Around the nation

News from every state.

ALABAMA Fort Deposit: A smalltown Alabama turkey farm will receive national attention this Thanksgiving week. Three episodes of the game show “Wheel of Fortune” will feature the Bates Turkey Farm logo on the prize wheel, Bates Turkey Farm co-owner Becky Sloane announced Thursday as Gov. Kay Ivey pardoned two of the farm’s fowl, Clyde and Henrietta.

ALASKA Juneau: Forget the sleepy hold music you know and hate. Soon, when someone at the state of Alaska puts you on hold, you’re going to hear a little homegrown rock courtesy of the Grammy award-winning band Portugal. The Man.

ARIZONA Phoenix: Embattled Arizona state Parks Director Sue Black has been fired following numerous complaints, including the bulldozing of potential archaeological sites to rush development of cabins and other improvements.

ARKANSAS Searcy: A firefighter is credited with saving a choking toddler on his first birthday after the boy’s frantic mother carried him to a nearby fire station in a rescue captured on video.

CALIFORNIA Oxnard: Rare artifacts from World War I – journals soldiers carried, letters they sent back home, military badges – are among the items now on display at the Channel Islands Maritime Museum in Oxnard. “WWI 100th Anniversary: History in the Making” runs through Nov. 26.

COLORADO Breckenridge: A wooden troll that proved too popular in a ski resort town is gone, but it’s possible he could find another home there. Workers in Breckenridge used a chainsaw and backhoe to remove the 15-foot sculpture known as Isak Heartstone. The Summit Daily News reports that most of the work created by Danish artist Thomas Dambo was discarded or recycled but that some pieces were saved and put in storage in hopes of installing the sculpture somewhere else. The work was installed on a hiking trail for a summer arts festival, but throngs of troll-seekers have since caused problems for nearby homeowners.

CONNECTICUT Wethersfield: An archaeological dig is rekindling a feud between two towns over which was the first in Connecticut. Experts have unearthed artifacts they believe date to the 1630s in Wethersfield, where town signs declare it the state’s “most ancient,” founded in 1634. But a few miles up the Connecticut River to the north, Windsor boasts it is the state’s “first town,” settled in 1633.

DELAWARE Wilmington: The Biden family has adopted a German shepherd at the Delaware Humane Association after months of fostering the playful puppy. Former Vice President Joe Biden dropped by the Wilmington shelter to finalize Major’s adoption paperwork, says Kerry Bruni, the DHA director of animal care.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washing

ton: If you mashed together Stefon from “Saturday Night Live” with an Uber, you would probably end up with Tuffa Riolo’s tricked-out Hyundai on the streets of D.C. This Uber has everything: ABBA. Post-It notes. Solo cup Christmas lights. Riolo asks his passengers to write inspirational messages during their journeys and stick the notes to the inside of his car.

FLORIDA Orlando: The Epcot International Festival of the Holidays will expand once again, with 12 kitchens and dishes to represent each of the park’s national pavilions and then some in this year’s event, which opened Sunday and will close Dec. 30.

GEORGIA Atlanta: More than 3,000 rape kits found untested in police evidence lockers have all undergone lab tests by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation less than three years after the state legislature passed a law to eliminate the backlog, the GBI’s director and the lawmaker who spearheaded the measure say.

HAWAII Honolulu: U.S. Naval Special Warfare Command has proposed tripling the number of training events allowed on non-federal lands in Hawaii for Navy SEALs and other special operations forces.

IDAHO Coeur d’Alene: Northern Idaho authorities say human remains found at a construction site are no longer the focus of a criminal investigation because the bones are from 50 to 200 years old.

ILLINOIS Chicago: Former President Barack Obama, author Dave Eggers, and actress and singer Janelle Monae are among the speakers at the second Obama Foundation Summit in Chicago. The summit Sunday and Monday brings together young leaders from the foundation’s programs to discuss how people can bring about positive change in their communities and around the world.

