‘Bag Full of Drugs,’ kiwiberries, retiring bulldog: News from around our 50 states

Alabama

Montgomery: Gov. Kay Ivey said Tuesday that the state must reinvent its corrections system as it grapples with a prison crisis and also called for borrowing $1 billion to fund improvements at public schools. The Republican governor detailed a wide-ranging agenda in her annual State of the State address, given on the opening night of the legislative session. Ivey said she is creating a group to study a lottery or casinos as a revenue source for the state, a move that could press the pause button on anticipated gambling debate in the Legislature. Prisons are expected to be a central focus on the legislative session after the U.S. Justice Department last year said violent and crowded conditions in Alabama prisons violate the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Ivey’s administration is exploring a plan to lease three new prisons and close most existing facilities.

Alaska

Anchorage: State highway officials are looking for mechanics and using department assets to find them. Electronic message boards set up along roads around Anchorage are displaying help-wanted messages calling for heavy-duty mechanics to apply to the state Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, KTVA-television reports. The department has three heavy-duty mechanic positions open in Anchorage, says spokesperson Shannon McCarthy, and maintenance shops in Fairbanks, Valdez and Healy also have vacancies. McCarthy says it’s sometimes tough to attract and retain mechanics who can maintain construction equipment. The electronic signs urge potential applicants to call the department for more information.

Arizona

Tucson: A federal judge in Tucson has reversed the misdemeanor convictions of four activists, saying members of the humanitarian group No More Deaths were led by “sincere religious beliefs” when placing water and food for migrants in Arizona’s protected Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge near the U.S.-Mexico border. Judge Rosemary Marquez wrote in the opinion filed Monday that Natalie Hoffman, Oona Holcomb, Madeline Huse and Zaachila Orozco-McCormick met the guidelines for establishing they acted on their beliefs. The four had appealed another judge’s ruling a year ago finding them guilty of federal misdemeanors. They were cited by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services officers in 2017 after driving a truck into the wilderness area and leaving bottles of water and other supplies for migrants who cross the region.

Arkansas

Bentonville: Benton County plans to appeal the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s decision not to help pay for the costs to clean up damages from two tornadoes that struck in October, officials said. The county was notified of the decision by letter Jan. 24, the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports. The county has 30 days to appeal. The letter did not specify why the county was denied. But Robert McGowen, county public safety administrator, said it was because the county was short $124,134 of the threshold for assistance. Damage assessments from the October tornadoes totaled $6.5 million for uninsured public property, McGowen said. Most of the damage – $5.5 million worth – involved two electric companies. “For some reason, FEMA did not accept the preliminary damage assessment numbers we provided them and reduced the amounts that were submitted by the entities,” McGowen said.

California

Sacramento: The governor revealed a plan Tuesday that would keep more water in the fragile San Joaquin River Delta while restoring 60,000 acres of habitat for endangered species and generating more than $5 billion in new funding for environmental improvements. The framework announced Tuesday by Gov. Gavin Newsom is a unique approach to managing the state’s scarce water resources. Historically, California has governed water usage by issuing rules – often challenged in court by farmers or environmental groups. Those lawsuits can drag on for years and prevent programs designed to boost sagging salmon populations and other threatened species that live in the delta. Instead of issuing new rules, for the past year the Newsom administration has been negotiating with water agencies to come up with “voluntary agreements” between the two sides with “partnership and oversight from environmental groups.”

Colorado

Steamboat Springs: A school district hired a former Federal Bureau of Investigation agent to conduct an investigation into a high school’s culture related to student claims of sexual harassment or sexual assault. The Steamboat Springs School District hired Jane Quimby of Quimby and Associates in Grand Junction to investigate complaints that female students were not being heard or protected by administrators, The Steamboat Pilot & Today reports. District officials also announced Steamboat Springs High School Principal Kevin Taulman has been placed on paid administrative leave during the investigation. Quimby served as an FBI special agent for 20 years and is an attorney and a former high school and college teacher, officials said. Quimby will report to the school district’s attorneys, Caplan & Earnest, and not to Superintendent Brad Meeks in order to strengthen the integrity of the investigation, officials said.

Connecticut

Hartford: A federal judge has dismissed nearly all claims in a lawsuit that sought to force all-male fraternities at Yale University to admit women, saying fraternities and sororities are specifically excluded from a federal law that bans discrimination based on gender in education. U.S. District Judge Victor Bolden in Bridgeport issued the ruling Jan. 30 in the lawsuit filed last year by three women who attend Yale. They sued nine fraternities and Yale in response to alleged sexual assault, harassment and discrimination at the all-male social organizations. The judge allowed only one claim against Yale to continue forward toward trial: an allegation that school officials failed to act when informed by one of the plaintiffs that she and other women had been groped against their will at a fraternity party in 2016.

