USA TODAY International Edition
50 States From staff and wire reports
ALABAMA Prattville: The city’s iconic downtown landmark – Daniel Pratt’s mill complex, dubbed “the gin shop” by locals – took center stage Tuesday for a group of about 30 from Cahaba Brewing Company who came from Birmingham for a little history lesson about the buildings linked to the Continental Gin Co. structure where the brewery is housed.
ALASKA Anchorage: A family-oriented downhill skiing area called Skeetawk is scheduled to open next winter through a grass-roots effort.
ARIZONA Glendale: The free event Glitter & Glow runs 4-10 p.m. Saturday. The glitter is provided by 1.6 million LED lights that have shined throughout the holidays. The glow comes from 18 hot-air balloons.
ARKANSAS Bull Shoals: Arkansas State Parks will host its annual Eagle Awareness weekend at the park Friday and Saturday.
CALIFORNIA Sacramento: The state would become the first to require businesses to offer electronic receipts unless customers ask for paper copies under legislation proposed this week.
COLORADO Fort Collins: After a long journey from Holland and weeks of training, Fort Collins Police Services has a new member on its K-9 team. Eleiko, a 1-year-old Dutch shepherd, is the department’s newest addition, a dual-purpose patrol and narcotics detection canine.
CONNECTICUT Rocky Hill: The Department of Agriculture is holding the Connecticut Farm-to-School Conference – a day of training sessions, panel discussions and networking – on Jan. 22 at the Hartford Sheraton South.
DELAWARE Dover: Surf fishers in the state could face a fee increase and program cap of 17,000 permits this year, if two proposals by the Parks & Recreation division are passed.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: The City Council has unanimously passed emergency legislation allowing Mayor Muriel Bowser to issue marriage licenses during the partial government shutdown.
FLORIDA Largo: A sheriff’s deputy has resigned after telling authorities he sent a toy bomb to a colleague as a joke.
GEORGIA Atlanta: Corrections officials have agreed to improve conditions for prisoners held in the state’s most restrictive solitary confinement facility.
HAWAII Honolulu: The Hawaii House of Representatives is expected to update the chamber’s sexual harassment policy a year after its former speaker resigned to resolve allegations brought by several women.
IDAHO Boise: Gov. Brad Little is recommending a 3 percent merit-based pay increase for state employees in his proposed budget.
ILLINOIS Rockford: A man who spent more than two decades in prison for a murder conviction obtained with shoddy ballistics evidence is getting a chance to prove his innocence with a new trial. The retrial of Patrick Pursley, 53, in the 1993 killing of Andy Ascher, 22, is set to begin Thursday.
INDIANA Indianapolis: “Saturday Night Live” alumnus Jay Pharoah will be among performers at the new Helium Comedy Club downtown when it opens in March.
IOWA Indianapolis: Iowans love the smooth, sweet sound of “Tennessee Whiskey.” TouchTunes, a digital jukebox service, shared its topplayed songs and artists across the Hawkeye State in 2018 – a list led by Chris Stapleton’s take on the classic.
KANSAS Topeka: Gov.-elect Laura Kelly plans to put a former corrections secretary back in charge of the prison system and have a military doctor run the health department.
KENTUCKY Frankfort: A bipartisan group of lawmakers has introduced a bill to legalize medical marijuana, including a Republican state senator who said he “smoked a joint” when he was diagnosed with cancer.
LOUISIANA New Orleans: The police department is inviting members of the city’s LGBTQ community to take part in an anonymous online survey “as a means to better engage with the community and to assess police activities.”
MAINE Augusta: The new Democratic governor says a state museum will keep housing a mural depicting the history of Maine’s labor movement that her Republican predecessor fought to put in storage.
MARYLAND Quantico: Plans are in the works to develop Wicomico County’s newest park, the property known as “Pirate’s Wharf.”
MASSACHUSETTS Boston: The question of how to best divvy up state education dollars is again shaping up as a top issue in the new legislative session in the state.
MICHIGAN Detroit: Blues queen Thornetta Davis, soul-rocker Laith Al-Saadi and musicians from a host of genres will play the 2019 Quicken Loans Winter Blast Weekends – the reconfigured version of the fest long known as Winter Blast.
