Dillinger artifacts, backwoods castration, back bay flooding: News from around our 50 states

Alabama

Auburn: Auburn University plans to hold a town hall on sexual assault following a trio of recent reported cases that prompted a protest by dozens of students and advocates. Representatives from campus security, student affairs, the Auburn Police Division and other offices will be on hand for the event, set for Wednesday, the Opelika-Auburn News reports. “The creation and maintenance of a safe environment for our students will always be the highest priority for Auburn,” the university said in a statement Friday. “The three cases reported this week – one in a residence hall, one on a campus sidewalk and one in a fraternity house – have only intensified our commitment. Auburn prohibits sexual harassment and power-based personal violence.” The reports led to a protest at Toomer’s Corner last Tuesday that drew more than 100 Auburn students and alumni to criticize the assaults and call for more accountability and action by the school. Demonstrators also sought the name of the fraternity that allegedly was involved. A release from campus security said a student told police she was raped Friday night at an unnamed fraternity house. A female student also reported being raped at a campus residence by an acquaintance, and a student said she was fondled by a stranger while walking on campus.

Alaska

Juneau: A National Park Service grant to the state’s chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League will help the organization investigate archives and seek out family members of Japanese Americans who were held in internment camps during World War II, the JACL said in a news release. In Juneau, the Empty Chair Project has done good work to recognize what happened in southeastern Alaska, said Suzanne Ishii-Regan, co-treasurer of the Alaska chapter of the JACL. The group will carry on the work as it seeks to find what happened to all of those interned across the state. The roots of the project were in the discovery by archaeologist Morgan Blanchard of a holding camp for those incarcerated for being of specific national origins at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. “This kind of came out of a project I started a number of years ago where I discovered where the Fort Richardson Internment Camp was,” Blanchard said. “Along the way, we found the list that gave us the names of everyone that was interned as a foreign national here in Alaska.” Those incarcerated stayed at Richardson a relatively short time before being transferred to camps in the Lower 48, Blanchard said. “There are some instances in which the second generation – young men – who were already enlisted had to guard their fathers,” Ishii-Regan said.

Arizona

Phoenix: The Arizona Department of Corrections is wrongly interpreting state law, potentially denying incarcerated people the opportunity to earn time off their sentences, according to a complaint filed in Maricopa County Superior Court on Monday. Plaintiff Carlos Hernandez is an inmate at the Red Rock Correctional Center, a private prison managed by CoreCivic in Eloy. Andrew Case, senior counsel with LatinoJustice PRLDEF, a national civil rights organization, said Hernandez is eligible to earn release credits that take time off his sentence under provisions in state law. The Legislature passed a bill in 2019 expanding the number of release credits an incarcerated person can earn, to three days, for every seven days served. The provision only applies to a narrow selection of incarcerated people who have committed specific offenses: possession or use of marijuana, possession or use of a dangerous drug, possession or use of a narcotic drug, or the possession of drug paraphernalia. The person must also have completed a major self-improvement program or drug treatment program during their incarceration. Hernandez, Case and state Rep. Diego Rodriguez say the Department of Corrections is using a different 2005 conviction against Hernandez, excluding him from eligibility for release credits.

Arkansas

Little Rock: Authorities are investigating the fatal assault at a prison of a convicted murderer who died last week, the state’s prison system said Monday. Jerry Richard died at a Little Rock hospital Friday, two days after the assault at the Cummins Unit, the state Division of Correction said. Richard, 55, was serving a life sentence for a first-degree murder conviction out of Washington County. The Department of Corrections began an internal investigation following Richard’s death, and Arkansas State Police are also investigating the fatal assault. A State Police spokesman said the agency was notified about the inmate’s death Monday. The department released few details about the incident, including how Richard died.

California

Sacramento: Homeowners and renters in 22 Northern California counties are guaranteed not to lose their property insurance policies over the next year after the state announced a moratorium Monday for people who live near recent wildfires. State law temporarily bans insurance companies from dropping customers who live in ZIP codes that are either next to or within the perimeter of a declared wildfire disaster. Gov. Gavin Newsom has issued six “state of emergency” declarations for wildfires since July 23. On Monday, Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara issued a temporary moratorium for about 325,000 policyholders who live near those disasters. The order comes after Lara enacted a similar moratorium in July for 25,000 policyholders in three Northern California counties. “This California law empowers my office to help give people the breathing room they desperately need as they recover,” Lara said in a news release announcing the moratorium. This is the third year California has issued these insurance moratoriums since the law was first passed in 2018. Last year, the state ordered protections for more than 2.4 million policyholders during a historic wildfire season that set records for the most land burned in a single year.

Colorado

Denver: Investigators allege a man charged with killing his missing wife decided to “hunt and control” her like an animal after she insisted on leaving him and later changed his statements as evidence in the case developed, according to a court document released Monday. A judge allowed the release of the arrest affidavit laying out investigators’ case against Barry Morphew after ruling last week that there was enough evidence for him to stand trial for murder in the presumed death of Suzanne Morphew. Barry Morphew has pleaded not guilty and was released from jail Monday after posting a $500,000 cash bond. In the affidavit, investigators said that after Barry Morphew realized he could not control Suzanne Morphew’s insistence on leaving him, “he resorted to something he has done his entire life – hunt and control Suzanne like he had hunted and controlled animals.” Barry Morphew refused to take a polygraph test in the days after his wife was reported missing May 10, 2020, which was Mother’s Day, the affidavit said. The avid hunter and outdoorsman did not initially tell investigators that he went out of his way as he left for work that morning, driving toward the place where his wife’s bicycle helmet was eventually found. Later, he said he went that way because he had seen an elk cross the road, the affidavit said. Suzanne Morphew’s body has not been found.

