Around the nation
News from every state.
ALABAMA Dothan:
A sizable increase in a state education fund is allowing local systems to pay for school resource officers and maintenance projects, among other things. The Education Trust Fund Advancement and Technology Fund was appropriated $199 million – far more than last year’s $41 million.
ALASKA Anchorage:
The state is a tourism destination for a growing number of visitors from China. State figure show an estimated 5,000 Chinese travelers visited Alaska in 2016, compared with 2,000 in 2011.
ARIZONA Phoenix:
Someone has put up billboards suggesting a possible 2020 campaign for Joe Arpaio. But it’s unclear who’s behind the signs, and Arpaio, 87, says he hasn’t decided if he’ll run, or what for. In 2016 he was ousted as sheriff. In 2017, he was convicted of contempt of court and pardoned by President Donald Trump. In 2018, he ran for U.S Senate.
ARKANSAS Fayetteville:
The nonprofit group building and repairing most of the city’s soft-surface trails wants to put more miles of trail at Kessler Mountain. Ozark Off-Road Cyclists bought 40 acres southwest of the city-owned land in 2017 for $280,000, property records show.
CALIFORNIA San Francisco:
State regulators say Chevron hasn’t done enough to stop a massive spill that dumped about 800,000 gallons of crude oil and water into a Kern County canyon. They want the company to take further action to halt the flow.
COLORADO Loveland:
Wildlife inspectors have intercepted a record number of boats infested with invasive mussels. Colorado Parks and Wildlife has found 51 across the state, the same number as for all of 2018.
CONNECTICUT Hartford:
Ed O’Connor, among engineers working at Hamilton Standard in the 1960s developing the Apollo 11 mission’s lunar module, is being honored by the Connecticut Science Center on Tuesday.
DELAWARE Wilmington:
Creators of a new urban farm aim to provide jobs for former prisoners by growing organic produce inside empty commercial or industrial buildings. Second Chances Farm plans to offer a $15-anhour wage and the opportunity after one year to gain an ownership stake.
Washington:
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton says the first hearing for D.C. statehood has been postponed to September over a conflict with special counsel Robert Mueller’s testimony to two panels, WUSA-TV reports.
FLORIDA Big Pine Key:
Divers and snorkelers gathered underwater Saturday to listen to music and coral reef protection messages in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The Lower Keys Underwater Music Festival was staged at Looe Key Reef.
GEORGIA Atlanta:
The Georgia Lottery is reporting record-breaking annual profits used to pay for educational programs.
HAWAII Mauna Kea:
Hundreds of demonstrators have been gathering at the base of the state’s tallest mountain to protest the construction of a giant telescope on land some Native Hawaiians consider sacred.
IDAHO Boise:
Federal wildland firefighting authorities are increasing mental health resources following an apparent increase in firefighter suicides in recent years.
ILLINOIS Chicago:
A transgender woman who just left prison says she’ll keep fighting for other transgender inmates. Deon “Strawberry” Hampton was released last week.
INDIANA Indianapolis:
Eighteen years ago, the state was a leader in tobacco prevention funding, one of only six to match budget recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Today, it spends about one-tenth of what the CDC recommends on tobacco control and has the seventhhighest smoking rate in the country.
IOWA Des Moines:
The Warren Morrow Latin Music Festival will be held Saturday at the Brenton Skating Plaza.
KENTUCKY Frankfort:
Gov. Matt Bevin will call the General Assembly into special session Friday to consider his proposal to give relief to agencies from rising pension costs.
LOUISIANA Baton Rouge:
Sadie Roberts-Joseph, 75, who founded the Baton Rouge African American Museum, was discovered dead in the trunk of a car Friday, police say.
MAINE Westbrook:
Gov. Janet Mills has signed a bill that eliminates the requirement to have a motorcycle license to operate an autocycle, a cross between a car and motorcycle.
MARYLAND Centerville:
Lawmakers in Queen Anne’s County are considering a bill that would outlaw balloon releases and impose a $250 fine on those who ignore the mandate. The bill wouldn’t penalize releases by government agencies.
MASSACHUSETTS Cape Cod:
Great white sharks were spotted at three area beaches over the weekend.
MICHIGAN Lansing:
Health officials are urging fairgoers to take precautions to avoid swine flu.
MINNESOTA Duluth:
A young couple remains hospitalized after surviving a collision with a half-ton bull moose on a dark highway.
