Yukon salmon void, South Beach battle, Bloody Sunday project: News from around our 50 states

Alabama

Selma: The world knows the names of John Lewis and a few more of the voting rights demonstrators who walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in 1965 only to be attacked by state troopers on a day that came to be called “Bloody Sunday.” A new project aims to identify more of the hundreds of people who were involved in the protest. Auburn University professors Richard Burt and Keith Hebert, working with a group of honors college students, have established a Facebook page where people can look through photographs from March 7, 1965, and identify themselves or others in the black-and-white images. Online since August, the page titled “Help us identify the Selma Bloody Sunday Foot Soldiers” features multiple images of marchers who are labeled with red numerals, and users can add the names of people they recognize in the comments section. Some people already have been identified, and the creators hope more will join them as word spreads about the page, particularly in Selma, where the effort is being promoted. A class at Selma High School is helping as students enlist relatives to help identify marchers. The project “highlights the need for additional historical research and documentation for one of the most famous moments in American history,” Hebert said in a statement released by the university.

Alaska

Stevens Village: For the first time in memory, both king and chum salmon on the Yukon River have dwindled to almost nothing, and the state has banned salmon fishing there, even the subsistence harvests on which Alaska Natives rely to fill their freezers and pantries for winter. The remote communities that dot the river and live off its bounty – far from road systems and easy, affordable shopping – are desperate and doubling down on moose and caribou hunts in the waning days of fall. “Nobody has fish in their freezer right now. Nobody,” said Giovanna Stevens, 38, a member of the Stevens Village tribe who grew up harvesting salmon at her family’s fish camp. “We have to fill that void quickly before winter gets here.” Opinions on what led to the catastrophe vary, but those studying it generally agree human-caused climate change is playing a role as the river and the Bering Sea warm, altering the food chain. Many believe commercial trawling operations that scoop up wild salmon along with their intended catch, as well as competition from hatchery-raised salmon in the ocean, have compounded global warming’s effects on one of North America’s longest rivers. Many Alaska Native communities are outraged they are paying the price for generations of practices beyond their control, and many feel state and federal authorities aren’t doing enough to bring Indigenous voices to the table.

Arizona

Lake Havasu City: The city is playing up its roots with a month of celebratory events marking the 50th anniversary of the dedication of the London Bridge after its piece-by-piece rebuild in the western Arizona resort town along the Colorado River. Scheduled October events include a parade, powerboat racing, theater and musical performances, a costume contest and sports competitions. Lake Havasu City founder Robert McCulloch bought the stone bridge in 1968 for approximately $2 million and had it transported by ship and truck from London in pieces across the Atlantic Ocean and via the Panama Canal and Los Angeles. That process and reconstruction took three years, leading to the October 1971 dedication. The city of London had decided to replace the bridge because it was sinking and unfit to withstand increased automobile traffic. In Lake Havasu City, which has population of about 57,000, the bridge spanning a channel between the shoreline and an island in the river has become a major tourist attraction. Following a Friday ribbon-cutting, the 50th anniversary celebratory events got underway in earnest over the weekend with a candlelit feast and ball Saturday evening, followed by a Sunday morning garden brunch and tea leading into a costume contest, the Today’s News Herald reports.

Arkansas

Little Rock: The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday said it wouldn’t allow the state to enforce its ban on mask mandates by schools and other government bodies, while lawmakers clashed over efforts to prohibit businesses from requiring employees get COVID-19 vaccines. In a one-page order, justices denied the request by the state to stay the August decision blocking enforcement of Arkansas’ mandate ban. More than 100 school districts and charter schools have approved mask requirements since the ruling against the law. Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who signed the law but later said he regretted it, had asked the court to deny the request to stay the ruling. Meanwhile, the GOP-led Senate voted to send eight bills limiting or prohibiting employer vaccine mandates back to a committee following complaints that they were rushed through a day earlier without public comment. The bills proposed include one that would allow employees to be exempted from vaccine mandates if they have philosophical or religious objections or have medical contraindications. Another would allow employees to be exempted from vaccine mandates if they’re tested weekly for the coronavirus or can prove they have antibodies, even though health officials say antibody tests should not be used to assess immunity from COVID-19.

California

Sacramento: Black women in the state are more likely to die within a year of pregnancy than women of other races, prompting a wave of policy changes this year that culminated Monday with Gov. Gavin Newsom signing a new law aimed at reducing the disparity. The law, among other things, creates a new committee within the Department of Public Health to review maternal deaths throughout the state by interviewing family members and doctors while exploring records and other reports. The law is the the last piece of what’s been nicknamed the “Momnibus” bill – a reference to the legislative term “omnibus” that generally means one bill that combines multiple pieces of legislation on a number of topics. Most of the “Momnibus” changes this year happened in the state budget, which Newsom signed into law over the summer. California now will give lower-income women health insurance for up to one year after pregnancy instead of for only two months. The state’s Medicaid program, a government-funded health insurance plan for the poor, will also now pay for doulas – trained professionals who support mothers before, during and after childbirth. And the state is spending $35 million to help pay for programs that give low-income pregnant women monthly cash payments with no restrictions on how they can spend it.

Colorado

Denver: The Denver Zoo has apologized more than a decade after a Black man died after a confrontation with police on zoo grounds. Zoo President Bert Vescolani publicly apologized to Gail Waters on Friday for her son Alonzo Ashley’s July 2011 death, The Denver Post reports. The 29-year-old was visiting the zoo when he reportedly started acting strangely and ran to find a water fountain. A zoo volunteer called for police, who tackled Ashley and shocked him with a stun gun. According to a coroner’s report, Ashley was placed face down on the ground with his hands cuffed behind his back and his legs crossed and pressed toward his buttocks. He began convulsing and stopped breathing before paramedics arrived. The coroner ruled Ashley’s death was caused by cardiorespiratory arrest brought on by heat, dehydration and exertion during the struggle. The district attorney’s office cleared the eight officers involved, but the city paid Ashley’s family $295,000 in 2016 to settle a lawsuit. For years, the zoo refused to acknowledge any responsibility. The death led to protests and calls for accountability for staff and volunteers for failing to recognize Ashley was in distress and no danger to the public. Many in the Denver’s Black community boycotted the zoo. On Friday, a water fountain and cooling station were dedicated in Ashley’s honor.

