Rare tornado, one-room schoolhouse, convoy eviction: News from around our 50 states

Alabama

LaFayette: A federal judge will consider an agreement among the U.S. Justice Department, civil rights attorneys and school officials in Chambers County that could end more than 50 years of federal desegregation oversight of the system. A consent decree with school officials in the east Alabama county, located on the Georgia line, the government and attorneys with the Legal Defense Fund includes construction of a new school and more opportunities for Black students in the county of roughly 35,000 people, officials said. The agreement was announced Friday to end a desegregation order that’s been in place since 1970. It followed a previous, interim agreement reached in 1993. “We are pleased to arrive at a consent decree that addresses the many concerns our clients raised as key to ensuring the effectiveness of the desegregation process in Chambers County,” said GeDá Jones Herbert, an attorney with the Legal Defense Fund. “It was particularly important that Black students in the district are afforded equal and high-quality educational opportunities in safe and modern facilities.” Before the end of the next school year, the district must pick a site to build a new, consolidated high school to replace LaFayette High School, which is heavily Black, and Valley High School, which has a large population of white students.

Alaska

Juneau: The state had about 6,700 more jobs last month than a year earlier, but jobs in most sectors had not recovered to pre-pandemic levels, the state labor department reported Friday. There were about 11,800 fewer jobs in April than in April 2019, the year before the pandemic, the department said. The biggest year-over-year gain was in the leisure and hospitality sector, which had about 3,900 more jobs last month than in April 2021. The transportation, trade and utilities sector had about 1,400 more jobs than the prior year, and there were about 500 more jobs in oil and gas. But job numbers in most sectors lag levels reported in April 2019, the department said. The education and health sector had 100 more jobs last month than in April 2019. But there were 1,700 fewer jobs in trade, transportation and utilities, 1,100 fewer in leisure and hospitality, and 2,700 fewer in oil and gas last month than in April 2019. Karinne Wiebold, an economist with the department, said recently that Alaska began seeing year-over-year growth in total employment in April 2021, a year after the “initial employment shock” from the pandemic hit. She said high oil prices could encourage more employment in the oil and gas sector but said it’s unclear if the sector will reach its past highs. She noted that job gains in that sector have so far been slow.

Arizona

Glendale: The city has preemptively adopted new rules regulating short-term rental properties before it welcomes a bevy of visitors for the 2023 Super Bowl. Ordinances approved by the Glendale City Council on May 10 amend the city’s codes on short-term rentals and nuisance parties. Owners of homes rented out for brief vacations must now provide contact information to the city in case law enforcement needs to reach them for an emergency or disturbance. Glendale’s ordinance additionally prohibits short-term rental properties from being used for operating as a retail enterprise or an adult-oriented business. Because Glendale currently doesn’t have a registry of short-term rental homes, local leaders say it’s difficult to know how much of a nuisance these properties are creating in the community, 12News reports. “It is possible that officers are responding to noise complaints at short-term rentals and just don’t know they are short-term rentals,” Deputy City Manager Rick St. John said during a council meeting. In another ordinance, Glendale’s police officers have the ability to assess fees to individuals hosting “nuisance parties,” or any social gathering that “constitutes a substantial disturbance of the quiet enjoyment of private or public property.”

Arkansas

Little Rock: The barrage of television ads and mailers leading up to Tuesday’s primary election makes the most influential Republicans in the state clear. Tom Cotton’s making the case for fellow U.S. Sen. John Boozman, talking up his conservative bona fides while the two-term senator fends off challenges from the right. Donald Trump’s image appears in ads for Boozman and for Sarah Sanders, who served as the ex-president’s White House press secretary and is now running for governor. Sanders, whose endorsement is almost as sought after as Trump’s, is helping make the closing argument for Boozman in a TV ad. But conspicuously missing from the ads and the campaign trail is the state’s top elected Republican, Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who is entering the final stretch of his term with strong approval ratings and a raised national profile. Hutchinson’s advisers say he’s concentrating on helping more Republicans nationally as he looks to the future – which might include a White House bid. Sanders has avoided publicly criticizing Hutchinson, even when her former boss labeled the outgoing governor a “RINO” – Republican in Name Only – for his decision to veto an anti-transgender law. Sanders said she would have signed the measure, which bans gender-confirming treatments for transgender youth.

California

Sacramento: New rules about how and when actors can use guns while filming failed to pass the Legislature on Thursday, just months after a gun actor Alec Baldwin was holding went off and killed a cinematographer on a movie set in New Mexico. Democrats in California had filed two bills in response to the tragedy, which killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza. With competing proposals, Democratic state Sen. Anthony Portantino, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and the author of one of the proposals, said he “strongly urged” entertainment industry groups to “work collaboratively to bring forward a consensus approach.” But no one did. On Thursday, Portantino decided to hold both bills in committee, meaning they are unlikely to pass the Legislature this year. “It’s a powerful and ruthless industry. First the industry killed Halyna. Then they killed the bill that would’ve made people like her safe,” said state Sen. Dave Cortese, a Democrat who authored the other proposal. Cortese’s bill would have banned the use of guns and blank ammunition containing gunpowder or other explosive charges from film sets, with some exceptions. Portantino’s bill would have allowed guns with blank ammunition on set, but only under the supervision of an armorer who has completed a state gun safety course.

Colorado

Denver: A late spring snowstorm dumped several inches in the Denver metro area Saturday and knocked out electricity for about 210,000 customers, officials said. The wet snow weighed down tree branches and sent them toppling onto power lines, the television station KUSA reports. Much more snow fell in mountainous regions of Colorado. By Saturday night, power had been restored to 160,000 customers, but about 50,000 still did not have it back, the Xcel Energy Colorado utility said in a statement. The small Colorado community of Cripple Creek near the base of Pike’s Peak got 20 inches of snow, KUSA reports.

