‘Monster’ catfish, mountain lion cub, sturgeon warning: News from around our 50 states

Alabama

Montgomery: The National Rifle Association has endorsed Gov. Kay Ivey in her bid to win a second full term in office. Ivey in March signed legislation abolishing the state requirement to get a permit to carry a concealed handgun in public. The new law takes effect Jan. 1. In a brief campaign event announcing the endorsement, Ivey said people in Alabama will stand up for their constitutional rights, including the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.

Alaska

Anchorage: A group organizing all-star games for Alaska high school basketball players has apologized for asking players and their families to sign a liability waiver form that included their rights and claims in potential cases of sexual abuse or misconduct. The Alaska Association of Basketball Coaches updated its form after growing complaints were posted on social media. The group held all-star games for more than a decade, and association president David Porter said they never had any incidents. Games have not been played the last two years.

Arizona

Phoenix: U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm plans to visit Northeastern Arizona this week as part of the Biden administration’s push to shore up the president’s standing in rural America. Granholm plans to highlight the benefits of the infrastructure bill that Biden signed last year during a two-day visit that includes stops on the Hopi and Navajo reservations. She plans to hold roundtable discussions Wednesday and Thursday on energy opportunities in rural areas and the clean energy transition. U.S. Rep. Tom O’Halleran also will be there. O’Halleran is one of the most endangered Democrats in Congress after the boundaries of his rural district were redrawn to make it significantly more conservative.

Arkansas

Fort Smith: The Fort Smith Board of Directors will discuss Next Step Homeless Services’ relocation out of downtown at a special study session at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Blue Lion. For more than two decades, the nonprofit’s storefront on the corner of North 6th and B streets has been a refuge for people experiencing homelessness. Next Step now rents from St. John’s Episcopal Church, which started its mission before becoming an incorporated nonprofit in 2002. Since then, growing pains and the need for additional client services have led the nonprofit to look for a new location.

California

San Francisco: An orphaned and emaciated mountain lion cub spotted by hikers in the San Francisco area was brought to the Oakland Zoo, where veterinarians have named her “Rose” and are trying to nurse her back to health. An initial exam indicated Rose had not eaten in weeks, Dr. Alex Herman, the zoo’s vice president of Veterinary Services, said in a statement. The cub, estimated to be about 5 months old, weighed just 8.8 pounds. The average female cub her age should weigh about 30 pounds. After a day of treatment, veterinarians are guardedly optimistic about Rose’s recovery. She is receiving fluids and hydration intravenously and being bottle-fed small amounts of formula several times a day. Rose is the 18th orphaned mountain lion cub the Oakland Zoo has received and rehabilitated from the state since 2017, zoo officials said. Three of the 18, Coloma, Toro, and Silverado, still reside at the zoo.

Colorado

Pueblo: A wildfire that began Sunday burned about 20 acres of vegetation north of the Arkansas River and east of Pueblo Boulevard near 11th Street. No injuries were reported and no structures caught fire, according to the Pueblo Fire Department, and the blaze was 100% contained by Monday afternoon. The cause of the fire is under investigation, said Pueblo FD Public Information Officer Woody Percival.

Connecticut

Hartford: Lawmakers decided to extend four of Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont’s remaining pandemic-related executive orders, despite concerns raised by Republicans that it’s time to end the practice and get back to normal governing. The Senate voted 19-13 on Tuesday to prolong orders until June 30 that deal with physical distancing in certain congregate settings; making the patient vaccination database available to medical providers; using temporary nurses aides to help alleviate staffing shortages; and providing more time to send out rental assistance payments to people facing eviction wwho had applied to the state’s UniteCT program. The emergency bill now awaits approval by the House of Representatives.

Delaware

Georgetown: Great Outdoor Cottages is constructing a 50,000-square-foot manufacturing facility at Delaware Coastal Business Park and expects to add 75 jobs over the next few years. The business, led by Mike Scheid and John Longino, designs and builds cottages for the campground and resort industries. Great Outdoor Cottages’ new facility will be located at 1498 Baltimore Ave., within the Sussex County-owned Delaware Coastal Business Park, next to the airport in Georgetown. The company has been manufacturing its product at a temporary facility in Millsboro, but “due to overwhelming demand and production space limitations,” had to cut off production at 171 units this year.

