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50 States

Snorkel owl rescue, mashed potato mystery, giant hammer: News from around our 50 states

Farmer looks for successor at rare ramp venture in West Virginia, governor takes ‘American Ninja Warrior’ challenge in Oklahoma, and more
  • Montgomery
    How much untreated sewage gets dumped in the state’s Black Belt? That’s the question a team of students and professors at the University of Alabama is trying to determine. In many parts of the Black Belt, homeowners are resorting to “straight pipe” systems to dispose of wastewater and sewage, rather than sewers or septic tanks. In those instances, untreated wastewater and sewage are simply flushed out of a plain PVC pipe from the house into the woods, or even the back yard, raising concerns about tropical diseases like hookworm and other public health issues. Al.com reports University of Alabama graduate students and professors, backed by a federal grant, are joining efforts to determine just how widespread these practices are and what can be done about them.
  • Anchorage
    Scientists who study the northern Bering Sea say they’re seeing changed ocean conditions that were projected by climate models – but not until 2050. The rapid changes are leading researchers to wonder if ecosystems near the Bering Strait are undergoing a transformation. The Bering Sea saw record-low sea ice last winter. Oceanographer Phyllis Stabeno says that it’s too early to attribute the changes to climate change and that she’d expected a bounce-back this winter. Instead, warm February winds cleared most of the Bering Sea of ice. University of Alaska Fairbanks physical oceanographer Seth Danielson says the changes are triggering biological effects. Commercially valuable fish such as walleye pollock and Pacific cod moved farther north last year. Seabird experts say a seabird die-off that occurred may be tied to changing ocean conditions.
  • Phoenix
    State regulators want to adopt a rule to prohibit hunting contests that give prizes for killing the most predatory and fur-bearing animals or for killing the largest variety of those animals. The Arizona Game and Fish Commission’s proposal says the ban would regulate hunting activities consistently with the commission’s guiding principles “to preserve wildlife for the beneficial uses of the public.” The rule proposal also says wildlife hunting contests can be controversial and stir public outrage with “the potential to threaten hunting as a legitimate wildlife management function.” The commission’s announcement said the proposal is scheduled to be considered during a June 21 meeting in Phoenix. If the rule were approved, it would be reviewed by the Governor’s Regulatory Review Council.
  • Fayetteville
    A new policy rule at the University of Arkansas says students who have other people complete their course work will be suspended for a semester and fail that course. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports that the university’s faculty senate voted last week to include “contract cheating” in its list of academic integrity violations. “Contract cheating” is defined as academic deceit in which students get work done on their behalf and then turn it in for personal academic credit. It also applies to UA students found to be providing work to others. Students caught cheating will be suspended for a semester and receive a failing course grade. University data shows that students were found guilty in 310 of 455 alleged cases of academic dishonesty from May 2017 to May 2018.
  • Santa Rosa
    Northern California authorities say part of a giant hammer stolen last year has been returned. The Press Democrat in Santa Rosa reports a local attorney told Healdsburg police Thursday that someone had left the hammerhead portion on Sonoma County property owned by a client. Santa Rosa attorney Izaak Schwaiger said his client wished to remain anonymous but asked him to “mediate the artwork’s return.” The hammerhead weighs more than 200 pounds and is 6 feet tall. It disappeared in October. Artist Doug Unkrey (above) says the head needs refurbishing. He also needs the return of the 21-foot-long redwood handle or to make a new one. The entire piece weighed about 800 pounds. The artwork is valued at $15,000.
  • Denver
    The state became the 15th in the nation Friday to adopt a “red flag” gun law allowing firearms to be taken from people who pose a danger, securing a deeply emotional victory for an Aurora shooting victim’s father. Democratic Gov. Jared Polis signed the bill, a top priority of his first term. It marked a painfully personal victory for first-term Democratic Rep. Tom Sullivan (above), whose son, Alex, was gunned down in the 2012 Aurora theater massacre that killed 12 people and wounded 70 others. “Three hundred and fifty one Fridays since Alex was murdered,” he said, wearing his son’s leather bomber jacket at the signing ceremony for the bill he sponsored. Alex Sullivan was celebrating his 27th birthday at the theater. Tom Sullivan has devoted his life since Aurora to counseling survivors of other mass shootings and campaigning for gun control.
  • New Haven
    Scientists in the state are launching a new effort to track and monitor ticks. The Hartford Courant reports the effort by the state Agricultural Experiment Station involves trapping ticks for testing at 40 locations in all eight counties. The federal Centers for Disease Control is providing $96,000 for the surveillance effort. Theodore Andreadis, the New Haven-based station’s director, says the initiative will help authorities get a better handle on existing and emerging tick-borne illnesses. He says this year’s tick season is expected to be bad because the winter wasn’t severe enough to knock down the population. Ticks are the primary transmitter of Lyme disease, which was named for the Connecticut town of Lyme. The illness continues to be the most prevalent tick-borne disease in the state, but ticks can also transmit other illnesses.
  • Dover
    The new state auditor says she has filled 12 positions since the first of the year after walking into an office with a 50% vacancy rate. The Delaware State News reports auditor Kathleen McGuiness says that “mandates were going unfilled” because of a lack of staff. The Democrat spoke Thursday at Delaware’s Old Statehouse. McGuiness says in her report that it’s unacceptable that the auditor’s office has 33% fewer authorized positions than it did in 2008 and that its budget is less than it was 11 years ago. She says she’s requesting additional resources from the General Assembly. Former Auditor Tom Wagner, a Republican, didn’t seek re-election last year. McGuiness defeated Republican James Spadola in the November election.
  • Washington