Connecticut

Hartford: The nationwide downturn in the hotel and hospitality industry due to the pandemic has been especially pronounced in Hartford, particularly for hotels that rely on conventions and business travel. Occupancy in downtown hotels for the first seven months of this year was about 30% compared to 68% in 2019, the Hartford Courant reports. A Homewood Suites downtown closed last year and converted to rentals, and the 392-room Hilton Hartford, located next to XL Center, tried unsuccessfully to sell last year and is now exploring converting part of the property into housing. A former Red Lion Hotel plans to convert its entire building to rentals. For the city as a whole, occupancy was 50% for the same time period compared with 62% in 2019, and the picture appears more optimistic for smaller boutique hotels that don’t rely on business customers. The fiscal 2022 state budget contains $30 million in federal pandemic aid money for the hotel and hospitality industry.

Delaware

Wilmington: Two women who confronted supporters of former President Donald Trump and took a “Make America Great Again” hat from them at the 2020 Democratic National Convention have been sentenced to probation. In a video viewed millions of times on social media, Olivia Winslow and Camryn Amy were seen ripping apart a Trump poster and taking a red MAGA hat from Trump supporters who were protesting Joe Biden’s victory as the Democratic nominee for president. Winslow and Amy, both 21 at the time, were each sentenced Friday on misdemeanor charges of theft, child endangerment and hate crimes. Neither will serve time in jail. Judge Francis Jones went along with prosecutors’ recommendation in sentencing the women to multiple counts of conditional probation. If they attend required anger management counseling and complete 40 hours of community service, the probation will be lifted, Jones said. “We have all had moments of pettiness and immaturity,” said Thomas Foley, Winslow’s attorney. He said that his client has “learned a great deal” and “paid a tough price.” She and Amy have both received hate mail and death threats since Students for Trump tweeted the video. The adult male victim of the incident said the harassment the women received has been “punishment enough.”

District of Columbia

Washington: All adults who regularly work closely with children in schools and child care facilities must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Nov. 1, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced Monday. There will be no test-out option for the new requirement, Bowser said. That means adults who work for D.C. Public Schools, public charter schools, private schools, parochial schools and child care facilities regulated by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education must have received a full series of COVID-19 shots. Also, after Nov. 1, students who are 12 or older must be fully vaccinated to participate in school-based sports. Student-athletes who will turn 12 between Sept. 20 and Nov. 1 must be fully vaccinated before Dec. 13 to be able to practice or compete in school-based sports, according to D.C. officials. D.C government employees had until Sunday to report their vaccination status, and all health care workers in D.C. are required to be vaccinated by Sept. 30. According to DC Health, 65% of the eligible population in the district has been vaccinated, including 72% of government employees.

Florida

Miami: A newly released report from the Miami-Dade school district’s inspector general says a program created decades ago to fund behind-the-wheel driving lessons was in shambles even as it raked in $6.2 million that wound up being put into a general fund. In Miami-Dade County, which notoriously boasts some of the worst drivers in the nation, $3 of every traffic ticket paid goes to the Drivers Education Safety Fund, meant to reimburse schools that provide cars for those crucial lessons, the Miami Herald reports. To get the money, school administrators knowingly misrepresented the state of the driver’s ed program, the probe revealed. Between fiscal years 2011 and 2016, the district claimed to the county that either 36 or 37 campuses had working programs that met all aspects of the grant requirements – but in fact, only six campuses did. Daisy Gonzalez-Diego, a district spokeswoman, said all but three of the high schools offered “either classroom, virtual or behind-the-wheel instruction.” Meanwhile, “most of the cars throughout the district were in horrible condition, including cars with shattered windows, flat tires, rusted and dented roofs, and doors,” the report said. “At one location, the car was serving as an iguana nest.”

Georgia

Atlanta: The state has more money in the bank than ever before, creating a chance for an election-year spending or tax-cutting spree – if that’s what Gov. Brian Kemp and Republican lawmakers want. Figures released Monday show the state ended the 2021 budget year with a nearly $2.2 billion surplus even after Georgia’s rainy day fund was filled to the legal limit of $4.3 billion. That’s a big turnabout from cuts imposed by legislators who cobbled together the 2021 budget amid pandemic uncertainty in June 2020. It’s the first time the state has filled its rainy day fund, meant for budget emergencies, since lawmakers raised the limit from 10% of yearly revenue to 15% in 2010. That move aimed to provide more cushion after the Great Recession devastated state tax collections, forcing steep spending cuts. Georgia hasn’t run a surplus on top of a filled rainy day fund since before the recession, according to officials. The Republican governor must decide if he wants lawmakers to spend the $2.2 billion in “unreserved, undesignated” surplus when he sets the revenue estimate next January. Lawmakers can’t spend more than what Kemp allows. Even after more than half the cuts to Georgia’s K-12 school funding formula were restored last year, schools were left about $400 million short of what the formula demands.

Hawaii

Hilo: The owners of a food distribution company have bought the assets of a Hamakua dairy farm that went out of business several years ago. Chad and Stephanie Buck of Oahu recently purchased the assets of the former Big Island Dairy with hopes of supporting sustainable agriculture, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reports. The Bucks own and operate Hawaii Foodservice Alliance, a food distribution and logistics company that distributes dairy and bakery products to Hawaii’s grocers, clubs and convenience stores. “Having recently experienced the food challenges that were exposed by COVID and Hawaii’s lack of sustainable agriculture, we believe that this processing equipment, infrastructure and farming equipment should be saved, repurposed where able, and used for the benefit of the community and Hawaii,” Chad Buck wrote in a letter provided to the newspaper. Big Island Dairy was located on land leased from the state. The Bucks are working with the state Department of Agriculture on a lease transfer application. But Buck said they’re “committed to not replicate the industrial-sized dairy operation of years past.” Big Island Dairy closed to settle a 2017 lawsuit filed by citizens groups alleging violations of the federal Clean Water Act. Buck wrote that the land needs to heal.

