USA TODAY International Edition
50 ★ States
News from across the USA
ALABAMA Tuscaloosa: Civil rights attorney Fred David Gray received an honorary doctorate Sunday from the University of Alabama School of Law, which he noted wasn’t an option for a Black man when he earned his Juris Doctor out of his home state in 1954.
ALASKA Juneau: The U. S. Commerce Department is allocating $ 131.9 million to the state for fisheries disasters that occurred between 2018 and 2021.
ARKANSAS Fort Smith: The Salvation Army Fort Smith is offering free training Wednesday for those interested in serving their neighbors in need when disaster strikes.
CALIFORNIA San Francisco: Californians can buy foie gras produced out of state and sent by a third party despite a state ban on the delicacy, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.
COLORADO Loveland: A former police officer has been sentenced to prison for assaulting a woman with dementia during a June 2020 arrest.
CONNECTICUT New Haven: Vanessa Avery was sworn in Monday as the U. S. attorney for Connecticut, becoming the first Black woman to serve as the state’s top federal prosecutor.
DELAWARE Dover: The state House has approved a bill legalizing possession of up to an ounce of marijuana by adults for recreational use.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: The discovery of a mallard’s nest has paused construction work on the new Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge, WUSA- TV reports.
FLORIDA Fort Lauderdale: The owner of a popular food boat is promising to rebuild after his vessel sank on Mother’s Day while workers were still on board, though no one was hurt.
GEORGIA Atlanta: A nuclear power plant being built near Augusta is now projected to cost over $ 30 billion.
HAWAII Honolulu: The population of endangered Hawaiian monk seals has surpassed a level not seen in more than two decades, according to federal officials, who credited conservation efforts for the improvement.
IDAHO Boise: Republican Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin, who is running for governor, has a $ 2,000 budget deficit in her office that will have to come out of her successor’s appropriation.
ILLINOIS Chicago: The city is providing $ 500,000 to increase access to abortion, particularly for poor people and people of color, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Monday.
INDIANA Indianapolis: Utilities shut off electricity to Hoosier households nearly 265,000 times over the past two years, making the state the thirdworst in the nation by that metric, according to a new report.
IOWA Des Moines: GoGo Plaza at Blank Park Zoo officially opened Friday to heighten accessibility options for visitors, offering a family restroom, a cooling area, a parents’ room and an adult- sized changing table.
KANSAS Topeka: Gov. Laura Kelly has signed into law a meat- labeling bill pushed by the cattle industry to protect consumers who may be confused by plant- based alternatives.
KENTUCKY Frankfort: Artists across the commonwealth are invited to submit their work by June 3 for possible exhibition at the state Capitol. The project began last year as a way express pride in Kentucky and connect through art amid the pandemic.
LOUISIANA Shreveport: Drones are being used to help fight mosquitoes in Caddo Parish. They’ll spray insecticide into hard- to- reach areas.
MAINE Augusta: The state has changed its protection- from- abuse laws in an effort to make them more accessible and easier to understand for survivors of domestic violence.
MARYLAND Williamsport: Two construction barges broke free from their moorings amid flooding on the Potomac River over the weekend and floated miles downstream before being snagged by underwater materials, a National Park Service official said.
MASSACHUSETTS Hyannis: A new interactive map aims to show town officials, planners and developers the best locations to build housing on Cape Cod, prioritizing affordability and environmental protection.
MICHIGAN Flint: A judge granted a seven- week extension Monday to file claims for a share of a $ 626 million settlement over the city’s leadcontaminated water.
MINNESOTA Minneapolis: The 2026 Special Olympics USA Games will be held at the University of Minnesota, officials announced Friday. Gov. Tim Walz said he is “incredibly proud” to have the state host the seven- day event.
MISSISSIPPI Jackson: Wild hogs have become a big problem, causing $ 60 million in annual damage in the state, so the Department of Agriculture and Commerce is offering free use of high- tech “smart” traps to landowners and managers.
MISSOURI Jefferson City: Campaigns to legalize recreational marijuana use and allow ranked- choice voting in the state both turned in signatures Sunday that they’d gathered to get the measures on ballots.
