Dairy Queen art, polar bear poop, Bourbon Street beer battle: News from around our 50 states

From staff and wire reports

Iditarod kicks off in Alaska, flower exhibit channels the 1960s in Pennsylvania, and more

Sheffield
A small northern Alabama music studio where The Rolling Stones, Cher and other stars recorded their hit songs is turning 50 this year. Muscle Shoals Sound Studio will host an April 27 celebration of the milestone. David Hood will perform as part of a Muscle Shoals All-Stars revue, fronted by singer Carla Russell, AL.com reports. Hood is one of the studio’s co-founders and the bassist for prolific session musicians Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, also known as The Swampers. The Swampers opened Muscle Shoals Sound in 1969, after backing R&B stars such as Wilson Pickett and Etta James at nearby FAME Studios. Hood and fellow Swampers musicians Jimmy Johnson, Roger Hawkins and Barry Beckett recorded much of their work at the Sheffield building – formerly home to a coffin factory.

Anchorage
Big crowds converged on the state’s largest city Saturday as hundreds of dogs and their humans kicked off the 47th running of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog race with a ceremonial sprint along snow-heaped streets. The fan-friendly event brought spectators up close to the 52 musher-dog teams gearing up for the famed 1,000-mile race. Mushers are generally more relaxed here than they will be for the real thing. But the dogs barked furiously before setting off, straining against their sled lines in apparent excitement to get going on the 11-mile initial dash. The serious, competitive portion of the wilderness trek started Sunday in the small community of Willow. From there, the 14-dog teams will cross two mountain ranges, the frozen Yukon River and dangerous sea ice along the Bering Sea Coast. The winner is expected in Nome in about nine days.

Phoenix
A year after celebrating its 25th anniversary, the Cinco de Mayo Phoenix Festival returns, bringing live performances by Latin-funk sensations War and Tierra as well as local acts throughout the day. The longest-running festival in downtown Phoenix is annually ranked as one of top 10 Cinco De Mayo Festivals in the nation. This family-oriented festival will also feature Ballet Folklorico, Lucha Libre, a free kid zone with interactive rides and games, and plenty of food booths serving traditional food, beer, margaritas and other drinks. Scholarships will be awarded on-site. The festival runs from noon to 10 p.m. Sunday, May 5. Tickets may be purchased at the festival or in advance online. Ages 10 and under are admitted free.

Hot Springs
City leaders are taking suggestions for the redevelopment of the former Majestic Hotel site, which was ravaged by fire five years ago. The nonprofit group Fifty for the Future is asking the city to include a thermal pool complex in the redevelopment of the site in downtown Hot Springs. According to The Sentinel-Record, the group also suggested restaurants, stores and a performing arts plaza. The city of Hot Springs acquired the Majestic Hotel site in 2015 after it was condemned earlier that year. The newspaper reports the city has spent nearly $1.4 million to demolish three condemned structures and remove the debris from the February 2014 fire that destroyed the historic hotel. The city says it will hold input sessions on how to redevelop the site.

Santa Barbara
A big sea creature that washed ashore in Southern California has been identified as a hoodwinker sunfish, a recently identified rare species thought to live in the Southern Hemisphere. The University of California, Santa Barbara, says the fish was spotted at Sands Beach in the university’s Coal Oil Point Natural Reserve. An intern alerted a reserve staffer, who initially thought it was a type of local sunfish. She posted photos to the reserve’s Facebook page, which drew the attention of a university professor who examined the fish and posted photos online. That caught the eye of Marianne Nyegaard of Murdoch University in Australia, who identified the species in 2017 and formally named it Mola tecta but gave it the hoodwinker moniker because it had somehow escaped scientific recognition.

