Across the nation

News from every state.

ALABAMA Montgomery: The state blew out 200 candles on its birthday cake Saturday, as officials and residents gathered to celebrate Alabama’s bicentennial. A parade was held, Gov. Kay Ivey spoke, and a series of monuments picturing the state’s history were unveiled in a park across from the Capitol.

ALASKA Anchorage: State prison officials have proposed giving inmates copies of their incoming mail rather than originals to crack down on smuggling, officials say.

ARIZONA Phoenix: Cross-country travelers and local commuters will soon have a new route to traverse the metro area with the opening of an east-west freeway that will skirt the often-congested section of Interstate 10 through downtown Phoenix. Gov. Doug Ducey and other government officials will gather Wednesday at new bridges over the Salt River to celebrate the imminent opening of the 22-mile South Mountain Freeway.

ARKANSAS Baxter: Arkansas State University-Mountain Home will offer a community education course on the American Revolution starting next month.

CALIFORNIA Sacramento: As homeowners in wildfire-prone areas struggle to find insurance, a lawsuit filed Friday will test the state’s authority to help them. The suit targets an order for the California Fair Access to Insurance Requirements Plan to begin selling comprehensive insurance plans next year.

COLORADO Craig: A government land agency has announced plans to remove about 25 wild horses from private land near the Sand Wash Basin Herd Management Area using a bait-and-trap technique.

CONNECTICUT Newtown: The community marked the seventh anniversary of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School with vigils, church services and a moment of joy when the town’s high school football team – with a shooting victim’s brother as linebacker – won the state championship Saturday in a lastminute thrill.

DELAWARE Dover: When life handed a group of elementary school students lemons, they helped craft legislation protecting lemonade stands in the First State. The students from W. Reily Brown Elementary School’s Student Lighthouse Team, led by state Rep. Andria Bennett, are hoping to keep young entrepreneurs in the state from having their lemonade stands fined and shut down.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: A D.C. schoolteacher is back on a mission to make sure underserved students have a Christmas to remember, WUSA-TV reports. Azel Prather, of KIPP Arts and Technology Academy, is giving his students a “selfcare day” this week in addition to raising money for gifts and holding a holiday celebration at school.

FLORIDA Ocoee: Traffic came to a citrusy standstill when nearly 1,000 grapefruits spilled from a delivery truck onto the Florida Turnpike in Orange County, authorities said.

GEORGIA Savannah: Some coastal residents are fighting an effort to relocate an iconic statue. Officials approved a plan last week to move the Waving Girl statue, depicting a woman who greeted ships arriving and departing from 1887 to 1931.

HAWAII Honolulu: Authorities have launched three inflatable tents at a park to make up what they say is the first mobile homeless center on Oahu.

IDAHO Boise: Students won’t see a tuition increase if they attend one of the state’s four-year colleges or universities next year.

ILLINOIS Chicago: The lions at Lincoln Park Zoo are getting some new digs worthy of the kings of the jungle. Thanks to a $15 million donation, the zoo will be able to begin a gut rehab of its central Kovler Lion House.

INDIANA Elkhart: Some community members are trying to raise money to buy a building with a treasured “Peace Mural” painted on one side, fearing the city plans to acquire it and tear it down.

IOWA Centerville: An atheist organization will fight for a display of its own on the Appanoose County Courthouse lawn if the City Council decides to return a Nativity display to the site, the group’s leader says.

KANSAS St. John: The clash over water rights between the operators of Quivira National Wildlife Refuge and farmers could wind up in court if the two sides don’t reach an agreement.

KENTUCKY Frankfort: New Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear has restored voting rights for more than 140,000 nonviolent felons, fulfilling a campaign promise.

LOUISIANA New Orleans: A suspected cyberattack prompted a shutdown of city government computers Friday.

MAINE Portland: Sub-Saharan asylum-seekers have overwhelmed the city’s ability to house them. Officials have created overflow shelters at the Salvation Army and the YMCA to accommodate nearly 170 people, the Portland Press Herald reports. Most are fleeing Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

MARYLAND Annapolis: The state would invest $130 million more for pre-K and other education priorities under a plan announced Friday by Republican Gov. Larry Hogan.

MASSACHUSETTS Marlborough: More than 170 fire departments across the state are sharing $920,000 in grants for equipment intended to reduce firefighters’ exposure to cancer-causing chemicals.

MINNESOTA St. Paul: A package thief who made off with a woman’s delivery last week decided to leave something behind for the victim – a handwritten thank-you note taunting her for the package. “So just a quick little thank you for leaving me the opportunity of stealing your package. Very nice of you. Thank You,” it read. Hillary Smith said she appreciates hand-crafted thank you notes, but not in this case.

MISSISSIPPI Jackson: A federal appeals court declared Friday that the state’s ban on abortion at 15 weeks is unconstitutional, dealing a blow to those seeking to overturn the landmark Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion nationwide.

MISSOURI Clayton: A gay St. Louis County police sergeant who was awarded nearly $20 million in a discrimination lawsuit has been promoted to lieutenant and picked as the leader of a newly created diversity and inclusion unit. The announcement comes after a jury ruled in October in favor of Keith Wildhaber, who says he was passed over for promotion 23 times and told to “tone down” his “gayness.”

MONTANA Livingston: An astronaut aboard the International Space Station spent 20 minutes speaking with high school students in the town she now calls home. The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports Natalie Davis-McGrath, a science teacher at Park High School, dialed into the station for a chat with astronaut Christina Koch. The call came in a gym filled with students. Koch, wearing a T-shirt with the outline of the state of Montana, answered questions Thursday about what life in space is like, what research she does and if her perspective about living on Earth has changed.