Delaware

Bridgeville: A year after moving the World Championship Punkin Chunkin from Delaware to Illinois, event organizers have made a plea to their fans here: “Bring us home.” “The biggest thing is to create the buzz. It’s a great tradition to try to keep continuing,” says Frank Payton, president of the World Championship Punkin Chunkin Association. While organizers said Illinois had better state protections against liability – a special focus after a 2016 malfunction left a person critically injured – it drew a much smaller crowd than back home. Payton estimates fewer than 15,000 people attended last year’s event in Rantoul, Illinois, over two days, down from the estimated 30,000 in 2016. At its height, the nonprofit Punkin Chunkin drew up to 100,000 wide-eyed spectators to Sussex County, raising more than $1 million through the years for local charities. Last year it managed to pull in just $1,500.

District of Columbia

Washington: A thief caught on surveillance video stole a mother’s vehicle while she was pumping gas and her child was sitting in the back seat. The mother was dragged Tuesday morning while trying to stop the thief, news outlets report. Video appeared to a show a man sneak into the SUV and drive away as the mother tried to stop the thief. Elroy Jacobs told news outlets he witnessed the woman being dragged for about a block before she was run over. He said he chased the vehicle and found the child still inside after the SUV was abandoned. “I saw this woman hollering, ‘My baby, my baby, they’re taking my baby,’ ” Jacobs said. “I’m not thinking about no weapon, if they have any weapon. I’m just thinking about the child.” It’s unclear whether the mother was injured. Police had not announced any suspects or arrests, news outlets report.

Florida

Miami: Two men charged with drug trafficking could have done a better job hiding their wares than using a package labeled “Bag Full of Drugs,” authorities say. Ian Simmons and Joshua Reinhardt, both 34, were pulled over Saturday after a trooper clocked them going 95 mph on Interstate 10 in the Panhandle, according to a Florida Highway Patrol arrest report. The trooper determined Reinhardt was the subject of a felony warrant for violation of probation and requested backup. A Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s deputy arrived, and a K-9 alerted them to the presence of contraband in the vehicle, the report said. Authorities found about 75 grams of methamphetamine, 1.36 kilograms of the date-rape drug GHB, 1 gram of cocaine, 3.6 grams of fentanyl, 15 MDMA tablets and drug paraphernalia. “Note to self- do not traffic your illegal narcotics in bags labeled ‘Bag Full Of Drugs,’ ” deputies wrote on Facebook. “Our K-9’s can read.”

Georgia

Atlanta: Gov. Brian Kemp and state Superintendent Richard Woods announced a plan Tuesday to cut five mandatory standardized tests for public school students, including four in high school. The Republican officials are also trying to cut the length of state tests and evaluate local tests that Georgia’s 181 school districts give to evaluate student progress. Both Woods and Kemp oppose the current amount of testing, part of a national backlash to a system largely built by Republicans in Georgia. “When you look at the big picture, it’s clear Georgia simply tests too much,” Kemp said at a news conference. “On test days it’s making students physically sick because they’re worried they will not do well.” The biggest changes would come in high school. The economics test would be dropped, and the state Board of Education would decide which others would go – possibly geometry, physical science and American literature.

Hawaii

Honolulu: A sick Hawaiian monk seal under the care of wildlife scientists is suffering from a parasitic infection often spread via feral cat feces, officials say. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials determined the seal was suffering from toxoplasmosis, The Honolulu Star-Tribune reports. The female seal, known as Pohaku, was taken from Ko Olina on Oahu to the agency for monitoring after reports she was “logging,” or lethargically floating on the water. There are an estimated 50,000 to 300,000 feral cats on Oahu, and they are a primary source of toxoplasmosis, a parasite that reproduces in the digestive system of cats, the agency says on its website. Hawaiian monk seals are exposed to the parasitic eggs when they consume contaminated prey or water, the NOAA says. Toxoplasmosis can destroy muscle, liver, heart and brain tissue and cause organ failure. Treatment options for infected seals are extremely limited.

