Montgomery: The state is seeking a new execution date for Alan Eugene Miller, who survived the first attempt to kill him in late September. Only a handful of people have walked away from an execution attempt alive – just two of whom had a second execution date set. Last Tuesday, the state attorney general’s office filed with the Alabama Supreme Court an expedited motion to set an execution date for Miller before another man on death row. The attorney general’s office on Aug. 5 moved the court to schedule James Barber’s execution, but the court has not yet set a date. The court would have to suspend state appellate procedure to set Miller’s execution date ahead of Barber’s, according to the motion. After the U.S. Supreme Court OK’d Miller’s execution by lethal injection shortly after 9 p.m. Sept. 22, Alabama Department of Corrections staff tried to establish intravenous access to administer the lethal injection. Prison staff couldn’t find a suitable vein and called off the procedure 30 minutes before midnight, when the execution warrant expired. Staff poked Miller with needles for more than an hour, the Atlantic reports, before he “was left hanging off the upright gurney, his hands and one foot bleeding from failed IV attempts, waiting to die.”

Anchorage: Amid a budget shortage, the city’s public school district is considering closures, Alaska Public Media reports. Across the Anchorage School District, 18 schools are operating at less than 65% capacity after a 5,000-student decline over the past ten years, according to the news outlet. A financial officer suggested perhaps five elementary schools might be dropped.

Alpine: A $25,000 reward has been offered for the arrest and conviction of perpetrators involved in a wild horse killing in the Apache National Forest, according to Amelia Perrin from the American Wild Horse Campaign. Two nonprofit organizations – the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group and the American Wild Horse Campaign – have pledged $20,000 toward the reward fund. Another advocacy organization, Animal Wellness Action, has pledged an additional $5,000 toward the reward, Perrin said. She said the reward is in response to the discovery of the death of a herd of wild horses in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest by volunteers from the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group. The groups announced the death toll has risen to 15 horses fatally shot, with 20 still missing and presumed dead. “The gunmen who are targeting these horses have inflicted enormous suffering on these innocent animals and caused immense trauma to the people who love them,” said Simone Netherlands, president of the group. The Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests confirmed in a statement Friday that a number of horses were found dead near Forest Road 25 on the Alpine and Springerville Ranger Districts. The investigation is still ongoing. “Someone knows something,” Perrin said.

Fort Smith: Just because the Arkansas History Commission ruled that the Confederate flag is historic and a part of a past flag display at Riverfront Park does not mean the flag needs to fly there again, a judge has ruled.

Sacramento: Five California tribes will reclaim their right to manage coastal land significant to their history under a first-in-the-nation program backed with $3.6 million in state money. The tribes will rely on their traditional knowledge to protect more than 200 miles of coastline in the state, as climate change and human activity have impacted the vast area. Some of the tribes’ work will include monitoring salmon after the removal of a century-old defunct dam in the redwood forests in the Santa Cruz mountains and testing for toxins in shellfish, while also educating future generations on traditional practices. The partnership comes three years after Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom apologized for the state’s previous violence and mistreatment against Indigenous peoples. Newsom said the state should allow for more co-management of tribes’ ancestral lands. Megan Rocha, who’s on the Tribal Marine Stewards Network’s leadership council, said these coastal areas hold cultural significance for various tribes, making the partnership monumental. “It’s focused on tribal sovereignty,” she said. “So how do we build a network where it provides for collaboration, but again, it allows each tribe to do it in the way that they see fit and respects each tribe’s sovereignty.”

Denver: A former National Security Agency employee charged with espionage thought he was sending classified information to Russia when he was talking to an undercover FBI agent, according to court documents released Friday. Jareh Sebastian Dalke, 30, of Colorado Springs, is accused of six counts of attempting to provide documents and information related to national defense to the Russian Federation, according to his indictment issued Thursday. The information he is accused of providing includes a threat assessment of the military offensive capabilities of a foreign country, not named, along with a description of sensitive U.S. defense capabilities, a portion of which relates to that same foreign country, the indictment said. Dalke is being represented by lawyers from the federal public defender’s office, which does not comment publicly on its cases. The Army veteran allegedly told the undercover agent he had $237,000 in debts and had decided to work with Russia because his heritage “ties back to your country.” Dalke was arrested Sept. 28 after authorities say he arrived at Denver’s downtown train station with a laptop and used a secure connection set up by the undercover agent to transfer some classified documents. But first he sent a thank-you letter in which he said he looked “forward to our friendship and shared benefit.”

New Haven: The city is scrapping the idea of building its own high-speed internet network and now plans instead to encourage expansion of existing, largely private broadband services, the New Haven Independent reports. Mayor Justin Elicker and Economic Development Officer Dean Mack told the newspaper in an interview that the decision stemmed from multiple factors, including current providers’ own growth plans and new federal money for improving broadband access. “We want to make sure we’re not spending local tax dollars on something the federal government will already be covering,” he said, and officials also now realize “that there’s market interest in doing what we were thinking of doing ourselves.” The $1 trillion infrastructure deal that President Joe Biden signed last November includes money to expand affordable high-speed internet access. Biden is a Democrat, as is Elicker. New Haven hired a consulting firm in January to explore options for improving internet access, including the possibility of creating a public network. Mack said the city paid the consultants about $40,000, and their work “really helped us out.” The city now plans to tap federal subsidies, woo new broadband providers and encourage current ones to carry out their expansion plans.

