Little Haiti, Corn Pop, Capote and Lee: News from around our 50 states

Alabama

Monroeville: A new play about the relationship between Alabama authors Truman Capote and Harper Lee will have its debut performances in their hometown. “Truman Talks Nelle Harper Lee” is set to premiere at the old Monroe County courthouse Sept. 27. It runs through Sept. 29. The play was written and is performed by Broadway actor Joel Vig, who was in the original Broadway production of “Hairspray.” Capote and Lee grew up together in Monroeville and remained friends throughout much of their lives as writers. The play is about a fictional surprise birthday party for Lee. Performing as Capote, Vig tells stories about Lee and his relationship with her. Lee helped Capote research his best-known work, “In Cold Blood,” and authored the landmark novel “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

Alaska

Fairbanks: All but two of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Experiment Farm reindeer herd have moved amid budget cuts and program changes. Thirty-five of the reindeer were moved to a bison farm near Delta Junction two weeks ago, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports. The farm, owned by the Stevens Village Native Council, has been working with the reindeer program for a number of years. Milan Shipka, director of the UAF Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, says the move will help the farm develop a larger herd for meat production. “This was an opportunity to help an Alaska Native entity develop a red meat industry,” Shipka says. The remaining reindeer, Roger and Olivia, have been moved to the Large Animal Research Station near the UAF campus. The pair will be used for outreach.

Arizona

Phoenix: Emergency dispatchers who handle 911 calls are about to have a place to decompress. The Phoenix Police Department on Tuesday will dedicate a new “quiet room” for 911 operators. Police Chief Jeri Williams and Mayor Kate Gallego will be on hand for the ceremony. A local Rotary Club came up with the idea as a way to show appreciation to police communications operators. Officials say the job of emergency dispatcher can sometimes take an emotional toll. The quiet room will allow the workers a place to rest or take a few moments for themselves.

Arkansas

Mountain Home: Patrol Packs – bags of easy-to-prepare grocery items meant to be given out to those facing food insecurity – are now part of the arsenal of the Baxter County Sheriff’s Department. Cathy Foraker, director of external affairs for AT&T Arkansas, recently delivered the first 25 Patrol Packs to the sheriff’s office. The packages are assembled and donated by AT&T through its “Believe Arkansas” program to combat hunger. The Sheriff’s Office has the Patrol Packs installed in its patrol vehicles, Sheriff John Montgomery says. “We run into people on a regular basis (that are food insecure),” he says. “We’re excited to try this, and I think it can make a difference.” The Patrol Packs contain items like peanut butter, easy-to-make skillet dinners, macaroni and cheese, pouches of tuna and easy-to-open canned goods.

California

Sacramento: Sacramento State University has accidentally accepted 3,500 waitlisted students for fall admission. The Sacramento Bee reports the students were mistakenly invited to Admitted Students Day after an email was sent in March welcoming them to the event. Officials say the school never rescinded the invitation, which implied the students were accepted. University officials say the error resulted in an additional 500 students who began classes this semester. Officials say there was space to admit them because the school initially admitted a conservative number of students, and it noted a record number of graduates last year. Officials say they don’t believe the additional students will have an effect on students’ ability to take classes in their department. University officials estimate a 1% enrollment increase.

Colorado

Denver: The number of children and teens killed by gun violence in the Mile-High City is rising, and so is the number of youth charged with gun-related crimes. The Denver Post reports 15 teens and children have been shot and killed in the city since January 2018, more than in the previous three years combined. Prosecutors say 107 teens were charged with gun possession in 2018, compared with 50 in 2015. They say this year is on pace to equal or surpass last year. Law enforcement officers, community members and health officials point to a variety of possible reasons for the increase in gun violence against young people. They include changing gang structures, easy access to firearms, violent video games, socioeconomic inequality, hopelessness and an online culture that glorifies gun possession.