District of Columbia

Washington: Critically acclaimed debut albums by Wu-Tang Clan and Alicia Keys, Ricky Martin’s Latin pop megahit “Livin’ La Vida Loca,” and Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” are among the recordings being inducted this year into the National Recording Registry, WUSA-TV reported. The Library of Congress announced Wednesday the 25 songs, albums, historical recordings and even a podcast that will be preserved as important contributions to American culture and history.

Florida

Moore Haven: An endangered Florida panther has died after being struck by a vehicle. It’s the 10th panther death attributed to fatal collisions, out of 10 total deaths this year, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The remains of the 4-year-old female panther were found Monday along a rural road in western Glades County, wildlife officials said. Florida panthers once roamed the entire Southeast, but now their habitat mostly is confined to a small region of Florida along the Gulf of Mexico. Up to 230 remain in the wild.

Georgia

Atlanta: University System of Georgia regents, meeting Tuesday at Albany State University, approved tuition and fee rates for the system’s 26 schools that will result in overall costs going down by 7.6% at the typical school. Students will save anywhere from $226 for a full two-semester load at Georgia Southern University’s Armstrong campus in Savannah to $1,088 at Georgia Tech. The only exception is Macon-based Middle Georgia State University, where total costs for in-state undergraduates will rise $20 next year to $4,762 as part of a three-year plan to increase tuition to line up with similar universities.

Hawaii

Honolulu: A Hawaii couple have dropped their petition for a temporary restraining order against actor Ezra Miller, who is known for playing “The Flash” in “Justice League” films and allegedly harassed patrons of a karaoke bar in a Big Island town last month. According to court documents, a judge dismissed the restraining order case Monday after the couple requested it. William Dean, an attorney who represents the couple, declined comment Tuesday on why his clients no longer want to pursue the petition that accused Miller of bursting into their bedroom and threatening them in Hilo, the same town where Miller was arrested. A judge had granted the restraining order petition, saying it was needed to prevent future harassment and had set a hearing for Wednesday. It’s unknown if the hearing will be held now that the case is dismissed.

Idaho

Boise: The Roman Catholic Diocese of Boise, which covers all of Idaho, filed a request with the State Supreme Court to intervene in support of a state abortion ban as a “friend of the court.” Idaho last month became the first state to enact legislation modeled after the Texas statute banning abortions after about six weeks. Planned Parenthood of Great Northwest, Hawaii, Alaska, Indiana and Kentucky sued over the law, calling it unconstitutional, and last week the Idaho Supreme Court blocked the abortion ban from taking effect while the lawsuit is underway.

Illinois

Chicago: Melodie Gliniewicz, the widow of a northern Illinois police officer who killed himself amid an investigation of his alleged theft of thousands of dollars from a youth program was sentenced Tuesday to two years probation for her role in the scheme. Gliniewicz, who pleaded guilty in February to one felony count of deceptive practices in exchange for prosecutors’ agreement to drop several other charges, faced a maximum sentence of three years in prison. But Lake County Judge James Booras’ sentence was not surprising given that prosecutors did not ask that Gliniewicz be sent to prison.

Indiana

Indianapolis: A white Purdue University police officer seen on a cellphone video using his elbow to pin a Black student’s neck to the ground won’t face charges because he used reasonable force when the student resisted arrest during a domestic call, a special prosecutor found. The student, 24-year-old Adonis Tuggle, also will not be charged in the Feb. 4 incident, even though “probable cause exists for multiple criminal charges,” Madison County Prosecutor Rodney Cummings said in a report released Monday. Tuggle’s arrest stoked anger among Black students and others on Purdue’s West Lafayette campus. Cummings said he was honoring requests by Officer Jon Selke, Purdue representatives and “the victim” in the domestic incident that Tuggle face no criminal charges. Separately, Purdue said in a statement Tuesday that Selke apologized to Tuggle and that school officials have agreed on steps to prevent a repeat of the incident.

