Around the nation

News from every state.

ALABAMA Birmingham: Efforts are underway to create a memorial to African-Americans who were lynched in Jefferson County, in the same spirit and style as one in Montgomery.

ALASKA Juneau: Douglas Indian Association members have unveiled a memorial in front of Sayeik Gastineau Community School to honor the dead in the Tlingit burial ground on which the elementary was built.

ARIZONA Tempe: Razor, one of three shared scooter companies operating in the city, is offering a seated option.

ARKANSAS Little Rock: The police department is adding four patrol units to high-crime areas after a recent spike in gun violence.

CALIFORNIA San Francisco: Maria Mendoza-Sanchez, a nurse who was deported to Mexico, has won her improbable fight to return to her four children and job in California after winning a ticket in a visa lottery.

COLORADO Severance: A boy is trying to get rid of his town’s ban on snowballs. Town administrator Kyle Rietkerk told The Greeley Tribune snowballs are defined as missiles. When students visit town hall, he says officials tell them about the law and also say they have the power to change it. Nine-year-old Dane Best is the first to try.

CONNECTICUT Darien: After struggling with growing numbers of parents in school cafeterias, the Darien school system says parents and guardians are no longer welcome to visit with their children during lunch at the town’s elementary schools.

DELAWARE Milford: Passing motorists can’t miss the gold propeller in front of Meding’s Seafood. And it played a fascinating role in U.S. history. It once helped thrust the USS Shangri-La, which was significant in the lives of astronauts Jim Lovell and Gene Cernan.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: The Kennedy Center Honors ceremony Sunday honoring lifetime artistic achievement featured multiple tributes to former President George H.W. Bush.

FLORIDA Bristol: Hurricane Michael left its mark in this small town. Torrential downpours from the storm opened up a giant crater.

GEORGIA Atlanta: Researchers are wading into north Georgia streams to search for giant salamanders known as hellbenders.

HAWAII Honolulu: A class-action lawsuit has been filed against the maker of potato chips sold under the brand name Hawaiian, claiming the chips made in Washington state are misleading customers.

IDAHO Idaho Falls: A man who robbed two convenience stores with caution tape wrapped around his head to hide his identity has been sentenced to 12 years in prison.

ILLINOIS Sandwich: An 11-year-old boy couldn’t resist testing the theory that when you place your tongue on a frozen metal pole, it’ll stick. Spencer Cline and his tongue are expected to make a full recovery.

INDIANA Muncie: In a video posted to YouTube, 28 players combine for an all-trombone cover of Queen’s 1977 hit “Bohemian Rhapsody.” It and similar viral videos promote the mission of the International Trombone Festival, which will be held at Ball State University in July.

IOWA Des Moines: For months this summer, paper placed in recycling bins ended up at the landfill. Mid America Recycling says it couldn’t find anyone willing to take it.

KANSAS Wichita: Two students whose families fled violence and civil war in their home countries are featured in a new documentary about refugee resettlement and its impact on the city’s schools.

KENTUCKY Louisville: When a pair of goats were walking along the highway, Louisville Metro Police officers knew what to do: Lure them in with Fritos. Police eventually found the goats’ owner.

LOUISIANA New Orleans: Prices for alligator skins are down to less than half what they were just five years ago, making for a slow wild harvest.

MAINE Portland: A hawk native to Central and South America drew a lot of attention from Maine’s birding community last week after appearing in a city park, where it brawled with a fellow raptor and dined on a squirrel. The great black hawk may be the first record of the species in the U.S., the Audubon Society says.

MARYLAND Baltimore: A group of nurses at Johns Hopkins Hospital say the facility has staffing problems, lacks critical supplies and has shoddy equipment.

MASSACHUSETTS Cambridge: Malala Yousafzai is being honored by Harvard University. The Nobel winner will be awarded the 2018 Gleitsman Award on Thursday.

MICHIGAN Bath Township: Supporters of local artist Robert Park are using small blue duckies to highlight the absurdity of spending taxpayer dollars – $17,000 so far – to get rid of an art installation on Park’s private property.

MINNESOTA Forest Lake: A 70-year lutefisk dinner tradition has ended at Faith Lutheran Church with an obituary penned by the pastor.

MISSISSIPPI Hattiesburg: The University of Southern Mississippi has received the largest gift in its history: $8.7 million from the Luckyday Foundation of Ridgeland.