Connecticut

Hartford: Gov. Ned Lamont is recommending the state join a growing number of counterparts in eliminating the religious exemption to childhood vaccinations. The Democrat and state Health Commissioner Renee Coleman-Mitchell on Monday proposed the General Assembly do away with the exemption by the start of the 2021-22 school year. The decision follows the recent release of state Health Department statistics showing the percentage of Connecticut kindergarteners who were vaccinated against measles and mumps dropped from 96.5% in the 2017-18 school year to 95.9% in the 2018-19 school year. Lamont and Coleman-Mitchell were joined by leaders of the Legislature’s Democratic majority, who called the repeal a public-safety issue during the nation’s worst measles outbreak in decades. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1905 that states have the right to enforce compulsory vaccination laws.

Delaware

Wilmington: Yes, Corn Pop is a real person. Over the weekend, a clip of presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden recalling his time as a local lifeguard in the 1960s went viral. He was speaking in Wilmington in 2017, when the pool where he worked as a college student was being named after him. At the time, he was the only white lifeguard at the pool. The clip made many people wonder on Twitter who Corn Pop is and if the incident actually occurred. In short, William L. Williams was very much a real person. He died in 2016, and his nickname, “Corn Pop,” was included in his short obituary in the Delaware News Journal. Williams was associated with the Romans, a Wilmington gang prominent in the 1960s. Former Mayor Dennis Williams confirmed to CNN that Corn Pop was as “real as the moon in the sky.”

District of Columbia

Washington: The next acting chief of the U.S. Park Police is accused of using his role to improperly have criminal charges dropped against defendants, including some accused of assaulting officers. News outlets report a complaint filed Friday by the Fraternal Order of Police details the allegations. Gregory T. Monahan is set to take on the role this week. He previously worked for the department’s San Francisco office while based in D.C. The complaint says Monahan twice intervened to have charged dropped against San Francisco employees of Presidio Trust, a federal agency that helps fund San Francisco’s park police through partnerships with other organizations. Its chief executive, Jean S. Fraser, is accused of asking Monahan to drop the charges.

Florida

Miami: A billion-dollar development project set to be built in a cultural neighborhood has divided residents. Magic City Innovation District is taking up 17 acres of land in historic Little Haiti, which once had the most Haitians outside of Haiti. The project has inspired hope and fear amongst residents. Leonie Hermantin, a Little Haiti community leader, says she is cautiously optimistic. She hopes the project will bring economic benefits to an impoverished neighborhood but is wary of longtime residents being displaced due to rising house costs. Hermantin says her support for the project has lost her many friends, but allying with what she calls an unstoppable process is better to ensure residents can be protected and for the neighborhood to thrive.

Georgia

Lithonia: Rapper Kanye West brought his collection of choir singers and musicians to an Atlanta-area megachurch for his religious popup performance called “Sunday Service.” News outlets report West visited New Birth Missionary Baptist Church on Sunday, drawing a large group of parishioners and celebrities including rappers T.I. and 2 Chainz. The rapper’s wife, Kim Kardashian West, said on the ABC daytime show “The View” that West’s “Sunday Service” is a musical ministry and Christian service that discusses Jesus and God. The church’s Instagram stories show West performing “Father Stretch my Hands” and a gospel set to the tune of Ginuwine’s “So Anxious.” West’s pop-up group has made various appearances on Sundays since January, including a stop in Dayton, Ohio, at a benefit event supporting the community affected by the mass shooting.

Hawaii

Wailuku: State and federal agencies have approved an energy company’s request to increase incidental bat deaths at its Maui wind farm. The Maui News reports the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the state Department of Land and Natural Resources have allowed Auwahi Wind Energy to increase the number of hoary bat deaths by 2037 to 140, up from the 21 bats in its original application. Officials say Auwahi applied for a federal permit, which was prepared and signed Sept. 3, but decisions must be published in the Federal Register to be made final. Experts say there is not enough information to determine the impact wind farms have on bat populations. Environmental groups say companies can change operations to have little to no effect on bats.

Idaho

Nampa: A dog once deemed “unadoptable” has found a new purpose as a police K-9 working in local schools. During the week, Huck, a rescued red heeler mix, wanders around East Valley Middle School alongside his handler, Officer Serena Tlucek, the Idaho Press reports. He hangs out with students during lunch and enjoys lots of pats in the halls as students pass by. There’s a particular hallway he usually bolts down because a teacher always has a treat waiting for him. And when necessary, he will visit other Nampa schools and sniff for drugs that may be in cars, classrooms or lockers. Before getting certified as a police K-9, Huck spent most of his life in a shelter. Now he has his own Instagram account, which allows people to see what his life’s like.