Idaho

Boise: Lawmakers on a committee that considers state sovereignty issues have bumped up their planned meeting next week to Wednesday to consider President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate. The meeting announced Monday is a potential avenue to reconvening the Legislature. The joint Committee on Federalism plans to take only testimony on the mandate. “We are deeply troubled by the recent announcement by the Biden administration,” Republican Rep. Sage Dixon, who co-chairs the committee, said in a statement. “We are in the middle of incredibly trying times, and additional federal pressure on state government is frustrating and unnecessary.” Many Idaho Republican lawmakers are angry with the COVID-19 vaccine mandate announced earlier this month, and some want the Idaho House and Senate to reconvene to outlaw such mandates. But so far, lawmakers haven’t been able to coalesce around a specific piece of legislation that House and Senate leaders say is needed to call lawmakers back to Boise. An attempt last week by far-right lawmakers in the House to force the Legislature to reconvene fizzled when just more than a dozen showed up, far less than the 36 needed for a quorum.

Illinois

Chicago: Mayor Lori Lightfoot pitched a pilot program Monday giving $500 monthly payments to 5,000 low-income households, part of the city’s proposed $16.7 billion spending plan that relies on an infusion of federal relief funds to close budget gaps for several years. Lightfoot, a first-term Democrat, characterized the proposed $31.5 million cash assistance program as a way to help “hard-hit, low-income households in need of additional economic stability.” The payments would last a year. The idea has been discussed before in Chicago, including earlier this year by city aldermen. Similar pilot efforts, called universal basic income, have been tested elsewhere including in California and New York. During her budget address, Lightfoot said city services won’t be reduced, and there won’t be any layoffs. The city is slated to receive nearly $1.9 billion in federal relief funds, which Lightfoot wants to use to plug budget holes in the coming years as Chicago sees increasing pension costs. The proposed spending plan and federal relief funds also include more money for police, boosting affordable housing, efforts to clean vacant lots and planting 75,000 trees.

Indiana

Hammond: A northwest Indiana tourism body is shopping around its collection of John Dillinger memorabilia. The South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority is considering unloading the artifacts, including a photo of the 1930s gangster’s lifeless face, one of his submachine guns and his original tombstone from Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis. The items have been sitting in storage since the John Dillinger Museum closed in 2017 at the Crown Point Courthouse. Board member Tom Dabertin said he has reached out to Chicago museums to gauge interest and assess the potential value of the artifacts. The Old Sheriff’s House Foundation, which operates the Old Sheriff’s House and Jail in downtown Crown Point where Dillinger once escaped, has inquired about acquiring the entire collection, The (Northwest Indiana) Times reports. Authority board President Andy Qunell said his preference would be to keep the collection in northwest Indiana. Crown Point would be an ideal spot given its connection with Dillinger, he said. Dillinger was fatally shot in July 1934 by FBI agents outside a Chicago theater.

Iowa

Des Moines: The lawyer representing Gov. Kim Reynolds in a federal lawsuit over mandatory mask use in schools has asked the judge to allow a temporary order that has allowed schools to implement mandates to expire next week, citing testimonials from mothers of school-age children who make unproven assertions that masks can harm children. In documents made public Monday, the state provided testimonials from three women who said their children have medical issues that makes mask-wearing difficult for them. That includes an Ankeny mother who said her son has asthma, and when he wears a mask, he “does not receive an adequate amount of clean oxygen and is constantly breathing in germs,” a claim not supported by science. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend mask-wearing in schools as the delta coronavirus variant of the coronavirus is spreading rapidly in much of the country. The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America said those with asthma should wear masks. The Ankeny woman also said her son is immune-deficient, but she believe it is in his best interest to attend school without wearing a mask, as he washes his hands and takes other normal health precautions. That also would be contrary to common medical advice.

Kansas

Olathe: The only school district in Johnson County that doesn’t require masks for all students is reporting a higher COVID-19 infection rate among students than other districts in the county, health officials said. The Johnson County health department sent a letter to the Spring Hill district Friday encouraging the school to review its COVID-19 policies. All other districts in the county require masks at all grade levels. Spring Hill, in southern Johnson County, has required masks only for younger students but also allowed parents to sign exemption forms without a doctor’s signature, The Kansas City Star reports. Health department data shows that Johnson County schools are averaging a COVID-19 incidence rate of about 3 cases per 1,000 students since Aug. 15. Spring Hill’s rate was more than 15 per 1,000 students this month, according to the data. District spokesman Christopher Villarreal said data reported through the school nurse showed an incidence rate of 15.47 per 1,000 students for the week of Aug. 29-Sept. 4. Spring Hill’s COVID-19 dashboard shows a drop to eight cases last week, for a rate of 2.17 per 1,000, Villarreal said, but that number could be updated. The district currently has no plans to change its pandemic-related rules, Villarreal said.

Kentucky

Frankfort: Gov. Andy Beshear announced Monday that the road between the Capitol Building and annex will soon be shut off to traffic, per the security recommendations of the Kentucky State Police. According to Beshear, the Finance and Administration Cabinet will seek a request for quotes for the installation of security bollards at the east and west ends of the portion of Capitol Avenue that runs in between the Capitol and the annex. Along with the state police that provides security for the Capitol campus, Beshear said “federal security partners” recommended the move, as the road “has been reviewed as a security concern and as a threat for being far too close to both the Capitol and the annex.” Explaining the need to shut off the road, Beshear cited the 2017 terrorist attack in Charlottesville, Virginia – where a man deliberately drove a car into a crowd, killing one – and the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol as Congress was trying to certify Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. “After what we saw on Jan. 6 at our U.S. Capitol, we’ve got to be proactive in making sure that everybody here is safe, and this is one important step to making that happen,” Beshear said. “On the positive side, we think in the long run it gives us an opportunity to create incredible green space between the Capitol and the annex.”

Louisiana

New Orleans: A lawsuit alleges the state’s largest electric utility used a “bubble gum and super glue” approach to maintenance and construction that left customers sweltering in the dark without adequate sewage treatment after Hurricane Ida. The suit was filed Saturday against Entergy Corp. and its subsidiaries Entergy Louisiana and Entergy New Orleans. Entergy has said about 902,000 customers lost power after the major hurricane made landfall Aug. 29. Entergy’s website indicated about 22,200 users were still without power Monday, nearly 11,500 of them in Lafourche Parish, which Ida hit with sustained winds of up to 150 mph. Entergy does not comment on pending litigation, corporate spokesman Neal Kirby said in an email Monday. The suit seeks to represent everyone who lost power, and Judge Rachel Johnson will decide whether to certify it as a class-action claim. “Before Hurricane Ida hit Southeast Louisiana, it was Entergy’s position that its systems, which provided power to 1.1 million residents and businesses, could withstand winds of 150 mph,” but a number of studies had indicated otherwise, the lawsuit said. Underground cables would have protected power transmission in southeast Louisiana, the suit said.