    A second live naked mole rat webcam has been added at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, WUSA-TV reports. The cameras broadcast the blind, underground-dwelling rodents and their day-to-day activities, according to the National Zoo. The behind-the-scenes look at the naked mole rat colony shows tunnels that link the chambers – one of the busiest spots in their living quarters. The first live webcam was installed in 2018 as part of the new naked mole rat exhibit. According to the National Zoo, more than 125,000 visitors have watched the cam since it was launched. Viewers still have access to the first webcam. The naked mole rat webcams are broadcast live at the colony 24 hours per day.

  • Alachua
    A large, flightless bird native to Australia and New Guinea attacked and killed its owner when the man fell on his farm, authorities say. The Alachua County Fire Rescue Department told the Gainesville Sun that a cassowary killed the man Friday on the property near Gainesville, likely using its long claws. The victim was apparently breeding the birds, state wildlife officials said. “My understanding is that the gentleman was in the vicinity of the bird and at some point fell. When he fell, he was attacked,” Deputy Chief Jeff Taylor told the newspaper. The county sheriff’s office identified the victim as Marvin Hajos, 75, and said a death investigation has been opened. Cassowaries are similar to emus, stand up to 6 feet tall and weigh up to 130 pounds, with black body feathers and distinctive, bright blue heads and necks.
  • Macon

    Some middle Georgia residents are seeing dollar signs as HBO films a new TV series in the city. WMAZ-TV reports production crews are preparing an area of downtown Macon to serve as a backdrop for “Watchmen,” a show based on the acclaimed DC Comics series from 1986. The production means $150 a day for downtown resident Nick Tuz. He says he signed a contract with the production team to be paid for the inconvenience of filming near his apartment. Macon-Bibb County spokesman Chris Floore says the “Watchmen” team is paying more than $17,000 to film in Macon, and that doesn’t include payouts to affected businesses and residents such as Tuz. He says movie and TV productions have paid the county more than $165,000 in the past seven years.