Illinois

Springfield: A central Illinois congressman says a site linked to the city’s 1908 race riot has been deemed suitable for designation as a national historic monument. U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis had asked the National Park Service last year to conduct a survey of the block-long site. He says a review by the U.S. Department of the Interior found the site suitable for a historic monument designation. The (Springfield) State Journal-Register reports that construction work in the area has uncovered the remains of seven homes, five of which were burned during the race riot. Sixteen people died during three days of rioting in August 1908 when a white mob attacked black citizens in Abraham Lincoln’s hometown. The city and the NAACP hope to build a memorial at the site.

Indiana

Russiaville: A middle school’s planned “Slave Ship” history exercise has been canceled following an outcry by parents upset that the lesson called for students to portray bound, enslaved Africans aboard a vessel returning to the Americas. The proposed role-playing exercise at Western Middle School would have had students reenacting the Middle Passage, in which millions of Africans were kidnapped, shipped across the Atlantic in dire conditions and sold into slavery. The school’s eighth-grade social studies teacher, Kevin Pax, sent a letter to parents detailing the class. But his letter triggered an uproar, with worried parents reaching out to the school and posting their concerns on social media. WISH-TV reports Pax sent a follow-up email last week canceling the role-playing portion of the lesson.

Iowa

Des Moines: More than $8.5 million was wagered at 13 participating casinos in the state’s first month of sports betting. Ames station WOI reports that figures released by the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission show the state reaped nearly $146,000 in tax revenue from the wagers on sports events. The report shows Prairie Meadows in Altoona topped Ameristar II in Council Bluffs, with more than $3.4 million in sports handle – or money placed on bets – and nearly $2.9 million paid out to bettors. On Aug. 15, Iowa became the 11th in the nation and first in the Midwest to allow such wagering. Iowa’s law allows betting on-site or through a mobile app but requires mobile betting to be done within the state’s borders. Betting software includes precision geofencing technology that nullifies bets made outside Iowa.

Kansas

Topeka: Officials are trumpeting the state’s growing economy while also worrying about how to find enough employees to fill new jobs, especially in high-demand careers like health care. The state’s recent monthly economic report showed Kansas created 14,000 jobs in the past year, and unemployment is 3.3%. The Kansas News Service reports the state’s total labor force dropped from a high of 1.521 million in 2009 to 1.479 million in July. Kansas Labor Secretary Delia García says the state is in good shape economically, but leaders need to think ahead to attract more workers. She hopes state officials will work more closely with education and business groups to train workers. And she wants lawmakers and other officials to support economic development programs that would attract workers to Kansas.

Kentucky

Louisville: A $1 million donation by the disgraced founder of Papa John’s to a historically black college has prompted the school to give up $20,000 in scholarships from the pizza company. Only hours after John Schnatter announced his donation to Simmons College, the school’s development director declined the company’s pledge to help 10 students with $2,000 each toward tuition. A Simmons spokeswoman said the school meant only to delay the scholarships and was acting under pressure from Papa John’s diversity director. The school spokeswoman says the company was made uncomfortable by Schnatter’s donation. A Papa John’s spokeswoman denies that and says the school’s rejection was unexpected. Schnatter lost control of Papa John’s amid backlash for using the N-word while blaming poor sales on NFL player protests.

Louisiana

Baton Rouge: State officials are looking for suggestions on what to include in the new Louisiana Civil Rights Trail. The Louisiana Office of Tourism says submissions can include sites, “events, persons, activities, stories, or experiences that had a significant impact on the Civil Rights Movement in Louisiana.” In recent months officials have held 15 meetings across the state to discuss the project. Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser says the Louisiana Civil Rights Trail will recognize the “stories, people and locations” that played a crucial role in the history of the state and the country. The deadline to submit suggestions online is Dec. 6.