Denver
Some warned about mission creep. But the state’s Democrat-controlled House has tentatively endorsed developing a proposal for a public health insurance option. Gov. Jared Polis (above) insists such an option will introduce competition and make insurance affordable for thousands of Colorado families. The House voted Friday to require two state agencies to study and develop a proposal for the Legislature by Nov. 15. The bill goes to the Senate after another House vote. Fourteen rural counties have just one health insurer. Their residents face some of the nation’s highest premiums. Republican Rep. Marc Catlin, a bill co-sponsor, says it’s smart to study what a public option might look like before introducing formal legislation in 2020. Republican Rep. Mark Baisley warns it puts Colorado on a fast track to a public option.

Hartford
Parents are asking state lawmakers to pass legislation allowing their children to self-apply sunscreen before they participate in recess and other outdoor activities. Parents say elementary school students are currently required to have a school nurse apply sunscreen before they go outside. They say students often skip sunscreen so they don’t miss out on recess, putting them at risk for skin cancer. The General Assembly’s Public Health Committee will hear testimony Monday on a bill allowing any student who is at least 8 years old to self-apply over-the-counter sunscreen while in school before they engage in an outdoor activity. The bill requires a student’s parent or guardian to provide written authorization to the school nurse.

Harrington
Reba McEntire, Gladys Knight and Brothers Osborne will perform at the centennial celebration of the Delaware State Fair this summer, organizers announced Saturday. Brothers Osborne, known for songs “Down Home” and “Stay a Little Longer,” will perform July 19. Country legend McEntire, who was recently given a Kennedy Center Honor, will perform the following night. Knight (above), aka the Empress of Soul, will close out the fair July 27. Organizers previously announced country singers Dan + Shay and Sugarland will perform at the 100th annual Delaware State Fair. Tickets for the concerts go on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday. They can be purchased online or by calling 800-514-3849.

Washington
The U.S. House of Representatives will take up a vote on D.C. statehood this week – the first time the chamber has voted on the issue in more than 25 years, WUSA-TV reports. Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., announced Friday that the House is expected to debate and pass H.R. 1, which, among other provisions, calls for statehood for the District of Columbia. If passed, the bill is unlikely to make any headway in the GOP-controlled Senate, but it would mark the first time either chamber of Congress has ever endorsed statehood for the nation’s capital. Bills advocating for D.C. statehood have been introduced every year since 1993 but have never made it out of committee. Norton’s bill this year has garnered a record 198 co-sponsors.

Tallahassee
There’s a new robot in town. Cassie is a relatively lightweight bipedal robot, weighing 70 pounds and standing about 4-foot-6. FAMU-FSU College of Engineering assistant professor Christian Hubicki, director of the Optimal Robotics Laboratory, welcomed “Tallahassee Cassie” to town last month along with professor Jonathan Clark and Ph.D. student Jason White (above). The research tool will provide a platform for students to seek ways to improve the use of robots in everyday life, such as “disaster response scenarios,” Hubicki says. It might also allow further insight into how humans move and offer ways to improve how people walk when suffering from medical ailments. The robot’s name is derived from its likeness to Cassowary birds like ostriches.

Atlanta
City officials are pushing back against a proposal in the Georgia Senate for a state takeover of Atlanta’s airport, one of the busiest in the world. Michael Smith, press secretary for Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, said in a statement Friday that the plan amounted to “theft.” The legislation introduced by Republican state Sen. Burt Jones of Jackson would create a board appointed by state officials to oversee operations at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, currently owned and operated by the city of Atlanta. Jones said in an interview Friday that state oversight was needed because of past issues with corruption in procurements. The legislation has 29 Senate co-signers. It was approved by the Senate Transportation Committee on Tuesday.

Honolulu
On the political spectrum, Hawaii is among the bluest of states. Democrats control all the levers of power at the state and federal levels, and voters back Democratic presidential candidates over Republicans by some of the widest margins in the U.S. But when it comes to legalizing recreational marijuana for adult use, the islands aren’t ahead of the curve. On Friday, a legalization bill that made it further in the legislative process than previous efforts died when lawmakers failed to consider it in time for a deadline. Half the Democrats in the state Senate co-sponsored the measure, helping spur speculation this would be the year legalization becomes reality. But the effort fizzled as other leaders worried about contradicting federal law and jeopardizing Hawaii’s existing medical marijuana program.

