Around the nation
News from every state.
ALABAMA Fairhope: Federal officials say fishing seasons for triggerfish and amberjack in the Gulf of Mexico have been shortened.
ALASKA Anchorage: Five longdeceased Alaska Native servicemen are being hailed by the state for their life-saving efforts during World War II. Lawmakers this month passed a formal citation honoring the Tlingit men for using their language to help the military outsmart the Japanese.
ARIZONA Flagstaff: Students at Northern Arizona University now have robots to deliver them the brain food they need to get through tough study sessions or lazy weekends. An automated delivery service has launched under a venture between robot-maker Starship Technologies and Sodexo Inc., a food-service and facilities-management company.
ARKANSAS Little Rock: A proposal to extend in-state tuition rates at state colleges and universities to some immigrant students is advancing in the Legislature after past efforts faltered.
CALIFORNIA Los Angeles: Proposals are being sought for reuse of the Southwest Museum, a landmark in northeast L.A. for more than a century. The request also includes the adjacent Casa de Adobe.
COLORADO Denver: The Centennial State has a new, more colorful state logo. Gov. Jared Polis unveiled the image, modeled on the design of the state flag, to reporters Tuesday.
CONNECTICUT Bridgeport: Gov. Ned Lamont is pushing legislation intended to help recruit more minority teachers for the state’s classrooms.
DELAWARE Dover: The state House has narrowly approved a bill requiring gun owners to safely store firearms so they aren’t obtained by people who shouldn’t have them.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: The U.S. Office of Government Ethics is refusing to certify one of the final financial disclosure reports of ex-Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt, citing the cut-rate $50-a-night deal Pruitt had for a luxury Washington condo.
FLORIDA Orlando: Some of the state’s theme parks are debuting new attractions this week. SeaWorld Orlando opened Sesame Street Land on Wednesday, while Legoland Florida in Winter Haven is debuting an area based on “The Lego Movie” and its sequel.
GEORGIA Atlanta: The Legislature is looking at ways to provide affordable access to feminine hygiene products in public schools.
HAWAII Honolulu: The state’s hotel industry reports February was its worst month for performance in about a decade.
IDAHO Boise: Legislation making sure public schools are available for voting during elections is heading to the governor.
ILLINOIS Edwards: Agricultural officials say the number of farms in the state is going down, and the remaining operations are growing bigger as aging farmers struggle to find successors willing to take on the task.
INDIANA West Lafayette: A memorial gate leading to the student section entrance of Purdue University’s football stadium will be built to honor Tyler Trent, the superfan and cancer activist who died in January.
IOWA Des Moines: West Des Moines’ Barn Town Brewing and Omaha’s Kros Strain Brewing started a special IPA collaboration Tuesday morning, from which proceeds will benefit flood relief efforts in Iowa and Nebraska.
KANSAS Washington: Former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole has been promoted from captain to colonel for his service in the Army in World War II.
KENTUCKY Lexington: A rising Democratic star in Congress may be bound for the Bluegrass State. U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, of New York, has been spearheading a package to tackle climate change dubbed the Green New Deal. At a hearing Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., called on Ocasio-Cortez to see for herself the struggling coal industry. She quickly accepted.
LOUISIANA Eunice: The World Championship Crawfish Etouffee Cook-off, in its 34th year, is coming to town this weekend.
MAINE Bar Harbor: An Acadia National Park plan to alleviate overcrowding in the summer calls for a timed reservation system and fees for parking lots.
MARYLAND Annapolis: The General Assembly has passed a bill to permanently protect five oyster sanctuaries under the law.
MICHIGAN Bath Township: An artist will be allowed to keep “The Blue Loop,” his outdoor installation of thousands of found objects that officials ruled violated an anti-junk ordinance, after an outpouring of public support.
MINNESOTA Becker: Sherburne County has agreed to a property tax break for Google to help bring a new $600 million data center to the city.
MISSISSIPPI Pascagoula: The U.S. Navy is awarding a $1.47 billion contract to a shipyard here to build a new amphibious warship.
MISSOURI Jefferson City: Mandatory safety inspections would no longer be required for more than a million vehicles under legislation passed by the state House that exempts most cars under 10 years old.
