Hospital concert, Serial revisited, green chile pile-up: News from around our 50 states

Alabama

Florence: An inmate who authorities say escaped with the help of a jail supervisor who later killed herself shared nearly 1,000 phone calls with the woman before the breakout, news outlets report. Lauderdale County Sheriff Rick Singleton said Casey White and Vicky White, who were not related, may have planned his escape over the phone, but authorities must listen to each of 949 calls before making a determination. Authorities have said the two were in a romantic relationship, and Singleton said at least some of the calls were sexual in nature. The phone calls occurred after Casey White was transferred from the Lauderdale County Jail to a state prison where he was held until being returned to Lauderdale County before the escape, the sheriff said. Casey White walked out of the jail in handcuffs in April accompanied by Vicky White, the assistant corrections director, prompting an 11-day search for the pair. On the day of the escape, Vicky White, 56, told co-workers she was driving the inmate to a mental health evaluation. The two were eventually discovered in Indiana, where Casey White was captured. Vicky White shot herself in the head moments before the man was arrested, authorities said. Casey White was charged with escape and murder in her death. The defense has filed documents suggesting Vicky White was in charge of the escape.

Alaska

Anchorage: A powerful storm sweeping north through the Bering Strait on Saturday caused widespread flooding in several western Alaska coastal communities, knocking out power and sending residents fleeing for higher ground. The force of the water moved some homes off their foundations, and one house in Nome floated down a river until it got caught at a bridge. The potent storm – what remains of Typhoon Merbok – has been influencing weather patterns as far away as California. In Alaska, no injuries or deaths were immediately reported, said Jeremy Zidek, spokesperson for the Alaska Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. Officials had warned that some places could see their worst flooding in 50 years and that the high waters could take up to 14 hours to recede. Gov. Mike Dunleavy issued a disaster declaration during the day. The nearly 1,000-mile storm front has damaged roads and potentially other infrastructure, Dunleavy said at a Saturday evening news conference. Officials will evaluate any effects on water and sewer systems, seawalls, fuel storage areas, airports, and ports. Federal Emergency Management Agency representatives were already in Alaska before the storm, and Dunleavy said they will stay to help assess damage.

Arizona

Phoenix: The Republican leaders of the Arizona Legislature will not try to defend a new law limiting up-close filming of police that has been blocked by a federal judge, a decision that essentially ends the fight over the contentious proposal. Senate President Karen Fann and House Speaker Rusty Bowers both said they would not intervene in the case by the Friday deadline set by the federal judge when he temporarily blocked the new law from taking effect last week on First Amendment grounds. And the bill’s sponsor, Republican state Rep. John Kavanagh, said Friday that he has been unable to find an outside group to defend the law, which was challenged by news media organizations and the American Civil Liberties Union. The groups will now ask that the law, which was set to take effect next week, be permanently blocked. Kavanagh said he will review U.S. District Judge John J. Tuchi’s ruling and see if he can craft a law that passes constitutional muster. He said the law is needed to keep people from distracting police trying to make an arrest, but Tuchi agreed with the challengers that it runs afoul of precedents that say the public and press have a right to film police doing their jobs. Tuchi noted there are already Arizona laws barring interfering with police and said singling out people for taking videos appears to be unconstitutional on its face.

Arkansas

Little Rock: Former White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, a Republican who is running for governor, was released from a hospital Saturday after undergoing surgery for thyroid cancer. “Following successful surgery on Friday to remove her thyroid and surrounding lymph nodes and in consultation with her physician, Sarah was discharged from an Arkansas hospital cancer-free,” said Sanders spokesperson Judd Deere. “She will spend the remaining portion of her recovery at home.” Deere told the Associated Press that Sanders, 40, planned to resume campaigning “soon,” but it was not known precisely when she would return. Sanders said Friday when announcing the surgery that a biopsy earlier this month revealed she had thyroid cancer. Dr. John R. Sims, a surgeon at CARTI Cancer Center in Little Rock who is one of Sanders’ doctors, said her cancer was a stage 1 papillary thyroid carcinoma, the most common type of thyroid cancer, and said she has an “excellent” prognosis. Sims said Sanders will need adjuvant treatment with radioactive iodine and long-term continuing care. Sanders, who served as ex-President Donald Trump’s spokeswoman until 2019, is running against Democratic nominee Chris Jones. She is the daughter of former Gov. Mike Huckabee.

California

San Francisco: A new state law will help military service members who were discharged under “don’t ask, don’t tell” policies because of their sexual or gender identities to reestablish their eligibility for Veterans Affairs benefits, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Saturday. “For decades, our bravest heroes, men and women who wore the uniforms of the armed services had to hide who they really were, and many were other than honorably discharged if their sexuality was discovered,” Newsom said in a statement after announcing he had signed the bill. Gays and lesbians were banned in the military until the 1993 approval of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” the policy that allowed them to serve only if they did not openly acknowledge their sexual orientation. Rather than helping, advocates say, it created more problems. Repeal of the law was approved by Congress and then-President Barack Obama in late 2010 and took effect nine months later, allowing lesbian, gay and bisexual people to serve openly. The Department of Defense subsequently created a path for veterans who had been discharged under the policy to receive the full range of veterans’ benefits. “But many veterans sadly don’t know or can’t even access this important process,” Newsom said, adding that some have had to hire expensive legal counsel to navigate the process. “We’re taking steps to fix this.”

Colorado

Denver: Stricter air quality regulations are coming for northern Colorado businesses after the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday downgraded the area to a category for “severe” violators of ozone standards. Drivers may have to pay higher gas prices, too, because the reclassification prohibits the sale of conventional gasoline within one year. State environmental officials, however, believe they can achieve better air quality without needing to switch to the reformulated blend of gasoline the EPA requires, Colorado Air Pollution Control Division spokesperson Leah Schleifer said in a news release. Colorado has asked the EPA to reassess that requirement and consider the state’s alternative plan. The gasoline blend would raise gas prices 20-30 cents per gallon, AAA estimates, according to the Denver Post. The area includes a large swath of northern Colorado including Denver, Boulder, Greeley, Fort Collins and Loveland. Colorado estimates it will issue more stringent permits for 600 oil and gas facilities and about 100 more industrial sites, the news release said. The Colorado area was one of six areas to get downgraded by the EPA along with the Chicago area; Texas’ Dallas-Forth Worth and Houston areas; parts of Connecticut and the New York-New Jersey-Long Island area; and the Morongo Band of Mission Indians in Southern California.

