Around the nation
News from every state.
ALABAMA Montgomery: The state House of Representatives approved legislation this week requiring the Alabama Department of Corrections and local sheriffs to provide feminine hygiene products to female inmates. ALASKA Anchorage: Health and wildlife officials are taking steps to track non-native ticks that could gain a foothold amid a warming climate. ARIZONA Phoenix: When organizers of a state employee cow milking contest needed a senator to compete, dairy farmer Sine Kerr was the natural choice. But her chances at winning the State Employees Charitable Campaign’s second annual milking contest were thrust into jeopardy just days before Thursday’s competition when a scorpion stung her just below her left thumb – her milking thumb. ARKANSAS Little Rock: Gov. Asa Hutchinson has signed legislation that increases the marriage age to 17. CALIFORNIA San Francisco: The campy “Beach Blanket Babylon” musical revue show that has been a must-see for tourists for 45 years is coming to an end. Producer Jo Schuman Silver says the show’s final performances will be on New Year’s Eve.
COLORADO Cherry Hills Village: The city has voted to drop the name “Swastika Acres” from a subdivision. The neighborhood got the moniker decades before the Nazi era.
CONNECTICUT Hartford: The state Senate on Wednesday passed a bill that requires newly constructed or substantially renovated public or commercial buildings to have an infant changing table available to men.
DELAWARE Wilmington: The city is humming again with the roar of revved dirt bikes. Police call them a public safety threat and are vowing to crack down on scofflaws.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: Ride-sharing drivers are paid using wage calculations so hard to pinpoint that many are being driven into debt without even knowing it, according to a new report by Georgetown University, WUSA-TV reports.
FLORIDA Orlando: Cities in central Florida were some of the fastestgrowing in the nation last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
GEORGIA Atlanta: Some patients will soon be legally able to buy the marijuana they are already allowed to possess. Because of a legal quirk, patients and families have regularly broken the law to obtain low-potency medical marijuana oil.
HAWAII Honolulu: Lawmakers are considering a resolution calling for the creation of legal protections for Native Hawaiian cultural intellectual property. The move comes after a mainland restaurant chain owner trademarked the name “Aloha Poke.”
IDAHO Moscow: Students attending any of the state’s four-year colleges or universities will pay several hundred dollars more next year under a newly approved tuition hike.
ILLINOIS Crystal Lake: A pay phone has been an unexpected moneymaker – barely – in a corner of City Hall, the Northwest Herald reports. “Looking at our collection history, we average about $4 per month,” says George Koczwara, the city’s finance director.
INDIANA Seymour: Workers installing sewer lines across a farm have unearthed the fossilized bones of a roughly 9-foot-tall mastodon.
IOWA Sioux City: A bronze statue depicting a classical goddess has been returned to the Sioux City Art Center after being stolen in June 2017. Shelly Reichert, who’s currently homeless, discovered the statue in the garage of an old friend in Des Moines this past Christmas.
KANSAS Wichita: A new law gives counties the option of letting voters cast ballots at any polling site within their county. But election officials say spotty internet service and aging voting equipment mean many counties can’t immediately do so.
KENTUCKY Lexington: Jim Beam bourbon plans to donate $5 million to the University of Kentucky to create a new institute designed to teach the next wave of distillers.
LOUISIANA Baton Rouge: A proposal to ban the creation of most new free-standing emergency rooms has won support from state senators.
MAINE Augusta: Officials are granting a public hearing to a group of lobstermen and others who are concerned about the growth of aquaculture in the state.
MARYLAND Baltimore: The embattled mayor and five of her staffers are now on paid leave amid a scandal over book sales.
MASSACHUSETTS Boston: The nation’s longest-running multigenerational study of cardiovascular disease has received a $38 million grant that will help researchers explore the biology of aging.
MICHIGAN Howell: Chris Pagett wanted to create an app that would promote child safety and keep track of where his children went in the neighborhood. The father of two, along with friend and business partner Chris Ross, launched Safe-Subs in February, allowing parents to create a private or public group to get alerts when their kids are arriving at and leaving a friend’s home.
