Potato hotel, world’s tallest filing cabinet, Beautiful Bulldog: News from around our 50 states

From staff and wire reports

Exotic bird that killed Florida man could be yours, police K-9 recovering from porcupine encounter in Oregon, and more

Birmingham
Jefferson County, the state’s most populous, will immediately end arrests for misdemeanors including the possession of small amounts of marijuana, officials announced Monday. Officers will begin issuing tickets for nonviolent misdemeanor offenses rather than taking people to jail, Capt. David Agee, a spokesman for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, told a news conference. “People are always talking about criminal justice reform,” he said. “Well, this is more than talk; this is action. This is big.” Jefferson County Sheriff Mark Pettway advocated curtailing arrests for small amounts of marijuana during his campaign last year. The change will save jail space and allow officers to concentrate on more serious offenses, Agee said. He also questioned whether young people caught with a small amount of marijuana should have to spend a night in jail.

Juneau
The state is considering adding another terminal to accommodate the short range of a new class of ferries. CoastAlaska reports the administration of Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy may propose a new Juneau terminal 30 miles north of an existing terminal for the new Alaska Class ferries. The terminal proposal is part of a plan to ensure day boats can connect Juneau with Haines and Skagway. The Alaska Class ferry Tazlina is expected to take its maiden voyage next month. Because the ferry has no rest areas for crew, Coast Guard regulations require the day boat complete its round-trip run within 12 hours. But a March 26 Department of Transportation & Public Utilities memo says the Tazlina will not be able to make its connections within that time.

Phoenix
The state ended a decade of resistance to restrictions on using a cellphone while driving when Gov. Doug Ducey signed a law Monday outlawing holding a phone behind the wheel. Arizona is now the 48th state to ban texting and the 18th to ban hand-held phone use while driving, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Bills to restrict phone use while driving have been introduced for years but haven’t advanced amid concerns by Republican lawmakers about creating a “nanny state” that overregulates behavior. The death of a police officer hit by a distracted driver last winter, heartbreaking stories from others who lost loved ones in car crashes linked to cellphone use, and a wave of restrictions enacted by local governments across the state convinced lawmakers the time was ripe for change.

Little Rock
Officials say a Czech gun manufacturer will open its North American headquarters in the city at a production plant the company says will ultimately hire 565 employees. Gov. Asa Hutchinson, along with Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott, said Tuesday that CZ-USA, the U.S. arm of a Czech gun company, will invest up to $90 million over a six-year period to build and staff its second factory worldwide. The company’s chairman, Bogdan Heczko, says Little Rock felt like home when representatives from the more than 80-year-old company visited the city last year. Arkansas Economic Development Commission Director Mike Preston says the company will receive an incentive package from the state that includes forgivable loans, grants, tax rebates and tax refunds.

Long Beach
Charlie, the oldest southern sea otter held by any zoo or aquarium, has died. The Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach says Charlie died Monday at the age of 22. Male southern sea otters typically only live 10 to 14 years in the wild. Charlie celebrated his birthday last month by eating colorful seafood cupcakes. Charlie helped his fellow sea otters by taking part in a study on how the animals perceive sound. The aquarium lost another otter in January: Brook was 21 when she died of congestive heart failure. California’s sea otters are considered threatened. Hunting in the 18th and 19th centuries nearly wiped them out. Conservation efforts have brought the population to about 3,000, but otters still face threats such as pollution and habitat loss.

Denver
The state House has sent to the governor a bill to develop a state-run health insurance option. The bill directs state agencies to recommend a plan to compete with private insurance plans and those offered on Colorado’s health care exchange. The House approved the legislation by a 45-19 vote late Monday. The public option legislation directs the Department of Health Care Policy and Financing and the Department of Regulatory Agencies to deliver a proposal in November. The plan would assess costs, funding sources, necessary federal permissions and funding, consumer eligibility and who in government would run the program. Enrollment could begin in 2020, and a plan, if approved by the federal government, could operate in 2021.

