Eel-powered tree, skateboard safety, red light on herring: News from around our 50 states

Alabama

Florence: Officials say a major project to repair the University of North Alabama Planetarium and Observatory should be complete by Jan. 1. The TimesDaily reports the landmark dome that covers the facility has been removed so crews can repair the concrete structure that supports its weight. Michael Gautney, assistant vice president of facilities administration and planning at UNA, says the repairs are needed because the concrete that supported the dome had cracked. Mel Blake, the planetarium-observatory director, says there were also problems with the original dome: It leaked, so the telescope had to be covered when it rains. Gautney says a new $33,000 dome was manufactured and assembled in Illinois to make sure everything worked, then taken apart and shipped to Alabama.

Alaska

Bethel: An Alaska Native community airport has been unable to receive night flights or medevac flights because of disabled runway lights, officials say. Alaska’s Energy Desk reports officials noticed Quinhagak’s runway lights were not working properly in September. The damage to the lights became obvious when the nights became longer, officials said. “There are some that are pulled out or have popped out,” Quinhagak Tribal Administrator Patrick Cleveland says. Quinhagak has closed the airport to all night flights until the end of the month and possibly longer, officials say. The state Department of Transportation promised to supply the airport with emergency lights so medevac flights can land, Quinhagak Native Tribal Council President Darren Cleveland said in a social media post.

Arizona

Phoenix: An appeals court says state law doesn’t permit judges to deny name-change requests made only because the requesting person wants the new name to reflect a gender transition. The Court of Appeals made that ruling Tuesday in a decision that overturned a Yuma County Superior Court judge’s denial of a name-change petition. The judge had ruled without elaborating that the requesting person hadn’t shown so-called good cause for the name-change request, and Court of Appeals said the judge’s stated reason for denying the request didn’t track with state law. The appellate court said Arizona’s law on changing names doesn’t require a showing of good cause. It also said the requester satisfied the law’s disclosure requirements related to any financial commitments, felony convictions, pending charges or criminal intentions.

Arkansas

Jonesboro: Officials have voted to rename a street in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. following months of spirited debate. The Jonesboro City Council on Monday approved converting Commercial Drive to Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. The vote comes after the council formed a committee in June to address the issue after some council members opposed renaming Johnson Avenue after the civil rights leader. NAACP Craig County Chapter President Emma Agnew said the gesture is about the idea of inclusion and about honoring someone who gave people hope. The Arkansas Department of Transportation is planning a $32.2 million expansion of Commercial Drive from a two-lane road. The project calls for turning the street into a major arterial route that will link Johnson Avenue to Interstate 555.

California

Indio: The Indio International Tamale Festival returns Saturday and Sunday, bringing six stages with live entertainment, four beer and wine gardens, carnival rides, games, a farmers market, a food truck park and a kid’s zone with free crafts. Metalachi, the “world’s first and only” heavy metal mariachi band, will perform. The festival began in 1992 as a half-day event, with about 15 vendors and an estimated attendance of 2,500. It’s now hosted over two days and has been recognized globally, making it into the Guinness Book of World Records twice – for the World’s Largest Tamale in 1999 and for World’s Largest Tamale Festival in 2000, according to the festival website. At least 125,000 people are expected to attend the festival, which has earned its place on numerous best-of lists, including Food Network’s Top 10 list of “All-American Food Festivals” in 2002.

Colorado

Grand Junction: The Bureau of Land Management has proposed transferring federal lands to the state to pay off a government debt dating back more than a century and is now seeking comment on the proposal. The Daily Sentinel reports BLM has proposed giving 28 square miles of federal lands and minerals and another 9 square miles of federal mineral estate to the state. Officials from the state Board of Land Commissioners say a petition was filed for land and mineral estate in lieu of land never previously received. Officials say the land proposed for exchange wouldn’t affect access to public lands for recreation. They say existing oil and gas leases would also remain in effect. Federal officials say the transfer would satisfy the debt it owed the state in 1876 after it joined the union. Officials say the state never got those lands because they were included in an Indian reservation or forest reserve or national forest.