Boise
For the past 11 years, the deaf executive director of the Idaho Council for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing has had to find a sign-language interpreter for meetings with lawmakers. The process can take days, sometimes forcing Steven Snow to miss important meetings on urgent issues. The Idaho Press reports that now, for the first time, legislative budget-writers have approved funding so the council can hire a full-time interpreter. Snow didn’t ask for the funding but mentioned the issue in response to questions from members of the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee last month. Members of the budget-writing committee were stunned by the situation. A budget for next year that includes about $90,000 for a full-time interpreter passed the committee unanimously Thursday.

Chicago
Police say the number of homicides in the city fell significantly in February compared to the same month last year, and the total of 23 is half what it was in February in 2016 – the year when Chicago’s surging gun violence captured the attention of the nation. In a news release, the department says statistics show a continuation of a trend that began more than two years ago. The release says not only were there 17 fewer homicides for the month compared to February 2018, but the number of robberies, burglaries and motor vehicle thefts also fell to levels not seen in nearly two decades. The department says the falling crime numbers are largely due to the expansion of high-tech crime fighting tools and the hiring of hundreds of officers.

Indianapolis
It’s pothole season, and a recent study shows Hoosiers are definitely not shy when it comes to speaking up about their hatred for the gaping holes that show no mercy to car tires. The car news website Autowise published its annual pothole map showing which states complain most about potholes. It’s probably no surprise to residents that Indiana came out on top. From Feb. 1 to Feb. 28 this year, 53,000 geo-tagged tweets were tracked throughout the U.S. The terms “pothole,” “potholes,” “#pothole” and “#potholes” were filtered by negative sentiment, so most of the tweets were likely complaints. Indiana claimed 5,700 of those tweets – more than one-tenth – with 66 percent coming from Indianapolis.

Des Moines
Opioid use and mental health concerns lead a list of Iowans’ worries, a new Iowa Poll finds. The Iowa Poll, sponsored by the Des Moines Register and Mediacom, finds that 74 percent of Iowa adults see opioid use as a crisis or big problem in the state. Sixty-five percent see mental health as a crisis or big problem. The two issues were among 11 areas of potential concern about which poll participants were asked. Others included college student loan debt, the Iowa Medicaid program and the state’s education system. The poll of 803 Iowa adults was conducted Feb. 10-13 by Selzer & Co. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

Lawrence
The University of Kansas is expanding care for transgender students at its campus health center. The Kansas City Star reports that transgender students will now be able to start and continue hormone therapy through the university’s student health center, Watkins Health Services. Transgender students seeking services related to gender transition previously had limited health care options at the school, often having to leave campus for the evaluations and lab work needed to begin the process. Student Senate President Noah Ries says students looking to start hormone therapy were forced to take buses or find rides to Kansas City for doctor’s appointments. Watkins Director Doug Dechairo says the university’s student health insurance plan will cover the services.

Frankfort
State lawmakers sided with a powerful gun-rights organization Friday in approving a bill to let people carry a concealed handgun without a permit or training. The measure, backed by the National Rifle Association, sparked impassioned debate in the House that veered between gun ownership rights and fears of more gun violence. The bill won final passage on a 60-37 vote and goes to Republican Gov. Matt Bevin. Under the legislation, Kentuckians able to lawfully possess a firearm could conceal their weapons without a license. A gun-carrying permit in the state now carries a fee and a gun safety training requirement. Objections from opponents included dropping the training requirement as a condition for carrying concealed weapons.

New Orleans
A Bourbon Street battle of jumbo beers is bubbling up just before Mardi Gras – Huge Ass Beers vs. Giant Ass Beer. The New Orleans Advocate reports that the Huge Ass Beers creator is suing another string of bars and clubs on the famous New Orleans street for marketing a rival draft beer pour as Giant Ass Beer. The lawsuit filed Tuesday in New Orleans federal court alleges trademark infringement and seeks a restraining order barring the sale of Giant Ass Beer, as well as damages. An attorney for the owner of the three businesses that sell Huge Ass Beers’ plus-sized pours says his client has no comment.