Iowa

Gilmore City: A tornado hit near Gilmore City in rural north-central Iowa as a strong line of storms moved across the state overnight, the National Weather Service said Wednesday. The tornado was confirmed by a trained spotter southwest of Gilmore City and tracked several miles to the northeast, weather service meteorologist Rod Donavon in Des Moines said. Up to 10 tornadoes were reported across mostly the northern half of the state as the storms moved through, Donavon said, but only ones near Logan in western Iowa and near Stacyville and St. Ansgar in northeastern Iowa have been confirmed. Survey teams were headed to those areas Wednesday to determine whether tornadoes had touched down and to verify the intensity of those storms.

Kansas

Topeka: Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed a bill that would prevent cities and counties from banning, limiting or even taxing plastic bags, straws and food containers. Kelly rejected the measure Monday after previously telling reporters she was a “major local-control advocate.” The Senate approved the measure in February, but its initial version did not explicitly cover plastic straws. The House made sure it did before passing the measure.

Kentucky

Hodgenville: The Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park is holding a remembrance event Thursday that commemorates the death of the 16th president. The event will begin with a speech from Layton Carr, a guest park ranger from Ford’s Theatre who will recall Lincoln’s assassination and its impact on the nation, park spokeswoman Stacy Humphreys told The News-Enterprise. Lincoln was shot April 14, 1865, while watching a production of “Our American Cousin” and died the next morning. The commemoration also will include music from the Kentucky Home Guard Band, a period Civil War-era brass band that will perform mournful music, and there will be a reading of Walt Whitman’s elegy, “O Captain! My Captain!”

Louisiana

Baton Rouge: Louisiana’s public colleges and universities are revamping classes for students who aren’t prepared for college English or math. Instead of taking noncredit courses with short class sessions, those students will attend longer sessions that move through the semester from makeup material to college-level work. They’ll also get additional academic support, and if they pass will get college credit. This approach, called co-requisite, helps more students remain in college and graduate, removing barriers to higher education, the Board of Regents said in a news release. The new model will be statewide for math in fall 2023 and for English the following fall.

Maine

Portland: The state Senate unanimously voted Tuesday to confirm Rick Lawrence as the first Black justice to the state’s highest court. A legislative panel voted last week to confirm Lawrence to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. The Senate then issued its confirmation Tuesday. Lawrence, 66, became Maine’s first Black judge when he became a district judge in 2000, the Portland Press Herald reported. He currently serves as the deputy chief judge of the District Court. Lawrence is on tap to replace Justice Ellen Gorman, who has announced her intent to retire. Gorman has served on the court since 2007.

Maryland

Baltimore: Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced plans Tuesday to seek reelection as she awaits trial on federal criminal charges stemming from her purchase of two Florida vacation homes. Mosby, a Democrat, released a campaign video that combines aerial views of the city with her interacting with residents and a number of local and national leaders, interspersed with newspaper headlines and video excerpts. Mosby was scheduled to go to trial May 2 on charges of making false statements on financial documents to withdraw money from her retirement savings and purchase the vacation homes. A federal judge last week granted a request by Mosby to postpone the trial, now set for Sept. 19.

Massachusetts

Boston: Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is again trying to avoid execution, asking the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to consider four constitutional claims not taken up when his death sentence appeal went to the Supreme Court last month. Tsarnaev’s attorneys in a filing April 7, said the trial court “improperly forced” their client to stand trial in Boston; violated his constitutional rights by denying his challenges to two jurors accused of lying during questioning; dismissed a potential juror because of that person’s opposition to the death penalty; and allowed the admission as evidence of what they called Tsarnaev’s “coerced confession.” The filing was in response to an April 6 filing by the appeals court to comply with the Supreme Court’s decision last month to reinstate Tsarnaev’s death penalty.

Michigan

Detroit: Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Brian Sullivan has ordered the demolition of the deteriorating Packard auto plant in Detroit, finding that it had become a public nuisance. Sullivan wrote in an order that the plant’s Peruvian owner, Fernando Palazuelo, and his company, Arte Express Detroit, must remove all rubbish and debris from the sprawling site and demolish all buildings and structures on the property, which covers several blocks on Detroit’s east side. The March 31 order declared that the more than 30 parcels owned by Palazuelo “are a public nuisance which interfere with common rights enjoyed by the general public by significantly threatening the public’s health, safety and welfare.” Demolition and abatement work has to start within 42 days of Sullivan’s order, with clean up completed within 90 days. If the work is not completed, the city is authorized to have it done, with Palazuelo possibly being responsible for the costs, which are expected to be in the millions of dollars. The order came after Palazuelo failed to appear at a March 24 trial.

