50 ☆ States
ALABAMA Montgomery:
Sen. Katie Britt took a trip over to Macon County last week for a meeting with Tuskegee University President Charlotte Morris to discuss plans for the new Tuskegee Aviation Program, a flight school that will be supported by $6.7 million in federal funding that Britt sponsored.
ALASKA Anchorage:
City officials are aiming to create clear guidance for people without homes this summer in an effort to avoid public safety issues as winter shelters close, Alaska Public Media reported.
ARIZONA Phoenix:
Waymo and Uber Eats are partnering to begin food delivery by autonomous vehicles, which leaders of the companies hope will give more people a chance to interact with an autonomous vehicle. Waymo and Uber have already partnered on the rideshare platform, Uber customers can get paired with an autonomous vehicle for a ride if they are in Waymo’s Phoenix service area.
ARKANSAS Little Rock:
The Arkansas Supreme Court ruled the voting machines currently used in the state comply with state law, contrary to arguments by a group that sued the state to halt their use.
CALIFORNIA Ventura:
This year, farms, ranches and wholesale nurseries across Ventura County received $4.57 million in state funds to help replace aging agricultural equipment with lower-emission versions. The goal is to improve local air quality.
COLORADO Denver:
A new Colorado law aims to address the veterinarian shortage. The Veterinary Technician Scope of Practice Law will soon direct the State Board of Veterinary Medicine to make rules allowing the supervision of and the delegation of certain tasks to veterinary technicians, veterinary technician specialists or other personnel.
CONNECTICUT Norwich:
The consolidation of the state community college system may have been one of the biggest mistakes Connecticut has ever made, Three Rivers Community College professor Diba Kahn-Bureau said. Students, professors and union leaders picketed outside Three Rivers Community College last week seeking more funding for the community colleges, and to avoid an upcoming 5% tuition increase.
DELAWARE Wilmington:
A Delaware jury convicted a man of murdering a teen TikTok star and another young entrepreneur in 2021.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington:
An investigation is underway after a teenager was shot near an elementary school, WUSA reported.
GEORGIA Augusta:
Georgia Power announced that Unit 4 at Plant Vogtle has reached another milestone as the nuclear expansion project nears completion. “Achieving 100% power is the latest milestone as we work to complete Unit 4 as a reliable, emissionfree new energy source for Georgia,” a Georgia Power spokesperson said.
HAWAII Honolulu:
A chemistry teacher for the Kamehameha Schools has been inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame, Hawaii News Now reported.
IDAHO Boise:
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an independent presidential candidate, announced that his campaign had gathered enough signatures to secure his spot on the Idaho ballot, marking his sixth win in nationwide ballot access.
ILLINOIS Springfield:
One of the first homes architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed in the Prairie style is up for sale. It is the first time the Warren Hickox home, built in 1900, has been on the market since 1976.
INDIANA West Lafayette:
SK hynix Inc., the world’s leading producer of high-bandwidth memory chips, will invest an estimated $3.87 billion in West Lafayette to build an advanced packaging fabrication and research and development facility for artificial intelligence products.
IOWA Des Moines:
Rustal Martin, the garage operations assistant with the Iowa Department of Transportation’s Grinnell, Malcom and Tama maintenance garages, and Iowa State University researchers have been working on a solution to aid snowplow drivers in the form of lane assistance technology, which would show drivers where they are on the road and alert them if they begin to drift on the roadways.
KANSAS Topeka:
Public records show that Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach awarded a no-bid contract to a law firm that is helping the state sue social media company TikTok. Kobach’s office justified not seeking competitive bids when hiring law firm Cooper & Kirk because of an “emergency.”
KENTUCKY Louisville:
A Louisvillebased organization has been honored by the highly acclaimed James Beard Foundation. The LEE initiative won the foundation’s Humanitarian of the Year award.
LOUISIANA Baton Rouge:
Middle school and high school girls told lawmakers that menstrual products are as essential “as toilet paper and soap” to learning and sanitary hygiene, persuading a House panel to advance a bill that would require all public schools to make the products free and easily accessible.
MAINE Eliot:
Town Clerk Wendy Rawski will represent Maine this month at the Congressional Elections Assistance Standards Board meeting.
MARYLAND Baltimore:
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced an “ambitious” timeline to partially reopen the Fort McHenry Channel in Baltimore by the end of April and fully reopen it by the end of May, around two months after the Francis Scott Key Bridge plunged into the Patapsco River after it was struck by a cargo ship.
MASSACHUSETTS Weymouth:
A former police officer who resigned after allegedly punching a handcuffed man more than a dozen times during an arrest now faces federal charges.
MICHIGAN Detroit:
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is investigating a mystery: How did a gray wolf wind up in Calhoun County, hundreds of miles from the Upper Peninsula and the state’s only known population of the endangered species? What is known is that a hunter shot what he thought was a large coyote this past winter, during a legal hunt with a guide. The wolf was found in the southwest corner of Michigan, where the species hasn’t been seen since the early part of the 20th century when they disappeared, victims of a longstanding state bounty, unscrupulous hunters, and changing habitat.
MINNESOTA St. Paul:
The state Supreme Court is hearing an expedited challenge to the law that restored voting rights to more than 55,000 Minnesotans with felony convictions.
MISSISSIPPI Jackson:
Attorneys for a man on death row and more than a dozen impartial advisers are asking the state Supreme Court to reconsider its January ruling denying prisoner Timothy Ronk post-conviction relief for a second time.