Maine

Portland: High numbers of a species of jellyfish that can grow to huge sizes have been sighted in recent months in the Gulf of Maine and some of its beaches. The lion’s mane jellyfish, believed to be the world’s largest, can grow to 5 or more feet across, with tentacles more than 100 feet long. Such huge jelliyfish are uncommon, but larger-than-average ones have been more common this year, according to beachgoers. Nick Record, a senior research scientist at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, says he typically gets 300 to 700 reports of jellyfish per summer. This year’s total number of jellyfish is likely to be about average. But usually, fewer than half are lion’s manes, and this year, it’s almost all of them. Scientists are puzzling over why.

Maryland

Baltimore: Authorities are searching for a former actor from the Baltimore-based television show “The Wire” who they say escaped custody after being taken to a hospital. Baltimore police say Christopher Clanton Sr. was arrested Sept. 12 for violating a protective order and was taken to a hospital for a check-up ahead of being booked into jail. Police say he escaped Friday. Court records show he has three other pending criminal cases. News outlets report that Clanton posted on Facebook that he “basically walked out of the front door.” Clanton played Savino Bratton in two seasons of “The Wire,” an acclaimed HBO drama about the city.

Massachusetts

Boston: The leaders of the four Roman Catholic dioceses in the state are calling on the faithful to address climate change. In a pastoral letter released Monday, the bishops wrote that “we must act now within our faith institutions and throughout the state to take substantial, meaningful steps to protect our environmental and provide relief from the impact of toxic pollution and climate change” to protect public health and safety. The letter was signed by Boston Archbishop Cardinal Sean O’Malley, Springfield Bishop Mitchell Rozanski, Worcester Bishop Robert McManus and Fall River Bishop Edgar da Cunha. The leaders in their letter cited several recent scientific studies that “detail the urgency of this crisis,” including climate change’s effects on weather and global food supplies. The bishops asked everyone to “take better care of our common home.”

Michigan

Manistee: A 400-ton pavilion built in the 1940s could fall 100 feet from a bluff into Lake Michigan if nothing is done to fight erosion from rising waters at a state park. Orchard Beach State Park supervisor Doug Barry says the limestone pavilion sits about 50 feet back from the edge of a bluff that’s eroding at an average annual rate of 6 inches. Barry says while the structure isn’t in imminent peril, the Department of Natural Resources is working to ensure it doesn’t fall off the edge. MLive.com reports that the work to save it could begin in fall 2020. Barry noted that engineering firm GEI Consultants has been commissioned to survey the erosion and find ways to salvage the historic building and restore a beach.

Minnesota

St. Paul: A deleted video from a forum that turned tense over race demonstrates some of the risks in Minnesota first lady Gwen Walz’s push for criminal justice reform. Walz and administration staffers wanted to promote an upcoming PBS documentary about a rigorous college program for inmates because they want to replicate the concept in the state. But Minnesota Public Radio reports a forum at Twin Cities Public Television one day last May, which included screenings of clips from the documentary, turned tense when the moderator pressed participants about race. A top aide to Gov. Tim Walz then sought to make sure a video of the forum didn’t circulate. TPT officials defended deleting the video, saying it was never intended for broadcast, but the Walz administration ultimately expressed regret for overreacting.

Mississippi

Greenwood: A convenience store in the Delta is telling workers at a neighboring soybean oil mill that many of them stink and should stay out. The Greenwood Commonwealth reports the store has a sign on its door stating, “Notice: Bad Smelling Oil Mill People Please Do Not Enter.” Anurag Randive, who manages the Greenwood store, says the sign was posted about three months ago after customers complained about the odor of employees from the Express Grain oil mill across the street. He says he’s prevented some odorous workers from entering. Randive says he hasn’t received any complaints. Express Grain workers continue shopping at the store. Employee Michael Blount says workers who labor in the pits filled with stinking rotten soybeans send less-smelly coworkers inside to buy snacks. “We know we stink,” Blount says.

