STATE-BY-STATE
News from across the USA
ALABAMA Birmingham: Mayor Randall Woodfin is seeking $90 million over 30 years toward expanding and renovating a downtown convention complex, including construction of a stadium, Al.com reports.
ALASKA Anchorage: State officials report a crude oil spill at the Valdez Marine Terminal. KTVA-TV reports that the spill appears to be less than 200 gallons.
ARIZONA Flagstaff: A consultant is recommending that the Flagstaff Unified School District spend nearly $95 million to refurbish most of its 17 buildings, replace two elementary schools and the portable wing at another school, The Arizona Daily Sun reports.
ARKANSAS Little Rock: The state Department of Environmental Quality says it rejected a permit for a hog farm in the Buffalo River watershed because the company didn’t conduct a study on groundwater flow, The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports.
CALIFORNIA Santa Ana: Orange County’s first and only needle exchange program has shut down after city officials denied its permit application, saying discarded syringes were littering the streets.
COLORADO Mesa: The Powderhorn Mountain Ski Resort is cutting back its open days each week because of a lack of snow.
CONNECTICUT Hartford: A former dentist pleaded guilty to illegally prescribing oxycodone, The Hartford Courant reports. Peter Delaney is barred from practicing and must pay a $50,000 fine.
DELAWARE Newark: A University of Delaware police officer accused of hitting his autistic son with a belt is charged with child abuse, The News Journal reports.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: The president of the Washington stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints died last week from carbon monoxide exposure, WTOP reports.
FLORIDA Bradenton: A state wildlife report says 35 manatees died as a result of Florida’s cold snap in January, The Bradenton Herald reports.
GEORGIA Tifton: A freshman at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College was found dead Saturday in a dormitory, The Tifton Gazette reports. No foul play is suspected.
HAWAII Honolulu: The World Surf League has threatened to leave Honolulu off its 2019 schedule if the city won’t agree to change the date of the Billabong Pipe Masters from December to January, Star-Advertiser says.
IDAHO Sandpoint: A proposed exploratory drilling project in the Sand Creek-Lake Pend Oreille watershed is stirring quality-of-life concern from residents, The Coeur d’Alene Press reports.
ILLINOIS Chicago: The Field Museum is changing its main hall, and that includes moving Sue, the T-rex that has been on display since 2000.
INDIANA Evansville: A federal appeals court says a lawsuit can proceed that accuses police officers of violating three teens’ constitutional rights by coercing confessions in the killing of a homeless man, The Evansville Courier & Press reports.
IOWA Sioux City: The city may have up to 250 “smart” bicycles available to rent via app downtown this spring, The Sioux City Journal reports.
KANSAS Topeka: Gov. Jeff Colyer plans to require all executive agency employees and interns to undergo annual sexual harassment training.
KENTUCKY Lexington: The state High School Athletic Association has paired with the state Department of Agriculture to offer six scholarships for Kentucky high school athletes who plan to study agriculture.
LOUISIANA Baton Rouge: The state’s Agriculture Department has unveiled a new “Certified Louisiana” logo to boost visibility for products made or grown here.
MAINE Belgrade: Officials say a weekend fire destroyed the Belgrade Boat Shop. No one was injured.
MARYLAND Chester: Two teenage boys are charged with arson in a fire last week that destroyed a centuryold house on Kent Island. Authorities say the boys, ages 14 and 15, pulled old Christmas trees into the vacant house and set them ablaze.
MASSACHUSETTS Rehoboth: Authorities say a weekend fire destroyed a 200-year-old home and well as a half-dozen tractors. The residents escaped unharmed, The Sun Chronicle reports.
MICHIGAN Brooklyn: Authorities plan to widen bike lanes along a 7.4-mile stretch of Highway 124 in Jackson County following the deaths of two bicyclists.
MINNESOTA Minneapolis: The Brainerd Jaycees are investigating whether three competitors in their January $150,000 Ice Fishing Extravaganza caught their fish legitimately, Star Tribune reports.