MISSISSIPPI Biloxi:
The city is suing the Federal Emergency Management Agency over $15.5 million in rejected expenses for a Hurricane Katrina recovery project.
MISSOURI Springfield:
The L-A-D Foundation, one of the state’s largest private landowners, plans to ban feral hog hunting on its property and instead trap big groups of hogs.
MONTANA Hamilton:
Logging work has commenced in a project to thin wooded areas near the Bitterroot River that could fuel wildfires.
NEBRASKA Fort Calhoun:
A Smithsonian exhibit about the history of Native Americans in the U.S. military is on display at Fort Atkinson State Historical Park. “Patriot Nations: Native Americans in Our Nation’s Armed Forces” will be on display through Sept. 2.
NEVADA Reno:
Authorities say strong winds blew an inflatable bounce house with three children inside into power lines, temporarily cutting off electricity to thousands of people.
Jaffrey:
NEW HAMPSHIRE
The towns of Peterborough and Jaffrey are considering a plan to share their drinking water as shortages loom.
Teaneck:
NEW JERSEY
The Township Council has voted to form an advisory board to address LGBTQ issues and build a culture of acceptance and inclusiveness. The move comes after a debate last month on whether to raise a pride flag on the municipal green.
Albuquerque:
NEW MEXICO
Hundreds of historical items are on display in a new exhibit at the Albuquerque Museum, including letters written by outlaw Billy the Kid.
Albany:
NEW YORK
The state has expanded laws against racial bias to include hairstyles and hair texture.
Kinston:
NORTH CAROLINA
Local chef Vivian Howard, known for the award-winning series “A Chef’s Life,” is returning to PBS next year as host of a show titled “South by Somewhere,” news outlets report.
Williston:
NORTH DAKOTA
The state’s Health Department says an estimated 21,000 gallons of oil-field wastewater have spilled from a pipeline near the city, and some of it entered an unnamed tributary to the Missouri River.
OHIO Port Clinton:
Experts are puzzled over the recent explosion of the walleye population in Lake Erie, but the $800 million state sport fishing industry has benefited greatly.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City:
Local businesswoman Anna King has been elected president of the National Parent Teacher Association for a term starting in 2021.
OREGON Mount Hood:
Six wolf pups were born to the White River Pack this year, according to footage from a trail cam put up by biologists with the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs.
PENNSYLVANIA Philadelphia:
Mayor Jim Kenney has asked the police department to increase its presence at parks and recreation events following the second mass shooting in a month at a city playground.
Providence:
RHODE ISLAND
A University of Rhode Island economics professor says the state’s economy has “downshifted into first gear.” Leonard Lardaro no longer believes the state might be entering an early stage of recession but says its tepid performance is cause for concern. The Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, the Hutchinson House on Edisto Island and the South Carolina African American Heritage Foundation have been selected as recipients of a combined $285,000 in grants by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls:
Dozens of local workers are jobless after Minnesota-based trucking company LME Inc. abruptly closed Thursday.
TENNESSEE Gatlinburg:
A mama black bear charged at a man who repeatedly approached her cubs at Cades Cove over the weekend, a video shows. The man was unharmed but is being excoriated online.
TEXAS Houston:
The Houston Chronicle reports animal shelters and dog trainers in the area say they’ve encountered pets that respond to commands in a range of languages.
UTAH Heber City:
Signs of new life, like grasses and flowers, are appearing in a spot where a wildfire torched over 100 square miles last July.
VERMONT Montpelier:
The city council has rejected a call supported by local businesses for a “no loitering” ordinance designed to move the homeless off the streets.
VIRGINIA Richmond:
Gov. Ralph Northam has announced an initiative to plant forested buffers in the James River watershed between Lynchburg and Richmond.
WASHINGTON Bremerton:
A dilapidated fishing dock and boat launch will be replaced under a $1.6 million facelift planned for Kitsap Lake Park.
Logan:
WEST VIRGINIA
A state parks initiative is creating habitat for monarch butterflies. The Pollinator Habitat Expansion Initiative involves mowing less and planting flora like milkweed and two-leaved toothwort.
WISCONSIN Greenville:
A ram spotted ambling through rural Outagamie County the past several days has a new home at a local zoo.
WYOMING Gillette:
Cloud Peak Energy says it has hired about 60 miners put out of work by Blackjewel’s bankruptcy proceedings.