Hartford
A new lawsuit is challenging a city ordinance that requires faith-based, anti-abortion pregnancy care centers to clearly state whether staff members have medical licenses. The Connecticut Law Tribune reports the Willimantic-based Caring Families Pregnancy Services claims in a federal lawsuit that the ordinance is unconstitutional because it amounts to “compelled speech.” The faith-based group has mobile units that offer free services in Hartford a few days each month including pregnancy testing, ultrasounds, adoption referrals, parenting classes and Bible studies. Hartford Corporation Counsel Howard Rifkin says officials are confident the ordinance is constitutional. It was passed amid concerns about faith-based centers posing as legitimate clinics and providing misleading information about abortions.

Wilmington
Officials in the state’s largest city are seeking volunteers to help distribute and install smoke alarms as part of a fire safety initiative with the American Red Cross. Wilmington officials hope to install as many as 2,000 smoke alarms in the Canby Park, Union Park Gardens and Bayard Square neighborhoods. The event will be held Thursday and again Saturday. Volunteers who want to help install the devices will be trained each day before going into the field. Wilmington is one of more than 100 communities participating nationwide in the Red Cross effort, with a national goal of 100,000 smoke alarm installations this year.

Washington
As the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing approaches, the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in the nation’s capital is preparing a week of special events this July, WTOP-FM reports. The festivities start July 16 and run through July 20, exactly 50 years after the inaugural moon walk by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. The spacesuit Armstrong wore for the Apollo 11 flight is going on display for the first time in more than a decade. Special interactive exhibits, with historians and scientists on hand, will give visitors more information about the lunar exploration. And a celebration timed to Armstrong’s first steps on the moon will keep the museum open well into the night on the final day of the commemoration.

Gainesville
A large, flightless bird that fatally attacked a Florida man is among about 100 exotic animals from his estate now up for auction. The Gainesville Sun reports the Gulf Coast Livestock Auction will auction the cassowary that killed 75-year-old Marvin Hajos in accordance with his last wishes. Alachua County Sheriff’s officials say Hajos apparently fell April 12, and the bird attacked him. First responders rushed him to a hospital, but he died. Cassowaries are similar to emus, stand up to 6 feet tall and weigh up to 130 pounds. The animals being auctioned include two double-wattled cassowaries and five ring-tailed and ruffled lemurs. Fish and Wildlife spokesman Robert Klepper said buyers must be licensed to legally possess the animals.

Lithonia
Rapper T.I. (above), a local church and VH1’s “Love and Hip Hop” personality Scrapp Deleon came together over the weekend to post bail for 23 nonviolent offenders who would have spent Easter behind bars. News outlets report the “Bail Out” program extends beyond the weekend, with each offender being connected to a mentor and possibly given funds for college savings. The New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia says the church set out to raise $40,000 at the start of Lent, but donations topped $120,000 about a month later. The program targeted people in DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett and Rockdale counties. Senior church pastor Jamal Bryant says this was a way for the church be more outspoken when it comes to prison reform.

Honolulu
An education organization is seeking financial data on public schools but says data released by the state is incomplete. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports the Education Institute of Hawaii has come up short in its efforts to collect all the budget data it wants from the state Department of Education. The nonprofit says it sees up to $1 billion in unaccounted spending within revenue and expenditure data. The institute says a 2017 financial audit shows expenditures of $2.8 billion, while the department provided data showing $1.8 billion in expenditures. The education department says that it has turned over numerous data files in response to requests from the institute and that the discrepancy covers spending by state agencies that are not part of the department’s financial management system.

Boise
After crisscrossing America to promote the virtues of the state’s most revered crop, a huge steel-and-plaster spud is being converted into a place to stay in a field southeast of the Gem State’s capital. The Big Idaho Potato will soon become the Big Idaho Potato Hotel. The Idaho Potato Commission, the group that created it, started building a Big Idaho Potato 2.0 last year to take on a new national tour and retired version 1.0. The group considered giving it to the Idaho Potato Museum in Blackfoot, but Kristie Wolfe, who had been a part of the tour team and also builds tiny houses, offered to transform it into an Airbnb rental. To make it cozy, she added insulation, a wood floor, electricity and running water, as well as heating and air conditioning. She also built a bathroom with a whirlpool, fireplace and skylight for stargazing. The hotel is set to open in late May, renting for $200 a night.