Missouri

Jefferson City: Legal Aid of Western Missouri says there has been a drastic drop in the percentage of cases it wins to secure Medicaid disability benefits for the aged, blind or disabled in the state. The organization succeeded in 54% of its cases in 2017 seeking the reversal of denial or reevaluation of benefits by the Missouri Department of Social Services. It won 42% of such cases in 2018 and less than 20% in the first four months of this year. Jim Brightman, a Legal Aid attorney, tells The Kansas City Star that DSS blamed staff shortages during a July meeting. Brightman blames a high turnover in middle management at the agency and misapplication of laws. DSS didn’t respond to a request for comment or explanation.

Montana

Billings: A Native American storyteller from the state is expected to be honored as a National Heritage Fellow by the National Endowment for the Arts. The Billings Gazette reports traditional Crow storyteller Grant Bulltail is one of 10 people chosen by the NEA to receive a 2019 fellowship. Bulltail is expected to be honored Wednesday in Washington, D.C., with the presentation of the fellowship, which includes a $25,000 award. Bulltail says the award money will be put toward hiring an editor to work with him on a novel presenting a story of the Crow people. He has previously shared his stories at state and national parks and places of significance to the Crow people.

Nebraska

Lincoln: The state has approved $3 million in grants to help communities recover from flooding in the spring and rebuild housing. Six Nebraska communities will each receive $500,000 to help with projects related to housing: Nebraska City, Fremont, Peru, Lynch, Wood River and Pierce County. The money will help pay to demolish some houses in the flood plain, rebuild or rehabilitate some homes, and help some families with down payments on new homes. The Nebraska Department of Economic Development used money from an affordable housing program to pay for the grants to help communities recover after the severe spring flooding.

Nevada

Las Vegas: A change in state law to ban gun ownership by people convicted of domestic violence led the state Supreme Court to expand provisions for jury trials in misdemeanor cases. A unanimous ruling Thursday points to a 2015 law that justices say means a conviction for misdemeanor domestic violence can no longer be considered a petty offense. The court calls limiting state and U.S. constitutional rights to own a gun a serious penalty that a jury should decide. Michael Pariente, the attorney who won the ruling on behalf of Christopher Anderson, says it brings Nevada in line with all but a few other U.S. states. It could also lead to increased costs in a state where officials tallied more than 30,000 domestic violence arrests in 2017, including more than 21,000 in and around Las Vegas.

New Hampshire

Plymouth: A lecture series at Plymouth State University will explore some of the key issues facing voters ahead of the next presidential election. The free Saul O Sidore Lecture Series starts Tuesday, with other sessions set for Oct. 22 and Nov. 5. The first speaker will be sociologist Alison McLetchie, who will discuss the role of race in U.S. elections. In October, Gregory Samuels of the University of Montevallo will discuss fact-checking in the age of fake news. The November speaker will be Harold Meyerson, an editor of The American Prospect, who will explore the renewed appeal of socialism. The series will continue in March and April with presentations on immigration and border security, health care, the economy and the risk of nuclear escalation. Reservations are recommended.

New Jersey

Wildwood: A congressional subcommittee has heard from fishermen asking for input on crucial decisions about offshore wind energy. They said Monday at a hearing at the Jersey Shore that they want to be consulted on where wind energy projects are located and whether water access is restricted. The hearing’s purpose was to gather input from the industry and its advocates to be considered in future regulation of wind energy. Peter Hughes, of Atlantic Cape Fisheries, says proposed projects off New Jersey sit atop prime fishing grounds. Capt. Ed Yates, a fisherman from Barnegat Light, New Jersey, says flounder, cod and other species have moved away from underground cables at a wind project off Denmark. The productive Cape May fishing port in Southern Jersey is second in the nation in terms of the value of seafood brought ashore each year, the fishermen say.

New Mexico

Gallup: Activists are using virtual reality technology to focus on areas of the Navajo Nation affected by uranium contamination. The Gallup Independent reports the arts collective Bombshelltoe has collected 360-degree footage of Churchrock, New Mexico, to show how people and the land have changed since a 1979 uranium mill spill. The film, titled “Ways of Knowing,” was directed by artist Kayla Briet. The project started four years ago after Washington, D.C.-based nuclear policy program manager Lovely Umayam met Navajo activist Sunny Dooley at an event in Santa Fe. Umayam says the group wanted to use the new technology of virtual reality with the stories to show the impact of uranium mining. In 1979, a dam on the Navajo Nation near Church Rock broke at an evaporation pond, releasing 94 million gallons of radioactive waste to the Puerco River.