Connecticut

Waterbury: Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who is on trial in Connecticut for calling the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre a hoax, continued Friday to describe the proceedings as a “kangaroo court” from his Infowars studio in Texas. Jones’ commentary became a focus of testimony on the fourth day of the trial, with a lawyer for the Sandy Hook families questioning a corporate representative for Jones’ Infowars brand about how seriously the company was taking the trial. The lawyer, Christopher Mattei, showed the jury a photo he said was of an Infowars webpage, depicting the judge in the trial with lasers shooting out of her eyes. “On a scale of one to 10, how seriously is Infowars taking this trial?” Mattei asked the corporate representative, Brittany Paz. “Ten. It’s serious to me,” Paz responded. The exchange occurred as Jones prepares to attend the trial in Waterbury this week and as the judge, Barbara Bellis, considers a request by the families’ lawyers to limit what Jones and his lawyer can say and argue in court. Jones is expected to testify, but it’s not clear yet when. “They are pretending to the world that it’s an actual trial, but I’m guilty when I get there, and I can’t say I’m innocent,” Jones said on his Infowars web show Friday. “Everybody fundamentally knows that’s a fraud.”

Delaware

Rehoboth Beach: In future summers, the edges of the city’s boardwalk could have a new, larger look. Multiple plans are in the works to build hotels in Rehoboth Beach, one of Delaware’s most popular destinations that keeps getting busier. In the coming years, when beachgoers look back on the avenue from the sand, there will likely be more oceanfront balconies and windows than one-story shops. Two projects could shake up the end of the boardwalk. The longtime owner of the Candy Kitchen corner wants to build a 100-plus room building there in the image of a mid-20th-century hotel. Across the avenue, Grotto Pizza is taking over the former Dolle’s with plans for a restaurant and hotel. Elsewhere on Rehoboth Avenue, a motel is being renovated into a boutique hotel. A court battle will decide whether an office strip is replaced by another hotel.

District of Columbia

Washington: Local officials will consider legislation Tuesday to support migrants bused into the district from Texas and Arizona, WUSA-TV reports. The DC Council plans to vote on an emergency bill introduced by Councilmember Brianne Nadeau at the request of Mayor Muriel Bowser. The measure calls for the establishment of welcome and reception services and the provision of food, clothing, medical services, cash assistance and other necessities for migrants. But the proposal has some residents worried about unintended consequences. The Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless called the legislation a “poison apple” Thursday. LegalAidDC tweeted Friday that the council should reject the bill in its current form, saying it “will weaken basic protections that all unhoused individuals & families deserve when they seek help in the District.” The group also said in a statement that it is concerned about the “unchecked” powers it would give the mayor. The Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network has repeatedly taken issue with Bowser’s claims that the overwhelming majority of migrants do not want to stay in D.C. once they arrive, saying that takes focus off the need to support those migrants who do want to stay in the capital. Local nonprofits say almost all the people arriving are asylum-seekers with pending immigration cases.

Florida

Fort Lauderdale: Attorneys for school shooter Nikolas Cruz asked for the judge in his murder case to remove herself Friday, two days after she scolded them when they abruptly rested their case after calling only a fraction of their expected witnesses. The Broward Public Defender’s Office said in a motion that Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer held a long-standing animosity toward lead defense lawyer Melisa McNeill. The motion cited Florida’s Judicial Code of Conduct that states a judge shall disqualify himself or herself if the judge’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned, including but not limited to instances in which the judge has a personal bias or prejudice concerning a party or a party’s lawyer. Defense attorneys said Scherer’s repeated improper and unjustified attacks on the defense counsel undermine the public’s confidence in the judicial system and have also caused Cruz to fear that he will not receive a fair trial. Prosecutors said in a response that Scherer has been respectful to both sides. Cruz’s attorneys had told the judge and prosecutors they would be calling 80 witnesses but surprisingly rested at the start of Wednesday’s court session after calling only about 25 of them. Scherer called the decision without warning to her or the prosecution “the most uncalled for, unprofessional way to try a case.”

Georgia

Decatur: Stacey Abrams, the Democratic nominee for governor, is launching an intensive effort to get out the vote by urging potential supporters to cast in-person ballots the first week of early voting as she tries to navigate the state’s new election laws. The strategy, outlined to the Associated Press by Abrams’ top aides, is a shift from 2018, when she spent generously in her first gubernatorial bid to encourage voters to use mail ballots. It also moves away from Democrats’ pandemic-era emphasis on mail voting, a push that delivered Georgia’s electoral votes to President Joe Biden and helped Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff win concurrent U.S. Senate runoffs to give Democrats control of Capitol Hill. Republicans, including Abrams’ opponent, Gov. Brian Kemp, answered in 2021 with sweeping election changes that, among other provisions, dramatically curtailed drop boxes for mail ballots, added wrinkles to mail ballot applications and ballot return forms, and made it easier to challenge an individual voter’s eligibility. But it also expanded in-person voting. “It’s self-evident we have to have a big early vote in-person,” said Abrams campaign manager Lauren Groh-Wargo, arguing the new mail ballot procedures make it risky for Democrats to rely too heavily on that option. “What’s not self-evident,” Groh-Wargo said, “is how the hell you do that.”

Hawaii

Honolulu: A business owner and a Maui County official have been charged with bribery and public corruption involving more than $2 million in cash and gifts, federal court documents unsealed Thursday showed. Milton Choy, the owner of a Honolulu company that provides wastewater services and supplies, is accused of bribing Stewart Olani Stant, who was a wastewater manager and then director of the Maui County Department of Environmental Management. Choy provided Stant with cash deposited directly to Stant’s bank accounts, plus gambling chips and trips to Las Vegas, U.S. Attorney for Hawaii Clare Connors said at a news conference. In return, prosecutors said Choy received upward of $19 million in business contracts from the county. Messages left for Stant on various social media sites were not immediately returned. Listed phone numbers had been disconnected. Choy took responsibility for his actions and admitted everything he did to federal investigators, said his attorney Michael Green. “He gave unprotected statements – that’s where you don’t ask for a lawyer, and you you sit down with the agents and tell them what you did. And he did that,” Green said. The two will be arraigned in federal court Monday.

Idaho

Lewiston: Huckleberries are highly sought after, but the coveted mountain fruit was difficult to find across much of northern Idaho and eastern Washington this year. Pickers were able to locate some productive plants and patches, but they frequently encountered healthy bushes that had few berries or none at all, The Lewiston Tribune reports. “In general terms, this is not a very good year,” said Wayne Kasworm, a grizzly bear biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service who tracks huckleberry production in the Selkirk, Cabinet and Yaak mountain ranges. With a changing climate, scientists like him increasingly are tracking huckleberries that are an important food source for grizzly bears and other wildlife and coveted by people as well. Native Americans have harvested huckleberries for thousands of years and continue to do so today. The small berries with a pleasant mix of sweet and tart are targeted by recreational and commercial pickers as well. They are used to make pies, ice cream and other desserts, as well as being added to pancakes, milkshakes and smoothies. Grizzlies depend on the berries as a key food source. “The other thing I’ve learned in the process of doing this work is just how many other species rely on huckleberries. It’s really a keystone species,” said Tabitah Graves, a U.S. Geological Survey scientist.