MISSISSIPPI Natchez: The state Supreme Court says it won’t reconsider the case of a man convicted of an armed robbery in which a teenager was killed, The Natchez Democrat reports. Eddie Minor III also was charged with murder, but a mistrial resulted when jurors couldn’t agree on a verdict.
MISSOURI Union: A man is charged with first-degree murder in the death of his girlfriend’s 2-year-old son. Police say Austin Stonebarger had been using methampetamine and admitted pushing the child, causing him to hit his head.
MONTANA Helena: More than $600,000 has been distributed primarily to volunteer fire departments in the state thanks to a fundraising campaign sparked by last year’s wildfire season, The Independent Record reports.
NEBRASKA Lincoln: A state audit found numerous irregularities and poor accounting at Nebraska’s three state colleges, The Omaha World Herald reports.
NEVADA Reno: Authorities say two people in the Lemmon Valley area are hospitalized with knife injuries, and their suspected assailant was shot by a deputy, the Reno Gazette Journal reports.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: A woman who says she has a winning Jan. 6 Powerball ticket worth $559.7 million wants a court order allowing her to remain anonymous.
NEW JERSEY Clifton: State regulators have revoked the certificates of a former special education teacher who pleaded guilty to beating her husband to death. Andrea Consales is serving a six-year sentence for manslaughter.
NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: State lawmakers approved a measure calling on the University of New Mexico to treat patients with movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, The Santa Fe New Mexican reports.
NEW YORK New York: Police say a carriage horse took off running near Central Park after being scared by a screaming pedestrian with an umbrella, injuring three passengers.
NORTH CAROLINA Reidsville: Police and fire officials are investigating a series of six fires over a threehour span here early Sunday.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: The state’s cattle and sheep populations are up, with 1.86 million cattle and calves and 70,000 sheep and lambs.
OHIO Cleveland: The International Exposition Center plans to turn a Cold War-era refueling plane into a restaurant, The Plain Dealer says.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: More than three dozen state House and Senate staffers received $273,000 in annual raises over the past two years, The Tulsa World reports.
OREGON Bend: A woman filed a $9 million wrongful death lawsuit against the St. Charles Health System after her daughter died following a difficult two-day childbirth, The Bulletin reports.
PENNSYLVANIA Lancaster: Officials say the usual March migration of snow geese back to Canada has started early for a second straight year.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: The state has launched a TV and online awareness campaign about the deadly consequences of driving drunk.
SOUTH CAROLINA Charleston: Officials with Qatar’s government-backed finance group met with state leaders last week to discuss possible investments, The Post and Courier reports.
SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: City
officials say at least five taxi companies plan to call it quits a year after the railing-hailing service Lyft arrived, the Argus Leader reports.
TENNESSEE Nashville: The Roman Catholic Diocese of Nashville has a new bishop, The Tennessean reports. The Rev. J. Mark Spalding comes from the Archdiocese of Louisville.
TEXAS Dallas: Authorities say a man took a sledgehammer to about a dozen squad cars in a police station parking lot.
UTAH Salt Lake City: Utah is getting its first new state park in 15 years, The Salt Lake Tribune reports. Officials say the Echo Reservoir park is expected to get overflow visitors from Rockport and Jordanelle state parks.
VERMONT Burlington: Police say a man identified on social media as a carjacker was just trying to get into the wrong car after shopping at a supermarket because it was similar to the one that was picking him up, WCAX-TV reports.
VIRGINIA Portsmouth: A letter written by Alexander Hamilton in 1794 will be auctioned March 22 to raise money for the Hill House Museum, The Virginian-Pilot reports.
WASHINGTON Long Beach: Two women died in separate incidents minutes apart after getting caught in rough surf while digging for clams, the Pacific County sheriff reports.
WEST VIRGINIA Martinsburg: Authorities say a man who identified himself as a federal marshal faces charges of impersonating a law enforcement officer, The Journal says
WISCONSIN Madison: Officials are considering options for Confederate monuments located in the cityowned Forest Hill Cemetery, Wisconsin Public Radio reports.
WYOMING Gillette: Coal production in the Powder River Basin last year exceeded 300 million tons for the 17th time in the last 18 years, The Gillette News Record reports.