Minnesota

St. Paul: Two Illinois men who helped bomb a Minnesota mosque in 2017 on Tuesday received prison sentences far below the 35-year mandatory minimum that they faced after victims and prosecutors asked for leniency because the men cooperated and testified against the mastermind of the attack. Michael McWhorter, 33, was sentenced to just under 16 years in prison and Joe Morris, 26, was sentenced to about 14 years. Both testified in the 2020 trial against Emily Claire Hari, the leader of a small Illinois militia group called the “White Rabbits.” Hari was convicted in late 2020 and sentenced last year to 53 years in prison for the attack on Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center, a mosque in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington.

Mississippi

Jackson: Eugene Cronley of Brandon, Mississippi, caught a 131-pound blue catfish on April 7 that not only set a state record, but possibly a world line class record. Cronley was fishing in a 90-foot hole when his rod bowed over. Cronley said he knew the fish was big, but had no idea how big. “We catch a lot of 50-pounders down there and I knew he was bigger than that,” Cronley said. “We didn’t know until we pulled him up. We knew then we had a monster.”

Missouri

St. Louis: A St. Louis man with a long history of stealing and fraud convictions was sentenced Tuesday to federal prison for fraudulently receiving $2.7 million in federal coronavirus aid. Robert Williams, 58, was sentenced to 10 years and 5 months in prison after he filed about 30 fraudulent applications for aid under the Paycheck Protection Program, which was designed to help small businesses affected by the pandemic. He also was paid a fee for helping other people file 23 fraudulent loan applications for the aid money. Williams received the loans despite having a history of crimes dating to the 1990s including passing bad checks and identity theft, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Williams pleaded guilty in December to seven counts of bank fraud.

Montana

Helena: The State Land Board took action March 21 to support efforts to restore Stonewall Hall in Virginia City, a crumbling structure that advocates of the plan said is the most important building in Montana’s history. The board voted 5-0 to accept the donation of the building at 300 Wallace St. that served as the territorial Capitol building from 1865-1875, the Independent Record reported. The backyard of the building is believed to be an area where lawmakers might have settled disputes with their fists. Justin Gatewood, Virginia City’s mayor, told the land board members their approval would make it a monumental day for the history books. Elijah Allen, executive director of the Montana Heritage Commission, said the building was being donated to the state by the Neal C. LaFever Trust and contingent upon the heritage commission having full ownership.

Nebraska

Norfolk: A Madison County man who was burning trash on his rural property died when the flames caught his clothing on fire, authorities said. The incident happened Monday morning on property northwest of Norfolk, the Norfolk Daily News reported. Firefighters and Madison County Sheriff’s deputies called to the scene for a report of a fire found Stanley Acklie, 72, dead on his property from burn injuries. His body was found near a fire that was burning several outbuildings on the property, officials said. Sheriff Todd Volk said in a statement that Acklie had been burning trash when the fire apparently went out of control and ignited his clothing. Officials said it appeared Acklie had tried to remove his burning clothing before succumbing to the flames. The area has been under an elevated fire risk because of high winds and dry conditions.

Nevada

Las Vegas: A judge in Carson City has dealt a setback to a group trying to get a school vouchers question before voters in Nevada, ruling that signatures can’t be collected for a proposed constitutional amendment to let parents use state money to pay for private school tuition. Senior Judge Charles McGee compared petition wording by the Education Freedom PAC to a shell game that hides “the enormous fiscal impact of this initiative on the budget of most, if not all” schools in Nevada. Education Freedom PAC leader Erin Phillips, head of the advocacy organization Power2Parent, didn’t immediately promise an appeal to the state Supreme Court. But she derided McGee’s ruling as “a bizarre, rambling decision” that she said should have come quickly but languished for weeks and ended well beyond what initiative opponents sought by blocking her group from collecting signatures.

New Hampshire

Concord: Lawmakers working to shut down New Hampshire’s troubled youth detention center heard competing opinions Tuesday on whether to construct a new facility or contract with a private company. The state spends $13 million a year to operate the 144-bed Sununu Youth Services Center in Manchester, although the typical population is about a dozen teens. Debate over its future began years ago, but has come to a boil amid horrific sexual abuse allegations. Last June’s state budget has mandated closing the center by March 2023. The Senate passed a bill last month, however, that would extend the deadline, giving the state until June 30, 2024, to build a new facility. Now debate has moved to the state House.

