Around the nation

News from every state.

ALASKA Juneau: Airport inspectors found moose nuggets inside a traveler’s carry-on bag. KTOO Public Media reports the man told agents he likes to present them “for politicians and their bleep policies.”

ARIZONA Tucson: Michael Ely, 66, is leading a national effort to seek Social Security survivor’s benefits for all same-sex spouses.

ARKANSAS Fort Smith: A foundation for the U.S. Marshals Museum has started a GoFundMe campaign to raise $2 million of the final $15 million needed to complete its exhibits.

CALIFORNIA San Francisco: Billionaire and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff is donating $30 million to the University of California, San Francisco, to research the causes of homelessness and potential solutions.

COLORADO Denver: The state is moving up its 2020 presidential primaries from June to Super Tuesday.

CONNECTICUT Hartford: A legislative committee has advanced a bill that alerts school nurses and others that they won’t be fired for refusing to sign off on requests for religious exemptions from vaccinations for public school students.

DELAWARE Dover: A judge says you can’t be convicted of impersonating someone who doesn’t exist. A Superior Court judge ruled that a Common Pleas judge erred in convicting Hakeem Evans of criminal impersonation because there was no evidence a false name he gave a policeman in 2017 belonged to a real person.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: Ties are back at the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Organizers have jettisoned the written test spellers took in case a single champion couldn’t be identified.

FLORIDA Melbourne: A newborn antelope, named Clarice, at the Brevard Zoo weighed less than 2 pounds at birth and registers “an 11 out of 10” in cuteness, zoo officials say.

GEORGIA Atlanta: A bill aimed at keeping schools safe has raised concerns among lawmakers and activists who are urging Republican Gov. Brian Kemp to veto the measure. They worry vague language about reporting suspicious incidents will lead more minority students into prisons.

HAWAII Honolulu: The state Senate on Tuesday narrowly passed a measure that would require websites like Airbnb to collect and pay taxes on behalf of short-term rental hosts, sending the bill to the governor.

IDAHO Boise: A truckload of what state police seized believing it to be marijuana is industrial hemp, but a judge has ruled the material will not be returned.

ILLINOIS Chicago: “The Obama Paintings” is Rebuild Foundation’s newest exhibit at the Stony Island Arts Bank. Rob Pruitt has created 2,922 portraits of former President Barack Obama.

INDIANA Indianapolis: The state is changing its kindergarten eligibility rules, meaning kids could enter kindergarten before their fifth birthday.

IOWA Des Moines: Fair After Dark is returning to the Iowa State Fair for its second year this August, bringing a whole new batch of events, including bracelet making, a fair-style version of Food Network’s “Chopped,” an ugliest cake competition, and lots of food and booze samples.

KANSAS Topeka: Gov. Laura Kelly is seeking $35 million to improve corrections officer salaries and inmate care and to transfer inmates out of overcrowded state prisons.

KENTUCKY Lexington: The University of Kentucky plans to give each of its incoming freshmen an iPad Air starting later this year as part of an initiative aimed at improving graduation rates and leveling the technological playing field.

LOUISIANA Baton Rouge: A state House committee has approved a bill that would enact the Allen Toussaint Legacy Act, outlawing the use of a deceased individual’s name, image or likeness without the consent of family or a representative.

MAINE Augusta: The state has become the first in the nation to ban single-use food and drink containers made from polystyrene foam.

MARYLAND Baltimore: Embattled Mayor Catherine Pugh has been on leave for a month amid an accelerating scandal. State Sen. Jill Carter, D-Baltimore, says she wants Pugh’s lawyer to provide a statement from a doctor as to her actual medical diagnosis, mental and physical.

MASSACHUSETTS Boston: A squirrel hitched a ride on a commuter trolley Monday, warming hearts when it willingly snuggled in a human passenger’s arms.

MICHIGAN Detroit: Russ Gibb, the arts lover and entrepreneur who helped ignite the city’s live rock scene, died Tuesday at 87 after a series of medical struggles. Gibb transformed the Grande Ballroom into Detroit’s psychedelic-rock palace in 1966, helping nurture the careers of homegrown bands such as the MC5, the Stooges, Alice Cooper and Ted Nugent.

