STATE-BY-STATE
ALABAMA Auburn: Short-term rentals through Airbnb are booming in the college football towns of Auburn and Tuscaloosa — more than $1.1 million over the past two seasons. ALASKA Anchorage: Officials say two moose calves found dead last week likely died of eating from a Chokeberry tree, which is poisonous to moose. ARIZONA Phoenix: The agency for state schools for deaf and blind students is feeling the teacher shortage, The Arizona Capitol Times reports. ARKANSAS Little Rock: Federal statistics indicate significant medication errors in one of every five of the state’s 234 nursing homes, The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports. CALIFORNIA San Diego: Police took in 164 guns at a no-questions-asked buyback, the Union-Tribune reports. COLORADO Colorado Springs: City officials fear a growing trend of grass and brush fires caused by homeless campers will continue as local shelters get packed, The Gazette reports. CONNECTICUT Hartford: Officials are seeking comment on a five-year plan for outdoor state recreation. DELAWARE Dover: A state panel formed to consider issues surrounding legalizing recreational marijuana will resume its work Wednesday. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Express Lanes opened this week for metro D.C. commuters using Interstate 66 inside the Capital Beltway. FLORIDA Tampa: Police say hearing impaired people got a message of gibberish from a sign language interpreter at a TV news conference, The Tampa Bay Times reports. GEORGIA Atlanta: A man faces animal cruelty charges after firefighters responding to a blaze found 85 dogs living amid filth, WSB-TV reports. HAWAII Kailua-Kona: Health officials say mumps infections have risen by over 6,000% in Hawaii. IDAHO Boise: The State Board of Education is looking to boost medical residency programs to get more doctors into underserved rural areas. ILLINOIS Springfield: A young poet
from Chicago is the winner of the state Gwendolyn Brooks Poetry Award. Anita Olivia Koester won the top prize for her poem Avowal. INDIANA Greencastle: A robot will speak at DePauw University on Feb. 28, The Indianapolis Star reports. IOWA Des Moines: State election officials are mailing paper ID cards as part of a new law requiring voters to show identification at the polls. KANSAS Lawrence: An organizer of Lawrence’s Old Fashioned Christmas Parade apologized after a Confederate flag was at the event, The Lawrence Journal-World reports.
KENTUCKY London: Authorities say a Laurel County homeowner who came downstairs to find out why his dog was barking found a stranger in his kitchen eating ice cream. LOUISIANA Baton Rouge: An audit finds that $718,000 was improperly paid over four years to 712 Medicaid patients who had died. MAINE Portland: About 200 people have registered to use short-term rental services such as Airbnb, The Portland Press Herald reports. MARYLAND Baltimore: A Johns Hopkins University physics professor will share in a $3 million prize for research on the universe’s origin. MASSACHUSETTS Boston: Two aides to Mayor Marty Walsh are seeking to delay their trial on charges of pressuring music festival organizers to hire union workers. MICHIGAN Lansing: McLaren Health Care says it will consolidate its two local hospitals into a new $450 million campus. MINNESOTA St. Paul: The state tourism agency removed a hacker who was peppering its Facebook page with bizarre postings. MISSISSIPPI Lorman: Alcorn State University Provost Donzell Lee will address graduating students Friday for the fall commencement. MISSOURI Webb City: The EPA has cleaned 1,600 acres of the nearly 7,000-acre Oronogo-Duenweg Mining site that has tons of mining waste, The Joplin Globe reports.
MONTANA Missoula: The University of Montana notified 30 lecturers last week that their contracts wouldn’t be renewed, but quickly rescinded it, The Missoulian says.
NEBRASKA Lincoln: The ACLU says the 11 men on Nebraska’s death row can’t be executed because their sentences were converted to life in prison when the state’s death penalty was repealed in 2015. Voters restored the punishment in 2016. NEVADA Reno: Police say a woman was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving after driving the wrong way, dancing atop her SUV and attempting to flee on a kid’s scooter. NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: The city paid $89,000 to settle a woman’s lawsuit challenging an anti-panhandling ordinance. NEW JERSEY Newark: Liccardi Ford in Watchung will repay $37,500 to customers for cash deposits that a car salesman allegedly pocketed. NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: A judge ordered Community Financial Loan to repay more than $7 million in a class-action lawsuit. NEW YORK Albany: A state lawmaker is raising concern about double-decker sightseeing bus safety. NORTH CAROLINA Thomasville: Authorities are investigating the disappearance of an Interstate 95 historical marker that honors John Mills, a 19th century college leader. NORTH DAKOTA Fargo: He’s known as “the giving man.” He shows up periodically, giving away $100 bills at random, WDAY-TV reports. OHIO Cleveland: The dredging of Cleveland Harbor and the Cuyahoga River shipping channel is complete, Cleveland.com reports. OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: John Karlin has caught some 18 thieves on camera taking fake packages of nuts, bolts and sticks from his porch, The Oklahoman reports. OREGON Salem: Authorities say an inmate from Coffee Creek Correctional Facility escaped while being transported to a work assignment, The Statesman Journal reports.
PENNSYLVANIA Center Township: Police say a Santa suit and hat valued at $520 were stolen from Clearview Mall in Butler County sometime over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. RHODE ISLAND Providence: Roger Williams Park Zoo closed temporarily when a construction accident knocked out power, WPRI-TV says.
SOUTH CAROLINA Chesnee: Biggest is best for this town that boasts of a Christmas tree even taller than the one in the state capital, The Spartanburg Herald-Journal reports. SOUTH DAKOTA Aberdeen: Northern State University hopes to raise $45 million for campus projects, The Aberdeen News reports. TENNESSEE Murfreesboro: Middle Tennessee State University is launching a pilot project to enhance children’s after-school physical activity. TEXAS Houston: A gorilla at the Houston Zoo is back where she belongs after getting out of her exhibit and into the adjacent hog exhibit. UTAH Provo: Authorities say a man faces a charge of second-degree felony robbery in a hotel stick-up that yielded a dollar, Daily Herald reports. VERMONT Montpelier: Bernie Sanders’ stepdaughter is running for mayor of the city where he was mayor. VIRGINIA Williamsburg: A College of William & Mary sorority was suspended for allegedly violating school hazing policy with social isolation. WASHINGTON Olympia: Eight inmates from the state women’s prison gave the governor’s mansion a holiday makeover, KING-TV reports. WEST VIRGINIA Glen Jean: Winter hours are in effect for New River Gorge National River park facilities. WISCONSIN Madison: Gov. Scott Walker is moving ahead to give drug screenings to food stamp recipients. But questions remain over whether federal law allows the screenings. WYOMING Cheyenne: Mayor Marian Orr says the city will pay $2 million to demolish the Hitching Post Inn, The Cheyenne Tribune-Eagle reports. Compiled from staff, wire reports.