New Jersey

Atlantic City: Atlantic City casino workers believe they are closer than ever to getting a law passed that would ban smoking in the gambling halls. Tuesday was the 16th anniversary of a New Jersey law that banned smoking almost everywhere indoors, except in casinos. About 250 casino workers held a rally in a waterfront park to call on the state Legislature to pass a bill that already has many co-sponsors in both parties. The casino industry and the main casino workers labor union oppose the bill, saying it will lead to job losses and revenue declines. No vote has yet been scheduled.

New Mexico

Ruidoso: A wind-driven wildfire swept through neighborhoods in a mountain community in drought-stricken south-central New Mexico, burning at least 150 structures and forcing the evacuations of schools with 1,700 students, officials said Wednesday. Homes were among the structures that burned Tuesday but officials did not have a count of how many were destroyed in the blaze that torched at least 6.4 square miles of forest, brush and grass on the east side of the community of Ruidoso, said Laura Rabon, spokesperson for the Lincoln National Forest. No deaths or injuries were reported from the fire fanned by winds gusting between 50 mph and 90 mph, Rabon said. The cause of the fire was under investigation.

New York

Albany: The state Department of Transportation is expected to begin an environmental impact review this year as the first step toward a long-awaited expansion of Route 17 in Orange and Sullivan counties becoming a reality. Marc Baez, president and CEO of the Sullivan County Partnership for Economic Development, said he expects the review to stretch into next year. The expansion was included as part of a five-year Department of Transportation capital plan established with the adoption of the 2022-23 state budget last week. The environmental review, as well as some initial construction expected to follow, will be funded by up to $1 billion earmarked in the budget.

North Carolina

Raleigh: An elections board in Macon County has removed Mark Meadows, a former chief of staff to President Donald Trump, from its list of registered voters after documents showed he lived in Virginia and voted in the 2021 election in that state. Questions arose about Meadows last month, when North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein’s office asked the State Bureau of Investigation to look into Meadows’ voter registration in Macon County. In announcing his removal, the Macon County Board of Elections said it has received no formal challenge. A representative for Meadows did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

North Dakota

Bismarck: The state Capitol and other state facilities, along with scores of schools, government offices and interstates, remained closed Wednesday as a blizzard continued to bear down on the state. A blizzard warning issued by he National Weather Service remained in effect through Thursday for most of western and central North Dakota, where up to 2 feet of snow was expected. Interstate 94 from the Montana border to Jamestown, a distance of about 260 miles, and Interstate 29 from Fargo to the Canadian border, remain closed because of treacherous travel conditions. Gov. Doug Burgum directed the state closures, noting that the Emergency Operations Center has been activated and is coordinating with partners and local emergency managers statewide to ensure that resources, including search and rescue, are available.

Ohio

Columbus: Former President Donald Trump is returning to Ohio on April 23 to try to boost Republican candidates and turnout ahead of the May 3 primary. Trump will headline an evening rally at the Delaware County Fairgrounds in Delaware, north of Columbus. News of the rally came as early voting figures suggested turnout in the populous Midwest battleground, which Trump won twice by more than 8 percentage points, might be severely depressed this year.

Oklahoma

Oklahoma City: Political hopefuls from across Oklahoma descended on the state Capitol on Wednesday for the start of the state’s three-day candidate filing period. Candidates for state, federal and some local offices began lining up early to submit their paperwork. State election officials said the expect between 500 and 600 candidates to file for office during the next three days. In addition to this year’s governor’s race, Oklahoma has two U.S. Senate seats up for grabs. Races for U.S. Senate are typically staggered, but both will be on the ballot this year because U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe announced plans to resign in January, just two years into his six-year term. Candidate filing will continue until 5 p.m. Friday.

