Around the nation
News from every state.
ALABAMA Centre: An 18-wheeler crashed on Alabama 35, spilling boxes of chicken tenders. The Cherokee County Emergency Management Agency posted a notice on Facebook asking people to quit picking up the chicken, as it wasn’t safe to eat after hours on the ground.
ALASKA Fairbanks: Proposed legislation in the U.S. Senate would give federal aid to help Alaska residents and others across the country replace inefficient wood stoves.
ARIZONA Phoenix: After a campaign buoyed by a surge in teacher activism, Arizona’s new schools chief, Kathy Hoffman, took office with a pledge to address the kind of grievances that led to school-shuttering walkouts in several states last spring.
ARKANSAS Little Rock: Critics say the method used to gauge how much fertilizer farmers can apply to their crops doesn’t factor the potential of manure leaching underground and leaves the state’s waterways inadequately protected.
CALIFORNIA Thousand Oaks: REO Speedwagon’s lead singer hopes the band’s benefit concerts Saturday and Sunday at Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza will raise money for families of victims of a shooting at the Borderline Bar & Grill last November and for survivors who need counseling.
COLORADO Denver: Activists say they have collected more than 8,000 ballot petition signatures for an initiative that would make Denver the first U.S. city to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms.
CONNECTICUT Hartford: The state’s two Democratic senators are reintroducing legislation expanding federal background checks for firearms sales.
DELAWARE Dewey Beach: One of the state’s biggest, baddest beach bars is turning the big 4-0 this year. The Rusty Rudder will host six bands and six DJs on Friday, Aug. 23, for an eight-hour bash.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washing
ton: Catholic organization Opus Dei paid $977,000 in 2005 to settle a sexual misconduct complaint against a once-prominent priest in the area.
FLORIDA Orlando: Officials at SeaWorld say its Aquatica Orlando park will be the world’s first water park credentialed for visitors with autism.
GEORGIA Atlanta: Georgia Institute of Technology’s president plans to retire this summer. G.P. “Bud” Peterson has served since 2009.
HAWAII Wailuku: The Nisei Veterans Memorial Center on Maui is naming former state Sen. Jill Tokuda as its new executive director.
IDAHO Kellogg: While many Silver Valley residents are eager to see Bunker Hill Mine reopen, the Coeur d’Alene Tribe is wary of restarting the historic polluter in the nation’s second-largest Superfund site.
ILLINOIS Deerfield: Oreo maker Mondelez International Inc. is moving its headquarters from this Chicago suburb into the city.
INDIANA Peru: State wildlife officials are planning a bald eagle watching event Saturday at Mississinewa Lake.
IOWA Des Moines: The Hawkeye State’s love affair with ranch dressing is official. Influenster analyzed reviews across its platform to determine which condiment is the most buzzed-about in each state.
KANSAS Kansas City: Advocates for LGBTQ Kansans say recent decisions by two Johnson County cities to pass anti-discrimination ordinances suggest support for such laws is growing.
KENTUCKY Frankfort: Nominations are being sought for the 2019 Kentucky Leopold Conservation Award. Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles says the award recognizes farmers and foresters who go above and beyond in the care and management of natural resources.
LOUISIANA Baton Rouge: Organizers of the Bayou Country Superfest say the festival is returning to Baton Rouge next year.
MAINE Augusta: The state’s deer hunters would be able to harvest the animals with crossbows if a legislator’s proposal is approved.
MARYLAND Ocean City: A birthday party took an unexpected turn Saturday. According to the Ocean City Fire Department’s Facebook page, a community resident named Gladys was celebrating her 90th birthday at the Lions Club. But when she tried to blow out all 90 candles on her cake, the fire alarm was set off.
MASSACHUSETTS Boston: The Ruderman Family Foundation, a leading voice in calling for more opportunities for the disabled, says Olympic champion Michael Phelps is the recipient of its Morton E. Ruderman Award in Inclusion.
MICHIGAN Dearborn: A tabby cat who’d been missing for two months was found in Tampa, Florida, more than 1,100 miles away.
MINNESOTA Lake of the Woods
County: A Facebook Live fish-off involving tourism spokesmen for two top ice-fishing destinations turned into a whopper of a competition, but Minnesota came out on top. The friendly daylong contest Thursday was between North Dakota’s Devils Lake and Minnesota’s Lake of the Woods.