Wilmington: A Chinese immigrant and chemist who played a role in the 1960s developing noise reduction technology at the DuPont Experimental Station was honored at a recent ceremony. A conference center was named for Theodore “Ted” P. Yin, who worked at the company in the ’60s with his wife, Fay Hoh Yin. DuPont officials recognized their achievements, along with those of all employees of Asian descent who have contributed to DuPont over the years. Ted Yin was a physical chemist at DuPont in the Elastomers Department from 1960 to 1969 and is widely remembered for his role in developing Noise, Vibration and Harshness Reduction. This technology is still used today all around the world and can be found in things like dishwashers in homes, railroad car wheels or engines in cars. Ted died in 1970 at the age of 39, leaving behind his two children, Monona and Duncan, along with his wife and his mother, Florence. Fay was a DuPont biochemist who conducted research on the rhinoviruses from 1966 until her retirement in 1991. She outlived her husband by 50 years and died in 2020. Mobility & Materials President Randy Stone was inspired by the Yin family’s moving story and contributions to DuPont and wanted to do something special to honor them.

Washington: A new, scathing report by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development highlights the filthy and dangerous living conditions in D.C. public housing, WUSA-TV reports. The 72-page document confirms the D.C. Housing Authority has inadequate management, lack of compliance with federal law and poor oversight. Now, D.C. leaders have three months to fix the 82 total violations cited by auditors. Officials must first respond to the report by Nov. 30. D.C. Housing Director Brenda Donald said the agency has received the report and is in the process of putting together responses. WUSA9’s initial investigations into D.C. Housing in May led to immediate action by some local agencies. At Potomac Gardens on Capitol Hill, repairs were made and are still happening. But then WUSA9 started hearing from other people about the conditions in public housing complexes all across the city – buildings the district’s government is responsible for maintaining. According to the audit, D.C. Housing received more than $76 million in federal funds to maintain more than 8,000 units. However, only 76% of their housing stock is occupied – the lowest public housing rate in the country.

Fort Myers: An army of 42,000 utility workers has restored electricity to more than 2.5 million businesses and homes in the state since Hurricane Ian’s onslaught, and Brenda Palmer’s place is among them. By the government’s count, she and her husband Ralph are part of a success story. Yet turning on the lights in a wrecked mobile home that’s likely beyond repair and reeks of dried river mud and mold isn’t much solace to people who lost a lifetime of work in a few hours of wind, rain and rising seawater. Sorting through soggy old photos of her kids in the shaded ruins of her carport, Palmer couldn’t help but cry. “Everybody says, ’You can’t save everything, mom,’ ” she said. “You know, it’s my life. It’s MY life. It’s gone.” While Gov. Ron DeSantis has heaped lavish praise on his administration for the early phases of the recovery, including getting running water and lights back on and erecting a temporary bridge to Pine Island, much more remains to be done. There are still mountains of debris to remove; it’s hard to find a road that isn’t lined with waterlogged carpet, ruined furniture, moldy mattresses and pieces of homes.

Fort Benning: First lady Jill Biden is scheduled to travel to Fort Benning this week to visit with members of the military and their families, according to the White House. During her visit Thursday and Friday to the army post near Columbus, Georgia, and Phenix City, Alabama, she’s also set to stop by the U.S. Army Maneuver Center of Excellence, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Biden, who was second lady at the time, and then-first lady Michelle Obama launched the “Joining Forces” initiative in 2011 to aid members of the military, veterans and their families with employment support, educational resources, and programs for health and wellness. Biden previously flew into Fort Benning in April 2021 with her husband, President Joe Biden, on a trip marking his first 100 days in office, the newspaper reports. She was in Georgia more recently in July to visit a children’s summer program in Athens.

Honolulu: The city started taking applications Monday for Oahu restaurants, bars, hotels and clubs that want to offer outdoor dining, HawaiiNewsNow reports. The option became popular at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the latest pilot program looks to expand on that economic boost and offer a way to guard against future outbreaks.

Boise: The city has settled a federal discrimination lawsuit with a former library employee who said they were harassed and discriminated against because they are nonbinary and transgender, the Idaho Statesman reports. Jax Perez filed a lawsuit against Boise, the former library director, and other library and city employees in U.S. District Court in Boise last summer. Perez, who uses they/them pronouns, was represented by the American Civil Liberties Union. In a news release Friday, the city said the settlement was reached after both parties “evaluated the merits of the case and the resources required for extensive litigation.” “The city’s policies and practice continue to make the equitable treatment of employees a priority,” the statement said. “This settlement is an affirmation of that commitment.” The Statesman said it has asked the city for the settlement amount but has not yet received an answer. The lawsuit stemmed from two separate instances in 2019. On one occasion, the lawsuit said, then-library director Kevin Booe took action to have Perez fired after a library patron objected to a pride display Perez had organized at the library.

Chicago: Kenyan runners Benson Kipruto and Ruth Chepngetich won the Bank of America Chicago Marathon on Sunday, while Emily Sisson finished second and set a record for an American woman. Kipruto finished in 2:04:24 – 25 seconds ahead of 2021 winner Seifu Tura Abdiwak of Ethiopia. John Korir of Kenya was third at 2:05:01. Chepngetich was the top woman for the second consecutive year, finishing in 2:14:18. Sisson ran the course in 2:18:29, followed by Vivian Jerono Kiplagat of Kenya at 2:20:52. More than 40,000 runners competed in the 26.2-mile event. Marcel Hug of Switzerland won the wheelchair division in 1:25:20. Susannah Scaroni of the U.S. was the top woman in 1:45:48.