Idaho

Bonners Ferry: A long-closed road built through grizzly bear habitat in northern Idaho will reopen following national security concerns, federal agencies said. The U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced the plan to reopen more than 5 miles of Bog Creek Road after years of discussion, The Spokesman-Review reports. The road was closed in the late 1980s to protect endangered grizzly bears roaming the area between Upper Priest Lake in Idaho and the Canadian border, officials said. The U.S. Border Patrol has asked the Forest Service since 2013 to reopen the road because of threats to border security. Neither agency specified those threats. The Forest Service is expected to install and repair culverts along the road and to cut back trees and other vegetation that has come close to or obstructed the road, officials said. The road will “not be open for public motorized use,” Forest Service officials said.

Illinois

Joliet: Police are searching for a man who caused thousands of dollars of damage in a Walmart in suburban Chicago by spraying disinfectant inside the store while wearing a surgical mask and a sign on his back declaring that he has the deadly coronavirus. Two men apparently in their 20s walked into the store in Joliet on Sunday. One of them put on the yellow surgical mask and started spraying Lysol on clothing, produce and health and beauty items, causing nearly $10,000 in damage, police said. “He was telling everyone the same thing, that he was protecting them from the virus,” Tony Prokes, a customer, told WLS-TV in Chicago. The man wore a homemade sign on his back that read, “Caution I have the Coronavirus.” The apparent prank comes amid growing worldwide concern about the virus that has killed hundreds of people, most of them in mainland China, and sickened more than 20,000 around the world.

Indiana

Gary: A local man testified that a now-dead man gave him a video recording of his confession to killing five people in 2000, a crime for which another man is serving 300 years in prison. Cleveland C. Bynum, 37, was convicted of murder in 2001 for the shooting deaths of sisters Angela Wallace, 24, and Suzanne Wallace, 34, who were both from Gary. Bynum, then 22, was also convicted of killing 37-year-old Sheila R. Bartee and 24-year-old Anthony Jeffers, also from Gary, and Elizabeth Daily-Ayers, 37, of Hobart. Bynum’s attorney, Frances Watson, filed a successive petition for post-conviction relief in 2016 for Bynum, who maintains his innocence and is seeking to overturn his conviction. Lake Criminal Magistrate Natalie Bokota on Monday heard testimony for the relief, The Times of Northwest Indiana reports. Roger Shannon testified Gerald Mathews gave him a cellphone that contained a video recording of Mathews confessing to killing the five people.

Iowa

Des Moines: Griff the bulldog, Drake University’s live mascot, will retire this summer, the university announced Wednesday. Drake anointed the former champion show dog as its live mascot in fall 2015. Now 7, Griff has since been a constant staple at thousands of Drake events, the Drake Relays and other sporting events, and graduations. Over the past year, he tried to meet as many presidential candidates as he could in the run-up to the 2020 Iowa caucuses. “Griff has been such a special part of our campus community,” Drake President Marty Martin said in a statement. Drake anticipates having Griff’s successor, Griff II, in place by July 1, the day after Griff is set to retire. Future live mascots will be christened Griff with an additional nickname. The school said Griff intends to enjoy long naps in retirement, mostly on his favorite oversized chair.

Kansas

Wichita: A collaborative effort is underway to preserve and make accessible historic television and radio programs produced by public media stations in the state. KMUW-FM and the American Archive of Public Broadcasting said in a news release Wednesday that the online collection will be digitized from deteriorating and obsolete formats. It will showcase statewide coverage of social issues, commentary, public reporting and history from more than 70 years of archival collections in the state. The Kansas collection consists of programs produced by KMUW, High Plains Public Radio, KPR, KPTS, KRPS, KHCC and Vietnamese Public Radio. These programs will be the first from Kansas contributed to the American Archive of Public Broadcasting, a collaboration between the Library of Congress and Boston public media producer WGBH.

Kentucky

Hodgenville: The town where President Abraham Lincoln was born will host activities this month to commemorate his 211th birthday. Ceremonies will be held Feb. 12 in downtown Hodgenville and at the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Park, officials say. Local officials plan to attend the first ceremony, which will include a flag raising and wreath laying, according to the statement from Lincoln Days Celebration. The event at the national park will include a procession from the visitor center to the Memorial Building and a wreath laying. Afterward, a luncheon at the LaRue County Extension Building will feature Centre College President John Roush, who will speak about Lincoln’s leadership style and legacy.

Louisiana

New Orleans: A group that was denied permission to march in the city of Natchitoches’ Christmas parade when it insisted on carrying Confederate battle flags asked a federal appeals court Tuesday to revive its lawsuit alleging constitutional violations. The permit for the Louisiana Sons of Confederate Veterans was denied in late 2015, months after the slayings of nine black worshippers at a South Carolina church by white supremacist Dylann Roof. Pictures on social media of Roof posing with Confederate battle flags led to renewed opposition to public displays of Confederate iconography around the nation. In Natchitoches, a nonprofit group that organized the annual parade denied a permit to the SCV after city officials expressed concerns that some in the city would be offended by the display of Confederate battle flags and that protests might disrupt the procession.

