Around the nation

News from every state.

ALABAMA Montgomery: The Hank Williams Museum celebrates its 20th anniversary Sunday with a free concert by Joey Allcorn.

ALASKA Anchorage: An analysis of national crime figures shows three areas in the state topped the list of most reports of snowmobile thefts.

ARIZONA Tucson: Environmentalists say they have filed a notice of intent to sue to compel the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to expand critical habitat for the highly endangered Mount Graham red squirrel.

ARKANSAS Little Rock: The state Senate has endorsed placing statues of civil rights leader Daisy Bates and singer Johnny Cash at the U.S. Capitol, as lawmakers try to whittle down a growing list of choices to replace existing monuments depicting two 19th-century figures they say few people recognize.

CALIFORNIA Palm Springs: The city is the latest in Southern California to declare itself a sanctuary city.

COLORADO Fort Collins: With Girl Scout Cookies back in stock, Northern Colorado breweries are finding the right beers to buddy up with them. Rally King Brewing in Fort Collins and Big Beaver Brewing in Loveland are hosting special Girl Scout Cookies pairings this weekend, both benefiting local troops.

CONNECTICUT Hartford: Democratic state senators are making a push to legalize recreational marijuana. The caucus unveiled legislation Wednesday allowing adults 21 or older to possess up to an ounce.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: The city is set to bid $2.1 million to buy and preserve a dog park.

FLORIDA Fort Lauderdale: The mystery of a barnacle-covered wooden cross that washed ashore may have been solved. The Miami Herald reports a woman believes the cross was erected on an island off North Carolina in 2016 in memory of her brother.

GEORGIA Atlanta: A federal judge has dismissed two defendants from a lawsuit by a former cheerleader who says they and others violated her rights because she knelt during the national anthem at a football game. The Atlanta-Journal Constitution reports a judge dismissed Cobb County Sheriff Neil Warren and former state lawmaker Earl Ehrhart.

HAWAII Honolulu: The adjective “hammajang,” a Hawaii pidgin word for “messed up,” has been listed in the Oxford English Dictionary.

IDAHO Boise: The state Department of Parks and Recreation says it wants to build a visitor center at Thousand Springs State Park that could include a life-size woolly mammoth.

ILLINOIS Rockford: Statistics released by the Rockford Police Department show violent crime in the city dropped 11 percent in 2018.

INDIANA Indianapolis: Century Link Quote looked at 10 common searches about relationships and used Google trends to determine which search was most common in each state. Indiana’s result shows that Hoosier men may need to be more clear about whether they admire someone: “Does he love me” is the most commonly searched of the 10 options.

IOWA Des Moines: Ayana and Kiano, the Blank Park Zoo’s rare eastern black rhinos, are expecting their second baby in three years.

KANSAS Salina: An embattled military school plans to close after this school year. St. John’s Military School says recent legal issues and a low enrollment resulting from “negative and unfair portrayals in the media” created a deficit.

KENTUCKY Frankfort: Distilleries are reporting another record year for bourbon tourism in the state.

LOUISIANA New Orleans: The city set a record for cruise passengers last year at nearly 1.2 million people.

MAINE Portland: The federal government is reminding New Englanders that attempting to take a selfie with a seal is a bad idea.

MARYLAND Baltimore: A prominent activist has been gifted an SUV by an auto dealership so she can continue her work as an antiviolence campaigner. Erricka Bridgeford is a conflict mediator and organizer of “Baltimore Ceasefire,” a grassroots effort to reverse one of the country’s worst homicide rates.

MASSACHUSETTS Boston: Mayor Marty Walsh says he is getting way too much credit for coming to the aid of a man whose car engine caught fire on a city highway.

MICHIGAN Traverse City: A gray wolf that was moved from Minnesota to Isle Royale National Park last fall has wandered back to the mainland, trekking more than 15 miles across the frozen surface of Lake Superior, officials say.

MINNESOTA St. Paul: State lawmakers and labor leaders began a push this week to stiffen penalties on employers who fail to pay workers the wages they’re owed.

MISSISSIPPI Yazoo City: The city ranked No. 38 on 24/7 Wall St.’s list of 50 worst cities to live in across the nation.

MISSOURI Jefferson City: Lawmakers are trying again to replace a statue at the U.S. Capitol with one of former President Harry Truman.

