STATE-BY-STATE
News from across the USA
ALABAMA Montgomery: The Southern Poverty Law Center apologized and will pay more than $3 million after labeling a British organization and its founder as anti-Muslim extremists. The settlement came without a lawsuit from Quilliam and Maajid Nawaz.
ALASKA Anchorage: The city has moved to a vote-by-mail system for local elections.
ARIZONA Prescott: Community Living Center, a nursing home for veterans, ranks among the worst in the nation, receiving a one-star rating from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
ARKANSAS North Little Rock: Over the weekend Rodney Smith Jr. was in Central Arkansas as part of his “50 Lawns 50 States” tour, in which he goes to a few homes and mows the lawn for free.
CALIFORNIA Agu Dulce: Authorities have seized more than 550 guns at two homes and arrested convicted felon Manuel Fernandez after getting a tip he was storing an arsenal.
COLORADO Denver: Officials have approved $447 million for 35 school construction projects, with about $85 million coming from marijuana sales.
CONNECTICUT Hartford: Richard Robinson has been sworn in as that state’s first African-American chief justice.
DELAWARE Dover: The number of unemployed Delawareans in May fell below 20,000 for the first time since May 2008.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Mayor Muriel Bowser has secured the Democratic Party nomination as she seeks a second term.
FLORIDA Jacksonville: An elephant that once lived at Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch briefly escaped its enclosure at the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens. Staff used food to entice Ali back into the enclosure.
GEORGIA Milledgeville: Brothers Justin Moore, 10, and Ryan Moore, 14, have been identified as the boys killed when a driver lost control of his truck during a mudding event.
HAWAII Lehua: The state has deployed two rat-sniffing border terriers to help remove invasive rodents from a seabird sanctuary.
IDAHO Rupert: Police say Austin George Toner stole $2,000 worth of equipment from the Rupert Police Department then bragged about it on social media. He faces several charges.
ILLINOIS Edwardsville: Mayor Hal Patton, who is a candidate for the state Senate, has apologized for a decade-old photo from a Halloween party that depicts him dressed in blackface as a rapper. Patton says he didn’t intend the costume to be racist.
INDIANA Ferdinand: Two people escaped life-threatening injuries after the small plane they were flying crashed in a parking lot.
IOWA Iowa City: The University of Iowa has been removed from the American Association of University Professors’ list of sanctioned and censured institutions. The university was placed on the list in 2016 following concerns over the hiring of Bruce Harreld as president.
KANSAS Kansas City: Four survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting took part in a panel about gun control at the Reardon Convention Center.
KENTUCKY Frankfort: Democratic voter registration is decreasing, the Courier Journal reports. Democrats are 49.9 percent of the 3.3 million registered voters; they were 62 percent in 1982.
LOUISIANA New Iberia: Scottish industrial rental company Aggreko will create 30 jobs that carry an aver- age salary of $65,000. MAINE Vassalboro: Detective Lauren Edstrom became the first woman to be named the state’s Trooper of the Year.
MARYLAND Easton: Talbot County schools has settled a lawsuit with transgender teen Max Brennan, who had been blocked from using the boys’ locker room and restroom at St. Michaels Middle-High School. Brennan, 16, will now have access to all boys’ facilities.
MASSACHUSETTS Hanover: Factory Pond has been closed following last week’s discovery of an explosive device. Police are investigating.
MICHIGAN Lansing: The Michigan Department of Natural Resources will auction some of its holdings in Presque Isle County, with ranges in size from one to 32 acres.
MINNESOTA Falcon Heights: The Minnesota State Fair has unveiled 27 new foods for this year, including a Moroccan-inspired sausage bowl and shrimp-stuffed avocados. MISSISSIPPI Greenwood: Brad Gentry is accused of beating a neighbor with a hammer and ax handle and taking $40 from him for hiring someone else to finish cutting the grass.