Connecticut

Hartford: Gov. Ned Lamont has set Jan. 14 as the date to hold special elections to fill two vacancies in the Connecticut House of Representatives. One will fill the 48th Assembly District seat, which consists of portions of Colchester, Lebanon, Mansfield and Windham. The seat was most recently held by Linda Orange, who died Nov. 20. The other special election will fill the 132nd Assembly District seat, which consists of portions of Fairfield. The seat was most recently held by Brenda Kupchick, who resigned Nov. 22. By law, the governor is required to issue a writ of special election within ten days of a vacancy in the General Assembly. Those special elections must be held exactly 46 days after the date the writ was issued.

Delaware

Seaford: Dan Brissey, serving his fourth overseas tour with the National Guard, had a request for help: He’d made friends with a stray cat while serving in Afghanistan and felt he couldn’t leave her there, but the cost to bring the cat home to Delaware was steep at $3,000. The response was overwhelming. In just two days, donations to get Sully the kitten to Brissey’s home in Seaford burst past that $3,000 goal for a single cat, reaching nearly $8,000 by early Wednesday. The kitten is being cared for by Nowzad, in Kabul, Afghanistan’s only animal rescue. A portion of the donations made on Fundrazr.com are earmarked for Sully’s care and transportation. Extra funds will help the clinic’s operations and transportation for other military pet adoptees.

District of Columbia

Washington: In an unprecedented move, the D.C. Council wants to expel a member over ethics violations. News outlets report an ad hoc committee made of 12 of the 13 council members voted Tuesday to recommend Jack Evans’ expulsion. The 13th member, Evans, was absent. He had been invited to speak on his behalf and call any witnesses. The Washington Post reports this is the first time the council has moved to eject a member. The push for Evans’ ousting comes after a third-party investigation determined he used his office to benefit private clients. Chairman Phil Mendelson says extreme circumstances are required for the council to intervene, noting that Evans’ conduct has shattered the public’s trust. He says the full council will receive the committee report this month, and an expulsion vote will follow.

Florida

Tallahassee: State education officials and advocates say about 200,000 students could become ineligible for automatic free school lunches under a Trump administration proposal expected to reduce the number of food-stamp enrollees. News outlets that reported the figures this week say a finalized rule could come as soon as the end of the month. Children automatically qualify for free lunches if their families receive food stamps, but in July the Trump administration proposed tightening eligibility for what was formerly called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The U.S. Agriculture Department released an analysis in October showing nearly 1 million students nationwide could be affected. News outlets say affected Florida households would still be eligible for free- and reduced-price meals if they individually file an application for the National School Lunch Program.

Georgia

Macon: The music studio that fused blues, country and other sounds into Southern rock is being reborn. Capricorn Sound Studios helped propel the Allman Brothers Band and other groups to stardom in the 1970s. Capricorn’s historic Studio A is reopening this month, after years of work by Mercer University and other supporters to restore and equip it with state-of-the-art technology. Mercer President William Underwood says he hopes the renovated studio will help preserve Macon’s place among cities that forged the nation’s music history. Macon-area officials hope the restoration – funded with help from two charitable foundations and other private donors – will help spur downtown redevelopment. The Capricorn Music Incubator will also provide 12 rehearsal rooms for musicians to hone their craft. “One day hopefully the next Otis Redding will come out of that incubator,” Underwood says.

Hawaii

Wailuku: A new county financing tool could be used to raise millions of dollars for a project to restore part of the Maui coastline damaged by erosion, officials say. The Maui County Planning Department and the Kahana Bay Steering Committee want to establish a community facilities district, The Maui News reports. The district would help fund the erosion project through a special tax on property owners within its boundaries, officials say. The plan was presented Monday to a Maui County Council committee, which did not take immediate action. The Kahana Bay coastline has been eroded by rising sea levels, frequent storms and seawalls built to protect condominiums, officials say. The beach revitalization project is projected to cost $19 million to $30 million, officials say.

Idaho

Boise: Democratic state House Minority Leader Mat Erpelding announced Wednesday that he will resign Friday. The Boise lawmaker said in a resignation letter to Republican Gov. Brad Little and Republican House Speaker Scott Bedke that he’s joining the Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce. Democrats will offer three possible replacements for Little to choose from to serve the rest of Erpelding’s term in the next legislative session that begins in early January. Erpelding began representing Boise’s north end in 2012 and became House minority leader in 2017. Republicans hold super-majorities in the Idaho House and Senate. Erpelding, an articulate spokesman for his side, found areas where he could work with Republicans but did not shy from confrontations. This year he used House rules requiring every bill to be read in full when he felt Republicans were trying to rush through a redistricting bill.