Connecticut

Hartford: Eligible families can begin applying next month for the new one-year child tax rebate program that’s included in the newly revised state budget, Gov. Ned Lamont announced Thursday. Rebates of up to $250 per child are expected to be issued in late August. The rebates will be provided for up to three children per family. While any Connecticut resident who claimed at least one dependent child under the age of 18 on their 2021 federal income tax return may be eligible for the rebate, the amounts are dictated by income. To receive the maximum amount, the income threshold is $100,000 or less for those single or married filing separately; $169,000 or less for those filing as head of household; and $200,000 for those married filing jointly. Those with higher incomes may be eligible to receive a reduced rebate. The Department of Revenue Services will accept applications from June 1 through July 31. Families can apply online on the DRS website and click on the “2022 CT Child Tax Rebate” icon. DRS is reaching out about the program to more than 300,000 households in the state that may meet the eligibility requirements.

Delaware

Wilmington: A report by Amtrak’s inspector general found that the train service’s $41 million purchase of an office building in the city has failed to provide savings that were projected. Amtrak estimated it would save close to $50 million by consolidating operations in the building that it purchased in Wilmington in May 2020. But a report filed May 13 by Amtrak’s Office of Inspector General found those savings haven’t materialized for a variety of reasons. Dispatching and police communications were supposed to be consolidated in the building, but that has not occurred because Amtrak has not yet been able to determine if the building can accommodate a large generator necessary to provide emergency power. In addition, Amtrak has been unable to move forward with a plan to move more than 400 information-technology workers to Wilmington. The report found that so many workers would refuse the transfer that operations would be unacceptably disrupted. Amtrak now estimates it won’t need as much space in the building as originally thought.

District of Columbia

Washington: A moment of happiness and celebration at the Lincoln Memorial turned into a headache for workers with the National Park Service, WUSA-TV reports. The Lincoln Memorial was temporarily closed to the public Saturday morning after celebrating university graduates reportedly left a mess on the steps of the monument, a National Park Service official said. NPS tweeted a photo of the closure Saturday, claiming the graduation celebration left broken bottles, spilled wine and champagne covering the steps of the national monument. “We will reopen as soon as the area has been cleaned and made safe,” NPS said on Twitter. Facilities staff members worked through the morning and were able to clean the mess within a few hours. The Lincoln Memorial reopened about 11:30 a.m. NPS did not say from which school the celebrating graduates hailed, but many online theorize the students could be from Georgetown University. A spokesperson for the school called the incident “concerning and disappointing.” The spokesperson noted that Georgetown was one of many universities having ceremonies over the weekend and said it no university-sponsored events at or around the Lincoln Memorial.

Florida

Surfside: A billionaire developer from Dubai is set to purchase the site of a South Florida condominium that collapsed last June, killing 98 people, for $120 million after no other bids were submitted by the Friday evening deadline for this week’s auction. Michael Fay, of Avison Young, said hundreds of potential buyers had shown interest in the property, but none were ultimately prepared to match the strong initial bid of Hussain Sajwani, of DAMAC Properties. Avison Young is the commercial real estate firm that was appointed to market the land as part of a class-action lawsuit. The auction for the 1.8-acre parcel in Surfside was scheduled for Tuesday. Earlier this month, families of the victims reached a $997 million settlement with local officials, the developers of an adjacent building and others whom they hold responsible for the collapse of the 40-year-old, 12-story beachside building during the early hours of June 24. Most of the Champlain Towers South collapsed suddenly about 1:20 a.m. last June 24 as most of its residents slept. Only three people survived the initial collapse. No other survivors were found despite the around-the-clock efforts of rescuers who dug through a 40-foot pile of rubble for two weeks. Another three dozen people were in the portion of the building that remained standing.

Georgia

Watkinsville: Two Republican front-runners hoping to clinch primary majorities made their final pitches to voters Saturday ahead of Tuesday’s election. Gov. Brian Kemp and former football star Herschel Walker hope to win GOP nominations for governor and U.S. senator Tuesday without runoffs, with polls showing both men backed by more than 50% of voters. Kemp met voters at a rally in Watkinsville, near his home in Athens, with Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts showing up to support him. Walker spoke to Republicans in Columbus, having moved into a more public campaign phase in recent days despite continued questions about his past. Walker has been accused of threatening his ex-wife’s life, exaggerating his business record and lying about graduating from the University of Georgia. An Associated Press story Saturday found that Walker was actually a paid spokesman for a for-profit veterans program that Walker has described as a way he helps veterans. Walker’s speech focused on his life story and general attacks on Democratic policies. “It is time that we get back to where we started,” Walker said, arguing that Democrats have strayed from American values. Other candidates making final pitches include former U.S. Sen. David Perdue, Kemp’s top rival for the Republican nomination, and state Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black and Navy veteran and former banker Latham Saddler, Walker’s rivals for the Senate seat.

Hawaii

Honolulu: The Hawaii Board of Education has selected the former principal of Waipahu High School to be the next superintendent of the state’s public schools. The board voted 8-1 Thursday to select Keith Hayashi, who has been interim superintendent since August. At Waipahu High School, Hayashi pioneered the Early College program, which allows high school students to take college classes through a partnership with the University of Hawaii. College professors teach the classes on high school campuses for which students receive both high school and college credit. The program is now available at 36 high schools across the state. The board’s chairperson, Catherine Payne, said the board was looking for a candidate who could heal the school system, bring the community and stakeholders together, and transition schools out of the pandemic. “His work at Waipahu High School has really touched a lot of students who were struggling and helped them to move forward into successful lives,” Payne said. “So looking at how that might be able to be applied throughout our system is really important.” Hayashi’s appointment will take effect July 1. Payne said his salary and other contract details will be negotiated. The state Legislature has set a maximum salary of $250,000 a year for the job.

Idaho

Boise: The state’s unemployment rate in April dropped a tenth of a percent to 2.6% to mark a third consecutive month of historic lows since record-keeping started in 1976, state officials said Friday. The Idaho Department of Labor said 913,000 workers have jobs, while about 24,000 are looking for work, as Idaho’s red-hot economy continues. The state’s labor force of 937,000 in April represents a labor force participation rate of 62.1%, an increase of a tenth of a percent over the previous month. Idaho’s peak participation rate was 71.4% in September 1998. The labor force participation rate is calculated from those 16 years and older working or looking for work. The Labor Department said there are more than two jobs available for every unemployed Idaho resident looking for work. Idaho’s nonfarm jobs exceeded expectations with an increase of 3,000 jobs to 815,500 in April. Industry sectors showing the most gains include natural resources, wholesale trade, professional and business services, and private educational services. Those showing greatest job declines include arts, entertainment and recreation, and information. Idaho’s unemployment rate continues to run below the national unemployment rate, which was 3.6% in April.