Maine

Portland: The state’s two U.S. senators are among a group of lawmakers pushing for the federal government to crack down on the use of dairy terms on plant-based products. Republican Sen. Susan Collins and independent Sen. Angus King want U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn to work with Congress to prevent what they see as misuse of dairy terms on products that contain no dairy. Collins and King joined a bipartisan group of seven senators in asking for Hahn’s help in late January. The senators said the use of dairy terms such as “milk” on “imitation products in the marketplace” is confusing for consumers. The International Food Information Council Foundation released survey results in 2018 saying that “three-quarters of Americans understand that plant-based ‘milk’ products do not actually contain cow’s milk.”

Maryland

Baltimore: Democrat Kweisi Mfume and Republican Kimberly Klacik won special primaries Tuesday for the U.S. congressional seat that was held by the late Elijah Cummings. In a district where Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than 4 to 1, the Democratic nominee will be the heavy favorite heading into the April 28 special general election. The majority-black district includes parts of Baltimore’s inner city that have struggled with drugs and violent crime, as well as more well-to-do communities in the suburbs. Whoever wins the special general election will serve the rest of Cummings’ term through Jan. 3, 2021, and have to stand for reelection in November to keep the seat. For Mfume, who in 1996 stepped down to lead the NAACP after serving five terms as a district’s congressman, it’s a chance to regain the seat he held more than 20 years ago.

Massachusetts

Boston: Commuters can expect several years of station gridlock at one of the city’s busiest train stations once major construction kicks off in late summer. Boston transportation officials have warned commuters who use South Station that they should add 5 to 10 minutes to their daily commute in anticipation of delays caused by the construction of an office tower and installation of fare gates. The number of doors that commuters use to get from the lobby to the platforms and back will be limited to five, down from the typical eight to 10, and a large area of the concourse will be cordoned off. The new configuration could come as early as July, The Boston Globe reports. A concrete extension will be added to the platform to allow more room for riders under the new construction configuration. New fare gates will also be installed on the outside area near the platforms.

Michigan

Saline: A public meeting called to address racist social media posts by students at a suburban Detroit high school turned volatile when a white parent asked a Hispanic parent, “Why didn’t you stay in Mexico?” The exchange Monday shocked many who had gathered for a community meeting at the Saline Area Schools district office. Parent Adrian Iraola said his son had endured racist name-calling by students in the district and described the impact it had on him, ultimately fueling him to earn a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University. As Iraola described “the abuse that he was enduring in this school system,” another parent, Tom Burtell, interjected, “Then why didn’t you stay in Mexico?” Iraola responded that he lives in America because it is “the greatest country in the world.” In an MLive.com interview, Matthew Burtell, a 2014 Saline High School alumnus and Tom Burtell’s son, spoke out against his father’s “racist and xenophobic behavior.”

Minnesota

St. Paul: There’s time to protect the privacy of Minnesotans who vote in the Super Tuesday presidential primary March 3, Democratic Secretary of State Steve Simon and a bipartisan group of lawmakers said Wednesday. Under current law, the state must provide the names and party preference of primary voters to the four parties with major-party status in Minnesota – Democrats, Republicans and two pro-cannabis parties. A bill rolled out Wednesday by Democratic Sen. Ann Rest, of New Hope, and Democratic Rep. Ray Dehn, of Minneapolis, would tightly restrict that data. The bill, which has some Republican support, would restrict the sharing of party preference data to the national party committees, and only for verification purposes. Otherwise the data would be private, with penalties for making it public. And voters could opt out of sharing their data.

Mississippi

Jackson: A plan to give teachers at least a $1,000 pay raise won state Senate approval Wednesday, and now it goes to the House. The pay bill easily passed the Senate with bipartisan support. Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann said last week that he wants it to be part of a multiyear plan to increase some of the lowest salaries in the nation. Senate Bill 2001 would give $1,000 across-the-board raises to most teachers and to all teachers’ assistants. Teachers in the first two years of their careers would receive raises of $1,100 in an effort to boost the beginning salaries. The National Education Association says the average teacher salary in the U.S. was $60,477 for the 2017-18 school year. Mississippi had the lowest average that year, at $44,926. The average teacher salary in Mississippi for the 2018-19 school year – the most recent data available – was $45,105, according to the state Department of Education.