Maine

Portland: The state topped 1,000 COVID-19 deaths as the delta variant of the coronavirus continues to fill the state’s hospital beds, and Gov. Janet Mills used the “grim and unwelcome milestone” to press Tuesday for residents to get vaccinated. An additional 18 deaths recorded in the state since Saturday pushed the total to 1,002 since the pandemic began nearly 19 months ago, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported Tuesday. Behind the numbers are “parents, grandparents, siblings, children, loved ones and friends, all valued members of our Maine community,” Mills said. “We mourn their passing and grieve for the moments they are no longer able to share with us,” she said, urging people to “please get vaccinated today” to protect loved ones and give health care workers a break. According to the Maine CDC, 214 people are currently hospitalized, including 73 who are in critical care – the highest total since the pandemic began. There are currently 58 available critical care beds. The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases has risen over the past two weeks from 384 on Sept. 5 to 485 on Sept. 19, according to Johns Hopkins University data. About three-quarters of Maine’s eligible population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Maryland

Salisbury: The Wicomico County Board of Education adopted a mask mandate Monday night at a special meeting that drew about 100 attendees. The meeting, held in the Wicomico High School Auditorium, featured the public portion of a rescheduled Sept. 14 meeting that was postponed after dozens of parents showed up to speak out against the mask mandate and the board’s intention to only allow five people into the meeting room at a time during public comment. Board members John Palmer and Tonya Laird Lewis voted against the adoption, garnering cheers from many in attendance. During his board report, Palmer stressed the importance of parents’ involvement and advocacy in all aspects of their children’s education. Twenty-five people signed up to speak during public comment. The majority used their time to discuss the mask mandate, voicing concerns and frustrations. Parents specifically cited issues with the effectiveness of masks, lack of parent choice, and the mental and educational impact masks have on their children. Parent Anya Petersen told the board she respects other parents’ decisions to have their children wear masks and wishes more people would respect her preference not to mask her children. Only one person spoke in favor of mask requirements during public comment.

Massachusetts

Boston: Gov. Charlie Baker signed an executive order Monday creating what he described as a first-in-the-nation “Commission on Clean Heat” to help craft policies to reduce heating fuel emissions in the state. The task of the commission is to establish a heating fuel framework to help Massachusetts meet a goal of net-zero emissions by 2050. The commission will be charged with developing policy recommendations to accelerate energy efficiency programs and to install clean heating systems in new and existing buildings. It will also address transitioning existing distribution systems to clean energy. The panel’s focus will include financing mechanisms, incentives and other options including a framework for a cap on greenhouse gas emissions from heating fuels. Baker said the 23-member commission will provide him with a set of policy recommendations by Nov. 30, 2022, that will reduce the use of heating fuels and minimize emissions from the building sector while ensuring costs and opportunities from such reductions are distributed equitably. The executive order also establishes a building decarbonization task force. In March, Baker signed climate legislation that commits the state to reducing emissions below 1990 levels by 50% by 2030, 75% by 2040 and to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

Michigan

Mackinaw City: A popular Halloween-themed event held annually in northern Michigan has been canceled this fall due to concerns about the coronavirus that include the rising number of cases of the delta variant in the area. Fort Fright at Colonial Michilimackinac in Mackinaw City was scheduled for Oct. 8-9. The event is drawn from a collection of short stories published by Mackinac State Historic Parks and based on French-Canadian folktales brought to the Mackinac Straits area by the voyageurs during the height of the French fur trade. Staffing challenges and concerns about housing volunteers also played into the decision to cancel the event, according to organizers. “This was a difficult decision for us,” said Steve Brisson, Mackinac State Historic Parks director. “As a matter of public safety, as well as the safety of our staff, we feel this is the right decision.” Colonial Michilimackinac is an 18th-century fort and fur trading village located along the Straits of Mackinac. It was reconstructed based on historic maps and more than 60 years of archaeological excavations.

Minnesota

Minneapolis: The state reached 757 patients hospitalized due to COVID-19 on Friday – the highest figure of 2021 so far – as the coronavirus’ more contagious delta variant strains hospital capacity statewide. The total includes 230 patients in intensive care, the most since late December, the Star Tribune reports. Intensive care capacity has been hovering around 95% statewide in recent weeks, with regular beds nearly 92% full, according to state hospital capacity data. State health and health care officials have said the strain on capacity is due to hospitals experiencing more coronavirus admissions during a time of year when they see high trauma admissions. Essentia Health reinstated visitor restrictions at all of its facilities Monday, citing increasing virus transmission. Two adult visitors will be allowed for each patient per day in most cases, but COVID-19 patients will not be allowed visitors unless they are pediatric or in an end-of-life situation. More than 3.5 million Minnesotans 12 and older, or just over 74%, have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Breakthrough infections have been seen in 0.75% of the state’s vaccinated population, the Star Tribune reports, with the proportion increasing but the phenomenon remaining rare.

Mississippi

Holly Springs: The state Department of Corrections is taking over operation of Marshall County Correctional Facility, a prison that has been privately run since it opened 25 years ago. Corrections Commissioner Burl Cain said Management & Training Corp., the private company most recently contracted to operate the 1,000-bed, medium-security prison, was having trouble hiring and retaining employees, the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reports. The prison is about 55 miles southeast of Memphis, Tennessee. “It is difficult to hire that close to Memphis,” Cain said. The commissioner said the Department of Corrections raised the pay at the Marshall County prison to $15 an hour, which MTC could not do. He said the company runs numerous prisons across the country, and all have a consistent rate of pay. “They couldn’t raise pay at one facility and not at others,” Cain said. The Department of Corrections tried to rehire as many of the MTC workers as possible, he said. Because of state hiring requirements, former employees had to reapply and be interviewed and vetted again. As of Monday, the Marshall County prison had 89 employees but will need more as the facility adapts to its new mission, he said. Officials plan to reduce the number of prisoners and increase reentry training.

