50 ★ States

ALABAMA Montgomery: Sen. Tommy Tuberville has landed a grade of B-plus and Sen. Katie Britt got a C for their effectiveness in working to advance intellectual property rights that promote American innovation.

ALASKA Anchorage: Telecommunications firm GCI has announced that it has halted a plan to close customers’ email accounts, but the company will instead charge account holders a monthly fee to retain them, Alaska Public Media reported.

ARIZONA Phoenix: Maricopa County Animal Care and Control announced that it’s asking cities and residents to not bring stray dogs to its shelters after a deceased dog tested positive for Streptococcus zooepidemicus – also known as Strep zoo.

ARKANSAS Rogers: A $13 million project that aims to bring more affordable housing options is now underway after Community Development NWA broke ground on the mixed-income housing development, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.

CALIFORNIA Indian Wells: With little undeveloped land left in its borders, the Coachella Valley’s smallest city, Indian Wells, recently gained $5 million in federal funding to bolster its flood protections along the Whitewater Channel, work that would allow homes and businesses to safely be built just south of the riverbed.

COLORADO Aurora: A mobile preschool helping kids in underserved areas was stolen and found two days later contaminated with fentanyl.

CONNECTICUT Norwich: Affordable early child care can be hard to come by in eastern Connecticut, but replicable solutions exist. The “Addressing the Childcare Crisis: Strengthening Our Workforce” talk was hosted by the United Way of Southeastern Connecticut. For-profit and nonprofit child care providers, businesses, and other organizations came to talk about the issue.

DELAWARE Newark: City Council decided to reconsider its proposal on taxing rental revenues last week, amid talk of potential litigation. That saw the resolution put back on the agenda Monday for more discussion, possible tweaks and another vote – until council decided to postpone that discussion until April.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: A dog and its owner were reunited hours after the owner’s car was stolen with the 4-year-old French bulldog inside, WUSA9 reported.

FLORIDA Daytona Beach: The April 8 total solar eclipse provides Americans with more than a fleeting perceptible phenomenon. It’s also the setup for science. Aroh Barjatya, a professor of engineering physics and director of the Space and Atmospheric Instrumentation Lab at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Daytona Beach campus, and a team of researchers and students, will use the occasion to engage in a NASAfunded project called APEP, or Atmospheric Perturbations around Eclipse Path.

GEORGIA Savannah: Three U.S. congressmen accompanied Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on a visit to the Georgia Ports Authority on Monday to show unified support for funding a new study on deepening the Savannah River channel less than two years after crews finished dredging the channel to 47 feet.

HAWAII Honolulu: Hawaiian Electric asked its customers in Hawaii Island to reduce or shift their electricity use through April after the utility’s largest generator, an independent power producer, went offline due to significant mechanical issues.

IDAHO Boise: A Senate committee has passed a bill to restructure the University of Idaho’s bid to purchase the University of Phoenix, the Idaho Press reported.

ILLINOIS Chicago: As Chicago begins evicting migrants from shelters, lawmakers in Springfield are weighing new spending. By the end of April, The Chicago Tribune reports the city plans to evict 2,000 migrants after a 60-day shelter stay limit went into effect earlier last week.

INDIANA Indianapolis: Attorney General Todd Rokita is rehashing the debate over the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, publishing a report that questions the data the state used to make decisions about lockdowns, mask mandates, and school closings.

IOWA Des Moines: Iowa Republican lawmakers have reached a final deal to restructure funding to Iowa’s Area Education Agencies, raise teacher pay and set school funding levels for the coming year, sending the wide-ranging bill to Gov. Kim Reynolds.

KANSAS Topeka: Kansas lawmakers want to block children from accessing pornography online by passing a bill that never mentions pornography. If the bill becomes law, it could also lead to adults also losing access to online porn, as has happened under a similar law in Texas.

KENTUCKY Louisville: The investigation into what went awry with Jefferson County Public Schools’ new transportation system has been completed months ahead of the contractual deadline, with the 248page report released online Monday.

LOUISIANA Baton Rouge: Louisiana lawmakers advanced a bill that would eliminate the state’s annual vehicle inspection sticker requirement, which critics claim creates an unnecessary expense and inconvenience for drivers with little or no impact on safety.

MAINE York: The York Land Trust and White Pine Programs recently held their monthly bird walk series at the Land Trust’s 300 acre Smelt Brook Preserve. Over 15 adults and children gathered to explore the terrain and look for birds.

MARYLAND Baltimore: Three middle schoolers in Maryland were charged with hate crimes after they displayed swastikas, acted out Nazi salutes, and made “offensive comments” about a classmate’s religious beliefs, county prosecutors announced.

MASSACHUSETTS Falmouth: As the lead pilot for the deep-sea submersible Alvin, Falmouth resident Bruce Strickrott already has a claim to fame. He’s one of just 45 people who’ve driven the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution-operated vehicle since it launched in 1964. Now the 28-year Alvin veteran has the added distinction of having a new species of deep-sea worms named after him.

MICHIGAN Lansing: A coalition of business groups and Republican lawmakers appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court, arguing a oneyear reduction in the state’s personal income tax rate should be made permanent.

MINNESOTA St. Paul: Earlier this week, the Biden campaign signaled that Minnesota will be a key state to win in November by beefing up its state campaign. Ron Harris, Alana Petersen and Justin Bueon will join the Biden-Harris campaign team, leading its Minnesota operation.