MONTANA Kalispell: Veterinarians revived a cat named Fluffy that nearly froze to death after being found in a snowbank covered from head to tail in ice and snow.

NEBRASKA Lincoln: A state lawmaker who introduced a bill to classify conversion therapy as child abuse says she will withdraw the measure amid concerns it could punish parents who are misled.

NEVADA Carson City: Gov. Steve Sisolak wants Energy Secretary Rick Perry to provide more details about the weapons-grade plutonium the federal government secretly shipped to the state and a full accounting of materials stored there.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Hanover: A polar bear plunge, an ice sculpture contest, and human dogsled and ski races are among the highlights of Dartmouth College’s Winter Carnival, which began Thursday and runs through Sunday.

NEW JERSEY Woodland Park: The New Jersey Hall of Fame will have a category to itself for Friday’s “Jeopardy” episode.

NEW MEXICO Las Cruces: Proponents of the state’s favorite crop announced a big step they hope will help keep the chile pepper industry alive for decades to come. A $1 million endowed research chair has been fully funded at New Mexico State University.

NEW YORK New York: Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he’ll ask the Legislature to approve tolls on driving into the busiest parts of Manhattan or raise the tab for using subways, tunnels and bridges by 30 percent to fund the city’s ailing transit system.

NORTH CAROLINA Charlotte: Two radio stations in the state’s largest city have dropped R. Kelly from their playlists.

NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: The state’s House wants a contest for a replacement state logo rather than simply having an out-of-state operation design it. Representatives voted 78-14 on Wednesday to have the Commerce Department hold the contest and have a logo awarded in time for the 2020 state travel guide.

OHIO Columbus: An opera company and an orchestra are teaming up to tell the story of the 1913 Great Flood, one of the country’s worst weather disasters. “The Flood,”

premiering Friday, is a collaboration between Opera Columbus and the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra.

OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: A bill vetoed last year by then-Gov. Mary Fallin that would allow residents to carry a gun without any training or a background check appears to be sailing toward the new governor, Kevin Stitt, who suggested he’ll sign it.

OREGON McMinnville: Linfield College is preparing to cut faculty positions as the small, private school adjusts to a smaller student body.

PENNSYLVANIA Pittsburgh: The city’s beleaguered water authority will spend $50 million to replace lead service lines, give filters to low-income residents and take other steps to address the lead crisis under a settlement approved Thursday by state utility regulators.

RHODE ISLAND Coventry: Artist Domenic Esposito has moved his giant sculpture of a burnt spoon to Rhodes Pharmaceuticals’ office to protest the opioid crisis.

SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: State senators say they are confident a plan to fix the education system will be resolved this legislative session.

SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: West Mall 7 theater will be hosting a showing of CatVideoFest on March 10.

TENNESSEE Nashville: Johnny Cash’s Kitchen and Saloon will open this spring next to his museum. The John R. Cash Trust backed the deal with recipes from the personal collection of Cash and June Carter.

TEXAS Austin: The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department has made it easier to go online and book specific campsites, cabins and shelters.

UTAH Cedar City: Cedar High School’s “Redmen” mascot will be “respectfully” retired.

VERMONT South Burlington: Animal welfare officials say they are looking to encourage pet registration.

VIRGINIA Jamestown: Researchers are trying to learn more about the first Africans who arrived in North America as slaves almost 400 years ago. Historians have focused on a group of 20-some Africans they say were critical to the survival of Jamestown, England’s first successful settlement on the continent.

WASHINGTON Vancouver: Shipbuilder Vigor has chosen the city as the place to build a new generation of U.S. Army landing craft – a contract valued at nearly $1 billion and a project that could bring 400 jobs.

WEST VIRGINIA Huntington: A movie theater here is set to start hosting monthly movie screenings this summer to accommodate those with sensory needs.

WISCONSIN La Crosse: Sixth-grader Jonah Larson has an unusual hobby for an 11-year-old. He’s really into crocheting. And he’s really good at it. His Instagram grew to more than 65,000 followers after his hometown paper, the La Crosse Tribune, published an article about him that was picked up by “Inside Edition,” “Good Morning America” and NPR, among others, and he went viral.

WYOMING Jackson: A herd of bison will be moved to new rangeland because they have gored multiple horses on private land within Grand Teton National Park.