Oregon

Portland: Multnomah County, in partnership with the city, opened three shelters Tuesday night because of wintry weather. Portland officials said the shelters will be open from 8 p.m. Tuesday to 8 a.m. Wednesday. The shelters are at the Salvation Army located at 5325 N. Williams Ave., the Sunrise Center located at 18901 E. Burnside St. and Imago Dei at 1302 SE Ankeny St. Adults, children, couples and pets are all welcome. People can call 211 to find shelter or transportation in the area. Portland received the first measurable snowfall in April in recorded history on Monday, which caused school closures, downed trees and power outages. The National Weather Service said 1 inch of snow fell at Portland International Airport. Portland received three-tenths of an inch of snow Tuesday, which set a record for latest measurable snowfall in the season, the weather agency said.

Pennsylvania

Harrisburg: The state House voted Tuesday after a tense debate to approve a bill that would prohibit transgender girls from competing in girls’ school sports. All but one Republican and four Democrats voted for the proposal to restrict players on K-12 school teams, college sports, intramurals and club teams sponsored by school entities to male or female teams based on their reproductive organs, biology or genetics at birth. The bill, which went to the state Senate for its consideration on a 115-84 vote, would prevent “students of the male sex” from playing on athletic teams designated for women or girls. It would provide a way for students and schools to sue, including against athletic organizations. A spokeswoman for Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf said Tuesday if the bill makes it to him he will veto it.

Rhode Island

Providence: School-zone speed cameras have been activated at six more locations in Providence, according to the Police Department. Initially, speeding drivers will receive warnings. Starting June 6, speeders will receive a summons, according to police. The six cameras, which were activated Wednesday, are in addition to 14 other camera locations, according to police. The new locations are Plainfield Street (Laurel Hill Annex School); 773 Chalkstone Avenue (Nathaniel Greene Middle School); Hope Street (Hope High School); Mount Pleasant Avenue (Mount Pleasant High School); Bridgham Street (Providence Career and Technical Academy); and Branch Avenue (E-Cubed Academy). The cameras operate on all school days from 7 a.m. until 6 p.m. Vehicles operating 11 mph or more over the 20 mph speed limit will automatically be issued a violation, according to the police. Fines are $50.

South Carolina

Columbia: Police have arrested a man who allegedly sent dozens of threats to Black civil rights attorney and former state lawmaker Bakari Sellers. Grant Edward Olson Jr., of Asheville is also accused of intimidating Sellers for exercising his civil rights as an attorney, television commentator and lobbyist, authorities said. Olson, 48, was arrested Friday and booked into the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center in Richland County. Arrest warrants from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division showed Olson sent dozens of messages to Sellers on Instagram that included racial slurs, indications that Olson was armed and mentioned the killings of African-Americans. Police said Olson admitted to sending the messages earlier this year. Sellers, a son of civil rights activist Cleveland Sellers, was first elected to the state House as a Democrat in 2006 at the age of 22 and has also worked as an attorney and as a political analyst on CNN.

South Dakota

Sioux Falls: Republican Paul TenHaken will remain the mayor of Sioux Falls for another four years. The incumbent took 73.06% of the vote in the three-way race, defeating challengers Taneeza Islam and David Zokaites and securing a second term without the need for a runoff election. It’s the second time TenHaken has won by the largest margin of victory since the city moved to a strong-mayor form of government in 1995, breaking the record he set in 2018 when he got 62.7% of the vote over Jolene Loetscher in a runoff election. Islam’s campaign garnered 24.57% of the vote, with Zokaites at 1.9%.

Tennessee

Nashville: Mayor John Cooper said he plans on signing an executive order to make Juneteenth, which celebrates the end of slavery in the U.S., an official paid holiday for city employees. According to a news release, Cooper will sign the directive Thursday. Juneteenth, also known as Emancipation Day and Freedom Day, commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers told enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas, that they were free. It was two months after the Confederacy surrendered and more than two years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. The federal government made it an official holiday last year.

Texas

Houston: A South Texas judge set an execution date of Oct. 5 for John Henry Ramirez, a death row inmate who won a reprieve when his request for his pastor to pray out loud and touch him as he received his lethal injection sparked legal debate. Ramirez, 37, had been set for execution on Sept. 8, 2021, but the U.S. Supreme Court blocked his execution and agreed to take up his case to address the role of spiritual advisers in the death chamber. Last month, the court said states must accommodate the wishes of death row inmates who want to have their faith leaders pray and touch them during their executions. Seth Kretzer, Ramirez’s attorney, said Wednesday a Houston federal court is still considering a civil rights petition he filed on behalf of Ramirez and that he doesn’t believe an execution can proceed until it’s resolved.

