STATE-BY-STATE
News from across the USA
ALABAMA Montgomery: State lawmakers are working on a compromise proposal for limited oversight of faith-based day cares by requiring once-a-year inspections.
ALASKA Kodiak: The local trawl fleet has ended its protest over the price for its pollock harvest, The Kodiak Daily Mirror reports. Processors raised the offer to 11 cents a pound, up from 10 cents.
ARIZONA Phoenix: Waymo has announced plans to launch autonomous riding sharing services in the Phoenix area later this year.
ARKANSAS Arkadelphia: A Chinese company is increasing its investment by $500 million in a planned paper mill that will create 350 jobs.
CALIFORNIA San Francisco: City prosecutors plan to toss out or reduce thousands of criminal convictions for marijuana dating back decades. A 2016 ballot measure legalized recreational pot use in California.
COLORADO Denver: Scientists are developing robots that may one day go through old mines to help prevent environmental disasters. The Colorado mountains have dozens of inactive mines filled with polluted water.
CONNECTICUT Hartford: Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has proposed reinstating highway tolls and increasing the state gas tax by 7 cents to help fix roads and bridges.
DELAWARE Wilmington: A federal judge ordered a medical imaging firm to pay $16.2 million for filing false claims for Medicare reimbursement.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Authorities say a man who pleaded guilty to kidnapping a Georgetown University student and attempting to rob him will be deported.
FLORIDA Tavares: A man convicted in a child pornography case is accused of attempting to hire a 75-yearold hit man called “the Rabbi” to kill the judge who sentenced him to 20 years in prison.
GEORGIA Atlanta: Georgians may soon be able to order mimosas or buy beer on Sunday mornings under proposed state legislation. Currently, restaurants and retail stores can’t sell alcohol until 12:30 p.m. on Sundays.
HAWAII Honolulu: The city is testing its first electric bus as part of a sixweek pilot project, Hawaii News Now reports. The battery-powered bus is on loan.
IDAHO Boise: Officials with the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes say they won’t renew a contract with their lobbying firm after it filed a ballot initiative to legalize instant racing betting machines. The tribes say the betting terminals don’t give the house a percentage of the winnings.
ILLINOIS Marion: The longest-serving mayor in Illinois retired last week. Bob Butler, 91, served as mayor of Marion for nearly 55 years, The Southern Illinoisan reports.
INDIANA Indianapolis: A judge has thrown out a lawsuit filed against prosecutors by ex-state trooper David Camm, who was convicted twice but then acquitted of killing his wife and two children in 2000.
IOWA Dubuque: The city’s public library is considering ending fines for late book returns, KWWL-TV reports. Officials at the Carnegie-Stout Public Library say even small fines can discourage borrowing, especially by children.
KANSAS Wichita: The parents of a toddler who was fatally injured last May at a traveling carnival when she touched an electrically charged fence have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the carnival’s operator, The Wichita Eagle reports.
KENTUCKY Frankfort: Former state House speaker Jeff Hoover, embroiled in an ethics probe after signing a secret sexual harassment settlement, has no opponent for re-election.
LOUISIANA New Orleans: Officials say marsh restoration is complete at Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge. The project used sediment pumped from Lake Pontchartrain to create brackish marsh in what had been open water ponds.
MAINE Portland: The Conservation Law Foundation, an environmental advocacy group, has filed a lawsuit challenging Gov. Paul LePage’s moratorium on new wind power projects as unconstitutional, The Portland Press Herald reports.
MARYLAND Hurlock: State officials say 38 military grenades were found by a person collecting recyclables near a Dorchester County road.
MASSACHUSETTS Worcester: A man accused of hiding the body of a man who died at his home of a drug overdose is charged with misleading a police investigation.
MICHIGAN Grand Rapids: State high schools are seeing a shortage of athletic officials and referees, The Grand Rapids Press reports.
MINNESOTA St. Paul: A hearing is set Tuesday on a challenge to Lt. Gov. Michelle Fischbach’s decision to keep her seat in the state Senate. Fischback argues that an 1898 Minnesota Supreme Court decision allows her to do both jobs.
MISSISSIPPI Jayess: A man says four of his dogs died from eating poisoned meat after a hunting trip, and he turned to social media for help, The Clarion-Ledger reports.