Missouri

St. Louis: An official is asking the state Supreme Court to suspend the law licenses of a St. Louis couple who gained national attention last year when they waved guns at racial injustice protesters outside their home. Missouri Chief Disciplinary Counsel Alan Pratzel, in a court filing reported by KCUR-FM, cited Mark and Patricia McCloskey’s guilty pleas to misdemeanors stemming from the June 2020 encounter. Pratzel’s office is responsible for investigating ethical complaints against Missouri lawyers. Mark McCloskey, who is among several Republican candidates for U.S. Senate in 2022, pleaded guilty in June to misdemeanor fourth-degree assault and was ordered to pay a $750 fine. Patricia McCloskey pleaded guilty to misdemeanor harassment and was ordered to pay a $2,000 fine. Gov. Mike Parson pardoned them July 30. Pratzel’s motion said that while a pardon erases a person’s conviction, “the person’s guilt remains.” An attorney for the McCloskeys declined comment Monday. Pratzel said both crimes showed “indifference to public safety” and involved “moral turpitude,” warranting discipline. He recommended that the Supreme Court indefinitely suspend the McCloskeys’ licenses. “I’d do it again,” Mark McCloskey said immediately after the hearing at which he entered his guilty plea.

Montana

Helena: The public health officer in a politically conservative county in northwestern Montana has resigned his post to ease what his resignation letter called “the strife and conflict coming from a minority of people objecting” to his recommendations in responding to the coronavirus pandemic. A member of the public blamed the health officer for his wife’s recent COVID-19 death. Nick Lawyer, a physician’s assistant at the hospital in Plains, said he submitted his letter of resignation Friday at the request of Sanders County Commissioners. Two days prior, Gerald “Frenchy” Cuvillier had called Lawyer a “petty tyrant” during a meeting of the county commissioners and said Lawyer’s “rules of protocol just cost my wife her life.” Cuvillier complained his wife was not given the anti-parasitic medication ivermectin or the malaria treatment hydroxychloroquine and wasn’t treated with monoclonal antibodies. If she had, “she would be alive and well today,” Cuvillier said. “I had to watch her die slowly and in agony,” he said. Neither ivermectin nor hydroxychloroquine is approved to treat or prevent COVID-19. Monoclonal antibodies are typically available to people who are at high risk of developing severe symptoms but have not yet been admitted to the hospital.

Nebraska

Omaha: Gov. Pete Ricketts is resurrecting a version of the state’s daily coronavirus reporting dashboard website because the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations has continued to rise through the summer. The state eliminated its daily virus dashboard in June at the same time the last of Ricketts’ emergency orders related to the pandemic were allowed to expire, as cases were low. At the end of June, the state was reporting 253 virus cases per week, and 28 people were hospitalized statewide. There were 5,643 virus cases reported in the most recent week, and 415 people were hospitalized. The state’s decision to stop providing daily COVID-19 updates was widely criticized by health experts who use the data to track the virus’s spread. A group of 11 state senators wrote a letter to Ricketts last month urging him to reinstate the dashboard. “I think it’s overdue. I think it should have never gone away. I think the dashboard is an important risk communication tool to the community,” said Dr. David Brett-Major, an epidemiologist with the University of Nebraska Medical Center. The state launched a weekly website to report some virus numbers in July, but it didn’t offer as much detail and information as the old daily site.

Nevada

Las Vegas: Area students’ parents who filed a lawsuit last month challenging the state’s COVID-19 mask mandates asked a federal judge Monday to issue an emergency order allowing children to attend school without masks. The lawsuit filed against Gov. Steve Sisolak, Attorney General Aaron Ford and the Clark County School District says the district’s current policy requiring masks in schools regardless of COVID-19 vaccination status is causing psychological distress and emotional harm to students who must wear them. It says the policy adopted under emergency directives issued by the governor and enforced by the attorney general, both Democrats, is unconstitutional because it violates parental rights and due process requirements. The new filing Monday in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas argues that the worst of the pandemic has passed and that scientific evidence of the effectiveness of masks continues to be subject to debate. One of the plaintiffs, Monica Branch-Noto, said in a declaration attached to the motion for a temporary injunction that her son has never had any issues in school before, but she and his teachers have seen “a significant negative change in his behavior” since masks were mandated. “He has become this angry child that I don’t recognize,” Branch-Noto said.

New Hampshire

Concord: The state could solve two problems at once by replacing its youth detention center with two much smaller facilities and using the sprawling juvenile campus to house young adult inmates instead, a former state official told lawmakers. Joe Diament, who served as commissioner of the Department of Youth and Development Services from 2001 to 2004, was among those offering advice last Wednesday to a legislative committee exploring options for the Sununu Youth Services in Manchester. The two-year state budget Gov. Chris Sununu signed June 25 includes a mandate to close the center by March 2023. The state currently spends about $13 million a year to operate the center, named for former Gov. John H. Sununu, father of the current governor. Though it once held upward of 200 youth, the typical population now is about a dozen teens. Diament, whose 45-year career included work with the both the juvenile and adult prison systems, recommended two new six-bed facilities for youth, one in the northern part of the state and one farther south. Moving young adult offenders to the Manchester facility, meanwhile, would help reduce crime by removing their ability to be influenced by older inmates, he said.

New Jersey

Barnegat Light: Federal officials on Tuesday warned of a “dire” situation that is likely to get worse as they explained details of a $16 billion plan to lessen back bay flooding, one of the major sources of storm damage at the Jersey Shore. At an online public hearing, officials with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers answered questions on flooding impacts, environmental effects, navigation and other concerns, even as they acknowledged they don’t yet have all the answers. The proposal calls for construction of huge gates across the mouths of three inlets in New Jersey that could be slammed shut when major storms approach, closable barriers that would cut parts of two bays in half, and the elevation of nearly 19,000 homes. Back bay flooding refers to floods that are not primarily caused by waves crashing over ocean barriers but by stealthily rising water levels in bays along inland shorelines. “Things are dire, and things could become worse with sea level rise and increased frequency and severity of storms,” said Jay Smith, the project manager for the Army Corps. But officials did not yet have detailed answers on some concerns, particularly environmental ones, noting that the project – one of the most ambitious and expensive flood control efforts any U.S. state has yet taken to address back bay flooding – is still in the planning stages.

