News from around our 50 States

New York City has about 12 times as many people as Washington, and yet last year, D.C. saw more than half as many murders as its counterpart to the north, WUSA-TV reports. At one point in the new year, Washington was averaging almost one murder a day. As of Monday morning, the district has already seen 18 homicides in 2019 – an 80 percent jump from this same time last year, according to MPD data. In 2017, an MPD spokesperson says the department recovered 2,191 guns. That year the city saw 116 homicides. Last year, the number of recovered guns dropped to 1,928. The city murder rate jumped that same year to 160. Police are still studying data but believe the district sees fewer murders when more illegal guns are being confiscated.

Naples Zoo guests soon will be able to view one of the rarest animals on the planet. Until then, they can help give it a name. A baby bongo – a rare African forest-dwelling antelope – was born last week at the zoo. First-time mother Amara, 3, gave birth to the critically endangered Eastern bongo male calf that weighs about 40 pounds and stands 2 feet tall. Liz Harmon, director of animal programs, says the public can view the calf once it begins following its mother, which should be in a week or two. The zoo is asking the community to help name the new bongo, choosing from three names: Mosi, Swahili for first-born; Lozi, Swahili for almond, the bongos’ favorite browse; or Bakari, Swahili for one who will succeed. Everyone is invited to vote online through Feb. 6.

This city is at risk of becoming the most wasteful big city in America. It already wastes the greatest portion of its recyclable trash among any of the 20 biggest cities. In San Francisco, the top recycling city, 80 percent of the trash is reused. In Indianapolis, only 7 percent is recycled. The nation’s 14th-largest city is the biggest municipality without a curbside recycling program serving every household. Only two of the top 50 cities – Detroit and New Orleans – recycle slightly less than Indianapolis. Unlike Indy, however, those cities are notorious for their financial struggles. In Indianapolis, the situation has been a matter of policy. Instead of creating an incentive to recycle, the city’s trash hauler charges residents for the privilege.

Iowa native Ashton Kutcher did something Tuesday that most celebrities would find unthinkable: He gave out his phone number on Twitter. The number still has an Iowa area code, showing that he still maintains a very real connection to the eastern Iowa region where he was raised. Born in Cedar Rapids, Kutcher spent his high school years in the town of Homestead, which had a population of 148, according to the 2010 census. “I miss having a real connection w/ real people,” he said in the tweet asking for texts to his personal number. Only hours after he’d posted it, Kutcher removed the tweet and followed it up with another stating, “I will repost soon... sms is a fragile beast,” implying that the number of texts he received caused his messaging application or entire phone to crash.

Students pursuing civil engineering and engineering technology degrees can apply for scholarships being offered by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. The cabinet says it will award up to 30 new scholarships. The deadline is Friday. Information and applications are available online. In addition to tuition assistance, scholarship recipients will have a chance to work during the summers and are guaranteed employment after graduation. Students agree to work one year for the cabinet for each year of scholarship assistance. Scholarships in the bachelor’s programs range from $6,200 to $6,600 per semester. For an associate’s program in civil engineering technology, the scholarship is for $3,000 per semester. Recipients will be notified in April.

The University of Maine’s cooperative extension is looking to generate some buzz among the public about efforts to save bees. The extension is hosting a program called “Native Bees: Habitats, Threats, and Citizen Science” in South Paris on Feb. 13. The program will inform residents about the state’s native bees as well as the Maine Bumble Bee Atlas conservation project. University of Maine doctoral candidate Kalyn Bickerman-Martens will lead the program. Her work centers on the health of bumblebees and wild blueberry pollination in the state. Bumblebees are vitally important to the state’s food systems because of pollination. Registration in advance of the event is required via an online portal. The program is free.

Thrillist has released its “most underrated brewery in every state” list, naming Salisbury’s Evolution Craft Brewing Co. as the one to watch in Maryland, with Burley Oak Brewing Company in Berlin ranked as the best. The article says in a state full of craft beer with names like Flying Dog, Heavy Seas and DuClaw, breweries are clamoring for attention, and Thrillist feels Evo meets the mark to get more notice. “This little brewpub in Salisbury happens to brew beer as good or better than the big guys who operate on a much larger scale, all while feeling as though they operate lighter on their feet from a recipe standpoint,” the list says. Thrillist listed some of Evo’s well known brews like Lot No. 3 IPA, Lot No. 6 DIPA and the Rise Up imperial stout.

The state could save more than $5 million annually on incarceration costs if a federal ban on Pell Grants for prisoners were lifted, according to a new report. Ending the ban would reduce spending in state prisons by lowering recidivism rates and would boost workers and employers. If half of the Pell-eligible prison population in Minnesota accessed post-secondary education, the report estimates, the state could save $5.7 million annually. The Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality and the Vera Institute of Justice published the report last week. “Post-secondary education has the power to increase employment and earnings,” said Margaret diZerega, Vera project director. It can also be a “disrupter of mass incarceration.”

The House Corrections Committee has approved a bill to buy new uniforms for state prisoners that won’t have “M.D.O.C. Convict” written on the back. The uniforms would also be free of stripes. The change would cost more than $1 million, said Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Pelicia Hall, who is pushing for the new uniforms. Hall said there is a negative connotation to wearing a uniform with “convict” emblazoned across it. House Corrections Chairman Bill Kinkaide, R-Byhalia, said Mississippi is the only state in the nation that still uses the striped prisoner uniforms with the word “convict” on them. He said MDOC might able to get the uniforms’ cost reduced through Mississippi Prison Industries, which uses inmate labor to make products.

