STATE-BY-STATE
News from across the USA
ALABAMA Dothan: Police charged a homeless man with two arsons in fires that occurred a week apart.
ALASKA Anchorage: Citing the demands of his business, 2011 Iditarod race winner John Baker says he will not compete in the event this year.
ARIZONA Yuma: Fire officials say they saved the city about $70,000. They replaced an aging ambulance by buying a new chassis and paying others to outfit the vehicle.
ARKANSAS Little Rock: Gov. Asa Hutchinson will call a special session on pharmacy reimbursement rates if lawmakers agree on a solution.
CALIFORNIA Anaheim: A judge has lifted a stay, letting authorities shut down an Orange County homeless camp along the Santa Ana River.
COLORADO Alamosa: The head of Adams State University was put on leave, accused of bullying faculty and failing to improve enrollment.
CONNECTICUT Shelton: Police say a 14-year-old boy caused $4,000 damage to Holy Trinity Catholic School.
DELAWARE Wilmington: More than $53 million in redevelopments are planned in the city and other towns.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: A moving service modeled after ride-sharing firms like Uber has rolled into Washington. Bellhops uses an app to match customers with movers.
FLORIDA Orlando: A coalition of Walt Disney resort unions filed a complaint accusing the company of holding promised $1,000 bonuses hostage during contract negotiations.
GEORGIA Grayson: A horse trainer who allegedly forced a goat to ingest whiskey and cocaine is charged with aggravated animal cruelty.
HAWAII Hilo: A task force is eradicating tall albizia trees, a traffic hazard.
IDAHO Boise: State budget writers have approved a nearly 6% increase in the public school budget.
ILLINOIS Springfield: State lawmak-
ers are giving new attention to the cost of replacing antiquated plumbing at a veterans’ home plagued by deadly Legionnaires disease.
INDIANA Evansville: Authorities say a new medical school here is about 80% complete.
IOWA Des Moines: The state plans to sell bricks from the Iowa Capitol’s golden dome for $100 each to raise money to renovate monuments.
KANSAS Topeka: State lawmakers are working on a bill to bar colleges and universities from restricting potentially offensive speech.
KENTUCKY Cynthiana: Authorities say an inmate who was disruptive at court proceedings was put in a holding cell from which he escaped.
LOUISIANA Shreveport: A former Louisiana State University-Shreveport student was arrested for allegedly threatening school employees in a series of YouTube videos.
MAINE Augusta: After an outcry, the organization that controls emojis added two more legs to the forthcoming lobster emoji. Mainers took umbrage at eight. Lobsters have 10.
MARYLAND Baltimore: State transit officials knew in 2016 that the city’s subway rails didn’t meet safety standards. An emergency shutdown for repairs began last week.
MASSACHUSETTS Somerville: A preliminary design has been created for a Mystic River pedestrian bridge.
MICHIGAN Detroit: The Motown Museum is organizing a Feb. 28 celebration of the legacy of the Berry Gordy Jr. family and black family-owned businesses.
MINNESOTA St. Paul: Officials say the state is seeing a surge in people without health insurance.
MISSISSIPPI Hattiesburg: A lawyer pleaded guilty to filing a false corporate tax return for his law office.
MISSOURI Independence: The White House Christmas ornament this year will pay tribute to Presi- dent Harry Truman of Missouri.
MONTANA Billings: At least 96 bison trying to migrate from Yellowstone National Park to the state were caught for possible slaughter.
NEBRASKA Lincoln: The Yes to Property Tax Relief group is collecting signatures to get a $1.1 billion relief measure on the fall ballot.
NEVADA Las Vegas: Police are seeking an armed woman who robbed a teller at South Point Casino.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Nashua: The former home of the city YMCA completed in 1913 has been named to the state Register of Historic Places.
NEW JERSEY Oldmans Township: A coating of tar along a five-mile stretch of Interstate 295 complicated the commute Tuesday morning.
NEW MEXICO Deming: A judge has ordered Gov. Susana Martinez to be deposed in a defamation lawsuit against her security detail.
NEW YORK Albany: The state’s adult smoking rate fell to its lowest recorded level ever in 2016: 14.2%.
NORTH CAROLINA Salisbury: Authorities say the adoptive parents of a girl who was missing for five years before her body was found in 2016 will be charged with murder.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: A citizen-led effort to rework the state’s oil tax structure “just couldn’t get any traction,” says one supporter.
OHIO Malvern: A judge issued a temporary order to stop officials from cutting off water to Sandy Creek Estates Mobile Home Park.
OKLAHOMA Pryor: Google plans to open another data center at its Mid America Industrial Park.
OREGON Klamath Falls: Klamath County officials have declared a drought emergency, prioritizing water use for people and livestock.
PENNSYLVANIA West Chester: As a Boy Scout, Luke Fox is learning about civic service. But the 11-year- old wasn’t expecting to get a summons for jury duty in March.
RHODE ISLAND West Warwick: Officials this week marked the 15th anniversary of a nightclub fire that killed 100 people attending a rock concert.
SOUTH CAROLINA Sumter: Authorities say a 13-year-old girl wrote “shoot the school down” on a floor at Chestnut Oaks Middle School.
SOUTH DAKOTA Pierre: State lawmakers face a Friday deadline to complete work on bills coming out of the chamber of origin.
TENNESSEE Murfreesboro: A commission denied Middle Tennessee State University’s request to take Confederate leader Nathan Bedford Forrest’s name off its ROTC building.
TEXAS Galveston: Port officials say dilapidated facilities are the most pressing threat to the city’s docks.
UTAH Salt Lake City: Officials are training transit police to recognize “invisible disabilities” like autism.
VERMONT South Burlington: Police say a man got into a car left running outside a store with a 17-year-old passenger inside but was stopped by a store clerk and the teen’s father.
VIRGINIA Williamsburg: The College of William & Mary has named a woman president for the first time.
WASHINGTON Everson: A man suspected of stealing a van containing frozen bull semen was arrested.
WEST VIRGINIA St. Marys: FirstEnergy says it will close the Pleasants Power Station in Willow Island next year if it doesn’t find a buyer.
WISCONSIN Madison: A state lawmaker’s proposal to arm teachers in private schools is given little chance to pass this session, given a Thursday deadline to wrap up work. WYOMING Cheyenne: A legislative committee endorsed a “stand your ground” bill that protects against criminal charges and civil lawsuits for defending against an attacker.