Jay-Z, the Flintstones, red-tailed hawks: News from around our 50 states

From staff and wire reports

Louisiana looks back at Katrina’s effects on homes, North Dakota bucks trend on plastic restrictions, and more

Montgomery
A onetime aide to former first lady Michelle Obama will review workplace practices at a prominent civil rights law firm that fired its founder. A statement from the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center says attorney Tina Tchen will conduct a “top-to-bottom” review of the liberal nonprofit organization. The law center is best known for its work monitoring extremist groups and fired founder and prominent civil rights attorney Morris Dees for unspecified reasons last week. It promised a review of its workplace environment. Critics have accused the organization of a lack of diversity in management. Tchen was chief of staff to the former first lady. She now works for a Chicago law firm focusing on workplace issues including gender and racial equity and sexual harassment.

Juneau
The U.S. Forest Service is planning the largest sale of old growth timber in the state in years. The Prince of Wales Island Landscape Level Analysis project will harvest as much as 225 million board feet of old growth lumber from Prince of Wales Island in Tongass National Forest, CoastAlaska reports. The service said the process will be gradual because it will not allow more than 100 acres of clear cutting at one time from the southeastern Alaska region. Critics have said the deal is a retreat from the Forest Service’s 2016 announcement it would largely phase out old growth timber sales in Tongass National Forest over 15 years. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game raised its own concerns over losses to deer and wolf habitats, which were not addressed in the plan.

Valle
The northern Arizona hometown of the Flintstones will enjoy one last summer as a rock star. Bedrock City, a cherished roadside attraction, will remain in its original Stone Age state so fans can bid a fond farewell, its new owner says. And if all goes as planned, Troy Morris says, visitors saying goodbye to Bedrock will also say hello to Raptor Ranch, the property’s next incarnation. Falcons will be on display in between flying demonstrations, heralding the park’s future. Morris and business partner Ron Brown took over the 30-acre park in January. He invites fans to visit the attraction before much of it becomes extinct. He’s also encouraging people to bring photos from previous visits, for inclusion as part of a display saluting Raptor Ranch’s Stone Age roots, a page right out of roadside history.

Little Rock
The state House has approved a bill that requires public schools to offer an elective course on the Bible if students request one. The bill approved Tuesday by a 64-7 vote would require a public school to offer the academic study of the Bible if at least 15 students request one. The course would be taught in what the legislation calls a “nondevotional manner with no attempt made to indoctrinate students.” A 2013 Arkansas law allows public schools to offer an elective course on the Bible but doesn’t require schools to do so. The measure approved Tuesday now heads to the Senate.

Sacramento
The state is calling in the National Guard for the first time next month to help protect communities from devastating fires like the one that largely destroyed the city of Paradise last fall. It’s pulling the troops away from President Donald Trump’s border protection efforts and devoting them to fire protection, another area where Trump has been critical of California’s Democratic officials – even repeatedly threatening to cut off federal disaster funding. Starting in April, 110 California National Guard troops will receive 11 days of training in using shovels, rakes and chain saws to help thin trees and brush, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Mike Mohler said. They will be divided into five teams that will travel around the state working on forest management projects.

Fort Collins
Spring has sprung, especially at the Old Town Library. The Poudre River Public Library District debuted its newest offering at its Old Town Fort Collins branch Monday: a community seed library that allows card-carrying library members to check out packets of vegetable, fruit and herb seeds. The seed library allows members to check out seed packets for their personal gardens, from kale and corn to sunflowers and sprouts. Though not required, members can plant them and – after harvesting seeds from the resulting plants – return those seeds to the library for others to “check out.” The seed library will also accept donations of fruit, vegetable and herb seeds from commercial seed companies, seed banks or other local organizations with an interest in seed collection, according to the library.

Milford
A fire at a seaside park has destroyed three under-construction buildings, but there were no reports of injuries. The fire at Silver Sands State Park (above) in Milford was reported about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday. Battalion Chief Anthony Fabrizi said firefighters responding to 911 calls found two buildings fully involved and a third about 50 percent involved. The blaze was brought under control in about two hours. The buildings were part of a $9.1 million project to build a bathhouse, concessions stand and office space. They were scheduled to open Memorial Day weekend. The fire is under investigation, and Fabrizi said it was too early to say whether it was suspicious. The project was a point of contention between state and city officials, some of whom considered it too large and expensive.