Illinois

Chicago: Two police officers face felony charges for allegedly shooting and seriously wounding an unarmed man during a July shootout on the city’s southwest side that also wounded a second man, authorities said Friday. Sgt. Christopher Liakopoulos, 43, and Officer Ruben Reynoso, 42, of the Chicago Police Department, have been charged with one count each of aggravated battery with a firearm, aggravated discharge of a firearm and official misconduct, said Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx. She said the officers were relieved of their police powers Thursday before they turned themselves in to authorities. Foxx said both officers “are being charged with having fired their shots” that wounded an unarmed 23-year-old man – identified separately Friday through a civil court filing as Miguel Medina – on July 22 in the city’s Pilsen neighborhood. That man has since recovered and is cooperating with the investigation, she said. “The victim who was shot and injured in this incident was not in possession of a weapon, nor did he fire a weapon at these two officers,” Foxx said during a news conference. The officers were heading to a morning training course and were in plain clothes at the time of the shooting. They weren’t wearing their police body cameras because they were going to training, Assistant State’s Attorney Alyssa Janicki said. Prosecutors later obtained surveillance video from the area.

Indiana

Elkhart: A staffer for U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski was trying to pass a flatbed truck on a northern Indiana highway last month when the SUV in which they were traveling crashed into an oncoming car, killing Walorski and three other people, police said Friday. A witness traveling behind the SUV told investigators it sped up, crossed the centerline of the two-lane highway as it neared the truck, and pulled into the path of the other car when the crash happened about 12:30 p.m. Aug. 3, according to the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office. Airbag control module data from the SUV driven by Zachery Potts, 27, who was Walorski’s district director, showed it was going 77 mph at the time of the crash on a rural stretch of Indiana 19 near the town of Wakarusa, the office said. “All of the evidence and information gathered is consistent with someone attempting to pass another vehicle on a two-lane roadway,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement. Walorski, 58, was a Republican first elected in 2012 and was seeking reelection this year to a sixth term. The sheriff’s office released statements from the county coroner ruling the deaths of Walorski and the others as accidental from injuries suffered in the crash. Investigators blamed the crash on Potts for “driving left of center with a contributing factor of excessive speed.”

Iowa

Des Moines: The Iowa Confluence Water Trails project received a big boost Friday when Gov. Kim Reynolds announced she will allocate $7 million in federal funding for its construction. Though backers of the project aim to develop outdoor attractions across 150 miles of waterways in central Iowa, the governor allocated the latest round of funding to one of the project’s focal points: the Scott Avenue dam development at the confluence of the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers in downtown Des Moines. Developers plan to turn the low-head dam into two whitewater features for rafting, kayaking, canoeing, tubing and surfing. They also expect to add trails, a plaza and fishing areas. The latest grant represents about 13% of the $53.5 million budget for the development. The water trails comprise one of two Des Moines projects that received federal money through the state’s Destination Iowa program Friday, with the governor allocating $1 million to renovation of the Val Air Ballroom in West Des Moines. Reynolds also awarded Council Bluffs and the Southwest Iowa Nonprofit for Collaborative Impact $4.9 million for a joint plan to redevelop a stretch of that city’s Missouri River frontage.

Kansas

Topeka: Hundreds of thousands of dollars of COVID-19 relief funds spent by state and local governments could have violated federal rules or were ill-advised, a report released Wednesday by the Legislature’s nonpartisan auditing office showed. The audit comes as state officials are still grappling with how to spend millions in federal pandemic relief, with the process to dole out the money coming under fire over transparency concerns. Of the $18 million in expenditures by county governments, nonprofits and businesses reviewed by the Division of Legislative Post Audit, officials flagged $1.1 million in spending as ill-advised, with an additional $264,000 considered wasteful or excessive. And while 85% of funding was considered to be clearly allowable under federal guidelines, it was unclear whether $2.7 million in spending was acceptable. Another $48,000 was deemed to likely not be allowed. Potentially problematic expenditures ranged from a recipient of a small-business grant who conducted a festival to the purchase of electronic signs, sports equipment and office supplies by local governments. In Bourbon County, officials gave a vendor $450,000 to start a grocery store in a part of Fort Scott considered to be a food desert – only to see the store close after a few months.

Kentucky

Paducah: When 14-year-old Michael Carneal opened fire on his fellow students during a morning prayer meeting in 1997, school shootings were not yet a part of the national consciousness. The carnage that left three students dead and five more injured at Heath High School, near Paducah, ended when Carneal put down his weapon, and the principal walked him to the school office – a scene that seems unimaginable today. Also stretching today’s imagination: Carneal’s life sentence guaranteed an opportunity for parole after 25 years, the maximum sentence permissible at the time given his age. A quarter-century later, Carneal is 39 with a parole hearing this week that comes at a very different time in American life – after Columbine, after Sandy Hook, after Parkland, after Uvalde. Today, police officers and metal detectors are an accepted presence in many schools, and even kindergartners are drilled to prepare for active shooters. “Twenty-five years seemed like so long, so far away,” Missy Jenkins Smith recalls thinking at the time of the sentencing. Jenkins Smith was 15 when she was shot by Carneal, someone she considered a friend. The bullet left her paralyzed, and she uses a wheelchair to get around. The shooting at Heath High School took place Dec. 1, 1997, less than four months before a shooting in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Carneal’s parole hearing is scheduled to start Monday with testimony from those injured in the shooting and close relatives of those who were killed.

Louisiana

Baton Rouge: Families and businesses in Tangipahoa Parish are a step closer to getting paid for flood damages in 1983 caused by the construction of Interstate 12. A $95 million payment was approved Friday by the Joint Legislative Committee on the Budget, The Advocate reports. The committee’s action allows the money to be moved to an escrow account and eventually to the 1,246 victims, 400 families and 96 businesses harmed. “This is the single final payment that resolves the entirety of the lawsuit,” Commissioner of Administration Jay Dardenne said. When those payments will be made is unclear. The state earlier put $6 million into an account for the plaintiffs, which means the total settlement is $101 million, the newspaper reports. Dardenne said he is confident a district judge will approve the payment, which will then allow a special master to decide how much individuals and businesses are owed. Rains on April 6, 1983, flooded about 6,000 homes in the Baton Rouge area. In Tangipahoa Parish, east of Baton Rouge, the newly opened I-12 acted like a large levee and resulted in water from the Tangipahoa River being diverted into homes and businesses. In 1999, a jury decided that the I-12 bridge over the river did not change elevation crossing the river as it should have and awarded plaintiffs in $92 million. However, nothing happened for years while the state Department of Transportation and Development appealed, and the Legislature declined to approve the award.