MISSOURI Fulton: The mother of a developmentally disabled man whose body was found encased in concrete has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the group home where he lived, KRCG-TV reports.
MONTANA Billings: The state Supreme Court is considering whether a man whose DNA linked him to a 1987 rape can be charged. The statute of limitations expired in 2001, but a 2007 state law said a DNA match would add more time.
NEBRASKA Kearney: Authorities say the body of a man reported missing Jan. 15 was found last week at the site of a vehicle crash in a Garden County ravine, The Kearney Hub reports.
NEVADA Las Vegas: Casinos here saw a revenue increase in 2017 to $6.5 billion despite fewer visitors.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Epping: Authorities say a science class effort to dissect a squid and cook calamari at Epping Middle School set off fire alarms that forced an evacuation, the Portsmouth Herald reports.
NEW JERSEY Atlantic City: Police say someone scrawled graffiti on the Absecon Lighthouse, the state’s tallest lighthouse, NJ.com reports.
NEW MEXICO Carlsbad: Experts warn of an impending cavern collapse under a highway interchange that serves as a gateway to Carlsbad Caverns National Park and the heart of New Mexico’s oil and gas country.
NEW YORK Rotterdam: Police say a man who held up a cellphone store worker and tied her up with a USB cord stopped for a slice of pizza afterward, The Times Union reports.
NORTH CAROLINA Hendersonville: A former deputy is suing the Henderson County sheriff for wrongful termination, claiming discrimination for his PTSD disability, The TimesNews reports.
NORTH DAKOTA Velva: Farmers Union Oil has cut about a dozen workers and some services at its Velva and Drake branches, the Minot Daily News reports.
OHIO Columbus: The chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court wants judges to avoid imposing excessive fines, fees or bail just to raise money.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: Marble floors and stone columns greeted state Capitol visitors who entered the west side of the 100-year-old building last week in the first large renovated space open to the public.
OREGON Salem: State officials plan to expand the campaign against the Japanese beetle, The Capital Press reports. The agriculture agency wants to apply granular insecticide over 1,900 acres in Washington County.
PENNSYLVANIA Hershey: State Police are seeking donated horses to join a Hershey-based mounted patrol unit. The 26-horse unit performs searches and participates in parades.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: The median price of a single-family Rhode Island home rose 8% in December from the same month the previous year, to $255,000.
SOUTH CAROLINA Spartanburg: The computers of the local library system were hit by ransomware. Users couldn’t check out or return books. Payment was demanded in bitcoin.
SOUTH DAKOTA Wessington Springs: Voters in the local school district have approved a $3.5 million bond issue for building upgrades, two months after defeating a more costly measure. The issue received 62% percent support.
TENNESSEE Nashville: Two teenagers found with loaded guns at their high schools were arrested last week, The Tennessean reports. Both said they carried the guns for protection.
TEXAS Galveston: A pension review panel says the city has underfunded its police pension for 17 years, The Galveston County Daily News reports.
UTAH Salt Lake City: Ruth Watkins will take office as president of the University of Utah on April 2, The Salt Lake Tribune reports. The senior vice president of academic affairs will be the school’s first female president.
VERMONT Burlington: City police say reports of vandalism from BB guns have increased, the Burlington Free Press reports.
VIRGINIA Richmond: The Virginia Historical Society will host a centennial commemoration of World War I, featuring a recreated movie house showing popular films from the time. “WW1 America” is set to open Feb. 17.
WASHINGTON Seattle: Seattle City Light has opened two fast-charging stations for electric cars on Beacon Hill, The Seattle Times reports.
WEST VIRGINIA Morgantown: A West Virginia University neuropsychologist says fentanyl may cause amnesia. Marc Haut’s report in the Annals of Internal Medicine links fentanyl to sudden amnesia.
WISCONSIN Madison: A former University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee business school dean wants the state Claims Board pay him nearly $800,000. Timothy Smunt says the school broke a promise to use a business school survey to set his salary.
WYOMING Casper: Fremont County School District 25 is recommending expulsion for three high school students and suspension for one for hazing on a school bus activity trip, The Casper Star-Tribune reports.