Indianapolis: Martin University will cut tuition nearly in half and erase up to $10,000 in debt for qualifying students in an effort to make college more affordable and accessible. Leaders of the small private school on the near northeast side of Indianapolis said the initiative, called the Reset to Reemerge Campaign, marked a historic moment for the institution, its students and the city. “We believe that every Hoosier has a right to an affordable college education,” said Sean Huddleston, president of Martin. “But we also know that making a student loan payment, even while enjoying a career, can interrupt one’s ability to achieve their financial goals and fully engage in the economic vitality of our city and state.” Martin has about 225 students currently enrolled. Indiana’s only predominantly Black institution of higher education, it serves a largely nontraditional population of adult learners from low-income households. As such, Huddleston said it has a moral imperative to address the college affordability issue. While it is plaguing institutions, students and families nationwide, Huddleston said the cost of higher education is particularly burdensome for the population Martin serves, but they may also have the most to gain. As many as 300 former students could benefit from the balance erasure, according to university estimates.

Des Moines: Regulators have declined a Winnebago tribal request that Summit Carbon Solutions conduct a state-level environmental impact study of its proposed $4.5billion carbon-capture pipeline across Iowa. The Iowa Utilities Board said Thursday that the Ames company will address its proposed pipeline’s environmental impact in connection with its request for a permit to build the 680-mile project across 29 Iowa counties. The three-member board has not yet set a date for Summit’s permit hearing. “It will be necessary for Summit Carbon to file testimony and exhibits that address the environmental permits and authorizations it needs to construct the proposed pipeline,” the board said in its order. It added that “other parties may file testimony and exhibits in response to the evidence presented by Summit Carbon” and cross-examine the witnesses on environmental issues. The Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska has a reservation in Dakota County, Nebraska, and Iowa’s Woodbury County, straddling the Missouri River. It requested in June that the Iowa Utilities Board, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the two counties, require Summit – as well as Navigator CO2 Ventures, which also wants to build a carbon capture pipeline – to conduct environmental impact studies. Both would cross or come close to Winnebago tribal land, as well as the Missouri River.

Topeka: The tops of the twin towers of Assumption Catholic Church that have adorned the landscape of downtown Topeka for at least 90 years will soon come down because of weather-related deterioration. Work is expected to begin this month on the project, according to The Leaven, the newspaper of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas. The top one-third of both towers will be removed and capped off, while the bells located in the east tower will be taken elsewhere and stored, the archdiocese said. Assumption was Topeka’s first Catholic parish. The first Assumption Church was built in 1862 and the second in 1882. The current Assumption Church, built in 1923, is part of Mater Dei Catholic Parish, which also includes Holy Name Catholic Church. The tops of Assumption Church’s towers were not part of the original building, having been constructed using slightly lighter-colored bricks between 1928 and 1932, the archdiocese said. It said water damage resulting from free-thaw cycles during the winters caused the towers to crumble. Serious deterioration was found in 2016 during an inspection of the towers, and an engineer recommended last year that the top one-third of each be removed, the archdiocese said. The rest of the church is considered to be in good condition, it said.

Louisville: A statue of King Louis XVI that stood for decades in downtown Louisville before it was damaged during racial justice demonstrations in 2020 may get restored and reappear in the city. But where and when the statue of the French king from whom Louisville gets it name will stand again – if at all – is pas encore connue, or unknown. A public art official told a Metro Council committee Wednesday that it could cost the city more than $200,000 to restore and relocate King Louis XVI. Consultants also have advised Louisville Metro that the statue could be a safety hazard if placed outside, and that also would not be “in the interest of preserving the statue,” according to the presentation. First installed on the west lawn of Metro Hall in 1967, the King Louis XVI statue was moved in 1973 to the northeast corner of West Jefferson and South Sixth streets and was a gift from Montpellier, Louisville’s sister city in southern France. The 9-ton marble statue of the former king, who helped colonists win the Revolutionary War before his public beheading during the French Revolution, was constructed in 1829 and initially placed in Montpellier’s public square, commissioned by the king’s daughter, Maria-Therese. It was removed from the square less than a year later. In 1966, Montpellier offered the statue to Louisville.

New Orleans: Two people from a sunken fishing boat were fending off sharks in the Gulf of Mexico when a crew rescued them and one other person from waters off the state’s coastline, the Coast Guard said. The Coast Guard launched a search after a relative reported the three people failed to return from a fishing trip Saturday evening. The 24-foot, center-console fishing boat sank about 10 a.m. Saturday and stranded the three people without communication devices, the Coast Guard said in a news release. The three were wearing lifejackets, and one was showing signs of hypothermia when they were rescued Sunday about 25 miles offshore from Empire, Louisiana, a small community southeast of New Orleans. The news release said a Coast Guard boat crew saw two of the people fending off sharks, and both of them had injured hands. The crew pulled them from the water, and the two were lifted onto a helicopter. The helicopter crew lifted the third boater from the water. The two injured people were taken to University Medical Center New Orleans, where they were listed as stable. The Coast Guard did not release their names.

Portland: The state Department of Education is not doing enough to enforce a decades-old law requiring students to be taught about Native American history, leading most schools to fall short, according to a study. Released Monday, on Indigenous Peoples Day, the study concluded most school districts are failing to cover all required areas of Wabanaki studies. “Teaching Wabanaki Studies is not optional. It is required by law,” Michael Kebede, policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine, said in a statement. The Wabanaki Alliance, the Abbe Museum and the ACLU of Maine used the state’s open records law to survey 10 districts and the state education department on their compliance with the law. The Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission also joined in the report. The 21-year-old state law requires schools to teach Wabanaki history, economic and political systems, and culture. The Wabanaki comprises the Penobscot Nation, Passamaquoddy tribes at Indian Township and Pleasant Point, Houlton Band of Maliseets, and Mi’kmaq.

