USA TODAY International Edition
News from across the USA 50 States
ALABAMA Moody: An underground fire at a landfill has continued to pollute the air more than 50 days after a fire began underground, according to air quality monitors.
ALASKA Anchorage: City auditors say they plan to look further into actions made by former health director Joe Gerace during his tenure, Alaska Public Media reports.
ARIZONA Tucson: Authorities continue to search for a suspect in a road- rage shooting that left one man dead and two others wounded.
ARKANSAS Wedington Woods: Authorities are investigating a house fire that left one person dead and sent another person to the hospital, the Arkansas Democrat- Gazette reports.
COLORADO Denver: A single- vehicle crash involving a delivery truck carrying Tuesday editions of the Fort Collins Coloradoan and USA TODAY delayed delivery of the newspapers. The driver of the truck was not seriously injured in the crash.
CONNECTICUT Hartford: Gov. Ned Lamont announced that special elections will be scheduled for Feb. 28 to fill three vacancies in the state’s House of Representatives.
DELAWARE New Castle: Police have charged a 16- year- old boy in relation to a gunshot that was fired inside William Penn High School last week.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: Police said a juvenile boy was taken to the hospital after walking into a firehouse with a gunshot wound, WUSA- TV reports.
FLORIDA Leon County: A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit against Leon County Schools that alleged the district spoke to a teen about gender identity without the parents’ permission – a requirement under a controversial Florida law. U. S. District Judge Mark Walker wrote that a state court, not federal, is the best venue, as the suit’s claims do not meet the standard that federal case law requires.
GEORGIA Perry: A prosecutor says he won’t pursue criminal charges against a sheriff ’ s deputy who in February 2022 shot and killed a man who had been reported as suicidal.
HAWAII Honolulu: An analysis from Wallethub ranked Hawaii as the worst state to drive in based on a variety of metrics, including gas prices and maintenance costs, HawaiiNewsNow reports.
IDAHO Driggs: A pet was killed in a mobile home fire, East Idaho News reports.
ILLINOIS Peoria: A fire at a Planned Parenthood clinic is being investigated as arson, police said, just days after the state enacted sweeping abortion protections.
INDIANA Indianapolis: Republican Rep. Jim Banks, a combative defender of former President Donald Trump, announced that he is running for the U. S. Senate seat from Indiana being vacated by GOP Sen. Mike Braun.
IOWA Des Moines: A sex trafficking victim who got a deferred judgment for killing a man she said repeatedly raped her, then violated her probation by walking away from a transitional center, will have to wait longer to learn if she will be sent to prison. Pieper Lewis had been scheduled to appear in court Wednesday, but Polk County Judge David M. Porter granted a delay. The hearing now will be held March 23.
KANSAS Manhattan: Business owners will now have better access to support, research and expertise, thanks to a Kansas State University initiative to create more than 3,000 jobs and generate $ 3 billion in investment by 2030 through a partnership with Network Kansas.
KENTUCKY Frankfort: Kentucky has been identified as one of the first states to receive federal approval for an initiative meant to connect military families with quality child care, Gov. Andy Beshear said.
LOUISIANA New Orleans: More gun prosecutions are being brought in federal court in the city than at any time in at least 15 years, a review by The Times- Picayune found.
MAINE Kittery: Public parking regulations may be imposed for an area of Badgers Island West after residents and business owners voiced concerns over vehicle congestion.
MARYLAND Annapolis: Gov.- elect Wes Moore filled out more of his team, announcing the appointment of 10 cabinet secretaries to lead the state’s executive branch agencies.
MASSACHUSETTS Worcester: A nursing assistant was acquitted of sexually assaulting an elderly resident at Knollwood Nursing Center.
MICHIGAN Sterling Heights: Someone trying to steal a Ram pickup from a shipping yard for Sterling Heights Assembly Plant struck a police car during a failed heist attempt of multiple trucks, police said. Nine people were arrested.
MINNESOTA Minneapolis: A woman who says she was denied a job as a greeter for a North Memorial Health hospital because she is deaf has agreed to a $ 180,000 settlement, the Star Tribune reports.