Maine

Augusta: Wild blueberries were smaller this summer in the barrens of Maine, where the sweet crop expanse dominates treeless plains of sandy soil. Some of the lowbush berries started shriveling or ripened too quickly, hitting the dry ground before harvest season began. The drought-stressed plants were speeding up their production process. Lobster and blueberries go hand-in-hand when people think of Maine. The state’s iconic wild blueberries are one of only three fruits native to North America, and they’re loaded with twice the antioxidants of their ordinary crop equivalent. There are 36,000 acres of commercial wild blueberry land in the state, and the crop’s total value reaches tens of millions of dollars each year. But climate change-induced drought is threatening the superfood fruit, particularly the native lowbush species in Maine where irrigation systems are few and far between. With climate change creating a world of extremes in New England – longer and more frequent dry spells punctuated by deluges of rain within shorter periods of time – the region’s blueberry farmers face the task of adapting. “In every season, there are all of these different weather events that can happen that can increase or decrease the crop,” said Lily Calderwood, extension wild blueberry specialist and assistant professor of horticulture at the University of Maine. “Every year is a new adventure. And because of climate change, we have seasonal droughts that occur more frequently now.”

Maryland

Baltimore: A court hearing has been set for Monday to consider a request from prosecutors to vacate the 2000 murder conviction of Adnan Syed, whose case was chronicled in the hit podcast “Serial.” Baltimore Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn scheduled the hearing for 2 p.m., The Baltimore Sun reports. The development comes after Baltimore prosecutors filed a motion Wednesday saying a lengthy investigation conducted with the defense had uncovered new evidence that could undermine the conviction of Syed. He has served more than 20 years in prison for the strangling of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee, who was 18 when she was killed in 1999. Her body was found buried in a Baltimore park. Syed, 42, has maintained his innocence for decades and captured the attention of millions in 2014 when the debut season of the “Serial” podcast focused on the case and raised doubts about some of the evidence, including cellphone tower data. Prosecutors said in their motion that they weren’t asserting that Syed is innocent but that they lacked confidence “in the integrity of the conviction” and recommended he be released on his own recognizance or bail. “We believe that keeping Mr. Syed detained as we continue to investigate the case with everything that we know now, when we do not have confidence in results of the first trial, would be unjust,” State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby said.

Massachusetts

Boston: Taxpayers can look forward to seeing a return of some of their tax dollars this year, Gov. Charlie Baker said Friday. The announcement came after the state auditor’s office certified that tax revenues exceeded allowable revenues under a little-noticed 1986 law that kicked in due to the state’s soaring tax collections. As a result, taxpayers are on tap to claim a share of more than $2.9 billion dollars. Those eligible will receive refunds automatically as a check sent through the mail or via direct deposit. Distribution of refunds is expected to begin in November. In general, eligible taxpayers will receive a credit in the form of a refund that is approximately 13% of their Massachusetts Tax Year 2021 personal income tax liability, officials said. To be eligible, individuals must have filed a 2021 state tax return on or before Oct. 17, 2022. An individual’s credit may be reduced due to unpaid taxes, unpaid child support or certain other debts.

Michigan

Detroit: A judge on Friday signed off on a fund for more than 1,000 people who said they were sexually assaulted by a University of Michigan doctor – an order that allows victims to start collecting a portion of a $490 million settlement negotiated with the school. “The University of Michigan offers its heartfelt apology for the abuse perpetrated by the late Robert Anderson. We hope this settlement helps the healing process for survivors,” said Paul Brown, chairman of the school’s governing board. Anderson died in 2008 after working at the university for nearly 40 years. He was director of the campus Health Service and a physician for multiple sports teams, including football. Former athletes, students and others who had no connection to the university – mostly men – said they were molested by Anderson during routine physicals or other visits. The settlement was announced in January, but the final details took months to wrap up. The university said the deal recently got approval from 98% of claimants. “It’s been a long road,” said Richard Schulte, a lead negotiator for Anderson’s victims. “I’m very happy for the survivors and glad I could get it across the finish line.” Six percent, or $30 million, of the settlement will be set aside for people who step forward later with claims.

Minnesota

St. Paul: Democratic Gov. Tim Walz agreed Saturday to two additional debates against Scott Jensen, following complaints from the Republican challenger that Walz is ducking him. The candidates will meet for an Oct. 18 debate sponsored by a group of television stations that includes KEYC in Mankato, KTTC in Rochester, KBJR in Duluth and KXJB in Fargo, North Dakota. Another debate is scheduled for Oct. 28 on Minnesota Public Radio. Jensen called Walz’s announcement “a classic case of too little, too late” because early voting begins this week. Jensen, a former state senator, and Walz previously debated at Farmfest, a yearly agricultural expo near Redwood Falls. The Walz campaign said that holding three debates matches the number of forums “that were held in the U.S. Senate elections won by Amy Klobuchar in 2018 and Tina Smith in both 2018 and 2020.” Both debates will be streamed online, according to Walz’s campaign.

Mississippi

Jackson: The city’s water crisis isn’t over, even if its boil-water advisory was lifted Thursday. While the state stopped handing out free bottled water at sites around Jackson on Saturday night, the city said water pressure still hasn’t been fully restored, and state health officials said lead in some pipes remains so worrisome that pregnant women and young children should still use bottled water. “The water that’s coming out of my kitchen sink smells like fresh sewage … as soon as you turn it on, it hits you right in the face. It’s horrible,” resident and mother Carey Wooten said earlier this month. “I’ve tried to give one of my dogs the water, but when she smells it, she won’t even touch it. She walks away from it.” Wooten said Friday that the liquid flowing into her kitchen sink still smells like sewage, but not as bad as before, and she’s glad she won’t have to run to distribution sites before their bottled water supplies run out each day. Other residents said Friday that their water remains too discolored to count on, so now they’ll have to rely on water distribution by community-run charities or buy water again themselves, adding insult to injury. Residents, politicians, experts and activists say systemic racism is the root cause of the crisis. White flight that began accelerating around 1980, a decade after the city’s schools began integrating, left less revenue to maintain infrastructure. Middle-class Black people then moved out to escape urban decay and rising crime. State and federal spending never made up the difference.

