Across the nation
News from every state.
ALABAMA Tuscaloosa: City officials are considering curfew laws for minors during school hours to discourage students from skipping class.
ALASKA Anchorage: Officials say assessments following an enormous 2018 earthquake showed building damage was worse outside the city’s safety area due to reduced regulation.
ARIZONA Phoenix: State Rep. John Fillmore, R-Apache Junction, wants to require students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, but the ACLU claims that’s unconstitutional.
ARKANSAS Little Rock: Officials say they may consider revoking medical marijuana licenses for dispensaries that aren’t open by June.
CALIFORNIA Los Angeles: Next month the Los Angeles Police Department will begin testing a device that gives officers an alternative to firing a Taser or a gun. The BolaWrap 100 fires a Kevlar cord that wraps around and snares a person 10-25 feet away.
COLORADO Fort Collins: The first head shop in this state at the forefront of counterculture and legal marijuana plans to close next month. Mellow Yellow, opened in 1969, will officially close its flagship location Jan. 1, the store’s new owner says.
CONNECTICUT Hartford: Given anticipated debate about whether to end the religious exemption from certain vaccinations, the CEO of the Connecticut Pharmacists Association says his group doesn’t plan to push for a bill in the next legislative session that would allow young people to get a flu shot from a pharmacist.
DELAWARE Dover: The state will host events throughout 2020 to mark the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote in the U.S. Delaware State News reports the planned celebrations include a march around Legislative Hall that will end with the erection of a monument honoring the women’s suffrage movement.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: Allan Gerson, a lawyer who pursued Nazi war criminals, has died at the age of 74. Gerson died Sunday at his D.C. home from complications of a degenerative brain disorder, according to The Washington Post.
FLORIDA Tallahassee: The state’s Democratic and Republican parties are united in opposing a proposed constitutional amendment to let all voters cast ballots in primaries.
GEORGIA Atlanta: Wayne Williams, considered the main suspect in a string of killings of black children and young adults in the city in the 1970s and 1980s, has been denied parole.
HAWAII Honolulu: The on-time graduation rate for University of Hawaii at Manoa students has doubled in the past decade.
IDAHO Idaho Falls: State lawmakers say a law targeting uninsured drivers by suspending vehicle registration is expected to take effect Jan. 1.
ILLINOIS Springfield: A tax on parking spots to help finance a $45 billion construction plan has lawmakers taking a second look. The State Journal-Register reports the tax, taking effect Jan. 1, is 9% on spaces rented by the month or year. It’s 6% for spaces rented hourly, daily or weekly.
INDIANA Dana: Sens. Todd Young and Mike Braun have introduced legislation to rename the post office in Dana after Ernie Pyle, a celebrated war correspondent born nearby.
KANSAS Wichita: A man who was banished from the state as a condition of a criminal plea deal that also included in-state probation could be allowed back under a deal struck Monday, civil rights advocates say.
KENTUCKY Golden Pond: Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area is offering free cedar Christmas tree permits online.
LOUISIANA Baton Rouge: The state’s farmers have collected over $180 million from President Donald Trump’s bailout package for farmers hurt by the U.S. trade war with China. The Advocate reports more than 75% of that aid went to soybean farmers, but some say the program hasn’t been enough to cover costs.
MAINE Buxton: The town’s police say they need the public’s help locating feral pigs, if there are any living in the area.
MARYLAND Annapolis: Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer is now a member of the U.S. Naval Academy’s Board of Visitors.
MASSACHUSETTS Quincy: The birthplace of President John Adams is undergoing restoration work on two sides of the small home.
MICHIGAN Hickory Corners: A museum that boasts the largest vintage automobile collection in North America plans to open a new building to display muscle cars. The $5 million project at the Gilmore Car Museum would add more than 25,000 square feet of exhibit space.
MINNESOTA St. Peter: Bob and Corrine Johnson got married as teens and lived together for 68 years. KARE-TV reports they were to be laid to rest Tuesday – after dying 33 hours apart.
MISSISSIPPI McComb: Residents are protesting a large pothole in the Edgewood neighborhood by topping its yellow traffic cone with tinsel, pinecones, leaves and holly berries to draw the city’s attention.