Illinois

Chicago: An officer who shot and seriously wounded a 13-year-old boy who ran away after being pulled over while driving a stolen vehicle was relieved of his police powers Friday, officials said. “He’s still an active member of the Chicago Police Department,” police spokesman Don Terry told the Chicago Tribune about the officer, whose name hasn’t been released. “He’s not going to be patrolling the streets, and he won’t be able to arrest people.” The action means the officer will still get paid but will be assigned to “desk duty,” Terry said. The officer had already been placed on administrative duties while the Civilian Office of Police Accountability investigates the shooting. Police Superintendent David Brown said Thursday that the fleeing teenager turned toward the officer during Wednesday’s encounter before the officer fired on him. No shots were fired at the officer, Brown said. The boy jumped from the car as officers approached the vehicle, which police said was stolen Monday and used in a carjacking Tuesday. The boy was in serious but stable condition at a hospital, Brown said Thursday. He did not elaborate, and no charges have been announced. No weapon was found at the scene, COPA said.

Indiana

Indianapolis: Democrats and activists are holding out little hope of getting the votes needed to uphold the governor’s veto of a bill banning transgender athletes from competing in school sports. The Republican-dominated Legislature is slated to override the veto by GOP Gov. Eric Holcomb, who said in March that the legislation doesn’t provide a consistent policy for what he called “fairness in K-12 sports.” But the bill passed by wide margins, and Republican leaders in the House and Senate pledged to override Holcomb’s veto with simple majorities. Although two Republicans in the House and seven in the Senate voted against the measure, Democratic Sen. J.D. Ford of Indianapolis said the override will likely be successful when the Legislature reconvenes for one day Tuesday. “This bill was filed, I believe, with the intention to specifically go after transgender Hoosiers because it was a politically savvy thing to do for the Republican base,” Ford said Friday. Still, Ford said Democrats continue to have conversations with lawmakers across the aisle, noting that some Republicans might be inclined to change their votes following the primary and the governor’s veto.

Iowa

Bettendorf: Students are once again attending class in the 1873 Forest Grove School. After raising about $200,000 over seven years to restore the falling-down, one-room school, supporters have opened the building for free “reenactments” of a typical student day. A schoolmarm teaches subjects and skills as they might have been taught during the 1920s, the time period to which the school was restored. Iowa once had 12,000 to 14,000 one-room school houses, depending on the report consulted, but with either number, Iowa had more than any other state in the nation. Supporters of Forest Grove preservation efforts want Forest Grove to be used to interpret and teach the role these schools played in the state’s history, Sharon Andresen, project coordinator for the nonprofit group, told the Quad-City Times. Because of legislation requiring consolidation of schools, Iowa’s last one-room school closed in 1967; Forest Grove closed 10 years earlier in 1957. Half- or full-day reenactments are open to any public, private or homeschool classes in the Quad City area. Fourth grade is a good target level, but Diane Borcherding, a retired Bettendorf High School biology teacher who is volunteering her time as the schoolmarm, is open to other grades, depending on the circumstances.

Kansas

Topeka: The state Supreme Court on Friday disbarred former prosecutor Jacqie Spradling for her conduct during a double-murder trial in Topeka in 2012. The court said while Spradling was a prosecutor in Shawnee County, she engaged in “repeated patterns of misconduct” during the trial of Dana Chandler, who was convicted of killing her husband and his fiance. Chandler’s convictions were later overturned because of prosecutorial misconduct. She is scheduled for a new trial later this year. The Supreme Court said Spradling ignored a court order, made arguments not supported by evidence, lied in her briefs and oral arguments, and made false statements during a disciplinary investigation. The Kansas Board for Discipline of Attorneys recommended in June 2021 that Spradling be disbarred for her “win at all costs” attitude in the Chandler case and in the 2017 conviction of Jacob Ewing, of Holton, on rape and sodomy charges. The state Supreme Court found Spradling did not violate ethical standards in Ewing’s case. The Kansas Court of Appeals reversed Ewing’s conviction in 2018, but he later accepted a plea deal. Last year, Spradling resigned from her position as assistant county attorney in Allen County and as county attorney in Bourbon County.

Kentucky

Louisville: Katy Perry earned her zookeeper stripes at the Louisville Zoo on Saturday. Zoo staff welcomed the pop music icon with an up-close encounter featuring the zoo’s own superstars, Simon, a black-footed penguin, and Sebastian the sloth. The “Roar” singer has been staying in Kentucky recently with her daughter, Daisy Dove, while fiancé Orlando Bloom shoots his new movie, “Red Right Hand.” Production on that film is expected to wrap up in June. At the zoo, Perry was “Walking on Air” through Wild Lights, a lantern festival featuring 50,000 LED lights. She also posed like a penguin next to Simon and admired the hang-ten skills of Sebastian the sloth, who “truly connected” with Perry, according to a post on the zoo sloths’ Twitter page. The Louisville Zoo features over 1,200 animals in exhibits with themes from all over the world, including Africa, home to Simon and other African penguins, as well as Australia and South America, where the sloths hang out. Earlier this month, Chelsea Handler hosted Perry on her podcast, “Dear Chelsea,” to chat about Perry’s stay in the Bluegrass State. “I’m like, living in Kentucky, and I have for almost a month now. And that’s quite an amazing experience because it reminds you that Hollywood is not America,” Perry said.