MISSISSIPPI Ridgeland: A former University of Mississippi and NFL football player has been arrested on kidnapping charges.
MISSOURI Louisiana: The former police chief is facing second- degree murder charges after his girlfriend’s brother died of a drug overdose in his home last year.
MONTANA Helena: Audrey ToddDavis has become the Baxendale Volunteer Fire Department’s first woman captain, the Independent Record reports.
NEBRASKA Omaha: A celebrity bowhunting couple was sentenced to probation and fines for conspiring to transport wildlife, the Lincoln Journal Star reports.
NEVADA Washoe County: Students in the school district will start seeing new additions to security on campuses this spring – including a gun- detecting dog.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Barrington: The state’s latest historical highway marker notes the gravesites of two people, including an African American woman who was enslaved as a child and who nursed the town’s sick residents during an epidemic.
NEW JERSEY Brigantine: Marine animal welfare officials say the most recent whale found dead on a shoreline had apparently been struck by a vessel.
NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: Legislators are preparing to tap a multibilliondollar budget surplus as they take on daunting challenges of surging gun violence, lagging student achievement in schools and low workforce participation during a 60- day legislative session that began Tuesday.
NEW YORK Brooklyn: A man made off with $ 300,000 cash in a bizarre Brink’s truck robbery last week, police say. According to police, the thief swiped an unattended money bag from the armored truck’s bumper while two other men distracted the Brink’s employee by asking him for directions.
NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: Two former House members who have now returned as representatives after years away have landed committee leadership positions, Speaker Tim Moore announced.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: The city commission has decided to continue a campaign raising money to address causes of homelessness, the Bismarck Tribune reports.
OHIO Cleveland: Republican state Sen. Matt Dolan said that he is again running for U. S. Senate as the GOP tries in 2024 to flip the Ohio seat long held by Democrat Sherrod Brown.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: The state’s tourism agency is recovering from a “toxic environment” and suffers from a lack of financial checks and balances, according to its new executive director.
OREGON Portland: U. S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici says she and her husband are recovering at home after being hit by a car on Friday evening.
PENNSYLVANIA Erie: Criminal charges will not be filed against anyone in two traffic accidents that led to the deaths of a driver in one of the crashes and a passenger in another crash, the Erie County District Attorney’s Office announced.
RHODE ISLAND Warwick: The trial of an off- duty Pawtucket police officer accused of shooting and wounding a teenager outside a pizzeria in 2021 without justification began Tuesday.
SOUTH CAROLINA Darlington: A second person has been arrested after an adult died at a long- term care facility in September.
SOUTH DAKOTA Pierre: A group of Republican lawmakers introduced a bill to outlaw gender- affirming health care for transgender youth.
TENNESSEE Nashville: Officials are encouraging rescue squads to apply for grant money to purchase lifesaving equipment. The Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance and the Tennessee State Fire Marshal’s Office said $ 2 million has been set aside to help rescue squads.
TEXAS Richmond: A man has pleaded guilty to his role in a scam in which women from across the nation were cheated out of a total of about $ 1.6 million by someone often pretending to be a U. S. Army general.
UTAH South Jordan: The Salt Lake Bees baseball team announced they are leaving Salt Lake City for a new stadium to be built in the Daybreak neighborhood of South Jordan, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.
VERMONT West Dover: A snowboarder was injured after falling from a chairlift at Mount Snow, the Brattleboro Reformer reports.
VIRGINIA Richmond: A Democrat- led Virginia Senate committee has voted down a bill that would have allowed prosecutors to charge drug dealers with second- degree murder if a user dies of an overdose.
WASHINGTON Seattle: A record 310 homeless people died in the area last year, highlighting the region’s struggle to help people living on its streets.
WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: The state may soon have a new holiday memorializing 75 people killed in a Marshall University plane crash more than 50 years ago.
WISCONSIN Madison: A judge dismissed an open records complaint against a Republican member of the Wisconsin Elections Commission who served as a fake elector for former President Donald Trump.
WYOMING Jackson: Officials are looking into a potential redesign of a skewed intersection that is confusing to motorists and pedestrians, Jackson Hole Daily reports.
From USA TODAY Network and wire reports