Around the nation
News from every state.
ALABAMA Montgomery: Tina Tchen, a onetime aide to former first lady Michelle Obama, will review workplace practices at the Southern Poverty Law Center.
ALASKA Juneau: The U.S. Forest Service plans the largest sale of old growth timber in the state in years.
ARIZONA Valle: The northern Arizona hometown of the Flintstones will enjoy one last summer as a rock star. Bedrock City, a cherished roadside attraction, will remain in its original Stone Age state so fans can bid a fond farewell, its new owner says.
ARKANSAS Little Rock: The state House has approved a bill that requires public schools to offer an elective course on the Bible on request.
CALIFORNIA Sacramento: The state is calling in the National Guard for the first time next month to help protect communities from devastating fires. It’s pulling the troops away from President Donald Trump’s border protection efforts.
COLORADO Fort Collins: The Poudre River Public Library District debuted its newest offering at its Old Town Fort Collins branch Monday: a community seed library that allows members to check out packets of vegetable, fruit and herb seeds.
CONNECTICUT Milford: A fire at Silver Sands State Park has destroyed three under-construction buildings, but there were no reports of injuries.
DELAWARE Wilmington: A high school lacrosse player can’t play in games because his head is too big. Billy Boyd, 15, and his father have struggled to find larger, custom-made helmets that can be approved.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: Songs performed by Jay-Z and Cyndi Lauper and a Robert F. Kennedy speech are among 25 recordings being inducted to the National Recording Registry.
FLORIDA Cocoa Beach: Wildlife officials say a virus may be targeting some species of freshwater turtles along the St. Johns River.
GEORGIA Atlanta: A contract with the city’s public transportation provider that would have brought a significant expansion of mass transit was voted down by Gwinnett County.
HAWAII Kailua-Kona: A nonprofit group has launched plans to construct a West Hawaii Community Veterans Center on the Big Island.
IDAHO Boise: A state House panel has approved a joint memorial intervening in a fight over water in the Salmon River involving irrigators and federally protected salmon, steelhead and bull trout.
ILLINOIS Waukegan: An August dedication is planned for a statue of famed science fiction writer Ray Bradbury in his hometown.
INDIANA Indianapolis: Nyah, a 6year-old African elephant at the Indianapolis Zoo, has died after showing signs of abdominal discomfort starting two days earlier.
IOWA Ottumwa: Caucus season is reviving a century-old story about a long-lost town near here where thousands of African-American miners from the South lived side-by-side with poor white immigrants from Europe. People all over the state have been learning about the ghost town of Buxton from U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, who is running for president.
KANSAS Great Bend: Barton County is purchasing new voting equipment to replace its aging machines and move back to paper ballots.
KENTUCKY Louisville: The state’s resurgent hemp sector flexed more economic clout in 2018, with processors reporting sharply higher sales and farmers reaping more than twice as much income from their crop, the state’s agriculture commissioner says.
LOUISIANA New Orleans: Nearly 14 years after Hurricane Katrina hit, there’s a place in the city’s Gentilly neighborhood that looks as though the floodwaters only recently receded. The Flooded House Museum, which will be formally unveiled Saturday, is a unique monument to what the city went through.
MAINE Columbia Falls: Organizers of the Downeast Salmon Federation’s Annual Smelt Fry and Fisheries Celebration say this year’s event will take place April 13.
MARYLAND Annapolis: The General Assembly has given final approval to raising the state’s minimum wage from $10.10 to $15 an hour by 2025. That sends the bill to Gov. Larry Hogan, who opposes it. The House and Senate passed the bill with enough votes to override a veto.
MASSACHUSETTS Boston: The city has created an online registry to allow people to directly order their birth certificates. Mayor Marty Walsh says he’s partnered with state Rep. Michael Moran to create a statewide version of the registry.
MICHIGAN Detroit: Jordan Vogt-Roberts, the director of “Kong: Skull Island,” plans to make a creature feature that will be set in Detroit, with the city central to the plot.
MISSISSIPPI Jackson: A minor engaged in prostitution should be considered a victim and not face criminal charges, says a bill that’s headed to the governor’s desk.