The state is struggling to provide affordable housing, attendees said at the 44th annual Economic Outlook Seminar, which stopped in the city Wednesday on its state tour. In Lolo, south of Missoula, renters spend on average 40 percent of their income on rent, the highest in the state. Bozeman, Missoula and Livingston are at the higher end, too. On the local level, Brett Doney of the Great Falls Development Corporation noted some modest good news: The wage gap between Great Falls and the rest of the country has fallen, while costs have held steady. But the tremendous gap that remains is in the 23 percent of Great Falls workers who make less than $12 an hour, he said. Nationwide that’s 11.6 percent; for Montana at large, it’s 18 percent.

The state’s 10 safest towns are in the north, with River Vale atop the list. The northern Bergen County town for the second straight year leads the National Council for Home Safety and Security list of the safest cities in the Garden State, based on crime rates, population count and department size. Rounding out the top five for 2019 are Warren Township, in Somerset County, the top 10’s southernmost municipality; Washington Township in Morris County; Ringwood in Passaic County; and Tenafly in Bergen County. River Vale Police Capt. Sean Scheidle, who takes over as police chief Friday, says a combination of proactive policing, isolating geography, a lack of major thruways and a cooperative community likely landed his town on top.

Holocaust survivor Walter Ziffer, a local scholar now in his 90s, will provide an abbreviated history of anti-Semitism in a free, public talk at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at UNC Asheville’s Highsmith Student Union, in The Grotto. Ziffer, born in 1927 in the Czech Republic, endured and survived life in seven different Nazi slave-labor concentration camps as a teenager. His remembrance and reflections on that experience will inform his talk. Ziffer has authored several books about his experiences during the Holocaust, and about Judaism and early Christianity. Ziffer has taught at the University of Maine, UNC Asheville and Mars Hill University, as well as at theological seminaries in Europe and the U.S. For more information, contact events@unca.edu.

Former U.S. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp has joined the board of the McCain Institute. The Washington, D.C., institute is part of Arizona State University and is named for the late U.S. Sen. John McCain. The nonpartisan institute champions character-driven leadership and civic engagement. One of the areas on which it works is human trafficking, a focus for the North Dakota Democrat who lost her Senate seat to then-U.S. Rep. Kevin Cramer in November in a race that helped the GOP expand its control of the Senate. Since then she has joined CNBC as a political commentator and been named one of four Visiting Fellows by the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School.

Donut aficionados will soon be able to get a behind-the-scenes look at how the sweets are made while earning four stamps on the Butler County Donut Trail. Cincy Brew Bus is partnering with the Butler County Visitors Bureau to offer a 3 1/2-hour tour of four donut shops – two in West Chester and one each in Fairfield and Hamilton – on the 12-stop trail. Beginning Feb. 15, the $40 tours will be offered on Friday and Sunday mornings, stopping at Jupiter Coffee and Donuts in Fairfield; Stan the Donut Man and Holtman’s Donuts in West Chester Township; and Kelly’s Bakery in Hamilton. Since the donut trail began three years ago, 17,400 people from all 50 states and 21 countries have completed the trail by getting stamps from each stop on their passport.

Police say a man launched into Mr. Miyagi’s famous crane kick pose before stealing a purse at a gas station. Swansea police posted photos from surveillance video on Facebook showing the man striking the pose from the 1984 film “The Karate Kid.” Police say the man took the purse from a vehicle at a gas station Saturday. The photos show him holding the one-legged stance that Mr. Miyagi taught Daniel LaRusso in the movie. Police say the pose appears to be the man’s “unique” ritual. Police said in a Tuesday post that the man had been identified, and warrants were forthcoming. News outlets reported the man’s name and charges weren’t available Wednesday morning.

The city has launched Buy 901, a publicly searchable database that will allow Memphians to be more inclusive in their searches for a plumber, florist or locksmith. “Instead of just having this information for ourselves, we thought: Why not share it with all Memphians?” Mayor Jim Strickland said Monday, announcing the new database in his State of the City address. He characterized the database as a way to “build equity in our economy and attack poverty.” The database launched with Strickland’s announcement this week and includes roughly 575 locally owned and certified minority- and women-owned businesses, as well as small businesses, said Memphis Business Diversity and Compliance Director Joann Massey, above.

Officials say more than 30,000 people have called a help line aimed at connecting people with addiction and mental health issues to resources for treatment. First Choice Services and the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources started the program in 2015 to offer immediate help to those in need. First Choice Services spokeswoman Shelia Moran told The Journal that callers usually get into treatment within 24 hours of seeking help. She said location data on 10,000 calls show a majority of those come from Kanawha, Cabell and Berkeley counties. Moran said the agencies plan to focus on outreach in 2019, as many people experiencing crisis aren’t aware of the 24-hour call and text line, 1-844-HELP4WV. Help also is available online.

The deep freeze will have passed, and the annual City Birthday Party sponsored by the Milwaukee Press Club will be held as planned Thursday. The 173rd annual event runs from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at The Grain Exchange. “The celebration will highlight Milwaukee’s history and celebrate its renaissance that is making our city a destination spot for many,” the Press Club announcement of the event says. “Earlier this year, Milwaukee was profiled in the pages of Vogue magazine, where writer Christina Perez called our city an ‘unexpected gem.’ ” Hundreds are expected to attend the event, which will recognize “the faces behind the city’s biggest cover stories.” Tickets are available at the door for $40.