  • Hilo
    A language professor has given a Hawaiian name – Powehi – to the black hole depicted in an image produced in a landmark experiment. University of Hawaii-Hilo Hawaiian Professor Larry Kimura named the cosmic object, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports. The world’s first image of a black hole revealed Wednesday was created using data from eight radio telescopes around the world. Powehi means “the adorned fathomless dark creation” or “embellished dark source of unending creation” and comes from the Kumulipo, an 18th-century Hawaiian creation chant. “Po” is a profound dark source of unending creation, while “wehi,” honored with embellishments, is one of the chant’s descriptions of po, the newspaper reports. A Hawaiian name was justified because the project included two Hawaii telescopes, astronomers say.
  • Payette
    A U.S. post office in a small western Idaho town has been named after National Baseball Hall of Fame slugger Harmon Killebrew. Republican Gov. Brad Little and former Republican U.S. Rep. Raul Labrador took part in the naming ceremony Friday in Payette, about 60 miles northwest of Boise. Killebrew was born there in 1936. He played 14 seasons with the Minnesota Twins and seven before that with the Washington Senators. He hit 573 home runs, led the American League in home runs six times and played on 11 All-Star teams. Shortly after Killebrew’s death in 2011 at age 74, Labrador introduced a bill in Congress to rename the post office. It was signed into law in December.
  • Chicago
    Democratic lawmakers want to expand a statewide embargo on private prisons to include detention centers with federal contracts to hold immigrants facing deportation. The proposed measure comes in response to a vote by community leaders approving a plan for a privately run immigration detention center in the village of Dwight, about 70 miles southwest of Chicago. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is accepting bids for contracts to run detention facilities that can hold 1,000 immigrants within 80 miles of Chicago. The Chicago Tribune reports the Illinois House passed the proposal Wednesday. Bill co-sponsor Celina Villanueva says the measure aims to stop the Dwight plan but also to prevent similar facilities from being built elsewhere in Illinois.
  • Indianapolis

    Marion County is launching a needle exchange program that will enlist a vehicle the size of a small school bus to combat the city’s soaring hepatitis C rate by distributing clean syringes and collecting used ones. The vehicle unveiled last week by the county’s health department will begin visiting two east side Indianapolis neighborhoods this week. But it could eventually make stops in other neighborhoods, based on recommendations by police and health officials. Marion County’s hepatitis C cases soared 1,000% between 2013 and 2017, mostly due to intravenous drug use tied to the opioid epidemic. Public health director Dr. Virginia Caine says needle exchanges aim to reduce needle-sharing that can spread infectious diseases. Marion County will become Indiana’s ninth county with a needle exchange.

