Across the nation
News from every state.
ALABAMA Auburn: Auburn University says its famed golden eagle Nova, also known as War Eagle VII, could be in the early stages of heart failure.
ALASKA Ketchikan: Attorneys have filed a class-action lawsuit that seeks to reverse a recent rate increase in state-owned Pioneer Homes providing assisted living care.
ARIZONA Flagstaff: A proposal from a California company to create an “ecologically friendly” perpetual resting place on private lands within the Coconino National Forest is meeting resistance from tribes that call the nearby San Francisco Peaks sacred.
ARKANSAS Little Rock: The city’s teachers are staging demonstrations over the state’s stripping of their collective bargaining power and its ongoing control of the district. Teachers, parents and students held “walkins” around the district Wednesday.
CALIFORNIA Riverside: Officials have quashed plans to build a city called Paradise Valley on the southern edge of Joshua Tree National Park.
COLORADO Denver: Proposition DD, which will legalize sports betting in the state, has secured passage.
CONNECTICUT Hartford: Ride-hailing company Lyft is offering free transportation to ex-inmates through a new partnership with the city and a criminal justice reform nonprofit.
DELAWARE Dover: Officials are preparing to send potable water to properties near Dover Air Force Base after private wells were found to have chemical contaminants exceeding federal health advisory levels.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: An ex-FBI agent told jurors that Donald Trump confidant Roger Stone quoted his hero Richard Nixon in urging an associate not to contradict his own testimony. Stone texted radio host Randy Credico: “‘Stonewall it, plead the fifth, anything to save the plan …’ Richard Nixon.”
FLORIDA Wauchula: An orangutan granted legal personhood by a judge in Argentina is settling into her new surroundings at the Center for Great Apes in central Florida. Patti Ragan, director of the center, says Sandra is “very sweet and inquisitive.”
GEORGIA Atlanta: For the first time in three decades, the city won’t host a Peach Drop to ring in the new year.
HAWAII Honolulu: A settlement has been reached over a fatal 2017 highrise fire at the Marco Polo building.
IDAHO Boise: The state granted a conditional waiver Thursday to the U.S. Department of Energy that could allow research quantities of spent nuclear fuel into the state.
ILLINOIS Chicago: Advocacy groups including the ACLU of Illinois have filed lawsuits against sheriff’s departments in Stephenson and Ogle counties for alleged violations of the TRUST Act, which limits cooperation between local police and federal immigration authorities.
INDIANA Indianapolis: Economists say they do not expect a recession in the state in 2020, but its economy will grow at a slower pace, according to the latest forecast by Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business.
IOWA Cedar Falls: The University of Northern Iowa’s president says he’s forming a committee to address minority and other students’ allegations of systemic racism on campus.
KANSAS Topeka: Time is running out to begin construction on a new coal-fired power plant in the state before its permit lapses.
KENTUCKY Frankfort: State parks are offering a discount on lodging to active-duty military members and to veterans through March 31.
LOUISIANA New Orleans: About 44% of the state’s public schools have “persistently struggling groups of students” and are now required to develop improvement plans.
MAINE Harrington: A lobsterman hauled in an unusual catch 5 miles off the coast – a live deer. Ren Dorr says it had given up swimming and was being carried farther offshore.
MARYLAND Baltimore: The number of tourists who visited the state last year may have dropped slightly, but a report says they spent more.
MASSACHUSETTS Boston: The mayor says an effort to rename the square in a historically black neighborhood to Nubian Square isn’t dead despite the failure of a citywide referendum.
MICHIGAN Corwith Township: The state now owns a long-sought piece of northern property with a lake, forests and rare species that’s in the range of the state’s elk herd. The Department of Natural Resources says it’s completed the $3.8 million purchase of the Storey Lake site.
MINNESOTA St. Paul: Gov. Tim Walz has asked U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to declare a disaster for 12 northwestern Minnesota counties where farmers are having a difficult harvest season.
MISSISSIPPI Taylor: Mayor James E. Hamilton has abruptly resigned after more than four decades in office, offering no details or reasoning to the public.
MISSOURI Kansas City: A cold weather system had people reaching for nose plugs this week. The National Weather Service speculated in a tweet that a cold front that swept into the metro Wednesday night carried farm odors with it and trapped them in the shallow part of the atmosphere.