Rockport
Maine lobstermen brought more than 119 million pounds of the state’s signature seafood ashore last year, an increase that helped to propel the total value of Maine’s seafood to the second-highest value on record, state officials say. The value of the 2018 lobster catch was more than $484.5 million, and the total value for all seafood in the state was more than $637.1 million, according to the Maine Department of Marine Resources. The state is by far the biggest lobster producer in the United States, and the industry is in the midst of a multiyear boom. However, the catch and its value have fluctuated wildly in recent years. The productive year by lobstermen coincided with high demand from consumers and strong retail prices.

Ocean City
Starting this spring, families will be able to put their skills to the test at the city’s new ninja obstacle challenge course. Ocean City has partnered with Woodward, a progressive sports camp for kids, to bring the Woodward WreckTangle obstacle course to the resort town, according to a town press release. The ninja obstacle course will be located downtown, adjacent to the Ocean City’s Ocean Bowl Skate Park and just a short walk from the Boardwalk and beach, per the release. Both children and adults can enjoy the WreckTangle course, which is expected to open in late April and remain open through October. Using the WreckTangle app, participants can also play against their friends in any Woodward obstacle course location, according to the release.

Boston
The city is taking a step toward recognizing the role slavery played at one of its most visited landmarks. Democratic Mayor Marty Walsh’s administration has proposed spending $315,000 to restore 17th- and 18th-century artifacts found beneath Faneuil Hall as part of a project highlighting Boston’s role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The proposal is among 56 community preservation projects worth $34 million that Walsh submitted to the City Council last month. Kevin Peterson, of the New Democracy Coalition, praised the proposal but said Boston still needs to hold a public hearing on renaming the historic hall, which was financed by slave owner Peter Faneuil. Walsh has opposed the name change but expressed support for a slavery memorial at the site.

Flint
Jaden Smith’s foundation and a church are working to bring cleaner water to the city. The rapper’s organization and First Trinity Missionary Baptist Church announced Friday that they’ll deploy a mobile water filtration system known as “The Water Box” that reduces lead and other potential contaminants. The 20-year-old’s JUST goods company collaborated with the church to design and engineer the system. He is the son of Will and Jada Pinkett Smith. The church has distributed over 5 million bottles of water to residents, but bottled water donations are on the decline. Flint has been replacing water lines after lead-tainted water was discovered in 2014. Lead began leaching from pipes after the city tapped the Flint River for drinking water without properly treating it to reduce corrosion.

St. Paul
Some scientists say there’s still time to stop an invasive grass that’s threatening to spread in wetlands across the state. The Minnesota Aquatic Invasive Species Research Center is warning the state about invasive phragmites, an invasive strain of wetland grass that grows faster, taller and thicker than its native counterpart. Minnesota Public Radio News reports the center identified about 400 populations of invasive phragmites species across the state. MAISRC scientist Dan Larkin says the plant is becoming a problem along the St. Louis River estuary near Duluth and some wetlands near the Twin Cities. But Larkin says most phragmites populations are still relatively small in the state, and they’re at the stage where control can be effective.

Oxford
A student government group at the University of Mississippi is calling for the relocation of a Confederate monument to the Confederate cemetery on campus. The Associated Student Body Senate resolution passed the ASB Rules Committee on Thursday. The full Senate will hold a final vote at its meeting Tuesday. The Daily Mississippian reports the resolution states that the Confederate ideology “violates the tenets of the University Creed” and that the monument’s current placement on The Circle undermines the school’s mission “to maintain an inclusive and safe environment.” ASB Sen. Katie Dames, one of the resolution’s authors, says she’s “excited to introduce potential for a positive transformation on this campus.”