Illinois

Chicago: The interim police superintendent has demoted a commander whom the city’s inspector general accused of directing on-duty officers under him to babysit his son with special needs. Interim Superintendent Charlie Beck’s demotion of Commander Anthony Escamilla to captain Tuesday is one of the first moves by Beck after Mayor Lori Lightfoot made her stunning announcement Monday that she was firing Superintendent Eddie Johnson because she said he lied to her about his behavior the night in October when he was found asleep in his running vehicle. The Chicago Tribune reports that the demotion comes nearly a year after Inspector General Joseph Ferguson’s office recommended the possible firing of Escamilla. At the time, Johnson chose instead to suspend Escamilla for seven days.

Indiana

West Lafayette: Purdue University plans to study the safety of electric skateboards and scooters in response to a rash of serious injuries on campus. Purdue President Mitch Daniels says the study would look at “the extreme safety issues” posed by electric skateboards, scooters and other personal electric vehicles. He says one student recently suffered a near-fatal accident while using an electric skateboard. Daniels says a task force will propose new policies for electric vehicles and study whether those should also include traditional, human-powered skateboards and bicycles. The panel is expected to look at possible speed limits, restrictions on hours of operation and helmet requirements. Purdue says campus police have received more than a dozen reports of serious personal injury accidents since the school year started.

Iowa

Ames: A 20-year-old Iowa State University student has become the youngest woman elected to office in state history by winning election to the Ames City Council. Rachel Junck defeated incumbent businessman Chris Nelson in Tuesday’s runoff. Nelson, 47, was seeking his third term on the council. Junck, who is studying chemical engineering, has said it would be an honor to make Iowa history. “But being able to represent a whole different generation of people on the council would be, I think, a bigger honor,” she said before the election. Junck, the daughter of two Ames schoolteachers, grew up in the city that is home to Iowa State University. She received 712 votes to Nelson’s 587 votes Tuesday. The election results will have to be certified by Story County before the outcome is official.

Kansas

Topeka: A prisoner rights group says the Kansas Department of Corrections unfairly censors publications even with the adoption of a new policy and the elimination of a banned book list. The Human Rights Defense Center has cited a list of more than 200 books and magazines that administrators have recently blocked, including Richard Powers’ Pulitzer Prize winner “The Overstory.” In May, the center revealed that the prison system maintained a list of 7,000 banned books. Corrections Secretary Jeff Zmuda abolished the list after his arrival in July. He adopted a policy that allows for the review and appeal of confiscated publications earlier this year. Department spokesman Randy Bowman says the policy is based on the landmark 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling on obscenity.

Kentucky

Fort Knox: About 350 free Christmas trees are being offered to active military service members and their families after a tree lighting ceremony at an Army post this week. The Trees for Troops program is providing the trees to be distributed Thursday at Fort Knox. The tree lighting is set for 5:30 p.m. the same day at the Post Gazebo across from Brooks Parade Field. Fort Knox says units, organizations and schools as well as area businesses and municipalities also have provided 4-by-8-foot holiday cards surrounding Brooks Field. The trees will be distributed until 8 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Free hot chocolate and cookies will be available.

Louisiana

Logansport: A 122-year-old hardware and department store that once saw a visit from Bonnie and Clyde is closing in northwest Louisiana. N.J. Caraway & Co. has been serving customers in Logansport since 1897. The DeSoto Parish store nestled on the bank of the Sabine River sells an eclectic collection of hardware, antiques, clothing, candles and much more. Store owner Janet Palmer tells KSLA-TV she’s ready to retire. She’s having health issues, and her husband died nine years ago. The couple had run the store for nearly 40 years. N.J. Caraway & Co. survived two fires and even received a visit from the notorious duo Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, looking to buy ammunition, which the store didn’t sell. The store’s final day of operations will be Dec. 28.