Wilmington
A high school lacrosse player can’t play in games because his head is too big. Fifteen-year-old Billy Boyd’s head measures 25 inches around. An average grown man’s head is about 21 to 23 inches in circumference. Regulation helmets aren’t available in his size, so he’s not allowed to compete. The 6-foot-2 Cape Henlopen freshman and his father, Bill, have struggled to find larger, custom-made helmets that can be approved. The Boston Globe says manufacturer Cascade-Maverik recently crafted a larger helmet for University of Albany player Tehoka Nanticoke. Cascade Maverik Lacrosse Vice President Roland LaRose says a Boyd-sized helmet may be possible now that the company has developed “an alternative manufacturing process.”

Washington
Songs performed by Jay-Z and Cyndi Lauper and a Robert F. Kennedy speech are among 25 recordings being inducted to the National Recording Registry. The Library of Congress announced Wednesday that “La Bamba,” “Gunsmoke” and “Hair” are some of the titles tapped for preservation this year. The national library chose a few more memorable titles including Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline,” Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September” and Sam & Dave’s “Soul Man.” The registry is adding Kennedy’s recorded speech after Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1968 assassination – two months before Kennedy was killed. Curtis Mayfield’s “Superfly,” Lauper’s “She’s So Unusual” and Jay-Z’s “Blueprint” album are being added. Other songs being added include Nina Simone’s “Mississippi Goddam,” Sylvester’s “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” and “Schoolhouse Rock!”

Cocoa Beach
Wildlife officials say a virus may be targeting freshwater turtles along the St. Johns River. According to a statement Tuesday from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, no toxins from harmful algae blooms were found in the turtles collected from the river since March 2018. Approximately 300 sick or dead Florida softshells and cooters have been reported from Palm Bay north to Crescent Lake and Palatka. No fish or other wildlife appear to be affected. The statement says virologists from the University of Florida and the state’s agriculture department have discovered a new virus associated with the diseased turtles. To prevent the virus from spreading, wildlife officials say freshwater turtles should not be captured or released in new locations.

Atlanta
A contract with the city’s public transportation provider that would have brought a significant expansion of mass transit was voted down by a long resistant county Tuesday. Gwinnett County’s referendum asked voters if they wanted to authorize a contract with MARTA and impose a 1 percent sales tax for transit expansion projects in the county just north of the city. Unofficial results from the county’s board of elections show that just over 54 percent of the nearly 92,000 votes cast opposed the measure. Advocates said approval would have helped alleviate the area’s notorious traffic problems and air pollution from cars idling in rush-hour gridlock. Some critics opposed the idea of a countywide tax for a transit system only some residents would use.

Kailua-Kona
A nonprofit group has launched plans to construct a West Hawaii Community Veterans Center on the Big Island. West Hawaii Today reports that the West Hawaii Veterans Council Inc. hopes to begin the first phase of construction in 2021. The group says the facility would provide veterans, veterans groups and the community with much-needed gathering space. Planners say that they hope to build the center on state land in North Kona and that a draft environmental assessment released in late February found no significant impact. The group says it is seeking $2 million in funding for fiscal year 2019-20 and an additional $2 million in fiscal year 2020-21 to complete the first phase. The newspaper reports 16,000-17,000 veterans live on the Big Island.

Boise
A state House panel has approved a joint memorial intervening in a fight over water in the Salmon River in central Idaho involving irrigators and federally protected salmon, steelhead and bull trout. The House Resources and Conservation Committee voted 13-4 Tuesday to send to the House the memorial requesting Congress, President Donald Trump and federal agencies respect Idaho’s sovereignty over water. The Idaho Conservation League in 2018 sued the U.S. Forest Service involving 23 water diversion projects in the Sawtooth Valley. The group says the federal agency is authorizing irrigation diversions in violation of the Endangered Species Act. The joint memorial seeks to negate any federal action that restricts the use of water on private land authorized under state law. The Senate previously approved the joint memorial.