MINNESOTA Minneapolis: A man is accused of bilking the Minnesota Vikings out of about $70,000 in a luxury suite scam. Authorities say Daniel Escamilla’s whereabouts are unknown, and a warrant has been issued for his arrest.
MISSISSIPPI Jackson: Apparently people in the Magnolia State care more about Archie, Jughead and Veronica than Jon Snow and Tyrion Lannister. According to a recent survey by Geek.com, the most binge-watched television show in Mississippi is “Riverdale.” HBO’s fantasy behemoth “Games of Thrones” was No. 1 nationwide.
MISSOURI Springfield: Gypsy Blanchard is asking for people to urge Gov. Mike Parson and the state parole board to give her an early release from prison. The 27-year-old is serving a 10-year sentence in the 2015 death of her mother, who forced her daughter to undergo unnecessary medical procedures as part of a fraud scheme.
MONTANA Butte: Officials say a proposed solar project development north of Dillon would be the state’s largest commercial solar facility.
NEBRASKA Lincoln: The city is eliminating human workers from city parking garages.
NEVADA Sparks: Marnell Gaming is looking for a few good men and women to staff its Nugget Event Center once it opens this summer.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: More than a dozen wild bee species in New England are on the decline, according to a new study from the University of New Hampshire.
NEW JERSEY Trenton: Regulators voted Thursday to approve $300 million in customer-funded subsidies for the state’s nuclear industry despite finding that the plants are financially viable.
NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: A regulatory authority is requiring the state’s largest utility to bill Facebook $39 million for a new transmission line for its data center.
NEW YORK New York: Officials say Netflix will expand its operations in the city, adding 127 jobs and building six sound stages in Brooklyn.
NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: Charities that hold casino nights would no longer be scofflaws if a bill allowing occasional betting clears the General Assembly.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: The Legislature has passed a bill that would waive burial fees for a veteran’s spouse and dependents at the state Veterans Cemetery.
OHIO Cincinnati: Duke, the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden’s California sea lion, passed away Thursday of old age.
OKLAHOMA Edmond: A First Amendment conference is planned by the University of Central Oklahoma next Thursday to coincide with the start of the 50th year of the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame.
PENNSYLVANIA Philadelphia: A sprinkler system check at a church that was frequented by George Washington and Benjamin Franklin drew a crowd Wednesday, in the wake of Paris’ Notre Dame fire, with dozens watching as sheets of water poured from the steeple.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: Some lawmakers are backing legislation that would allow them to post their photos on official state websites and social media accounts during their re-election campaigns.
SOUTH CAROLINA Clemson: An estimated 600 to 700 members of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club are set to ride into town from July 29 to Aug. 2 for their national gathering.
SOUTH DAKOTA Pierre: State officials are denying that a recently passed law would cause people to fear prosecution if they protest the Keystone XL pipeline.
TENNESSEE Memphis: Kids in neighborhoods without a YMCA will soon be able to enjoy much of what the organization has to offer with the new “Y on the Fly” program.
TEXAS Fort Worth: Aviation officials say talks are expected to begin this spring on adding a sixth passenger terminal at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
UTAH Salt Lake City: Environmental organizations are suing the Trump administration over the approval of a coal-mining project near Bryce Canyon National Park.
VERMONT Milton: The Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife says thousands of alewives were found dead on the shores of Lake Champlain as the ice clears.
VIRGINIA Charlottesville: The Muslim gold star father who spoke out against then-presidential candidate Donald Trump will be the featured speaker at Piedmont Virginia Community College’s graduation. News outlets report Khizr Khan will speak at commencement in May.
WASHINGTON Bellingham:
wildlife officials are setting limits State on Nooksack of projected River chinook low returns. salmon because WEST VIRGINIA Princeton:
officials say they hope some State new measures section of will Interstate make a 77 dangerous safer to travel.
WISCONSIN Madison: Marijuana advocates have high hopes that a proposal to legalize pot in the state has a better chance of success than ever given growing public support.
WYOMING Yellowstone National Park:
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