Missouri

Clayton: A convicted felon accused of livestreaming threats to bomb and kill people while dressed as Batman villain the Joker was sentenced Friday to 60 days in jail, with credit for several months served after his arrest. Jeremy Garnier, 51, of University City, was sentenced after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of making a terrorist threat. Prosecutors reduced the charge from a felony for the March 2020 incident. Garnier told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he never intended to make a threat and pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor to avoid many more months in jail. “I was talking like the Joker,” Garnier said Saturday in an interview. “I was in character. Everybody knew that it was a joke and that I had no intentions of following through with a threat.” Garnier told the Post-Dispatch he served more than 20 years in federal and state prison for robbing a credit union in the 1980s and for other felonies in order to support his crack habit. He said he is now sober and wants to use his platform to raise awareness about the opioid epidemic. He said he has learned another hard lesson. “Think before you act,” he said. “Your actions have repercussions. No matter how trivial and joking I thought it was, people took it seriously.”

Montana

Helena: A judge has determined three laws passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature to regulate activities on university campuses are unconstitutional, including one that sought to ban transgender women from participating on female collegiate sports teams. Montana’s Constitution gives the state board of regents full authority to govern public college campuses and precludes state lawmakers from imposing their own rules, District Court Judge Rienne McElyea said in a ruling issued Wednesday that was emailed to attorneys in the case Friday. Her ruling noted that the Montana Supreme Court recently affirmed the same conclusion in a challenge to a bill that sought to allow more people to carry guns on campuses. The ruling was the second judicial setback of the week on laws passed by Montana’s 2021 Legislature that affected transgender residents. A different state judge on Thursday clarified that he temporarily blocked health officials from enforcing a state rule that would prevent transgender people from changing the gender on their birth certificate. In response, the Republican-run state on Thursday said it would defy the order. The ruling comes amid a heated national debate over whether transgender women should be allowed to participate in female sports at the high school and collegiate level.

Nebraska

Omaha: A judge has rejected a lawsuit filed by two Omaha women who sought to have both their names listed as parents on their children’s birth certificates, saying the request conflicts with state law. Lancaster County District Judge Ryan Post said in his ruling last month dismissing the lawsuit that state law requires birth certificates to acknowledge paternity. Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services policy also requires that parents listed on birth certificates be the biological parents of the child, he said. The Nebraska chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union sued the state last year on behalf of Erin Porterfield and Kristin Williams. They said the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services repeatedly denied their request to amend one son’s birth certificate in their effort to get full legal recognition as parents of both their sons – one born to each woman conceived through a sperm donor. Porterfield and Williams were in a romantic partnership from 2000 to 2013 – two years before same-sex marriage was legalized in Nebraska. Porterfield gave birth to their first son in 2002, and Williams gave birth to their second son in 2005 before their romantic relationship ended in 2013. But both women continue to share parenting duties. In their lawsuit, the women said that state officials treat unmarried, same-sex couples differently than unmarried, opposite-sex couples, violating their due process and equal protection rights.

Nevada

Reno: The GOP’s nominee for governor said Thursday that he would fight against a national abortion ban if Congress were to pass one. “It’s the vote of the people within the state of Nevada, and I will support that,” Joe Lombardo, who is generally anti-abortion, told reporters while campaigning. “That is an issue that doesn’t need to be in politics.” Nevada voters codified the right to abortion up to 24 weeks into pregnancy into law in a 1990 referendum. Any order to further restrict abortion would have to come from a vote of the people, not the Legislature, unlike in many other states. Last week U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., proposed a near-total abortion ban after 15 weeks. The legislation undermined many GOP candidates’ arguments this summer that the future of abortion rights in the U.S. would be decided by individual states. Lombardo, who is the Clark County sheriff, has long maintained that as governor he would respect the 1990 vote, though he is Catholic and holds anti-abortion views. Still, a nationwide abortion ban would supersede Nevada law, and it is unclear how Lombardo could fight one. Republican April Becker, a candidate in Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District, opposes abortion except for instances of rape and incest. But she told NBC News last week that she would vote against a nationwide abortion ban, calling it unconstitutional for Congress to regulate abortion.

New Hampshire

Concord: A legislator on Friday proposed extending the March deadline to close the state’s troubled youth detention center amid concerns that the current timeline would endanger public safety. Debate over the future of the Sununu Youth Services Center in Manchester began years ago but has come to a boil amid horrific sexual abuse allegations. Frustrated with spending $13 million a year to operate a 144-bed facility for about a dozen teens, lawmakers set a mandatory March 1 closing date. But the center’s fate remains unclear after lawmakers were unable to agree this year on how to replace it. Rep. Jess Edwards, R-Auburn, said Friday that he plans to introduce two bills for the legislative session that starts in January: one to extend the deadline by three months and another calling for a new 12- to 14-bed facility, with room for 18 if necessary. He told Deputy Health Commissioner Lori Weaver he is concerned about what will happen March 1 without such measures. “The Legislature let you down,” he said. “We just could not reach agreement, so we gave you nothing to go on in terms of money to plan and design it.” Weaver said she can’t predict the center’s population six months in advance, but based on the current situation, “there would be a definite impact on public safety” if the deadline arrived without further guidance.

New Jersey

Freehold Township: In 2020, as saxophonist Steve Barlotta was recovering from a near-fatal bout with COVID-19 that included 24 days on a ventilator, the Jackson resident made a promise to everyone who treated him at CentraState Medical Center. “He was like, ‘I’m going to play a concert out in the parking lot for everyone,” said Shannon Lenahan, a neurologic clinical specialist who helped Barlotta bounce back from near-total paralysis. “We were like, ‘OK,’ People say stuff like that all the time, and they go home and get sidetracked.” Barlotta did not get sidetracked. On Wednesday, he and his band Sensational Soul Cruisers performed a 90-minute concert on the hospital’s campus as a thank-you to the doctors, nurses and rehab therapists who saved his life and restored his health. “To see it actually happen and come to fruition was really special,” Lenahan said. “He didn’t forget. He was a little emotional, and it was a little emotional for us to be able to say, ‘This is why we did it.’ ” Barlotta, who has played alongside Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Gary U.S. Bonds and the Monkees, capped the show with two numbers that came straight from the heart: “You’re All I Need to Get By” and “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” both made famous by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell.