INDIANA Indianapolis: For many, “Slaughterhouse-Five” is a masterpiece and the greatest literary work of Indianapolis-born author and icon Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Now, you can own Vonnegut’s World War II scrapbook that inspired that masterpiece. Christie’s Auction House has posted a listing for the 84-page scrapbook kept by Vonnegut’s family in 1944 and 1945. It has an estimated price of between $150,000 and $200,000, according to the listing.

IOWA Le Mars: Brooklyn Bockelmann, a 14-year-old eighth-grader, is working to provide pet oxygen masks to every fire department in Iowa – more than 600 – so that firefighters can treat and revive pets rescued from house fires.

KANSAS Lawrence: City officials will soon consider whether to move forward with a new plaza and recreation area concept along the portion of the Kansas River that borders downtown.

KENTUCKY Louisville: Kentuckybased Heaven Hill Distillery has announced a $65 million investment to expand its visitors’ center and increase production capacity. The company best known for its Evan Williams bourbon brand says the renovation and expansion of its visitors’ center in Bardstown will include a new rooftop bar serving cocktails and offering bourbon tastings.

LOUISIANA New Orleans: A new “krewe” plans to help kick off New Orleans’ annual Carnival season Jan. 6. A spokesman says the Funky Uptown Krewe hopes to encourage more people to come out for the start of the season.

MAINE Portland: The estate of artist Robert Indiana, creator of the iconic LOVE series, auctioned off two paintings that belonged to him to raise money to defend against a lawsuit and to stabilize the Star of Hope, his deteriorating island home off the Maine coast.

MARYLAND Baltimore: A man who yelled “Heil Hitler! Heil Trump!” at a “Fiddler on the Roof ” performance says he’s sorry for the outburst, which was “beyond a mistake.”

MASSACHUSETTS Amherst: The project to restore the Emily Dickinson Museum and its grounds to their state in the mid-19th century when the poet lived there is expanding to a neighboring property.

MICHIGAN Detroit: A century’s worth of bad environmental practices by local industries is slated for dredging out of the “Old Channel” around Zug Island on the Rouge River. Arising from the murk will be eight or so cars.

MINNESOTA St. Paul: Minnesota foresters have cut down the official state Christmas tree in the Nemadji State Forest.

MISSISSIPPI Jackson: While scorpions frequently live in hot, dry areas, at least two scorpion species are at home in Mississippi’s often humid climate. Jerome Goddard, with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, says the Vaejovis carolinianus, commonly called the Southern Devil Scorpion or unstriped scorpion, is found only in northeast Mississippi, and Centruroidis vittatus, known as the striped scorpion, is found sporadically in central and southern parts of the state.

MISSOURI Savannah: Savannah resident Lindy Anderson is crafting makeshift shelters from Styrofoam and straw to help keep stray cats warm during the winter months.

MONTANA Helena: About 66 million years after two dinosaurs died apparently locked in battle on the plains of modern-day Montana, an unusual fight over who owns the entangled fossils hinges on the legal definition of “mineral.” The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this month that the “Dueling Dinosaurs” are minerals both scientifically and under mineral rights laws.

NEBRASKA Lincoln: Three children with special needs were presented with their own tricked-out, kid-size cars in a partnership between Madonna Research Institute and Rolling Hills Trading Inc.

NEVADA Las Vegas: Tourism officials expect 300,000 people to visit Sin City for Thanksgiving.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: It may look like winter, but the New Hampshire Bureau of Trails is reminding snowmobile riders that most of the state’s network of trails doesn’t open until mid-December.

NEW JERSEY Atlantic City: Whoopi Goldberg, Anne Hathaway, Chris Rock, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito and Anthony Bourdain are among the latest nominees to the New Jersey Hall of Fame.

NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: Santa Fe’s Georgia O’Keeffe Museum has sold two paintings by the legendary artist for more than $19.5 million.

NEW YORK Manorville: Some parents are seeing red over a ketchup crackdown in schools. Newsday reports that the Eastport-South Manor Central School District on Long Island is limiting students to two 9-gram packets of the condiment at lunch.