Fulton
A museum honoring Winston Churchill will launch its 50th anniversary celebration Tuesday with an art exhibit featuring the work of roughly 4,000 students. Officials at America’s National Churchill Museum on the campus at Westminster College say the art was inspired by the words of Churchill’s famous “Iron Curtain” speech. The longtime British prime minister delivered the speech at Westminster in 1946, the phrase “Iron Curtain” describing the separation of Eastern Europe under Soviet Union rule. The artwork was painted by students from the Fulton area, along with Westminster faculty, staff and students. The exhibit is titled the “Special Relationship Project,” a nod to a phrase also coined by Churchill in the 1946 speech to describe the alliance between Great Britain and the U.S.

Helena
The state House has passed a bill to allow people on probation or parole to use medical marijuana if they suffer from a debilitating medical condition. The bill sponsored by Democratic Rep. Jade Bahr passed 60-39 Friday before lawmakers took their mid-session break. The bill moves to the Senate. Bahr argued on the House floor that Montana residents have twice voted in favor of allowing the use of medical marijuana and that people on probation or parole wouldn’t be denied access to other prescribed treatments such as chemotherapy, insulin or dialysis. A 2011 bill that sought to put tighter restrictions on the medical marijuana industry said people on probation and parole couldn’t hold medical marijuana cards.

Lincoln
Experts are concerned about the potential threat posed to agriculture in the state by an invasive worm from Asia. The Asian jumping worms can deplete soil of nutrients, damage plant roots and alter the soil’s capacity to hold water. They’ve been confirmed in several states, including neighboring Iowa last year. The worms appear to jump when startled. They can move fast, like a snake. They’re also known as “Alabama jumpers” or “crazy snake worms,” and they’re a popular fish bait. Oregon State University professor Samuel Chan told the Lincoln Journal Star that it’s difficult to determine what financial impact the worms could have on Nebraska’s agriculture, given that they would be a relatively new invasive species in the state.

Reno
The parent company of the Miss USA pageant is making a pitch to hold the event in the Biggest Little City. A lawyer for Endeavor mentioned the Grand Sierra Resort’s Grand Theater as a potential venue during a presentation Thursday to the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority. Jonathan Seiden says the publicity would put a spotlight on the Reno-Tahoe area. He says the media exposure would be worth about $1.5 million. Seiden says it would require an incentive package from local government and businesses with such things as tax breaks, cash stipends and free hotel rooms for contestants. He says the event held in Louisiana last May came with a $1 million production tax credit and a stipend of more than $300,000.

Concord
It’s Youth Arts Month in the state, with arts exhibits, concerts and festivals. The highlights include the New Hampshire Music Educators’ Large Group Festival on March 9 at Goffstown High School for middle school students and at Bow High School for high school performers. There’s also the New Hampshire Educational Theatre Guild’s Regional Festival of one-act plays March 9 at Pinkerton Academy and Windham High School and March 23 at Salem and Kearsarge Regional High Schools. The Poetry Out Loud State Championship is at the Statehouse on March 15. There’s also a Youth Arts Exhibit and New Hampshire High School Short Film Festival screening at the State Library through March.

Manasquan
Storm surge barriers to temporarily close off inlets and portions of bays during severe storms are among measures envisioned in a new study to protect New Jersey coastal areas from back bay flooding. Such flooding caused major damage during Superstorm Sandy in 2012, even though more attention was paid to damage from oceanfront waves pounding on the beachfront. By contrast, back bay flooding is gradual and insidious, creeping up on areas fronting on bays or places with tributaries that swell with floodwater and inundate homes and businesses. Fixing it will be expensive and difficult as sea levels continue to rise, yet governments and individual homeowners show little appetite for reining in construction on the very edges of the shoreline. Proposed fixes will cost billions of dollars.

