50 States

ALABAMA Birmingham: Alabama Public Television has chosen not to air an episode of the PBS children’s show “Arthur” because it included a same-sex wedding. AL.com reports APT’s director of programming, Mike Mckenzie, defended the decision by saying parents trust that their kids can watch the station unsupervised.

ALASKA Anchorage: A fisherman has received the U.S. Coast Guard’s second-highest civilian honor for saving a girl from drowning when they were children over 20 years ago. George Lambert received a silver lifesaving medal Saturday for rescuing Pamela Smith,The Anchorage Daily News reports.

ARIZONA Sonoita: Native American tribes and environmental groups are fighting to stop a Canadian firm from opening a copper mine in the Santa Rita Mountains, arguing it could desecrate sacred, ancestral lands and pollute the air and water.

ARKANSAS Little Rock: The governor says more than two dozen states are participating in the first-ever National Computer Science Summit for State Leaders in the state on June 10.

CALIFORNIA Los Angeles: The Museum of Contemporary Art says admission will soon be free thanks to a $10 million gift by the president of its board of trustees.

COLORADO Denver: The state Supreme Court has ruled that police require probable cause before deploying dogs trained to detect marijuana. CONNECTICUT Hartford: Legislation aimed at better matching members of the LGBTQ community with health and other services has cleared a key vote in the state House.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: The Rev. Wilton D. Gregory has been installed as the seventh archbishop of Washington, becoming the first African American to lead the archdiocese.

FLORIDA Naples: More of the state’s seniors are smoking, drinking and experiencing depression, according to the latest America’s Health Rankings report.

GEORGIA Atlanta: Restaurants, coffeehouses and bars that once rushed to offer CBD-infused items are pulling back after a warning from the state’s agriculture commissioner.

HAWAII Pahoa: Residents of the Leilani Estates neighborhood have met to discuss what they should name a nearby volcanic fissure that opened last year. The meeting organized by the state Board on Geographic Names marks the first time it’s reached out to the public to name a new feature.

IDAHO Idaho Falls: The Idaho National Laboratory’s Experimental Breeder Reactor-I will open for tours Friday.

ILLINOIS Chicago: Lori Lightfoot told aldermen and other city powerbrokers assembled at her inauguration Monday as the Windy City’s first black woman to become mayor that she meant what she said on the campaign trail about sweeping reforms.

INDIANA West Lafayette: Cells from Tyler Trent, the Purdue University super fan and cancer activist who died in January, are being used by researchers to study the disease.

IOWA Des Moines: Community leaders are steadfast in their opposition to plans for a $137 million federal courthouse on the city’s riverfront.

KANSAS Manhattan: Kansas State plans to remove most of its 251 ash trees ahead of an expected infestation from the emerald ash borer.

KENTUCKY Bardstown: A Confederate statue at a cemetery here has been vandalized with orange paint, similar to vandalism that’s appeared on a statue in Louisville.

LOUISIANA Baton Rouge: A bid to increase the state’s legal smoking age from 18 to 21 narrowly escaped the House budget committee, but only after lawmakers added exemptions for people in the military, law enforcement and first responders.

MAINE Brunswick: Bowdoin College is giving nearly a half-million dollars to a local school district to pay for a new classroom that focuses on hands-on learning.

MARYLAND Annapolis: U.S. Naval Academy midshipmen finished a traditional greased monument climb in a little over an hour Monday. The academy says it’s the fastest recorded time in over 30 years.

MASSACHUSETTS Boston: Vineyard Wind, the developer of a wind farm off the state’s coast, is taking steps to protect the endangered North Atlantic right whale.

MICHIGAN Royal Oak: Sculptures made from illegal snare traps that threaten wildlife in Africa are on display at the Detroit Zoo. “Snares to Wares: Capacity for Change “is on view at the Wildlife Interpretive Gallery through next March.

MINNESOTA Minneapolis: Xcel Energy says it plans to retire its two remaining coal plants in the Upper Midwest by 2030, a decade earlier than scheduled, bringing praise from environmental groups.

MISSISSIPPI Clarksdale: The mayor says he’s willing to spend up to $10,000 of his own money to pay criminals to leave town. Mayor Chuck Espy says if lawbreakers don’t think they can turn their life around here, he’ll pay for them to move elsewhere.