Louisiana

Baton Rouge: Gov. John Bel Edwards’ administration has agreed to remove the COVID-19 vaccine from the list of shots students are required to get to enroll in school, officials said. The state health department said in a news release Wednesday that it will continue to strongly recommend the vaccine, in accordance with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics, but acknowledged that the vaccine had not yet received full U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for those under age 16. “While we strongly recommend all eligible children be vaccinated against COVID-19 now, if they have not already been so, we are making this decision to give families and schools the time they need to prepare accordingly,” the news release said. Because the vaccine is not fully approved for those age 15 and under, requiring it would have made little difference to most students in kindergarten through high school, Edwards noted during his monthly call-in radio show. State Sen. Fred Mills, R-New Iberia, announced on the Senate floor that the administration agreed to remove the requirement after meeting with legislators. Legislation that would have removed the COVID-19 vaccine from the requirement list had stalled earlier in the session.

Maine

Augusta: A teacher whose LGBTQ lesson plan for kindergartners was removed from a state website said Friday that the governor and education department succumbed to outside pressure. The governor and department “caved to pressure instead of standing up for some of the most vulnerable people, families, and students in Maine,” Kailina Mills wrote in a social media post. The lesson plan was at the heart of a Republican attack ad that accused Democratic Gov. Janet Mills of spending $2.8 million to create “radical school lessons” aimed at kindergartners. On the video, the teacher discusses “Freedom Holidays” like the Fourth of July, Juneteenth and Women’s Equality Day before discussing freedoms won by the LGBTQ community, including same-sex marriage. She talks about sexual identities under the umbrella of “LGBT+” in the discussion. The governor previously said she agreed with the Department of Education’s review that concluded the lesson wasn’t age-appropriate. Kailina Mills disagreed with that assessment, citing a study that showed gender identities are solidified between ages 5 and 7. She wrote Friday that she’s taught preschoolers who are transgender and nonbinary and said that “those children and those families deserve to be represented in their school curriculum.”

Maryland

Hagerstown: A western Maryland race track has evicted the remnants of a trucker protest that had used the site as a staging ground. The People’s Convoy had conducted a series of rolling protests around the Capital Beltway in March to protest pandemic restrictions and other grievances. After a hiatus, a smaller group of truckers returned Wednesday to the Hagerstown Speedway. But Speedway General Manager Lisa Plessinger asked the group to leave amid infighting over its next steps. The last of the truckers left Friday night, she said. She compared the convoy to “like when your mother-in-law comes to visit and decides to stay.” A press release issued Friday on a Facebook page for The People’s Convoy “declares victory and announces its conclusion of the national convoy portion of this great movement.”

Massachusetts

Wellfleet: More than 40 people – including marine mammal experts, interns and volunteers – spent several hours battling an incoming tide to help rescue seven dolphins that got stranded in the shallow waters of a Cape Cod river last week. The International Fund for Animal Welfare first got word that the Atlantic white-sided dolphins got stranded in a shallow gut of the Herring River in Wellfleet on Wednesday morning, and rescuers were on the scene in about an hour, the organization said in a statement. It’s not unusual for dolphins to get stranded in the area because of its shape as a hook within the larger hook of Cape Cod’s shoreline and because of large tidal fluctuations in Cape Cod Bay. “The dolphins appeared alert and in good health, but the day was sure to be sunny and warm, and we needed to move quickly,” said Misty Niemeyer, of IFAW’s Marine Mammal Rescue & Research team. The tide was also coming in, and dolphins often risk getting stranded again when it rolls out, she said. The dolphins – all likely young males, 6 to 8 feet in length and weighing up to 250 pounds – were then taken in a vehicle custom-designed to transport dolphins and released in deeper waters off Provincetown in the early afternoon.

Michigan

Gaylord: Nearly all of the power lost following a deadly tornado that killed two people and flattened parts of a northern Michigan community has been restored, state police said Sunday. Police also said everyone had been accounted for in Gaylord, where Friday afternoon’s EF3 twister also left more than 40 people injured. Authorities had said Saturday that they were not able to account for one person. Cleanup continued Sunday in the town of 4,200 people about 230 miles northwest of Detroit. About 6,100 utility customers in Otsego County, where Gaylord is the county seat, lost power due to Friday’s storms, according to Jackson-based Consumers Energy. State police said Sunday that electricity had been restored to 99% of utility customers in Gaylord. The tornado packed winds of 140 mph that tore roofs and walls from businesses and largely destroyed a mobile home park. Such storms are uncommon in northern Michigan. State police Lt. Derrick Carroll has said the city doesn’t have tornado sirens, though anyone with a mobile phone got a “code red” warning from the weather service about 10 minutes before the tornado hit. The Nottingham Forest mobile home park was one of the first places hit by the tornado. Two residents, described by police as being in their 70s, were killed.

Minnesota

Redwood Falls: A partial skull that was discovered last summer by two kayakers will be returned to Native American officials after investigations determined it was about 8,000 years old. The kayakers found the skull in the drought-depleted Minnesota River about 110 miles west of Minneapolis, Renville County Sheriff Scott Hable said. Thinking it might be related to a missing person case or murder, Hable turned the skull over to a medical examiner and eventually to the FBI, where a forensic anthropologist used carbon dating to determine it was likely the skull of a young man who lived between 5500 and 6000 B.C., Hable said. “It was a complete shock to us that that bone was that old,” Hable told Minnesota Public Radio. The anthropologist determined the man had a depression in his skull that was “perhaps suggestive of the cause of death.” After the sheriff posted about the discovery Wednesday, his office was criticized by several Native Americans, who said publishing photos of ancestral remains was offensive to their culture. Hable said his office removed the post. “We didn’t mean for it to be offensive whatsoever,” he said. Hable said the remains will be turned over to Upper Sioux Community tribal officials.

Mississippi

Biloxi: Gilbert Mason Jr., who grew up in the civil rights movement and became a physician and a Black and civil rights historian, has died at age 68. Mason died Wednesday and funeral arrangements were not yet complete, according to Infinity Funeral Home in Biloxi. Mason was 5 years old in 1959 when he watched his father, Gilbert Mason Sr., lead Biloxi’s first wade-in to desegregate beaches, the Sun Herald reports. And his name was on the 1971 lawsuit that made Biloxi schools the state’s first to integrate. Like his father, Mason became a physician who served poor people. His practice was in the New Orleans area, but he returned to Biloxi when his father became ill. The elder Mason died in 2006. The son spent his last years documenting civil rights and Black history and his father’s accomplishments, the newspaper reports. Father and son both had photographic memories, said Clemon Jimerson Sr. He said the younger Mason’s memories helped to document the history of scouting on the Mississippi Coast, the music history of Biloxi and other areas for the Mississippi Blues Trail, the integration of Coast schools, and the preservation of Nichols Elementary, the historically Black school in East Biloxi.