New York

Albany: Schools across the state began the academic year with a new tool intended to prevent student suicides and violence – the ability to ask a court to remove a troubled person’s access to firearms. So-called red flag laws allow courts to temporarily seize guns from people believed to be a danger to themselves or others, but New York is the first to empower schools to petition a court themselves for such an order, rather than go through local law enforcement. Supporters of the law say educators are uniquely suited to pick up on the kind of troubling behavior seen before school shootings. With the law so new, though, schools are still crafting procedures or waiting on guidance to help them figure out when and how to take action if the need arises. Several school systems said they’re not yet sure what the law will look like in action.

North Carolina

Raleigh: Plaintiffs in a successful redistricting lawsuit say state judges should allow the public release of a trove of documents culled from a late Republican mapmaker’s files. Common Cause and North Carolina Democrats were permitted to use a small number of files they subpoenaed from the daughter of Thomas Hofeller in a partisan gerrymandering trial in July. The judges ordered the rest remain confidential while Hofeller’s old firm designated documents they wanted to remain private. That confidentiality order – issued before some documents also were used in litigation over a U.S. census citizenship question – expires next week. Democratic U.S. senators and media outlets filed briefs Friday – as did the plaintiffs – asking more documents be released.

North Dakota

Bismarck: When electronic pulltabs launched one year ago, they instantly became the state’s most popular form of gambling. And the charities and the state’s treasury have ballooned with cash. Data shows North Dakotans wagered $410.5 million on the new machines in the first nine months following their debut. But critics say the e-pulltabs are simply slot machines in disguise that take away profits from the state’s American Indian casinos and have caused problem gambling to soar. Lisa Vig, who helps run a gambling treatment program in Fargo, called the machines’ popularity “very frightening.” She says the e-machines are contributing greatly to “financial distress, emotional distress and family issues.”

Ohio

Toledo: A baby snow leopard born at the city’s zoo is now on exhibit. Babochka is on display for the first time since her birth in March at the Toledo Zoo. The Blade in Toledo reports the cub’s parents, Greta and Shishir, were imported from Scandinavia in 2017 to start a new bloodline in North America. Snow leopards are listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources’ Red List. An international conservation group called Panthera estimates there are between 4,500 and 10,000 specimens in the wild. The World Wide Fund for Nature cites poaching, human encroachment and climate change as stressors on the species’ population.

Oklahoma

Oklahoma City: Weekend fights at six state prisons that left one inmate dead and more than a dozen others injured were apparently coordinated and the result of race-based gang tension inside the facilities, the head of a prison workers association said Monday. The first fight erupted Saturday at the Northeast Oklahoma Correctional Center in Vinita. It was followed Sunday by fights at prisons in Hominy, Sayre, Fort Supply, Lawton and Stringtown, according to the state Department of Corrections. The prisoner who died was at the medium-security Dick Conner Correctional Center in Hominy. More than a dozen inmates were taken to hospitals with injuries that aren’t considered life-threatening. All of Oklahoma’s prisons remained locked down Monday, with family visitation canceled and inmates mostly confined to their cells.

Oregon

Portland: The state has banned the trapping of an extremely rare, cat-like creature in coastal areas critical to its survival. A coalition of environmental groups on Monday said the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission voted 4-3 for a trapping ban west of Interstate 5 to protect the fewer than 200 Humboldt martens left in the state. The Humboldt marten is related to the mink and lives in coastal forests. Conservation groups had sued Oregon when it didn’t act to ban trapping last fall. The groups said the delay had the potential to wipe out the population. Oregon’s martens live in two isolated groups in the Siskiyou National Forest and the Siuslaw National Forest. The martens are also found in Northern California. Coastal martens are proposed for protection as “threatened” under U.S. law.

