STATE-BY-STATE

ALABAMA Gadsden:

The city has approved a $12.5 million riverfront development work at Coosa Landing, The Gadsden Times reported.

ALASKA Anchorage:

Alaska’s portion of an international fiber optic system that will eventually link London and Tokyo via the Arctic has been completed, The Alaska Journal of Commerce reports.

ARIZONA Phoenix:

A tribal court has cleared the way for gay couples to marry on an American Indian reservation in the Phoenix area after a two-year legal battle, The Arizona Republic reports.

ARKANSAS Little Rock:

State environmental officials say there was no way the financial collapse of the Ozark Mountain Solid Waste District could have been prevented, The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports.

CALIFORNIA San Diego:

The University of California, San Diego is building an outdoor facility for test flying drones, The Union-Tribune reports.

COLORADO Denver:

Sales tax collections in Colorado resort towns notched another record this summer, marking five consecutive years of steadily increasing summer spending, The Denver Post reports.

CONNECTICUT Shelton:

The Shelton school board has a new fundraising policy. The Connecticut Post reports that fundraising campaigns must come from a group, not an individual.

DELAWARE Wilmington:

The Chemours specialty chemical company plans to build a research and innovation facility on the University of Delaware campus.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA:

Nearly 500 new jackets were given away to needy families in suburban Washington as part of Operation Warm and Firefighter Coats for Kids, WTOP reports.

FLORIDA West Palm Beach:

Surfing legend Kelly Slater is building a manmade wave park. Palm Beach County officials recently greenlighted the surf ranch, Florida Today reports.

GEORGIA Savannah:

Dissolving the merged police department shared by Savannah and surrounding Chatham County could prove costly. City officials plan to spend $1.4 million by the end of 2017 for equipping a new standalone police force.

HAWAII Wailuku:

A judge handed down an unusual sentence to a man who pleaded no contest to violating his ex-girlfriend’s protection order. Daren Young was ordered to write 144 compliments about her, The Maui News reports.

IDAHO Boise:

The estate of James Castle is attempting to delay the release of a new children’s book about the artist and suing its creators on a copyright infringement claim, The Idaho Statesman reports.

ILLINOIS Normal:

Lindsey Jensen is Illinois Teacher of the Year. She teaches advanced placement English, Shakespeare, American literature, drama and composition at Dwight Township High School.

INDIANA Fort Wayne:

A barge designed to break up log jams along Fort Wayne’s rivers has made its maiden voyage. Fort Wayne and Allen County spent $100,000 on the selfpropelled barge.

IOWA Des Moines:

Global Greens, a program that helps refugees become farmers, is getting a $24,000 federal grant.

KANSAS Lawrence:

The city will allow anyone with a proper permit to bring weapons into public buildings starting in January, The Lawrence Journal World reports.

KENTUCKY Benham:

Three small Eastern Kentucky towns are feeling their way toward a possible merger. Cumberland, Benham and Lynch will examine sharing services.

LOUISIANA Gonzales:

Authorities arrested four men accused of ramming a stolen truck into a convenience store and stealing an ATM.

MAINE Portland:

Seafood lovers might see the return of Maine shrimp next year. The fishery has been shut down since 2013.

MARYLAND Lothian:

Officials in Anne Arundel County are investigating why a helicopter sprayed herbicide at Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary while it was open and visitors were inside, the Baltimore Sun reports.

MASSACHUSETTS Boston:

A group of Massachusetts women lawmakers is urging mandatory sexual harassment training for all state employees.

MICHIGAN Kalamazoo:

A new park devoted to historic black inventors is designed to spark children’s creativity, The Kalamazoo Gazette reports.

MINNESOTA St. Paul:

Cafeteria workers in St. Paul Public Schools have voted to approve a new twoyear contract, The Star Tribune reports.

MISSISSIPPI Jackson:

Casino revenue fell statewide in September, with Gulf Coast casinos posting steeper declines than gambling halls along the Mississippi River.

