% to 28%.

ALASKA Juneau: Commercial fishermen have been banned from using planes to follow salmon in Southeast Alaska, KTOO-FM reports. Spotter planes already were banned in other parts of the state.

ARIZONA Phoenix: A trial is set to open Tuesday for a Syrian man accused of making circuit boards for IEDs used by a jihadist group in attacks against American soldiers during the Iraq War.

ARKANSAS Mansfield: The City Council has limited the powers of Mayor Larry Austin, The Times Record reports. But Austin can still hire and fire department heads and negotiate contracts.

CALIFORNIA Sacramento: A letter written in 1782 by Alexander Hamilton will be up for bids Wednesday, The Sacramento Bee reports. The auction at Witherell’s Auction House features over 300 items.

COLORADO Boulder: State wildlife officials want Crestone Peak Resources to consider the impact of proposed drilling in Boulder County on animals and their habitat, including burrowing owls and wintering bald eagles.

CONNECTICUT Hartford: The state’s online Taxpayer Service Center began this week accepting individual income tax returns filed electronically.

DELAWARE Dover: New regulations will expand the scope of firearm possession in state parks, Delaware State News reports.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: If the government shutdown doesn’t end soon, one of the National Zoo’s most popular features will shut down, too — the panda cam, WTOP Radio reports.

FLORIDA Spring Hill: A man was charged with DUI after mistaking a bank drive-thru for a Taco Bell, The Tampa Bay Times reports.

GEORGIA Atlanta: An audit of farmers markets found that many of the nine in the state are underused and more than half are losing money, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

HAWAII Honolulu: Even a government shutdown can’t turn off the state’s active volcanoes. But Hawaii Volcanoes National Park has closed its overnight camping sites and lodging facilities for the safety of visitors.

IDAHO Burley: Police say a man shot and killed the owner of a car repair shop after the owner offered him a job, The Times-News reports.

ILLINOIS Chicago: The University of Illinois at Chicago was awarded two grants totaling nearly $1.9 million to expand undergraduate research in the humanities and to aid doctoral students in Latino humanities study.

INDIANA Terre Haute: Vigo County kicked off a year-long bicentennial celebration with courthouse festivities on Sunday, The (Terre Haute) Tribune-Star reports.

IOWA Council Bluffs: In a move to boost fishing, Department of Natural Resources officials stocked 1,000 rainbow trout in the city’s Big Lake.

KANSAS Lawrence: The chancellor of the University of Kansas says the school is seeing a decline of about 5% in international enrollment, The Lawrence Journal-World reports.

KENTUCKY Frankfort: State alcohol regulators have filed a proposal to repeal rules limiting the number of licenses available for retail package liquor stores and by-the-drink liquor sales, Lexington Herald-Leader says.

LOUISIANA Kenner: Vinny Mendoza has been kicked off the ballot for Kenner mayor, The Times-Picayune reports. A judge found that Mendoza hasn’t lived in the city for at least three years, as the charter requires.

MAINE Bangor: The nonprofit Healthy Equity Alliance is holding a blanket and sleeping bag collection drive through Feb. 1.

MARYLAND Baltimore: The new city police commissioner pledges to fight violent crime by putting more uniformed officers on the streets.

MASSACHUSETTS Stockbridge: Residents in Norman Rockwell’s hometown are divided over adding a traffic circle to improve safety, especially during tourist season.

MICHIGAN Flint: Authorities say exposed human remains found in Gracelawn Cemetery are believed to be of an infant buried in an unmarked grave, Flint Journal reports.

MINNESOTA Brainerd: The 28th annual Ice Fishing Extravaganza is set for Saturday. The contest has drawn more than 10,000 people annually for nearly 20 years.

MISSISSIPPI Jackson: State education officials say a data breach at a testing vendor exposed student information at three unnamed schools in two districts.

MISSOURI Atherton: Authorities say a woman died and her 6-yearold daughter and boyfriend were injured when an Amtrak train slammed into their pickup truck.

MONTANA Helena: Two unions representing the state’s public workers and teachers will merge, Helena Independent Record reports.

