USA TODAY International Edition
50 ★ STATES
ALABAMA Gadsden: Hundreds of fish have been added to Black Creek as part of an effort to boost tourism.
ALASKA Anchorage: A new FBI report says the state has the nation’s highest rate of sexual assault, and violent crime has increased.
ARIZONA Phoenix: More bald eagle breeding areas this year didn’t result in more nestlings in the state.
ARKANSAS Fayetteville: Court records show a former lobbyist who pleaded guilty to bribing three former state lawmakers will be sentenced this month. Rusty Cranford could face up to 10 years in federal prison.
CALIFORNIA Santa Rosa: A brewery owner upset with devastating fires sparked by Pacific Gas & Electric power lines is producing a beer he named “F--- PG& E.” Shady Oak’s brew has sparked a backlash.
COLORADO Denver: A Muslim civil rights group is protesting after an arena security guard told a woman to remove her hijab before she could enter to see her young daughter sing the national anthem with her school choir at a Denver Nuggets game.
CONNECTICUT Hartford: Republicans in the state Senate are unveiling an alternative transportation plan they say doesn’t rely on tolls or taxes.
DELAWARE Wilmington: The state’s birding community is mourning the loss of William “Bill” Stewart Jr., who died Tuesday after battling cancer, while celebrating his legacy of conservation and determination. A celebration of life will be held Friday at the Delaware Nature Society’s Ashland Nature Center in Hockessin.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: A landlord in the district is being forced to pay $ 1.1 million in rent payments to former residents who homes were plagued by pests, mold and raw sewage and violated housing and fire codes.
FLORIDA Orlando: Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom is decked out with holiday- themed entertainment and decor for the first time since it opened in 1998.
GEORGIA Atlanta: A nonpartisan organization has placed a national debt clock downtown ahead of a Democratic presidential debate coming to the city next week.
HAWAII Honolulu: A man was surfing with his girlfriend when he knelt down on one knee on his board and proposed. Hawaii News Now reports Lauren Oiye said yes just before Chris Garth dropped the ring in the ocean – luckily, it was a stand- in for the real one, which was waiting back on land.
IDAHO Rexburg: Brigham Young University- Idaho has stopped accepting Medicaid as health insurance coverage, forcing full- time students to buy a university- backed plan.
ILLINOIS Springfield: A copy of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address that was handwritten by the 16th president himself is on display at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum for two weeks.
INDIANA Indianapolis: Gov. Eric Holcomb isn’t promising quick action on the call for boosting teacher pay that thousands of educators will be making at the Statehouse next week.
IOWA Des Moines: The Slaughterhouse haunted attraction has a new home downtown and will host a Krampus Krawl on Dec. 7.
KANSAS Wichita: The City Council approved a public financing package worth about $ 35.5 million to subsidize creation of a medical school for training osteopathic physicians.
KENTUCKY Frankfort: A federal court is allowing a man to personalize a license plate reading “IM GOD” after a three- year legal battle.
LOUISIANA Baton Rouge: A legislative auditor says 18 cities, towns and villages in the state may be close to reaching bankruptcy or inability to provide basic services to residents.
MAINE Harpswell: The town wants the Navy to protect the clam flats as part of its remediation plan for the former Brunswick Naval Air Station.
MARYLAND Baltimore: The city has reached 300 homicides in a year for the fifth year in a row.
MASSACHUSETTS Sudbury: The Sky Bar, the multiflavored chocolate bar divided into four sections, is back on the market after a yearlong hiatus. The Boston Globe reports production and sales of the confection have resumed at a suburban gourmet shop, Duck Soup.
MICHIGAN Jackson: A museum at a former prison is closing at the year’s end. Cell Block 7 allows visitors to step into the cells and walk the corridors of what was once the largest walled institution in the world.
MINNESOTA St. Paul: The battle over the name of a popular Minneapolis lake has landed before the state Supreme Court. Justices heard arguments Wednesday on whether the state Department of Natural Resources has the authority to change the name of Lake Calhoun back to its original Dakota name, Bde Maka Ska.
MISSISSIPPI Rolling Fork: The state is naming a stretch of land in the south Delta in honor of the twoterm governor who is leaving office in January. Officials gathered Wednesday to dedicate the Phil Bryant Wildlife Management Area.