MISSOURI Columbia:

The Columbia Police Department has released a smartphone application that residents can use to report crimes, The Columbia Daily Tribune reports.

MONTANA Billings:

Attorneys for Bull Mountain Mine are due in court Tuesday to seek reversal of an order that blocks the coal mine’s expansion plans.

NEBRASKA Lincoln:

Nebraskans who want to donate or receive deer meat can participate in the Deer Exchange. The state Game and Parks Commission says the program connects hunters who have a surplus of venison with people who could use some.

A graduate assistant for the University of Nevada in Reno’s football program was arrested on a drunken driving charge following a crash into the Nugget Casino Resort in Sparks, The Reno Gazette-Journal reports.

NEVADA Reno: NEW HAMPSHIRE Jefferson:

A plan to significantly expand a wildlife refuge that covers parts of the Connecticut River watershed is running into opposition.

NEW JERSEY Berkeley Township:

A local condominium association is fighting a plan to seize part of its beach for protective sand dunes along the coast.

NEW MEXICO Clovis:

Authorities say a man intentionally got himself arrested on a shoplifting charge so he could participate in a drug smuggling scheme in the Curry County jail, The Eastern New Mexico News reports.

NEW YORK Buffalo:

Catholic Health System will pay $6 million to settle allegations it provided some patients with unnecessary therapy services to boost profits.

NORTH CAROLINA Charlotte:

Outside interest groups are pouring money into Charlotte’s mayoral election, the first since the city passed LGBT protections that resulted in a state law banning such ordinances.

NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck:

An estimated 2,500 people gathered here Sunday to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, The Bismarck Tribune reports.

OHIO Cincinnati:

A deer got its head trapped in an orange plastic pumpkin bucket. But a group of Anderson Township residents were able to free it, WCPO-TV reports.

OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City:

Police say the city has recorded its 70th homicide of the year, The Oklahoman reports.

OREGON Salem:

The Oregon Department of Corrections is asking for the public’s help in finding an inmate who escaped from a Tillamook prison camp in 1986.

PENNSYLVANIA Media:

Officials say more than a dozen Penncrest High School football players became sick from an odor in their locker room, WCAU-TV reports.

RHODE ISLAND Providence:

A special legislative commission is looking into the potential effects of legalizing recreational marijuana.

SOUTH CAROLINA Charleston:

The Citadel has a new memorial that honors alumni killed in action in U.S. wars, The Post and Courier reports.

SOUTH DAKOTA Tabor:

A Hutterite colony was lauded for its progressive style of sheep production, The Yankton Press & Dakotan reports.

TENNESSEE Nashville:

Two men discovered hiding in the ceiling of a business are charged with trying to rob it.

TEXAS Houston:

David Brady, CEO of the Texas Gulf Coast American Red Cross, is quitting because he disagrees with decisions related to the response to Hurricane Harvey.

UTAH Salt Lake City:

Next month’s municipal election in Hildale could give the town its first mayor and City Council members who don’t claim affiliation with a polygamous sect, The Salt Lake Tribune reports.

VERMONT Vernon:

An endangered shortnose sturgeon has been found in the Connecticut River between Vermont and New Hampshire and scientists are not sure how it got to where it was caught, Vermont Public Radio reports.

VIRGINIA Alexandria:

Historic Christ Church is relocating two plaques in its sanctuary honoring George Washington and Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, who worshipped there.

WASHINGTON Bellingham:

Whatcom County voters will decide next month whether to approve a 0.2% sales tax to fund a new jail, The Bellingham Herald reports.

WEST VIRGINIA Charleston:

Acting West Virginia prisons commissioner Loita Butcher is retiring, effective Tuesday.

WISCONSIN Madison:

A research plant pathologist with the U.S. Forest Service is experimenting with using ultraviolet light to control a fungal disease that has killed millions of cave-dwelling bats, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

WYOMING Cheyenne:

The state’s prison system ranked fourth-highest in the country in health care spending in fiscal 2015, according to a report by Pew Charitable Trusts.

Compiled from staff and wire reports.