MISSOURI St. Louis: A new survey reveals low pay is the biggest reason teachers in the state leave the field.

MONTANA West Glacier: The National Park Service has awarded a $4.7 million contract to complete reconstruction of the Sperry Chalet in Glacier National Park by this fall.

NEBRASKA Omaha: Registration has opened for the July 13 Owl Ride, the city’s nighttime urban cycling adventure benefiting the nonprofit Meyer Foundation for Disabilities.

NEVADA Reno: To protest a housing crisis and “exploding rents,” artist Erik Holland aimed to post 100 eviction notices on the “HOME” sculpture downtown last week. Holland didn’t get too far before his performance art was cut short when security staff asked him to stop.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: A bear whose life was spared two years ago by the governor has returned to her home turf near Dartmouth College after traveling thousands of miles since her relocation last June.

NEW JERSEY East Rutherford: Officials have again pushed back the opening date for a massive retail and entertainment center. The longdelayed American Dream project was slated for a late summer opening. But officials said Monday that it will now open this fall.

NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: A Little League park is fighting a battle against discarded hypodermic needles amid the region’s opioid epidemic. Atrisco Park is racing to clean up syringes littering fields and the grounds to protect the children who play on them, the Albuquerque Journal reports.

NEW YORK Albany: Legislation before state lawmakers would create a new tax break for restaurants that donate oyster shells for environmental conservation.

NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: Altered rules on how student and employee ID cards must be authenticated before they qualify as voter identification for next year’s elections are advancing through the Legislature.

NORTH DAKOTA Minot: Officials have begun relocating the Pioneer Village Museum, which was evicted from the State Fairgrounds, to a new site in nearby Burlington.

OHIO Columbus: Voters in the state will have a new “I voted” sticker this fall, designed by Emily Legg, a senior at Teays Valley High School.

OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: The state Senate has given final approval to a bill that appropriates $8.1 billion to various state agencies for the fiscal year beginning July 1, including a 5% boost for public schools that includes money for another teacher pay raise.

OREGON Bend: A groundswell of public and private support for a wildlife tunnel south of Bend has generated over half of what is needed for a $929,000 fencing project for mule deer and elk along a migration route.

PENNSYLVANIA Harrisburg: A commission tapped by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf to study how to ensure an accurate census is making a funding request of $1 per person to aid the outreach, or close to $13 million.

RHODE ISLAND Providence: Gov. Gina Raimondo and U.S. Sen. Jack Reed say the state is teaming up with sunscreen company Raw Elements USA to offer free sunscreen dispenser stations at all state-run beaches and several parks this summer.

SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: The state House has rejected a plan to let wealthy oceanfront property owners rebuild a seawall on an eroding public beach in Georgetown County. SOUTH DAKOTA Rapid City: The South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Department has created a safer way of tracking bobcat kittens through 3D printing technology.

TENNESSEE Memphis: More than 20 acts – with headliners including Lucero and Al Kapone – will play across five stages Saturday at Tom Lee Park, as part of the Celebrate Memphis bicentennial extravaganza.

TEXAS Austin: After emotional speeches by members of the House’s LBGTQ Caucus, a measure dubbed the “Save Chick-Fil-A” bill cleared the chamber Monday along party lines.

UTAH Salt Lake City: The state’s ski resorts set a record for visitors this past winter thanks to heavy and consistent snowfall.

VERMONT Sheffield: The town will honor local soldiers who served in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 with a granite marker slated to be dedicated Friday at the Town House Museum.

VIRGINIA Capeville: A crowd of wellwishers, including elected officials and about 60 second graders from Kiptopeke Elementary, celebrated completion last week of the second phase of the Southern Tip Bike and Hike Trail in Northampton County.

WASHINGTON Wenatchee: The state’s apple growers are cheering the end of a 20% tariff on apples shipped to Mexico.

WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: Deer hunts will be held at six state parks this fall. State parks chief Sam England says the goal is to bring deer populations under control. WISCONSIN Milwaukee: State officials desperate to find attorneys for indigent defendants up north have resorted to promoting tourist opportunities for long-haul lawyers. WYOMING Jackson: An annual elk antler auction has raised more than $186,000 for a wildlife refuge and the Boy Scouts.