Maine

Portland: Federal fishing regulators are limiting the amount of herring that fishermen can catch off New England until the end of the year. Atlantic herring are the subject of a large fishing industry in the Northeast. They’re used for bait and food. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says it’s implementing a 2,000-pound herring possession limit per trip in the inshore Gulf of Maine until Dec. 31. The agency says it’s taking the step because 92% of the catch limit in the area has been harvested. NOAA says no herring fishing is allowed in the area from Jan. 1 to May 31, so the fishery won’t be able to fully resume in the inshore gulf until June. Herring are economically important in New England because they’re used as lobster bait.

Maryland

Baltimore: State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby says she’s concerned about the integrity and credibility of about 305 city police officers, most of whom the department stands by. News outlets report Mosby on Tuesday presented a list of the officers to a state policing commission formed to identify department issues that fostered a corrupt police unit. She says the integrity concerns essentially mean those officers won’t be able to testify in court. The deputy commissioner of the department’s bureau that oversees misconduct investigations told the commission that most of the listed officers don’t have credibility issues. Brian Nadeau said the list mostly serves as a prosecutorial tool but agreed 22 of the listed officers shouldn’t be called to testify. Only two of those 22 officers remain at the department.

Massachusetts

Boston: Young adults who had been in the custody of the state will maintain health insurance coverage until their 26th birthday under a new law. MassHealth, the state’s Medicaid program, will provide the coverage for the former foster youth. Republican Gov. Charlie Baker on Tuesday signed the bill that also seeks to improve the accuracy of health insurance provider directories. Supporters of the law say out-of-date and inaccurate directories make it difficult for people – especially individuals with behavioral health conditions – to find timely care. Health Care For All Executive Director Amy Rosenthal says maintaining health coverage is particularly challenging for young adults formerly involved with the Department of Children and Families. The new law is also designed to help families with children facing complex medical challenges.

Michigan

Houghton: Scientists say gray wolves relocated to Isle Royale National Park are adjusting nicely to their new surroundings and finding plenty of prey. Officials released findings Monday from observations of wolves that were captured on the mainland and taken to the Lake Superior park in the past year. Plans call for moving 20 to 30 wolves to Isle Royale to restore a population that had nearly disappeared because of inbreeding. The park’s current total is 17. The radio-collared wolves were monitored over the summer by park staffers and researchers with the State University of New York. They studied remains of animals the wolves had eaten and concluded that more than half of the prey were moose. But the wolves also feasted on beavers and snowshoe hares. Natural resources chief Mark Romanski says the prey study is part of an effort to determine how wolf restoration will affect the park’s ecosystems.

Minnesota

St. Paul: An environmental group has put the state Department of Natural Resources on notice that it plans to sue the agency for failing to protect Canada lynx from trappers. The Center for Biological Diversity filed a 60-day notice Wednesday as required by federal law before it can file a lawsuit to try to force the state to follow the Endangered Species Act. The notice says Minnesota has failed to comply with a 2008 federal court order meant to protect lynx from being caught by trappers seeking other species. The group says state and federal agencies have documented captures of 16 lynx over the past decade in traps that were set for other species in northern Minnesota, including six that resulted in deaths of the rare cats. The center cites a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service report that puts Minnesota’s lynx population at between 50 and 200.

Mississippi

Hattiesburg: A statue of slain civil rights leader Vernon Dahmer now sits outside the Forrest County Courthouse. The bronze sculpture, created by artists Vixon Sullivan and Ben Watts, was commissioned in 2018 by the Forrest County Board of Supervisors to honor Dahmer, who was killed for trying to get black people registered to vote. Dahmer was a farmer and NAACP leader who was killed when Ku Klux Klan members firebombed his home after Klansmen learned residents could pay their poll taxes at the Dahmer family grocery store next to their home. His widow, Ellie Dahmer, who was at the courthouse in Hattiesburg on Tuesday surrounded by family, said she was impressed by the statue’s likeness to her late husband and appreciated its placement at the courthouse. The sculpture now sits atop a wall that bears Vernon Dahmer’s motto: “If you don’t vote, you don’t count.”

