Around the nation

News from every state.

ALABAMA Montgomery: The fifth annual Funksgiving Music & Food Festival returns to the Union Station Train Shed downtown from 6 to 11:30 p.m. Friday. Organizers are bringing in two bands: Machine Funk (a tribute to Widespread Panic) and The Stolen Faces (a tribute to the Grateful Dead).

ARIZONA Phoenix: Birds of a feather were brought back together in Peoria this week. Olive, a pet pigeon, flew the coop from its home in north Phoenix, its owners say. It spent several days on its own until it was found in Glendale in its rhinestonestudded vest and turned in to Fallen Feathers rescue center in Peoria. A Facebook post and a Reddit thread helped return the bird to its nest.

ARKANSAS Vendor: A state environmental regulatory agency has denied a permit for a hog farm because of concerns that pig waste might be contaminating the nearby Buffalo River. The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality issued a final decision that C&H Hog Farm in Vendor can no longer operate. The farm may appeal.

CALIFORNIA Palm Springs: A new project from Andy Samberg, who has starred in the “Saturday Night Live” and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” television series, will be filmed in the Palm Springs area. Samberg’s “Palm Springs” comedy was announced this week. “I’m thrilled to be shooting in my home state of California,” Samberg says. “Not only was I born and raised here, but, as everyone knows, the California Raisins were a major creative influence, which I think will definitely rub off on this production.”

COLORADO Fort Collins: Rejoice, for it is fatberg season in city sewers. The city is taking the opening of the holiday season to remind people that what they put in the kitchen sink has consequences for the labyrinthine network of pipes beneath that drain. The city’s campaign targets fats, oils and grease.

CONNECTICUT Hartford: A fifthgrader from a magnet school in Avon has been elected as Connecticut’s newest “kid governor.” Ella Briggs, a student at the Ana Grace Academy of the Arts Elementary Magnet School, was announced Wednesday as the winner of Connecticut’s Kid Governor. Each candidate designed campaign materials focusing on a community issue important to them, and Ella chose LGBTQ youth safety.

DELAWARE Wilmington: Obsessed with low-digit license plates and surf tags? A new auction for low-digit surf tags opens Friday and ends Dec. 5.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washing

ton: The end of the Thanksgiving travel rush will be followed by some significant slowdowns for Metro riders. The transit agency is rebuilding its bridge over the Potomac River between Virginia and the District of Columbia.

FLORIDA Tallahassee: The November Full Moon Climb at the Cape St. George Lighthouse on St. George Island will be held Friday.

GEORGIA Warner Robins: A former grocery store is now serving hightech aircraft manufacturing for the military. The inside of the brick building – a former Publix store in Warner Robins – is full of gleaming new futuristic machinery.

HAWAII Honolulu: Officials are working on a plan to move a large homeless encampment on Oahu to privately owned land farther inland. The 270-person camp called Puuhonua o Waianae is now situated on state land next to a Waianae boat harbor, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports.

IDAHO Boise: On Boise State game day, there is a lot of excitement on the blue, but every week the crowd roars a little extra when one special athlete hits the turf: a 9-year-old field trial Labrador named Kohl, the Boise State Tee Dog.

ILLINOIS Decatur: A winner was declared by a single vote in a central Illinois county sheriff ’s election. The Macon County clerk’s office certified final results this week giving Democratic candidate Tony Brown 19,655 votes to Republican Jim Root’s 19,654 votes.

INDIANA Indianapolis: Since 1947, the cherub has kept a watchful eye over holiday shoppers in the city. On the evening of Thanksgiving, the cherub appears atop the bronze Ayres

Clock in downtown Indianapolis, where it maintains its post until Santa Claus arrives on Christmas Eve. Ayres and cherubs became linked in 1946 when Virginia Holmes, a commercial artist, used whimsical cherubs to fill in the empty pages in the L.S. Ayres catalog when merchandise was still in short supply after World War II.