Las Cruces
The city is balking at the idea of renaming a street after the 19th-century Old West sheriff who shot and killed the outlaw Billy the Kid. Las Cruces city councilors appeared reluctant last week to endorse the plan to rename the street for Sheriff Pat Garrett. Councilors expressed concern about the cost and Garrett’s reputation as a sheriff who often took the law into his own hands. Their reluctance angered a group that worked for two years to promote the name change. The Dona County Commission had endorsed the name change, but it requires city approval because the street is within the city’s limits. Garrett gunned down Billy the Kid in 1881 while he was visiting his girlfriend in Fort Sumner, New Mexico.

New York
Big Sexy the cat went on a five-week romp around the Big Apple, bolting from a photo shoot for a bare-chested firefighter charity calendar. The large black feline was finally found Friday on Staten Island after disappearing from a lower Manhattan firehouse. The lost pet showed up in the backyard of a woman whose firefighter husband was a 9/11 first responder who died of cancer last year. The firefighters called the cat Big Sexy, but its real name is Buddy. Staten Island resident Michele Froehlich-Perosi snapped a photo and posted it on Facebook. And the owner, Leslie Silbert, recognized her cat. The code on the cat’s embedded chip confirmed this was, indeed, Big Sexy, aka Buddy.

Raleigh
A trial judge won’t delay enforcement of his ruling that voided state constitutional amendments approved by voters in November to require photo identification at polls and to lower the cap on income tax rates. Wake County Superior Court Judge Bryan Collins on Friday denied the request from Republican legislative leaders to block his own order from last week while they appeal the substance of his decision. Senate leader Phil Berger’s office said GOP legislators would now seek the stay from the Court of Appeals. Collins wrote that the General Assembly that fashioned the amendments last year was “illegally constituted” because lawmakers were elected from many districts previously declared as illegal racial gerrymanders.

Fargo
The state’s first medical marijuana dispensary opened for business Friday in a Fargo mini-mall, and several of the dozen or so people who showed up in the first hour said they’re relieved they can finally get the drug. It took the state more than two years to build up a regulatory structure after voters approved medical marijuana in 2016. Marcus Schumacher (above left), 23, who suffers from cystic fibrosis, showed up in the cold and snow and said it was worth the wait. “It was a little bit slow, but it’s day one,” said Schumacher, who spent about an hour filling out forms and looking through the offerings. “I’m very relieved, in all honesty.” He said he’s happy he can get cannabis and “won’t feel like a criminal.”

Cincinnati
The local zoo has become the repository for the world’s largest collection of polar bear poop as researchers work to create a pregnancy test to aid the survival of this threatened species. WLWT-TV reports the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens is storing 30,000 samples of fecal matter from the U.S. and Canada. It’s being studied by researchers at the zoo’s Center for Conservation and Research of Endangered Wildlife. Scientist Erin Curry says researchers are comparing compounds in fecal matter from females who are pregnant with those who aren’t in the hope of finding specific compounds that will help develop a pregnancy test. Some poop mailed to Cincinnati can be downright flashy: Zoos with multiple females sprinkle glitter and dye on the samples to help identify whose poop is whose.

Jenks
Consumer-products giant Kimberly-Clark Corp. is launching a $120 million expansion plan that it says will add over 50 full-time jobs at a mill in the city. The Jenks facility opened in 1990 and manufactures Cottonelle and Scott bath tissue merchandise. The mill also includes a regional distribution center. The company says it will expand the facility by 270,000 square feet and install new resources for making Kleenex folded tissue products and Scott bath tissue. Tulsa World reports the project is expected to be completed in 2020. Hiring for new jobs is expected to begin in August.

Newport
The Oregon Coast Aquarium has launched a capital campaign to build a new marine wildlife rehabilitation center – and it’s asking taxpayers to pitch in. Senate Bill 261 would allocate $10 million from the state general fund toward the project, about half the $18 million to $20 million needed. The money will help further the nonprofit’s role as a tourist attraction, economic development engine and science education center, aquarium leaders and supporters told a legislative committee last week. The aquarium opened in 1992 and in the late 1990s became famous as the home of Keiko, the killer whale star of the “Free Willy” movies. But in 1998 Keiko was released into the Nordic seas, leaving the aquarium without its biggest attraction.