Chicago
An air traffic control tower at O’Hare International Airport has been awarded gold status by a group that monitors standards for eco-friendly buildings. Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Green Building Council announced the gold certification Monday for the south air traffic control tower at O’Hare. City officials say it’s the first gold-certified air traffic control tower in the U.S. The tower is one of three the FAA operates at O’Hare. City officials say the tower uses no natural gas and less electricity. They say that saves enough energy to fully power an airport fire station and saves more than $20,000 annually on utilities. The tower also has a green roof and a geothermal system that makes the tower’s heating and cooling systems more efficient.

Indianapolis
State agriculture officials say motorists need to take extra care now that the spring planting season is in full swing with slow-moving farm equipment using rural roads. The Indiana Department of Agriculture says Hoosiers should exercise caution and patience in rural areas during the next two months. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says farm vehicles were involved in 73 fatal crashes across the U.S. in 2017, with seven of those crashes occurring in Indiana. The most common farm equipment motorists will encounter during planting season includes sprayers, tractors pulling planters and trucks hauling agricultural products. These wide vehicles often travel no faster than 25 mph. While most farmers will pull over so motorists can pass, it may take them time to find a safe place to do so.

Des Moines
A 3-year-old pet from a suburb of the capital is this year’s winner of Drake University’s annual Beautiful Bulldog Contest. The university says Beau won over the judges Monday with a winning personality, an easygoing manner and good looks. Judge Nadia Valentine said in a university news release that she chose Beau because of his “squishy” appearance. He lives in Urbandale with owners T.J. and Angela McKenzie and their three children. The two McKenzies attended the private college, whose mascot is the English bulldog. Beau was crowned in front of 3,000 spectators. It was the 40th contest and served as the unofficial start to this week’s Drake Relays track meet. The athletic competition gets underway Wednesday with the men’s decathlon and the women’s heptathlon.

Topeka
The governor has vetoed a measure that would require clinics and doctors to tell their patients about a disputed treatment to stop a medication abortion after a woman has taken the first of two pills. The action Monday by Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, an abortion-rights supporter, sets up a confrontation with a Republican-controlled Legislature that has had solid anti-abortion majorities for more than two decades. Supporters of the abortion “reversal” bill appeared to have the two-thirds majorities needed in both chambers to override Kelly’s veto once lawmakers return May 1 from a weekslong break. Abortion-rights supporters say the proposal would force doctors to provide dubious information to patients, and Kelly says it would interfere with the relationship between patients and their physicians.

Lexington
High school journalists who were barred last week from a roundtable event with U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos have made national news after calling out the event’s lack of openness. “We are student journalists who wanted to cover an event in our community featuring the Secretary of Education, but ironically, we couldn’t get in without an invitation,” the students said in an editorial in their newspaper at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, a public school in Lexington. The editorial caught the attention of local and national news outlets. The student paper’s two editors-in-chief said they were waved away the morning of April 17 when an event bouncer learned they hadn’t RSVP’d. They questioned why only one student, who attends a private school in Louisville, had a seat at the table.

Baton Rouge
Food manufacturers selling products such as “cauliflower rice” could face new labeling restrictions under a bill in the Legislature. The Senate voted 34-0 Monday for a “truth in labeling” measure that adds protections for meat, rice and sugar producers. Sen. Francis Thompson, a Delhi Democrat, says he wants to ensure consumers know what they’re buying. His proposal, similar to legislation signed in Arkansas, would ban companies from classifying lab-grown meat products or meat substitutes as meat, or they’d face fines. They would be unable to call something sugar if it doesn’t come from a plant-based simple sugar or sucrose. The Plant Based Foods Association says that the restrictions are unnecessary and that products already are clearly labeled.