MONTANA Butte: Ennis National Fish Hatchery will be locked at night and use security cameras after vandals mutilated about 20 fish.
NEBRASKA Lincoln: The state Transportation Department is offering to produce and emplace roadside memorials as a way to keep highways free of safety hazards.
NEVADA Las Vegas: Elon Musk’s Boring Co. will begin drilling an underground tunnel Friday for the Las Vegas Convention Center’s forthcoming people mover.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Durham: After facing criticism over its prior holiday celebrations, the town is making some tweaks, planning a “Frost Fest” without a tree- lighting ceremony or grand entrance from Santa.
NEW JERSEY Toms River: The state Department of Environmental Protection will trap and relocate scores of wild turkeys that have descended on a retirement community.
NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: The U. S. Forest Service and state officials have reached an agreement they say will strengthen their relationship as they work to improve forest conditions in the state.
NEW YORK New York: Until recently, city police secretly kept fingerprints of arrested children on file permanently in a department database. After years of resistance, the NYPD said Wednesday that it has purged all juvenile fingerprint records from the database.
NORTH CAROLINA Durham: An opossum has illegally taken up residence in the ceiling of a Duke University dorm, where students have been complaining about flea bites.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: State officials have given an estimate on how much oil was spilled from a pipeline leak in Williams County last month: 12,432 gallons.
OHIO Dayton: A traveling exhibit celebrating the service and heroism of military working dogs and the sacrifices they make during battle is being displayed at the National Museum of the U. S. Air Force.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: District attorneys are raising concerns about a proposed new ballot measure aimed at further reducing the state’s prison population.
OREGON Medford: Traditional Christmas feasts featuring Dungeness crab may not be in the cards this year, as officials have delayed the state’s commercial crabbing season due to the crustaceans’ small size.
PENNSYLVANIA Harrisburg: The FBI has begun a corruption investigation into how Gov. Tom Wolf ’ s administration came to issue permits for construction on a multibillion- dollar pipeline project to carry volatile natural gas liquids across the state.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: A federal judge has sided with the cities of Providence and Central Falls after they challenged the conditions of U. S. Department of Justice public safety grants they said would turn police into federal immigration agents.
SOUTH CAROLINA Clemson: Bars throughout this college town’s downtown are signed on to the Angel Shot program, offering patrons a way to request help if they don’t feel safe.
SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: A man sentenced to 90 years in prison for killing his stepfather has petitioned the court in Minnehaha County to change his name from Daniel Charles to Rameus Tiberius Aryada because he wants a fresh start.
TENNESSEE Nashville: The Tennessee State Museum is collecting stories of cultural identity, immigration and migration from the public. People can add their own stories and read others’ on the museum website.
TEXAS Robstown: Nueces County has unveiled StoryWalk, a feature at Oscar O. Ortiz Park in which pages of picture books are displayed in wooden stands along paths so residents can read while they walk. It’s an effort to promote literacy and physical activity, and the county plans to implement StoryWalk at more parks.
UTAH Salt Lake City: Former Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. has announced his 2020 candidacy for the Republican nomination for the office he held from 2005 to 2009 before leaving to serve as a U. S. ambassador.
VERMONT Montpelier: Five groups are sharing over $ 1 million to use phosphorus recovery technologies as the state works to reduce algae- causing phosphorus runoff into Lake Champlain and other waterways.
VIRGINIA Richmond: A task force has been created to come up with ways to help mitigate and prevent evictions in the city.
WASHINGTON Seattle: A weeklong hearing will help determine whether a small American Indian tribe from the state’s northwest corner can once again hunt whales. The Makah Tribe conducted its last legal hunt in 1999 and has struggled to obtain a waiver.
WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: The West Virginia Board of Education will give the public 60 days to comment on a proposal on charter schools, double the normal allotted time.
WISCONSIN Madison: Gov. Tony Evers is asking the Republican leaders of the Legislature’s budget committee to release $ 3.7 million a year in funding to pay for programs designed to help homeless people.
WYOMING Yellowstone National Park: The National Park Service says snowy weather last month likely cut down on visitors to Yellowstone during October.