STATE- BY- STATE

ALABAMA Montgomery: The standard state license plate is getting a makeover, switching from a coastal scene to the mountains of north Alabama. The state Revenue Department said the new tag will be available Jan. 1. ALASKA Anchorage: Sealaska Heritage Institute has selected Alaska Native brothers to carve two totem poles for a building in Indian Village in Juneau. Officials said Joe and T. J. Young are set to begin work on one of the poles this week. ARIZONA Phoenix: A flash flood watch was in effect for northwestern Arizona on Tuesday as the Phoenix area cleaned up from a large dust storm.

ARKANSAS Fayetteville: New research from the University of Arkansas finds that tornadoes cause greater damage when traveling uphill — and that the twisters tend to climb toward higher elevations rather than going downhill. Engineering researchers studied images of the 2011 deadly tornadoes in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and Joplin, Mo.

CALIFORNIA San Francisco: Police supervisors will soon be wearing video cameras on their chests in the wake of controversial drug raids. Police Chief Greg Suhr said 50 plainclothes supervisors will be outfitted with $ 1,000 cameras in the next six weeks.

COLORADO Denver: The state history museum has closed an exhibit on the Sand Creek Indian massacre after descendants of the survivors demanded changes in how it is portrayed. Descendants disputed its characterization of the massacre as a “collision” of cultures. U. S. Army forces swept into a sleeping Indian village in southeastern Colorado on Nov. 29, 1864.

CONNECTICUT Hartford: Department of Consumer Protection Commissioner William Rubenstein on Tuesday urged members of the Regulation Review Committee to approve proposed regulations that govern Connecticut’s new medical marijuana program.

DELAWARE Dover: Gov. Markell, a Democrat, was set to sign a law requiring retailers and pharmacists to keep records on anyone buying nonprescription cold and allergy medicines containing pseudoephedrine.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: The Fire and EMS department is bolstering its depleted ranks with new ambulances and several new paramedics.

FLORIDA Bonita Springs: Baby gators no longer are available for hugs at Flamingo Island Flea market. Neither the flea market nor Gator Man Mike Sturgill will pay the $ 3,500 application fee to seek permission for an ordinance exception.

GEORGIA Atlanta: Judson Turner, director of the Environmental Protection Division, told the Board of Natural Resources he supported a plan that would allow farmers to raise more pigs before they would be forced to follow expensive, stricter rules to prevent manure from being washed into waterways.

HAWAII Honolulu: Gov. Abercrombie, a Democrat, is calling on the people of Hawaii to ring a bell to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’ s “I Have a Dream” speech. Hawaii’s “Let Freedom Ring” bell- ringing event will take place today at 3 p. m.

IDAHO Soda Springs: The Caribou County sheriff’s office said human remains found near a reservoir in eastern Idaho have been returned to the ShoshoneBannock Tribes.

ILLINOIS Chicago: The MacArthur Foundation is increasing the value of its annual “genius grants” to $ 625,000. Previously, grants of $ 500,000 have been awarded to winners who work in fields including music, medicine, the arts and journalism.

INDIANA New Castle: Frank Pfenninger, 88, who was drafted by the Army in World War II during his senior year in high school has received his diploma. He told The Courier- Times

he never worried about not having it as he worked at Chrysler for 38 years after the war. But family members wanted him to have a diploma and worked with former New Castle school administrator Beverly Hankenhoff to get one.

IOWA Des Moines: The police chief wants to tighten her department’s policy for car chases. Chief Judy Bradshaw told The Des Moines Regis

ter she won’t ban chases, but she will tighten the rules regarding them. She wants to make it easier for officers and their supervisors to call off chases in dangerous situations.

KANSAS Lawrence: A Lawrence man has riffed and thrashed his way past 16 other contestants from Europe and Japan to win the world air guitar championship. Eric Melin is known as Mean Melin on the air guitar circuit, where contestants pretend to be playing a guitar.

KENTUCKY Louisville: The first Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Awards will be presented Oct. 3 in Louisville, the former heavyweight champion’s hometown. The Muhammad Ali Center said Tuesday that six awards will honor people ages 35 and younger for making significant contributions for peace, social justice and other causes.

LOUISIANA New Orleans: Head Start contractor Total Community Action in New Orleans didn’t enroll enough preschoolers to justify its federal grant, an audit finds. The report from the state legislative auditor’s office says the non- profit needed at least 2,510 students but had enrolled only 1,951 in December.

MAINE Brunswick: The air show planned for next month may have been canceled at the former Brunswick Naval Air Station, but the redevelopment authority has been keeping busy. The Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority said 214 private sector jobs have been created and 260 acres and 24 buildings conveyed to the private sector as of this summer. The base closed in May 2011.

MARYLAND Baltimore: Under Armour is ending its 10- year sponsorship of the Baltimore Marathon, but organizers said the Oct. 12 race will go on as planned. About 19,000 runners have already registered.

MASSACHUSETTS Boston: A Harvard law professor and an Australian record company are embroiled in a legal battle over a song video the professor used in an online lecture. Record company Liberation Music threatened to sue Lawrence Lessig, a leading scholar of Internet law and an advocate for fewer copyright restrictions, for allegedly violating its rights by using music from the hit song

Lisztomania by the band Phoenix during a lecture.

MICHIGAN Sterling Heights: Family members are teaming with the University of Michigan to establish a scholarship fund to honor Staff Sgt. Ergin Osman, who served multiple tours of duty as a Marine and then with the Army when he was killed in 2011 in Afghanistan.

MINNESOTA Minneapolis: The world’s oldest known wild black bear has died of old age at 391⁄ 2. Bear No. 56 was first captured and radiocollared in 1981 when Ronald Reagan was early in his first term.