MONTANA Bozeman: Researchers with Montana State University are working to document the state’s native bee population. When the project began five years, 250 wild species were known in Montana. Now, project organizers estimate up to 1,000 native bee species.
NEBRASKA Omaha: Voters will be deciding primary elections Tuesday, with the state’s top race a GOP primary for governor, featuring a Donald Trump- endorsed candidate accused of groping multiple women.
NEVADA Las Vegas: A week after a decades- old body was found in receding Lake Mead, authorities are trying to identify a second set of newly discovered human remains.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: The number of dams in the state most at risk of failing has increased 51% in the past three years, according to an Associated Press analysis.
NEW JERSEY Trenton: After the first two weeks of legal weed sales, the state’s nascent cannabis industry shows no signs of slowing. The main bone of contention among early reviews has been cost.
NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: State regulators have approved new standards intended to increase availability of electric vehicles and add infrastructure like charging stations.
NEW YORK New York: Through April, rat sightings reported to the city’s 311 line this year suggest the rodents are far more visible since the COVID- 19 pandemic began.
NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: The state Supreme Court said it will take over a lawsuit seeking to alter when felony offenders can vote again.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: The state attorney general’s office has again refused to get involved in a dispute over ownership of the historic Bismarck- Mandan Rail Bridge, which BNSF Railway plans to raze.
OHIO Columbus: The state’s bipartisan election officials organization shot down a critique of the 2020 election Sunday, saying Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s donations to help with logistics weren’t distributed in a partisan manner.
OKLAHOMA Lawton: Two former police officers have been charged with first- degree manslaughter in the fatal December shooting of a Black man while responding to an alleged protective order violation.
OREGON Portland: An acute shortage of public defenders in the state means at any given time, at least several hundred low- income defendants don’t have legal representation, sometimes in serious felony cases that could put them away for years.
PENNSYLVANIA Philadelphia: A cheesesteak restaurant founder and one of his sons have pleaded guilty in a federal tax fraud case alleging the hiding of nearly $ 8 million in sales.
RHODE ISLAND South Kingstown: The University of Rhode Island has established a scholarship program that’s helping 15 Narragansett Indian Tribe citizens pay for their education this year, the school said Monday.
SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: State offices will be closed Tuesday to mark Confederate Memorial Day. A bill that would allow state employees to take Juneteenth or any other day off instead appears likely to die this week.
SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: A World War II- era B- 25 bomber that was set to tour the set this week has developed mechanical issues, prompting the tour to be postponed.
TENNESSEE Knoxville: Students applying to attend the University of Tennessee next fall will be required to submit standardized test scores, ending a pandemic exception.
TEXAS Houston: A conservative activist charged with unlawful restraint and aggravated assault had asked a U. S. attorney to provide federal marshals to help his private investigator seize what they claimed would be fraudulent voter ballots from an air conditioner repairman’s vehicle, according to a transcript filed in district court in Houston.
UTAH Salt Lake City: After a protracted battle with the Utah Transit Authority, a group of 40 rail supervisors are members of Teamsters Local 222, the union said in a press release.
VERMONT Burlington: The ex- director of a federal grant program for the Abenaki Self Help Association Inc. has been sentenced to eight months in prison for embezzling tens of thousands of dollars from the tribal group, according to a U. S. attorney’s office.
VIRGINIA Richmond: A contractor working on a $ 25 million tunnel that will connect the state Capitol to an office building “inadvertently” poked through the ceiling of a subterranean Capitol extension earlier this year, causing debris to fall into the visitors center cafe, a state official said.
WASHINGTON Issaquah: Wildlife officials trying to capture a 300pound black bear for two years say his GPS collar that was supposed to fall off hasn’t and might be too tight.
WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: Jill Scarbro- McLaury, who owns a learning center for children with autism, has been selected as the U. S. Small Business Administration’s smallbusiness person of the year.
WISCONSIN Madison: Police asked for the public’s help Monday in tracking down those who vandalized and threw Molotov cocktails into the office of an anti- abortion group.
WYOMING Casper: A state senator is facing possible censure by a countylevel GOP group over his support for Medicaid expansion and statements about party infighting, the Casper Star- Tribune reports.