Missouri

St. Louis: The state became a focal point for officer-involved shootings after Michael Brown’s killing in Ferguson in 2014, yet only a few of the state’s police agencies submit data to an FBI program that tracks those shootings. A St. Louis Post-Dispatch analysis has found that the voluntary National Use-of-Force Data Collection effort has been slow to catch on, even among St. Louis-area police departments. The program gathers information on fatal and nonfatal shootings and records instances when officers fire their weapons but strike no one. Proponents say the data collection is essential in understanding how officers make life-and-death decisions. They say the information also can inform police leaders about how to better train officers. The FBI says only 13 of about 600 agencies in Missouri had submitted a report through Nov. 22.

Montana

Great Falls: This year marked the city’s snowiest fall on record, according to the National Weather Service. The meteorological fall begins Sept. 1 and ends Nov. 30. In 2019, Great Falls received 60.4 inches of snow in that span, more than four times the normal of 13.4 inches and shattering the 1985 record of 29.1 inches, according to the weather service. Atmospheric conditions lined up perfectly at the right time and right place for a snowy fall, says Francis Kredensor, a meteorologist with NWS. Winter storms walloped north-central Montana in September and October. Icing on the cake came over Thanksgiving, when 17.2 inches fell between Tuesday, Nov. 26, and Saturday, Nov. 30. Great Falls finished with 24.1 inches of snow in November, the second-snowiest November on record and just shy of the 2005 record of 24.9 inches.

Nebraska

Bellevue: Leaders of this Omaha suburb have voted down a measure that would have allowed the firing of elected officials for engaging in misconduct or leaking information from closed-door meetings. The Bellevue City Council on Tuesday voted 5-1 to approve an ordinance defining punishments for the city’s mayor and council members if his or her conduct was “severe or egregious,” the Omaha World-Herald reports. Those punishments include reprimands and the loss of an official’s seat on a committee or task force. But the council voted 4-2 to withdraw a previously floated proposal that could have removed offending elected officials from office. That proposal had drawn criticism from residents who said voters should determine who serves or is removed from elected office.

Nevada

Las Vegas: A mother says she received a $3,000 bill after doctors removed a plastic doll shoe stuck in her 3-year-old daughter’s nose. KTNV-TV reports Lucy Branson stuck two pink Polly Pocket plastic doll shoes up her nose – one in each nostril. Her mother, Katy Branson, says she was able to remove one of the shoes, but even urgent care couldn’t reach the second shoe. Branson says she then took her daughter to Dignity Health St. Rose Dominican Siena Campus in Henderson, where physicians used a tweezer-like tool to successfully remove the shoe in seconds. The Branson family says they initially received a bill for $3,000, but the charge was reduced to $1,700 because of a high-deductible medical policy.

New Hampshire

Concord: Gov. Chris Sununu has signed an executive order preparing the state for future offshore wind development. The order signed Tuesday establishes four advisory boards focused on fisheries and endangered species, workforce and economic development, offshore industries, and infrastructure. “New Hampshire recognizes the tremendous potential that offshore wind power has to offer,” Sununu said in a statement. The boards will report to a a Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Offshore Renewable Task Force, which has its first meeting Dec. 12 at the University of New Hampshire. The order also instructs several government agencies to study and report on greenhouse gas reduction potential of offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine and opportunities for New Hampshire to attract offshore wind supply chain operations.

New Jersey

Newark: State Attorney General Gurbir Grewal issued a handful of new directives Wednesday to law enforcement, aimed at overhauling how police and prosecutors handle investigations, including the release of video from incidents involving officers. Grewal unveiled the directives in Newark alongside State Police Superintendent Col. Patrick Callahan, other law enforcement officers and prosecutors. Among the changes are a presumption in favor of publicly releasing any video recordings that show “serious” use of force by authorities. The new rule also includes the release of third-party footage captured by surveillance cameras or a smartphone. The change is aimed at promoting transparency and trust with the public, Grewal said. The directives stemmed in part from requests for clarity from stakeholders across the state, Grewal said.

New Mexico

Albuquerque: The city is taking more heat for flaws in its crime statistics. The Albuquerque Journal reports the numbers released in July and at the end of 2018 have been revised dramatically to include hundreds – and in some cases thousands – more incidents than were reported initially. The city blames a lack of staffing at the records unit that prepared the data and a software glitch. Reasons for the inaccuracies come two months after the Associated Press reported that the city amended many of its midyear statistics, noting that several categories of crimes had declined by far lesser percentages than originally touted by city officials. The corrected figures showed aggravated assaults declined by just 7.5%, not 33%. Rape decreased 3%, not 29%, and auto theft decreased 22%, not 39%.

