50 States
ALABAMA Montgomery: Lawmakers are headed to a vote on lottery legislation this week, as supporters aim to change the state’s status as one of the five in the nation without the games. The Senate Tourism and Marketing Committee is scheduled to vote Tuesday on one of two rival lottery proposals introduced this session.
ALASKA Anchorage: A company that wants to shuttle skiers by snowcat and helicopter to distant peaks in the increasingly popular Hatcher Pass area has sparked objections from some outdoor enthusiasts worried about increased avalanche danger, pollution and noise.
ARIZONA Phoenix: More people moved to Maricopa County than any other county in the nation last year, according to U.S. Census Bureau population estimates released last week. It’s the third year in a row the county led in growth.
ARKANSAS Little Rock: Medical marijuana sales are set to begin around May 12, as cultivators plan to begin harvesting the plant in the coming days and as regulators finish the approval process for the state’s first dispensaries.
CALIFORNIA Thousand Oaks: Wildlife officials say a young bobcat captured, collared and released a day before a massive, deadly wildfire has given birth to four kittens.
COLORADO Littleton: Community members marked the 20th anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting Saturday with a remembrance ceremony that celebrated the school’s survival and by volunteering at shelters, doing neighborhood cleanup projects, and laying flowers and cards at a memorial to the 13 people killed in the attack.
CONNECTICUT Hartford: An appeals court is set to hear arguments in the case of an animal rights group that is trying to free three elephants from a petting zoo by winning them the rights of “personhood.” The Nonhuman Rights Group alleges elephants Beulah, Minnie and Karen are being detained illegally in “deplorable” conditions at the Goshen-based Comerford Zoo and wants them moved to a natural habitat sanctuary.
DELAWARE Dover: For now, federal prosecutors “do not intend” to charge what could be more than 100 Delaware State University students from out of state who paid bribes to a school official for tuition breaks.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: Huge crowds shut down an intersection to memorialize a biking advocate who lost his life Friday when he was hit by a driver in a stolen minivan, WUSA-TV reports. A ghost bike tribute happened Sunday morning at the spot where David Salovesh died while biking.
FLORIDA Miami: The infamous ex-neighborhood watch volunteer who killed an unarmed black teen in 2012 has been banned from the dating app Tinder. A statement from the company cited users’ safety as a reason for removing George Zimmerman’s profile, which used a fake name.
GEORGIA Atlanta: Representatives of the timber industry want its byproducts to help power the state. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the plan involves branches and other scraps of wood – organic matter that could be turned into what’s called biomass fuel.
HAWAII Honolulu: A new regulation will restrict the size of so-called monster houses. The Honolulu City Council passed a bill last week that sets maximum density for detached dwellings, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports.
IDAHO Boise: A local nonprofit will begin accepting applications for families that want to live in one of four affordable houses made of steel shipping containers. The Idaho Statesman reports the four-bedroom, twobathroom homes will rent for $843 per month, including basic utilities.
ILLINOIS Chicago: The year’s Chicago Gospel Music Festival will include a tribute to the “Queen of Soul,” Aretha Franklin. The fest runs May 31 to June 1 in the lakefront Millennium Park and the Chicago Cultural Center.
INDIANA Indianapolis: An upright piano that John Lennon used to write Beatles songs has been sold at auction to the owner of the Indianapolis Colts, Jim Irsay.
IOWA Des Moines: In anticipation of the 100th anniversary of the state parks in 2020, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, the Iowa Arts Council and Iowa State University are bringing 20 artists-in-residence to 20 parks this summer.
KANSAS Lawrence: A local couple is marketing covered wagons once used by pioneers to journey west as a luxury camping experience. The Lawrence Journal-World reports Dennis and Donna Steinman have built their first 26-by-10-foot wagon to accommodate “glamping.”
KENTUCKY Louisville: L&N Federal Credit Union has donated $2 million toward the University of Louisville’s athletic department, which has renamed Cardinal Arena for the nonprofit financial institution.
LOUISIANA Oak Grove: The West Carroll Chamber of Commerce says starting next year, its spring festival will celebrate the Poverty Point World Heritage Site, a prehistoric American Indian mound complex, instead of sweet potatoes. The rebranded Poverty Point World Heritage Festival has tentative dates of March 26-29. The Lamb Weston North Louisiana Sweet Potato Festival will move to October.
MAINE New Vineyard: The White House Easter Egg Roll will once again feature colorful eggs made in the Pine Tree State. Maine Wood Concepts has created 100,000 wooden eggs featuring the president’s and first lady’s signatures for the annual event Monday.
MARYLAND Baltimore: New annual estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau show the state’s biggest city is continuing to shed inhabitants, bringing the population down to what it was over 100 years ago.
MASSACHUSETTS Boston: The state Senate has scheduled debate Thursday on a proposal that would let residents list a nonbinary gender designation on their driver’s license.
MICHIGAN Detroit: For the first time in its history, the city’s school district will recognize a Muslim holiday. Last week the school board adopted the calendar for the 201920 school year that includes the observance of Eid al-Fitr.
MINNESOTA Minneapolis: Researchers at the University of Minnesota and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say a virus called Enterovirus-D68 appears to be the cause of acute flaccid myelitis, a polio-like illness that caused paralyzing symptoms in some children last fall.
MISSISSIPPI Jackson: More than 35,000 third graders in the state sat down in front of computers last week to take reading tests, facing a state mandate to “level up” or not advance to fourth grade. But with the passing grade set higher this year, officials expect more students will fail the initial test, even with efforts to improve teaching.