Philadelphia
From a floral recreation of Woodstock to an exploration of the optical effects of psychedelia, the 2019 Philadelphia Flower Show reinterprets 1960s counterculture in a spectacularly trippy way. This year’s show, “Flower Power,” opened Saturday and runs through next Sunday at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. The show’s Entrance Garden draws inspiration from the Pop Art movement. The ’60s vibe continues inside with a “Groovy Garden” of pressed flowers, a wedding scene from the Summer of Love and a garden that recreates the view from the Woodstock performance stage. But it’s not all about hippies and peace and love. In a coup for the flower show, top floral designers from 23 nations will compete in the Interflora World Cup, the floral industry’s most prestigious design competition. The World Cup hasn’t been held in the U.S. since 1985.

Providence
Brown University has received a $5 million grant that will allow the Ivy League school to fully catalog the collection at its anthropology museum in anticipation of a move closer to campus. The grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will enable the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology to create an accurate inventory of nearly 1 million artifacts currently housed in Bristol. Relocation to a to-be-determined site near the Providence campus will unite the museum’s collections, boost public access, and create new opportunities for scholarship in anthropology, Native American and indigenous studies, as well as other academic disciplines. The Bristol site has neither the proper climate control technology nor adequate storage space.

Columbia
In a state where eight county sheriffs have been convicted of crimes in office over the past decade, lawmakers want to tighten the qualifications to be a top law enforcement official. The bill, with similar versions introduced in both the House and Senate, would bar someone from running for sheriff in any of South Carolina’s 46 counties if they have been convicted of, pleaded guilty to, or been pardoned of a felony or “a crime of moral turpitude” in South Carolina or any other state. There was already a law in place to keep most felons from getting the sheriff’s badge. Sheriffs must be certified law officers, and a felony conviction usually means the end of an officer’s certification. Supporters of the bill say it closes a loophole by including anyone pardoned of a felony.

Sioux Falls
The Palisades State Park will more than double its footprint after a decision by the Game, Fish and Park Commission on Friday to acquire donated land. The state park, about 20 miles northeast of Sioux Falls, has been bursting at the seams for more than three years now, says Katie Ceroll, director for the parks division. More than 90,000 people each year visit the 157-acre park, operating at 99 percent capacity, Ceroll says. The expansion will add much needed campground sites and extra recreational aspects to the park to the south of the existing park. Palisades, featuring cliffs and rock formations eroded out of pink Sioux quartzite along the Split Rock Creek, is a destination for campers, hikers, rocker climbers, kayakers and canoers.

Memphis
Aretha Franklin, Count Basie and Booker T. & the MGs (above, a portion of the group in 1975) are among the performers named as inductees to the Blues Hall of Fame. The Blues Foundation announced this year’s honorees Friday. An induction ceremony is scheduled for May 8 in the Bluff City. Known as the Queen of Soul, Franklin also performed blues and gospel songs. Many of Count Basie’s songs were rooted in Kansas City blues. Booker T. and the MGs’ blues-soul-rock sound was created at Stax Records in Memphis and has influenced countless musicians. Classic recordings also are being inducted, including “Rollin’ Stone” by Muddy Waters, “I Got a Woman” by Ray Charles and the Elmore James album “The Sky is Crying.” Guitarist Pee Wee Crayton and vaudeville blues entertainer Ida Cox also will be inducted.

Galveston
A fast-food favorite in the state has gotten some artsy attention. A wood-carved array of Dairy Queen items is on display at the Galveston Arts Center in an exhibit called “Thank You, Please Drive Through.” The Galveston County Daily News reports the show runs through Monday. Admission is free. Galveston native Camp Bosworth, who now lives in Marfa, created the exhibit that includes a 5-foot-long carved banana split. Center executive director Lisa Simmons-Shaw says the exhibit has been a big hit and attracted “a whole new crowd of visitors.” Curator Dennis Nance says Galveston’s Dairy Queen was destroyed by Hurricane Ike in 2008. Nance says the show brought a bit of Dairy Queen to the area again.