New Mexico

Albuquerque: The state’s green chile season is in full swing as the aroma of fresh roasted peppers permeates the air, but growers and exporters in Mexico are just as busy, and that’s causing a crunch at the international border. Authorities said last Monday that agricultural inspectors with U.S. Customs and Border Protection have been processing dozens of chile imports daily at the port of entry in Columbus, New Mexico. They’re looking for any pests in the shipments that could affect domestic production in the state where green chile is a signature crop and a cultural icon. “Chile is a huge crop for farmers in New Mexico, so it is important that CBP agriculture specialists identify and stop any dangerous pests from making it into the state and potentially spreading,” acting Columbus Port Director Sam Jimenez said in a statement. As part of “Operation Hot Chile,” Jimenez said agricultural inspectors are being assigned to Columbus from other locations to help with the increased traffic. The inspectors will process around 100 chile shipments a day during the busiest part of the season. Imports have grown significantly each season, with inspectors seeing a nearly 25% jump since 2016. Officials are expecting continued growth this year. Despite more imports, New Mexico farmers are seeing higher yields from their crops, and the state’s reputation for growing what many have anointed as “the best green chile in the world” is expanding, said Travis Day, executive director of the New Mexico Chile Association.

New York

New York: Yeshiva University has abruptly suspended student club activity in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court decision last week that ordered the school to recognize – for now – an LGBTQ student group. In an email to students, university officials said Friday that the school would “hold off on all undergraduate club activities while it immediately takes steps to follow the roadmap provided by the U.S. Supreme Court to protect YU’s religious freedom.” On Wednesday, the high court cleared the way for the LGBTQ group, YU Pride Alliance, to gain official recognition from the Jewish university in New York. The undergraduate group describes itself as “a supportive space for all students, of all sexual orientations and gender identities, to feel respected, visible, and represented.” By a 5-4 vote Wednesday, the justices lifted a temporary hold on a court order that requires Yeshiva University to recognize the group, even as a legal fight continues in New York courts. Two conservatives, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, sided with the court’s three liberal justices to form a majority. The disagreement among the justices appears to be mostly about procedure, and the case is being closely watched by other faith-based institutions.

North Carolina

Raleigh: The state’s hospitals and hospital systems on Friday unveiled an offer that could shake up stalled negotiations to pass legislation that would expand Medicaid to cover hundreds of thousands of low-income adults. The North Carolina Healthcare Association said the offer sent to Republican legislative leaders and Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper also contained reforms to some state laws that require regulatory approval before certain medical buildings can be constructed or services offered in a region. Senate leader Phil Berger this summer accused the association of refusing to compromise on “certificate of need” rules. Changes to these rules were contained in the Senate version of an expansion measure approved in June. Berger said they were needed to increase the supply of medical services that would be needed to treat the growing Medicaid population. Cooper, a big expansion proponent, told reporters last week that it would make sense for hospitals to negotiate with Berger on those rules, which hospitals contend help community facilities that disproportionately serve the uninsured or underinsured remain open. “Our board of trustees has made the difficult decision to propose certificate of need law reforms,” board chair Dr. Roxie Wells said in a news release.

North Dakota

Bismarck: The state would spend up to $80 million over the next two years to address child care under a proposal pitched Tuesday by Gov. Doug Burgum. The GOP-led Legislature meets again in January and will consider the plan that also includes a child care tax credit for low- to middle-income families, expansion of child care assistance, and matching money for businesses that offer their employees child care. The second-term Republican governor said the lack of available and affordable child care for families contributes to workforce shortages that have hamstrung the state’s economy. Adequate and affordable child care helps attract and retain companies in the state, he said. North Dakota has “tens of thousands” of unfilled jobs, and many families “have to make a choice to work and pay for child care or not work at all,” Burgum said. North Dakota has more than 64,000 children under the age of 5 in some 45,000 households across the state, Burgum said. The state’s more than 800 licensed child care providers employ more than 6,000 people, he said. “In spite of that … working families are experiencing a child care crisis,” Burgum said. “There are more children than there are slots.”

Ohio

Columbus: The state’s efforts to curb gerrymandering are not working, and voters must once again amend the Ohio Constitution to take politics completely out of the process, the retiring chief justice of the state Supreme Court said Thursday. The current redistricting commission, created by constitutional amendment in 2015, has had no discernible effect on gerrymandering, and as a result voters this fall will elect candidates based on unconstitutional legislative districts, Republican Maureen O’Connor said in her annual and final state of the judiciary speech. A new amendment must create a commission that restricts partisan politics by prohibiting elected officials from serving, O’Connor said. The current Ohio Redistricting Commission consists of elected lawmakers and state officeholders, including the governor, and has a 5-2 Republican majority. Instead, commission members must consist of “sensible people who are not driven by politics but rather by what’s fair,” O’Connor said. “Fair representation and justice.” O’Connor’s remarks echoed the position she took in January when the court first ruled – in a 4-3 decision with O’Connor in the majority – that initial maps drawn by the commission were unconstitutional. The court made similar rulings four more times before a federal court ordered Ohio to use the third set of Statehouse maps approved by the Ohio Redistricting Commission, maps the state Supreme Court had also found unconstitutional.

Oklahoma

Oklahoma City: An embattled jail is facing even more criticism after an inmate was able to leave the booking area unsupervised and raped a handcuffed female inmate who was awaiting release, according to charges filed Thursday. The victim “was handcuffed to a bar attached to a wall in the receiving area of the Oklahoma County jail and unable to escape” when Donta Ramone Thomas, 44, was able to remove her pants and rape her July 19, according to charging documents submitted by District Attorney David Prater. Jail surveillance video of the incident showed Thomas ignored orders to stand with his back to the wall and wait for other inmates to be processed after he was booked into jail on assault charges. “Thomas disregarded these instructions and walked away from the area,” according to an affidavit. “He walked down the hallway toward the old medical screening area, where (the victim) was sitting, handcuffed to a bar.” The incident is the latest at the jail, where a nine-member trust took over the jail from the sheriff’s office in 2020, tasked with managing its operation and finances. Oklahoma County’s Board of Commissioners unanimously approved of the trust the previous year. “This is another example of the jail trust failing to protect those who they are responsible to care for,” Prater said.

Oregon

Oregon City: A 23-acre property near Willamette Falls has a new name, based on its old name. Formerly known as the Blue Heron Paper Mill, the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde has renamed the site Tumwata Village in recognition of the native name for the falls, tumwata, and the ancestors who called the site home. “As a name, Tumwata Village represents the Grand Ronde tribe’s connection to the falls, as well as the sacred lands and practices of our ancestors,” said Cheryle A. Kennedy, chairwoman of the Grand Ronde tribe and descendant of the Clackamas people. The Grand Ronde tribe’s connection to the falls goes back to creation, Kennedy said. Pre-European contact, the land was home to her ancestors, including the village of the Clowewalla– the Willamette band of Tumwaters. It was also the Kosh-Huk-shix Village of Clackamas people. They lived and used the area to hunt and fish before the Willamette Valley Treaty of 1855 led to the forcible removal of the tribal populations from the falls area to the Grand Ronde reservation. Even after removal, people still went back to fish and gather at the falls. “The connection has remained,” Kennedy said. The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde began the process of acquiring the land around the falls at least two decades ago, Kennedy said. The purchase was finalized in 2019.