Frederick: Frederick County Public Libraries is bringing the library to patrons on three wheels. The Book Bike is designed to reach people who might not be able to come to a library branch in person. The bicycle’s bright orange cargo box, balanced between two front wheels, can carry up to 260 pounds, according to a FCPL news release. It comes equipped with an electric boost to help the cyclist pedal heavy loads. The library staff estimates the Book Bike can hold 300 children’s picture books or 120 adult fiction books. The Maryland State Library’s Library Service and Technology Act Grant funded the Book Bike. Beth Heltebridle, the C. Burr Artz branch administrator, said library employees will fill the Book Bike with materials they think will suit the audience they plan to visit. The Book Bike will carry a laptop, so patrons can check out materials or sign up for library cards. It also has a mobile hot spot that can deliver free Wi-Fi within 50 feet of the bicycle. The Book Bike launch coincided with National Library Card Signup Month. A FCPL library card gives the user access to books, movies, magazines, audio books and more. “It’s all about increasing access,” Heltebridle said. The Book Bike does not have a set route yet but is expected to frequent festivals, events and underserved communities.

Boston: The Boston Symphony Orchestra is embarking next month on its first overseas engagements since before the coronavirus pandemic forced the cancellation of cultural events around the world. The orchestra is scheduled to undertake a four-city tour of Japan, performing at Yokohama’s Minato Mirai Hall on Nov. 9; Kyoto’s Concert Hall on Nov. 10; Osaka’s Festival Hall on Nov. 11; and Tokyo’s Suntory Hall on Nov. 13, 14 and 15. “The last few years have taught us to be especially grateful for the gifts of our lives,” Boston Symphony Orchetra music director Andris Nelsons said in a statement Wednesday. “This is how we feel about returning to Japan, where we will passionately share our music while expressing our deep appreciation for the people and culture of this great country.” The tour repertoire will include Mahler’s Symphony No. 6; Mozart’s Symphony No. 40; Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5; Strauss’ “Alpine Symphony”; and Caroline Shaw’s “Punctum.” The orchestra will be joined by Mitsuko Ushida on piano in Osaka and Tokyo. The stops in Yokohama and Kyoto are the orchestra’s first visits to those cities since the late 1980s. The orchestra’s last overseas tour was an eight-city European trip in September 2018.

Muskegon: A judicial candidate is facing domestic assault charges partly based on video footage suggesting he hit his girlfriend repeatedly with a belt, prompting local domestic violence advocates to actively speak out against his candidacy. The candidate’s girlfriend and his attorney deny that he actually struck her. Jason Kolkema was arraigned on the misdemeanor charges in mid-September. Kolkema, a 51-year-old attorney running for Muskegon County’s 14th Circuit Court judicial seat, contends he was striking a chair with a belt and not his girlfriend as suggested by the video shot by an office worker in a building neighboring Kolkema’s apartment. “I understand that the optics are bad. I understand the anger and disappointment, especially from the people who voted for me and supported me … All of the facts will be revealed in due time,” Kolkema wrote on Facebook in response to a comment. His attorney, Terry Nolan, told WOOD-TV in September that Kolkema did not strike his girlfriend and said the incident shouldn’t disqualify him from seeking a seat on the bench. The woman said she was wearing a headset, and Kolkema struck the chair’s armrest to get her attention. The woman said she took some blame for the incident, writing that “it was rude of me to ignore him.”

Keewatin: Construction has started on one of the largest taconite projects in the state in recent years. U.S. Steel dedicated its $150 million plant addition in Keewatin on Wednesday as steelworkers picketed on the road to the facility. The union that represents workers at the Keetac plant is supportive of the project but remains at odds with U.S. Steel over a new contract. The national contract between the union and U.S. Steel expired Sept. 1. The United Steelworkers union has already settled with Cleveland-Cliffs, U.S. Steel’s main competitor on the Iron Range. The new U.S. Steel addition in Keewatin will produce pellets with a higher iron content than the traditional pellet. Full production of the new pellet is expected in 2024, the Star Tribune reports. Keetac is being retooled to make “direct-reduced” grade taconite pellets, which are used for producing iron for electric arc furnaces. Electric arc mills have traditionally used scrap metal but are increasingly utilizing direct-reduced iron or pig iron made from direct-reduced taconite pellets. Taconite plants on the Iron Range, including U.S. Steel’s Minntac facility in Mountain Iron, mainly produce iron ore pellets that are used in traditional blast furnaces. Electric arc furnaces are the primary source of U.S. steel production.

Hamilton: State regulators are investigating after a video showing four day care employees scaring children at a facility in an unincorporated northeast Mississippi community went viral on social media. The videos on Facebook show a day care worker at Lil’ Blessings Child Care & Learning Center in Hamilton wearing a Halloween mask and yelling at children who didn’t “clean up” or “act good.” Children can be seen and heard crying and, at times, running away from the employee wearing the mask, while another employee gives directions about which children acted “good” or “bad.” The employee in the mask is shown screaming inches away from children’s faces at times. Sheila Sanders, who has owned the business for the past 20 years, said she was unaware of the videos until Wednesday afternoon, the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reports. Sanders said one video was filmed in September and another on Tuesday. “No one came forth to tell me it happened in September,” she said. The behavior shown by her former employees in the video, she said, isn’t tolerated. “I contacted my licensure, and she has gotten involved,” Sanders said. “The people that did those acts are no longer with us. They were fired. I wasn’t here at the time and wasn’t aware they were doing that. I don’t condone that and never have.”