MISSISSIPPI Jackson: The Mississippi Energy Institute is making a pitch to politicians and business leaders that the state get into the used nuclear fuel storage business,

The Clarion- Ledger reported.

MISSOURI Joplin: Developers are asking the public for ideas on how to develop the site of a hospital that was destroyed in the tornado in 2011. Wallace Bajjali Development Partners scheduled two public sessions for Thursday.

MONTANA

Billings: A private citizen shot and killed a wolf in the Jardine area after the animal killed several chickens and a cat. The female collared wolf was shot Saturday in the process while eating one of the chickens it had killed.

NEBRASKA Lincoln: John Parish, regional manager for the University of Nebraska Bookstore’s parent company, Follett Higher Education Group, said his customers would rather buy or rent real textbooks than acquire digital copies.

NEVADA Reno: The Reno- area economic development agency wants

the world to know the Biggest Little City has more to offer. A new marketing campaign seeks to replace racy ads on taxicabs and billboards with a more wholesome message.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: Activists said more than 400 people have signed a petition against a plan to bring in an armored vehicle. The City Council is considering whether it should accept a federal grant of $ 260,000 to buy the BearCat vehicle. The Council is scheduled to vote on the matter on Sept. 9.

NEW JERSEY New Brunswick: Rutgers University has welcomed its largest class of international students, 1,500 undergraduate and graduate students from more than 125 countries.

NEW MEXICO Santa

Fe: Albuquerque lawyer John Wertheim said he’s running for state treasurer next year. Wertheim was state Democratic Party chairman from 2004 to 2007.

NEW YORK Buffalo:

Forty tons of chicken wings were delivered for the National Buffalo Chicken Wing Festival this weekend at Coca- Cola Field. The 12th annual festival will feature servings of 100 styles of wings, live music and a wing- eating contest.

NORTH CAROLINA Ra

leigh: The state government’s 10,000 employees at public mental hospitals, substance abuse treatment centers and other facilities for people with disabilities will have to get flu vaccinations by Dec. 1.

NORTH DAKOTA Fargo: A man was arraigned on civil rights and threat charges for allegedly threatening a synagogue. The indictment alleges that Dominique Jason Flanigan called Temple Beth El in January 2011 and left a voice mail message threatening the employees. OHIO Columbus: Attorney General Mike DeWine said law enforcement officials have found 770 meth labs in the state since October, up from 607 in fiscal 2012 and 375 in 2011.

OREGON Aurora: Mayor Gregory Max Taylor is resigning after his third arrest in nine years on a charge of intoxicated driving.

RHODE ISLAND South Kingstown: The University of Rhode Island has been awarded a $ 1.2 million National Science Foundation grant to help recruit and train teachers in STEM fields. Over the next five years, the grant from the Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program will support scholarships for 20 undergraduates and five professionals in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math.

SOUTH CAROLINA Myrtle Beach: The championship round of the 30th anniversary Golf. com World Amateur Handicap Championship is set for Friday at the Dye Club at Barefoot Resort. More than 3,300 golfers are participating in the tournament this week at golf courses along the Grand Strand.

SOUTH DAKOTA Rapid City: Residents of a canyon area just outside the city limits are pressing for wildlife officials to remove a mountain lion they said has killed a deer and dozens of cats. Game, Fish and Parks Department Regional Supervisor Mike Kintigh said he understands the concerns, but rules bar the agency from killing the lion.

TENNESSEE Knoxville: A main Knoxville bridge will reopen several months ahead of time, in time for the Thanksgiving holiday. The bridge, which connects downtown Knoxville to south Knoxville, will have wider sidewalks for pedestrians and bike lanes in each direction.

TEXAS South Padre Island: A federal agency cited a waterpark for several worker safety violations and imposed a fine of nearly $ 100,000 after the death of a lifeguard in March.

UTAH Logan: A Utah State University student died after hitting a nylon web stretched between trees on campus on his bicycle, the campus police chief said Tuesday. Eric Scott Anderson, 24, was riding a bicycle when he ran into the “slack line” suspended about chest high, Chief Steve Mecham said.

VERMONT Montpelier: Vermont’s only nuclear power plant will shut down by the end of next year, ending a legal battle over the future of the 4- decade- old plant, Entergy Corp. announced Tuesday. The Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station is expected to cease power production after its current fuel cycle, the company said.

VIRGINIA Richmond: All 36 state parks will offer volunteer opportunities Sept. 7- 11, during the annual National Day of Service and Remembrance that was established as a remembrance of the 9/ 11 attacks. The chores include trail and shoreline cleanup, splitting firewood and more.

WASHINGTON Seattle: Teachers voted to reject a contract proposal as the start of classes draws near. Education Association President Jonathan Knapp said the vote was nearly unanimous among the more than 1,800 union members at a general membership meeting. A sticking point is whether to add 30 minutes to the workday of elementary school teachers.

WEST VIRGINIA

Charleston: State officials are beginning to tally its costs to support the Boy Scout Jamboree. Gov. Tomblin’s staff expected to pour some $ 1.6 million worth of resources to keep things running smoothly at the 10- day event at the Summit Bechtel Family Scout Reserve near Glen Jean. The Register

Herald reported that so far officials said about $ 413,000 in West Virginia resources were spent for the event last month.

WISCONSIN Waupun: Lt. Bradley Young, a police officer accused of burglary, stealing two vehicles and leading other officers on a high- speed chase, submitted his resignation.

WYOMING Rock Springs: A Green River man is accused of using fireworks to damage his cousin’s pickup. Kyle Henderson allegedly put a large mortar shell firework in the bed of Justin Palmer’s Dodge Ram and put another one in its tail pipe. Sheriff Rich Haskell said Henderson was upset by something Palmer had said to him.