Around the nation

News from every state.

ALABAMA Birmingham: The funeral for Chris McNair, one of the Legislature’s first black members, will be held Friday at the 16th Street Baptist Church, where his daughter Lisa died in a racist bombing in 1963.

ALASKA Anchorage: The mysterious animal people say they see in Iliamna Lake is dark, longer than 15 feet, with a long head and tail and distinct fins. But so far, nobody has photographed the so-called Iliamna Lake monster. Bruce Wright, a former marine ecologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service, hopes to solve the riddle this summer by sinking an underwater video camera to the bottom of the largest lake in the state.

ARIZONA Flagstaff: The public is sending mixed messages to the U.S. Forest Service about the future of a popular but primitive recreation area. Some people are calling for more infrastructure improvements at Fossil Creek near Camp Verde, while others want more solitude.

ARKANSAS Hot Springs: The state’s first dispensary has opened two and a half years after voters approved a measure legalizing medical marijuana for certain qualifying conditions. About 100 people lined up in the rain outside Doctor’s Orders RX on its first official day of business Saturday.

CALIFORNIA Ojai: This artsy city is so safe that a single attempt by teens to steal beer accounted for the majority of its violent crimes last year.

COLORADO Alamosa: Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve has been recognized for its unpolluted views of the night sky. KOAA-TV reports the International Dark-Sky Association has designated the site as an International Dark Sky Park.

CONNECTICUT Newtown: A school violence prevention program started by parents whose children were killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre is receiving a $25,000 donation. The gift from the Wireless Zone Foundation will be presented to Sandy Hook Promise on Monday.

DELAWARE Lewes Beach: Residents of this beach community are concerned that visitors will continue using the dunes as an outhouse as the summer tourism season begins. Town officials say there’s no room for more public bathrooms.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: Writer Natasha Tynes is facing a backlash after she tweeted a picture of a public transit worker eating on a Metro train and reported details about the employee to her bosses. Union officials say the woman was on the train to get to another assignment and had just 20 minutes to eat.

FLORIDA Tallahassee: Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has vetoed a bill that would’ve prevented local governments from banning plastic straws.

GEORGIA Atlanta: Executives from three production companies say they won’t film in the state because of its “heartbeat” abortion ban. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports David Simon of Blown Deadline, Christine Vachon of Killer Films and Mark Duplass of Duplass Brothers Productions have announced boycotts.

HAWAII Kailua-Kona: Legislation meant to protect the state’s shark population was altered at the 11th hour to remove the apex predators from the bill amid concerns from the scientific community. West Hawaii Today reports the bill was intended to extend protections in place for manta rays to include all rays and sharks.

IDAHO Boise: Morel mushrooms are springing up as soil temperatures warm, and already competition to find the coveted fungi is heating up. Members of online Idaho morel-hunting groups have been posting their finds for a few weeks, the Idaho Statesman reports, but insiders have been tight-lipped about divulging where they’ve found the goods.

ILLINOIS Evanston: An escaped pet snake that apparently slithered into a family’s washing machine ended up smelling like fabric softener after going through the wash. Chicago Exotics Animal Hospital says the corn snake, named Penelope, belonged to a 12-year-old boy who lives nearby.

INDIANA Indianapolis: An elephant at the Indianapolis Zoo has tested positive for a virus that killed two other elephants there in March. Kedar, an African elephant, tested negative for elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus until May 6, the zoo said.

IOWA Des Moines: A new building in the city is the first in the U.S. made of a type of eco-friendly mass timber in which planks of wood are pressed together using dowels.

KANSAS Wichita: A government report forecasts a bountiful winter wheat harvest in the state. The National Agricultural Statistics Service reported Friday that this year’s wheat crop is expected to be up 17% from a year ago.

KENTUCKY Louisville: A historic commission says a Confederate statue can be removed from a prominent location. The Louisville Metro Landmarks Commission voted 5-3 on Thursday to allow removal of John B. Castleman’s monument from a neighborhood traffic circle.

LOUISIANA Baton Rouge: Hank Williams’ iconic “Jambalaya (On the Bayou)” won’t become one of the state’s official songs. State Sen. Norby Chabert, R-Terrebonne Parish, told The Advocate he’s shelving the proposal for this legislative session. Louisiana already has two official state songs: “Give Me Louisiana” and “You Are My Sunshine.”

MAINE Augusta: The state is turning 200, and officials want to make sure the Pine Tree State celebrates the big birthday with the best flag possible. Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap is asking the public for input on three proposed designs for the commemorative flag.

MARYLAND Annapolis: Ever since a townhome developer in the 1980s dug up a cemetery on the former grounds of the county’s first African-American church, two skeletons have been sitting in boxes archived in a museum. After searching for decades, historian Janice HayesWilliams’ new mission is to get the remains back to their proper resting place and restore dignity for black families whose neighborhood was destroyed by gentrification.

MASSACHUSETTS Boston: A performing arts group has found the child who was literally and loudly wowed by a recent classical music concert. Ronan Mattin, 9, of New Hampshire, attended the concert with his grandfather Stephen, who says Ronan is on the autism spectrum and expresses himself differently from how other people do, WGBH-FM reports.

MICHIGAN Muskegon: A museum housed on a World War II-era warship is bringing a massive antiaircraft gun aboard. The USS LST 393 Veterans Museum in Muskegon is adding an 18,000-pound antiaircraft cannon to its landing ship tank this summer.

MINNESOTA St. Paul: The top Republican in the state Senate, who helped defeat a proposed ban on so-called gay conversion therapy for minors, sent his daughter to a therapist opposed to gay relationships after suspecting she had a same-sex attraction when she was a teenager, the Star Tribune reports.

