Don’t miss out on the news from all 50 states and D.C.
From Alabama to Wyoming, we track the latest events from across the USA.
ALABAMA Montgomery: The state’s Black Belt region would become a National Heritage Area eligible for funding and other benefits under a bipartisan move supported by the state’s congressional delegation. ALASKA Juneau: A group of Native tribes has started a food and supplies drive for communities struggling with a lack of ferry service, an official said. The Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska is preparing to make the first shipment, The Juneau Empire reports. ARIZONA Tucson: The mayor and a councilwoman are calling for the removal of Confederate flags from the annual Tucson Rodeo Parade. ARKANSAS Fayetteville: Several universities in the state have canceled study abroad programs in Italy amid fears about the COVID-19 virus. CALIFORNIA Running Springs: Snow showers fell in the mountains of Southern California on Monday, and some Sierra Nevada peaks sported new coats of white. The turnabout followed a February that set records for dryness in parts of the state. COLORADO Loveland: March came with a cost to outdoor enthusiasts: It’ll now cost $1 more to enter Colorado State Parks’ 41 sites.
CONNECTICUT Hartford: State environmental officials are asking for the public’s help in finding bobcat tracking collars that have been programmed to fall off as part of one of the largest studies of its kind. DELAWARE Dover: State officials have abruptly ended their contract with a company providing medical care to prison inmates and chosen a new provider, Centurion.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: The debate over whether the Washington Redskins football team should change its name has some new data. A study from the University of California, Berkeley, in the journal of Social Psychological and Personality Science, finds at least half of Native Americans offended by the moniker, WUSA-TV reports. FLORIDA Indian River Shores: A trove of Spanish coins dating back to a 1715 shipwreck during a storm has been found along a beach in the Sunshine State. Jonah Martinez located the coins using a metal detector. GEORGIA Atlanta: Staffing levels for screeners at the city’s busy airport are prompting some to fear it will lead to long lines.
HAWAII Honolulu: A bill that would require publicly traded corporations based in the state to include women on their boards of directors has advanced in the state Senate but faces resistance from business advocates. IDAHO Boise: Legislation introduced Monday would make abortion a crime in Idaho should the U.S. Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade. ILLINOIS Chicago: Officials have proposed a plan to address affordable housing concerns near the site of the planned Obama Presidential Center. INDIANA Indianapolis: A plan to switch to an entirely electric fleet of public city buses by 2035 is in question due to problems with range. IOWA Des Moines: U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst wheeled a mountain of signed petitions into the Iowa secretary of state’s office Monday morning to file for reelection. KANSAS Garden City: The number of suicides in the state has increased by more than half in recent years, particularly in its northwest rural areas. KENTUCKY Frankfort: The Salato Wildlife Education Center reopens Tuesday. Visitors have indoor and outdoor viewing opportunities for wildlife including a bear, eagle, bobcats, deer, bison and birds of prey. LOUISIANA New Orleans: The history behind a bell that stood in front of Tulane University’s McAlister Auditorium has prompted university officials to remove it. President Mike Fitts and Board Chairman Doug Hertz said officials were informed last week that the “Victory Bell” was originally used to direct the movements of enslaved people on a plantation, The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate reports. MAINE Rockport: The Maine Fishermen’s Forum will take place at the Samoset Resort from Thursday through Saturday.
MARYLAND Baltimore: A oncesegregated West Baltimore school where future U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall received his early education is set to receive a $6 million makeover, turning Historic Public School 103 in Upton, also known as Henry Highland Garnet School, into a legal resource center and museum space for the surrounding community.