Connecticut

New Haven: The city’s Civilian Review Board plans to investigate the actions of an officer who punched a man in the head three times during a trespassing arrest and was later cleared of wrongdoing by the police department. Police officials said the use of force by officer Justin Cole during the January arrest was “reasonable and not excessive” as the man fought with officers, and the finding was reviewed by an independent use-of-force expert, Hearst Connecticut Media reports. Richard Crouse, a member of the Civilian Review Board, said the panel has decided to look into the police department’s internal affairs investigation, which cleared two other officers involved in the arrest, and will report its findings to the public. Acting Police Chief Renee Dominguez said the officers were found to have complied with policies and procedures, but the outcome of the call was not ideal. Police responded to an office building Jan. 29 for a harassment complaint made by the man who authorities said struggled with officers and was punched by Cole. Another person at the scene complained the man was disruptive and trespassing, which he denied. Police officials say officers tried to de-escalate the situation for about an hour before arresting the man.

Delaware

Wilmington: A civil rights organization is calling for the firing and arrest of a police officer seen on video repeatedly slamming a man’s head during an arrest last month at a Southbridge convenience store. During a Monday afternoon press conference, NAACP members said they will also call for the resignation of Wilmington Police Chief Robert J. Tracy and for a federal investigation of the incident. “This is another example of police brutality and police disrespect for the Black community,” Delaware NAACP President Richard Smith said. “The attorney general of the United States really needs to come in and take over the police department or come in and help us with the Wilmington Police Department, New Castle County Police Department and other police departments that abuse us in the Black community.” The officer involved in the incident has not been identified, but Wilmington police have said the three-year member of the force has been placed on administrative duty. The pressure on Wilmington Police Department to be forthright about what happened during the Sept. 21 incident in which a 44-year-old man’s head was repeatedly slammed into plexiglass is increasing.

District of Columbia

Washington: The weekend saw the return of live music with two outdoor festivals in D.C., WUSA-TV reports. On Saturday, dozens of people gathered on front lawns and in front of commercial buildings in the Adams Morgan neighborhood for the popular Porchfest festival. More than 60 local bands participated on makeshift stages throughout the area. Then on Sunday, the third annual Southeast D.C. Porchfest returned to the Penn Branch neighborhood. The seven-hour festival featured dozens of performers and local vendors. A similar event happened earlier this year in Petworth, with bands performing on front porches of volunteer houses down a 3-mile stretch of the neighborhood.

Florida

Miami: Miami Beach wants to turn down the volume in the South Beach party neighborhood, citing increasingly raucous crowds, public drinking and growing violence, but efforts to curb the carousing have raised complaints about racism, classism and business practices along one of the nation’s most glamorous waterfronts. The 10-block stretch of Ocean Drive known for art deco hotels, restaurants and bars is sandwiched between two areas that cater to more affluent tourists. The tension has been bubbling for years as party crowds grew from a few weekends a year into a year-round presence. The situation worsened during the pandemic as city officials closed the main drag to vehicles and allowed restaurants to offer more outdoor seating, which invited a carnival atmosphere on the street. More than 1,000 people were arrested during this year’s spring break, when the city imposed a rare 8 p.m. curfew. Authorities sent military-style vehicles to disperse predominantly Black crowds with rubber bullets, prompting criticism from Black activists and spawning a parody on “Saturday Night Live.” Last month, the city increased the number of law enforcement officials covering the neighborhood to a record high. Mayor Dan Gelber, who called it a stopgap measure, has proposed rebranding the blocks known as the entertainment district by hosting higher-end concerts and fairs, focusing on family-friendly events, and marketing the city’s often-overlooked museums and symphony. He also wants to limit loud music and halt alcohol sales at 2 a.m.

Georgia

Atlanta: Four parents are suing the Cobb County school district on behalf of their children, saying its failure to require masks means their students cannot safely attend in-person classes because of their disabilities. The suit filed Friday in federal court in Atlanta says the 107,000-student suburban district is violating federal law, including the Americans with Disabilities Act and section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. Those laws govern how students with disabilities are treated in public schools. “Rather than using the known and available tools to mitigate the threat of COVID-19 and protect plaintiffs’ access to school services, programs, and activities, the district has acted with deliberate indifference to plaintiffs’ rights to inclusion, health, and education,” the complaint alleges. Last week, when the Southern Poverty Law Center threatened the lawsuit on behalf of the students, Cobb schools told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that “as is the case with any issue, individual student needs are supported on a student-by-student basis, and we actively encourage any student or family to discuss their needs with their local school.” The lawsuit asks that U.S. District Judge Timothy Batten Sr. order the district to follow guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preventionn on masks, ventilation, physical distancing and contact tracing.

Hawaii

Hilo: An invasive plant species that is toxic to cattle and highly flammable has been found on the Big Island. Chromolaena odorata, also known as “devil weed,” was found on the east side of the island earlier this year, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reports. Officials worry the invasive plant, first detected in the state on Oahu in 2011, could harm the cattle industry and fuel future wildfires on the Big Island. Devil weed has small, sticky seeds that can be transported easily, said Franny Brewer, spokeswoman for the Big Island Invasive Species Council. “Right now, we’re actually lucky that it’s just on the east side of the island,” Brewer said. “It usually likes the warmer and drier areas, so if it gets over (to the west side), that could be very bad.” An additional concern for cattle ranchers is an invasive species of insect that is also invading local pastures. Brewer said the two-lined spittlebug is attracted to nutrient-rich grass on which cows graze and can devour a pasture, leaving the land open to the introduction of devil weed. The plant’s leaves contain a substance that is highly flammable, Brewer said, which could increase the threat of increasingly common wildfires in Hawaii.