Missouri

Kansas City: City officials have approved a new ordinance that clarifies when people may witness or record police officers’ actions without being arrested. The Kansas City Council on Thursday approved the ordinance to settle a federal lawsuit filed by three women who were arrested during racial injustice protests in 2020. The women were charged with violating city laws involving resisting or interfering with an officer. The lawsuit said those laws were unconstitutionally vague and overly broad, KCUR reports. The ordinance approved Thursday says witnessing or recording police officers does not violate city law unless the offender is substantially impeding the officer’s duties. The women were among more than 200 nonviolent protesters arrested at or near the Country Club Plaza during protests after the death in Minneapolis of George Floyd. The settlement did not require the city to pay any monetary damages.

Montana

Helena: A full month after a judge temporarily blocked enforcement of a state law that required transgender people to undergo surgery before they could change their gender on their birth certificate, the state still isn’t in compliance with the court order, the ACLU of Montana said. Jon Ebelt, spokesperson for the state health department, said the agency is still working with the Department of Justice to review the April 21 ruling and its implications. He did not respond to an email asking if that meant the state was evaluating whether to appeal the order. “We have continued to be patient in allowing the state time to comply with the court ordered preliminary injunction,” the ACLU of Montana said in a recent statement. “However, close to one month has passed and the State’s willful indifference to the court order is inexcusable.” Montana is among a growing list of Republican-controlled states that have moved to restrict transgender rights, including requiring student-athletes to participate in sports based on their gender assigned at birth or making it illegal for transgender minors to be treated with hormones or puberty blockers.

Nebraska

Wayne: A pilot died after a single-engine plane crashed at the Wayne Municipal Airport, officials said. The Cessna 140 crashed Friday evening during the MayDay STOL Drag Races. The organization that planned the events said in a Facebook post that the pilot crashed on final approach at the airport after apparently stalling and spinning. No one else was aboard the plane, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash. The pilot’s name was not released. STOL, or short take-off and landing, drag racing involves pilots flying side-by-side 2,000 feet down and back up. The rest of the weekend’s planned events were canceled.

Nevada

Las Vegas: COVID-19 emergency declarations for Nevada ended Friday as the public health agency for metro Las Vegas noted that the pandemic isn’t over and said it will continue to monitor spread of the coronavirus and provide assistance with vaccinating and testing. While most of the state’s pandemic measures, including business restrictions and mask mandates, have already been lifted, the Southern Nevada Health District said it was important to remind the public that the virus that causes COVID-19 continued to circulate. “Cases are currently increasing, and new variants are emerging,” said Dr. Fermin Leguen, chief medical officer for the district. Gov. Steve Sisolak on Thursday signed a proclamation ending the state’s emergency Friday – a planned action he announced two weeks ago, saying he wanted to ensure that there would be no gap in services. “Today, we are turning the page on the State of Emergency caused by COVID-19 and are laser focused on ensuring our recovery from the public health, fiscal and economy crisis serves the needs of Nevada’s families,” Sisolak, a Democrat running for reelection, said Thursday in a statement. Clark County, which includes the Las Vegas area, on Thursday announced the end of of its emergency declaration, which was declared March 15, 2020.

New Hampshire

Conway: A forest fire in northern New Hampshire that’s burned 106 acres is nearly contained, officials said Friday. The Bemis Fire in Crawford Notch State Park, the White Mountain National Forest, and on private land began May 13 in steep, rugged terrain. The cause is under investigation. “It’s important for the public to know that the Bemis Fire remains an active fire scene, and there are still firefighters and equipment on site,” said Capt. Adrian Reyes of the New Hampshire Forest Protection Bureau. “This weekend is expected to bring record temperatures to the region, and we ask that anyone wishing to spend time outdoors avoids the area of the fire, for their own safety as well as for the safety of the wildland crew,” he said.

New Jersey

Trenton: The state’s black bear population appears to be increasing, based on the number of reported serious encounters with humans, but as New Jersey has had no official bear management plan for the past two years, the Division of Fish and Wildlife doesn’t know for sure. Without the plan, the division did not make an estimate of the bear population in the state’s northwest area last year and won’t do so this year. The last count was done in 2020 and coincided with the last statewide bear hunt. At that time there were about 3,158 bears in northwestern New Jersey, specifically in the areas previously designated as bear hunting zones north of Route 80 and west of Route 287. Records show that reported serious encounters with bears since the count have gone up nearly ninefold. “The DEP does not have a statewide population estimate, though sightings of black bears have been reported in all 21 counties,” said the Department of Environmental Protection, which oversees the Division of Fish and Wildlife. At least two people in Sussex County were injured in separate black bear encounters just outside their homes, and at least three dogs were killed or injured. The 2020 count shows the bear population doubled from the 1,522 counted in 2018, the last year a bear hunt was allowed on state-owned lands.