Pennsylvania

Plainfield: The township has approved zoning changes aimed at blocking projects such as natural gas pipelines, wind turbines, solar panels and cellphone towers from being located near its section of the Appalachian Trail. The (Allentown) Morning Call reports that Plainfield Township supervisors last week unanimously approved the ordinance, which also addresses mineral extraction, billboards and mobile homes. Environmental planner Brooks Mountcastle of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy says other municipalities have recently adopted ordinances aimed at protecting the trail, but they aren’t as comprehensive as Plainfield’s. It includes guidelines for controlling light pollution, groundwater withdrawal, digital signs, noise, commercial outdoor recreation, residential developments, solar panels, natural gas pipelines and wind turbines.

Rhode Island

Providence: The state’s treasurer says $1.4 million in unclaimed property will be returned to about 4,000 people. Treasurer Seth Magaziner says his office automatically sends checks to many people listed in the unclaimed property database through an initiative called “Your Money.” Unclaimed property can include money left in old bank accounts and safe deposit boxes, uncashed paychecks, unused gift certificates, unreturned utility deposits, uncollected insurance payments, and forgotten stocks and dividends. Since the initiative launched in November 2017, Magaziner says more than $17 million has been returned to about 52,000 people. He says much of it has been returned automatically, without the need for paperwork. Magaziner says residents can visit the office’s website to see if the state is holding their unclaimed property.

South Carolina

Columbia: A former state chief justice will oversee all court cases around a pair of nuclear reactors abandoned during construction. An order from the state Supreme Court says former Chief Justice Jean Toal will take over all lawsuits about the V.C. Summer nuclear project that lost billions of dollars. Circuit Judge John Hayes had been handling the cases and approved a settlement to a lawsuit by South Carolina Electric & Gas ratepayers that led to rebate checks for less than $100. The order does not say why Toal is taking over. Cases still pending include South Carolina’s electric cooperatives lawsuit against the minority partner in the project, state-owned Santee Cooper. Toal was South Carolina’s first woman elected chief justice, holding the office from 2000 to 2015.

South Dakota

Sioux Falls: Nearly a week after three EF2 tornadoes ravaged the city, students at O’Gorman High School are coming together to help their neighbors across the street. The students are establishing a tornado relief fund for families at an apartment complex across from the campus after the storm last Tuesday night ripped the roof off the building, according to a press release by the Bishop O’Gorman Catholic Schools system Monday. The students will join together during homecoming week this week to bring in as much as they can each day, and the funds will be split evenly to reach of the displaced families at the complex. The city is also taking donations through the Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation.

Tennessee

Nashville: If you’d like to visit a museum for free this weekend, the Smithsonian has your tickets. As part of the annual Museum Day, 28 museums and cultural institutions in the state will offer free admission Saturday. Hopeful visitors can go request a ticket that provides free admission to two people. Participants are allowed to download one ticket per email address, while supplies last. Memphis has the most participating museums with 10, including the Blues Hall of Fame, Pink Palace Museum, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art and Memphis Rock ’n’ Soul Museum. The Knoxville area has six, including the American Museum of Science and Energy and the Children’s Museum in Oak Ridge, as well as Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame and Knoxville Museum of Art. Nashville area participants include the First Art Museum and the Parthenon.

Texas

San Antonio: Hearings in tent courts in South Texas are underway for asylum-seekers forced to wait in Mexico while their immigration applications are considered. Monday’s hearings mark the formal opening of the courts. Twenty-one migrants lined up in Mexico to cross the border for their appearances. Officials say they want 200 migrants to appear each day in the tents in Laredo. A judge in a brick courthouse in San Antonio is presiding over the Laredo court via video chat. Outside observers are barred from the tents, but journalists were allowed into the San Antonio courthouse. The Trump administration introduced its “Remain in Mexico” policy in January in response to an increase in asylum-seeking families, especially from Central America. Critics have assailed the policy for making families and children wait in violent Mexico border cities.