MISSOURI Springfield: The city is getting ready to embark on a major project: developing a new map that will set the trajectory of its future. The comprehensive plan outlines policy guidelines about how the city uses its land, invests in capital improvements and more.

MONTANA Great Falls: Guided outdoor activities in the state were a $374 million-dollar industry in 2017.

NEVADA Las Vegas: The St. Rose Dominican Health Foundation says a $10 million donation from the Las Vegas-based Engelstad Foundation will be used to expand a breast cancer detection and treatment program for underinsured and uninsured patients.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Bristol: A turtle given to a bedridden little boy back in 1968 has celebrated her 50th birthday with party hats, a sheet cake and many well-wishers. Diane the Turtle wore a tiny party hat.

NEW JERSEY West Orange: The nonprofit Sea Turtle Recovery is taking care of “Eco Ed,” a young green sea turtle rescued last month.

NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: The state may have celebrated its last Columbus Day. A legislative proposal to rename it Indigenous Peoples’ Day has cleared its first hurdle in the New Mexico Legislature.

NEW YORK Ithaca: Cornell University says it will cut down more than 2,000 ash trees in the next few years because of an invasive beetle, the emerald ash borer.

NORTH CAROLINA Chapel Hill: The state’s flagship university has proposed to move a toppled Confederate statue into a new $5 million building on the outskirts of campus.

NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: North Dakota’s river otter trapping season is over. The state Game and Fish Department says the harvest limit of 15 has been reached.

OHIO Cincinnati: The SkyStar, a multicolored, 150-foot observation wheel that has graced the city since August, will stay six more months.

OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: The state agency that works with indi- viduals who have disabilities says it has placed over 3,400 people in jobs.

OREGON Silverton: The town’s Kiwanis Club maintains a “Letters to Santa” mailbox year-round. At the treelighting ceremony Friday, club members will help kids who want to write to Santa on the spot.

PENNSYLVANIA Philadelphia: Philly and its ’burbs warmed up to the Flyers’ Muppet-like mascot Gritty just in time for the holidays – the Grittsmas holiday. With that love came a market for merch. Among options out there are cards, bobbleheads and jewelry.

RHODE ISLAND Providence: The state is finally offering residents the option to upgrade their driver’s license to meet federal requirements that will affect air travel.

SOUTH CAROLINA Charleston: The state’s longest-serving House member says she is going to try to get the Legislature to pass the Equal Rights Amendment.

SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: Attorney General-elect Jason Ravnsborg says he plans to follow through on his campaign plan to reverse the state’s presumptive probation policy for some lower-level felonies.

TENNESSEE Nashville: Four sites have been added to the National Register of Historic Places: the Oak Grove School; Whitwell Cumberland Presbyterian Church; the Hank Snow House; and the Smith-Carter House.

TEXAS Austin: A holiday display meant to re-create a scene from “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” looked a little too real. The Heerlein family placed a dummy representing Clark Griswold dangling from the gutter of their home, with a ladder tipping beneath him. A veteran passing by called police.

UTAH Ogden: The widow of North Ogden Mayor Brent Taylor, killed while serving in Afghanistan, says she is dedicated to making her husband’s legacy about inspiring people to a life of service and helping others.

VERMONT Burlington: A University of Vermont researcher has been busy figuring out how to save wild bees and grow better blueberries in the process. “There’s a little bit of buzz around it,” Charles Nicholson said of his study published in Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment.

VIRGINIA Charlottesville: A bill that would see a post office named in honor of a University of Virginia alum killed in action in Iraq has advanced to the U.S. Senate. The Daily Progress reports U.S. Rep. Tom Garrett said the bill renaming a Charlottesville branch after Army Capt. Humayun Khan passed the House without objection.

WASHINGTON Sumner: A homeless man found a bag on the ground outside a food bank. He turned in the bag and its contents – $17,000 cash.

WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: West Virginia’s Joyful Night celebration and tree lighting ceremony will be held Tuesday at the Capitol Complex.

WISCONSIN Milwaukee: Lowlands Restaurant Group has erected plastic, igloo-like domes on the rooftop patio of Cafe Benelux because winter cannot stop Wisconsinites from getting outdoors.

WYOMING Laramie: The University of Wyoming has been awarded grant money to address suicide prevention on campus.