Portland
Proposed rules about the sale of marijuana for recreational use would for the first two years limit licenses to residents of the state. The state released its long-awaited draft rules about the recreational marijuana program late Monday. Residents voted in favor of legalizing marijuana in 2016, but crafting the rules has been a long and sometimes contentious process. The draft states Maine will only give licenses to grow and sell marijuana to people who have lived in the Pine Tree State and filed income tax returns there for four years. That standard would apply until June 2021. The draft rules are subject to public comment and face state approvals. Maine already has a long-established medical marijuana program. It’s also currently legal to grow marijuana for personal recreational use there.

Baltimore
Johns Hopkins University says it has reached a long-term agreement to get about two-thirds of the university’s electricity from solar power. The university on Monday announced a 15-year agreement with Baltimore-based energy company Constellation, a subsidiary of Exelon. It will begin in 2021. Under the agreement, Johns Hopkins campuses would receive more than 250,000 megawatt-hours of solar power a year. The agreement calls for Constellation to buy energy and renewable energy certificates from a new 175-megawatt solar plant being developed in Virginia. Johns Hopkins has set a goal of reducing carbon emissions by 51% by 2025. University President Ronald Daniels says the agreement demonstrates the seriousness of the university’s commitment to sustainability “for the good of our university and our planet.”

Boston
Wild turkeys are becoming an increasingly common sight on the state’s streets – sometimes leading to aggressive interactions with people and pets. Those interactions can increase between March and May, which is breeding season for wild turkeys. Some may exhibit behavior like pecking, following or displaying other intimidating actions toward people. MassWildlife officials are offering some tips to minimize contact with turkeys. Most importantly, the public should avoid feeding wild turkeys. Bird feeders meant to attract songbirds can also attract turkeys as seeds fall to the ground. People can also scare bold turkeys with loud noises or water sprayed from a hose. Mylar tape, balloons, or pinwheels can be used – although they may have limited effect as turkeys become more habituated to being around people.

Sawyer
Visitors to Warren Dunes State Park may see intermittent closures through the spring and summer as two renovation projects get underway at the area along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. Crews have already started a more than $1 million project to renovate Red Arrow Highway, which serves as the main entrance to the sand dunes and lakeshore beaches in Berrien County. The Michigan Department of Transportation is overseeing the road repairs, which will also include the addition of a new lane to reduce traffic buildup. The efforts should be completed by May 20. A $2.3 million project will also begin this month to replace toilets and bathhouse buildings in the park’s day-use area. Andrew Montgomery, the park’s supervisor, says it hasn’t undergone a major renovation since 2004.

St. Paul
Attorney General Keith Ellison has called on lawmakers to reverse a 2017 law that repealed the state’s ban on for-profit health insurance companies. The law takes effect July 1, but language to undo it is part of a broad health and human services bill that will be debated on the House floor Wednesday. Ellison (above) and lawmakers who held a news conference Tuesday said that unless the Legislature acts, for-profit companies could pocket billions of dollars in assets now held in reserve by the state’s nonprofit health plans. They say the money should be used for health care instead. Democratic Rep. Tina Liebling says the repeal of the ban on for-profit companies from selling health insurance in Minnesota was quietly slipped into another bill in 2017, and its origin remains a mystery.

Gulfport
Officials are investigating a rash of deaths among dolphins and sea turtles on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. WLOX-TV reports nearly 40 dead dolphins and sea turtles have been found in recent weeks. Two veterinarian pathologists from Mississippi State University have been performing necropsies on dead dolphins at the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Gulfport, looking for answers. The institute’s director, Moby Solangi, says he believes the deaths are linked to floodwater that has emptied into the Mississippi Sound from south Louisiana’s Bonnet Carre Spillway. The spillway opened Feb. 27 to alleviate Mississippi River flooding, sending freshwater coursing through Lake Pontchartrain into areas that are normally brackish or salty. Floodwaters from the spillway are also known to kill oysters in the Mississippi Sound.