MISSOURI Hazelwood: A report says people who lived near or played in Coldwater Creek from the 1960s to 1990s might have increased cancer risks because of exposure to radioactive contaminants.
MONTANA Helena: The Montana Department of Justice has developed a website and hotline for survivors of sexual assault.
NEBRASKA Omaha: The Nebraska State College Board of Trustees has approved 1.5 percent raises for leaders of the state college system.
NEVADA Las Vegas: New insurance laws require drivers to carry at least
$25,000 in bodily injury per person,
$50,000 per crash and $20,000 for property damage per wreck.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: Gov. Chris Sununu has recognized June 19 as “Juneteenth Day” in the state to commemorate the end of slavery in the country.
NEW JERSEY Trenton: The bog turtle has been named the official state reptile.
NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: The New Mexico Arts and Crafts Fair is returning this weekend for the 57th and final time because of a lack of funding.
NEW YORK New York: The Michael Jackson Estate and Columbia Live Stage unveiled plans for a musical inspired by the life of Michael Jackson. They hope it will hit Broadway by 2020.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: Officials are working to prevent more suicides after a report showed an alarming jump in North Dakota. The state suicide rate rose 58 percent from 1999 to 2016 – the biggest increase in the country.
OHIO Wayne Township: Firefighters from five counties battled a massive barn fire that killed approximately 5,000 pigs, the Springfield News Sun reports. The cause of the fire has not been determined.
OKLAHOMA Enid: A man was killed when the small airplane he was piloting crashed into a wheat field. The plane apparently crashed after striking a guideline wire.
OREGON Portland: A person set themself on fire in a downtown park after reading a manifesto about homelessness and mental health. The person was taken to the hospital after the fire was extinguished.
PENNSYLVANIA Harrisburg: The Pennsylvania State Police says troopers are wearing body cameras in a program that’s to last through the end of the year.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: State lawmakers have voted to ban minors from using tanning facilities. Current law allows minors to use tanning beds if they receive a parent’s consent or have a prescription for “ultraviolet radiation.” The House bill would eliminate both exceptions.
SOUTH CAROLINA Charleston: A “hurricane-proof ” home that was built in 1991 is on the market for $4.9 million. The 4,097-square-foot “Eye of the Storm” has a concrete dome — meaning no roof to blow off — and no shingles.
SOUTH DAKOTA Deadwood: State officials are placing radio collars on white-tailed deer fawns to continue studying their survival rates. The study, in its third year, has shown that about 66 percent survive through December.
TENNESSEE Jackson: Brian Black has been found guilty of embezzlement for taking $178,000 from a trust account and using some of it to pay for baseball fantasy camp and home items. He faces up to 90 years in prison.
TEXAS Houston: About two dozen people have been treated for apparent carbon monoxide poisoning at a food distribution center. An exhaust from a piece of machinery running indoors is being blamed.
UTAH Salt Lake City: Records show Mitt Romney raised nearly $2 million for his U.S. Senate primary campaign in the past two months. Republican opponent Mike Kennedy has raised $152,000 over the same period.
VERMONT Montpelier: The state says it cannot force DSL provider Consolidated Communications to turn service back on for CoverageCo, which provides cell phone service to rural parts of the state. CoverageCo owes the DSL company $100,000.
VIRGINIA Richmond: Election officials have reassigned nearly 500 voters to new congressional districts as the state works to resolve mapping errors that created confusion in several races last year.
WASHINGTON Kennewick: A family shockingly found a young coyote curled up on the floor in the kitchen corner. The coyote was captured and released in a nearby sagebrush area. WEST VIRGINIA Huntington: The Huntington VA Medical Center is being renamed for World War II veteran Woody Williams, the state’s last surviving Medal of Honor recipient.
WISCONSIN Milwaukee: The city is making a bid for the 2020 Democratic National Convention.
WYOMING Casper: The Wyoming Geological Survey says more than 580 oil and gas wells were completed in Wyoming in 2017, a 60 percent increase from the previous year.