St. George
Nesting Peregrine falcons inside Zion National Park have prompted officials to close some of the park’s popular rock climbing locations. The Peregrine species, famous for being the world’s fastest animal – they can dive at more than 240 miles per hour – is a frequent visitor to Zion, where high concentrations of birds breed and find spots along the park’s iconic cliff faces to build well-protected nests. If disturbed, nesting pairs may abandon their nest sites and not nest again until the following year. To prevent that from happening, park officials said they were implementing a series of closures, including rock climbing routes in popular spots like Angels Landing and Cable Mountain. Zion remains a key sanctuary for the species in the Southwest.

Woodford
A mountain that is home to a Nordic ski center has been conserved with the help of the Vermont Land Trust. Dave Newell of the Prospect Mountain Association tells the Bennington Banner people didn’t know what would happen to the mountain if the association didn’t get involved. The Prospect Mountain ski area started in the 1930s as a downhill ski area with an early rope tow. T-bars were installed in the 1960s, but the area’s fortunes declined in the 1990s. The owners slowly built up the cross-country business and operated it successfully for several decades, holding on to the property until the community organization was ready to take over.

Sterling
County officials are investigating whether the Trump National Golf Club illegally cut a dozen trees from the Potomac River shoreline and dumped them in the river. Officials in Loudoun County told news outlets Friday that removing trees from the flood plain requires a permit, and the northern Virginia county is investigating whether the local ordinance was broken. Potomac Riverkeepers, an environmental group, said it received complaints about the dumped trees. Environmentalists say that cutting the trees can contribute to shoreline erosion and that the dumped trees create a safety hazard for recreational users of the river. The golf club faced criticism in 2010 after it cleared hundreds of trees to improve members’ view of the river.

Port Angeles
The Olympic National Park Wilderness Information Center will move to an online reservation system allowing backpackers to check the availability of sites in real time, plan their trip and receive immediate confirmation. Olympic National Park officials say the online reservation system will launch through recreation.gov at noon March 18. Olympic National Park Superintendent Sarah Creachbaum says the new online system is more efficient and allows more time for specialists to answer questions and help with trip planning. Wilderness permit reservation requests also can be submitted in person at a park Wilderness Information Center with phone reservations to be available in late April.

Beckley
Gov. Jim Justice has signed legislation requiring students to take computer science classes before graduating from high school. Justice held a ceremonial bill signing last week at Cranberry-Prosperity Elementary School in Beckley. The governor’s office said in a news release that the state is the first to require high school computer science. Justice, who had asked for the legislation in his State of the State address, predicted it will help attract technology companies to West Virginia. The bill requires the state Board of Education to adopt a policy detailing computer science instruction by grade level and requires the Department of Education to come up with professional development opportunities to teachers in computer science instruction.

Madison
A researcher says a drop in teen pregnancies has contributed to the lowest number of babies being born in the state in more than 40 years. Wisconsin Public Radio reports that data from the state Department of Health Services show there were fewer than 65,000 babies born in 2017, the lowest number in the state since 1973. One major factor in the decrease in births is that fewer teens are having babies. David Egan-Robertson, with the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Applied Population Laboratory, says teen births have dropped 60 percent over a decade. The figures also show low birth weight in babies is increasing. Marilyn Noll, director of maternal-child health at March of Dimes in Wisconsin, says premature birth is the leading cause of infant death.

Casper
State education officials say the number of tips submitted anonymously through a school safety app is continuing to climb. The app, called Safe2Tell, lets students or adults anonymously report a variety of threats, including someone threatening to harm themselves or planning an attack at a school. The Casper Star Tribune reports that the number of reports submitted statewide has increased more than 10 times since 2017. State data show the highest percentage of reports is about suicide threats. Officials say some of the program’s success is due to school districts promoting it, particularly to students. Administrators believe the anonymity makes students more likely to report threats of all kinds.