Missouri

Jefferson City: Lawmakers on Tuesday voted to make grants available for potential builders of an ultrafast Hyperloop test track in the state. House members in a voice vote gave initial approval to a bill that would make a 10- to 15-mile test track eligible for public-private partnership grants. Hyperloop technology involves a tubular track through which a train-like pod carries passengers at speeds up to 640 mph. Missouri supporters envision connecting Kansas City, Columbia and St. Louis with a system that could cut a roughly 4-hour drive across the state down to a 30-minute commute. They’re now advocating for a test track to be built in Missouri. “It would bring in investment dollars from around the world to make Missouri an innovative state,” bill sponsor Rep. Travis Fitzwater told colleagues on the House floor. It’s not cheap. Some estimates have put the cost at $25 million to $27 million per mile, excluding land acquisition.

Montana

Bozeman: The Environmental Protection Agency has announced it is removing a portion of a former wood-treatment facility in the state from its list of Superfund sites, despite concerns. The agency and the state Department of Environmental Quality determined that all the required cleanup of the facility is complete and that no additional work is needed to protect human health and the environment in the area, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports. The Idaho Pole Company operated the facility near Cedar Street until 1997 and contributed to soil and groundwater contamination, officials said. It was designated a Superfund site in 1986. The Gallatin City-County Board of Health and the Gallatin Local Water Quality District have repeatedly voiced concerns and have said the federal agency did not adequately work with local government officials to ensure redevelopment is safe.

Nebraska

Omaha: American evacuees from the growing coronavirus outbreak in China will be flying into Omaha as soon as Thursday and be quarantined at a nearby Nebraska National Guard training base, officials said Wednesday. The plane will be landing at Eppley Airfield and park at a remote spot. The passengers will not go inside the terminal, said a news release from Nebraska Medicine, and they’ll be taken to Camp Ashland, which sits about 30 miles southwest of the airport. Nebraska Medicine spokesman Taylor Wilson said he couldn’t yet say how many evacuees were headed to Omaha or when the flight was expected to land. Nebraska National Guard officials have been preparing to house evacuees in three buildings with 85 hotel-style rooms at the camp. Guard officials have said the evacuees won’t interact with guardsmen or employees there.

Nevada

Carson City: The entry point to about 13,000 acres of scenic backcountry in the Lake Tahoe Basin will get an upgrade. The Tahoe Fund announced this week that it landed a $100,000 donation from the E.L. Cord Foundation among other gifts to jump-start the work in the Spooner Lake area of Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park. The fund raised $300,000 through private donations for an amphitheater that is part of the project. But the fundraising is more important than the amount suggests because the money from private sources will be used to leverage $2.9 million in public funds, Tahoe Fund CEO Amy Berry said. The project by the Nevada Division of State Parks could break ground as soon as spring 2020, with phase one complete by the end of 2021.

New Hampshire

Durham: A University of New Hampshire expert on kiwiberries will give a crop overview and discuss best production practices and information on market potential on the grape-sized fruit in an event this weekend. The Kiwiberry Breeding and Research Development program is the first of its kind in the nation. Will Hastings, vineyard manager and research technician of the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station’s program, will give a discussion Saturday at the NOFA-NH Winter Conference at Kearsarge Regional High School in North Sutton. The tropical-tasting, smooth-skinned relative of the fuzzy supermarket kiwi has been grown in backyards and private gardens in the region for more than 140 years. Despite its long history, though, virtually no commercial production exists. Hastings is co-author of “Growing Kiwiberries in New England, a Guide for Regional Producers.”

New Jersey

Toms River: Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration has restored funding to one of two public assistance programs that help Ocean County senior citizens maintain their independence, Freeholder Director Joseph H. Vicari says. The county government is to receive $1.47 million for the Jersey Assistance for Community Caregiving program, up about $400,000 for the state fiscal year 2020, Vicari says. The program, which will serve about 225 seniors each month, offers an array of services for those who would otherwise be forced to reside in nursing homes. Those services include respite care, housekeeping, home delivered meals, personal emergency response plans, transportation, adult day care, special medical equipment or supplies, caregiver training and home health aide services. Applicants must meet certain income requirements, all according to county officials.