Idaho

Boise: A partial recount of ballots cast during the 2020 presidential election has validated the accuracy of the results, state officials say, despite manipulation claims by Trump ally and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell. The Idaho secretary of state’s office said Wednesday that a hand inspection of ballots in Camas and Butte counties found margins of error of less than 1% – far below what Lindell had claimed in saying votes for former President Donald Trump went to President Joe Biden. Lindell has made unsubstantiated claims and floated conspiracy theories about last year’s election in multiple states in an attempt to undermine voter confidence in the outcome. That has extended even to Idaho, where Trump easily won the deep-red state with nearly 64% of the vote. “The office of the Idaho Secretary of State takes free, fair, and accurate elections seriously,” Republican Secretary of State Lawerence Denney said in a statement. “So when we are presented with allegations that come with specific details which we can examine, we want to do so.” The secretary of state’s office said a document questioning Idaho’s vote count appeared on a website with a copyright belonging to Lindell. It claimed votes cast for Trump were electronically switched to Biden in every county. Denney’s office recorded video of both counties’ recount processes.

Illinois

Chicago: A new relief fund launched by city officials could give a boost to hundreds of artists and entertainment industry workers who have lost income during the pandemic. The $2.3 million Chicago Creative Worker Assistance Program will benefit members of the arts and entertainment industry with grants ranging from $2,000 to $5,000, the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events announced Thursday. Arts administrators, teaching artists, artisans, curators, independent cultural producers and technicians who lost income over the past 18 months because of coronavirus restrictions will be eligible for the aid, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a statement that she hopes the funding can provide relief for creatives, as many of them are gig workers whose pandemic unemployment insurance benefits have expired. DCASE Commissioner Mark Kelly said he’s looking forward to the city’s talented artists returning to the spotlight this fall along with the resurrection of entertainment venues, which are gearing up for a busy end of the year. The relief fund’s announcement comes nearly a week after Navy Pier hosted “Chicago LIVE Again!” – a two-day outdoor festival that celebrated the return of live performances.

Indiana

Indianapolis: A longtime Democratic state senator from northwestern Indiana has decided to leave her seat in frustration over iron-fisted Republican control of the Legislature. Sen. Karen Tallian of Ogden Dunes submitted a letter Thursday to Senate leaders that she would be resigning effective Nov. 1, about a year before her term ends. Tallian was sharply critical of Senate Republicans, saying that “after 16 years I’ve had enough.” “The process has become degraded. Every bill is vetted, in secret, by the Republican caucus,” Tallian told The (Northwest Indiana) Times. “So it becomes impossible to have real debate on the floor most of the time because they’ve already decided what gets to be heard and what won’t.” Tallian has been a longtime advocate of legalizing marijuana, an issue that’s been blocked from debate by Republicans who have a 39-11 Senate majority. Tallian raised that issue as she spoke on the Senate floor Friday. “Some time in the future, maybe near, maybe nearer than you think, Indiana will join the rest of the country and address the marijuana question,” Tallian said. “And when you do, think of me.” Democratic precinct committee members in Tallian’s district will select a new senator for the 2022 legislative session.

Iowa

Des Moines: The city has canceled a contract with a private security company more than two months after reports revealed troubling remarks by its CEO, who referred to local racial justice protests as “terrorism.” The city’s contract with the Conley Group was to end at midnight Monday. City Manager Scott Sanders said in a statement that both parties reached an agreement to end the contract, while an attorney for company CEO Tom Conley said the Conley Group asked the city to end its contract early, citing “high customer demand.” The company was set to see its $250,000 city contract more than double in July, until Conley’s remarks surfaced in a Des Moines Register investigative report. It had been providing security services to the city since early 2020 at locations including City Hall, the Argonne Armory, the municipal services center and the former Dico Superfund site. The city launched an internal investigation in July after Conley sent inflammatory emails to Des Moines officials, including some that made disparaging remarks about George Floyd and members of the central Iowa-based Black Liberation Movement.

Kansas

Topeka: Some counties are seeing youth vaccination rates for COVID-19 far below the national average, according to state data released last week. A school pandemic workgroup established by Gov. Laura Kelly received data from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment showing that in about a quarter of the state’s counties, less than 20% of vaccine-eligible children ages 12 to 17 had received at least one dose as of Sept. 24. U.S. regulators in May expanded the use of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine to children as young as 12. The national vaccination rate for youth is 57%, according to a presentation by Marci Nielsen, a special advisor to Kelly. Most of the low-vaccine counties are in western Kansas or other rural areas. By comparison, no Kansas county has less than 20% of its total eligible population fully inoculated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Johnson, Douglas and Riley counties exceed the national rate for youths, Nielsen said. Decatur County in northwest Kansas reported the lowest rate with 3% of youths receiving a first dose. Parents have commented on social media that they won’t get their kids vaccinated because they value free choice or think kids are less likely to become severely ill, said Derek Chambers, lead pharmacist at Ward Drug in Oberlin.

Kentucky

Frankfort: A deteriorating bridge that was home to thousands of endangered gray bats has been repaired in way that makes the span safer for motorists and wildlife, officials said. A project team from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet partnered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to make a habitat-focused design as crews replaced the bridge superstructure with new beams, deck and railing and made repairs to the existing abutment and piers, state officials said in a statement. Repairs on the rural, two-lane span were made in a way that provides more roosting space for the bats. After construction, officials estimated more than 1,000 bats had returned to the bridge. Officials didn’t release the span’s exact location in an effort to prevent interference with the bat habitat. “This bridge project is the first of its kind in Kentucky, using an innovative and collaborative approach to mitigate the effects of much-needed bridge repairs on an important endangered species,” Transportation Cabinet Secretary Jim Gray said.