MISSISSIPPI Jackson: Singer-songwriter Steve Forbert, a Mississippi native, will play Duling Hall in Jackson on Saturday night.
MISSOURI Kansas City: A new exhibit at the National World War I Museum and Memorial documents the destruction in a series of jarring and sometimes unidentifiable photographs and illustrations.
MONTANA Montana City: 406 Recycling stepped in to fill an electronics recycling void left by the closure of Helena Industries after state budget cuts. Owner Matt Elsaesser hopes his company can incorporate some of Helena Industries’ mission of employing people with developmental disabilities.
NEBRASKA Lincoln: Local people and entities have joined together to buy the collection of items from the Frank H. Woods Telephone Pioneer Museum. The artifacts will be displayed in various locations around the Telegraph District downtown.
NEVADA Reno: The Safari Club International Annual Convention opens in this city Wednesday.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Hanover: Dartmouth College is kicking off the celebration of its 250th anniversary with nine campus events Thursday.
NEW JERSEY Hackensack: Alementary Brewing Co. planned to double its production by February, but the federal government shutdown has prevented the company from acquiring the necessary permits to open its second facility.
NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: Under a new partnership with Wildflower International, unmanned aerial systems made by Silent Falcon UAS Technologies will assist Pojoaque Pueblo in managing its roaming bison herd, mapping cultural sites, and improving fire control and search-and-rescue efforts.
NEW YORK Piermont: Restaurants with views of the Tappan Zee Bridge are offering blow-up parties Saturday morning, providing picnic breakfasts or letting diners toast the end of an era with a glass of bubbly as the east span is demolished. NORTH CAROLINA Wilmington: The lingering fallout from the state’s controversial “bathroom bill” may force a Netflix series about the Outer Banks to film in South Carolina.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: The state is asking a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a Native American tribe over the state’s voter identification requirements.
OHIO Cincinnati: Public Enemy cofounder and frontman Chuck D is visiting the city Feb. 7 for a discussion and book signing.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: The National Weather Service says no one was killed in a tornado in Oklahoma last year, for the first time since 2006.
OREGON Portland: Environmental groups say they have withdrawn from talks on how to manage the state’s rebounding wolf population because of what they call a “broken” process.
PENNSYLVANIA Morrisville: A lawyer who held off an angry mob while representing the first black family to move into the all-white development of Levittown has died. Samuel Snipes was 99.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: A group of business owners has filed a lawsuit against a series of projects meant to improve bus service.
SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: Student loan debt has quadrupled in South Carolina, growing at a faster rate than any state in the past 10 years, according to a new report from Experian.
SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: Avera Health has unveiled a confidential hotline to provide support to those in the agricultural industry who are overwhelmed by stress. South Dakota farmers can call 1-800-691-4336 to be connected with a trained mental health counselor.
TENNESSEE Memphis: Steve Shelley, drummer for Sonic Youth, returns Friday to Memphis for “30 Years of Daydream Nation,” a sort of “mixtape of a movie night” tied to the band’s 1989 album.
TEXAS Corpus Christi: The Texas State Aquarium will no longer offer Dollar Days to visitors but instead will host a new discounted event. The first Community Day will be Jan. 21.
UTAH Sale Lake City: A family that owns land along the northeastern boundary of Zion National Park has agreed to let hikers continue to wade through their section of the narrowest stretch of Zion Canyon. VIRGINIA Kiptopeke State Park: This park’s unusual breakwater made of concrete ships will be featured on Discovery’s Science Channel on Thursday at 9 p.m. on “Impossible Engineering.”
WASHINGTON Tacoma: The main entrance to Mount Rainier National Park has closed amid the partial government shutdown.
WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: State Schools Superintendent Steve Paine says he supports a possible one-time pay incentive for teachers to improve math education and teaching skills.
WISCONSIN Milwaukee: To mark the birthday of the late James Cameron, a survivor of one of the nation’s most notorious lynchings and founder of America’s Black Holocaust Museum, Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele has issued a $100,000 challenge grant to support the reopening of the museum.
WYOMING Gillette: Health officials say a cat in Johnson County has been infected with plague.