MISSOURI Jefferson City: Officials are buying a $200,000 piece of equipment that simulates the experience of an earthquake to prepare Bootheel residents for a big one.
MONTANA Helena: State trust lands produced nearly $100 million in revenue for education and other goals from July 2018 to June 2019.
NEBRASKA Lincoln: Nearly 800 Nebraska State Penitentiary inmates – more than half the prison’s population – have signed a petition sent to state officials and news outlets decrying conditions there.
NEVADA Las Vegas: Environmentalists are warning that a planned geothermal energy plant in northern Nevada could threaten the habitat of the rare Dixie Valley toad.
NEW HAMPSHIRE Lebanon: Some counties are cutting back as demand for Meals on Wheels and other food programs for seniors exceeds funding. The Grafton County Senior Citizens Council has eliminated dessert to save money.
NEW JERSEY Fort Lee: This year’s city tree lighting Thursday is expected to be the biggest yet, with a holiday carnival, bonfires and more.
NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: A team of researchers is getting federal funding to analyze perishable artifacts to better understand the early inhabitants who lived in and around caves in the Guadalupe Mountains.
NEW YORK Albany: A federal judge has barred the state’s prison agency from taking any “adverse action” against correctional officers seeking a religious beard accommodation.
NORTH CAROLINA Maggie Valley: An elk has been running around with a shredded hammock on its head, and apparently a love of apples is to blame. News outlets report the Haywood County Sheriff’s Office had to free the animal.
NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: A photo of Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg at Standing Rock Sioux Reservation has been archived at the Library of Congress. Photographer Shane Balkowitsch titled the image “Standing For Us All.”
OHIO Columbus: Gov. Mike DeWine says the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency will coordinate testing for potentially harmful chemicals in drinking water.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: The state’s highest court has admonished an Oklahoma County judge who failed to pay her taxes and more than 60 parking tickets, but it narrowly decided against filing a petition for her removal.
OREGON Corvallis: Experts in this state that’s the nation’s No. 1 supplier of Christmas trees say prices for a holiday evergreen will remain higher this year due to a tight supply. Chal Landgren, with Oregon State University’s College of Forestry, says there are 400 fewer Oregon growers than there were 15 years ago.
PENNSYLVANIA Langhorne: The Neshaminy School District will appeal a state commission’s ruling that it can continue to call its sports teams “Redskins” but must remove logos that “negatively stereotype Native Americans.”
RHODE ISLAND Providence: An antiabortion group is saying it will appeal a decision by a Superior Court judge to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the state’s abortion rights law passed this summer.
SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: The head of the state child welfare agency is asking for $127 million more next year to help turn around the agency criticized for failing children.
SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls: The Minnehaha County Commission has accepted the resignation of the county state’s attorney in the wake of a workplace misconduct investigation.
TENNESSEE Nashville: The state Capitol building is now lit for the holidays. Gov. Bill Lee and first lady Maria Lee celebrated “Christmas at the Capitol” on Monday night.
TEXAS Waco: The Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct has issued a public warning to a judge who refuses to perform same-sex marriages.
UTAH Salt Lake City: The backlog of untested rape kits is growing in the state even after lawmakers passed a law in 2017 to address the issue, in part because of a lack of funding to hire the needed technicians.
VERMONT Burlington: The state Health Department is offering a new resource, a “Let’s Talk Cannabis” website, to help people learn about how marijuana affects peoples’ bodies, minds and health.
VIRGINIA Fairfax County: Local firefighters are taking part in a study aimed at finding ways to reduce their exposure to carcinogens.
WASHINGTON North Bend: A movie theater in this small city was evacuated after authorities say a package labeled as containing a “highly contagious human substance” was sent there in error. KOMO reports the package contained a urine sample.
WEST VIRGINIA Bluefield: The city’s Holiday of Lights festival has officially opened. The annual holiday display in Bluefield City Park will run until the end of December.
WISCONSIN Madison: Feminine hygiene products are now available for free in bathrooms at state office buildings.
WYOMING Cheyenne: The state Game and Fish Department says the number of hunting and fishing licenses sold to women has seen a marked increase in the past decade even as those for men decline 5%.