Excelsior Springs: Authorities continued investigating a suspected kidnapping and sexual assault this weekend in a small town just northeast of Kansas City that was discovered when a malnourished woman escaped and screamed for help. Clay County authorities charged a man with rape, kidnapping and assault after the woman ran from his house in Excelsior Springs on Friday morning. She was hospitalized in stable condition Friday and reunited with her family afterward. “When we made contact with her, it was readily apparent that she had been held against her will for a significant period of time,” Excelsior Springs police Lt. Ryan Dowdy said. The woman told police there may have been two other victims, but authorities haven’t said whether any additional victims have been found. Investigators have continued to search the home from which the woman escaped, and Excelsior Springs Police Chief Greg Dull asked the public Saturday to be patient while officers sort through evidence. Dull said additional charges could be filed depending on the evidence investigators uncover. Excelsior Springs is about 30 miles northeast of Kansas City.

Billings: A U.S. magistrate judge has declared unconstitutional two Montana laws that sought to prevent the closure of a coal-fired power plant by subjecting its out-of-state owners to steep fines if they wouldn’t pay long-term maintenance and operating costs. U.S. Magistrate Judge Kathleen DeSoto said the state measures violated free commerce provisions in the U.S. Constitution and federal laws intended to keep states from interfering in private agreements, The Billings Gazette reports. Puget Sound Energy, Avista Corp., Portland General Electric and PacificCorp are majority owners of the Colstrip Power Plant in southeastern Montana. Their home states of Washington and Oregon are phasing out the use of coal-generated power over climate concerns – Washington in late 2025 and Oregon in early 2030. The utilities have previously objected to paying for repairs to extend Colstrip’s life beyond when they can sell the power. Talen Montana and NorthWestern Energy, which do not face coal-power bans, own the rest of the plant and want it to remain open. The disputed laws were passed by the Republican-controlled Montana Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Greg Gianforte in 2021.

Omaha: With Ben Sasse apparently ready to resign his U.S. Senate seat to become president of the University of Florida, speculation is rampant that his temporary replacement could be Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts. Ricketts, who like Sasse is a Republican, would otherwise be out of a political job at the end of the year due to term limits. Scenarios of how Ricketts would ascend to the U.S. Senate run the gamut from his presumptive successor naming him as Nebraska’s newest U.S. senator to Ricketts appointing himself to fill the seat. However, Ricketts issued a statement Friday afternoon appearing to rule out appointing himself. “If I choose to pursue the appointment, I will leave the appointment decision to the next governor and will follow the process established for all interested candidates,” he said in the statement. The question is whether Ricketts wants the job. “I think the obvious candidate is Pete Ricketts, and if he wants to be a U.S. senator, then it’s his to take,” said Mark Fahleson, a former chairman of the Nebraska Republican Party. Ricketts on Friday confirmed that the news of Sasse’s departure caught him off guard. “The first I learned about Sen. Sasse’s plan to resign from the United States Senate was yesterday, when he called to notify me,” he said, adding that the job of governor “is the greatest job in the world, and it will remain my number one focus for the remainder of my term.”

Las Vegas: The area’s carpool lanes soon will be open to any driver during overnight hours for the next year-and-a-half. The Nevada Department of Transportation will start an 18-month pilot program this month where even a lone driver can travel in carpool lanes or HOV lanes between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. The agency decided to try these new hours out after studies showed traffic on Interstate 15 came down every day between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. There are over 20 continuous carpool lanes in the metro Las Vegas area, according to officials. The new carpool lane hours begin Oct. 24.

Alton: Slain journalist James Foley has been honored with a stone memorial outside the church he attended in his childhood. Foley, a freelance journalist, was among a group of Westerners brutally murdered in Islamic State captivity in Syria in 2014. He grew up in Wolfeboro and attended St. Katharine Drexel Church in Alton, where the memorial was unveiled Sunday. “We wanted to do something so we would never forget that he’s a member of us, and he’s part of our family,” the church’s pastor, Fr. Bob Cole, told WMUR-TV. Foley’s mother, Diane Foley, said her son would’ve been profoundly humbled by the gesture. “I was hugely grateful to find that Jim received so much strength from his faith,” she said. Two British IS militants, El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey, have either pleaded guilty or been found guilty by a jury in connection with Foley’s death and are serving life sentences.

Trenton: Nearly two dozen historical sites and nonprofits in the state are set to receive cash injections in a new round of funding from the New Jersey Historic Trust. Part of the state Department of Consumer Affairs, the trust has recommended the release of nearly $15.8 million from the Garden State Historic Preservation Trust Fund to fund 65 projects across New Jersey. Four of the largest awards, $750,000 each, are expected to fund rehabilitation projects in Hoboken, Newark and Paterson. In Paterson, the money is earmarked for ongoing improvements at Lambert Castle. That project could receive a pair of $750,000 grants from the trust for a rehabilitation effort that has kept the Passaic County museum closed since 2019. Built in 1892, the former home of silk tycoon Catholina Lambert is expected to reopen in 2023. The long-term project received $750,000 from the trust in 2019 and $50,000 in 2018, which is also true for the Hoboken Free Public Library and Manual Training School project. Opened in 1897, the four-story public library this year underwent third-floor renovations and received a new HVAC system. The Newark money would boost efforts to preserve City Hall. Built in 1902, it features carved marble and a 24-karat gold-covered dome.

Las Vegas: A synagogue that is believed to be the first Jewish place of worship in the New Mexico Territory is back in the hands of the Jewish community. The Albuquerque Journal reported Monday the Las Vegas Jewish Community crowd-sourced enough funds to buy Temple Montfiore last month from the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. One of the oldest Catholic dioceses in the United States, it has been forced to sell properties to help pay a settlement agreement that resulted from a clergy sex abuse scandal. The synagogue was sold to the diocese in the 1950s because there were very few Jewish people in the region. In recent years, the building has been a place of worship for Catholic college students. When the Las Vegas Jewish Community became aware it was up for sale and that the deadline was in September, members turned to GoFundMe. The group raised over $300,000 in just a few weeks – more money than it actually needed. Diana Presser, a board member of the Las Vegas Jewish Community, saud it was fitting that the sale closed during Rosh Hashana last week. “I led the services for the first Sabbath of the new year in a building we now own,” Presser said.