NEBRASKA Lincoln: People can learn the basics of ice fishing or pick up some tips from experienced anglers during several state-sponsored January events.

NEVADA Las Vegas: A state analysis shows the area falls short of national recycling rates and has shown little sign of improvement since 2003. About 20% of waste produced in Clark County last year was recycled, according to the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection’s 2019 Waste and Reduction Report. That was nearly 10% lower than in the Reno area and Carson City and well below the national recycling rate of 35%.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: The state’s new bail law allows judges to set bail at an amount a defendant can’t afford solely if that person is a flight risk, the state Supreme Court said in an opinion released Friday.

NEW JERSEY Weehawken: More buses may be able to travel through the Lincoln Tunnel with the help of autonomous technology. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has approved $4.8 million to award contracts to two firms to test whether sensors and other technology can shorten the distance between buses and boost speed in the tunnel’s exclusive bus lane.

NEW MEXICO Albuquerque: The city’s zoo is celebrating the survival of one of three rare Mexican gray wolf pups born at the facility this year. ABQ BioPark officials say the pup has grown over the past several months and is becoming more curious and confident.

NEW YORK Albany: A law allowing New Yorkers to get driver’s licenses without having to prove they are in the U.S. legally weathered a second court challenge Friday, days before its enactment Monday.

NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: Critics on Friday pushed back against a deal to protect a Civil War statue that once stood on the University of North Carolina’s flagship campus and to give $2.5 million to a neo-Confederate organization, as a civil rights group objected to it in court and a foundation withdrew a grant.

NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: The state’s mineral resources director says North Dakota reached a production record of 1.5 million barrels of oil per day in October. Lynn Helms said she expects production will continue to increase in the Bakken for the foreseeable future because OPEC and Russia agreed to curb oil outputs this month to reduce an abundant global supply.

OHIO Columbus: Gov. Mike DeWine and his administration are focusing on improvements to highway rest areas. The Republican governor’s vision includes lodge- or chaletstyle buildings, well-lit parking areas and dog parks, flat-screen TVs displaying weather conditions, and kiosks highlighting great Ohioans such as astronaut Neil Armstrong and other state information, according to Cleveland.com. There are also hopes for speakers pumping out a soundtrack of songs from famous Ohio musicians.

OKLAHOMA Cordell: A man suspected of abducting a woman and missing a court date on charges of assaulting two police officers was shot and killed Thursday by police, authorities said. Cade Humphrey, 30, died at a hospital.

OREGON Salem: A prosecutor has declined to file charges against 21 protesters who were arrested during a sit-in at the governor’s office last month as they protested a planned natural gas pipeline and marine terminal, a spokeswoman said Friday.

PENNSYLVANIA Pittsburgh: The Roman Catholic diocese of Pittsburgh has announced plans to merge more than two dozen parishes into eight new parishes next year. Bishop David Zubik said Satuday that 26 parishes will be part of the Jan. 6 mergers, which will reduce the number of parishes in the diocese from 170 to 152.

RHODE ISLAND Providence: The city’s school district is in a better financial position than previously thought, but resources need to be reallocated, according to an independent financial analysis released Friday. It found the city’s projected deficit for the district is “likely overstated,” but growing central office and transportation costs could be cut.

SOUTH CAROLINA James Island: The Folly Boat has finally found a new home along the road to one of the state’s most popular beaches more than two years after Hurricane Irma tried to sweep it away. Crews used a crane Thursday to move the boat, an unofficial landmark famous for its hand-painted messages, from the private marsh where it ended up after the 2017 hurricane to a bar called The Barrel on Folly Road.

SOUTH DAKOTA Rapid City: The Oglala Sioux Tribe is considering whether to appeal a decision by a panel of judges that a proposed uranium mine site doesn’t have to be surveyed for Native American burials or artifacts.

TENNESSEE Oneida: Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area and the Big South Fork Bike Club are planning their annual “Mail Run” for mountain bikers on New Year’s Day.

TEXAS Galveston: City leaders have turned down a proposal to require horseback riders to pick up what their animals leave behind on the beach after equestrians argued horse manure is harmless. One person even brought a bag of manure to Thursday’s City Council meeting while opposing the measure, the Galveston County Daily News reports.

UTAH Salt Lake City: Liquor authorities have thrown away thousands of gallons of drinkable beer after state law changed to allow higher-alcohol brews. The Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control disposed of beer worth almost $18,000 on Friday, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.

VERMONT Burlington: The police chief used an anonymous Twitter account to troll a government critic, he admitted last week. Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo said he took six weeks of medical leave to seek mental health treatment after telling his story to the mayor.

VIRGINIA Charlottesville: The Charlottesville Police Department is taking a Dodge Challenger out of service because of its similarity to the car used in a fatal attack during a 2017 white supremacist rally.

WASHINGTON Olympia: A jury on Friday awarded the Washington State Department of Transportation $57.2 million in damages over delays in the construction of a highway tunnel beneath downtown Seattle.

WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: The state Board of Education is once again trying to reduce high school graduation requirements. News outlets report the board voted Wednesday to open two proposals to public comment until Jan. 24.

WISCONSIN Port Washington: A judge on Friday ordered that the registrations of up to 234,000 voters be tossed out because they may have moved, a victory for conservatives.

WYOMING Cheyenne: The final federal quarterly oil and gas lease sale in the state this year netted $10.8 million in bids, the Bureau of Land Management says. Wyoming produces more energy on public land than almost any other state in the country.