Louisiana

Lake Charles: Southwest Louisiana leaders say the disaster assistance approved by Congress will be too little to solve the lingering housing crisis and other needs caused by Hurricane Laura, which struck the region more than a year ago. Billions of dollars in federal disaster aid were included in legislation passed by Congress on Thursday that also helped avoid a government shutdown. Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter said the package has $1.6 billion in disaster block grant aid to split among states for all the 2020 disasters, with southwest Louisiana anticipated to get $600 million for Laura and the follow-up blow of Hurricane Delta. “When you look at other singular hurricanes over the last 20 years and the billions of dollars that have flowed down to those communities, $600 million is crumbs,” he said. Gov. John Bel Edwards’ administration has estimated the unmet needs for Hurricanes Laura, Delta and Zeta at roughly $3 billion. Calcasieu Parish Police Jury President Brian Abshire said in a statement that while the parish has waited patiently for federal aid, “Washington politics has diluted the relief bill,” which he called a “feel-good bill” that “makes no one but the federal politicians actually feel good, and it will do very little for Calcasieu Parish.”

Maine

Bar Harbor: A Canadian company plans to bring ferry service back to Bar Harbor next year, restoring service between Maine and Nova Scotia. Bay Ferries operated ferry service from Bar Harbor to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, for more than a decade before moving to Portland and ending service in 2009. Bay Ferries tried to return for the 2019 season but failed to get the ferry terminal renovated and approved in time. Then came the pandemic that scuttled service in 2020 and 2021. Now the company is ready to try again with a high-speed catamaran-style ferry called “The Cat.”

Maryland

Annapolis: Officials say the state will again spray pesticide Permanone 30-30 to control mosquito populations, after EPA testing determined it does not contain dangerous PFAS. The Baltimore Sun reports the Maryland Department of Agriculture temporarily halted use of the pesticide in the state this year “out of an abundance of caution” after testing by an outside lab found 3,500 parts per trillion of one type of PFAS and 630 parts per trillion of another, said MDA spokesman Jason Schellhardt. But testing by EPA scientists at Fort Meade returned a different result. PFAS, per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, are also known as “forever chemicals” because they can linger in the human body for long periods of time. Laboratory tests have shown that accumulated PFAS can cause tumor growth in animals, in addition to problems with kidney, liver and reproductive function. Ruth Berlin, executive director of the Maryland Pesticide Education Network, one of the groups that commissioned the earlier test of Permanone 30-30, said she wasn’t satisfied by the new results from EPA scientists.

Massachusetts

Boston: A former police union boss in the city has pleaded guilty to collecting more than $16,000 in fraudulent overtime pay while working at the department’s evidence warehouse, federal prosecutors said Monday. Thomas Nee, 64, of Quincy, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit theft concerning programs receiving federal funds and embezzlement from an agency receiving federal funds. A plea hearing has not yet been scheduled. Nee submitted false and fraudulent overtime slips from at least January 2015 through February 2019 and personally collected about $16,642 for overtime hours he did not work, prosecutors said. He’s the 15th former or current officer charged in connection with the investigation into overtime abuse at the police department’s evidence warehouse. Nine officers have so far pleaded guilty. Federal officials say more than $250,000 was embezzled. Nee was a longtime president of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association who served until 2014. The embezzlement charge carries a sentence of up to ten years in prison and the conspiracy charge up to five years.

Michigan

Lansing: Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer vetoed several Republican-sponsored election bills, saying they would have perpetuated falsehoods to discredit the 2020 presidential election and made it tougher for people living in large senior facilities and apartment complexes to vote. Two measures would have codified existing practices by limiting access to Michigan’s voter database and keeping electronic pollbooks and voting systems from being connected to the internet on Election Day. The bills implied that outside parties had access to the files and that electronic pollbooks were connected online when neither was the case, the governor wrote to lawmakers. She also blocked a measure that would have expanded the types of buildings that can be polling places to include private conference centers and recreation clubhouses. It included a provision to let municipalities put polling places at senior facilities and apartment complexes with at least 150 residents, as they can now, but only if public buildings like schools were “not reasonably available for use or convenient to use.” Whitmer vetoed the legislation Sunday night at the NAACP Detroit branch’s annual Fight For Freedom Fund Dinner. The bills, she said, “attempt to suppress the vote or perpetuate the ‘Big Lie’ – the calculated disinformation campaign to discredit the 2020 election.”

Minnesota

Minneapolis: Renville County must conduct an environmental review to determine whether a proposed drainage ditch improvement could harm one of the last free-flowing creeks in the heavily agricultural western county, the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled Monday. The appeals court reversed a decision by the county board, which concluded the study wasn’t necessary. The Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, which challenged the county’s decision, said the court’s ruling sets a precedent that means any drainage project across the state that affects public water will require an environmental review. The dispute involves proposed improvements to a century-old ditch that empties into the upper reaches of Limbo Creek. Backers say the project would lead to better drainage of farmland. The Renville County Board declined in 2020 to order an environmental assessment worksheet because the creek’s upper reaches didn’t appear on an official inventory of “public waters” kept by the state Department of Natural Resources. But the Court of Appeals ruled that upper Limbo Creek nevertheless meets the state’s definition of public waters, so the review is mandatory. Limbo Creek flows directly into the Minnesota River, which has long been a major contributor of silt and farm chemicals to the Mississippi River.

Mississippi

Starkville: The city is planning to spend most of its federal pandemic relief money on parks and recreation, and critics say elected officials are ignoring people who need housing. Starkville is receiving $6.2 million from the American Rescue Plan Act. Aldermen voted Sept. 21 to spend $5.5 million of it for parks and recreation, $500,000 to hire police officers and $200,000 to improve water infrastructure in a subdivision, the Commercial Dispatch reports. Cate Van Hurdle, a representative with the Starkville Strong community action group, said homelessness and evictions are increasing in Starkville. “Because there is no money going to help these people, the city may be forcing people to possibly live in the parks or sleep in those parks,” Van Hurdle said. Federal guidelines say the pandemic recovery money may be spent on things including tourism; water, sewer and broadband infrastructure; assistance to businesses and families disproportionately affected by COVID-19; and premium pay for public employees. Mayor Lynn Spruill developed Starkville’s spending plan with the help of city attorney Chris Latimer, focusing heavily on tourism. While Spruill acknowledged homelessness and other infrastructure needs, she said other sources of money can be used to address those issues.