New Mexico

Santa Fe: The state House of Representatives approved a budget plan Wednesday to increase annual state spending by more than a half-billion dollars to expand early childhood education programs, boost teacher salaries and shore up health care for the poor. The House voted 46-24 along party lines with Democrats in support of the $7.6 billion general fund spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1. The bill now moves to the Senate, where a variety of amendments are likely. State economists are forecasting an $800 million surplus in state government income for the coming fiscal year that is linked closely to record-setting oil production in the state. Republicans in the House minority criticized the proposed $530 million, 7.5% increase as irresponsible and unsustainable in the event of an oil-sector downturn. They outlined their own plan that would increase spending by 4.3% and called for giving every New Mexico resident a $200 rebate.

New York

Albany: The state could ban retail pet shops from selling dogs, cats or rabbits as soon as mid-2021 under a Democratic state senator’s bill. The state would join Maryland and California and hundreds of municipalities nationwide that have taken a stand to outlaw sales of those pets, Deputy Senate Leader Mike Gianaris said Monday. Supporters including The Humane Society of the United States and the New York State Animal Protection Federation say the vast majority of New York pet stores already don’t sell cats, dogs or rabbits. But Libby Post, the executive director of the federation, says the proposal is an “opportunity for pet stores to rebrand themselves as compassionate businesses that put puppies over profits.” New Yorkers could still buy cats, dogs and rabbits directly from breeders.

North Carolina

Raleigh: Officials in the capital city approved the creation of a citizen advisory board Tuesday charged with reviewing the police department’s policies. Activists have called for greater oversight of the Raleigh Police Department’s procedures for years, despite pushback from some department employees and leaders, news outlets report. The calls were renewed following the fatal shooting of a man Raleigh police said was armed and “acting strangely” last week, as well as a traffic stop last month that prompted a use-of-force investigation, the outlets say. The board will consist of five members, but those people have not been announced, according to Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin. She asked for people interested in serving on the board to reach out to their council member.

North Dakota

Bismarck: A group is seeking to oust Burleigh County Commissioner Kathleen Jones through a recall petition due in part to her support for resettling refugees in the county. The petition against her, which lists a five-person sponsoring committee, calls for Jones to be recalled for “the reasons of contempt of the voters and negligence in office.” The county commission voted 3-2 in December to allow Lutheran Social Services to continue resettling refugees in Burleigh County. The meeting was prompted by an executive order from President Donald Trump that left the question up to states and counties. In January, the commission voted 3-2 not to put the question of future refugee resettlement before voters in the form of a nonbinding straw poll. State law limits recall petitions to one official. Recall organizer Robert Field said Jones “was the easiest target.” Jones, who has served since 2014, believes she is being targeted because of her gender.

Ohio

Columbus: The Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame is seeking nominations to honor people who have continued to contribute to their communities after their military service. Nominees must be current or past Ohio residents who have been outstanding in volunteerism, advocacy, professional distinction, public service or philanthropy. Each year, the Hall of Fame inducts up to 20 former members of the U.S. Armed Forces based on recommendations from a statewide executive committee of veterans and approval by the governor. Nearly 900 veterans have been inducted since the hall’s 1992 inception. They include astronaut Neil Armstrong, actor Paul Newman and fast-food entrepreneur Dave Thomas. The state Department of Veterans Services encourages people to submit nominations before a deadline of June 1, 2020.

Oklahoma

Tulsa: The city will conduct a test excavation at an area cemetery as part of an ongoing effort to find remains of victims of a 1921 race massacre, officials say. The test excavation at Oaklawn Cemetery, planned for April, was announced during the city’s Mass Graves Investigation Public Oversight Committee meeting Monday, the Tulsa World reports. The meeting came a little more than a month after investigators announced that geophysical surveys conducted in October had found anomalies consistent with possible graves. “We would see this as an intermediate step,” says Kary Stackelbeck, a state archaeologist. The massacre happened over the course of 16 hours, from May 31 to June 1, 1921, when mobs of white residents attacked black residents and businesses. As many as 300 people were killed, hundreds more injured and thousands left homeless. Tulsa’s prosperous black business district known as Black Wall Street was destroyed.

Oregon

Salem: A state senator told demonstrators opposed to a plan to build a natural gas pipeline and marine export terminal in Oregon that he expects the battle to go to the courts if the Trump administration tries to ram the project through despite a lack of state permits. Gov. Kate Brown’s office said late Tuesday that she “would consider all available options” if the federal government tried to preempt state permitting processes. Demonstrators gathered outside the Department of State Lands on Tuesday to thank its director, Vicki Walker, for refusing to grant another extension to Pembina, an energy company based in Calgary, Canada, for a decision on a removal-fill permit. The permit is required to dredge sediment out of Coos Bay, on Oregon’s southern coast, for the marine export terminal and to construct a 230-mile feeder pipeline through and under waterways in southern Oregon.

