Around the nation
News from every state.
ALABAMA Guntersville: Officials in Marshall County have a financial mess to wipe up after the sheriff ’s department mistakenly ordered 24,000 extra rolls of toilet paper.
ALASKA Anchorage: Marko Cheseto, a former University of Alaska Anchorage runner who lost both feet to frostbite in 2011, ran his first marathon and became a citizen last week, the Anchorage Daily News reports.
ARIZONA Phoenix: Family Promise of Greater Phoenix is expanding to the West Valley as the region continues to grapple with an increase in homelessness.
ARKANSAS Mountain Home: Arkansas State Parks will host its annual Eagle Awareness weekend at Bull Shoals-White River State Park on Jan. 11-12.
CALIFORNIA Palm Springs: The Buzz is back. The free downtown trolley service terminated for budgetary reasons has been revived.
COLORADO Greeley: The Greeley Stampede has announced its headliners for next summer: Brett Eldredge, Brothers Osborne, REO Speedwagon and Cody Johnson.
CONNECTICUT North Haven: More than 300 teachers and school staff attended training to learn how to stop someone from bleeding to death.
DELAWARE Rehoboth Beach: Apple cider doughnut beer is now a thing. The folks from Dogfish Head, Fifer Orchards and Dewey Beer Co. are the madcap geniuses behind the uniquely Delaware creation, debuting Friday as Dogfish kicks off its two-day Analog-A-Go-Go beer and music festival.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washing
ton: The city council has voted to impose tight limits on Airbnb and other short-term rental companies.
FLORIDA Tallahassee: The Florida Supreme Court says it’s OK for judges to be friends on Facebook with attorneys who have cases before them.
GEORGIA Newnan: An inmate fled jail with the help of his mom and then went out for pancakes. News outlets report Joshua Gullatt, 27, and Kathy Lynn Pence, 54, were arrested Tuesday at an IHOP restaurant where they met with his children.
HAWAII Honolulu: Dynamic Attractions is looking to build a Ferris wheel and a motion theater on a city pier.
IDAHO Post Falls: A businessman is closer to being able to fly his 375square-foot American flag at his trailer dealership after a zoning change was recommended.
ILLINOIS Carbondale: Southern Illinois University is creating new programs for students who want to know more about medical marijuana and industrial hemp.
INDIANA West Lafayette: The story of Purdue graduate Tyler Trent has reached the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum, which unveiled a limited-edition bobblehead featuring Trent, the 20-year-old football superfan who is fighting cancer.
IOWA Des Moines: Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival returns Feb. 16 to the Iowa Events Center, boasting in its 12th year a “Hello Piggy – East Meats West” theme that’s a nod to the event’s relationship with Japan.
KANSAS Wichita: Attorneys for three militia members convicted of plotting to bomb a mosque and apartment complex housing Somali immigrants have asked the court to bar at sentencing any victim impact statements because no one was hurt.
KENTUCKY Louisville: Vendors at the Kentucky Expo Center and fairgrounds can no longer sell racist Ku Klux Klan and Nazi memorabilia.
LOUISIANA Eunice: A Louisianabased crawfish company says it has plans for a $3 million expansion in the state that will create 10 jobs and at least 30 seasonal positions.
MAINE Palmyra: Maine State Police say they helped corral a rather “unruly” and “uncooperative” pig on the run along Interstate 95.
MARYLAND Salisbury: Downtown Salisbury comes alive Friday evening with the Holiday Tree Lighting Ceremony. And in anticipation of the Hanukkah season, the menorah will be displayed with the tree.
MASSACHUSETTS Boston: Mothers Against Drunk Driving and ridehailing company Uber have partnered to offer free rides in the greater Boston area on the day before Thanksgiving, known as “Blackout Wednesday” because it’s one of the heaviest drinking days of the year.
MICHIGAN Genoa: The closure of a pet cemetery has left some residents wondering what will happen to their animals’ remains.
MINNESOTA Bloomington: Schwan’s Co, a food distributor with deep roots in Minnesota known for its gold home-delivery trucks, has been sold to South Korea’s largest food manufacturer.
MISSISSIPPI Jackson: The Mississippi Blues Composite Mountain Bike Team is the only one of its kind in the state, but it’s expected to grow this season.
MISSOURI Kansas City: A nurse decided to donate a kidney to a patient, triggering a series of events that led to three people getting new organs in a kidney donation chain.
