STATES Across the nation
News from every state.
ALABAMA Montgomery: A new statue of civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks will be unveiled at Court Square downtown Sunday at 1 p.m.
ALASKA Anchorage: The federal Center for Biological Diversity will decide by September how much ocean and coast will be designated as critical habitat for two ice seal species. Ringed and bearded seals live off Alaska’s northwest coast. Both are listed as threatened.
ARKANSAS Fayetteville: The University of Arkansas is now the home of a photo archive from the New York Post containing nearly a million photos of historical figures and events.
CALIFORNIA San Diego: The San Diego Zoo Safari Park has a pair of quirky new arrivals: platypuses. The zoo says it’s the first time in more than 50 years that platypuses have been cared for outside Australia.
COLORADO Denver: The state Supreme Court has denied a request to reconsider a ruling declaring the sentences of hundreds of criminal defendants to be illegal because they were sentenced to both prison and probation in the same case.
CONNECTICUT Hartford: West Hartford fifth grader Myra Stanfield will be inaugurated as the 2020 Kid Governor Monday at the Old State House.
DELAWARE Dover: The state Department of Insurance is warning residents about a new Medicare tool, the Prescription Plan Finder, that officials say causes confusion and conceals the total cost of coverage.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: The district is joining several states in suing e-cigarette maker Juul Labs, saying the company’s online ads and promotions illegally targeted minors.
FLORIDA Titusville: The local school district is bringing in a crack squad of four-legged experts to deal with an overgrown patch of rough terrain. About two dozen goats will descend into a fenced area around a pond next to Imperial Estates Elementary.
GEORGIA Savannah: Georgia Southern University has officially opened a learning center in Ireland. Savannah Morning News reports university leaders traveled to Wexford last week for the ceremonial event.
HAWAII Honolulu: The state Department of Education plans to offer free Hawaiian language courses to all its salaried employees.
IDAHO Boise: Fisheries managers are optimistic a program to save imperiled Snake River sockeye salmon is heading in the right direction despite few of the ocean-going fish making it back to the Sawtooth Basin this year.
ILLINOIS Springfield: Specially themed tours are scheduled this holiday season for the Dana-Thomas House designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
INDIANA Indianapolis: Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb is facing calls from Democrats to explain his role in Amazon being cleared of responsibility for a warehouse worker’s death despite initial findings of major safety violations. Holcomb denies any involvement in the state’s investigation of the 2017 death.
IOWA Des Moines: Gov. Kim Reynolds has pardoned two tom turkeys, continuing a long-standing Thanksgiving tradition celebrating the state’s robust turkey industry.
KANSAS Topeka: Gov. Laura Kelly reveled in holiday spirit Tuesday for the annual horse-drawn delivery of a Christmas tree to Cedar Crest, the official governor’s residence.
KENTUCKY Louisville: The state’s politicos are getting all wrapped up in the Christmas wars. After the reelection campaign for Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., began selling gift wrap featuring his face, the Kentucky Democratic Party shot back with its own “Moscow Mitch” paper.
LOUISIANA New Orleans: The state museum system is asking for feedback through an online survey about its properties.
MAINE Bucksport: Officials say a new partnership with the state’s farmers markets has expanded the number of people who can use them by making food assistance through SNAP easier to access.
MARYLAND Assateague Island
National Seashore: Effective Jan. 1, entrance fees at the seashore will increase by $5 in most categories.
MASSACHUSETTS Plymouth: Native Americans are gathering for a 50th year in the seaside town where the Pilgrims settled – not to give thanks but to grieve. United American Indians of New England held its first National Day of Mourning in 1970. Since then, tribes have assembled every Thanksgiving on a hill overlooking Plymouth Rock.
MICHIGAN Flint: Leaders with Flint Community Schools are considering closing four school buildings amid a $5.7 million budget deficit partly driven by rising special education costs. Officials say the district has far more special education students in the wake of a lead crisis.
MINNESOTA Minneapolis: State officials warn the Environmental Protection Agency that a proposal to streamline water quality laws would cripple their power to protect drinking water, streams and wildlife.
MISSISSIPPI Jackson: The Mississippi Lottery Corp. says people bought $2.5 million in lottery tickets on Monday, the first day of sales.