Pennsylvania

Harrisburg: A bill that would provide millions in tax breaks for new construction of facilities to use natural gas extracted in the state to make fertilizers and other chemicals will be vetoed by the governor, his spokesman said Wednesday. The bill, which passed both legislative chambers this week by veto-proof majorities, authorizes the “energy and fertilizer manufacturing tax credit” for projects that require at least $450 million in construction and startup costs and create at least 800 jobs. The Revenue Department estimates the tax credit would be worth about $22 million annually, per plant. The tax break would expire at the end of 2050. Wolf “believes such projects should be evaluated on a specific case-by-case basis,” said his press secretary, J.J. Abbott. “However, if there was a specific project, he would be open to a conversation.”

Rhode Island

Providence: Inspectors found no evidence of black mold days after a General Assembly office was evacuated. The Joint Committee on Legislative Services offices were cleared after an employee reported finding mold under her desk, and aides to House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello said last week that renovations began as a result. The work, which included the removal of filing cabinets, raised concerns because it coincided with a lawsuit involving the committee and a state police investigation. When the committee revealed that no official test had been done to check for black mold before the work began, state officials ordered one. The report, which was released Monday, found no black mold. The report did find a “moderate” level of mold spores in air samples from the office, but the technician who conducted the test told WPRI-TV it did not indicate a cause for concern.

South Carolina

Charleston: Several downtown streets were closed Wednesday after construction crews found a Civil War artillery shell, police said. The crew called 911 about 10 a.m. to report the shell in downtown Charleston, just over a block from the Old Slave Mart where dozens of vendors sell merchandise, Charleston police said. The police department called the U.S. Air Force to dispose of the shell and closed several nearby roads for about three hours as a precaution. Investigators initially said the shell appeared to be newer than the Civil War, but after further investigation, they concluded it was left over from the war between the Union and the Confederacy between 1861 and 1865, police spokesman Charles Francis said in a statement. No injuries were reported.

South Dakota

Pierre: Small towns in the state say they are strapped for cash after historically bad flooding last year and are asking the Legislature to let them use money from gas taxes for road repairs. A bill from Sen. Brock Greenfield, R-Clark, would use money from the state’s motor fuel tax and the Department of Transportation to create a $2.4 million fund that townships could tap for road repairs. But cities, counties, the Department of Transportation and other programs argue that it would take money away from repairs they need to make. The Senate Local Government Committee passed the bill on a 4-3 vote Wednesday. The bill would designate the funds for repairing culverts and small structures like bridges. Lawmakers said they want the full Senate to consider the proposal, hoping it would spark further discussion on how to help towns fund road repairs.

Tennessee

Nashville: A Republican-led legislative panel has decided not to decide, for now, whether it thinks a bust of a former Confederate general and early Ku Klux Klan leader should be removed from the Capitol. The House committee on Naming, Designating, & Private Acts voted Tuesday to delay consideration of the nonbinding resolution that favors removing the statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest until the panel’s last meeting, likely months away. Republicans said the delay allows Tennessee’s Capitol Commission to weigh in first. The commission meets Feb. 20 and will allow public testimony on the bust, but officials don’t plan to hold a vote at that meeting. Removing the bust would require approval from the Capitol Commission and then the state’s Historical Commission, as laid out by the Tennessee Heritage Protection Act.

Texas

Fort Worth: An appeals court heard arguments Tuesday in the case of a mother who does not want a hospital to end life-sustaining treatment for her 1-year-old daughter. Texas’ Second Court Court of Appeals in Fort Worth is considering the case after a lower court said Cook Children’s Medical Center could remove Tinslee Lewis from life support. The appeals court has said the child will remain on life support until it makes a final ruling in the case. Doctors at the Fort Worth hospital have said Tinslee is in pain and will never recover. Her 20-year-old mother, Trinity Lewis, has said she doesn’t think Tinslee, who turned 1 on Saturday, is suffering. Lewis’ attorney, Joe Nixon, told the three appellate judges that Lewis has the right to decide whether her daughter lives or dies. Amy Warr, an attorney for Cook Children’s, said doctors have a right to decline care for a patient if that care “causes suffering without medical benefit.”

Utah

Salt Lake City: A resolution encouraging consideration of later high school start times has earned unanimous support from a state legislative committee. The nonbinding resolution was presented to the House Health and Human Services Committee by Democratic Rep. Suzanne Harrison, The Salt Lake Tribune reports. The resolution will proceed to the full House for a vote. Harrison, a physician, offered research at the hearing showing the circadian rhythms that regulate the waking and sleeping cycles of teenagers are different from those of children and adults. While adults typically begin winding down about 9 p.m., the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin is released about two hours later in teenagers, which is why their most productive sleep period is between 11 p.m. and 8 a.m., Harrison testified.