New York

New York: The mayor signed a bill Wednesday that transfers control of the nation’s largest public burial ground from the correction department to the parks department. More than 1 million people are buried on Hart’s Island just off the Bronx. The island has until now been controlled by the Department of Correction, with graves dug by prisoners of the nearby Rikers Island jail. Family members who have identified loved ones buried there have complained that getting there by an occasional ferry has been difficult. But city officials promise to ease the trip in the future. The council voted last month to transfer control of the potter’s field.

North Carolina

Pittsboro: The United Daughters of the Confederacy has lost a bid to put a Confederate monument back on the grounds of a courthouse after county officials removed it. WRAL reports Superior Court Judge Susan Bray issued the ruling Monday, more than a week after the monument was removed from the Chatham County Courthouse grounds. The UDC had tried to block the removal, saying a 2015 state law mandates that the statue be returned. The local chapter donated the monument to Chatham County in 1907. The removal came months after Winston-Salem officials removed a Confederate statue from land there that had passed into private hands. Protesters have also torn down monuments at a Durham courthouse and on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

North Dakota

Grand Forks: A brigadier general and retired dean at the Air Force Academy will be the next president at the University of North Dakota. The state Board of Higher Education on Tuesday named Andrew Armacost to take over for Mark Kennedy, a former Minnesota congressman who earlier this year was named president at the University of Colorado. Armacost served more than 30 years on active duty and spent 20 years both a professor and executive at the Air Force Academy, including stints as dean of faculty and chief academic officer. Armacost is the 13th president of the university, all of whom have been men. The other finalists were Laurie Stenberg Nichols, former president at University of Wyoming, and David Rosowsky, former provost at the University of Vermont.

Ohio

Columbus: A proposal aimed at outlawing abortions would present some doctors in the state with a choice between facing potential criminal prosecution or attempting a procedure considered medically impossible – the reimplantation of an ectopic pregnancy. A doctor who terminates a pregnancy could face murder charges under the Republican-sponsored bill unless it is done to save a woman’s life. Even then, the proposal says doctors could be prosecuted unless they do whatever they can to save the “unborn child” as well, including trying to move an ectopic pregnancy into the woman’s uterus. Such a pregnancy involves a fertilized egg implanted outside the uterus, which can lead to life-threatening complications for the woman. Reimplantation in such pregnancies isn’t physiologically possible, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Oklahoma

Oklahoma City: Gov. Kevin Stitt says he opposes a proposed state question that would restrict prosecutors from using previous felony convictions to enhance sentences in certain criminal cases. In a speech Tuesday to the Urban League of Greater Oklahoma City, Stitt said that while he supports criminal justice reforms, he’s concerned about enshrining the changes in the state Constitution, The Oklahoman reports. A bipartisan group of business, religious and political leaders called Oklahomans for Sentencing Reform launched the initiative last month, saying they’ve seen years of legislative inaction on the issue, largely because of strong opposition from Oklahoma prosecutors. Once the initiative is approved, supporters must gather nearly 178,000 signatures in a 90-day window for the proposal to appear on the ballot as State Question 805.

Oregon

Salem: State Police failed to reveal DNA evidence that could have exonerated a man who has spent nine years in prison for the killing of his girlfriend, a judge ruled in overturning the conviction. Nicholas McGuffin has consistently maintained his innocence in the death of Leah Freeman, who was 15 when she disappeared from her hometown of Coquille, Oregon, in 2000. Her body was found in the woods five weeks later. McGuffin was convicted by a 10-2 jury verdict of manslaughter in 2011, even though there were no witnesses and no evidence tying McGuffin to the crime. “Mr. McGuffin’s case proves the importance of understanding forensic evidence and the need to get it right,” said Janis Puracal, lead attorney in McGuffin’s post-conviction team. She said McGuffin has spent nine years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.