Missouri

Jefferson City: Pope Francis has joined the chorus of people calling on Gov. Mike Parson to grant clemency to a death row inmate who is set to be executed for killing three people during a 1994 convenience store robbery. In a letter last week, a representative for Pope Francis wrote that the pope “wishes to place before you the simple fact of Mr. Johnson’s humanity and the sacredness of all human life,” referring to Ernest Johnson, who is scheduled to be executed at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the state prison in Bonne Terre, about 50 miles south of St. Louis. Parson, a Republican, has been considering whether to reduce the 61-year-old Johnson’s sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Johnson’s attorney, Jeremy Weis, has said executing him would violate the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits executing intellectually disabled people. He said multiple IQ tests and other exams have shown that Johnson has the intellectual capacity of a child. He also was born with fetal alcohol syndrome and in 2008 lost about 20% of his brain tissue to the removal of a benign tumor. Racial justice activists and two Missouri members of congress – Democratic U.S. Reps. Cori Bush of St. Louis and Emmanuel Cleaver of Kansas City – have also called on Parson to show mercy to Johnson, who is Black.

Montana

Missoula: A district judge has denied a request by several parents to halt mask mandates in city schools while a legal challenge of the mandates is underway. The parents sued several Missoula schools in August over their mask requirements, arguing they violated the state’s constitution, which guarantees individuals the right to make their own medical decisions. Missoula District Judge Jason Marks denied the request for a preliminary injunction Friday, saying in his decision that such an injunction could lead to increased spread of COVID-19 and quarantining of children and school staff. The decision came the same day dozens of Montana residents gathered at the state Capitol on Friday to decry mask mandates for schoolchildren. The rally was led by Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen, a Republican. Lawyer Quentin Rhoades, who represents several parents suing Missoula public schools over their mask requirements, said in August that there isn’t sufficient scientific evidence that children wearing masks prevents the spread of the coronavirus for the government to override parents’ rights to make decision about their children’s’ health. But several studies by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found school districts without a universal masking policy in place were more likely to have COVID-19 outbreaks.

Nebraska

Omaha: A woman believed by many to be the oldest living American has celebrated her 115th birthday. The Omaha World-Herald reports Thelma Sutcliffe marked her birthday quietly at the facility where she lives in Omaha. Sutcliffe was born Oct. 1, 1906, in Benson, Nebraska, which is now part of Omaha. Her parents owned a farm. At age 17, she married Bill Sutcliffe, who worked for the Postal Service. He died in the early 1970s. The Gerontology Research Group said Sutcliffe became the nation’s oldest living person April 17 when Hester Ford died in North Carolina at age 115. The oldest person in the world is believed to be 118-year-old Kane Tanaka of Japan, who was born Jan. 2, 1903.

Nevada

Carson City: A flurry of laws passed by the Legislature this year took effect Friday, ushering in reforms that Democratic lawmakers who have majorities in the state Senate and Assembly have long campaigned to implement. Five years voters approved legalizing recreational cannabis in Nevada, business owners can now apply for licenses to establish on-site consumption lounges, where adults can smoke, “dab” or eat THC-laced edibles that they buy. Once licensed, the lounges will become the first public places in Nevada where pot products can be consumed recreationally. The state’s emerging cannabis industry has promoted the lounges for their economic development potential and pitched them as a draw for the millions of tourists who visit Las Vegas annually but can’t legally use the products in places like hotels. The permitting system created under the new law prioritizes Black and Latino applicants who have been “adversely affected by provisions of previous laws which criminalized activity relating to cannabis.” A points-based system to score applicants was introduced after data showed the state’s cannabis industry to be disproportionately white and male – a finding that concerned lawmakers and advocates who said it pointed to the racial disparities in how drug offenses were prosecuted.

New Hampshire

Concord: Granite State filmmakers have explored the life of composer Amy Beach in a newly released documentary, highlighting her success story of the early 1900s as a widely recognized female pianist and composer. Beach was a New Hampshire native who taught herself how to compose symphonies while performing with world-renowned orchestras, New Hampshire Public Radio reports. John Grfoerer, the documentary maker, said that options for Beach were quite limited in the 1900s and that she might otherwise have gone on to appearing in more performances instead of composing. Grfoerer said even though she was denied the proper education to become a trained composer, she found a way to teach herself. The film premiered Friday on the Bank of New Hampshire stage.

New Jersey

Newark: The nation’s most expensive Superfund cleanup to remove cancer-causing pollution from the Passaic River will be expanded to include 9 more miles in Bergen, Passaic and Essex counties under a plan approved Monday by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. But the $1.84 billion project to clean all 17 miles of the lower Passaic is still several years away from launching, officials said Monday. The $441 million expansion plan would excavate 387,000 cubic yards of contaminated river mud and place a barrier over the rest in a stretch of the river from North Arlington to the Dundee Dam, which spans the waterway between Clifton and Garfield. The plan comes more than seven years after the EPA unveiled an ambitious $1.4 billion “bank to bank” cleanup of the lower 8 miles of the Passaic from Newark Bay to Belleville where much of the pollution is concentrated. That dredge and cap project has not yet begun. “We know we can’t turn around a century of pollution overnight, but today as part of the solution we’re taking a very important step,” EPA Deputy Administrator Janet McCabe said during a virtual news conference Monday. EPA officials have wanted both projects on the river to be done concurrently to minimize disruptions.

New Mexico

Las Cruces: New Mexico State University says less than a third of its students submitted proof of vaccination for COVID-19 by a Thursday deadline to otherwise undergo weekly coronavirus testing or leave the university. While 72.3% of the school’s employees provided proof of vaccination, only 30% of students did, officials said Friday. It’s not clear how many students who didn’t submit proof of vaccination by the deadline plan to submit weekly test results, officials said. “We’re not where we want to be with our vaccinated students,” said Jon Webster, the school’s COVID-19 project manager. “We want to make sure we’re protecting all of our students.” Failure to submit vaccination information or weekly test results can result in student suspension or staff termination, officials said. Students can get inoculated at any point in the semester and cease the weekly required testing once achieving full vaccination, Webster said. “We are seeing new submissions continue to come in, so we expect our final verified total to be significantly higher than what we’re seeing today and to continue to rise over the next several weeks as some students and employees receive their second dose and update their cards,” Webster said. Several students said Friday that they were unaware of the mandate’s details.

