Around the nation

News from every state.

ALABAMA Montgomery: The Mighty Marching Hornets, Alabama State University’s nationally known marching band, will lead the Rose Parade on New Year’s Day with grand marshal Chaka Khan. Alumni and fans will help cover the $350,000 cost of the trip.

ALASKA Juneau: Alaska’s capital stopped fluoridating its tap water about 12 years ago, and a study says Juneau’s children are paying a price. Studying Medicaid claims, public health researcher Jennifer Meyer found that children under 6 averaged one additional cavity-related procedure a year, at a cost of about $300.

ARIZONA Winslow: City Manager Steve Pauken will not be standing on a street corner after he retires Friday. Instead, Pauken says he plans to travel and stargaze in his backyard and at Homolovi State Park. Pauken is a co-founder of the park’s observatory.

ARKANSAS El Dorado: The El Dorado School district has completed its first three podcasts, thanks to Chelsey Turner, librarian and parent involvement coordinator at Washington Middle School. They cover the El Dorado Promise, student behavior and the standards-based reporting grading system, which will end up being a two-part episode.

CALIFORNIA Sacramento: California would likely lose money and face insurmountable federal hurdles if it tried to create a state-backed bank for the marijuana industry, according to a new report. State Treasurer John Chiang used the report to blast the Trump administration for cracking down on marijuana even though 33 states have legalized it for recreational or medicinal purposes.

COLORADO Greeley: Entry fees at all of Colorado’s 41 state parks are increasing on Tuesday. Colorado Parks and Wildlife says daily passes for vehicles, individuals and off-leash dogs will increase by $1. The 2019 charges are up to $10 per vehicle, depending on the park; $4 for an individual and $3 for an off-leash dog. Annual vehicle passes are increasing from $70 to $80.

CONNECTICUT Bolton: A new 3-mile section of the East Coast Greenway has opened in eastern Connecticut. The greenway is a system of trails for bicycles and pedestrians that is planned to stretch from Maine to Florida.

DELAWARE Wilmington: A van with a massive sound system at a skatepark has been found to be the source of mysterious music heard in towns along the Delaware River in Delaware and New Jersey.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Are you a Trump supporter tired of running into “If you voted for Trump, swipe left” on dating profiles? Christy Edwards Lawton has a solution for you: a new app called Righter. In a city where just 4 percent of residents voted for the president, the app gives lonely hearts a chance to find others with “conservative, Christian and American values.”

FLORIDA Islamorada: A loggerhead sea turtle that required surgery to remove a 2-foot-long dead eel from its body cavity has been released back into the waters off the Florida Keys.

GEORGIA Savannah: Savannah has seen three local movie theaters close in recent months, decreasing the number of big screens in the city by more than 20.

HAWAII Honolulu: Ahi prices are uncertain in Honolulu as demand rises leading up to New Year’s Eve.

IDAHO Boise: Despite legal challenges, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare is moving ahead with a voter-approved Medicaid expansion effort.

ILLINOIS Springfield: State residents will wake up New Year’s Day with 253 new laws on the books. Among them: A 72-hour waiting period for purchases of firearms takes effect, the youngest children in cars will be required to ride in rear-facing seats, and blaze pink will be acceptable for hunters’ wardrobes.

INDIANA Carmel: Six major school construction projects costing tens of millions of dollars apiece are in the works in Hamilton County, including the Carmel Clay district’s plan to replace two existing elementary schools and Westfield Washington Schools’ expansion and renovation of its intermediate, middle and high schools.

IOWA Iowa City: A former shelter dog has retired after eight years of comforting patients at the University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics. Maggie, a certified therapy dog, has been part of the hospital’s Furry Friends program. Her owner, Sue Braverman, says Maggie, 13, seems to have a gift for making people feel better – patients and hospital staffers alike. Maggie’s hospital friends said goodbye to her at a retirement gathering last week.

