Around the nation
News from every state.
ALABAMA Montgomery: Locals will likely have some “Nice Things” to say about Thursday’s episode of “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” The musical guest is Tank and the Bangas, a band that features Montgomery native saxophone and flute player Albert Allenback.
ALASKA Juneau: The state Senate has passed legislation intended to allow the Alaska State Fair to continue selling alcohol.
ARIZONA Grand Canyon National Park: Officials at the Grand Canyon say they’re expanding programming at a historic watchtower where visitors can learn about Native American culture.
ARKANSAS Texarkana: With the Texarkana Regional Airport possessing a historic Cold War site, the likes of which only seven still exist in the nation, some recognition may be in order. Arkansas-side City Planner Mary Beck and Assistant City Planner Kayla Flovin say they hope to place the airport’s former Air Force radar dome on the National Register of Historic Places, the Texarkana Gazette reports.
CALIFORNIA Los Angeles: Officials have voted unanimously to approve a $650 million renovation of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
COLORADO Eagle: A man has been sentenced to three years in a community corrections program for stealing a Sno-Cat fitted out to look like the “General Lee,” the car featured in “The Dukes of Hazzard.”
CONNECTICUT New London: The U.S. Coast Guard Academy has named an athletic field house after the school’s first African American head coach. The New London school says the facility will now be known as the Dr. Hallie Gregory Field House.
DELAWARE Dover: The state Senate has approved legislation imposing a new tax on drug manufacturers who sell opioid painkillers in Delaware.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: The Watergate Office Building is up for sale, WTOP reports, about two years after the infamous site’s last turnaround.
FLORIDA Melbourne: One of the state’s famed black bears is now at the Brevard Zoo. The 2-year-old female was brought in after the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission responded to a report of a woman providing dog food and water to a bear, which the zoo says limited her ability to survive in the wild.
GEORGIA Savannah: The Olde Pink House, a historic restaurant, has reopened months after a Christmas tree fire caused extensive damage.
HAWAII Honolulu: Lawmakers eager to gather tax revenue from the vacation rental sector passed legislation Tuesday that would require websites like Airbnb to collect and pay taxes on behalf of short-term rental hosts.
IDAHO Boise: Gov. Brad Little on Tuesday signed into law a bill approving Medicaid expansion for about 90,000 low-income residents that adds work and other requirements to a voter-approved measure.
ILLINOIS Chicago: The city’s iconic Johnson Publishing Co., the owner for decades of Ebony and Jet magazines that helped change the image of black people portrayed by U.S. media, has filed for bankruptcy liquidation in federal court.
INDIANA West Lafayette: NASA has chosen Purdue University as the site of a new research institute that will design deep-space human habitats.
IOWA Des Moines: Concerns about the spread of Africa swine fever to the U.S. have led organizers to cancel the World Pork Expo in June at the Iowa State Fairgrounds.
KANSAS Lawrence: In celebration of National Library Week, the Lawrence Public Library on Tuesday hosted “Get Inked for the Library,” with dozens getting tattoos for a donation to the library’s foundation.
KENTUCKY Louisville: The city’s main airport could change dramatically if a makeover of more than $100 million gets the green light.
LOUISIANA New Orleans: An illness for Stevie Nicks is forcing Fleetwood Mac to cancel its appearance at the Jazz Fest, where the band had been scheduled as a last-minute replacement for the Rolling Stones.
MAINE Augusta: The state could end nonmedical exemptions for routine childhood vaccines by September 2021 after the Legislature’s Education and Cultural Affairs Committee passed a bill Wednesday.
MARYLAND Baltimore: Advisers to embattled Mayor Catherine Pugh say she’s staying out of public view because of a serious case of pneumonia, not a mounting scandal over her sale of her children’s books.
MASSACHUSETTS Quincy: The Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary says the number of beached Kemp’s ridley, loggerhead and green sea turtles on Cape Cod has nearly doubled since 2016 and is 10 times higher than a decade ago.
MICHIGAN Detroit: Food deliveries at area schools have become so frequent and disruptive that many schools have banned them.
MINNESOTA St. Paul: Gov. Tim Walz and Commerce Commissioner Steve Kelley say economics suggest nuclear power won’t be part of the state’s energy mix if the state adopts the governor’s goal of getting 100 percent of its energy from carbon-free sources by 2050.