New York: The mayor declared a state of emergency Friday over the thousands of migrants being sent from Southern states since the spring, saying the demand being put on the city to provide housing and other assistance is “not sustainable.” “A city recovering from an ongoing global pandemic is being overwhelmed by a humanitarian crisis made by human hands,” Mayor Eric Adams said. “We are at the edge of the precipice. … We need help. And we need it now.” By the end of its fiscal year, Adams said the city expected to spend $1 billion helping the new arrivals, many of whom are heavily reliant on government aid because federal law prohibits them from working in the U.S. Adams, a Democrat, said the new arrivals are welcome in the city. And he spoke with pride of New York City’s history as a landing spot for new immigrants. “New Yorkers have always looked out for our immigrant brothers and sisters. We see ourselves in them. We see our ancestors in them,” he said. But “though our compassion is limitless, our resources are not,” he said. New York City’s already strained shelter system has been under even greater pressure. Between five and six buses of migrants are arriving per day, Adams said, with nine on Thursday alone. And 1 in 5 beds in New York City’s homeless shelter system is now occupied by a migrant, swelling its population to record levels. The city has opened 42 new, temporary shelters, mostly in hotels, but Adams said more would need to be done.

Raleigh: Planned Parenthood’s political arm announced a $5 million investment Thursday in the state’s battleground races as Democrats fight to preserve the governor’s veto power in one of the last abortion access points in the Southeast. Just 32 days from Election Day, with absentee voting now underway, Planned Parenthood Votes and Planned Parenthood Action PAC North Carolina are targeting 14 legislative swing districts with ads, mailings, phone banks and canvassing. The investment is part of an existing $50 million national campaign to protect reproductive rights in nine target states – the largest-ever electoral program in its history. Abortions are legal in North Carolina until 20 weeks of pregnancy, as of an Aug. 17 federal court ruling. But with Republicans just five seats shy of a supermajority in the General Assembly – three seats shy in the House and two in the Senate – Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s power to veto more stringent abortion restrictions hinges on the November outcome. As its neighboring states slash abortion access in the months following the June U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, North Carolina has become one of the South’s few safe havens for the procedure.

Bismarck: An addiction counselor who helped defeat a marijuana legalization proposal four years ago has launched a fresh opposition group seeking to do it again this November. Kristie Spooner announced her group, Healthy and Productive North Dakota, less than five weeks before Election Day and after some major funders of the 2018 opposition had announced they would sit out the 2022 fight. The measure would allow people over age 21 in North Dakota to use and possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana and grow up to three marijuana plants. “Kristie and other people in North Dakota were really concerned about the measure,” said Luke Niforatos, who helped Spooner launch the group. “We didn’t see an organized effort take hold sooner, so we’re doing it before it’s too late.” The group had raised just $750 as of Thursday, from Niforatos’ contribution as executive vice president of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, a Virginia-based political organization against marijuana legalization. But he said the group hopes to raise at least $200,000 to put toward digital, radio and billboard advertising. A different group that supports legalization, The New Approach, has raised about $550,000, treasurer Mark Friese said.

Columbus: Well over a year after Ohio’s former chief of K-12 public education announced his retirement, the State Board of Education hasn’t found a replacement. In fact, the board argued about whether to seek proposals from outside firms to search for a new state superintendent at its September meeting. “The move for even getting to the point of hiring a search firm was a fight,” board member John Hagan said. Ultimately, the 19-member board voted to start searching for a search firm, but Hagan said he doesn’t think an offer will be made until 2023. And that concerns him and other conservative board members because 30% of Ohio’s children were chronically absent last year, test scores haven’t recovered from the pandemic, and the state’s budget process is already underway. “When this kind of stuff happens, I think that we are losing integrity, and we should never use that word again in this room,” board member Diana Fessler said during September’s meeting. The position – vacant for 15 months now – oversees the education of Ohio’s 1.7 million public education students from kindergarten through high school and helps guide the development of academic standards.

Oklahoma City: Leaders of the state’s largest tribes say they will formally endorse Joy Hofmeister for governor amid their final push to inspire more tribal citizens to vote and unseat incumbent Gov. Kevin Stitt. Hofmeister has been a clear favorite among tribal leaders throughout the race, but leaders of the Five Tribes plan to take the unique step of expressing their joint support for the Democratic challenger Tuesday in Oklahoma City. While the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee and Seminole nations work closely together on many issues, their top elected officials rarely make joint endorsements in state political races. That they are doing so now signals how critical they view the outcome of the governor’s race. Stitt’s first term in office has been marked by conflict with tribal leaders over policing, taxing, gaming and hunting. Leaders of the Five Tribes said in a joint statement they are backing Hofmeister because she will work with them and because she shares many of the same economic, health and safety priorities. Hofmeister, Oklahoma’s superintendent of public instruction, switched parties last year to run against Stitt. Tribal leaders, including Chickasaw Gov. Bill Anoatubby and Choctaw Chief Gary Batton, soon donated to her campaign. Tribes across the state also created a voter awareness campaign.