New York

New York: A statue honoring George Floyd in Union Square Park was vandalized Sunday, police said. According to police, a video showed an unidentified man on a skateboard throwing paint on the statue about 10 a.m. then fleeing. Sunday’s act wasn’t the first example of vandalism to the statue memorializing Floyd, whose killing at the hands of police in Minneapolis last year galvanized a racial justice movement across the country. The statue was unveiled on Juneteenth on Flatbush Avenue, in Brooklyn, and was vandalized five days later with black paint and marked with an alleged logo of a white supremacist group. Members of the group that installed the statue cleaned it, and local residents and one of Floyd’s brothers gathered in July as it was prepared to move to Manhattan. Meanwhile, city officials have suspended nine firefighters without pay in connection with a string of racist messages and memes they shared on their phones, including ones mocking Floyd’s death, The New York Times reports. A spokesperson called the suspensions the most severe punishments ever handed down in the history of the Fire Department of the City of New York, according to the paper. Black firefighters told the Times they believed the suspensions fell far short of deep-rooted problems in the department, where leaders have acknowledged that racism, sexism and harassment have been tolerated.

North Carolina

Smithfield: A school board has passed a policy barring critical race theory in its classrooms after county commissioners threatened to withhold nearly $8 million in funding. The Johnston County school board on Friday unanimously approved an updated policy on how history and racism will be taught, The News & Observer of Raleigh reports. Under the new policy, teachers could be disciplined or fired if they teach that American historical figures weren’t heroes, undermine the U.S. Constitution in lessons or describe racism as a permanent part of American life. The all-Republican Johnston County Board of Commissioners was withholding $7.9 million until the school board passed a policy keeping critical race theory out of local classrooms. A revised code of ethics policy includes new wording such as “the United States foundational documents shall not be undermined,” and “all people who contributed to American Society will be recognized and presented as reformists, innovators and heroes to our culture.” April Lee, president of the Johnston County Association of Educators and an eighth grade social studies teacher, said the school system is “selling our souls to the devil for $7.9 million” and called the new policy “basically extortion.”

North Dakota

Bismarck: Progress is being made on making the state Capitol more accessible to those who are physically disabled. State leaders have approved constructing new bathrooms and making other renovations to better accommodate wheelchairs. Over the next year, a meeting room will be made into three larger family restrooms that will be handicap accessible. “Just thinking about what it’s like to walk around here if I were visiting the Capitol with little kids, there are not accommodating spaces to take kids to the bathroom, other than to take them all into the women’s restroom or whatever,” said Sen. Erin Oban, D-Bismarck, KFYR-TV reports. There will also be wider doors installed for some meeting rooms. Contractors will be hired in the coming months, and construction will start shortly thereafter.

Ohio

Columbus: Ohio State University has now tallied more than 2,800 instances of alleged, decades-old sexual misconduct by the late team doctor Richard Strauss, according to its latest campus crime data. The school says more than 170 total instances of rape and more than 2,600 instances of fondling attributed to Strauss came to light between 2018 and 2020, much of that through a law firm investigation for the university and lawsuits filed against OSU. The crime statistics are disclosed under the federal Clery Act, and incidents are counted in the year they’re reported, not the year they occurred. The 2020 data in the report adds dozens of instances of rape and about 470 instances of fondling attributed to Strauss. Hundreds of men allege he abused them at campus athletic facilities, a student health center, his home and or an off-campus clinic, and some of those men reported multiple instances. They say the school failed to stop Strauss despite students raising concerns during his 20 years at the university. Ohio State has apologized, and it announced settlements with 185 plaintiffs totaling nearly $47 million and with dozens more people for amounts not yet disclosed. A judge recently dismissed some of the biggest unsettled lawsuits, citing legal time limits. Plaintiffs in those plan to appeal. Still other cases are pending.

Oklahoma

Stillwater: A retired Army colonel is helping the city prepare to host dozens of refugee families from Afghanistan. U.S. Army Col. Mike FitzGerald, a 20-year veteran and current operations manager for Catholic Charities of Eastern Oklahoma, said the first families are expected to start arriving Nov. 1. “These are people that are asking for our help,” he told the Tulsa World. “They are young families with small children. These aren’t the bad guys.” Accommodations are being provided by Oklahoma State University and private landlords, FitzGerald said. “Stillwater is a very welcoming community and home to a lot of international students as part of OSU and has been a very diverse community because of our status as a university town,” Mayor Will Joyce said. “I would expect that any new refugee or other international visitors will find it to be a very welcoming place.” Organizers have also set up a committee structure to help with transportation, adult and children’s education, jobs, household supplies, furniture and groceries. The children may enroll in Stillwater Public Schools, FitzGerald said, and English language classes will be available. The U.S. Department of State is also providing $1,225 per person in a family, and work authorizations are being expedited so family members can find work quickly.

Oregon

Portland: Three neighborhoods will soon be home to the city’s first “safe rest villages.” Commissioner Dan Ryan is leading the effort to construct six city-sanctioned outdoor homeless villages by the end of the year, Oregon Public Broadcasting reports. He announced the downtown, Brentwood-Darlington and Hazelwood locations Thursday, saying the sites are a critical response to the “humanitarian crisis” unfolding on Portland’s streets. While there hasn’t been an official count of the city’s homeless population since 2019, encampments appear to have proliferated during the pandemic. These villages will be outdoor shelters where people experiencing homelessness can safely stay and receive basic services. Showers, beds, bathrooms, and support services including case management and mental health support will be offered. Ryan, who oversees the city-side of the Joint Office of Homeless Services, emphasized that each village will be fenced, with each individual possessing their own “sleeping pod.” Combined, the city expects the three sites to host about 120 people. “We can’t wait for affordable housing to be ready for every houseless person,” Ryan said.