NEBRASKA Scottsbluff: Descendants of a Mormon pioneer are asking county officials to move the woman’s grave and historical markers to another location in the Nebraska Panhandle.
NEVADA Reno: Video of a moose roaming a hillside near Wells reinforces what wildlife officials suspect: The animals are making a push into the Silver State.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: The state is going to get more than $136,000 to support the design of coastal tidal crossings to help communities and ecosystems.
NEW JERSEY Trenton: New Jersey has reached a legal settlement that gives official status to the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation.
NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: The “New Mexico True” tourism brand developed by outgoing Republican Gov. Susana Martinez may be expanded under Democratic Gov.elect Michelle Lujan Grisham.
NEW YORK Rochester: A 30-foottall tree sculpture made from stainless steel, aluminum, resin, polyurethane, electronics and LED lights, titled “Kalpa” (“The Wish-fulfilling Tree”), is being hosted by Rochester Contemporary Art Center and will remain on display through Jan. 1.
NORTH CAROLINA Asheville: Beginning Feb. 8, Biltmore House will become the scene of “a festive celebration hosted by the Vanderbilts” in a new exhibition called “A Vanderbilt House Party: Guests, Grandeur & Galas.”
NORTH DAKOTA Fargo: North Dakota’s soybean harvest is close to wrapping up, and the corn and sunflower harvests both have reached about two-thirds done.
OHIO Cincinnati: Saturday will signal the beginning of a new chapter for Union Terminal, the historic train station that’s now the museum center. Still, you’ll be able to travel back in time that morning with the help of the Cincinnati History Museum, an institution that closed during the construction.
OKLAHOMA Tulsa: Bass Pro Shops has reached out to the Cherokee Nation after a photo of a Trail of Tears rifle at a store caused social media users to call for a boycott of the business. The company says the 1978 Winchester rifle was acquired from a trade-in.
OREGON McKenzie Bridge: The Obsidian Trail is one of only two trails in Oregon where visitors must purchase one of a limited number of $10 permits. The U.S. Forest Service plans to expand “limited entry” to other wilderness areas based, in large part, on the success at Obsidian.
PENNSYLVANIA Pittsburgh: A restaurant and a food recovery nonprofit have partnered to bring a traveling, inflatable cheese wedge to the city’s rivers to raise awareness for hunger in the region.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: The Providence Department of Art, Culture and Tourism is asking residents to nominate their evergreen trees for consideration as the centerpiece of City Hall’s tree-lighting ceremony.
SOUTH CAROLINA Greenville: Category Killer may be Pastor John Gray’s new nickname. It’s because of Gray’s work in bridging divides, work that includes going to places where people haven’t seen a lot of diversity, says Pastor Steven Furtick, who gave his friend the new nickname during a racial healing event at Gray’s Relentless Church on Wednesday. Their conversation was recorded and will be released as a movie in theaters across the country, possibly early next year. Gray says he always looks to make himself personally uncomfortable because it leads to growth.
SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: Nearly 200 ash trees have been cleared from city parks in an effort to combat the emerald ash borer.
TENNESSEE Memphis: Elvis Costello has been a recording artist and touring musician for about as long as his namesake, Elvis Presley, was alive. Elvis Costello and The Imposters return to Presley’s final resting place Monday night as Costello promotes new album “Look Now,” his 27th.
TEXAS Galveston: Environmentalists plan to build a $3.5 million manmade oyster reef in Galveston Bay.
UTAH Cedar City: Three schools in the city were put on lockdown after a driver reported seeing a man carrying an assault rifle in the area. Responding police quickly found a man fitting the description but carrying a weed whacker.
VERMONT Burlington: Only 10 states had higher turnout rates in the midterm election than Vermont, cementing the state’s civic-minded status.
VIRGINIA Petersburg: Virginia State University is offering a new event for children designed to spark interest in science, technology, engineering, agriculture and math. STEAM Fest will be held Jan. 26.
WASHINGTON Bremerton: Kitsap Transit is setting aside $4 million to help weather the next economic recession, to avoid a repeat of 2008.
WEST VIRGINIA Milton: A couple of raccoons roaming town aren’t rabid, they’re just “drunk on crabapples,” police say.
WISCONSIN Milwaukee: Local musician Trapper Schoepp’s new album will have a songwriting credit that most musicians can only dream of: “On, Wisconsin,” by Bob Dylan and Trapper Schoepp.
WYOMING Jackson: A rock buttress tumbled down above the popular Hidden Falls Overlook in Grand Teton National Park, about four months after it developed a crack.