MISSISSIPPI Tupelo: A total of 28 counties and cities in the state’s northeast have criminalized possession and sale of kratom, a legal but unregulated herbal product.

MISSOURI Kansas City: The city’s school district has found its public and charter schools are increasingly racially segregated, expensive to operate and losing high school students. KCUR-FM reports the district released a new analysis showing 78% of schools in the system were racially segregated by 2017, well over the 32% of schools in 1999.

MONTANA Helena: Gov. Steve Bullock signed a series of bills Friday that allow for spending nearly $400 million on buildings, bridges and water systems across the state.

NEBRASKA Omaha: A new report says a nearly $200 million decline in the state’s agricultural exports in 2017 was driven by President Donald Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on U.S. trading partners. The Nebraska Farm Bureau report attributes the drop to decreases in soybean and corn exports.

NEVADA Carson City: The governor signed a law Friday opening the books on those awarded lucrative licenses to sell recreational marijuana, prompting the state tax department to reveal that just 16 applicants won all 61 new pot dispensary licenses awarded last year.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Hampton: The Department of Environmental Services has closed the state’s ocean coastline and Hampton-Seabrook Harbor to shellfish harvesting because of a toxin that comes from what’s known as red tide.

NEW JERSEY Trenton: A microorganism that played a role in treating tuberculosis is now officially recognized as the state microbe. Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bill Friday giving the distinction to Streptomyces griseus. The microbe was discovered in New Jersey soil in 1916.

NEW MEXICO Rio Grande del Norte National Monument: Rafting and angler guides are predicting a good season for Rio Grande tourism in the state thanks to strong runoff from a good snowmelt this year. NEW YORK New York: The workers who spent their time helping with recovery efforts at ground zero are being commemorated on specialissue transit system MetroCards that’ll be available starting Wednesday at 10 subway stations, mostly in the area of the World Trade Center site, the Daily News reports.

NORTH CAROLINA New Bern: Almost 2,000 students will receive scholarships to take a field trip to Tryon Palace, the state’s first permanent capitol. Applications will be accepted Aug. 15 through Sept. 30.

NORTH DAKOTA Minot: An imitation B-52 bomber and an oil derrick will be showcased in the proposed Magic City Discovery Center, according to concept plans.

OHIO Dayton: French and American teams are working together again on a D-Day project, this time to allow some virtual time travel back to that decisive moment in world history. Visitors to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton can use French-developed tablet technology when the museum begins its commemorations of DDay on Monday.

OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: The state Department of Corrections is asking federal lawmakers to authorize the use of cellphone signal jamming technology after being bombarded by smuggled cellular devices they say gangs use to commit crimes inside and outside prison.

OREGON Portland: The state Supreme Court disagreed with more than 50 years of state case law by ruling that Oregonians retain a privacy interest in the garbage they leave on the curb for pickup. That means police can’t simply rummage through it even after a truck hauls it away.

PENNSYLVANIA Latrobe: Residents of Fred Rogers’ home state will be encouraged to exhibit acts of kindness in honor of the beloved PBS children’s show host. Gov. Tom Wolf said Friday that the state’s website will share stories of good deeds and kind gestures May 23 for “1-4-3 Day,” named for Mister Rogers’ favorite number. Rogers used the number 143 to say “I love you,” as each digit reflects the number of letters in each word in the phrase. May 23 is the 143rd day of the year.

RHODE ISLAND Warwick: The yogurt company Chobani plans to pay the school lunch debts of low-income families with students attending a district that made headlines by announcing children who owe money would get cold sunflower butter and jelly sandwiches instead of a hot meal, the mayor’s office confirmed Friday. After a public backlash, Warwick Public Schools reversed the cold-lunch decision last week.

SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: The city’s police agency says it is using technology to combat and reduce gun violence. At a news conference Friday, the Columbia Police Department announced it’s using ShotSpotter, a gunshot detection technology that uses acoustics to detect, locate and alert law enforcement about gunfire in real time. Police Chief Skip Holbrook says it’s currently the only agency using the technology.

SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: An animal rights group is asking Gov. Kristi Noem to reconsider her decision to shoot off fireworks at Mount Rushmore for the Fourth of July celebration in 2020. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says its president sent a letter to Noem suggesting she consider replacing the fireworks with a drone show.

TENNESSEE Nashville: The state Supreme Court has ruled that city school districts don’t have to share money they receive from liquor taxes with county governments.

TEXAS Houston: The Federal Aviation Administration has not passed a new safety regulation that legislators say would fortify supervision of the hot-air balloon industry and help avoid fatal crashes similar to a tragedy that killed 16 people in the state almost three years ago.

VERMONT Burlington: Chittenden County gets some of the lowest average levels of sunlight per day, according to AccuWeather, but the city takes the fourth spot across the U.S. on a list of solar energy per capita.

VIRGINIA Richmond: The Hershey Co. has picked the state and Augusta County for a major expansion of its manufacturing operation.

WASHINGTON Seattle: The state is set to become the first to enter the private health insurance market with a universally available public option. Gov. Jay Inslee is scheduled to sign legislation creating the system into law Monday.

WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: Gov. Jim Justice’s schedule for the past seven months shows he rarely meets with his Cabinet, rarely is in the capital and was largely missing at one of the legislative session’s most critical points, the Associated Press reports.

WISCONSIN Milwaukee: The Medical College of Wisconsin is looking for ways to fight racial disparity in cancer deaths in the state.

WYOMING Laramie: Volunteers are clearing dead trees and repairing fences along a former railroad right of way that’s been converted to a trail in southern Wyoming. The Laramie Boomerang reports the Friends of the Medicine Bow Rail Trail group is working with the Medicine BowRoutt National Forest to maintain the route southwest of Laramie.