KANSAS Kansas City: U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts was in session briefly by himself in an otherwise empty Senate chamber during the federal government’s partial shutdown last week. The session lasted only three minutes.

KENTUCKY Lexington: A largerthan-life bronze memorial to the famous racehorse Secretariat is coming to Lexington this fall. The Lexington Herald-Leader reports sculptor Jocelyn Russell is constructing the statue of the 1973 Triple Crown winner.

MAINE Bangor: Spring is months away, but pothole season is already here in New England. The boomerang weather in which temperatures plummet and then rise again is wreaking havoc on roads across the region.

MARYLAND Baltimore: Six people were injured after a “partial equipment failure” involving a jet bridge at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. Southwest Airlines says it requested paramedics to help with a medical situation involving a passenger on a flight from the Dominican Republic. The airport’s jet bridge, which connects the plane to the terminal, failed while medics were helping the passenger outside the aircraft.

MASSACHUSETTS Boston: The state’s minimum wage is going up from $11 to $12, the income tax rate is coming down and it will be illegal everywhere in Massachusetts to sell cigarettes and other tobacco products to anyone under 21. Those are among the new and updated laws taking effect Tuesday.

MICHIGAN Norton Shores: A 20year-old Grant man has been charged in the fatal crossbow shooting of an acquaintance outside his western Michigan home.

MINNESOTA Milan: The Opjorden family in Milan is marking 125 years measuring the temperature and taking precipitation readings for the National Weather Service, which officials say is the longest-running record for a weather observing family in the state.

MISSISSIPPI Sandhill: Even speeding Mississippi drivers will note one of the fastest women in the world. Officials recently unveiled a highway sign on Mississippi 25 in Rankin County honoring Olympic gold medalist Tori Bowie.

MISSOURI Kansas City: A new study finds that Missouri and Kansas are spending only a fraction of their tobacco settlement proceeds on smoking cessation efforts, despite recommendations from federal health officials. Missouri is the worst among states that spent any money on tobacco prevention programs, amounting to a fraction of a percent of the $72 million that the Centers for Disease Control recommended.

MONTANA Bozeman: While no one’s working at Yellowstone National Park’s entrance stations or visitor centers due to the partial government shutdown, snowmobile and snow coach guides are pitching in to take tourists into the park’s interior.

NEBRASKA Lincoln: University of Nebraska-Lincoln entomologist Brett Ratcliffe has named three of his eight newest beetle discoveries after the dragons from the HBO series “Game of Thrones” and the George R.R. Martin book series “A Song of Ice and Fire.” Ratcliffe named the new scarab beetle species drogoni, rhaegali and viserioni, Latinized versions of Drogon, Rhaegal and Viserion, three dragons owned by Daenerys Targaryen’s character in the fictional work.

NEVADA Las Vegas: Gov.-elect Steve Sisolak and fiancee Kathy Ong have tied the knot in – where else? – Las Vegas.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: A new law raising the state’s marriage age was a victory for incoming state representative Cassie Levesque, who pushed for the change before she even considered running for office. Starting Tuesday, the minimum marriage age will be 16, up from 13 for girls and 14 for boys.

NEW JERSEY Wantage: A cow bound for a slaughterhouse that led authorities on an hourlong chase along Interstate 80 before being captured is recuperating at an animal sanctuary.

NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: Education officials say 73 percent of state high school students are earning diplomas, the highest rate in history.

NEW YORK West Sayville: Police and passers-by teamed up to rescue a dog that was clinging to floating debris off Long Island. The hound mix, Wilbur, wandered out of his yard. Passer-by Ary McCarthy spotted him and went into the 41-degree waters of Great South Bay with onlooker Beth Higbie to get him.

NORTH CAROLINA Pittsboro: Amid one of North Carolina’s rainiest years on record, about 30 residents of one neighborhood have had to resort to using boats to reach their homes.