New Mexico

Mora: As more than 2,700 firefighters in northern New Mexico continued to battle the nation’s largest active wildfire Sunday, many evacuees were growing concerned about their future after weeks away from home. The biggest fire in the state’s recorded history has been burning for six weeks now, and some of the hundreds forced to evacuate say their financial resources are dwindling. Amity Maes, a 30-year-old Mora resident who said she is 8¹/₂months pregnant and penniless, told the Santa Fe New Mexican she bounced around for weeks before finding shelter at an evacuation center in Glorieta, where she believes she contracted COVID-19. Officials at Glorieta Adventure Camps said there have been 67 coronavirus cases among evacuees, including some that required hospitalization. After her isolation period, Maes said she was urged to leave and go to a hotel in Santa Fe where she could be closer to a hospital if she went into labor. But the hotel didn’t have her reservation when she arrived, and when she finally got a room, it was only for one night. “They keep encouraging us to go to Albuquerque” where evacuees are being housed in hotels, Maes told the newspaper. “We don’t have gas. We don’t have no income. There’s no gas vouchers. There’s no anything. I’m on a quarter-tank of gas, and I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

New York

New York: A street inside the city’s sole Army base now bears the name of a Black Congressional Medal of Honor recipient rather than a Confederate general. Fort Hamilton changed the road’s name to John Warren Avenue on Friday morning, following a years-old push by local officials to remove Confederate symbols nationwide. The base had previously called the street General Lee Avenue, after Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. Lt. John Warren, of Brooklyn, was killed at the age of 22 in 1969 in the Vietnam War when he fell in the direction of a grenade and shielded at least three men from the blast. His Congressional Medal of Honor citation says Williams’ “ultimate action of sacrifice to save the lives of his men was in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflects great credit on him, his unit, and the U.S. Army.” Warren is buried in Long Island National Cemetery, and his Congressional Medal of Honor was posthumously presented to him in 1970. The base will also rename its Stonewall Jackson Drive, which is named after another Confederate general.

North Carolina

Raleigh: Advocacy groups and voters who this year persuaded state courts to overturn the Legislature’s congressional redistricting plan asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to avoid hearing arguments on whether such courts must be curtailed in reviewing U.S. House maps. Attorneys representing the state also joined with outside lawyers to file four legal briefs with the justices urging them to reject a petition from Republican legislative leaders to take up the issue. Through their own private lawyers, the GOP lawmakers already asked the court to formally rule on whether a provision in the U.S. Constitution delegating to state legislatures the manner of holding U.S. House elections means that state judges can’t void congressional district lines created by the General Assembly. The authors of Friday’s filings say the Supreme Court already has ruled before that some decision-making on congressional redistricting can be delegated by a state’s citizens. The same holds true when the North Carolina Legislature passed laws two decades ago setting in place the authority of courts to review redistricting plans that they approved, the lawyers wrote.

North Dakota

Pembina: One of the largest employers in northeastern North Dakota is closing later this year. Winnipeg, Manitoba-based New Flyer Industries is shutting down its charter and transit bus manufacturing plant in Pembina, located close to the Canadian border. Pembina Mayor Mike Fitzgerald said company was notified of the decision in a letter. The company told Fitzgerald that it was having difficulty finding qualified employees, a factor in its conversion to electric vehicles, and the plant’s location has become an issue. New Flyer has a plant in Crookston, Minnesota, which is about 100 miles from Pembina. Fitzgerald called the move “devastating” and said it will put more than 200 employees out of work, KFGO radio reports. The Pembina plant opened in 1963.

Ohio

Lancaster: An exhibit pairing photographs from two moments of societal crisis – the Great Depression and the COVID-19 pandemic – aims to help visitors see parallels between the human tolls felt across generations. The show, “Chronicles: The Great Depression and the Pandemic,” opened Saturday at the and runs through Aug. 28. It couples images of day-to-day life gathered by 10 Depression-era photographers and five contemporary Ohio photographers. The 1930s photographers – including Dorothea Lange, Esther Bubley, Jack Delano, Russell Lee, Carl Mydans, Gordon Parks, John Vachon and Ben Shahn – were hired by the U.S. government Works Progress Administration’s Farm Security Administration. The Ohio photographers are Autumn Bland, Donald Black, Jr., Angelo Merendino, Jane Alden Stevens and Shane Wynn. Their pictures document the ravages of the coronavirus across different social and economic groups. Special events tied to the exhibit include a talk with co-curators Christine Fowler Shearer and Arnold Tunstall on Sunday, a history lecture on the WPA, an artist talk with Wynn, and classes on smartphone photography and enhancing Instagram accounts.

Oklahoma

Oklahoma City: With the state only days away from enacting the toughest ban on abortion in the U.S., questions remained Friday about enforcing the law’s limited exceptions. The law allows abortions to save a pregnant patient’s life “in a medical emergency,” and supporters said doctors still would decide what an emergency is, though that could change later if it becomes perceived as a loophole. There’s also an exception for cases of rape, sexual assault or incest that have been reported to law enforcement, but that doesn’t help victims who don’t report the crimes to police. Abortion providers said they are likely to be cautious because the new law, like a ban at about six weeks enacted earlier and a similar 2021 law in Texas, will expose them to potentially expensive lawsuits over alleged violations. They’re planning to refer some patients to states like Colorado or Kansas, but some won’t be able to manage the extra time or travel involved. Oklahoma will provide a preview of what is in store for other states if the U.S. Supreme Court follows through on a draft opinion leaked earlier this month overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion. The law also is likely to prompt Oklahoma residents – and Texans who’d traveled to the neighboring state – to go elsewhere to end their pregnancies.

Oregon

Oregon City: A Democratic state lawmaker is calling for an investigation into a ballot-printing fiasco that will delay results from Tuesday’s primary by weeks, with a key U.S. House race hanging in the balance in a state that prides itself on voter access and election transparency. Tens of thousands of ballots in the state’s third-largest county were printed with blurred barcodes, making them unreadable by vote-counting machines – a mistake that wasn’t caught until ballots were already being returned in the vote-by-mail state. Elections workers must now hand-transfer the votes from those ballots to new ones that can be read in a painstaking process that also raises the possibility of duplication errors. As the scope of the crisis became apparent, local, state and federal lawmakers Friday all escalated their criticism of Clackamas County Elections Clerk Sherry Hall, who defended her actions at a news conference Friday and said she had learned from the mistakes. State Rep. Janelle Bynum, who represents voters in the county, called the situation “unreasonable, and untenable,” and U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, who represents some Clackamas voters in Congress, called Hall’s slow reaction “unconscionable.” Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan demanded a written plan from Hall detailing how she would get results tabulated by June 13, the state deadline.

