Forget flood. Interview God.

"Can we abbreviate states in heds?" you ask. Well, yes and no. Sure, if it's one of the two-word states. Usually, according to your general stylebook rules for abbreviating states when they accompany cities or counties, if it's something obvious like "Calif."* You want to be careful when the abbreviation is also a word itself -- especially when it modifies another noun in a particularly meaningful way. Like, oh, "Ark. flood."

It isn't hard to make these up to scare the undergraduates:

Ill. Man Denies Mass. Murder.

But sometimes the journalism gods hand you one on a platter, like the TV station's

Mi. Man Accused of Raping Oh. Boy

from last year. So it's nice to have another one from real life for next term.

* I tend to like those better when they modify stuff, worse as subjects, but that's entirely a personal preference. I probably won't even enforce it if and when HEADSUP-L hires a copydesk.