MISSOURI Kansas City: “Saturday Night Live” comedian Heidi Gardner will flip the switch Thursday night on an annual holiday lighting ceremony at the Country Club Plaza.
MONTANA Bozeman: The Board of Regents has approved a $150,000 pay raise, to $476,000, to retain Waded Cruzado as the president of Montana State University after she received a higher-paying job offer.
NEBRASKA Lincoln: The state is temporarily lifting weight restrictions on trucks carrying propane to address a shortage of heating fuels.
NEVADA Las Vegas: A future megaresort is on track to become the most expensive hotel-casino project ever built. Malaysia-based Genting Group says its $4.3 billion Resorts World Las Vegas will open in 2021.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Merrimack: Gov. Chris Sununu’s advisory board has voted to eliminate the Merrimack tolls on the Everett Turnpike.
NEW JERSEY Jersey City: Officials are hoping the return of redesigned holiday decorations will keep the season bright at the Holland Tunnel, where decor placement drew widespread derision last year.
NEW MEXICO Cimarron: One of the most spectacular properties owned by the Boy Scouts of America is being mortgaged for a line of credit. The Scouts say there’s no plan to sell the Philmont Scout Ranch.
NEW YORK New York: Thanksgiving came early for commuters who enjoyed a feast on the subway. Video footage shows a whiteclothed table withturkey, mashed potatoes and cornbread on a Brooklyn-bound L train on Sunday.
NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: Students and employees at all University of North Carolina system campuses will be able to use school ID cards to vote starting next year.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: There will be a runoff election for a new state Supreme Court chief justice. Justices Lisa Fair McEvers and Jon Jensen are still in the running.
OHIO Cincinnati: The Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden has welcomed a new baby giraffe shortly after losing the 12-year-old male that sired him.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: A study by the left-leaning think tank Center on Budget and Policy Priorities finds nearly 500 older, low-income Oklahomans died prematurely because the state did not expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.
OREGON Portland: Coastal residents are being called to take pictures of high tides this week and submit them to the Oregon King Tides Project to help scientists learn how climate change will affect communities.
PENNSYLVANIA Reading: The state overhauled its child sexual abuse laws Tuesday. The central bill signed by Gov. Tom Wolf gives future victims of child sex abuse more time to file lawsuits and ends time limits for police to file criminal charges.
RHODE ISLAND Newport: The city is working with Brown University to create a digital map of God’s Little Acre, one of the largest, most intact Colonial-era African burial grounds.
SOUTH CAROLINA Loris: A farm animal has given new meaning to the phrase “get off your high horse.” Horry County Fire Rescue workers were called Sunday to a barn where a horse somehow managed to leave its stall and climb into a hayloft.
SOUTH DAKOTA Rapid City: Donald “Nick” Clifford, the last living worker to help construct Mount Rushmore National Memorial, has died at 98.
TENNESSEE Nashville: Federal officials are proposing removing the Nashville crayfish from the endangered species list.
TEXAS Fort Worth: A teacher fired after tweeting that her school was full of students in the U.S. illegally won an appeal to get her job back.
UTAH Provo: Two of the state’s small cities, Vineyard and Payson, tested ranked-choice voting in recent municipal elections, with few issues noted.
VERMONT Burlington: Four Burlington High School journalists have won the Courage in Student Journalism Award for fighting censorship.
VIRGINIA Richmond: State officials are reminding Virginians it’s not too late to get a flu vaccine. The Department of Health encourages everyone older than 6 months to receive one.
WASHINGTON Seattle: The City Council is proceeding with a new tax on Uber and Lyft rides pitched by Mayor Jenny Durkan to help pay for affordable housing and the delayed downtown streetcar and to give new support to ride-hailing drivers.
WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: It’s buck hunting season. The annual buck firearms season kicked off this week.
WISCONSIN Madison: Democratic State Reps. Jonathan Brostoff and David Crowley and state Sen. Chris Larson have introduced a bill that would require public and commercial buildings built or renovated after the bill becomes law to have diaperchanging stations in every restroom.
WYOMING Casper: The family of David Wolosin, shot and killed by police, is suing the city and the Casper Police Department, alleging police officials failed to properly train officers in de-escalation techniques.