Pennsylvania

Harrisburg: Summer Lee has won a five-way Democratic primary for a Pittsburgh-based U.S. House seat, making her the favorite in the heavily Democratic district to win the fall general election and become the first Black woman elected to Congress from Pennsylvania. Friday was the fourth day of counting ballots after Tuesday’s primary in the closely contested race for the open 12th District seat. Lee, a second-term state House member, lawyer and former labor organizer, comes from the party’s progressive wing. She was endorsed by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., the two-time presidential candidate and a leading voice in the Democratic Party’s left wing who came to campaign for Lee. Lee beat out second-place Steve Irwin, who was endorsed by the Allegheny County Democratic Party and backed by prominent Democrats from the county. The seat is open because longtime Rep. Mike Doyle – first elected in 1994 – is not running again. It also has new boundaries since Pennsylvania’s congressional districts were redrawn to account for a decade of demographic changes identified by the 2020 census. Lee will face the Republican nominee of the same name as the outgoing Democratic incumbent – Mike Doyle – in the fall general election.

Rhode Island

Bristol: Dr. Anthony Fauci urged graduates of Roger Williams University on Friday to fight what he called the “normalization of untruths,” which has become a growing and more troubling problem during the COVID-19 pandemic. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert and the face of the federal government’s response to the coronavirus, was the commencement ceremony’s keynote speaker but addressed students at the private Rhode Island college remotely because he had to attend a memorial service for a family member. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, I have experienced firsthand something that has troubled and saddened me – a deepened divisiveness in our nation,” he said. “Unfortunately, differences of opinion or ideology are propped up by deliberate distortions of reality to the point of fabrications, conspiracy theories, and outright lies.” He told the students to apply the analytic skills they have learned during their time at the university to challenge and renounce untruths, which he called a threat to the nation. “Reject the politicization of science that denigrates evidence and facts,” he said.

South Carolina

Columbia: Two new state laws require elementary school teachers to get a 30-minute break each day without students and ban districts from turning over school lunch debt to collection agencies. The bills were passed in the final days of the 2022 General Assembly session and signed into law by Gov. Henry McMaster. Both passed the House and Senate unanimously. The break bill requires teachers in elementary school and special education teachers who have students in their classes for most of the day to get 30 minutes without any assigned duties or responsibilities. Teacher groups requested the law, saying some teachers never had time to eat a lunch or even use the bathroom because they were watching students. A second bill prohibits school districts from turning over debt a student owes for school lunches to a collection agency. Supporters said students need to eat regardless of their ability to pay, and turning debt over to a collection agency was too drastic of a step.

South Dakota

Sturgis: The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled a sex crime conviction doesn’t require an actual victim. The court last week upheld the conviction of a man stemming from a sting operation during the 2017 Sturgis motorcycle rally. Carlocito Slim argued he was just looking for a massage when he responded to an ad on the Backpage website under the headline “Women Seeking Men.” Slim was actually responding to an ad that was a sting setup and unknowingly texted a special agent with South Dakota’s Division of Criminal Investigation. The agent, posing as a pimp, told Slim he could meet a 15-year-old girl. And when Slim showed up at the assigned meeting place with condoms and $200, he was arrested and later convicted of two federal felonies. Slim argued there couldn’t be a conviction because there was no pimp and no crime victim. Defense attorney Terry Pechota told the judges his client simply didn’t understand the text communications and was only looking for a massage, South Dakota Public Broadcasting reports. “He doesn’t ask about whether or not the girl is 16, or whether they’re going to engage in any funny stuff or illegal stuff,” Pechota said. But Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Kelderman said Slim knew what was going on and later told investigators he thought he was meeting a girl for sex.

Tennessee

Nashville: Gov. Bill Lee said Friday that he doesn’t have a timeline yet on when his administration might roll out a long-blocked school voucher program that saw its biggest legal roadblock removed by the state’s high court last week. The Republican told reporters it was a “good first step” for the Supreme Court to rule Wednesday that the voucher initiative doesn’t violate the Tennessee Constitution’s “home rule,” which says the Legislature can’t pass measures singling out individual counties without local support. The decision upends earlier court rulings that have kept the program that passed in 2019 from ever being implemented. The program applies only to Nashville and Shelby County, which includes Memphis, the areas with the lowest-performing schools and regions with Democratic political strongholds who opposed the measure. The two counties were among the entities that sued over the program. But the governor also said there are “legal decisions yet to be made” and “a lot of steps that have to come to fruition” before the program can get up and running. “Once we determine the speed with which the court will make its final decisions, then we can move forward with the particulars to make sure this works and fits, and how it is that we roll it out,” Lee said.

Texas

Mentone: The top elected official in a rural, sparsely populated West Texas county has been arrested after being accused of stealing cattle. Loving County Judge Skeet Jones, 71, and three other men were arrested Friday on charges of livestock theft and engaging in organized criminal activity. All four men were taken to the jail in neighboring Winkler County, where they have since been released on bond. Jones hadn’t returned a call seeking comment Sunday. The arrests came after a yearlong investigation, according to a statement from the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. The association has commissioned peace officers known as special rangers who investigate agricultural crimes, including the theft of cattle and horses. The rangers also determine the ownership of stray livestock. The association’s special rangers allege Jones and the others gathered stray cattle and sold them without following procedures set forth in the Texas Agriculture Code. Those procedures include calling the sheriff to report stray livestock and allowing the sheriff to search for the animal’s owner. The association declined to provide additional details about the case, citing the ongoing investigation. The theft of livestock charge carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and the organized criminal activity charge up to 20 years in prison.

Utah

St. George: Southern Utah’s first 24-hour child care center is opening soon, aiming to help families break away from poverty. The new Stepping Stones day care center is slated to open June 1 and will be housed under SwitchPoint, the St. George-based nonprofit that runs and operates the area’s largest homeless shelter, food bank and other programs aimed at helping people living in poverty. The center will stay open 24 hours per day, seven days per week, and will aim to help parents and guardians who struggle who pay the costs of child care elsewhere. “We’ve got to create something that can help alleviate keeping families trapped in poverty,” said Carol Holloway, the executive director of Switchpoint, to a packed room of people at a ribbon-cutting event at the center Tuesday. Kamie Blake, the program director for the care center, said it will be the only 24/7 child care center in southern Utah and one of the few in operation in the state. Children as young as 6 weeks old and up to 12 years old will be eligible to attend. At full capacity, Stepping Stones can take up to 270 kids each day and has a kitchen, laundry and sleeping areas to accommodate the round-the-clock operations. There are five classrooms on site, with lessons scheduled based on age.