  • Council Bluffs
    This western Iowa city has received a Tree City USA Award, presented by the Arbor Day Foundation and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources on April 3. To qualify, communities must meet several established standards. They must have a tree ordinance, qualified leadership running the municipal tree program, a minimum of $2 per capita spent on trees annually and a celebration to mark Arbor Day, a holiday first observed in 1872, which celebrates the importance of trees. State forester Jeff Goerndt says Council Bluffs has set an example for other Iowa communities and demonstrated “the great value of trees in providing multiple benefits for future generations.”
  • Kansas City
    The state has finally abandoned a Prohibition-era rule that restricted certain stores to sell beer only with up to 3.2% alcohol content, but the stronger beer that’s now allowed doesn’t contain much more alcohol. Kansas now allows groceries and convenience stores to stock beer with up to 6% alcohol by volume. Beer drinkers are unlikely to notice a big difference because the outdated law measured alcohol by weight, but alcohol is now measured by volume, the Kansas City Star reports. Chantel Fletchall, who handles brand registration for the Kansas Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, says a 3.2% beer measured by weight contains as much alcohol as a 4% beer measured by volume. For a 12-ounce can of light beer that wouldn’t have been permitted under the old law, it might contain just seven to 14 more drops of alcohol than the 3.2 variety.
  • Louisville
    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved the state’s plan to meet federal air pollutant and visibility requirements around Mammoth Cave National Park. EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler visited Kentucky on Friday to announce the approval of the state’s regional haze plan. States develop plans in order to comply with a portion of the Clean Air Act that requires states to work toward reducing air pollution problems at national parks and wilderness areas. The retirement of coal-fired power plants in recent years and the installation of pollution scrubbers at other coal plants in Kentucky has reduced haze-causing emissions. Kentucky officials say emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide from Kentucky power plants are down 78% and 40% over the past 10 years.
  • New Orleans
    The New Orleans African American Museum has reopened after being closed for six years. The museum, a showplace of art and historical artifacts relating to the city’s African American heritage, first opened in 2000 and closed in 2013 for financial reasons. It reopened its doors Thursday. News outlets report the grand opening included the debut of the exhibition “Everywhere We Are/Everywhere We Go: Black Space and Geographies.” It will run through the end of 2019 and was produced in cooperation with Tulane University’s Amistad Research Center. Focusing on the history of Treme (above), a neighborhood established by free people of color in the late 18th century, the exhibition features photos of Mardi Gras Indians, musicians like Louis Armstrong and the Treme neighborhood.
  • Augusta
    The first female governor in the history of the state has signed a bill designed to improve pay equality. Democratic Gov. Janet Mills (above left) signed the legislation Friday afternoon that proponents say will help shrink the wage gap because it discourages employers from basing wages on an employee’s salary history. Lawmakers approved the bill April 2, the symbolic National Equal Pay Day. Democratic Sen. Cathy Breen of Falmouth was the lead sponsor of the bill. The National Partnership for Women & Families has estimated that female full-time workers in Maine were paid 82 cents on the dollar compared to men. A proposal to amend the Maine Constitution to outlaw discrimination on the basis of gender is also advancing in the Maine Legislature.
  • Baltimore