MISSOURI Kansas City: A local artist has been selected to create a statue of former President Harry Truman for the U.S. Capitol. KCURFM reports Truman’s family and the Truman Library Institute picked sculptor Tom Corbin to render the 33rd president’s likeness.
MONTANA Helena: Gov. Steve Bullock has signed a bill to make it easier for firefighters to receive workers’ compensation for cancer and other occupational diseases.
NEBRASKA Lincoln: Hard liquor will be barred from University of Nebraska-Lincoln fraternity events next school year.
NEVADA Reno: Horse advocates are looking forward to getting back to their work in the field after the state agreed to resume a birth control project for a herd of free-roaming mustangs near the city. The project fell apart in 2017, when Nevada Department of Agriculture officials terminated an agreement that empowered volunteers with the American Wild Horse Campaign.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Littleton: Registration is open for the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance’s Conference and Annual Achievement Awards, scheduled for May 31.
NEW JERSEY Newark: What’s the busiest travel day of the year? At Newark Liberty International Airport, it wasn’t the day before Thanksgiving – it was a Thursday in April. The airport set a one-day record Thursday, with 78,118 passengers screened at security checkpoints, according to the Transportation Security Administration.
NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: The Philmont Scout Ranch is scrambling to install new campsites ahead of a summer season that will see a record number of Boy Scouts from across the U.S. descend upon the mountain retreat. The historic ranch is rebuilding in the wake of a devastating wildfire that charred nearly 44 square miles last summer.
NEW YORK New York: The fancy hats and finery were out and on display for New York City’s annual Easter extravaganza. Participants in the annual Easter Parade made their way along Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue on Sunday in a processional of the wild and whimsical. The annual event is a New York City tradition that goes back well over a century.
NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: “The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert has donated proceeds from his Hurricane Florence-related book to disaster-relief efforts in the state. The Raleigh News & Observer reports the comedian sent a check for $412,412 to Gov. Roy Cooper, who posted his thanks on Facebook. Colbert and his writing staff composed the book “Whose Boat Is This Boat? Comments That Don’t Help in the Aftermath of a Hurricane.” It uses quotes from President Donald Trump’s visit to the state in the storm’s aftermath last fall.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: An outbreak of deadly bacterial pneumonia that has plagued western North Dakota’s bighorn sheep population since 2014 is showing signs of waning. But it might still be a few years before the herd is out of the woods.
OHIO Cleveland: Proving love can be a carousel, a couple have married at the airport baggage claim where they met 12 years ago. Michelle Belleau and Ron Peterson wed Saturday at a spot Belleau says “couldn’t be more perfect,” The Plain Dealer reports.
OREGON Cannon Beach: Natural forces are reshaping and could eventually erase Haystack Rock, a massive landmark with a protected marine garden. Geologists predict Haystack Rock will erode away in the next 2,000 to 3,000 years, but volunteers and staff with the Haystack Rock Awareness Program say it’s already changing before their eyes.
PENNSYLVANIA Derry: The mayor is stepping down after being charged with pointing a gun at kids in a park. The lawyer for Mayor Kevin Gross said Friday that Gross denies the allegations but has resigned.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: A Brown University alumnus who manages one of the largest private equity firms in the world has donated $25 million to the college’s economics department to expand research into economic disparities. The Providence Journal reports more than half the funds donated by Orlando Bravo will go toward establishing the Orlando Bravo Center for Economic Research. The rest will be used to hire faculty.
SOUTH CAROLINA Charleston: A law originally written to help state and local governments collect debts is being used by some state hospitals to seize tax refunds from people with past-due medical bills.
SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: In 2010, reporters at the Argus Leader decided to request data about the government’s food assistance program, previously known as food stamps. Officials eventually sent back some information but withheld details reporters saw as crucial: how much each store received annually from the program. Trying to get that data has taken the paper over eight years and landed it at the U.S. Supreme Court, which will hear the case Monday.
TENNESSEE Pigeon Forge: Dolly Parton’s Dollywood has welcomed a fluffy addition to the amusement park – an eaglet. Media outlets report the eaglet hatched Wednesday.
TEXAS Austin: The state is among just nine with holidays honoring Confederate soldiers, and a teenager is behind a renewed push to change that. Jacob Hale says it’s important to remember the past in an accurate and truthful way.
UTAH Ogden: Officials say this month’s unusually wet, cold weather may lead to flooding and dangerous conditions in the state’s north.
VERMONT Montpelier: The state is on the brink of permanently recognizing the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples’ Day, not Columbus Day. A bill making the change cleared its final vote in the Legislature last week, and Gov. Phil Scott says he’ll likely sign it into law.
VIRGINIA Richmond: Gov. Ralph Northam is calling for the removal of an arch honoring the former president of the Confederacy at Fort Monroe, where the first enslaved Africans arrived in Virginia 400 years ago.
WASHINGTON Olympia: Schools in the state will be “strongly encouraged” to teach students about the Holocaust under a bill signed into law by Gov. Jay Inslee.
WEST VIRGINIA Beckley: State officials say a long-awaited project to extend the Coalfields Expressway is underway. News outlets report Gov. Jim Justice and other officials attended a groundbreaking ceremony in Raleigh County on Thursday.
WISCONSIN Madison: The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s latest census shows the number of female producers on farms in the state rose by 16% between 2012 and 2017.
WYOMING Cheyenne: The superintendent of Laramie County School District 1 says rainbow flags and LGBTQ-related clothing are not banned, despite a contrary message to students last week.