MISSOURI Columbia:
Almost all 2023 University of Missouri graduates got a job, continued their educations, joined the military or are volunteering, according to an MU career outcomes survey. Six months after graduation, 95% of graduates had placements.
MONTANA Missoula:
Hundreds of students from across the state competed at the annual Montana Science Fair at the University of Montana last week, the Billings Gazette reported.
NEBRASKA Omaha:
Police said three men have been arrested in connection with the shooting death of a 30-year-old man, the Omaha World-Herald reported.
NEVADA Reno:
After nearly setting a record for housing permits two years ago, the greater Reno area saw housing permits fall sharply in 2023.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Dover:
Smart Start Learning Academy opened its doors last week to returning students and staff of the former Honey Tree Learning Center day care, which closed with little warning in March.
NEW JERSEY Trenton:
With state judicial vacancies at their lowest level since 2019, the state Supreme Court chief justice has ended the suspension of civil and matrimonial trials in Passaic County.
NEW MEXICO Alamogordo:
A new archaeological site was recently unburied at Holloman Air Force Base. “Geomorphologists and members of the 49th Civil Engineer Squadron environmental flight uncovered a campsite approximately 8,200 years old belonging to some of the first settlers of New Mexico,” Denise Ottaviano, public affairs and media relations chief for Holloman, said in a news release.
NEW YORK Albany:
People of color and those living in poor neighborhoods are suffering the steepest drops in life expectancy in the Finger Lakes region as systemic racism fueled health inequality, a new report shows.
NORTH CAROLINA Fayetteville:
A new child development center is at the top of the Army’s list for projects at Fort Liberty, according to its fiscal year 2025 budget requests released earlier this month.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck:
Gov. Doug Burgum announced that the adjutant general of the North Dakota National Guard will be retiring at the end of September, the Bismarck Tribune reported.
OHIO Columbus:
Despite signs warning drivers to turn back, red reflectors and sometimes flashing lights, wrong-way crashes have increased throughout Ohio in recent years. Preliminary data for 2023 shows that 182 wrong-way crashes occurred on divided highways in the state last year, according to the State Highway Patrol.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City:
Some residents of a west Oklahoma City neighborhood are protesting a new amphitheater set to be built near their homes and schools. Critics of the venue see the new addition as a bad neighbor to schools and neighborhoods in the area. They’ve cited worries about loud noise and busy traffic on days when there’s a concert or event. Specifically, some are concerned sound checks will begin before school lets out, and that concerts will run late into the evening.
OREGON Cottage Grove:
A black bear that was being illegally fed by people in Cottage Grove was killed by wildlife officials last week.
PENNSYLVANIA York:
Central Pennsylvania bucked the state’s trend in population decline between 2020 and 2023, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Counties in central Pennsylvania gained population over those years, the bureau reported.
RHODE ISLAND Providence:
A health system data analysis shows Rhode Island private health insurance premiums have stayed lower than those in neighboring states and lower than the national average.
City leaders had a symbolic meeting with leaders of the past last week during the opening of the city’s 1961 time capsule. The time capsule was removed in preparation for the demolition of city hall.
SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls:
Inmates at one of the state’s prison facilities say tensions are rising as residents prepare to lose a lifeline to their outside support systems. The Department of Corrections intends to limit the number of phone calls that state inmates can make per day, according to the director of corrections.
TENNESSEE Columbia:
Mule Day in Columbia has officially begun as the festival’s annual wagon train of mules, horses and riders once again took the multiday trek across the region.
TEXAS Austin:
Construction has begun on Texas’ military base camp in Eagle Pass, near the Texas-Mexico border, which is expected to house about 1,800 Texas National Guard troops as part of the state’s border security initiative and could cost over $400 million by September 2026.
UTAH Salt Lake City:
The Utah High School Activities Association announced that esports would become officially sanctioned as a high school activity starting in the 2025-26 school year, Utah Public Radio reported.
VERMONT Burlington:
Burlington Parks, Recreation and Waterfront released an update on multiple park projects in the city. The projects will offer various improvements, some of which have already been started in the past year. Projects range from new art installations and ungraded park equipment to new sidewalks and greenery. These, along with other projects throughout the city, are funded through various avenues and all have the goal of improving the quality and diversity of these public spaces.
VIRGINIA Colonial Heights:
Calling it “an evil that lurks in the shadows” everywhere, Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed into law a bill that criminalizes labor trafficking at the state level.
WASHINGTON Bremerton:
A decade after Inventech Marine Solutions was founded, the Bremerton manufacturer, which builds boats for the U.S. Coast Guard, other government agencies and private owners all over the world, is expanding to serve more. Recent plans include expanding to house a 60,000-square-foot manufacturing facility currently under construction. The total cost of the building, which will handle 75% of Inventech’s manufacturing work and 8,000-square-foot office space as its new headquarters, could reach $5 million to $6 million, said Inventech CEO Micah Bowers.
WEST VIRGINIA Charleston:
The state will be receiving $9 million in federal funds to continue its digital equity plan, WV News reported.
WISCONSIN Milwaukee:
Freshman applicants to University of Wisconsin System schools can forgo standardized tests for two more years under a policy extension approved by the UW Board of Regents on Friday. A longstanding policy required incoming freshmen to submit ACT or SAT scores, but the board suspended the requirement in 2020 when the pandemic severely restricted the number of testing sites available. The board has extended the temporary policy several times.
WYOMING Cheyenne:
Yellowstone National Park will be allowing yearround fishing at two rivers at the park, Jackson Hole News and Guide reported.