MONTANA Helena: The Great Divide Ski Area will be the state’s first to open for the season this Saturday.
NEBRASKA Lincoln: Officials plan to cut staff at one state-run home for juvenile offenders while adding to the workforce at two other sites.
NEVADA Las Vegas: The state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ decision to remove from its website a document about a sacred American Indian site is drawing criticism from tribes. A department official said the decision came at the request of the State Historic Preservation Office over concerns it could expose the site to vandalism or looting.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Plymouth: Plymouth State University has received a $48,000 grant to implement a program to educate teens about the dangers of e-cigarettes.
NEW JERSEY Atlantic City: The federal government has dropped its objection to some southern New Jersey towns using sand from a nearby offshore site to replenish their beaches.
NEW MEXICO Roswell: Rick Kraft, a lawyer from this town renowned as the site of an alleged 1947 UFO crash, says he will challenge President Donald Trump in early-voting New Hampshire, calling the effort “a bucket list-type thing.”
NORTH CAROLINA Charlotte: Sixteen-year-old environmental activist Greta Thunberg says she plans to attend a youth-led climate rally Friday at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: A fall survey indicates the mule deer population continues to recover in the western North Dakota Badlands thanks to another good year of fawn production.
OHIO Columbus: Gov. Mike DeWine has signed into law a measure repealing the state’s sales tax on feminine hygiene products. OKLAHOMA Tulsa: A Republican state lawmaker has abandoned his effort to rename a stretch of Route 66 after President Donald Trump.
OREGON Portland: The state Department of Environmental Quality says smoky skies and stagnant air are likely to hang around another week.
PENNSYLVANIA York: Police officers are alleging in some DUI cases that people who’ve recently smoked marijuana have green tongues, despite a lack of science backing up the idea.
RHODE ISLAND South Kingstown: Researchers say the state’s rich, moist soil could make it a leader in the production of saffron.
SOUTH CAROLINA Reevesville: The ballot for the mayoral race was blank Tuesday, leaving voters to write in whomever they wanted. The Post and Courier reports Paul Wimberly didn’t know he’d been reelected until he spoke with a reporter the next day.
SOUTH DAKOTA Pierre: Gov. Kristi Noem says the state is now more than 99% compliant with federal Real ID requirements ahead of next year’s deadline.
TENNESSEE Knoxville: Applications are open for a new scholarship at the University of Tennessee that guarantees certain students free tuition. A university news release says the UT Promise scholarship is offered to qualifying state residents attending UT’s campuses in Knoxville, Chattanooga, Martin and Memphis.
TEXAS Huntsville: An inmate who was a member of a white supremacist gang was executed Wednesday for strangling a woman nearly 20 years ago over fears she would alert police about his drug operation. Justen Hall, 38, received a lethal injection.
UTAH Salt Lake City: A lawmaker who was aiming to be the city’s first Latina mayor has conceded to a councilwoman known for fighting pollution. State Sen. Luz Escamilla said in a statement Wednesday that she wished fellow Democrat Erin Mendenhall the “best of luck.”
VERMONT Burlington: Famed Vermont ice cream maker Ben & Jerry’s is accused of misleading its customers about the type of milk and cream used in its products. Environmental advocate and former gubernatorial candidate James Ehlers says in a lawsuit that parent company Unilever is profiting from false advertising.
VIRGINIA Abingdon: Washington County voters have defeated a proposal that would have relocated their historic courthouse’s functions to a vacant Kmart building in a strip mall.
WASHINGTON Olympia: State auditors say an investigation revealed elevators and escalators are not annually inspected as required by law.
WEST VIRGINIA Daniels: An American Heritage Girls troop has helped to raise funds for its mentor’s cancer treatment. The Register-Herald reports troop members Kate Hontz, Rebekah Stephens and Callie Bethel held a fundraiser last Saturday to help pay for Rachel Quesenberry’s chemotherapy treatments.
WISCONSIN Madison: New data from the University of Wisconsin-Madison shows students at the flagship campus are getting out faster than ever, in an average of 3.96 calendar years.
WYOMING Cheyenne: An interim legislative panel has rejected a proposal that would increase the state tax on alcohol to fund substance abuse treatment programs.