50 ★ States

News from across the USA

ALABAMA Montgomery: A pastor and voting rights activist, who is the half-brother of the Rev. Al Sharpton, pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion, mail fraud, and drug conspiracy charges. Kenneth Glasgow, the founder of The Ordinary People Society, has worked on the restoration of voting rights for former prisoners, prison reform and other issues.

ALASKA Anchorage: An official says thick, heavy ice had accumulated on the roof of a gym that collapsed earlier this month, killing one person and trapping two others. Ross Noffsinger, acting building official for the city, said “tremendous” ice buildup on the roof of the Turnagain CrossFit gym far exceeded the weight listed by the city’s design and construction standards, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

ARIZONA Phoenix: A retired federal magistrate judge was appointed to review the execution process as part of an examination ordered by Gov. Katie Hobbs of procurement of lethal injection drugs and other death penalty protocols due to the state’s history of mismanaging executions.

ARKANSAS Little Rock: Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed into law new restrictions on “adult-oriented” performances in a bill that originally targeted drag shows but was scaled back following complaints that it discriminated against the LGBTQ community.

CALIFORNIA Delano: Convicted serial killer Ramon Escobar is suspected of killing his new cellmate, authorities said. Escobar shared a cell at North Kern State Prison with Juan Villanueva, whose death is being investigated as a homicide, said a statement from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

COLORADO Denver: Prosecutors have dismissed the most serious charge – second-degree felony assault – against a police officer accused of locking a handcuffed woman in a parked police car that was hit by a freight train, leaving her with serious injuries.

CONNECTICUT Norwich: After months of back and forth from the city and residents living in the northern part of the city, the plan for a second business park has halted.

DELAWARE Wilmington: The New Castle County Police Department has announced that the latest batch of K-9s has graduated after completing their training. Training for the unit is six months long, with each dog being cross-trained to perform searches for missing persons, contraband and routine patrol work.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: Detectives have arrested a 63year-old man accused of puncturing the tires of parked vehicles in Northwest D.C., WUSA-TV reports.

FLORIDA Fort Myers: A man has been sentenced to seven years and three months in federal prison for stealing more than $2.6 million in COVID-19 relief funds. Daniel Joseph Tisone submitted false and fraudulent applications to the Small Business Administration and banks seeking several different kinds of loans between March 2020 and April 2021, according to documents.

GEORGIA Atlanta: A former city official charged in a federal investigation into corruption at City Hall during the administration of then-Mayor Kasim Reed was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for accepting bribes.

HAWAII Maui: A luxury yacht grounded in West Maui that has been stuck since last Monday has been successfully defueled, Hawaii News Now reports. Efforts to move the boat were set to begin Sunday, according to the news outlet.

IDAHO Moscow: The house where four University of Idaho students were stabbed to death in November will be demolished, school officials said. The owner of the home offered to give it to the university and the school accepted, University President Scott Green said in a memo to students and employees.

ILLINOIS Springfield: A mental health crisis among children will be fought by streamlining and easing access to necessary treatment and coordination between six separate state agencies, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced.

INDIANA Indianapolis: Lawmakers have sidelined a proposal that would have allowed immigrants living in the country illegally to obtain state-issued cards giving them permission to drive.

IOWA Des Moines: The state is rolling back COVID-19 reporting. The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services announced that effective April 1, the state will no longer require that positive COVID-19 tests be reported to public health officials.

KANSAS Kansas City: A man who claimed a disgraced police detective helped convict him of a 1997 murder he didn’t commit will be released on parole in four months. Brian Betts, 46, and his cousin, Celester McKinney, 52, alleged that former detective Roger Golubski and another detective coerced their uncle into identifying them as the shooters in the death of Gregory Miller.

KENTUCKY Frankfort: The Senate voted to provide teachers with liability insurance coverage as a cushion against financial losses when forced to defend themselves against work-related lawsuits.

LOUISIANA New Orleans: Organizers of an effort to recall Mayor LaToya Cantrell have demanded $15,000 from the The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate to comply with a court agreement to give the city’s daily newspaper copies of the signed petitions, the paper reported.

MAINE Poland: A Massachusetts man and a Maine teenager were killed in a home in western Maine, and the deaths were ruled homicides, officials said. Maine State Police said there is no known threat to the public.

MARYLAND Annapolis: A man convicted of fatally shooting the mother of a U.S. Naval Academy football player with a stray bullet was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

MASSACHUSETTS Boston: Public health officials have alerted health care providers in the city about a “concerning” increase in the number of opioid-related overdoses among people who believed they were using cocaine. The Boston Public Health Commission announced that city Emergency Medical Services responded to 11 suspected cases in one 24-hour period last week.

MICHIGAN Detroit: A federal judge has sentenced a woman to more than four years in prison for her role in a scheme to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and six states out of about $28 million in tax returns.

MINNESOTA Duluth: A man was killed when the small aircraft he was piloting crashed on the ice of a harbor, authorities say. The plane went down near the Richard I. Bong Memorial Bridge.

MISSISSIPPI Tupelo: A youth pastor accused of having sex with a 16year-old church member is being held without bond. Alexander Blackwelder, 26, faces two counts of sexual battery and enticement of a child to produce visual depictions of adult sexual conduct.

