50 ★ States

ALABAMA Montgomery: Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed signed an executive order that forgives all unpaid fines and fees associated with municipal convictions, including misdemeanor marijuana possession, prior to Jan. 1, 2014.

ALASKA Anchorage: A 16-year-old is being charged as an adult in a shooting in Alaska that left two adults dead and two others injured.

ARIZONA Phoenix: A gesture to honor former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor crashed and burned in the Arizona House last week, guided in part by O’Connor’s son.

ARKANSAS Little Rock: Health officials said 14 more flu-related deaths were reported in the state, raising the death toll to 69 this season, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.

CALIFORNIA Ventura: Ventura County has lagged behind the rest of the state and nation economically and will continue to do so for the next few years, and a lack of new housing is among the biggest reasons why, according to the latest forecast report from economists at California Lutheran University.

COLORADO Eaton: Last week, 96 Colorado-Big Thompson water shares and 154 acres of farmland from the Carlson Family Trust were auctioned for $5,473,600 and $990,000, respectively. It was the second such water auction in February.

CONNECTICUT Norwich: As food deserts and inflation are issues in the area, Norwich food pantries will collaborate to improve their service. The United Way of Southeastern Connecticut held a food pantry meeting for Norwich and surrounding areas, with Uncasville and Montville, on Feb. 21. The goal is to improve collaboration among providers the president and CEO of the local United Way said.

DELAWARE Wilmington: The founders of Truth Social, a social media platform branded for former President Donald Trump, have sued the company they helped create in Delaware’s Court of Chancery.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: The National Park Service is predicting that the peak bloom season for the District of Columbia’s Tidal Basin cherry blossoms is just a few weeks away. The peak bloom date is expected to fall between March 23 and 26 this year, according to NPS. There are approximately 3,800 cherry trees around the Tidal Basin and National Mall. However, NPS officials add that the dates are a prediction because peak bloom is dependent on weather conditions.

FLORIDA Gainesville: The University of Florida announced that it is eliminating all diversity, equity and inclusion employee positions. This change, announced through an emailed administrative memo, comes after the Florida Board of Governors labeled expenditures related to DEI programs as prohibited expenditures.

HAWAII Honolulu: A California tourist who fell 1,000 feet on a dangerous off-limits hike on Oahu in December is sharing his story, according to a press release. Ian Snyder was trekking the Koolau Summit Trail – a steep and challenging hike that’s closed for being considered too dangerous – alone. He wants to warn others about the risks of following social media travel content. The trail is notorious for its narrow paths, steep ridges and inclement weather.

IDAHO Boise: The director of Boise’s Office of Police Accountability said several reports on officer incidents from 2022 and 2023 will be released in the coming months, the Idaho Press reported.

ILLINOIS Lincoln: Construction for the Illinois Youth Center is being held off as they are set to receive funds from the governor’s new budget.

INDIANA South Bend: South Bend officials are planning the next phases of the cleanup of the old Drewrys Brewery site after the Environmental Protection Agency removed more than 13,000 tons of demolition debris and loads of asbestos-containing material last fall.

IOWA Des Moines: The Iowa Department of Education has ended a contract with the state’s Area Education Agencies for a program that helps families of students with disabilities navigate the services those children need.

KANSAS Topeka: Kansas lawmakers proposed calling for, and establishing a process of selecting delegates for, a Convention of the United States, a never-before-used legal process to amend the U.S. constitution that is facing a judicial decision that could make the process more likely.

KENTUCKY Louisville: Following the lead of 10 other states, Kentucky lawmakers are seeking to further change how children learn to read, proposing a law that would ban a form of instruction associated with Reading Recovery.

LOUISIANA Shreveport: Shreveport Police Department and the city of Shreveport broke ground on a second substation location last week. The property will be transformed into a state-of-the-art Shreveport Police Traffic Bureau, as well as other advanced operations.

MAINE Kennebunk: A local funeral home is denying allegations it mishandled the remains of a couple’s late infant daughter and added to their grief and trauma by inflicting emotional distress.

MARYLAND Salisbury: Two local business owners are on a mission to breathe life back into downtown Salisbury. They have teamed up to create a brand-new communitycentered and family-friendly event coming this spring.

MASSACHUSETTS Fall River: An ad for online retail giant Amazon pitches Fall River as the home of “historic charm, great birdwatching, and an Amazon warehouse.” The ad’s apparent goal is to encourage people to work for the Amazon fulfillment center straddling the Fall RiverFreetown border, by highlighting benefits available to new employees like health care and educational training.

MICHIGAN Detroit: A recent study found that people in Michigan gamble the most of any state – but they’re not going into casinos. The American Gaming Association released a study detailing the revenue brought in from in-person and online gambling in 2023. According to the study, Michigan leads the nation in money wagered with $1.92 billion bet on poker, blackjack and other online casino games.

MINNESOTA St. Cloud: On Tuesday, Minnesota Democratic Congressman Dean Phillips will put his home state support to the test when Minnesota votes with 15 other states in the Super Tuesday presidential nominating primary.

MISSISSIPPI Jackson: Mississippi Department of Corrections officials say they are doing what they can to recruit and retain staff, a problem they say exists in prisons across the nation.

MISSOURI Springfield: The 3% city sales tax on marijuana was approved by voters in November, but collection did not begin until January. With general sales tax trends on the books since the legalization of both medical and recreational marijuana, Springfield’s Department of Finance is estimating the tax could generate $2.25 million annually.