Pennsylvania

Harrisburg: More than 1.7 million public and private school students in the state will be able to get breakfast for free under a plan that will begin next month and run through the school year, officials announced. The $21.5 million plan will be paid for with money from the previous year’s School Food Services General Fund appropriation. Schools that participate in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs will receive support from the program. The pandemic-era federal aid that made school meals available for free to all public school students ended this past school year, despite a push in Congress to extend it. In Pennsylvania, officials say breakfast consumption under the free meals program increased by 16%, compared to pre-pandemic levels. Nationwide, other states have adopted legislation to provide free meals regardless of income level.

Rhode Island

Warwick: Short-term rentals such as those offered through websites like Airbnb and VRBO could be severely restricted as town officials contemplate an ordinance to limit them to owner-occupied units in just a few zoning districts. The Warwick Planning Board, in front of a nearly empty meeting room Wednesday night, voted to ask the planning staff who helped draft the ordinance to make a recommendation to the City Council, with instructions to ensure that rules around accessory dwelling units conform to a new state law. Planner Tom Kravitz said he was directed to get an opinion on the ordinance from the board. However, aside from asking Kravitz to issue a recommendation and worries about the state law change to accessory dwelling units, the Planning Board members did not discuss the regulation. Kravitz said the owner-occupied regulation should reduce the chances for complaints around parking and noise, citing the example of Newport, which now requires owners to occupy the units they are renting. Making the owner live in or adjacent to the property being rented provides oversight over guests, he said. The proposed zoning change cites short-term rentals as a source of “noise, congestion, pollution and disorderly behavior” and of generally disturbing the peace.

South Carolina

Charleston: Lawsuits filed to stop the removal of memorials to Confederate leaders and a pro-slavery congressman have been dropped. The Post and Courier reports that the American Heritage Association helped fund one of the lawsuits. It had been filed by descendants of John C. Calhoun, a former congressman and vice president who died before the Civil War, opposing the city of Charleston’s removal of Calhoun’s statue. The association also had filed a lawsuit opposing the removal of a Robert E. Lee Memorial Highway marker from the campus of a charter school in Charleston and the renaming of an auditorium that had been named after Christopher Memminger, a treasury secretary of the Confederacy. The stone-and-metal monument to Lee was removed in July 2021 and placed in storage. The city made a deal with the South Carolina State Museum to take the statue of Calhoun. Both suits had been filed in state court. The highway marker and auditorium lawsuit was dropped Sept. 13. The Calhoun lawsuit was dropped Sept. 15, the newspaper reports. AHA President Brett Barry declined to comment on the status of the Calhoun case, despite the descendants’ request for dismissal. “Charleston monuments are an integral part of the city’s historical and artistic American landscape,” Barry told The Post and Courier.

South Dakota

Sioux Falls: The state’s corn harvest may not have much juice this year. According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service’s latest crop production report, the state’s crop yield is estimated at 138 bushels per acre – a number nowhere near the record-breaking harvest of 2020, when farmers gathered a staggering 162 bushels per acre. In the northeastern counties, springtime floods and incessant rainfall oversaturated the region with moisture. The precipitation flooded some fields, preventing producers from being able to plant their seeds during a critical planting window. “Things did turn drier up in the northeast corner over the last two weeks, but, really, the question is whether that corn actually got planted,” said DaNita Murray, executive director of South Dakota Corn Growers Association. John Horter is one producer who received a mixed bag from the wet spring. On his farm in western Day County, he called the rains “timely” and the weather conditions “almost perfect.” The past two weeks of heat, he said, are drying out his fields just in time for the harvest. But there’s a lot of lost potential: The corn in his fields looks good, he said, but the rains flooded what’s traditionally his highest yielding areas of the farm, which kept him from being able to plant those acres.

Tennessee

Nashville: The police officers who fatally shot a man walking on an interstate will not face criminal charges, a district attorney announced Friday. A lawsuit filed last week by the widow of Landon Eastep alleges that law enforcement used excessive force and should be liable for his death in Nashville. Chelesy Eastep argued it was unfair to expect her husband to act reasonably with multiple guns pointed at him. However, Davidson County District Attorney Glenn Funk said in a statement that after reviewing the case, Eastep’s actions “were designed to cause officers to perceive an immediate threat.” Eastep’s encounter with police began with a state trooper checking on him as he sat on a guardrail along Interstate 65 the afternoon of Jan. 27. After a brief interaction, Eastep pulled a box cutter, and the trooper called for backup, police said. Many other officers arrived, blocking traffic along the normally bustling travel corridor in both directions as a helicopter circle overhead. Authorities pleaded with Eastep, 37, to surrender while they kept their guns drawn. “During this encounter with law enforcement officers, Mr. Eastep became emotional, began sobbing, and reportedly started cutting his wrists a few times with a box cutter from his pocket,” Chelesy Eastep’s lawsuit says.

Texas

Austin: A judge on Friday expanded her order blocking the state from investigating families of transgender youth who have received gender-affirming medical care. Judge Amy Clark Meachum issued a temporary injunction preventing the state from investigating members of the LGBTQ advocacy group PFLAG Inc. over the medical care. The group has more than 600 members in Texas. Meachum in July issued an order blocking the investigations against two families of transgender children who had sued the state. Meachum’s order Friday also blocked the state from investigating the family of another teen who had sued, though the family said after the lawsuit was filed that they learned the investigation against them had been dropped. Meachum wrote that without the order, the families would “suffer probable, imminent, and irreparable injury in the interim.” The ruling was the latest against the state’s efforts to label gender-affirming care as child abuse. The Texas Supreme Court in May allowed the state to investigate parents of transgender youth for child abuse while also ruling in favor of one family who was among the first contacted by child welfare officials following the order by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.