MISSOURI St. Louis: A prosecutor decried efforts to oust her from office and defended herself from blame after a teenage volleyball player lost her legs in a crash that police say was caused by a speeding driver facing felony charges.

MONTANA Missoula: A man has been charged with threatening the life of Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester via voicemails left at his office, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Kevin Patrick Smith pleaded not guilty to two felony counts of threats to injure and murder a U.S. Senator. The voicemails included threats to“rip your head off” and were laced with profanity.

NEBRASKA Lincoln: The state would use taxpayer money to fund private school vouchers, make it easier to remove books from school libraries, target transgender students and give the state’s newly elected conservative governor more control over education policy under bills being considered.

NEVADA Carson City: Voters will decide whether to get rid of slavery and involuntary servitude as a form of criminal punishment from the state constitution on the 2024 ballot, part of a growing push among some states to scrub outdated language that has stayed on the books.

NEW JERSEY Sea Isle City: A balcony on a high-rise condominium on the shore collapsed, killing a construction worker, authorities said. Officials said the eighth-floor balcony at the Spinnaker condominium collapsed onto the seventh-floor balcony, trapping a worker and injuring two others at the complex, which was built in the 1970s.

NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: A former governor of a New Mexico pueblo appointed earlier this month to oversee the state’s Indian Affairs Department, including its specialized task force addressing crimes against Indigenous women and girls, was accused of rape in 2007.

NEW YORK New York City: A powerful jail union boss-turned-prison inmate is poised to go free less than halfway through his sentence in a corruption case, after a judge decided this week that the nearly fiveyear term should be reduced.

NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: A juvenile in possession of an AR-15 was detained during a high school basketball game at Millbrook High School, police said. The suspect was not a student at the high school.

NORTH DAKOTA Burlington: A train derailed and no injuries were reported, nor hazardous materials spilled, a fire official said. The train was a mile-and-a-half long with more than 60 train cars, fire Chief Karter Lesmann of the Burlington Volunteer Fire Department said.

OHIO Columbus: A former neighbor has been sentenced to decades in prison in the slayings of a couple during an attempted robbery at the victims’ home. Kelly Dale Vokas pleaded guilty in December to murder, involuntary manslaughter and aggravated burglary in an agreement with county prosecutors who withdrew other charges.

OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: Eight people were injured after a fight broke out at a night club, according to authorities. Police officers posted outside the Pink Parrot bar saw the fight happen and noticed multiple injured people coming out of the venue, according to a statement by Oklahoma City Police.

OREGON Salem: The state’s tax revenue forecast has jumped again, potentially giving lawmakers more money to spend in the next budget and driving up the likely state tax rebate that taxpayers could receive next year, the Oregonian/OregonLive reported.

PENNSYLVANIA Harrisburg: Victims would be able to sue over otherwise outdated claims of child sexual abuse under two pieces of legislation passed by the Pennsylvania House, but it’s unclear whether the state Senate will take them up.

RHODE ISLAND Cumberland: A man who admitted to having more than 665,000 counterfeit Adderall pills containing methamphetamine has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison. It is believed to be the largest seizure of methamphetamine-laced fake Adderall pills in the U.S., as well as among the largest seizures of methamphetamine in DEA New England Field Division history, said Zachary Cunha, U.S. attorney for Rhode Island.

SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: Supporters of Gov. Henry McMaster are setting up a nonprofit that organizers say will assist the Republican in promoting his legislative priorities over his final term in office.

SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: James Abourezk, a South Dakota Democrat who grew up on the Rosebud Indian Reservation, became the first Arab American U.S. senator and was known for his quick wit as he advocated for populist causes, has died.

TENNESSEE Nashville: Transgender youth would be banned from receiving gender-affirming care under legislation currently headed to the desk of Gov. Bill Lee, who has voiced support for the bill.

TEXAS El Paso: A 16-year-old boy who fatally shot a 17-year-old boy and wounded two others during a fight between two groups at a mall faces a murder charge and three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, police said.

UTAH Salt Lake City: A pilot program that would have allowed thousands of patients to consume psychedelic mushrooms for therapeutic use failed to advance in the state Senate, effectively ending its chances of passage as lawmakers prepare to adjourn.

VERMONT Montpelier: The Legislature is considering a proposal that would end an exemption to the child abuse and neglect reporting laws for members of the clergy.

VIRGINIA Alexandria: The family of a nuclear physicist who died by suicide in jail is suing the U.S. government after his psychotropic medicine was discontinued and he was denied admission to a federal medical prison.

WASHINGTON Olympia: A bill that would legalize duplexes and fourplexes in most neighborhoods in nearly every city in the state has cleared another committee. The goal is to increase the housing supply in cities.

WEST VIRGINIA Beckley: An audit of personnel review procedures at hospitals that serve veterans has found problems at the Beckley VA Medical Center, The Exponent Telegram reported. The full audit came after an initial review found that the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center in Clarksburg failed to complete a timely background check of a former nursing assistant who admitted to killing seven older veterans at the hospital with injections of insulin.

WISCONSIN Madison: A man wanted by police died after being shot and barricading himself inside a convenience store restroom, authorities said. Other people were inside the store when the shooting occurred but no one else was hurt, Assistant Police Chief Matt Tye said.

WYOMING Jackson: A 24-year-old snowmobiler from Wisconsin died in an avalanche, the year’s first avalanche fatality reported near Jackson Hole, Jackson Hole Daily reports.