Portland: Three of the state’s largest hospital systems are suing Oregon over its alleged lack of adequate mental health care, which they say has forced the hospital systems to house patients in need of mental health treatment for months. Providence Health & Services, Legacy Health and PeaceHealth say in the lawsuit the Oregon Health Authority has forced them to provide care they’re not equipped to give for patients who should be civilly committed to psychiatric institutions such as the Oregon State Hospital, The Oregonian/OregonLive reports. The state psychiatric hospital’s ongoing capacity crisis, along with a recent court ruling that strictly limits who can be admitted, has left community hospitals with nowhere to send patients in need of mental health treatment. Hospital representatives say they have been forced to treat those patients long-term. “The necessary components for safe and effective treatment provided at long-term care facilities – such as security, private rooms, kitchens and physical exercise – are not feasible at hospitals that are also responsible for meeting the short-term acute care needs of their communities,” a joint statement for the facilities said. “As a result, patients left in these environments by OHA do not receive needed care and, in many cases, decompensate back to unstable conditions.”

Philadelphia: A statue of Christopher Columbus remains hidden by a plywood box while its fate is decided in the courts, but the box has now been painted with the colors of the Italian flag. City officials told the news station KYW that they painted the box covering the 146-year-old statue in south Philadelphia’s Marconi Plaza with green, white and red stripes at the request of Councilmember Mark Squilla, who represents the district. The new look came just in time for Columbus Day, the holiday now celebrated in Philadelphia and elsewhere as Indigenous Peoples Day. Thomas DeFino, one of the residents who gathered in the park Sunday afternoon to celebrate their Italian American heritage with a parade and festival, welcomed the change, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports. “They did it for us – the Italians. It made us feel a little bit better,” DeFino said. “It’s to honor our heritage. They had to pull some strings to paint it.” While he appreciated the gesture, DeFino said, he noted that the statue was “still in a box.” “He should have been taken out at least for one day,” he said. Mabel Negrete, executive director of Indigenous Peoples’ Day Philly Inc., told the Inquirer it was “unfortunate” that some Italian Americans in the city continued to celebrate Columbus. She said the painting “undermines intentions to move forward.”

Providence: Drivers eager for a new license plate with the reimagined “wave” design will have to wait until next year. The state Division of Motor Vehicles on Thursday said it now plans to begin issuing the new-look plates to automobile owners in January, several months later than initially expected. Back in April, when a new design for the license plate was revealed, the DMV said it planned to start sending out new plates around Labor Day. By the end of May, that timeline was pushed back when vendor 3M had a problem securing the right type of envelopes in which to send the plates to automobile owners. The DMV told the Boston Globe in May that it didn’t expect to receive the plates until September, and customers would start receiving them in October or early November. But even though the envelope issue was resolved, the timeline for shipping the first new plates continued to slip, in this case to mid-November, DMV spokesman Paul Grimaldi wrote in an email. And instead of starting to send them out toward the end of the year, the state instead decided to wait until January.

Inman: Five people died Sunday night in a shooting at a home in northern South Carolina, authorities said. Spartanburg County deputies and emergency workers found them suffering from gunshot wounds at a house in Inman, Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger said in a statement. Four people died at the scene, and a fifth died in surgery at the hospital, authorities said. All five people killed appeared to be adults, weren’t related to each other and were found in different parts of the home, the coroner said. Spartanburg County deputies said they won’t release any additional information on the shooting until the coroner has identified the people killed and notified their families. Clevenger said his office is performing autopsies and trying to identify the victims on Monday. The home where the bodies were found is about 10 miles northwest of Spartanburg.

Pierre: Thousands of schoolchildren across the state are facing new barriers to getting proper nutrition at school due to the end of a pandemic-era federal program that provided free meals to all students regardless of parental income. Parents in South Dakota, meanwhile, are facing new financial challenges as they try to pay for meals for their children at a time when high inflation rates are driving up costs for food, energy, housing and many other necessary goods and services, South Dakota News Watch reports. The federal effort to provide free meals to all American schoolchildren during the COVID-19 pandemic expired this summer. The pandemic-era program provided more than 4 billion free meals to American schoolchildren over the past two school years, including to tens of thousands of students in South Dakota. Sioux Falls School District Superintendent Jane Stavem told News Watch that ending the free school meals program after two years has put the district, parents and children in tough spots. The district does not have the funding to continue to provide free meals for all students on its own and is working on innovative ways to continue to pay for food for students who need it.

Gatlinburg: One person was found dead in the rubble of a fire that broke out in downtown Gatlinburg early Sunday morning. The fire caused extensive damage to a block of businesses, including include Cafe 420, Puckers Sports Grill and Gifts of Gatlinburg, the city’s spokesperson said in a press release. Sandy Fox, who was staying at the neighboring Historic Gatlinburg Inn, said the fire was not visible when she initially walked outside about 6:30 a.m. Sunday, but the building was in flames 15 minutes later. She left to connect with friends and said the blaze had spread substantially when she returned at 9 a.m. During fire suppression efforts, crews found one person dead inside the structure, according to the press release. The identity of the individual has not yet been confirmed. Crews from the Gatlinburg Fire Department fought the blaze with assistance from Pigeon Forge, Sevierville and Pittman Center fire departments, the spokesperson said. The cause of the fire remains under investigation by the Gatlinburg Fire Department, Gatlinburg Police Department and Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. Fire crews still were working on hot spots Monday morning, the city’s spokesperson said, and the owner of the damaged structure had a contractor demolishing the damaged building.

Uvalde: The superintendent of the school district where a gunman killed 19 elementary school students and two teachers in May announced his retirement Monday, according to his wife’s Facebook page. In the statement posted to Donna Goates Harrell’s Facebook page, Uvalde school Superintendent Hal Harrell said he would remain in office throughout this school year until the school board hires his successor. The Facebook posting was first reported by CNN. The superintendent asked his wife “to post this message since he doesn’t have Facebook.” Harrell, the Uvalde school board and other school district officials have faced heavy criticism over the May 24 Robb Elementary School massacre in which officers allowed a shooter with an AR-15-style rifle to remain in a fourth grade classroom for more than 70 minutes. “My heart was broken on May 24th and I will always pray for each precious life that was tragically taken and their families,” the Facebook post said. “My wife and I love you all and this community that we both grew up in, therefore this decision was a difficult one for us. I have been blessed to work among amazing educators and staff who believe in education for more than 30 years, which have all been in our beautiful community. These next steps for our future are ... completely my choice.”