Pennsylvania

Philadelphia: Powerful labor leader Johnny “Doc” Dougherty went on trial Monday in a City Hall corruption case that accuses him of keeping a City Council member on the union payroll to push his agenda. Dougherty, 61, who has steered more than $30 million in union funds to political candidates, faces a later extortion trial over other union activities. He expressed confidence that he would clear his name as he arrived for jury selection Monday at the federal courthouse, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports. “I have had zero crimes,” Dougherty said outside the courthouse, making a zero with his hand for emphasis. “So this is a relief. I can’t wait to get in and get this done.” Dougherty had been in the FBI’s sights for years before the 2019 indictment charged him with more than 100 crimes, including keeping City Council member Bobby Henon in a $70,000-a-year union job while he worked full time in the $140,000-a-year City Council post. Dougherty has held a tight grip on construction jobs in the Philadelphia region during more than two decades at the helm of Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which has nearly 5,000 members. He also leads the city’s Buildings Trades Council, an umbrella group of local unions with 70,000 members.

Rhode Island

South Kingstown: Researchers at the University of Rhode Island and their colleagues at Penn State have been awarded a four-year, $1.5 million grant to study the effects of sea level rise and how it may worsen the impact of extreme weather, URI said in a statement. The goal is to help communities, the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service adapt and improve their resilience as the climate continues to change and hurricanes and nor’easters continue to increase in frequency and severity, the statement said. The grant is from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which says the rate of sea level rise is accelerating. Sea level plays a role in flooding, shoreline erosion and other hazards, affecting nearly 40% of the U.S. population. Yet there is a lack of research available when it comes to how the impacts of nor’easters and hurricanes may be amplified as a result. “There are a number of studies that have been done looking at just sea level rise or just extreme weather, but what we’re really lacking in terms of clear understanding is the combined impact of these two phenomena,” said oceanography professor Isaac Ginis, who is leading the study.

South Carolina

Charleston: Dylann Roof wants an entire appellate court to reconsider a decision to recuse itself from hearing his case, as the appeal of his death sentence and conviction in the 2015 racist slayings of nine members of a Black congregation winds its way through the judicial system. Last week, Roof’s attorneys made that request of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, writing that the judges who opted to sit out his case should reinstate themselves to consider his petition for a new hearing before the court. Without that move, or changing a court rule prohibiting judges visiting from other circuits from considering such requests, Roof’s lawyers wrote that “no judges exist to consider” his rehearing petition, depriving him of “a critical level of appellate review.” All of the judges from the 4th Circuit, which covers South Carolina, have recused themselves from hearing Roof’s case. No explicit reason was given in the court’s notice of that move in May, although one of the judges, Jay Richardson, prosecuted Roof’s case as an assistant U.S. attorney in 2017, when Roof became the first person in the U.S. sentenced to death for a federal hate crime. Authorities have said Roof, then 21, opened fire during the closing prayer of a Bible study at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, raining down dozens of bullets on those assembled.

South Dakota

Sioux Falls: Dozens of National Guard members from the state will answer a call from the Pentagon to help at the country’s southern border, with 125 members of the 1742nd Transportation Company being deployed for 9 to 12 months. Gov. Kristi Noem, Sens. John Thune and Mike Round, and Rep. Dusty Johnson were on hand for an activation ceremony Sunday at the University of Sioux Falls Stewart Center, KELO-TV reports. “So they’re going to go down there, try and reinforce the border, bring some order and stability, and obviously do it in a humanitarian and compassionate way,” Thune said. “We want them to know that we have their back,” Johnson said. “We understand that they’re going to be sacrificing a lot; their families are going to be sacrificing a lot over the next year. But we’re going to do the kind of things that we can do in Washington to make sure that they have the proper training, the proper equipment, but also in our communities to make sure their families are taken care of during the difficult time.” In July, Noem sent 50 South Dakota soldiers to the border following Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s request for help.

Tennessee

Memphis: In the first case of a new session, U.S. Supreme Court justices heard allegations that the city is essentially stealing groundwater from underneath Mississippi. That argument faced skepticism from members of the court Monday in Mississippi’s effort to get millions in damages for what officials say is Tennessee’s trampling over its sovereignty when it comes to water. At issue is whether Memphis city government, city-owned utility Memphis Light, Gas and Water, and the state of Tennessee have been pumping water in a way that has harmed Mississippi and siphoned off the water that was underneath it in the Claiborne Aquifer, of which the Memphis Sand aquifer is a region. Mississippi argues that, essentially, the water underneath the state belongs to it and no other state despite the fact that the aquifer in question is under eight states, not just Mississippi. It wants its northern neighbor and Memphis to pay millions in damages for past pumping of water – damages, that, if awarded, would be a huge financial liability for the city. Mississippi’s argument is one that it has made for years and that several courts have found lacking. A special master, a term for an official appointed by a court to oversee a case and hear arguments, also disagreed with Mississippi’s take.

Texas

League City: Police have arrested a man who was accused of stabbing a restaurant manager with a pocketknife after being told he needed to wear a mask. The stabbing happened in March at a Jack in the Box restaurant in League City, just southeast of Houston. Authorities had issued an arrest warrant for James Schulz Jr. shortly after the stabbing occurred, but he wasn’t taken into custody until last week, police said. At the time, police said Schulz refused to follow the restaurant’s policy requiring him to wear a mask to protect against the spread of the coronavirus. Police said he then attacked the manager. The manager had three stab wounds in the arm and upper torso, police said. He was taken to a hospital, where he was treated and released. Schulz was arrested Wednesday on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and disorderly conduct. Jail records did not list an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

Utah

Salt Lake City: Hundreds of maskless people packed a legislative hearing Monday to urge lawmakers to fight President Joe Biden’s plan to require most workers to get either vaccinated against COVID-19 or regularly tested for the coronavirus that causes it. The vast majority of people who attended the hearing in person criticized Biden’s plan, saying they fear it will infringe on personal freedom and cripple Utah’s economy. Sen. Curt Bramble said about 600 to 700 people attended the hearing in person, with another 200 who attended virtually. Last week, Republican Gov. Spencer Cox threatened to veto any legislation that blocks businesses from mandating employees to get the vaccines. He has said he opposes government mandating vaccines but supports businesses implementing their own mandates. Biden’s Sept. 9 announcement is expected to cover as many as 100 million Americans – private-sector employees as well as health care workers and federal contractors. Some mandates seem to have converted hesitant workers, but employers are still dealing with holdouts. The COVID-19 vaccines authorized for use in the U.S. were tested on tens of thousands of people and have proven to be both safe and effective at dramatically reducing the risk of serious disease and death.