    Motorists using two well-traveled bridges in the state soon won’t be able to pay their way with coins or bills. Transportation officials announced Thursday that tolls on the Francis Scott Key (above) and Thomas J. Hatem Memorial bridges will go cashless this year. Starting in October, motorists will pay by E-ZPass or by “video tolling,” in which a photo is automatically taken of a car’s license plate, and officials send a bill to the registered owner’s address. Pete Rahn, chairman of the Maryland Department of Transportation, says moving to cashless tolls decreases congestion, among other benefits. The transportation department says 93% of Hatem Bridge customers and some 80% of Francis Scott Key motorists use E-Z Pass already. The bridges are the first Maryland spans to go cashless.
  • Cambridge
    Parents whose children fatally overdosed on opioids are demanding Harvard University remove the name of a family whose company makes the powerful painkiller OxyContin from a building that housed one of its art museums. About two dozen parents protested Friday outside the building that was home to the Arthur M. Sackler Museum – many of them carrying poster-sized photos of their children. Wendy Werbiskis, whose son Daniel died from an overdose in 2017, likened Harvard’s decision to accept donations from the Sackler family to “blood money.” Werbiskis, 56, said her son was a plumber and became addicted to OxyContin when he was going through a difficult phase of his life and someone suggested it could help him feel better. She said he didn’t realize how addictive the drug was.
  • Ann Arbor
    The University of Michigan Museum of Natural History is reopening to the public in its new building. The Ann Arbor school says new exhibits went on display to the public starting Sunday at the museum, which combines natural history with scientific research. The museum, which is part of the university’s College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, closed in December 2017. It moved from its previous home in the Ruthven Building to its current location in the new $261 million Biological Sciences Building. Highlights include a realistic sculptural reconstruction of Australopithecus sediba, an extinct relative of humans, in the museum’s “Evolution: Life Through Time” gallery. Michael Cherney, the museum’s on-staff paleontologist, says visitors will be “staring into the eyes of something that’s very human-like.”
  • St. Cloud

    A high school swimming coach is working to introduce the sport to more students of color and students with disabilities. Apollo High School coach Alex Badger is running a spring camp for students in grades 3-8 that’s intended to encourage those who might not have been involved in swimming to try the sport. The camp grew from 33 students last year to 57 this spring. The team also recently welcomed its first Muslim students. Badger says the program provides after-school transportation and helps cover costs to ensure it’s accessible to all students. She also aims to improve safety by ensuring more students learn to swim. Badger developed the camp two years after a 6-year-old boy with autism drowned in the Mississippi River in 2015.

  • Jackson

    Residents of the Belhaven neighborhood are confused by the bowls of mashed potatoes they’re finding on their cars, porches and mailboxes. Resident Jordan Lewis describes the neighborhood as a quirky one, with residents decorating road signs and putting Christmas trees in potholes. “So we don’t know if someone is just playing a prank or if someone just had a lot of leftovers,” Lewis says. But Sebastian Bjernegard says some residents fear there’s a more sinister message behind the potatoes. “Some people were thinking maybe the mashed potatoes were poisoned to kill animals,” he says, noting he almost stepped into a bowl of potatoes Tuesday. It’s unclear if anyone has eaten the potatoes, and news outlets report residents haven’t alerted law enforcement. Resident Michaela Lin says some of the potato-finders have connections to a local private Christian university, which may be a clue.