IOWA Fairbank: Developers who invested $11 million to install three wind turbines in eastern Iowa are tearing them down, after losing a legal battle waged by nearby residents frustrated by the noise.

KANSAS Topeka: Authorities say a statue of a bison calf has been stolen from a popular nature area north of the city.

KENTUCKY Louisville: Pappy Van Winkle bourbon is much soughtafter – but even in the home state of the American-born whiskey, it can be tough to get your shot. But you can enter for a chance to purchase your own bottle at any of the 47 Louisville Division Kentucky Kroger Wine & Spirits Shops on Friday.

LOUISIANA Lafayette: Country music superstar Shania Twain called Kylie Frey a “kick ass” singer. Wynonna Judd said Frey’s voice was close to being “in my soul.” That’s some of the praise sprinkled on the Opelousas singer during her victorious debut this week on “Real Country,” a new music competition on USA Network. Frey’s victory comes as her new single, “Ain’t Enough Beer,” is released nationwide Friday.

MAINE Presque Isle: Maine’s newest kind of potato is now available in stores across New England. The Caribou russet first went to market in limited supply in fall 2016.

MARYLAND Annapolis: A professor who devised a new model that can estimate the number of oysters in the Chesapeake Bay says the body of water’s market-sized oyster population is about half the amount found in 1999.

MASSACHUSETTS Cambridge: Harvard University’s student newspaper will be led by a black woman for the first time in its 145-year history. The Crimson announced junior Kristine Guillaume was elected president of the paper and will take over Jan. 1.

MICHIGAN Detroit: A second skating rink is about to open in downtown Detroit – but this one is for wheels, not blades. The whimsical Rainbow City Roller Rink will debut Nov. 30. Skaters will glide on a striped floor underneath eight colorful, inflated sculptures that dangle from the ceiling.

MINNESOTA Minneapolis: Few activities are as Minnesotan as ice fishing. Conservation Officer Adam Block says the holiday weekend is a good time for parents to teach kids about the dangers of ice.

MISSISSIPPI Tupelo: A north Mississippi man is accused of trying to post bail using counterfeit money. Local outlets report 25-year-old Jacob Shane Coleman of New Albany was arrested last week for shoplifting in Tupelo and offered up a

stack of 11 $100 bills. MISSOURI St. Louis: The powderblue uniforms are back for the St. Louis Cardinals. This week the Cardinals unveiled new jerseys with a blue color similar to what the team wore most famously during the World Series-winning 1982 season.

MONTANA Missoula: Two conservation groups have purchased an undeveloped subdivision to help protect grizzly bear habitat near the confluence of the Kootenai and Yaak rivers.

NEBRASKA Lincoln: Lincoln-area churches and state human services caseworkers have opened an online portal for people who need a little extra help. The people’s needs are posted on CarePortal, and then the churches see whether their members can meet those needs.

NEVADA Carson City: State officials say it will cost tens of thousands of dollars to repair damage to the Battle Born Memorial in Carson City caused by bicyclists, skateboarders and Razor Scooter riders.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: Bald eagles are in the midst of record population growth in the northern New England states, where America’s national bird could find itself removed from all state endangered lists. The eagle was once completely gone from New Hampshire.

NEW JERSEY Trenton: New Jersey lawmakers have unveiled their latest proposal to legalize recreational marijuana for people 21 and over. A joint Democrat-led Assembly and Senate committee is expected to discuss the package of measures Monday.

NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: City officials are partnering with the state’s largest electricity provider to build a new solar generating station and boost the amount of renewable energy used to power municipal facilities throughout Albuquerque.

NEW YORK Albany: Hopefully New Yorkers like NBC’s crime thriller “Blacklist.” Taxpayers have dished out $63.3 million in film-tax breaks for the first three seasons, new state records show.

NORTH CAROLINA Wilmington: Michael Jordan returned to his hometown this week and met with some Hurricane Florence victims, many of whom have benefited from his $2 million donation in September – $1 million each to the Red Cross and the Foundation for the Carolinas Hurricane Florence Response Fund.

NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: Environmental and landowner advocates aren’t happy with the decision of North Dakota regulators to give the oil industry more flexibility to meet natural gas flaring regulations. Sierra Club spokesman Wayde Schafer says the state is bowing to the wishes of industry rather than safeguarding the public interest.

OHIO Cincinnati: Greater Cincinnati drivers are some of the worst in the nation, in all types of weather. A new study from Allstate puts Greater Cincinnati near the bottom of the 2018 America’s Best Drivers Report.

OKLAHOMA Norman: A new University of Oklahoma program will help cover the school fees of students who receive Oklahoma’s Promise tuition scholarships, school officials say.

OREGON Portland: Rampant overproduction in Oregon’s market for legal, recreational marijuana has produced a 50 percent drop in prices, according to state economists.

PENNSYLVANIA York: The 2019 edition of the Pennsylvania Farm Show, which starts Jan. 5, will offer more competitions and foods. Among new features at the nation’s largest indoor agricultural event, now in its 103rd year: More than 150 varieties from craft brewers will vie for top honors in the first-ever statewide competition. Seven new bunny varieties will join the Rabbit Competition. Angorapalooza and the Celebrity Rabbit Hop will feature the animals in action.

RHODE ISLAND Providence: Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo could take on a more national political role. The Providence Journal reports that Raimondo appears to be the likely successor to Washington Gov. Jay Inslee to lead the Democratic Governors Association.

SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has released more than $40 million to help deepen Charleston Harbor, making it the deepest on the East Coast.

SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: City Hall’s push to legalize electric-assisted bicycles, otherwise known as ebikes, on the Sioux Falls bike trail system took a major step forward this week. The Sioux Falls Parks and Recreation Board unanimously voted in favor of a proposed ordinance that would deviate from a long-standing policy prohibiting all motorized vehicles from the 30-plus miles of trails that span the city.

TENNESSEE Memphis: Elvis Presley’s Graceland will host a performance from pop hitmaker Rick Springfield next year. The show, set for Jan. 19 at the Graceland Soundstage, will be the first non-Elvis-related concert at the 1,700-capacity venue.

TEXAS Fort Worth: A doctor with a passion for paleontology is challenging the federal government after authorities seized a 70 million-year-old dinosaur skull from his fossil collection. Dr. James Godwin argues the government waited too long to file a forfeiture claim after it seized the Tyrannosaurus bataar skull that authorities say was among several fossils smuggled out of Mongolia.

UTAH Salt Lake City: Utah brewers will have to specially test lower alcohol beer before it can go on the shelves of grocery and convenience stores, adding another hurdle to a list of the state’s tight liquor regulations.

VERMONT Burlington: An institute founded by relatives of Vermont’s independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders is hosting a conference of likeminded thinkers in Burlington that will focus on issues like health care, the climate and workers’ rights.

VIRGINIA Richmond: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is giving $5 million to two Virginia charities that help homeless families.

WASHINGTON Seattle: The Seattle Police Department has returned several clay artifacts to Mexico after seizing them last year. The department says it was tipped off last November that the hollow clay figurines were being sold at an estate sale.

WEST VIRGINIA Fayetteville: Historians from West Virginia State University are trying to learn more about the background of the Wolf Creek plateau area. The New River Gorge Trail Alliance says the historians are interested in the 1,000-acre area between Fayetteville and Oak Hill in Fayette County, known as Wolf Creek Park. Of interest are stories and information about farm families, agricultural methods and farm organizations, as well as about how the plateau was affected by mining.

WISCONSIN Madison: A Wisconsin legislator who doubles as a firefighter ripped the state Department of Natural Resources for persuading his department to rescue a deer stranded on a frozen lake, saying the agency put them at risk over a “stupid deer.”

WYOMING Moose: Chronic wasting disease has been detected for the first time in Grand Teton National Park in an adult buck mule deer.