Utah

Provo: A man who has been in a wheelchair for more than three decades has created a pheasant hunt for people like him who need help getting into the outdoors. Clint Robinson broke his neck after being thrown off a horse at a rodeo 32 years ago. He’s done his best to keep getting into the outdoors to hunt and fish, the Daily Herald in Provo reports. The event he calls “Wheelchairs in the Wild” pairs people who have physical disabilities with hunters who help them with whatever they need. Many go in off-road vehicles. The youngest hunter at last year’s event was 13-year-old Missy Cowley, who has spina bifida. Her father loves to hunt but didn’t know how to accommodate her wheelchair. Her mother, Cindy Cowley, says it was amazing to find a program that allowed her daughter to go hunting.

Vermont

Swanton: A total of $3.6 million in grants will go toward improving bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure in communities around the state. Gov. Phil Scott’s office says this year’s projects include a shared-use path to complete a missing link in South Burlington; sidewalks in Moretown; and a sidewalk to provide safe access to the high school in Swanton. The governor’s office says about $3.3 million federal money will fund the larger projects, and $300,000 in state funding will go to 10 small improvement projects that address critical safety needs for pedestrian crossings and filling sidewalk gaps. Scott says that “improvements to the bike and pedestrian infrastructure around the state help communities modernize and become more livable and affordable.”

Virginia

Lovingston: Authorities say a yak on its way to the butcher’s shop escaped to the nearby mountains, avoiding animal control officers and treats trying to lure it back into a trailer. The News & Advance reports the yak named Meteor was on its last ride Tuesday from Buckingham, Virginia, to the butcher when it got out of its trailer. The escape was called in as livestock on the loose, and Nelson County Animal Control officer Kevin Wright says he figured he was looking for a cow. Wright says the yak crossed a busy highway and avoided officers trying to capture it by heading for the mountains. The yak was last spotted Wednesday at an inn, where the owners tried unsuccessfully to lure it into a trailer using treats.

Washington

Seattle: State auditors say schools are struggling to keep students sitting for the recommended 20-minute lunch. The Seattle Times reports an audit from the Washington State Auditor’s Office found scheduling lunches could be the key to improving health and behavior in K-12 students. Washington is one of five states that require a 20-minute lunch seating schedule for students. The state auditor’s report found that students who sit for 20 minutes wasted less food, ate healthier and exhibited better behavior in the classroom. But the report also found students at nearly all of the 31 schools observed didn’t sit for 20 minutes to eat. Seventeen schools scheduled 20 minutes of sitting, but only one followed through. Enforcing the rule can be tough. Teachers are required to have a break from supervising students, and some schools don’t have enough support staff to keep kids in their seats.

West Virginia

Wheeling: A private university will reinstate several academic and athletic programs that were dropped amid a financial crisis. Wheeling University says in a statement that starting in January, it will resume offering majors in biology, engineering science and English. It also will offer new online programs in criminal justice and psychology. In 2020, the school will reinstate men’s golf, men’s and women’s lacrosse, and men’s and women’s swimming. Wheeling University athletic teams compete in the Division II Mountain East Conference. Wheeling University cut more than half its academic programs this fall, and two top officials were placed on paid administrative leave. The school changed its name from Wheeling Jesuit University and ended its affiliation with the Jesuit order while maintaining its Roman Catholic identity.

Wisconsin

Madison: The state’s dairy industry is raising a stink about potential new regulations governing manure storage. State officials are crafting new farm standards to serve as a template for local ordinances. The standards would expand setbacks for manure storage. New farms with at least 500 animals and farms looking to expand to at least 500 animals would have to place storage facilities between 600 feet and 2,500 feet from their neighbors’ property line depending on herd size to minimize odor. Farm groups including the Dairy Business Association, the Wisconsin Dairy Alliance and the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation held a news conference Monday to rail against the standards. They insisted the regulations would make expansion nearly impossible and drive farmers out of Wisconsin.

Wyoming

Yellowstone National Park: The park recorded just over 820,000 recreational visits during the month of August and has exceeded 3.1 million visitors for the year so far. The August numbers are a slight increase from August 2018, while the total visitor numbers for the year are down by about 21,500 from the same period last year. Visitation to the United States’ first national park typically begins to decrease in September with the end of the busy summer tourist season and the onset of winter.

From USA TODAY Network and wire reports