NORTH CAROLINA Charlotte: Health officials say a Brunswick stew caused about 300 people to get sick at a church event.

NORTH DAKOTA Minot: A judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a practicing Rastafarian after her baby daughter was born with traces of marijuana in her system. Shanika Lister had argued putting her name on a child abuse registry was illegal after a judge later ruled her use of marijuana during pregnancy was a protected religious practice.

OHIO Cincinnati: The new Dinosaur Hall in the restored Cincinnati Art Museum and Union Terminal offers dinosaur specimens you won’t find on display anywhere else. It features six huge displays ranging from the Jurassic period to the Cretaceous period, including five on display to the public for the first time.

OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: An interactive art experience modeled after Meow Wolf in Santa Fe, New Mexico, has found a permanent home in Oklahoma City. Factory Obscura will have its first permanent location in a building known as The Womb, a project co-founded in 2011 by Flaming Lips frontman and Oklahoma City native Wayne Coyne.

OREGON Salem: Salem on Ice, a 60foot-by-120-foot indoor ice rink, has once again opened its doors and is now running daily through Jan. 21.

PENNSYLVANIA York: Lancaster County’s annual Extraordinary Give set a new record this year during its 24-hour donating marathon. As of Saturday morning, $10,234,026 was raised, beating last year’s donations of $8,636,084.

RHODE ISLAND Providence: State environmental officials say they will be stocking ponds with trout for Thanksgiving week.

SOUTH DAKOTA Rapid City: Black Hills Harley-Davidson has donated hundreds of bicycles to schools across the city.

TENNESSEE Nashville: It wasn’t a UFO, at least not this time. An object streaking across the Nashville skyline Saturday night got people talking. It was actually paratroopers, outfitted with flares, dropping into the Vanderbilt football game.

TEXAS El Paso: Kids from the Boys and Girls Clubs of El Paso got to be the first to try the ice at the seasonal ice rink Friday at Downtown’s Art Festival Plaza during a “Break the Ice” kickoff event for WinterFest 2018.

UTAH Provo: A school district is working to revamp its lessons around Native Americans to tackle stereotypes. The Daily Herald of Provo, Utah, reports the Provo City School District has been setting up meetings with schools about curriculum development and questioning sources teachers have been using.

VERMONT Derby: A mystery man is providing cheer to Walmart shoppers in northern Vermont. The man paid off the entire lot of layaway items at the store in Derby. Julie Gates of Eden Mills says she asked the man, “Who can afford to pay for everyone’s layaway?” She says the man responded, “Santa Claus can.” The man declined to give his name.

VIRGINIA Arlington: As officials in Arlington County celebrated Amazon’s decision to locate a new headquarters in the area, there was a bit of confusion over the place name. Amazon announced last week that it was coming to National Landing, a place people had not heard of because it doesn’t exist. Economic development officials wooing the online retailing giant came up with the name to describe the multiple neighborhoods that were being offered as a site – Crystal City and Pentagon City in Arlington County, and Potomac Yard in the city of Alexandria.

WASHINGTON Seattle: A state task force on critically endangered Northwest orcas wants to temporarily suspend whale-watching boat tours focused on those whales, one of three dozen recommendations to save a population that is at its lowest in over 30 years.

WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: The West Virginia secretary of state is praising a pilot program that allowed overseas citizens to vote on cellphones and mobile tablets in this year’s general election. Secretary of State Mac Warner says the app was used in 24 counties in West Virginia on Nov. 6.

WISCONSIN Milwaukee: Interest in producing hemp, the non-psychoactive cousin of marijuana, is growing in Wisconsin. While this year’s harvest doesn’t look the best because of wet weather and inexperienced growers, interest in the crop is strong after legislative action this year lifted the state’s decades-old ban on industrial hemp.

WYOMING Cheyenne: The Wyoming State Museum has launched a YouTube video series to teach people about firearms from the museum’s collection.