NORTH DAKOTA Mandan: Cody Stern and Allan Miller are city natives and good friends who plan to bring a new family-friendly dining experience to their hometown. The two are teaming up with a couple of longtime restaurant operators to open Old Ten Bar and Grill.

OHIO Delaware: The city is preparing to welcome a statue it hopes will revive interest in the nation’s 19th president. Rutherford B. Hayes’ 197th birthday on Oct. 4 will be marked by the dedication of a lifelike statue in the center of town.

OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: Newly elected state Treasurer Randy McDaniel is getting an early jump on his new job. Gov. Mary Fallin is appointing McDaniel to the post effective Tuesday.

OREGON Astoria: Fishery managers say commercial fisherman in parts of Oregon and Washington state will finally be able to set their Dungeoness crab gear on Tuesday. The Daily Astorian reports fisherman can begin pulling their gear on Friday.

PENNSYLVANIA Philadelphia: A seriously injured Philadelphia police officer who was pulled from his wrecked cruiser moments before it burst into flames is expected to fully recover. Matthew Smyth, 31, who had suffered cervical spine and hip fractures and was stuck in the vehicle, was freed by other officers.

RHODE ISLAND Providence: Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo has decided she’ll let the media into her inaugural gala on Saturday after all. She had previously said the black-tie optional affair was a closed, inviteonly event.

SOUTH CAROLINA Charleston: The Charleston Area Regional Transportation Authority has bought a $216,000 bus washer so the entire fleet can be cleaned in one night. Previously, the bus authority’s crew could wash only about a sixth of the fleet’s buses in a day.

SOUTH DAKOTA Chelsea: A swine feedlot proposed for north-central South Dakota could house more than 8,500 pigs. The feedlot application is pending approval from the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

TENNESSEE Jackson: Randy Santel won the giant burger challenge at KC Finn’s and lived to tell about it, receiving a roaring ovation from the packed crowd at the food truck’s South Highland location. The sixpound meal includes a pound of fries and a burger with 16 slices of cheese, eight beef patties, a 5-inch bun, lettuce and tomatoes, plus a 20-ounce drink.

TEXAS Dallas: The editorial board of The Dallas Morning News has picked former first lady Laura Bush as the newspaper’s “Texan of the Year,” in part for speaking out against child separation at the border.

UTAH Salt Lake City: An annual northern Utah event honoring American West railroad history was canceled due to the government shutdown. The Winter Steam Festival at the Golden Spike National Monument northwest of Ogden draws train enthusiasts and photographers to watch as steam billows in the wintery air as the old trains move along the tracks.

VERMONT Montpelier: Vermont will not be able to run its own background checks for gun sales, according to a new report. The Department of Public Safety says that because only licensed dealers can access the federal database system, the state will not be able to offer an alternative to running background checks through gun shops, Vermont Public Radio reports.

VIRGINIA Chincoteague: Authorities have euthanized the last four wild Chincoteague ponies that were diagnosed with a fungus-like disease known as “swamp cancer.” Seven wild ponies have died since October.

WASHINGTON Renton: Iconic guitarist Jimi Hendrix will have a post office near his hometown named after him. The Seattle Times reports a bill was signed into law re-christening the Renton Highlands Post Office the James Marshall “Jimi” Hendrix Post Office.

WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: Drivers who frequently use the West Virginia Turnpike have a little extra time to enroll in the state’s E-Z Pass discount program. Gov. Jim Justice says the West Virginia Parkways Authority voted to extend the deadline to enroll to Jan. 11.

WISCONSIN Fennimore: A familyowned variety store chain has closed, marking the end of an era. Friday was the last day for World of Variety in Fennimore, Boscobel, Mt. Horeb and Cross Plains.

WYOMING Sheridan: A small ski area in Wyoming’s Bighorn Mountains has opened for the first time in 14 years. Skiers returned Friday to Antelope Butte Mountain Recreation Area, about 60 miles west of Sheridan.