Winona
Visitors to a conservation area in southern Missouri could soon have more acreage to explore. The Missouri Conservation Commission approved a plan this month to acquire nearly 1,200 acres of Shannon County land to add to the Rocky Creek Conservation Area. Missouri Department of Conservation deputy director Jennifer Battson Warren says officials are working to close on the property. She declined to disclose how much the department will pay for the land, which she says has “a lot of natural heritage value.” She says the land lacks developed trails but has some logging roads. It sits near the Jacks Fork River. The new property would increase the more than 38,000-acre conservation area, which attracts visitors with bird-watching, hiking, camping, hunting and fishing.

Helena
A Republican candidate for governor is looking to take a fast-food chicken restaurant chain under his wing after the owners’ anti-gay rights stance cost it new locations in Texas and New York. Attorney General Tim Fox sent a letter Monday inviting Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy to open more restaurants in Montana. Fox’s letter came in response to recent reports that San Antonio and Buffalo city leaders excluded the restaurant from opening locations in their airports because of its funding of anti-LGBTQ organizations. But Fox is also mindful of ruffling a few feathers in the cattle industry. He was careful to write: “Just to be clear, in Montana, beef is king.” Fox is running for the 2020 Republican gubernatorial nomination against Secretary of State Corey Stapleton and state Sen. Al Olszewski.

Lincoln
The city’s year-old cardboard ban has led to a drop in the amount sent to the city landfill by 76%, but the diversion has also raised city costs. Donna Garden, assistant director of Lincoln’s Transportation and Utilities Department, tells the Lincoln Journal Star that cardboard made up 2.4% of the waste entering the landfill last year, down from 9.4% in 2017. Lincoln’s public recycling sites have seen the amount of cardboard dropped off by residents double since the ban took effect last April. The cost of running those sites has also doubled. Garden says Lincoln expects to pay about $900,000 a year to Von Busch Refuse to haul away recyclables from the public sites. Costs are partially offset by revenue from selling the cardboard, but returns have dropped due to changing markets.

Carson City
The governor signed a bill Monday requiring electricity companies to get half of their energy from renewable sources by 2030. Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak was joined by a crowd of Republican and Democratic state lawmakers during the bill signing. “This milestone piece of legislation will also help reduce emissions that negatively impact the health and well-being of Nevadans,” Sisolak said. The clean energy standard under the legislation will be gradually ramped up to the 50% mark. Lawmakers in the Assembly approved the measure Friday, and it passed the state Senate with a unanimous vote. State Sen. Chris Brooks previously told lawmakers he introduced the legislation “in the spirit” of a 2018 ballot measure to amend the state Constitution and require the same 2030 clean energy standard as outlined in the bill.

Concord
A New Hampshire Senate committee got an earful from opponents of legalized recreational marijuana, including warnings it would lead to more impaired drivers and normalize the drug among youth. Tuesday’s hearing follows this month’s House vote to pass a bill that would legalize possession up to 1 ounce. A commission would license and regulate an industry supporters say could produce $33 million annually. Medical experts, law enforcement officials, legislators and one high school student advocated against legalization Tuesday. Supporters pushed back, arguing that many fears were unfounded and that it’s time to reap economic benefit from marijuana sales. Medical marijuana is already legal in New Hampshire.

Atlantic City
The administration of Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy plans to leave a state takeover of Atlantic City in place for the full five years that his Republican predecessor envisioned in seizing control of the cash-strapped seaside gambling resort. The timetable laid out Tuesday by Lt. Gov. Sheila Oliver (above) would keep the takeover in place through 2021. It began in November 2016 under Republican Chris Christie and a Democrat-controlled Legislature that concluded the city either could not or would not make the painful choices necessary to get its fiscal house in order. Murphy campaigned in part on ending the takeover. A plan announced Tuesday calls for reforms in government effectiveness and accountability, job training and economic development, finding new revenue sources and providing more opportunities for youth.