Vermont

Montpelier: Gov. Phil Scott vetoed a bill that would have created a drug use standards advisory board within the state sentencing commission, saying it “places no limits on which drugs can be contemplated for legalization or the amounts.” The board would determine “the benchmark personal use dosage and the benchmark personal use supply” for regulated and unregulated drugs, with a goal of preventing and reducing the criminalization of personal drug use, according to the bill. Scott, a Republican, said in his letter Thursday to the General Assembly the bill includes “absolutely no recognition” of health and safety impacts of using fentanyl, heroin and other drugs, and it doesn’t acknowledge law enforcement’s role in stopping dealers. Scott also vetoed a bill that would have expanded eligibility for the expungement of criminal records for nonviolent crimes. “Ultimately, I find this bill inconsistent with the State’s responsibilities to keep the public safe,” he wrote. Rep. Selene Colburn, P-Burlington, who supported both bills, said she was upset about the outcome, WCAX-TV reports. “We are not talking about reducing penalties for violent crimes or changing expungement eligibility. We are simply talking about treating people who have used drugs and who have struggled with substance use disorder with dignity and respect and the basic belief that their lives are valuable,” she said.

Virginia

Williamsburg: Attorneys for the U.S. government have indicated they will not oppose a plan to lift all remaining restrictions next month on John Hinckley Jr., the man who tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981. U.S. District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman in Washington ruled last year that Hinckley can be freed unconditionally in June if he continues to follow the rules placed on him and remains mentally stable as he continues to live in Williamsburg. Hinckley, 66, has indeed remained mentally stable and violated no conditions, according to a letter filed by U.S. attorneys with the court Thursday. That determination was based on letters from the Washington’s Department of Health, which has overseen Hinckley’s care. A court hearing is scheduled for June 1. Hinckley was 25, suffering from acute psychosis, when he shot and wounded the 40th U.S. president and injured three others. When jurors found him not guilty by reason of insanity, they said he needed treatment and not a lifetime in confinement. A 2016 court order granted him permission to live with his mom full time, after experts said his mental illness had been in remission for decades. She died in July. He signed a lease on a one-bedroom apartment in the area last year and began living there with his cat, Theo, according to court filings. In recent years, Hinckley has sold items from a booth at an antique mall that he’s found at estate sales, flea markets and consignment shops. He’s also shared his music on YouTube.

Washington

Seattle: An invasive European green crab was captured last week in Hood Canal, the farthest south the species has been found in the Salish Sea. Volunteers with Washington Sea Grant trapped the male European green crab in Nick’s Lagoon near Seabeck in Kitsap County, The Seattle Times reports. The organization has been tasked by the state with early detection of the crab’s spread. Washington Sea Grant marine ecologist Emily Grason said in a news release the crab arrived at the lagoon last year, based on its size. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife in response will increase trapping there to assess the scope of the green crab presence and try to locally eradicate the species. Gov. Jay Inslee issued an emergency proclamation in January to address a significant increase in European green crab populations within the Lummi Nation’s sea pond near Bellingham. The crab is highly adaptable and preys on juvenile clams before they reach harvestable age. It also out-competes native crab species and wreaks havoc on marine and estuary ecosystems. It was first found in Washington’s inland waters in 2016.

West Virginia

Charleston: Gov. Jim Justice said Thursday that social services workers will receive a 15% pay increase by tapping funds from existing vacant positions after such efforts failed in the Legislature. About 970 employees of the Department of Health and Human Resources’ Bureau for Social Services will receive the raises starting June 18. There are more than 6,500 children in the care of the state. According to the DHHR, there is a 30% vacancy rate statewide for foster care employees. “I told you we’d get this done, and we got it done without spending any excess money,” the Republican governor said in a statement. “I always say we need to mind the store, and we’ve done it the right way. As a result, we’re now able to compensate these people that are doing incredible work.” Employee pay raises and other key provisions were stripped from a social services bill before it died on the final day of the regular legislative session in March. After the pay raises were gutted, DHHR Secretary Bill Crouch told a Senate committee that the department would reduce the number of open positions to provide the much-needed raises to child protective services employees. Crouch said Thursday those vacant positions indeed funded the raises.

Wisconsin

Madison: A disorderly conduct conviction can’t disqualify someone from obtaining a permit to carry a concealed weapon, the state Supreme Court ruled Friday in a unanimous decision that could dramatically broaden who can carry hidden firearms, knives and stun guns. The court found that disorderly conduct isn’t a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence under federal law and therefore doesn’t disqualify a person from holding a concealed carry license. Justice Jill Karofsky, a member of the court’s liberal minority, concurred but in a separate opinion called on legislators to close a “dangerous loophole” that will allow domestic abusers to carry concealed weapons. Lawmakers introduced a bipartisan bill a year ago that would have reconciled the language, but it never got got a hearing. “Though legally correct, this result is as nonsensical as it is dangerous,” Karofsky wrote. “When a domestic abuse perpetrator, who has engaged in threats to kill or any other type of domestic violence, has access to a gun, the lethality risk for his victim increases significantly.” The case revolves around Daniel Doubek, of Green Bay. According to court documents, Doubek broke into his estranged wife’s trailer in Door County in 1993 waving a board and shouting threats. He was ultimately convicted of disorderly conduct.

Wyoming

Jackson: Local reservoirs are likely to be nearly drained this summer amid lingering drought in the Snake River basin, the Jackson Hole News&Guide reports. Federal officials predicted Thursday during an annual water meeting at the Teton County Library that reservoirs like Jackson Lake and Palisades could fall to 2%-10% if summer proves particularly hot and dry, according to the newspaper.

From USA TODAY Network and wire reports

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Rare tornado, one-room schoolhouse: News from around our 50 states