Vermont

Vergennes: The state’s earliest known Black sheriff and police chief has been commemorated with a historical marker. The marker for Stephen Bates, who served as sheriff and police chief from 1879 until his death in 1907, was unveiled in Vergennes on Sunday at an event attended by at least 100 people, WCAX-TV reports. “Stephen Bates’ life and service represents immense perseverance overcoming enslavement to become a prominent member of the community in Vermont and dedicating his life to serving the people of Vergennes,” Gov. Phil Scott stated in a proclamation deeming Oct. 3, 2021, Sheriff Stephen Bates Day in the state. Bates was born in 1842, was enslaved in Virginia and gained his freedom through serving with Union soldiers during the Civil War, according to the governor’s proclamation. A team of community members and historians have been researching Bates’ life for the past year. “People started to join us from historical areas,” said Alicia Grangent of the Historical Marker Team. “Conversations about who to reach out to started to happen, and people just started to naturally gravitate towards this process.” Team members found and talked with some of Bates’ descendants, including great-grandchildren Larry and Nicholas Schuyler, who attended Sunday’s ceremony.

Virginia

Richmond: A medical glove manufacturing facility promising to employ nearly 2,500 people is coming to southwest Virginia, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Monday, calling the news the biggest job-creation announcement in the struggling region in a generation. Backed by significant federal spending, the project in Wythe County, 250 miles west of the state capital, is expected to create a number of jobs per capita equivalent to Amazon’s new headquarters in Arlington, according to the governor’s office. Northam called the project a big win for southwest Virginia and said the pandemic and associated supply chain problems had shown the need for more domestic production of personal protective equipment. Two companies, Blue Star Manufacturing and American Glove Innovations, have agreed to form a joint venture and invest $714 million to create both a nitrile butadiene rubber manufacturing facility and a nitrile glove production operation, according to a news release. The facilities are expected to occupy more than 200 acres at an industrial park near the junction of interstates 77 and 81. The project will increase the raw material production and manufacturing of gloves now primarily made in Asia, Northam’s office said.

Washington

Yakima: An invasive fungus that causes white-nose syndrome in bats continues to spread in the state, after the fungus was detected in late spring near Rimrock Lake. During spring and summer field work this year, scientists with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and U.S. Forest Service detected the fungus or disease in Yakima, Chelan and Mason counties, according to a news release. Scientists collected samples in the spring from a bat colony on Forest Service land near Rimrock Lake. Testing confirmed the presence of the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome, the Yakima Herald-Republic reports. The syndrome is harmful to hibernating bats but does not affect humans, livestock or other wildlife. The disease is caused by a fungus that attacks the skin of hibernating bats and damages their wings, making it difficult to fly. Infected bats often leave hibernation too early, which causes them to deplete their fat reserves and become dehydrated or starve to death. Washington is home to 15 bat species that are important predators of night-flying insects. These bats benefit humans by eating insects that can negatively affect forest health, commercial crops and human health.

West Virginia

Charleston: A popular riverfront festival is returning to the city next year after a decade­long absence. The Charleston Sternwheel Regatta will take place over the Fourth of July weekend next year, Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin said in a news release Friday night. The Regatta was held as an end-of-summer festival from 1971 to 2009. It ran for as long as 10 days and included fireworks, concerts, carnival rides and food vendors. Goodwin said people have asked her to bring the Regatta back since she took office in 2019. “Regatta means so much to so many,” she said. “Because of the overwhelming amount of feedback we received, it was a priority for us to bring back this famed Charleston event.” The statement said a full schedule of events will be announced in the coming months.

Wisconsin

Madison: State Department of Natural Resources officials on Monday dramatically scaled back the number of wolves hunters can kill during Wisconsin’s fall season in open defiance of its policy board, setting up another clash between liberal-leaning department leaders and conservative board members. Department biologists originally recommended setting the quota at 130 wolves, saying they were uncertain what effects the state’s spring hunt had on the wolf population. The policy board bumped the limit to 300 animals in August, prompting outrage from conservationists and wolf advocates, who have filed two lawsuits seeking to stop the hunt. The DNR announced in a news release Monday that it was unilaterally moving the quota back to 130 animals. Under treaties established in the 1800s, the state’s Chippewa tribes can claim up to half of the quota, but the Chippewa consider wolves sacred and won’t hunt them. The DNR said the tribes have claimed 56 animals, leaving state-licensed hunters 74. The DNR’s defiance left board member Greg Kazmierski flabbergasted. He said state law makes clear that the board directs and supervises the department. “They are not free to just do that,” Kazmierski said. “It’s in violation of the statute that establishes the board. They’ve gone rogue is what they’ve done.”

Wyoming

Yellowstone National Park: An autopsy has determined that a man whose body was found on the shore of a Yellowstone lake died of hypothermia, park officials said Wednesday. Mark O’Neill, 67, of Chimacum, Washington, had been on a four-night backcountry trip to Shoshone Lake with his brother, Kim Crumbo, 74, of Ogden, Utah. A relative reported them overdue Sept. 19. Searchers found O’Neill’s body Sept. 20 on the lake’s eastern shore. A search for Crumbo on foot and by boat will continue, weather permitting, for several days, park officials said in a statement. A vacant campsite was found on the lake’s south side. What happened remains under investigation, they said. The men were experienced boaters and former National Park Service employees, and Crumbo is a former Navy SEAL who served in Vietnam. Crumbo co-founded the conservation group Grand Canyon Wildlands Council, which later merged with another group to form Wild Arizona.

From USA TODAY Network and wire reports