MASSACHUSETTS Boston: A task force charged with reducing hate crimes has released a set of recommendations aimed at helping the state’s schools address the problem. MICHIGAN Lansing: Some homeowners struggling with property taxes can sign up for affordable payment plans to help them stay in their houses under new legislation. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed the “Pay as You Stay” bill Monday. MINNESOTA Minneapolis: The Roman Catholic archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis is asking priests in the state to forgo voting in the presidential primary election Tuesday amid concerns about the privacy of voter party preferences. MISSISSIPPI Vicksburg: The mayor says federal officials are responding to his call for attention to road and erosion damage that have closed nearly a third of Vicksburg National Military Park after heavy rains. MISSOURI Jefferson City: More than 800 appeals have been filed by companies that were denied state permits to grow, sell or distribute medical marijuana. MONTANA Gardiner: Yellowstone National Park has started capturing bison migrating outside the park and will hold them in pens for possible slaughter as part of a population reduction program. NEBRASKA Lincoln: The city’s bikeshare program is getting a boost from the temporary use of electricassist bikes. NEVADA Reno: Mormon crickets, grasshopper-like insects that pose threats to crops and drivers, are hatching early this year. NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: Registered Democrats now outnumber Republicans in the state, though even more remain independent. NEW JERSEY Penns Grove: A state judge has vacated an arbitrator’s ruling that a school district cannot fire a tenured teacher accused of using a racial slur in class. NEW MEXICO Santa Fe: The New Mexico Forestry Division will be planting 1,200 trees across the state in celebration of Arbor Month. NEW YORK Albany: The state’s ban on plastic bags took effect Sunday, but regulators will wait at least a month to enforce it on store owners. NORTH CAROLINA Raleigh: “Flashbang” grenades often used by law enforcement officials are weapons of “mass death and destruction,” the state’s Supreme Court has declared, reversing an appeals court. NORTH DAKOTA Bismarck: Two people charged in a man’s January death have pleaded not guilty. The Bismarck Tribune reports Earl Howard, 41, and Nikki Entzel, 38, pleaded not guilty Friday to charges filed against them in the death of Chad Entzel, 42. OHIO Columbus: While rates of sexual victimization in the state’s youth prisons are dropping, any victimization is unacceptable, an official with the Department of Youth Services testified to a panel of lawmakers. OKLAHOMA Oklahoma City: Lawmakers appear divided on party lines about how to pay for the state’s share of Medicaid expansion.
OREGON Salem: A permit system intended to limit crowds on the John Day River will officially be in place this May 1 to July 15. The first block of permits will be available at 7 a.m. Wednesday on Recreation.gov.
PENNSYLVANIA Pittsburgh: Four groups are asking a federal judge to let them intervene in a lawsuit filed against Allegheny County elections officials by a conservative group that wants to prune voter rolls. RHODE ISLAND Providence: More than $3.3 million in grants were awarded to help communities and local groups protect open space, according to the state Department of Environmental Management. SOUTH CAROLINA Columbia: An incarcerated, pregnant woman was transported while in labor last month to a hospital in Columbia, where she was put in shackles. That shouldn’t have happened, according to prisonsystem officials who blamed a breakdown in communication between the staffs at the prison and the hospital. SOUTH DAKOTA Deadwood: The Deadwood Mountain Grand, an entertainment and lodging resort overlooking the heart of downtown, is up for sale, asking price $27.5 million. TENNESSEE Nashville: Lawmakers plan this week to introduce legislation legalizing medical marijuana and create a legal infrastructure to grow and sell marijuana products. TEXAS Austin: The luchador grackle statue outside City Hall appears to have burned to the ground in what fire officials suspect was arson. VERMONT South Burlington: The Vermont Air National Guard will be doing night flight training with its new F-35 fighter jets this month. VIRGINIA Charlottesville: The city will celebrate the demise of slavery Tuesday, rather than marking Jefferson’s birthday April 13, The Washington Post reports. Liberation and Freedom Day commemorates when Union troops arrived in the city in 1865 and freed enslaved people. WASHINGTON Yakima: A rock slab from a ridge is continuing to slide, but the rate of its descent has slowed over time, officials said. A section of Rattlesnake Ridge continues to slide at a rate of 2 to 3 inches per week, The Yakima Herald-Republic reports. WEST VIRGINIA Charleston: Gov. Jim Justice on Monday signed a proposal to penalize physicians who don’t provide medical care to a child born after an abortion, a largely symbolic measure due to existing laws. WISCONSIN Madison: School officials will be required to tell the public each time students are isolated or restrained under a new law signed Monday by Gov. Tony Evers. WYOMING Casper: The U.S. attorney’s office in the state has announced support for the goals set by the Northern Arapaho Tribe to stop a worsening methamphetamine crisis.