Utah

St. George: New coronavirus cases increased in Utah in the week ending Sunday, rising 11.7% as 699 cases were reported. The previous week had 626 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19. Utah ranked 40th among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis, a Paste BN Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data showed. In the latest week, coronavirus cases in the U.S. increased 20.8% from the week before, with 238,885 cases reported. With 0.96% of the country's population, Utah had 0.29% of the country's cases in the last week. Across the country, 34 states had more cases in the latest week than they did in the week before.

Vermont

Burlington: A luxury home on Shelburne Point has sold for $10.25 million, the "priciest" to ever sell on the open market in Vermont, according to the Wall Street Journal. A bidding war broke out over the six-bedroom home listed in December for $9.8 million, co-listing agent Wade Weathers of LandVest told the Journal. The sellers were Florida-based developer Jeffrey Halvorsen and his wife, Elizabeth, who bought the land in 2012 for $2.48 million and built an 8,400-square-foot vacation home. "It's bittersweet," Elizabeth Halvorsen told the Journal of the decision to sell. "We put our heart and soul in it." The property has about 1,300 feet of frontage on the lake. The house includes an elevator, a gym and an office, according to the Journal. The record-breaking sale reflects much different market conditions than four years ago, in 2018, when the Burlington Free Press reported there were more than 100 high-end homes on the local market, defined as homes costing $850,000 and above.

Virginia

Richmond: Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed 26 bills – including some that passed with broad bipartisan support – as he took action on more than 800 bills the divided legislature sent him during its regular session. None of the vetoed bills was sponsored by a Republican, a point Democrats quickly seized on, criticizing the first-term governor as excessively partisan. Youngkin’s veto total was higher than any other governor in his first year in office since Republican Jim Gilmore, who had 37 in 1998, according to an accounting by the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project. Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam, who preceded Youngkin, was close with 20.

Washington

Seattle: State health officials in Washington and Oregon are recommending the public limit their consumption of sturgeon caught from the lower Columbia River. A health advisory came from the Washington Department of Health as fish tissue data showed contaminant levels of polychlorinated biphenyls – or PCBs – at levels above Washington state’s screening values, The Seattle Times reported. In Washington, the advisory applies to any fish caught in the Columbia River between the Bonneville Dam and the mouth of the Columbia. Officials recommend that most adults should not eat more than eight meals of sturgeon a month, and no more than seven for pregnant women, nursing mothers and children. The Oregon Health Authority also issued an advisory for the lower Columbia River and the lower Willamette River.

West Virginia

Charleston: The influx of prescription opioids into West Virginia communities was the main driver of the state’s drug crisis, an epidemiologist testified Tuesday at the ongoing trial against three major pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Katherine Keyes, director of Columbia University’s Psychiatric Epidemiology Training Program, described West Virginia, one of the poorest U.S. states, as the “epicenter of the opioid crisis in the U.S.” More people have died of overdoses in the state per capita than any other, all while the state has been grappling with a loss of jobs from the declining coal industry. West Virginia was one of the only U.S. states to lose population during the 2020 U.S. census.

Wisconsin

Madison: Democratic state Rep. Gary Hebl of Sun Prairie said he won’t seek reelection this fall. He said he wants to focus on his personal life, travel with his wife and family and spend more time with his grandchildren. Hebl, 70, has served in the Assembly since 2004. Seven Assembly Democrats have now announced they won’t run again in November. Thirteen Republicans have announced their retirement from the chamber. Six senators, including three Democrats and three Republicans, have said they’re not running again.

Wyoming

Cheyenne: U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney raised almost $3 million in campaign contributions over the first three months of the midterm election year, continuing her record-breaking fundraising streak as she attempts to defend her seat against a Trump-backed challenger. The third-term Wyoming Republican began April with $6.8 million cash on-hand. Her opponent Harriet Hageman began the final four-month stretch leading up to Wyoming’s Aug. 16 Republican primary with more than $1 million in her campaign coffers. Cheney, who chaired the Republican House Conference before being ousted from her post last year, has broken her personal fundraising records in five consecutive quarters and has raised more than $10 million throughout the election cycle, her campaign said in a statement.