Pennsylvania

Harrisburg: Slot play is such big business in the state that it helps to subsidize horse racing. A USA TODAY Network investigation revealed that Pennsylvania is not alone in subsidizing the U.S. horse racing industry, keeping it alive while thousands of horses die gruesome deaths on the nation’s tracks. But the Keystone State does push it the most money. Since 2010, the state’s Pari-Mutuel Benchmark Reports show horse racing has been given an average of $228 million annually, with $242 million coming in 2019. That subsidy doesn’t come from tax dollars but from slot play. Helping to save the horse racing industry was so important that when legislators came up with the law to approve casinos, it was written into the name. Pennsylvania’s Race Horse Development and Gaming Act stipulates that a percentage of slot money must go toward horse racing.

Rhode Island

Providence: A self-driving shuttle service has taken more than 25,000 trips during its first six months of operating in the state, according to the Department of Transportation. The Boston Globe reports transportation officials released data for the first six months of Providence’s “Little Roady” one-year pilot program, with an average of 146 free shuttle trips daily in November. That’s up from an average of 137 trips daily in October and 125 in June. An agency spokesman says officials are waiting to see data over a longer period of time before reaching any conclusions but are pleased that people are using it. The free service, the first of its kind in the state, operates daily on a roughly 5-mile route between Olneyville Square and Providence Station. There’s no public transit along the full route.

South Carolina

Greenville: A record number of animals were killed during takeoffs and landings at the area’s airport last year. Data from the Federal Aviation Administration shows 30 animal strikes happened at Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport in 2018, three times more than the average of nine wildlife strikes reported per year over the past two decades at the airport. Airport officials say the higher numbers reflect better reporting. The airport ranks fourth in the state for wildlife strikes and is the second-busiest air traffic hub in South Carolina. Charleston International, the busiest airport in the state, has had the most documented strikes since 1999. Birds, deer and coyotes are among the animals killed in the incidents. Only one human fatality has been documented during such accidents in South Carolina.

South Dakota

Pierre: Gov. Kristi Noem on Tuesday offered her budget proposals for the next year while acknowledging that money is tight and instructing state agencies to reduce spending. While delivering her budget address, the Republican governor told legislators to brace for slower economic growth amid disaster recovery from storms, uncertainty amid the 2020 election and lower farm spending during a trade war with China. In just a few weeks, legislators will be in session to take up her proposals and hear from state agencies as they craft a final budget for the fiscal year that starts in July. Noem said that 2019 has been a “difficult year” with “the largest natural disasters in our state’s history,” including tornadoes, blizzards and floods. State revenue is running nearly $6 million behind projections this fiscal year. The state will also lose about $20 million in revenue when an internet tax comes to an end next year.

Tennessee

Chattanooga: Visitors to the Tennessee Aquarium may be shocked to learn that an electric eel named Miguel Wattson is lighting up a Christmas tree. A special system connected to Miguel’s tank enables his shocks to power strands of lights on a nearby tree, according to a news release. Miguel releases low-voltage blips of electricity when he is trying to find food, aquarist Kimberly Hurt says. That translates to a rapid, dim blinking of the Christmas lights. When he is eating or excited, he emits higher voltage shocks, which cause bigger flashes. Wattson has his own Twitter account where he shares tweets generated by his sparky self, courtesy of coding by Tennessee Tech University’s iCube center. The aquarium hopes the Christmas tree will spark love and appreciation for the unusual freshwater fish.

Texas

Edinburg: A local judge in South Texas has ordered supporters of President Donald Trump not to build their planned private border wall on a section of land near the Rio Grande. State District Judge Keno Vasquez on Tuesday issued a temporary restraining order against We Build the Wall, which raised $25 million after promising to build its own private barrier. Vasquez set a Dec. 17 hearing for We Build the Wall and its founder, Brian Kolfage, to appear in court in Edinburg. We Build the Wall announced on Facebook last month that it was starting construction on private land next to the Rio Grande, the river that separates the U.S. and Mexico in Texas. It posted videos that showed a construction foreman describing plans to install posts a short distance from the riverbank. The announcement drew immediate criticism.

Utah

Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is reaffirming its support for refugees and encouraging members to create welcoming communities for the newcomers. The Utah-based faith said in a statement posted online that it has “great concern and compassion” for people around the world “who have fled their homes seeking relief from violence, war, or religious persecution.” The embrace of refugees by the religion has roots in the history of the faith, which counted many immigrants among its early members. Mormons also reflect back on their own ancestors, pioneers who crossed the country looking for a place to settle and practice their beliefs. The support for refugees from the church as well as Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, a Republican, comes as President Donald Trump has limited the number of refugees entering the U.S.