MISSOURI Jefferson City: The state Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that local courts can’t throw people back in jail for not paying previous jail debts, a practice that critics said led to modern-day debtors’ prisons.
MONTANA Helena: The state Senate has passed a bill allowing resort communities with fewer than 5,500 residents to temporarily levy an additional 1 percent resort tax to fund infrastructure projects.
NEBRASKA Offutt Air Force Base: Extensive flooding has forced the Air Force to cancel the 2019 Defenders of Freedom Open House and Air Show at the air force base that was planned for June 1-2.
NEVADA Las Vegas: Lawmakers are considering allowing more 14-yearolds to drive if their school district doesn’t provide transportation.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: The state House has voted in favor of honoring the red-tailed hawk as the state’s official raptor.
NEW JERSEY Asbury Park: This year’s Asbury Park Music and Film Festival offers multiple Boss-related events. “The Bruce Springsteen Archives,” featuring rare footage from Springsteen’s own vaults, is coming to the Paramount Theatre on April 27. The bio “Clarence Clemons: Who Do You Think I Am?” will be shown the same day.
NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: The rate of high school students in the state who earned diplomas last year was the highest it has ever been.
NEW YORK Watkins Glen: Jay-Z, Dead & Company and the Killers will headline one of the 50th anniversary shows commemorating the groundbreaking Woodstock festival this summer.
NORTH CAROLINA Asheboro: A baby chimpanzee has been born at the North Carolina Zoo.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: Defying a national trend, the Legislature has passed a bill that would prohibit communities from restricting or charging a fee for the use of plastic bags, straws, cups or other containers. Minot Republican Rep. Dan Ruby, who introduced the bill, also owns a waste-hauling business.
OHIO Dayton: Doctors are raising concerns about rules requiring counseling for people who receive drug addiction treatment.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: A court-ordered inspection of every inmate in the county jail found that a 20-year-old woman had been wrongly incarcerated for two weeks on a warrant that had been dismissed months before, a lawyer says.
OREGON Eugene: City officials expect to spend $14 million on a planned 3-acre riverfront park, the showpiece of the community’s yearslong effort to connect downtown with the Willamette River.
PENNSYLVANIA Harrisburg: Penn State is set to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars from the defunct charity for at-risk youth founded by now-imprisoned Jerry Sandusky while he was an assistant football coach. The state attorney general’s office says the university will receive $733,000 as a result of a recent agreement.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit over the state’s new truck tolls.
SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: Faith leaders voiced their support Wednesday for legalizing medical marijuana in the state, saying it is a necessary step toward improving the quality of life for seriously ill people.
SOUTH DAKOTA Lead: A 440-acre ski resort is up for sale two years after it was shut down amid bankruptcy proceedings. The Rapid City Journal reports that the owners of the former Deer Mountain/Mystic Miner resort near Lead say they’ve cleaned up the property, made repairs and upgraded a water system serving residences near the site.
TENNESSEE Nashville: The Metro Council approved a $17.5 million incentive package to Amazon on Tuesday in exchange for the 5,000 jobs the company says it will bring downtown for its new operations hub.
TEXAS Austin: Experts say recent rain across much of Texas has contributed to a spectacular 2019 wildflowers season.
UTAH Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said Wednesday that two of its missionaries have returned to the U.S. after they were detained in Russia for more than two weeks in an alleged visa violation case.
VERMONT Montpelier: The state will offer a third gender option on driver’s licenses as soon as this summer.
VIRGINIA Williamsburg: Actress and alumna Glenn Close will speak at William & Mary’s commencement ceremony in May.
WASHINGTON Seattle: The National Weather Service says the city’s high temperature of 79 degrees Tuesday makes it the warmest March day on record since 1894.
WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: The nation’s largest Muslim civil rights organization says it has accepted an invitation from lawmakers to visit the state Capitol in the wake of an Islamophobic display outside the House of Delegates chamber.
WISCONSIN Madison: A legislative committee has decided to allow wildlife officials to lift restrictions on the state’s elk hunt.
WYOMING Cheyenne: The U.S. government approved plans Tuesday to expand a uranium mine in the state while it considers a proposed mine by the same developer not far away.