New Mexico

Albuquerque: The city’s public transit system won’t charge fares for riding buses during a 12-month experiment starting Jan. 1. The City Council voted Monday night to approve the pilot program after previously deferring the vote several times. The council approved funding for the long-discussed project several months ago by setting aside $3 million to offset revenue laws, but several members recently had concerns about security on buses once fares aren’t required. The council voted 8-0 after being briefed by officials from the Department of Municipal Development’s security division. Supporters of the no-fare program said it will help low-income people who rely on the bus system to get around.

New York

New York: Google is planning to buy St. John’s Terminal for $2.1 billion, making it the anchor of its Hudson Square campus. The announcement Tuesday arrives with the city buffeted by the pandemic and most offices still largely unpopulated. While CEO Sundar Pichai said in a blog post late last month that Google is delaying its global return to offices until Jan. 10, the commitment by the company to further invest in New York City real estate was trumpeted both by Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Bill De Blasio, who called it “one of the shots in the arm we need as part of our comeback.” “Google is leading the way here in our economic comeback but also further asserting what we know more and more: New York City is now one of the great tech capitals in the world,” de Blasio said at a virtual news conference Tuesday. Google has had a footprint in New York City for more than two decades, and it is the company’s largest location outside California. Its 1.7 million-square-foot Hudson Square campus is on the Hudson River just south of the New York University campus and Greenwich Village. Google currently leases the St. John’s Terminal property and expects to open its new space there by the middle of 2023. The company anticipates its investment will add another 14,000 employees in New York City.

North Carolina

Raleigh: The chairman of the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission has resigned from the board, citing anxiety about the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the agency’s recent challenges with liquor distribution. A.D. “Zander” Guy submitted his resignation Friday to Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, who appointed him to the chairmanship in early 2017. Guy, who also previously served as chairman when Democrat Beverly Perdue was governor, said in an interview Monday that recent events led him and his wife to reassess his service. The former mayor of Surf City said he’ll be 73 next month, and two friends and an uncle with COVID-19 have died in the past 90 days. Guy also said liquor supply troubles, including the rollout of a new computerized inventory and ordering software program by the ABC system’s warehouse operations contractor, have led to added stress. “When you can’t sleep at night, and you’re worrying about things that you can’t control, it’s time to readjust,” Guy said. “I’m done.” Cooper’s office on Monday thanked Guy for his service on the commission. Guy’s three-sentence resignation letter, provided by the governor’s office, didn’t go into specifics.

North Dakota

Bismarck: North Dakotans are accustomed to seven-digit phone dialing because the entire state is under the 701 area code, and officials want to keep it that way. The state is projected to run out of 701 numbers by 2026. So the Public Service Commission is seeking permission from federal regulators to free up unused phone numbers in order to keep just one area code. When a phone company wants to expand to a new part of the state, it must request a block of numbers to serve that area, and the Federal Communications Commission works with state officials to assign the block, the Bismarck Tribune reports. Each block must contain at least 1,000 phone numbers. Sometimes, the service area to which the block is assigned is a small town where just a few dozen or few hundred of those numbers are needed. The rest go unused. PSC Commissioner Randy Christmann said North Dakota encompasses nearly 300 service areas, and 88% of them use less than 20% of the phone numbers assigned to them. North Dakota joins two other states with a single area code, New Hampshire and Maine, in petitioning the FCC to allow them more leniency in assigning phone numbers to service areas. They want the federal government to lift the 1,000-number minimum in each block.

Ohio

Bowling Green: U.S. Rep. Bob Latta became the second member of Congress from the state this week to test positive for the coronavirus despite being vaccinated against COVID-19. The Republican lawmaker from the 5th Congressional District announced Tuesday he contracted the virus after he was exposed to someone who also tested positive. “I am following CDC guidance and will be quarantining,” Latta wrote on Twitter. “During this time, I will still be working to represent #OH5 from my home. ... I am vaccinated, and because of that, thankfully I have no symptoms.” Latta’s tweet came shortly after U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan announced he had also joined the list of more than 80 members of Congress who have contracted the virus since it began to spread in the U.S. in March 2020, according to an Associated Press analysis. A spokeswoman for Latta said Ryan and Latta had not been in close contact when diagnosed. Ryan, the Democratic frontrunner vying for Republican Rob Portman’s seat, also said he will continue to fulfill his congressional duties virtually until he can safely return to Washington.

Oklahoma

Poteau: A man has been sentenced to more than a dozen years behind bars after he pleaded no contest in a case in which he was accused of illegally performing a surgery at a cabin in the woods. Bob Lee Allen, 54, had been set to go to trial this week but agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors Aug. 31. According to prosecutors, Allen performed a castration on a volunteer at the cabin, then stored the removed body parts in a freezer. The person told police Allen later joked about eating the body parts. Allen was arrested after the volunteer went to a hospital because of bleeding after the surgery. Allen pleaded no contest to felony counts of conspiracy to commit unlicensed surgery, practicing medicine without a license and attempted distribution of a psychedelic mushroom. He also pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor counts and was sentenced to two years in jail and 10 years in prison. Allen told the judge he believed the plea was in his best interest because “a jury might convict me.”