MINNESOTA St. Paul: The Department of Natural Resources says it will appeal a court ruling that it lacked the power to change the name of Lake Calhoun to its original Dakota name, Bde Maka Ska.

MISSISSIPPI Jackson: Casinos on the state’s Gulf Coast won the second-highest monthly amount ever in March.

MISSOURI Columbia: A conservation expert says the state’s prairies are disappearing, and the loss is hurting Missouri’s ecosystem.

MONTANA Great Falls: A bald eagle found in Glacier National Park died of lead poisoning, biologists say.

NEBRASKA Ashland: The Nebraska National Guard plans to rebuild its Camp Ashland training site by fortifying its buildings and raising them on stilts after recent flooding.

NEVADA Reno: U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry is pledging to expedite the removal of weapons-grade plutonium his agency secretly shipped to the state last year, beginning in 2021.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: Companies would be prohibited from using customers’ fingerprints, DNA and other biometric information for unexpected purposes under a bill before a state Senate committee.

NEW JERSEY Asbury Park: The second annual Jersey Devil and Fable Festival, presented by Paranormal Books and Curiosities, will be held Saturday afternoon.

NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: Health officials say two people who received facial injections from the same spa are infected with HIV. The New Mexico Department of Health says in a news release that two clients of VIP Spa who received “vampire facials” involving blood injections last year were recently diagnosed with the same HIV strain.

NEW YORK New York: The Big Apple has become the first major city in the nation to offer free phone calls from jails.

NORTH CAROLINA Asheboro: A baby chimpanzee born at the North Carolina Zoo now has a name chosen by public vote: Obi.

NORTH DAKOTA Fargo: The Agriculture Department in its weekly crop report says farmers have started seeding spring wheat, durum, corn, canola, sugar beets, oats, barley, dry peas, dry beans, flaxseed and potatoes. Planting of all crops is less than 10% complete and mostly behind the average pace.

OHIO Columbus: Republican Gov. Mike DeWine says he’s pursuing a “red flag” law to allow guns to be seized temporarily from owners who are believed to be a threat to themselves or others.

OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: The state Supreme Court says a law that restricts access to drug-induced abortions is unconstitutional.

OREGON Portland: Federal legislation to improve sanitation and water supplies at fishing sites crucial to the heritage of several Pacific Northwest tribes has passed the U.S. House after three years of delays. The bill now heads to the U.S. Senate.

PENNSYLVANIA Philadelphia: The city’s second poet laureate, Frank Sherlock, who focused on taking poetry to neighborhoods and the city’s young people, has been outed as a former white nationalist.

RHODE ISLAND Central Falls: A federal judge has ruled that the board overseeing a detention center here can’t break its contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and must allow the center to continue holding federal detainees.

SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: About 10,000 teachers and supporters wearing red rallied at the Statehouse on Wednesday for more pay and better working conditions.

SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: A local music teacher has earned national recognition by the country music world. Robyn Starks Holcomb, a Roosevelt High School choir teacher, is one of 10 music educators across the nation who was honored at the fourth annual Country Music Association Music Teachers of Excellence Awards on Tuesday.

TENNESSEE Nashville: The Titans Foundation has donated $100,000 to Habitat for Humanity as part of a work project in the city this fall.

TEXAS Austin: The state ranks first in monthly average salary for those just starting their careers in the nursing industry, according to a report by personal finance website WalletHub.

UTAH Provo: Officials are trying new techniques to get rid of an invasive plant species called phragmites on the shores of Utah Lake, such as spraying herbicides and smashing the plants instead of burning them.

VERMONT Burlington: City councilors have come out in support of becoming a Bee City USA Affiliate.

VIRGINIA Richmond: Actor Danny Glover will deliver the 120th commencement address at Virginia Union University this month.

WASHINGTON Olympia: Gov. Jay Inslee signed a bill Tuesday imposing rules on personal delivery robots.

WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: A legislative audit has found that the state government doesn’t know exactly how many guns it has.

WISCONSIN Madison: Immigrants and their supporters converged Wednesday on the state Capitol to rally for Gov. Tony Evers’ proposal that would make driver’s licenses available to people who are living in the country illegally.

WYOMING Casper: Thanks to a positive start to the year for the drilling industry, the state appears to be on the cusp of an upswing in its volatile economy.