  • Springfield

    A barred owl caught a lucky break when a snorkeler banded with wildlife officials to rescue the bird from a fishing line tangled in trees above the James River. Bill Hulsebus was visiting the Springfield Conservation Nature Center last week when he came across the injured owl, dangling by its right wing more than 20 feet above the river. Hulsebus says conservation officials had fastened a tree trimmer to a long pole and were considering anchoring someone in a canoe to get closer to the bird when a snorkeler nearby realized he could help. “Out of nowhere, Jonathan Knapp shows up with a wetsuit,” Hulsebus says. Knapp waded into the cold river and used the pole to cut the line, freeing the owl on his second try. “The owl miraculously landed right in his hand,” Hulsebus says. Volunteers took the owl to Dickerson Park Zoo’s Raptor Rehabilitation Center, where it was given a feather transplant to repair its damaged wing.

  • Helena

    The head of the Professional Bull Riders Association thinks state lawmakers really stepped in it when they rejected a measure to recognize the fourth Saturday in July as the “National Day of the Cowboy.” Professional Bull Riders Association CEO Sean Gleason (above) says he “has a burr in his saddle” after the state House vote, and he considered moving this past weekend’s PBR event in Billings next year. Gleason said in a Facebook post that he reconsidered because he couldn’t abandon the fans “over the small-minded act of short-sighted politicians.” The House rejected the resolution April 4 after some legislators wanted to add “cowgirl” because the resolution wasn’t inclusive enough. Montana would have been the 15th state to participate in observing the National Day of the Cowboy.

  • Omaha
    The state Republican Party says a Jesuit college in Omaha should rescind its invitation asking former U.S. Sen. Bob Kerrey to speak at its commencement, citing his position on abortion. The state party’s executive director, Ryan Hamilton, released a statement Thursday saying that Creighton University should find a different commencement speaker and “take a stand for their pro-life values.” Hamilton says Kerrey voted against banning late-term abortions while in the Senate. Kerrey, who also formerly served as governor, says he won’t speak at the May 18 commencement ceremonies if his presence will be a distraction. He says he supports Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. He says it doesn’t make him “pro-abortion” but rather “pro-civil rights.” The university declined to comment.
  • Carson City
    A church has donated $10,000 to local high school teachers and support staff in $50 increments. The Nevada Appeal reports Pastor Chris White from Fountain Foursquare Church presented the envelopes containing $50 each this week at a faculty meeting in the Carson City High School library. Every teacher, custodian, kitchen worker, counselor and faculty member received the money. White says his church makes some sort of donation every year to a school in the area. He says church officials trust each recipient to use their best judgment “on how to pay that forward” to benefit a student or someone in need or to accept it as a gift for themselves. A note in each envelope explains the only stipulation is that in return, they tell the church the story behind their choice.
  • Hooksett
    The New Hampshire Food Bank is starting its annual “Nothing Campaign,” an initiative aimed at raising awareness and funds in an effort to end hunger. People can buy the cans of “nothing” for $5 each at participating supermarkets. Each can bought provides 10 meals and can be returned with donations. Republican Gov. Chris Sununu and Citizens Bank President Joe Carelli had said they planned to buy the first cans Friday at a supermarket in Hooksett. The food bank says it distributed more than 14 million pounds of food last year.
  • Trenton
    Gov. Phil Murphy on Friday signed legislation making the state the seventh to enact a law permitting terminally ill patients to end their lives. Murphy, a Democrat, signed the Medical Aid in Dying for the Terminally Ill Act in private. His office would not answer why the signing was not public. The law goes into effect in August. He earlier indicated he would support the bill, but in a personal statement, Murphy – a lifelong Catholic – revealed that he wrestled with whether to sign the legislation. The state’s Catholic Conference testified against the measure. “I have concluded that, while my faith may lead me to a particular decision for myself, as a public official I cannot deny this alternative to those who may reach a different conclusion,” Murphy wrote, saying he landed on “the decision that best respects the freedom and humanity of all New Jersey residents.”
  • Los Alamos
    Officials at one of the nation’s top nuclear weapons laboratories say a special indoor facility for shipping radioactive waste is back in operation after five years. Los Alamos National Laboratory says the first shipment was loaded up and sent off last week to the government’s nuclear waste repository in southern New Mexico. Shipments from the facility stopped in 2014 following questions about its ability to withstand a large earthquake event. The lab then developed a new strategy for operations to accommodate concerns. As plutonium manufacturing ramps up at the lab, so will the amount of waste generated, and officials say successful operations at the loading facility will be crucial. The waste includes gloves, booties, tools and debris contaminated with plutonium and other radioactive elements.
  • New York
    Many job-seekers would no longer face tests for marijuana use under legislation that New York City is likely to enact, taking a novel step as lawmakers and employers around the U.S. grapple with workplace policies about pot. The Democrat-led City Council passed a measure Tuesday that would ban pre-employment testing for the drug, with certain exceptions. Supporters see the measure, which if enacted may be the first of its breadth, as knocking down a barrier that blocks people from jobs because of private behavior, not professional ability. “If you ingest weed in whatever manner a month ago, I’m not sure how that prevents you from doing your job now,” Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, a Democrat who sponsored the proposal, told the council.
  • Goldsboro
    All of the roads in the state that were closed by Hurricane Florence are now open. It took seven months after the storm’s historic rains and flooding before the last of the 2,500 road closure sites was back open to traffic. The Department of Transportation says the final stretch – a two-lane road in Wayne County – reopened Friday. Portions of Interstates 40 and 95 were closed in September due to rising waters, upsetting East Coast traffic and contributing to no secure way in and out of Wilmington. The interstates were reopened fully more than a week after Florence reached landfall. DOT says permanent repairs continue on reopened roadways. Permanent replacement bridges on U.S. Highway 421 at the New Hanover-Pender county line should be open to traffic by next spring.
  • Bismarck