Oregon

Newberg: An employee at a school outside Portland went to work in blackface last week and has been placed on administrative leave, according to a message from the district. The teacher was protesting a staff vaccine mandate, used iodine on her face and called herself Rosa Parks, The Newberg Graphic reports. “It is important to remember how Blackface has been used to misrepresent Black communities and do harm,” the Newberg School District wrote, according to KTVL-TV. “We acknowledge the violence this represents and the trauma it evokes regardless of intention.” The school board has scheduled a special meeting Wednesday night to take public comment on its “recent actions, tabled motions, and upcoming decisions that may include the ban on political or controversial displays, changes to the Anti-Racism Resolution 2020-04 language.” In August the school board voted to ban LGBTQ pride flags, flags reading “Black Lives Matter,” and any broadly “political” signs, clothing, and other items. Supporters of the ban said that the signs were “divisive” and that signs don’t make people feel safe. The action went against recent state efforts to highlight support for students, including the Oregon Department of Education’s Black Lives Matter October 2020 resolution and recent efforts to help LGBTQ students.

Pennsylvania

Harrisburg: Questions about the legality and practical effect of a victims’ rights amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution that has been in limbo for almost two years dominated oral arguments in the state Supreme Court on Tuesday. The justices could act to put the ballot question into the constitution, upholding unofficial tallies that showed it being approved in 2019 by a ratio of 3-1, or could kill it because it bundled together various provisions that opponents say are insufficiently related. The amendment spells out 15 rights for victims, including notification about their cases and the right to attend and weigh in during plea hearings, sentencings and parole proceedings. It also spells out rights about recovering property and the ability to reject defense subpoenas and states that the General Assembly can fine-tune victims’ rights. David Pittinsky, a lawyer for the four voters seeking to overturn a lower court ruling that invalidated the referendum results earlier this year, said the so-called Marsy’s Law provisions are not disparate, telling the justices that “every single one of these are to protect those rights.” The state Supreme Court ruled shortly before the November 2019 vote that election officials could not tabulate or certify the votes while litigation continued.

Rhode Island

Providence: A legislative commission is looking at ways to reorganize the state’s lead agency for reviewing offshore wind projects and other coastal development proposals. House Rep. Deborah Ruggiero, D-Jamestown, will lead the 15-member House commission to study the Coastal Resources Management Council, the General Assembly said Friday. Ruggiero sponsored legislation that created the commission to provide recommendations for reorganizing the council by April 1. The nation’s first offshore wind farm opened off the coast of Rhode Island in December 2016. In June, the council gave a proposed wind farm off the state’s coast critical approval over the objections of the fishing industry and some environmentalists. It’s the state’s lead agency reviewing proposals for 19 coastal communities, including offshore wind, dredging, development, marinas and aquaculture projects. Ruggiero said she’s not looking back at past council decisions, especially since some of those decisions are in litigation. Rather, she said, she’s looking to the future to ensure policy decisions are made based on facts, data and science to better ensure coastal development.

South Carolina

Columbia: As the state Supreme Court mulls the legality of a rule that effectively bans masks in most schools, health care workers and educators are renewing calls for lawmakers to repeal the provision altogether. Pediatricians and school nurses joined state education groups at a news conference Tuesday to warn that lawmakers’ inaction will only continue to impede in-person learning, as more than 88,000 students and staff have been forced to quarantine, and dozens of schools have reverted to online lessons since the start of the school year. The Republican-controlled Legislature put the one-year provision, which prevents school districts from using state money to enforce a rule requiring masks, into the state budget earlier this year. The state was averaging 150 coronavirus cases a day at the time. But in the following months, a new surge driven by the highly contagious delta variant triggered thousands of new cases. Schools have recorded more than 21,000 student cases this fall so far, almost 7,000 more than they counted for all of the previous academic year. “We want to be sure that the policymakers are no longer using yesterday’s information to make today’s decisions,” said Dr. Robert Saul, the South Carolina chapter president of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

South Dakota

Sioux Falls: Gov. Kristi Noem said Monday that she told the state Department of Education to delay changes to social studies standards up to one year to allow more people to weigh in on the recommendations. Noem’s move follows recent calls by the South Dakota Education Equity Coalition for her to resign and the decision to postpone the first scheduled hearing a month and move it to a larger venue. The DOE reports it has received nearly 600 public comments on the standards. A review of the comments shows the majority are in opposition to the proposed standards, in which the DOE removed more than a dozen explicit references to Native American education on the Oceti Sakowin that were initially included in an early draft proposed by members of a working group. Candi Brings Plenty, a member of the South Dakota Education Equity Coalition and indigenous justice organizer with the ACLU of South Dakota, said the groups will continue to push for Noem’s resignation. “She knows she’s in for battle,” Brings Plenty said. “She has awakened a sleeping giant. We have finally been counted to a sufficient standard this past census, and now she sees the numbers. We will vote her out.”

Tennessee

Memphis: The National Civil Rights Museum is celebrating its 30th anniversary with free admission for visitors Saturday. Founded in 1991, the Memphis-based museum chronicles the history of civil rights in America, from slavery to present day. It is located on the grounds of the former Lorraine Motel, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was fatally shot while standing on a balcony near his room April 4, 1968. As part of its anniversary, the museum is highlighting its beginnings and development with a new exhibit opening Saturday. The exhibit will include memorabilia, uniforms, photos and documents “to illustrate how everyday people continue to shape not only the museum, but our history,” the museum said in a news release Friday. The museum said the free tickets should be reserved on its website, with a maximum of four people per reservation. Walk-ups are subject to time slot availability.

Texas

San Antonio: After a doctor who said he performed an abortion in defiance of a new state law all but dared supporters of a near-total ban to try making an early example of him by filing a lawsuit, two people obliged. Former attorneys in Arkansas and Illinois filed separate state lawsuits Monday against Dr. Alan Braid, who in a weekend Washington Post opinion column became the first Texas abortion provider to publicly reveal he violated the law that took effect Sept. 1. They both came in ahead of Texas’ largest anti-abortion group, which had said it had attorneys ready. Neither ex-lawyer who filed suit said he was anti-abortion, but both said courts should weigh in. The Texas law prohibits abortions once medical professionals can detect cardiac activity, usually around six weeks and before some women even know they are pregnant. The only way the ban can be enforced is through lawsuits brought by private citizens, who don’t have to be from Texas and are entitled to claim at least $10,000 in damages if successful. Felipe N. Gomez, of Chicago, said his suit is a way to hold the Republicans who run Texas accountable, adding that their lax response to the COVID-19 pandemic conflicts with their crackdown on abortion rights. If he received money, Gomez said, he would likely donate it to an abortion rights group or to the patients of the doctor he sued.