NEBRASKA Lincoln: The University of Nebraska State Museum’s Science Cafe is moving to a new location for a series of free events at the Happy Raven, a local craft beer bar.

NEVADA Las Vegas: Animal welfare groups shipped over 50 homeless cats to Reno last weekend to free space in California shelters filled with animals displaced by wildfires.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Rochester: A 9-year-old boy was honored for reporting a fire at the City Hall annex last May. Logan Putnam was awarded a $5,000 educational scholarship.

NEW JERSEY Jersey City: A judge rejected the city’s effort to block a new Liberty State Park marina.

NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: The restoration and trail project known as the Santa Fe River Greenway is expected to be finished by July, The Santa Fe New Mexican reports.

NEW YORK Albany: The EPA says it has received about 2,000 public comments as it reviews a $1.7 billion Superfund cleanup of the upper Hudson River.

NORTH CAROLINA Elon: Leo Lambert, the outgoing president of Elon University, will deliver the commencement address on May 19.

NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: A hot soup and sandwich cafe has reopened here more than two years after losing its lease on a former location, the Bismarck Tribune reports. The new and expanded Heaven’s Helpers Soup Cafe offers free food six days a week.

OHIO Columbus: Of 185 applications for medical marijuana cultivation licenses, 63 that were rejected have filed appeals, Cleveland.com reports.

OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: Gov. Mary Fallin has reappointed rancher Jarold Callahan to the Oklahoma A&M Board of Regents.

OREGON Bend: The clinical director for the state Department of Corrections faces a DUI charge, The Bend Bulletin reports. A search warrant affidavit says Christopher Peter DiGiulio told the arresting officer that he smoked marijuana earlier in the day.

PENNSYLVANIA Philadelphia: Some of the country’s top floral designers will converge March 3 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center for the Philadelphia Flower Show. The theme this year is “Wonders of Water.”

RHODE ISLAND Warwick: Officials in Warwick and Cranston say it could be months before damage is fully repaired at town-owned buildings flooded by water pipe breaks during frigid temperatures this month, The Providence Journal reports.

SOUTH CAROLINA Moncks Corner: The Berkeley County School District has sued an insurance brokerage, saying it sold policies for non-existent risks and charged too much, The Post and Courier reports.

SOUTH DAKOTA Pierre: Officials in Pierre and Fort Pierre have until Feb. 1 to choose potential enhancements to the design of the Missouri River bridge replacement, The Capital Journal reports. Enhancements could cover lighting, railings and steps down to the water.

TENNESSEE Nashville: As of March 1, Airbnb will be able to collect and pay state sales tax on behalf of its renters, The Tennessean reports.

TEXAS Wylie: Two white tigers that were housed illegally were seized and placed in the care of the In-Sync Exotics Wildlife Rescue and Educational Center.

UTAH Salt Lake City: A man convicted of selling kits to convert semiautomatic weapons into machine guns faces up to 10 years in prison, The Salt Lake Tribune reports.

VERMONT Montpelier: The Agency of Agriculture says about $200,000 in federal grant funding is available to improve Vermont specialty crops, from tree nuts to honey to hops.

VIRGINIA Norfolk: Dominion Energy plans to build 17 transmission towers near colonial Jamestown Island and is paying $90 million for water quality and shoreline projects to blunt the impact on significant historic areas.

WASHINGTON Bremerton: Officials say ridership on state ferry routes reached a 15-year high in 2017, The Kitsap Sun reports. State ferries carried 10.6 million vehicles and 13.8 million passengers last year.

WEST VIRGINIA Huntington: State “safety net” hospitals stand to lose up to $15 million toward treating lowincome patients because of Medicaid cuts, The Herald-Dispatch reports.

WISCONSIN Madison: The state’s Harbor Assistance Program has awarded about $8 million in grants to improve transportation and access at ports and harbors, Wisconsin Public Radio reports. Door County’s Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding received the largest grant, $3.6 million, for dock wall construction and dredging.

WYOMING Laramie: The University of Wyoming’s Migration Initiative works to protect wildlife migration corridors, Laramie Boomerang says. Officials say the state’s well-documented migrations remain intact.