MONTANA Billings: The U.S. House has approved legislation for the federal government to recognize the Little Shell Band of Chippewa Cree Indians.
NEBRASKA Lincoln: Drones will be among the tools scientists and students will use starting in May to study supercell thunderstorms that can spawn tornadoes in the Plains.
NEVADA Reno: A century-old house is scheduled to make a trip on a flatbed truck to the other side of downtown Thursday to avoid the wrecking ball on the edge of the University of Nevada campus.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: State officials have approved contracts totaling nearly $1 billion for three companies to manage health care for Medicaid recipients in the state.
NEW JERSEY Brigantine: Authorities say dozens of spiny dogfish sharks washed up on beaches in southern New Jersey last weekend.
NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: Tribal leaders are calling on U.S. land managers to put off an upcoming oil and gas lease sale in the Chaco Canyon area.
NEW YORK New York: Anna Sorokin, 28, the onetime social-scene darling who allegedly bilked friends, banks and hotels while claiming to be a German heiress, went on trial Wednesday on grand larceny and theft of services charges.
NORTH CAROLINA Cherokee: Eastern Band of Cherokee Indian members might be picking sochan for dinner this week in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park – the first time in the park’s 85-year history. The right to harvest sochan, a bitter spring green that’s part of the traditional Cherokee culture and diet, comes after the historic signing of an agreement Monday.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: The state Senate has again rejected adding edibles as a legal form of medical marijuana.
OHIO Columbus: Ohio’s secretary of state has announced a competition for students in grades 6-12 to create the state’s new “I Voted” sticker.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: The Oklahoma City Council has provisionally approved a $26 million loan for a $287 million project to redevelop the First National Center.
OREGON Salem: Undocumented immigrants would be able to legally get driver’s licenses under a proposed measure in the state Legislature.
PENNSYLVANIA Pittsburgh: The City Council gave initial approval Wednesday to gun-control legislation introduced after last year’s synagogue massacre, an effort certain to be challenged in court by Second Amendment advocates who point out that state law doesn’t allow municipalities to regulate firearms.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: Environmental officials are no longer considering raising beach parking fees.
SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: The state House has given key approval to a bill to create a searchable database of property seized by police.
SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: Soil moisture supplies appear in good shape in the state as the spring planting season approaches.
TENNESSEE Nashville: It’s pronounced “app-uh-latch-uh,” not “app-uh-lay-sha.” Lawmakers give the pronunciation lesson in a resolution calling for an official state manual, the Tennessee Blue Book, to discuss how people in Appalachia talk.
TEXAS Austin: Fortune 500 companies including Facebook and Google are joining gay rights activists in opposing several state bills they say are discriminatory.
UTAH Salt Lake City: Gov. Gary Herbert has signed into law a compromise deal that raises the amount of alcohol allowed in beer sold in grocery and convenience stores. The law raises the limit to 4 percent.
VERMONT Rutland: Rutland High School says it will fly a Black Lives Matter flag for 400 days starting next month to mark the 400 years since the beginning of the British slave trade in the Americas.
VIRGINIA Richmond: Dominion Energy will spend $870 million on energy efficiency programs over the next decade. In letter sent Tuesday, CEO Tom Farrell told Gov. Ralph Northam of a reversal of the company’s position that its energy efficiency spending should be less. Advocates of increased spending said it helps ratepayers and the environment by reducing the need for electricity.
WASHINGTON Olympia: The State Patrol collected 1,000 bump stocks in a taxpayer-funded buyback program.
WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: Gov. Jim Justice has approved measures to let women get birth control straight from a pharmacist, restructure the state’s foster care system and tidy up medical marijuana banking services.
WISCONSIN Green Bay: The urban ax throwing trend will make its way to the city this summer when Badger State Brewing Co. hosts its third annual Badger State Block Party on July 27. WYOMING Laramie: Officials say public access to a popular fishing lake in the southeast part of the state could be in jeopardy. The Laramie Boomerang reports state wildlife managers have seen littering, off-road travel and other damage to resources at Diamond Lake Public Access Area.