Vermont

Montpelier: The state saw a record year for nesting loons in 2019, with the 101 pairs being the most since the state began tracking loons in 1978, the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife said Wednesday. Seventy-five of the pairs produced 115 chicks, said Eric Hanson of the Vermont Center for Ecostudies, which has been working with the state on loon recovery. Of those chicks, 87 survived through August, ahead of the five-year survival average of 73%, he said. Loons, known for their eerie calls, were removed from the state’s endangered species list in 2005 following decades of recovery efforts. Biologists say one of the main threats still facing loons as they continue to recover is human disturbance during the breeding season. Morin said that many lakes where loons nest are surrounded by signs asking people to give them space. Morin is also asking people to avoid lead fishing tackle.

Virginia

Roanoke: City officials have rebuffed pleas by gun advocates asking it to declare Roanoke a so-called Second Amendment sanctuary. Mayor Sherman Lea on Monday announced at a packed City Council meeting that he sees no benefit in validating what the U.S. Constitution already guarantees. The declaration to a room mostly filled with people wearing stickers claiming “guns save lives” was met with shouted comments, including “we will not comply.” Gun advocates across Virginia have pushed localities to declare themselves gun rights sanctuaries after November’s elections put Democrats in control of the Statehouse, news outlets report. More than two dozen counties have passed such resolutions, including Roanoke County.

Washington

Spokane: The state’s commissioner of public lands has released a proposal Monday to raise some $63 million each year to prevent and fight wildfires. Money for the fund will come from a surcharge of $5 per year on each policy sold by property and casualty insurance companies across the state. Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz estimated it will cost the average household just over $1 per month, based on one homeowner’s policy and two auto policies. “That’s cheaper than a Bud Light,” Franz said. “By sharing the burden, we acknowledge that wildfire effects all of us and minimize the cost to each household.” The bill would be the largest investment Washington has ever made to expand its wildfire team and restore the health of forests, Franz said. The bill is designed to “reclaim the clear, blue summer skies we know and love,” Franz said.

West Virginia

Wellsburg: The state has received a $1 million federal grant for a flood control project in the city. The West Virginia Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management announced the Federal Emergency Management Agency grant Tuesday. Officials say the project will expand the capacity of the city’s sewer lines to better reroute water and debris to a nearby river. The plan is to reduce future flood damage in Wellsburg and allow other post-disaster resources to be directed elsewhere, state emergency management Director Mike Todorovich said. The funding comes as part of a presidential disaster declaration after a 2016 flood killed 23 people and damaged hundreds of buildings in the state.

Wisconsin

Madison: A new sampling of a batch of wells in southwestern Wisconsin found a majority contaminated with fecal matter from people, pigs and cows. Scientists tested 34 private wells in Grant, Iowa and Lafayette counties in mid-August and found 25, or 73%, were contaminated with human or livestock manure. The wells are a subset of 840 wells sampled in November 2018 and April 2019. About 32% showed evidence of bacterial or nitrate pollution. Researchers have begun testing smaller subsets of those wells to gather more details. Tests on an initial 35-well subset in April showed 91% were contaminated with human or livestock manure. Lafayette County officials in November accused media outlets of reporting 91% of the entire region’s wells were contaminated. They threatened to prosecute journalists who reported on the second round of tests without quoting a county news release verbatim but later backed off amid a firestorm of criticism.

Wyoming

Casper: Legislators have released a report saying state lawmakers and their staff have handled increasingly intensive workloads in the past few years. The Casper Star-Tribune reports the state Legislative Service Office staff released the report Monday saying legislative committees work about 327 days of the year, with less than 20% of that during the actual 59-day legislative session. Officials say only New Mexico meets more often out-of-session. Officials say the report builds on conversations about increasing compensation as workloads also increase. Officials say Wyoming lawmakers are some of the lowest-paid in the country, but the Legislature has said rates should remain low in the spirit of public service. Officials say staffing has also increased but not in pace with time spent on legislative activities by Wyoming legislators.

From USA TODAY Network and wire reports

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Eel-powered tree, skateboard safety: News from around our 50 states