    The Legislature has handed Gov. Doug Burgum his first veto setback since taking office. The House voted 89-3 on Friday to override the first-term Republican governor’s veto of a bill that he has called “legislative overreach.” Senators voted unanimously to override Burgum’s veto Thursday of the bill that defines the authority of a group of legislators known as the budget section. Burgum says spending authority has been improperly delegated to the group, which consists of 42 of the Legislature’s 141 members who meet between sessions. A similar fight last session ended up in the state Supreme Court, which agreed the Legislature had ceded too much power to the budget section. Burgum’s office did not immediately respond Friday to a request for comment.

  • Cleveland
    The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame thinks a proposed expansion would be music to the ears of patrons of the museum and a nearby science center. The rock museum on the edge of Lake Erie is seeking a renewable lease on an acre of city-owned land that separates the museum from the Great Lakes Science Center. The Plain Dealer reports the museum would use the land for a roughly 50,000-square-foot expansion that could include room for exhibits, special events, education, object conservation and research. The plan also proposes a glass-enclosed connection along the waterfront promenade to link the Rock Hall to the Science Center. Rock Hall visitors parking in the Science Center’s garage in winter must now brave a chilly walk between the two facilities.
  • Oklahoma City
    Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt (above left) has taken a shot at the “American Ninja Warrior” obstacle course outside the state Capitol. Organizers of the reality television show that features high-level athletes racing through grueling obstacles say the 47-year-old ex-CEO is the first governor to give the course a try. Stitt bloodied his elbow completing a rope swing to a landing pad after jumping across a pool of water. A spokeswoman says he finished two of the three obstacles. Filming for the show was happening Friday and Saturday for the NBC program’s 11th season. The series qualified for an Oklahoma program that offers a cash rebate of 35% for qualifying production expenditures.
  • Salem
    Gov. Kate Brown (above right) has released her plan to pay down the state’s $26 billion pension debt. The governor said Friday that she wants to raise $3.3 billion over the next 16 years by taking money from other streams of revenue. She’s also asking teachers to contribute a portion of their pay to the state’s pension fund. Teachers would pay between 1.5% and 3% of their salary depending when they were hired. The Oregon Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, said the plan amounts to a salary cut for educators. Teachers are planning a walkout May 8 to protest a lack of school funding.
  • Philadelphia
    The handwritten notification of President Abraham Lincoln’s death is being offered for sale by a Philadelphia documents dealer. Nathan Raab, president of the Raab Collection, says the telegram was thought to be lost and calls it “truly one of our great finds.” It was written inside the home where Lincoln was rushed after being shot at Ford’s Theater on April 14, 1865. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and Thomas Eckert, the chief telegraph officer, stood watch over Lincoln, who was pronounced dead April 15. The telegram reads: “Abraham Lincoln died this morning at 22 minutes after seven.” Stanton dictated the telegram to Eckert, who gave it to a runner to take to War Department telegraphers. The piece had been in the collection of a Civil War general’s family for generations and is valued at $500,000.
  • Providence
    Municipalities in the state have been awarded nearly $25 million in federal funding to help revitalize local neighborhoods and support economic development and affordable housing programs. U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., says the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded community grants that will help communities address pressing priorities and capital improvement projects. Cranston, East Providence, Pawtucket, Providence, Warwick and Woonsocket each received awards. The state also received funding. Reed says he’s working to protect funding for the Community Development Block Grant, Home Investment Partnership, Emergency Shelter Grant, and Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS programs, which the Trump administration has proposed cutting.
  • Columbia
    Federal officials say they oversaw a test last week of a jamming technology some hope will help combat the threat posed by inmates with smuggled cellphones. Department of Justice officials say the test took place over the course of five days at a maximum-security prison in the state. Assistant Attorney General Beth Williams says it’s the first time federal officials have collaborated with officials at a state prison for such a test. The test marks progress on the state-level quest to stamp out cellphones, which officials have long said represent the top security threat within their institutions. Jamming technology was tested last year at a federal prison, but a decades-old law says state or local agencies don’t have the authority to jam the public airwaves.
  • Sioux Falls

    A 94-year-old World War II veteran who’s legally blind is not one to back away from a challenge. Navy veteran Warren Heyer, of Sioux Falls, recently went downhill skiing at a special winter sports clinic. Heyer was among about 400 veterans with disabilities who participated in the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic in Colorado on April 2. Heyer says cruising down Snowmass Mountain in a guided sled-type vehicle was “a little scary but a lot of fun.” Heyer had a similar experience at the Terry Peak ski resort in the Northern Black Hills of South Dakota, but he wanted to take it to the next level. Heyer’s next challenge will be competing at the National Veterans Golden Age Games in Alaska in June.

  • Memphis

    A coyote’s venture into the city’s downtown took an unexpected turn when the creature became stuck inside a wall in the Memphis Convention Center. An officer with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency rescued the trapped coyote from the convention center after being alerted by construction workers, according to the agency’s Facebook account. The wildlife agency surmised that the coyote had found its way into the center the evening before. After freeing the animal from the walls, agency officer Ray McMillen released the coyote back into the wild.