MISSISSIPPI Jackson: Andy Taggart, a Republican candidate for state attorney general, wants to change Mississippi’s flag, which includes the Confederate battle flag.
MISSOURI St. Louis: State conservation officials have worked for four decades to increase the number of prairie chickens, but the population continues to drop. The state now has fewer than 100, officials report.
MONTANA Missoula: A new watchdog group, Watershed Protection Advocates, says the state’s aquatic invasive species prevention program has serious flaws.
NEBRASKA Lincoln: Nebraskans whose homes were destroyed by last month’s historic flood could get a property tax break under a bill advanced by lawmakers.
NEVADA Reno: The state is resuming a fertility control project for a herd of free-roaming horses south and east of Reno.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Hanover: Dartmouth College has hit a milestone with its latest fundraising campaign. President Philip Hanlon says supporters have committed more than $2 billion of $3 billion sought.
NEW JERSEY Clifton: A dentist who created a racy Easter display featuring Playboy bunny-inspired mannequins in lingerie is vowing to put it back up after a female neighbor used gardening shears to damage it.
NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: The New Mexico State Film Office says the AMC-TV series “Better Call Saul” will begin work in the city on another season this month.
NEW YORK New York: A civil rights attorney says opponents plan a lawsuit this week over the city’s order requiring everyone in a heavily Orthodox Jewish neighborhood to be vaccinated for measles.
NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: Some lawmakers want to “spring forward” for good by making daylight saving time permanent in the state.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: Gov. Doug Burgum has signed legislation that exempts military retirement pay from state income tax. OHIO Cincinnati: Great Parks of Hamilton County is hosting its annual auction this month, and the items up for sale range from useful to downright weird, including some “worn and dusty” animatronic barn animals, a waving skeleton light sculpture, an inflatable obstacle course and a deposit door with bulletproof glass.
OKLAHOMA Norman: Charges were filed this week against Allison Christine Johnson, 45, suspected of spraypainting racist, anti-gay and antiSemitic graffiti on Democratic Party offices in Norman and Oklahoma City. Johnson, who is white, told police her intention was to scare Jewish and nonwhite people, according to documents filed in the case.
OREGON Portland: Deputies responded to a possible home invasion, but the “intruder” they found was just a robotic vacuum cleaner.
PENNSYLVANIA Harrisburg: The elimination of registration stickers for license plates has saved money and improved customer service, the state Department of Transportation says, after state Rep. Barry J. Jozwiak, R-Berks County, said he wants to see them return.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: The state House of Representatives has overwhelmingly passed two bills mandating overtime pay after 42 hours for firefighters, despite protests from municipal leaders.
SOUTH CAROLINA Charleston: Hominy Grill, an acclaimed restaurant that built its reputation by elevating simple Southern food, is closing at the end of the month.
SOUTH DAKOTA Renner: If you love dairy products, you’re in luck. The inaugural Great Plains Cheese & Ice Cream Festival will be held this summer at Strawbale Winery.
TENNESSEE Nashville: Music superstar Taylor Swift says the efforts of the Tennessee Equality Project, an LGBTQ advocacy group, to fight a handful of contentious bills moving inside the state’s Republicancontrolled General Assembly inspired her to make a $113,000 donation.
UTAH Salt Lake City: Officials plan to construct a 28-story glass skyscraper to hold a new convention center hotel downtown.
VERMONT Poultney: Green Mountain College officials, staff and students, as well as community members and state officials, are discussing what will happen to the campus after the college closes.
VIRGINIA Fredericksburg: A study by Virginia Tech has found that state parks contributed about $267 million to the economy in 2018.
WASHINGTON Spokane: Cold and snowy weather in February has pushed back the state’s wheat crop by about one month.
WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: An Easter Carnival is set for the state Capitol complex grounds this weekend.
WISCONSIN Madison: A new poll shows residents support key portions of Gov. Tony Evers’ agenda, including raising the minimum wage, spending more on special education and legalizing medical marijuana.
WYOMING Cody: A group of conservation organizations is calling on wildlife officials in the state to require hunters to carry bear spray.