MONTANA Great Falls: Registration is now open for in-person hunter education classes in Great Falls and surrounding communities.

NEBRASKA Omaha: Nebraska’s longest-serving state lawmaker is again running for election to represent North Omaha in the state legislature. Ernie Chambers, 86, who held Nebraska’s District 11 seat in the statehouse for 46 years, filed to run against state Sen. Terrell McKinney, 33, who is nearing the end of his first term this session.

NEVADA Reno: A developer and hotel-casino owner is pledging to build new affordable housing in the heart of downtown Reno as part of a land swap deal.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Exeter: A group of residents have formed an unofficial committee to jumpstart turning a vacant lot, known as the “missing tooth,” into a park.

NEW JERSEY Trenton: About $21 million in state funds would be used to convert all the rooms at New Jersey’s veterans homes to single occupancy in an effort to avert another infectious disease disaster after the COVID-19 pandemic claimed more than 200 residents’ lives, according to Gov. Phil Murphy’s budget proposal.

NEW MEXICO Carlsbad: Drought continued to impact regions throughout New Mexico into the spring fire season as temperatures heated up, but little precipitation was expected. About 88% of the state was at “moderate drought” conditions as of Feb. 20, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, with another 47% in “extreme drought.”

NEW YORK Albany: The recent restriction on school teams with transgender girl athletes using Nassau County-owned facilities drew criticism from around New York, with some officials saying it was a step into a political maelstrom.

NORTH CAROLINA Wilmington: The state Department of Transportation is looking at replacing the bridges that serve as the main entry points into Wrightsville Beach on U.S. 76 and U.S. 74, and the Wilmington Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization is showing its support.

NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: A special prosecutor has declined to press charges in connection with the deletion of late North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem’s state email account days after his death in 2022.

OHIO Cincinnati: Ohio fined CVS $1.25 million for multiple violations at 22 stores across the state, ranging from dirty, understaffed stores to missing pills and a customer sent to the emergency room after ingesting the wrong medication. The fine is the largest in recent Ohio Board of Pharmacy history.

OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: Leaders of Oklahoma’s higher education and CareerTech systems say a memorandum of understanding signed last week will create a more efficient path for nurses to earn college degrees.

OREGON Portland: The only woman who can rightfully boast about having the largest tongue circumference in the world is Oregon resident Jenny DuVander. Guinness World Records announced that DuVander’s tongue circumference, which measures 5.21 inches, is record-breaking. The width of her tongue is larger than a soda can.

PENNSYLVANIA Erie: Erie County’s 13 public school districts could save a combined $5.6 million in 2024-25 if proposals to cap cyber charter school tuition are approved by legislators.

RHODE ISLAND Providence: Nintendo of America Inc. is suing Rhode Island-based Tropic Haze LLC, accusing the makers of the Yuzu emulator of “facilitating piracy at a colossal scale” of video games developed exclusively for Nintendo Switch consoles.

SOUTH CAROLINA Hampton: State police and forensic investigators are officially probing allegations of “missing equipment” at the Hampton County Sheriff ’s Office, making this the second active and ongoing investigation into Hampton County government this year.

SOUTH DAKOTA Pierre: South Dakota voters will vote once again on Medicaid expansion. This time around, voters will decide if the state can implement work requirements on the expansion population.

TENNESSEE Nashville: Tennessee families that meet income limits can receive four times their money for a maximum of $500 per year for each child through a state program called Tennessee Investments Preparing Scholars. The program gives out a lifetime maximum of $1,500 per child.

TEXAS Austin: The past decade has shown Austin to be a city on the rise as consistent entrepreneurship, tech and creativity continue to thrive. The latest “She-conomy” report from Yelp, which analyzes how trends created and popularized by women have influenced consumer behavior, ranked Austin first out of five major U.S. metros researched in the rankings – the others being Miami, Washington D.C., Denver and Orlando.

UTAH Salt Lake City: Gov. Spencer Cox has signed a resolution that would preserve and maintain Butch Cassidy’s house as a state monument, Utah Public Radio reported.

VERMONT Burlington: After weathering last year’s May freeze and July flooding, Vermont has once again made climate history less than three months into 2024. This winter – which meteorologists define as the December, January and February months – is officially Vermont’s warmest on record since the Green Mountain State started tracking temperatures in 1884. February has also been unusually warm, clocking the third warmest high and low temperatures in the state’s history.

VIRGINIA Petersburg: If Rep. Jennifer McClellan has her way, the downtown Petersburg post office will be named in memory of the first Black person to serve Virginia in the U.S. House of Representatives. McClellan said she will introduce a resolution to put John Mercer Langston’s name on the 89-year-old building.

WASHINGTON Bremerton: March 10 would have marked the second phase of Kitsap Transit’s Sunday Service plan, resuming bus routes into Port Orchard, Silverdale and Poulsbo on Sundays, but now, the implementation of phase two has been paused, according to Kitsap Transit.

WEST VIRGINIA Martinsburg: A man died after a single-vehicle crash that also injured a child, according to West Virginia State Police.

WISCONSIN Menomonie: Another community is contending with a contamination of “forever chemicals” in its soil and groundwater. This time, it’s Menomonie and the source is a 3M manufacturing facility. The chemicals have not been detected in the city of Menomonie’s drinking water wells, which draw from the groundwater, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t concern. The contamination was discovered in 2022 but has not been widely reported until now.

WYOMING Jackson: A man died after falling into a tree well at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, the Jackson Hole News and Guide reported.

News from across the USA