  • San Antonio
    Hundreds of airmen will line the main entrance of an Air Force base this week to salute as the family of the last of the 80 Doolittle Tokyo Raiders arrives for his memorial service. Retired Lt. Col. Richard “Dick” Cole died Tuesday in San Antonio at the age of 103. The Air Force on Friday released details for a memorial being held Thursday at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph. The memorial is being held on the 77th anniversary of the Doolittle Raid during World War II. On April 18, 1942, Cole was mission commander Jimmy Doolittle’s co-pilot in the U.S. attack on Japan less than five months after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. Cole, an Ohio native, will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
  • Provo
    Several hundred students at Mormon-owned Brigham Young University chanted, “If God forgives me, why can’t you?” during a protest Friday aimed at pushing college officials to be more compassionate with punishments for violators of rules banning things that are commonplace at other colleges – including drinking, premarital sex, beards and piercings. The demonstration was part of an informal campaign that started with an Instagram account created earlier this year by a former student who had a negative experience with the college’s honor code office. That led to a flood of stories from other students claiming they had negative experiences over transgressions and punishments. People held signs such as “Stop playing God” and “Practice compassion” on the campus in Provo, south of Salt Lake City.
  • Underhill
    A local girl isn’t happy that her disabled pet chicken was joked about on “Saturday Night Live.” The chicken, named Granite Heart, is learning to walk with a custom wheelchair. On a recent “SNL” episode, the television show’s “Weekend Update” co-host Colin Jost said she should “just eat the chicken.” Ten-year-old Alora Wood of Underhill tells NECN-TV that she knows the segment was meant to be a joke but asks what the reaction would’ve been if the animal in question were a dog. The chicken was born with a deformed foot. The girl says: “Any creature, no matter how big, no matter how small, they deserve to have a perfect life.”
  • Blacksburg
    Virginia Tech has named its second-oldest building for an enslaved family whose history was in danger of being forgotten. The Roanoke Times reports a three-room, white home near the Duck Pond is now named the Fraction Family House. Virginia Tech’s Board of Visitors voted unanimously on the name this month. Historians believe the Fractions had the most family members who lived at the Smithfield, Solitude and Whitethorne plantations on land that’s now part of Virginia Tech’s campus, as well as the Hethwood area of Blacksburg. Kerri Moseley-Hobbs is a descendant of Thomas Fraction, who was enslaved at Solitude and later enlisted with the Union Army during the Civil War. She says it’s right that the building was named for her ancestors to commemorate all African Americans who worked the land.
  • Olympia
    A bill establishing a network of regional school safety centers and a threat assessment program has cleared its second floor vote in the Legislature, with lawmakers citing recent mass shootings at U.S. schools as motivation. Set up in each of the state’s nine educational service districts, the centers would offer assistance and training to individual school districts, including suicide prevention and other behavioral health training, and help establish plans to identify and assist distressed students. The state Senate unanimously approved the measure Friday after amending it on the floor. It now returns to the state House for a final vote. Sen. Steve O’Ban (above left), a University Place Republican, said the bill had been motivated in part by the shooting in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17 people.
  • Richwood
    Glen Facemire, owner of what may be the world’s only ramp farm and the state’s top promoter, educator and product developer of the aromatic early spring herb, is planning to hang up his ramp hoe, and he’s looking for a worthy successor, the Charleston Gazette-Mail reports. “I will be passing my ramp farm business on to someone else, hopefully a person or a couple who really have their hearts in it,” says Facemire, now in his mid-70s. Facemire’s G-N Ramp Farm, a 71-acre patch of woodland that clings to a hillside overlooking the South Fork of Cherry River on the edge of Richwood, took shape after he retired from his job as a U.S. Postal Service letter carrier in Charleston. When he was young, the ramp wasn’t considered a gourmet wild food item, as it is now, Facemire says: “It was just food.”
  • Madison
    U.S. lawmakers from the state have introduced a bill that seeks to elevate the status of two trails, thereby providing access to more funding to expand and maintain the routes. Wisconsin Public Radio reports that the legislation would designate the Ice Age and North Country national scenic trails as units of the National Park Service. Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Republican Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner are sponsoring the bill. The trails are administered by the National Park Service in cooperation with other local, state and federal partners. But Baldwin says they don’t have full trail status. Supporters say the bill would allow the group to access funding that’s only available to trails designated units of the National Park Service.
  • Cheyenne
    SkyWest Airlines has won the initial bidding for a long-term state contract to provide commercial air service to as many as four cities in the state. The Wyoming Department of Transportation announced Friday that the airline and the state will now negotiate details of the contract and service agreement, under which the proposed service would be branded United Express and operated by SkyWest. With fears of losing air service to several cities, the Legislature last year created a program whereby the state would offer minimum revenue guarantees for a capacity purchase agreement with an airline and appropriated $15 million for the effort. Airlines were asked for bids, and a committee decided SkyWest offered the best plan to provide air service to Gillette, Riverton, Rock Springs and Sheridan.