Salt Lake City: The head of the state’s public school system is pushing back after a man delivering a prayer at an Orem City Council meeting asserted that “evil things ... are being said and done and taught in the school system.” Sydnee Dickinson, Utah’s superintendent of public instruction, called the comment “a dagger to my heart,” the Deseret News reports. Orem Mayor David Young had apparently asked his father, Allen Young, to deliver the invocation at a meeting late last month, when he urged voters to split Orem’s school district in the November election.

Burlington: The state’s recreational cannabis marketplace is off to a slow start. The obstacles faced by Vermont’s legal marijuana industry were reflected Oct. 1, the first day of legal sales for recreational use, when only one store in Chittenden County was open for business: Ceres Collaborative on College Street in Burlington. The line for Ceres stretched around the corner and down an alley, with an estimated 200 people waiting to get in. “There are growers that just aren’t ready to harvest and have available flower for Oct. 1,” Russ Todia, chief operating officer for Ceres Collaborative, said before the launch. “That’s for the indoor. For the outdoor, the weather hasn’t been kind. That puts growers in a tough spot, trying to harvest early, or just not having the yield they would have expected.” Tito Bern, owner of The Bern Gallery in Burlington, said most indoor growers have yet to get started. “Supply is terrible,” he said. Bern, who is applying for a Tier 2 license to be an indoor grower as well as a retailer, estimates his own smokable flower won’t be available for another five months. Bern thinks it will be two years before Vermont’s adult-use cannabis industry is fully up and running. “It’s going to take a while,” Todia agreed. “Generally, it will be a slow start for everyone.”

Richmond: A federal appeals court on Friday denied a request to rehear a case that found that gender dysphoria is a condition covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act. In August, a three-judge panel of the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals became the first federal appellate court in the country to find that the landmark federal law protects people with gender dysphoria, a condition that causes anguish and other symptoms as a result of a disparity between a person’s gender identity and their assigned sex at birth. The decision came in the case of Kesha Williams, a transgender woman who sued the Fairfax County sheriff in Virginia for housing her in a jail with men under a policy that inmates must be classified according to their genitals. In her lawsuit, Williams said that she was harassed and that her prescribed hormone medication was repeatedly delayed or skipped, violating the Americans with Disabilities Act. A federal judge granted a motion by the sheriff’s office to dismiss the lawsuit, but the 4th Circuit panel reversed that ruling, finding there is a distinction between gender identity disorder and gender dysphoria. The modern diagnosis of gender dysphoria “affirms that a transgender person’s medical needs are just as deserving of treatment and protection as anyone else’s,” Judge Diana Gribbon Motz wrote.

Seattle: The state this year has had the fewest square miles burned in a decade following the second- and third-worst fire seasons on record in 2020 and 2021. State Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz announced Friday that about 219 square miles burned in 2022 wildfires, The Seattle Times reports. That’s compared to nearly 781 square miles in 2021 and 1,316 square miles burned in 2020. 2015 was the state’s worst fire season in recorded history, when more than 1,562 square miles burned Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz celebrated the moderate fire season, saying a combination of Department of Natural Resources equipment, aerial firefighting assets, personnel, partnerships with other agencies, as well as a rainy spring that delayed the start of this year’s fire season contributed to the success. Since taking office in 2017, Franz has touted the benefits of controlled burns and of “treating” forests by thinning brush, trimming branches and removing dying trees. Department of Natural Resources officials since 2017 have tracked over 625 square miles of completed treatment, and about 109 square miles of prescribed burns in Central and Eastern Washington.

Morgantown: A federal prosecutor is holding a forum this week on citizens’ constitutional rights and how they’re enforced. U.S. Attorney William Ihlenfeld and his staff are hosting the event Tuesday morning in Morgantown. Experts will explain hate crimes, disability rights, housing rights and other areas of the law, according to a news release from Ihlenfeld’s office. “Federal civil rights laws are an important tool in our efforts to make communities in West Virginia safer and more welcoming, but they are often overlooked,” Ihlenfeld said. The half-day program is free and open to the public. It starts at 9 a.m. at the Mon County Center at Mylan Park.

Green Bay: A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit from a taxpayers group seeking to block President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness program, ruling that the group doesn’t have standing to bring the lawsuit. The Brown County Taxpayers Association argued that Biden’s order unlawfully circumvented Congress’ power over spending. They also argued the plan was discriminatory by seeking to give particular help to borrowers of color. U.S. District Judge William Griesbach, an appointee of President George W. Bush, tossed the case Thursday, writing that the group does not have standing to challenge the plan simply because its members are taxpayers. Biden enacted the debt relief plan under the HEROES Act, which was passed after the Sept. 11 attacks sparked an American-led military campaign aimed at terrorism. The act gave the executive branch authority to forgive student loan debt in association with military operations or national emergencies. The president cited COVID-19 as reason to invoke the act. The lawsuit, filed by the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty on behalf of the taxpayers group, had argued it was an overextension of executive power that improperly sidestepped Congress.

Cheyenne: Voters will decide next month whether to increase from 70 to 75 the mandatory retirement age for district judges and justices on the state Supreme Court, the Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports.

From USA TODAY Network and wire reports