MINNESOTA Minneapolis: Several members of the state’s congressional delegation said they will donate their pay to charity during the partial federal government shutdown.
MISSISSIPPI Pascagoula: A search for a missing cat led to the discovery of a 7-foot alligator inside a storm drain. The cat wasn’t found.
MISSOURI Webb City: No one wants an eight-decade-old bridge in Jasper County that officials were giving away for free.
MONTANA Helena: Wildlife officials say a hunter shot a wolf on the plains of northeastern Montana, the first harvested in the region since Congress removed federal protections for the predators in 2011.
NEBRASKA Lincoln: A state lawmaker wants to close a 143-year-old loophole in the state constitution that allows people to be enslaved as punishment for a crime.
NEVADA Reno: A lot of people are actually moving into the Silver State. Nevada ranked high in two annual mover studies once again – nabbing the top spot in one of them.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: Lawmakers in the state are preparing to consider a new push against plastic bags.
NEW JERSEY Atlantic City: The Miss New Jersey Pageant will be moving to this seaside city for the next two years.
NEW MEXICO Las Cruces: A charter school named after civil rights leader Dolores Huerta is facing closure over poor performance.
NEW YORK New York: The owners of the Chrysler Building are putting the landmark Art Deco skyscraper on the market.
NORTH CAROLINA Asheville: Buncombe County will offer an Amnesty Day on Jan. 25. Anyone with old warrants or an order for arrest related to an outstanding misdemeanor or traffic citation issued in the county is eligible to see whether their case can be reset for hearing and possibly dismissed.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: Gov. Doug Burgum says construction of a Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora would elevate the state’s reputation around the globe.
OHIO Cleveland: Lessie Brown, a 114-year-old woman who was believed to be the oldest person in the United States, died Tuesday, her grandson said. OKLAHOMA Okay: A project to rebuild 16 miles of Oklahoma Highway 16 is being delayed because of its possible effect on a population of endangered gray bats.
PENNSYLVANIA Pittsburgh: Actor and Pennsylvania native Joe Manganiello stopped by a children’s hospital to lead patients in a game of Dungeons and Dragons.
RHODE ISLAND Narragansett: The ongoing federal government shutdown is affecting the planning for a proposed wind farm project off New England’s coast.
SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: Parents in the state can get in trouble with the law if they leave their kids in a parked car or let them play in a park by themselves. But a new bill wants to change that, clarifying the rules to say kids who are old and mature enough don’t always have to have adult supervision.
SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: For the first time in decades, a U.S. Navy ship named for the state is getting ready to join the fleet.
TENNESSEE Memphis: Elvis Presley Enterprises says an auction at The Guest House Graceland netted more than $600,000 on what would’ve been the star’s 84th birthday.
TEXAS Austin: State Republican leaders are signaling that a failed “bathroom bill” in 2017 that targeted transgender individuals and upended the legislature isn’t coming back.
UTAH St. George: Mayor Jon Pike and members of the city council will commemorate the city’s 157th birthday by preparing free root beer floats and cookies at the Social Hall Parlor from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday. In addition to the refreshments downtown, several other freebies will be available, including free admission to the Sand Hollow Aquatic Center, St. George Recreation Center and St. George Art Museum.
VERMONT Shelburne: Fire officials say a large stockpile of ammunition exploded in a barn fire, posing a threat to firefighters at the scene.
VIRGINIA Arlington: The Atlantic States commission says the health of the menhaden population will be the subject of meetings in Arlington in early April intended to inform the management of the Atlantic menhaden fishery.
WASHINGTON Seattle: A major thoroughfare for commuters along downtown Seattle’s waterfront is set to shut down for good Friday, ushering in what officials say will be one of the most painful traffic periods in the city’s history.
WEST VIRGINIA Lewisburg: The State Fair of West Virginia is accepting applications for scholarships to be awarded to young people who have participated in the fair.
WISCONSIN Milwaukee: Demolitions experts on Sunday will finish the work promised by rockers Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen and the Rolling Stones: They’ll blow the roof off the Bradley Center. A ring of explosives will be detonated on the joints that support the massive roof trusses on the 30-year-old arena that closed last summer.
WYOMING Gillette: A man who tried to flee from authorities in a stolen cement truck will serve at least 12 years in prison.