MISSISSIPPI Jackson: Robert Lee, the city engineer in Jackson’s Department of Public Works, has submitted his resignation. It’s another resignation for which the city and Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba have to respond. Lee will join five others who have resigned from key positions in the city since last September.

MISSOURI Springfield: A scorecard from the Springfield NAACP showed only two school board candidates on the April 2 ballot fully met the group’s expectations.

MONTANA Great Falls: The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has released a draft management plan for the Greater Sage Grouse, which could tighten conservation and management practices on more than 11 million acres of sagebrush steppe habitat across the western U.S. In Montana and the Dakotas, more than 726,000 acres were identified as potential Areas of Critical Environmental Concern due to the sage grouse habitat they provide.

NEBRASKA Lincoln: Advocates are saying that a $15 million reduction in state funding will lead to added strain on local hospitals and jails and more problems for Nebraskans, the Lincoln Journal Star reported.

NEVADA Reno: Following last week’s accusation by a fired coach of discrimination, Bishop Manogue Catholic High School President Matt Schambari requested to be placed on unpaid leave, according to letters the school shared with the Reno Gazette Journal.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Dover: Two horses and several chicks were killed in a fire that destroyed two barns Sunday, according to the fire chief.

NEW JERSEY Delaware Township: New Jersey’s only 19th century covered bridge has reopened for traffic. The Green Sergeant’s Covered Bridge a few miles west of Sergeantsville has reopened after it was closed for extensive repairs in the summer of 2023.

NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: Oil and gas mergers, largely in the Permian Basin, spiked last year as companies sought to consolidate assets in the booming region, according to a government report.

NEW YORK New York: The cause of death for Flaco, the beloved owl, has been revealed in a necropsy. New Yorkers spotted the Central Park Zoo escapee flying high in the sky before crashing into a building on Feb. 23. The owl suffered significant injuries. After the fall, the bird was found to have had severe pigeon herpesvirus and four different anticoagulant rodenticides, or rat poison, within his system, according to the postmortem testing results released by the Central Park Zoo.

NORTH CAROLINA Asheville: A federal judge ordered that park bans be lifted for 15 activists suing the city over bans they say violate their First and 14th Amendment rights, at least until a final ruling is made in the lawsuit.

NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: A woman accused of leaving kittens in a backpack alongside a road has pleaded not guilty to animal cruelty, the Bismarck Tribune reported.

OHIO Columbus: Columbus homicide detectives have identified dozens of cold cases where genetic genealogy might provide renewed hope. The technology has gained popularity in particular because of its use in high-profile cases like the Golden State Killer in California.

OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: The leader of Oklahoma’s largest tribal nation wants to renew his tribe’s car tag compact with the state without any major changes. But Gov. Kevin Stitt doesn’t appear to be buying in to the proposal promoted by Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. The one thing both officials agree on so far is that their attorneys are negotiating in good faith to draw up a deal that works for everyone.

OREGON Salem: Salem-Keizer Public Schools teachers have reached a tentative contract agreement with the district, narrowly averting a strike.

PENNSYLVANIA Philadelphia: A discarded cigarette butt proved to be the pivotal piece of evidence investigators needed to tie a suspect to a 2012 homicide outside a popular Pennsylvania diner, police said.

SOUTH CAROLINA Walterboro: With her staff at her back and an attorney by her side, embattled Colleton County Clerk of Court Rebecca Hill announced her resignation from public office during a short-notice news conference.

SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: Officials with the Sioux Falls Police Department say they’ve arrested a Sioux Falls woman in connection with a convenience store robbery last week, though they’re still looking for the man who accompanied her.

TENNESSEE Nashville: One of the state’s largest industries may soon be able to keep records secret from the public, following the Senate passage of a bill that would change public records laws around tourism documents. The bill will allow records from the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development to be exempt from public records laws if the tourism commissioner and attorney general deem them “sensitive.”

TEXAS Austin: After emotional appeals from more than a dozen parents, Capital Metro’s board of directors voted to approve a one-year contract renewal with a child care provider running an East Austin facility the Austin-area transportation authority has subsidized for nearly 17 years.

UTAH Salt Lake City: The state’s tallest outdoor climbing wall has opened at Millcreek City Hall, Utah Public Radio reported.

VERMONT Burlington: Vermont is on tap to receive $74 million in congressionally directed spending to tackle “the most urgent needs in every corner of our state,” Vermont’s congressional delegation announced. The money, also known as “earmarks,” will be divided among nearly 60 local projects that address statewide crises such as affordable housing, health care, child care, infrastructure, clean water and energy, rural development and crime recidivism.

VIRGINIA Hopewell: Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is now available to Hopewell’s wee ones. The program inspires a love of reading by gifting free books via mail to children from birth to age five. In 1995, inspired by her father’s inability to read and write, Parton started her Imagination Library for kids within her home county in Tennessee. Today, her program spans five countries and gifts over two million free books each month to children around the world.

WASHINGTON Bremerton: There was plenty of history for curious eyes to discover Monday as Central Kitsap High School hosted its 100th year celebration. Roughly 200 current and former students, young and old, gathered inside the commons, some taking tours of the building, which opened in 2019.

WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: Four Jersey Mike’s locations will donate sales from March 27 to WVU Medicine Children’s Hospital, WV News reported.

WISCONSIN Bellevue: The area’s first micro-hospital is expected to open in the beginning of April in Bellevue.

WYOMING Cheyenne: Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon’s flurry of vetoes last weekend included something unexpected: a line-item veto that allowed the Legislature to axe $1.7 million in state funding for the University of Wyoming’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion but would allow the university to use its own funds for diversity-related programs.