Utah

Provo: Gov. Spencer Cox took to Twitter on Saturday night to call out the behavior of University of Oregon fans during a game against Brigham Young University. UO’s student section, The Pit Crew, has since issued a public apology, as have university officials. In a video posted to Twitter, Oregon fans in the school’s student section can be seen chanting “(expletive) the Mormons.” BYU is a private university sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Cox retweeted the video, calling it “religious bigotry alive and celebrated in Oregon.” Other videos and photos of attendees who also allegedly participated in the chanting were posted on Twitter. The Pit Crew on Twitter issued an apology Saturday night, saying its members “do not condone or support any hateful speech directed towards one’s religion and are ashamed of those who participated.” In contrast, BYU kicked off the game by honoring former Oregon tight end Spencer Webb before the game, running onto the field with a flag bearing Webb’s No. 18. Webb, who would’ve been a junior this season, died in July during an outing at Triangle Lake.

Vermont

Burlington: The U.S. Department of Labor is getting involved after finding some businesses in the state have failed to protect teenage workers. There has been a national trend of increased child-labor law violations, which had been steadily decreasing until 2015, when the numbers began to tick up again. The Department of Labor’s Northern New England office said it “has taken strong enforcement actions” including conducting investigations and engaging in outreach in order to decrease federal labor violations at businesses across the region. A news release from the labor department cited examples of violations in the food service industry this year at McDonald’s and Dunkin’ franchises. At nine New England McDonald’s locations run by Coughlin Inc., 142 workers ages 14 and 15 worked more hours than federal law permits. And an investigation found 18 workers ages 14 and 15 illegally operated an oven or a fryer without a device to automatically raise and lower the basket. Two minors were burned, and the company paid $109,125 in penalties. Vermont Donut Enterprises LLC and related companies running 12 Dunkin’ franchise locations were also cited for not adhering to restrictions on 14- and 15-year-old workers. There were 44 violations involving hours worked and 17 violations for operating high-speed ovens. A 16-year-old was illegally allowed to drive a vehicle between two locations. Six minors received burns, and the company was fined $15,737 in civil penalties.

Virginia

Richmond: Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration has rewritten the state’s model policies for the treatment of transgender students, issuing guidance for school divisions that would roll back some accommodations and tighten parental notification requirements. The new model policies from the Virginia Department of Education, which were posted online Friday, say students’ participation in certain school programming and use of school facilities like bathrooms or locker rooms should be based on their biological sex, with modifications offered only to the extent required under federal law. The policies also say that students who are minors must be referred to by the name and pronouns in their official records, unless a parent approves the use of something else. Regarding parental notification, the guidelines say school divisions may not encourage teachers to conceal information about a student’s gender from his or her parents. And they say parents must be given an opportunity to object before counseling services pertaining to gender are offered. The guidance is subject to a 30-day public comment period that opens later this month. Then, in accordance with a 2020 state law, local school boards must adopt policies that are “consistent with” the department’s but may be “more comprehensive,” the document says.

Washington

Seattle: After 2¹/₂years of inspection and repair work, authorities have reopened the West Seattle Bridge, the main route between the peninsula of West Seattle and the rest of the city. The Seattle Department of Transportation announced that the bridge had reopened Saturday night, even as crews continued removing some barricades and detour signs. Officials closed the span in March 2020 after cracks were found to be growing rapidly. The repair work included 60 miles of steel cables that form the new backbone of the bridge. Each of the cables was anchored into new specialized concrete blocks woven into the structure. The department said crews also installed a network of reinforced carbon fiber sheets wrapped inside and outside the bridge walls and injected 240 gallons of epoxy into cracked concrete. Authorities say the bridge is now much stronger and more resilient to seasonal temperature changes and will last for decades to come. Engineers will continue to monitor the bridge using cameras, sensors and inspections.

West Virginia

Charleston: Republican Gov. Jim Justice on Friday signed into law a ban on abortions at all stages of pregnancy, making West Virginia the second state to enact a law prohibiting the procedure since the U.S. Supreme Court’s June ruling overturning its constitutional protection. The bill will go into effect immediately, except for the criminal penalties, which will go into effect in 90 days, Justice said. He described the legislation on Twitter as “a bill that protects life.” “I said from the beginning that if WV legislators brought me a bill that protected life and included reasonable and logical exceptions I would sign it, and that’s what I did today,” he said. The ban has exemptions for medical emergencies and for rape and incest victims until eight weeks of pregnancy for adults and 14 weeks for those under the age of 18. Victims must report their assault to law enforcement 48 hours before the procedure. Minors can report to the police or a doctor, who then must tell police. The bill requires abortions to be performed by a physician at a hospital – a provision that at least two Republican lawmakers have said was intended to shut down abortions at the Women’s Health Center, which has provided the procedure since 1976 and was the state’s sole abortion clinic. Providers who perform illegal abortions can face up to 10 years in prison.

Wisconsin

Madison: A local alderman whose name appears on the membership rolls of a far-right extremist group has resigned, citing safety concerns for his family. Madison Alderman Gary Halverson was among hundreds of elected officials, military members and law enforcement officers who were on a leaked list of Oath Keepers members, the group that’s accused of playing a key role in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Halverson said his resignation follows some vandalism at his house, which he said has triggered symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder for his wife. “For anyone who has PTSD, or lived with someone who does, knows that when something happens that is triggering, it is absolutely terrifying, and that terror can last for days or weeks or longer,” Halverson said in a statement. He did not specify what damage was done to his property or how it might be linked to his Oath Keepers membership. Halverson was elected in April 2021 and had one year left in his term. He said he joined the Oath Keepers in mid-2020 without vetting the organization. “I thought I joined an organization that welcomed veterans who cared about our democracy,” Halverson said earlier this month. “I was misled and I terminated the membership two months later in Aug 2020.”

Wyoming

Cheyenne: State transportation officials have asked the Biden administration to ease proposed federal requirements to receive funding toward a network of electric vehicle chargers. EVs account for 0.1% of vehicle registrations in Wyoming, and state Department of Transportation Director Luke Reiner told federal officials that it would be “irresponsible and illogical” to spend now on requirements that include four charging ports at stations every 50 miles. It will be more than 20 years before there’s enough EV adoption in the state to worry about lines at a four-port station, Reiner said. So instead of concentrating solely on major highway corridors, Reiner said, the federal money should also be used in areas away from interstates that attract lots of tourists, such as Yellowstone National Park. “Most of our EVs will be tourist traffic,” Reiner said Wednesday. “The idea is if you’re a nice lady from Iowa with an electric car, and you want to get to Yellowstone, we want to get you there. ... We want to make sure these stations are in populated areas so there’s more chance of success.” Wyoming asked for exceptions from the mileage requirement for 11 stretches of highway. Federal officials have not yet responded, Reiner said, and the state’s plan is still pending.

From USA TODAY Network and wire reports

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hospital concert, Serial revisited: News from around our 50 states