Las Cruces
A metal roadrunner sculpture graces the xeriscaped median at the entrance to the West Mesa Industrial Park. The Las Cruces Utilities Water Conservation Program placed him there to highlight the city’s water conservation efforts and mindset. And now the little guy has a name, thanks to the efforts of elementary students in the community. LCU invited Las Cruces Public Schools elementary classes to study roadrunners, choose a name, talk it over, and submit their selection along with written materials explaining their choice. The winning name – “Aguacito” – came from David Uribe’s fourth and fifth grade bilingual class at Hillrise Elementary. Students were primed to consider how roadrunners survive in our desert and how this sculpture would aid in the city’s mission of emphasizing water conservation.

New York
Mayor Bill de Blasio plans to introduce a bill banning new construction of glass skyscrapers as part of his efforts to reduce citywide greenhouse emissions by 30%. In announcing his Green New Deal on Monday, the Democratic mayor said all-glass facade skyscrapers are “incredibly inefficient” because so much energy escapes through the glass. He said buildings are the No. 1 cause of greenhouse emissions in New York. De Blasio said the bill would require existing glass buildings to be retrofitted to meet new, stricter carbon-emissions guidelines. The mayor’s Green New Deal effort also includes plans to power all of the city’s operations with clean electricity sources like Canadian hydropower, mandatory organics recycling, and the phasing-out of city purchases of single-use plastic food ware and processed meat.

Asheville
The U.S. Forest Service is asking for public input on a proposal to increase fees for some recreation activities in western North Carolina. The agency announced the proposal for four areas on the Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests in a news release Monday. Officials say the fees will help upgrade the sites after prices have remained largely the same for a decade. Fees at Swan Cabin will increase to $50, while daily and annual passes will also increase at the Brown Mountain and Wayehutta Off-Highway Vehicle trails. The fees will also increase at the Tsali Mountain Bike and Equestrian Trail Complex. The public comment period runs from Monday until the end of May.

Bismarck
Farms continue to disappear off the Dakotas landscape, especially smaller ones. The federal Agriculture Department reports that total farm numbers in 2018 dropped by 300 in North Dakota and by 400 in South Dakota. North Dakota had 26,100 farms and South Dakota 29,600. That mirrored the national trend. The number of U.S. farms dropped 12,800 from 2017, to slightly more than 2 million. In the Dakotas, the biggest drop in farm numbers was among those with less than $100,000 in annual sales. While the number of total farms in the Dakotas decreased, the amount of land in farms and ranches was unchanged in both states.

Dayton
A bill before the Legislature requiring drivers under 18 years old to use their learner’s permits for a full year would mean minors would have to be at least 16 1/2 before they could get their probationary driver’s license. The proposed legislation aims to give teen drivers more experience behind the wheel before they are eligible to get their license. Ohioans now can get a permit at 15 years, 6 months old and a probationary license as early as 16 years old, the Dayton Daily News reports. The bill would extend the permit phase for minors from 6 months to 12 months. Data from the Ohio Department of Transportation found drivers ages 15 to 19 make up about 5% of Ohio’s driving population and are involved in about 15% of all accidents.

Oklahoma City
The state has sold about $5.1 million in bonds that will be combined with previously designated federal and state funds to strengthen four high-hazard dams. The Oklahoman reports that a recent sale on behalf of the state’s Conservation Commission will benefit the four dams protecting residents in Perry, Meeker, Wilburton and Elk City. The commission’s executive director, Trey Lam, says the dams also provide water for the communities. Officials say the state’s dams, which were built between 1968 and 1990, are currently safe. The rehabilitation will extend the dams’ lives 50 years. Updating the dams will cost more than $41 million, with about 65% of that funded by the federal government. The Legislature had dedicated $4 million to renovate the dams but needed more money to close the funding gap.

Coos Bay
A police dog that stumbled on a porcupine and got more than 200 quills stuck on his face while pursuing a suspect was resting comfortably Tuesday and will not lose his eyesight, authorities say. Coos County Sheriff’s K-9 Odin, a German shepherd, had to be sedated and was in treatment for more than two hours to remove quills from all over his face, including several that were embedded in the roof of his mouth and more around his left eye, Capt. Gabe Fabrizio said. “That dog is super-motivated and high energy. It didn’t slow him down,” Fabrizio said. “He’s a good boy.” Odin had been called to help track a suspect with several felony warrants Saturday when he encountered the prickly creature in his pathway. The suspect, Devin J. Wilson, 29, of Coos Bay, remained at large Tuesday, as did the porcupine.