Vermont

Montpelier: The Democratic-led state House failed by one vote Wednesday to override a veto by Republican Gov. Phil Scott of a bill that would have established a paid family leave system in the state. The vote of 99 in favor of overriding the governor to 51 against came less than a week after Scott vetoed the bill because the plan included a $29 million payroll tax. Scott prefers a voluntary program. The bill would have guaranteed up to 12 weeks of paid parental or bonding leave and up to eight weeks of paid family care leave. Proponents have said the bill was needed to help recruit and retain workers in Vermont. When the bill passed the House last week, it was 11 votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to override the governor’s veto. But some of those who voted “no” before changed their votes Wednesday.

Virginia

Richmond: The capital city recorded a 10% increase in its homeless population during a winter survey, according to preliminary data from the count. The number of people sleeping in shelters or outside grew from 497 people in January 2019 to 549 last month, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports, citing a regional survey conducted biannually. It’s the first such increase since 2011, the newspaper says. “The focus on serving households with more complex needs and higher barriers to housing is the primary driver of this increase,” Kelly King Horne, a director of the region’s homeless services, told the newspaper. Still, the numbers are a little under half of what was recorded a decade ago, when 1,150 people were counted as homeless, according to data from 2009.

Washington

SeaTac: The city will no longer issue exorbitant bills for free-speech demonstrations. An immigrant rights group called Families Belong Together-Washington Coalition sued SeaTac in 2018 after the city sent it a $37,000 bill for public safety costs related to a protest of President Donald Trump’s separation of migrant families along the U.S.-Mexico border. The official who issued the bill said the city code required him to charge Families Belong Together for the actual costs of the event, which drew about 10,000 people June 30, 2018. Dozens of mothers who had been separated from their children were detained at the Federal Detention Center in SeaTac at the time. But organizers said such a policy unlawfully chilled free speech rights under the U.S. and Washington Constitutions. The new policy says the city will not charge more than $500 for public safety costs and will waive the fees entirely if organizers demonstrate they are not able to pay.

West Virginia

Charleston: A resolution to prohibit the state’s court system from interfering in ongoing legislative action failed in the state Senate on Wednesday, the latest unsuccessful attempt to address a 2018 ruling that halted impeachment proceedings against several Supreme Court justices. The vote in the Senate was 20-13, but the resolution did not receive the required two-thirds support for passage. If it had passed both houses, the resolution would have gone before voters. Last October the U.S. Supreme Court left in place a decision by five acting state Supreme Court justices that prosecuting then-Chief Justice Margaret Workman in the state Senate would violate the state constitution’s separation of powers clause. That ruling was later applied to also halt impeachment proceedings against two other sitting justices who have since left the court: Robin Davis and Allen Loughry.

Wisconsin

Madison: Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul and advocates for victims of sexual assault made a last-ditch effort Wednesday to save a pair of bipartisan bills intended to prevent a backlog of untested rape evidence kits, blasting Republicans’ divisive substitute proposal as a partisan attempt to ensure nothing becomes law this session. The Republican-backed bill adopts the same kit submission and tracking protocols laid out in the original bills but contains provisions requiring police notify immigration officials if attackers are in the country illegally and allowing students assaulted by other students or teachers to enter the state’s school choice programs. Both proposals are nonstarters with Democrats. Gov. Tony Evers would almost certainly veto the legislation if it reaches him. “This bill is a mess,” Kaul told Republicans on the Assembly Health Committee during a hearing on the measure.

Wyoming

Casper: Project leaders are seeking names to include in a new memorial honoring military veterans from within the Wind River Indian Reservation. All military veterans who have lived within the boundaries of the Wyoming reservation could have their names included, the Casper Star-Tribune reports. That includes veterans from Riverton, a city of about 11,000 people that is encircled by the reservation but is not part of it. The “Path of Honor” memorial will be located outside the Frank B. Wise Business Center building in Fort Washakie and include a garden walkway and four massive stones listing the names of the veterans, organizers said. The four stones will form the shape of a buffalo, organizer and Eastern Shoshone Vietnam War veteran Scott Ratliff said. Organizers hope to complete the memorial sculpture garden by the summer. The deadline for submitting veterans’ names is Friday.

From Paste BN Network and wire reports