Utah

St. George: A state resident was hospitalized after taking large doses of ivermectin in an apparent attempt to treat COVID-19 symptoms, prompting state health officials Tuesday to warn against taking the drug via veterinary products typically used to deworm horses. “Ivermectin is NOT a COVID-19 drug; there is no data to suggest this drug has any impact on COVID-19 infection,” the Utah Department of Health wrote in a press release. “The continued promotion of the drug has led to an increase in people buying veterinary ivermectin and being hospitalized due to side effects of ingesting the drug.” Residents are urged to call the Utah Poison Control Center if someone has taken ivermectin and is worried about side effects. Poison specialists are available 24/7 at 1-800-222-1222. For emergencies, call 911. Ivermectin is occasionally prescribed for humans in specific doses for certain parasitic worms, skin conditions and head lice, either in pills or topical agents, according to the Food and Drug Administration. Formulations for treating animals, being highly concentrated, often prove toxic for humans. In addition, if too many people are using the drug, it could create local shortages of the drug, which can be critical for the health of livestock populations, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association.

Vermont

Montpelier: As hundreds of homeless Vermonters are expected to lose access to motel rooms paid for by the state during the pandemic, advocates urged officials Monday to extend the benefit even longer. In July, the state extended the hotel voucher program 84 days for families with children, the disabled, pregnant women and other vulnerable people, and it gave $2,500 checks to those no longer eligible. About 543 of the 881 households in motel rooms will reach their 84-day limit Wednesday, advocates said at a Montpelier press conference. “My clients are terrified that losing shelter will mean they’ll start to experience mental health declines, that gains that they’ve made in their recovery will be lost. Many of them have conditions that put them at high risk for serious COVID-related complications if they are to be infected,” said Mairead O’Reilly, an attorney with Vermont Legal Aid. Advocates say the extension is needed due to a lack of shelter beds and housing and a surge in COVID-19 cases. A 30-day extension is available to families who are intensely engaged in case management and can show a housing plan and for people who have the most severe disabilities, O’Reilly said. “We don’t think that practically many of the folks who are currently sheltered will be able to take advantage of these,” she said.

Virginia

Richmond: Schools across the state will soon administer additional testing to assess how students in the third through eighth grades are doing in math and reading after two turbulent school years. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports the mandated tests are part of state legislation signed earlier this year that requires schools to administer a growth assessment system that includes testing at the beginning, middle and end of the school year. Standards of Learning tests given in the spring already account for the testing at the end of the year, so the new growth assessments will be used for the fall testing during this school year and then for the fall and winter testing in 2022-23. The growth assessments are similar to the format of SOLs, but by law, they have to be shorter tests. The material covered will be from the previous year to help teachers identify areas where learning may have been interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. The tests are meant to be a baseline, so there are no pass/fail grades. The information gleaned from the tests will allow educators to see where gaps exist in reading and math for individual students. The new tests this fall come on the heels of SOL scores released last month that show significant drops in pass rates collectively across the state in math and reading.

Washington

Olympia: Gov. Jay Inslee has asked the federal government for assistance staffing hospitals and long-term care facilities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. “In Washington State, our hospitals are currently at or beyond capacity, and we need additional assistance at this time,” Inslee wrote in Friday’s letter – released publicly Monday – to Jeffrey Zients, the White House COVID-19 coordinator. Inslee wrote that the state Department of Health has requested 1,200 clinical and nonclinical staff, and he was requesting deployment of Department of Defense medical personnel “to assist with the current hospital crisis.” Inslee spokesman Mike Faulk said the state had not yet received a response. Meanwhile, state hospital leaders said Monday that COVID-19 hospitalizations are ticking down across Washington. The Seattle Times reports this week hospitals counted 1,504 COVID-19 patients throughout the state, compared to 1,673 last week. There is a caveat. Washington State Hospital Association CEO Cassie Sauer said another reason hospitalizations are falling is because death rates are rising. While the state’s death data is incomplete for the past two weeks, 30 people in Washington had died from the coronavirus in the prior 24 hours, Sauer said.

West Virginia

Huntington: Marshall University will dedicate a statue of Basketball Hall of Fame guard Hal Greer next month. The university said an outdoor ceremony will be held Oct. 9 near Marshall’s Cam Henderson Center. The nearly 8-foot-tall bronze statue was created by Huntington native Frederick Hightower Sr., who also created a statue of NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson at West Virginia State in Institute. Greer died in 2018 at age 81. He grew up in Huntington, starred at Marshall and became the Philadelphia 76ers’ career leading scorer. Greer was named to 10 straight NBA All-Star games and earned All-Star Game MVP honors in 1968. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1982.

Wisconsin

Beaver Dam: A school board member has resigned, citing safety concerns over his support for mandating masks for students in the district’s schools. Tony Klatt has twice voted in favor of the mask mandate for Beaver Dam Unified School Board schools and said he still feels strongly that it was the right decision based on “facts at hand.” Klatt, who has been on the board since April 2019, posted on his Facebook page last week that decisions made because of COVID-19 have definitely been challenging, but the decisions were not made lightly and were based on feedback and information. About his resignation, Klatt wrote that “when there is talk of protesting my house, and someone later pulls in front and takes a picture of my address while my daughter is home alone, she does not feel safe.” He said his family doesn’t feel safe when a car sits idling in front of his house late at night, the State Journal reports. “Therefore, I have to do what is best for my family and their well-being and resign my position on the school board effective immediately. It isn’t in my family’s best interest for me to try to appease a vocal group that continue to try to intimidate, harass, insult, and throw civility to the side,” Klatt said.

Wyoming

Cheyenne: Gov. Mark Gordon has called in the National Guard for a third time to help hospitals overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients, the Casper Star-Tribune reports. About 95 Guard members will be deployed to 24 hospitals in 17 cities, according to the paper.

From USA TODAY Network and wire reports

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dillinger artifacts, backwoods castration: News from around our 50 states