Harrisburg
The state’s new official amphibian is a slimy, 2-foot-long salamander that needs clean streams to thrive. Gov. Tom Wolf signed legislation Tuesday granting the honor to the Eastern hellbender, a nocturnal animal whose colorful nicknames include snot otter, lasagna lizard and mud devil. Members of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s student leadership council have spent three years campaigning to get it designated as the state’s official amphibian, helped by Lycoming College’s Clean Water Institute. It’s the largest salamander in North America. Wolf says the most recent official designation of that type in the state occurred in 1974, when the firefly was named Pennsylvania’s official insect.

Providence
Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns and actor John Krasinski (above) are among seven people scheduled to receive honorary degrees at Brown University’s spring commencement. The Ivy League college announced Tuesday that nonprofit innovator Sheryl Brissett Chapman; social scientist Jennifer Anne Richeson; business leader and philanthropist David Rubenstein; business leader and philanthropist E. Paul Sorensen; and fundraising consultant Joan Wernig Sorensen will also receive honorary degrees at the May 26 ceremony. Brown’s keynote commencement speaker is traditionally a member of the graduating class. Krasinski, a 2001 Brown graduate, will address the graduating class the day before commencement. He is best known for his role as Jim Halpert in “The Office” and directed and starred in “A Quiet Place.” Burns has won 16 Emmys for his films, including “The Civil War” and “Jazz.”

Travelers Rest
Once it housed local government offices. Now it’s a place of worship. The former Travelers Rest City Hall is now being used by Trailside Church. The City Council agreed to lease the building to the church for $2,750 a month. The building had been vacant since October 2018, when the city relocated administrative offices, police department, municipal court and a visitors’ center into a new $6 million, 14,700-square-foot building. Travelers Rest city clerk Gail Braziel says City Hall employees had worked at the old location since 1985.

Selby
The future of Lake Hiddenwood Recreation Area is in doubt after a request for federal funding to restore its dam was denied. Aberdeen American News reports that state officials sought a federal disaster declaration for the Selby park after heavy rains washed out its dam last year, causing Lake Hiddenwood to empty. The state Division of Parks and Recreation’s assistant director, Al Nedved, says the Federal Emergency Management Agency denied the park’s request for federal assistance. He says the state has no plans to repair or restore the dam. Nedved says there’s public support to maintain some level of recreational facilities in the area, but the state has few options without funding. Nedved says officials are meeting with the National Guard about alternatives for the dam.

Nashville
The state House has advanced a proposal that would keep the Volunteer State on daylight saving time year-round. House members voted 86-5 on Monday for legislation that would scrap the twice-annual time shift – but only if Congress first passes a federal law allowing states to observe daylight saving year-round and the proposal is later adopted by the Tennessee General Assembly. The bill must still pass the Senate. Other states are considering similar conditional legislation. Daylight saving time begins on the second Sunday of March, when clocks move ahead by one hour to allow for more daylight in the evening and less in the morning. Clocks then move back an hour on the first Sunday in November.

Houston
A public library that was already closed for renovations when it was damaged by Hurricane Harvey in 2017 will reopen next year as the city’s first full TECHLink center. TECHLink is a digital creative space that offers access to numerous state-of-the-art technologies. A $1.6 million gift for the Amanda E. Dixon Neighborhood Library means the site will have the latest interactive technology, including a professional music and video-recording studio, the Houston Chronicle reports. The reconstructed library will help expand the minds and imagination of the next generation of Houstonians, Mayor Sylvester Turner said in a statement. The new center is scheduled to open by mid-2020.

Ogden
The former head of the state Department of Veterans Affairs is pushing for the U.S. census to include a question about veterans next year. The Standard-Examiner reports Terry Schow wants a question about veteran status so the state can have a more accurate count. The Vietnam veteran says current counts from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Census Bureau are likely missing a significant number of veterans. According to the bureau, veteran status was pulled from the questionnaire in 2010. The bureau does collect data on veterans through three far smaller surveys. Schow says the VA uses census data to determine spending on veteran housing, hospitals and assistance programs. U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop sent a letter to the bureau earlier this month, asking for the question.

Burlington
A crowd gathered Friday night in an event billed as “Worshipping the World’s Tallest Filing Cabinet.” Organized by the organization Very Cool – an acronym for Volunteer Events Reterritorializing Your Community’s Oft Overlooked Locales – the performance art piece was held in celebration of a sculpture protesting bureaucracy and development. In the process, the group says it skewered unbridled capitalism and the fattening of religious organizations’ coffers in God’s name. Makeshift minister Griffin Jones delivered what he called a sermon, inviting onlookers to “confess” their “disorganization” and not “look to false prophets like Marie Kondo asking you to throw it away.” The website Atlas Obscura says local artist Bren Alvarez built the cabinet in 2002 from “38 drawers, each one representing the number of years of paperwork that Alvarez accumulated while working on the project.”

Blacksburg
The Federal Aviation Administration has given the green light to a drone delivery company to start delivering packages in the city. The Washington Post reports that Wing, owned by the parent company of Google, is the first company to be certified as an “air carrier” by the FAA. Company officials said they survey the community to see what kind of items they want delivered by air, which could include over-the-counter medicines and hot meals. Major companies like Uber and UPS are also trying to secure similar federal approvals for commercial drone deliveries. The delivery service is set to launch within months in Blacksburg. Company officials said they plan to expand service in Virginia and around the country eventually.

Spokane
The city is closing a foot bridge over the downtown waterfalls so its concrete deck can be repaired or replaced. The popular bridge was built for the 1974 World’s Fair in Riverfront Park. The city says the 45-year-old pedestrian bridge is structurally sound, but age and weather conditions have led to chipping and holes in the concrete deck. The Spokesman-Review says the bridge was closed Friday until further notice. The parks department will hire a consultant to look at the bridge again to see if the deck needs to be replaced immediately or if it could be repaired.

Huntington
Marshall University students will be able to use their own electronic devices to access buildings on campus, pay for meals and other uses. Officials at the university in Huntington announced the launch Tuesday of school-issued identification cards on iPhone and Apple Watch. Marshall says it’s the first school in the state and among the first 10 nationwide to offer the technology that uses readers where the ID cards are accepted on and off campus. Apple says the arrangement enables students to leave their physical wallets behind.

Madison
A 24-year-old man stepped forward Tuesday to claim a $768 million Powerball prize, the nation’s third-largest lottery jackpot, saying he “pretty much felt lucky” the day he bought his tickets and has been worried that people want to steal his ticket. Manuel Franco, of West Allis, said he was sorting through $10 worth of quick-pick tickets after the March 27 drawing and thought he had checked all his tickets. Then he saw one last ticket stuck to another one and recounted to reporters the feeling as he matched the first two numbers, then glanced at the Powerball to see it matched too. “I was going insane,” Franco said. “I looked back at the three other numbers; they all matched. My heart started racing; my blood started pumping; I felt warm. I started screaming.” Franco declined to reveal much about himself but said he quit work the second day after winning, feeling he just couldn’t continue.

Powell
Officials say Yellowstone National Park’s gray wolf population has dropped to about 80 wolves – less than half of the high population mark in the park. The Powell Tribune reports that while park officials won’t have an accurate count until the fall after surviving pups are visible, the park’s top biologist, Doug Smith, doesn’t expect numbers to rise dramatically after litters are included in population estimates. Smith says the survival rate of gray pups is only about 7%. Smith says Yellowstone had as many as 174 wolves in the park in 2003. Smith largely blames outbreaks of disease – including distemper, mange and the parvo virus – and packs moving out of the park for the decline. Smith says the leading cause of natural mortality is wolves killing wolves.