Waukegan
An August dedication is planned for a statue of famed science fiction writer Ray Bradbury in his hometown. The (Waukegan) News-Sun reports that work has started on the statue, and fundraising efforts are in the final stretch. The 12-foot-tall statue will show the late author on a rocket ship while holding a book. It will be placed outside the Waukegan Public Library. The dedication is scheduled for Bradbury’s birthday, Aug. 22. Bradbury was born in Waukegan in 1920 and died in 2012. He authored hundreds of works including “Fahrenheit 451” and “The Martian Chronicles.” The Ray Bradbury Statue Committee is $20,000 short of the statue’s $125,000 cost. Representatives say they hope seeing the finished stainless-steel piece will spur more donations.

Indianapolis
A 6-year-old African elephant at the Indianapolis Zoo died after showing signs of abdominal discomfort starting two days earlier. Nyah’s symptoms had seemed typical of mild colic, the zoo said. Her symptoms progressed rapidly before her death Tuesday. Nyah was beautiful, fun and curious and was often seen following her big sister around, the zoo said. Each elephant in the herd spent time with Nyah after she died to help them understand why she won’t be with them anymore. A necropsy is being conducted to understand the cause of Nyah’s death, the zoo said. She was born and raised at the Indianapolis Zoo.

Ottumwa
Caucus season is reviving a century-old story about a long-lost town near here where thousands of African-American miners from the South lived side-by-side with poor white immigrants from Europe. People all over the state have been learning about the ghost town of Buxton from U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, who is running for president. In campaign stops, the New Jersey Democrat often describes his family’s experiences in the southeast Iowa community, which sprang up in 1900 and disappeared less than 25 years later. It was founded by a coal company known for treating black miners fairly. “In Buxton, you had these European immigrants and black migrants from the South, who all joined together in an integrated community,” he said Saturday in Ottumwa, about 30 miles southeast of the Buxton site.

Great Bend
Barton County is purchasing new voting equipment to replace its aging machines and move back to using paper ballots. The Great Bend Tribune reports that commissioners on Monday approved $183,000 to buy voting equipment from Election Systems and Software. The county’s current system is 12 years old and beginning to show wear. County Clerk Donna Zimmerman says it should be replaced before the equipment becomes unreliable. She says they have been working on the project for three years viewing various products before suggesting Election Systems and Software, which provides the county’s current voting machines. For voters who cast an electronic ballot, a paper copy will be printed for scanning. Voters who want a paper ballot can fill one out that can be scanned.

Louisville
The state’s resurgent hemp sector flexed more economic clout in 2018, with processors reporting sharply higher sales and farmers reaping more than twice as much income from their crop, the state’s agriculture commissioner says. The state’s hemp processors reported $57.75 million in gross product sales last year, compared with $16.7 million in 2017, Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles says. Processors spent $23.4 million in capital improvements and employed a total of 459 people in 2018, he says. Processors paid Kentucky farmers $17.75 million for harvested hemp materials in 2018, up from $7.5 million the year before, Quarles says. Even with the growth, hemp remains a blip on the radar for Kentucky’s diversified agriculture sector. But Quarles says the figures solidify Kentucky’s reputation as a national leader in the crop’s comeback.

New Orleans
Nearly 14 years after Hurricane Katrina hit, there’s a place in the city’s Gentilly neighborhood that looks as though the floodwaters only recently receded. It’s all an illusion, though. Artists working with the nonprofit Levees.org have transformed two rooms in a long-empty house by splotching the ceiling and walls with fake mold, carefully re-creating water marks, and covering furniture and toys with mucky gray paint. The Flooded House Museum, which will be formally unveiled Saturday, is a unique monument to what the city went through. It’s also the latest project by Levees.org to call attention to the civil engineering failures that led to catastrophic flooding when Katrina hit. The finished product, which visitors will be able to view through the front windows of the house, will be a permanent installation.

Columbia Falls
A tiny town in Down East Maine will once again welcome hundreds of people this year to celebrate a little fish and the arrival of spring. Organizers of the Downeast Salmon Federation’s Annual Smelt Fry and Fisheries Celebration say this year’s event will take place April 13. The festival includes activities and displays about fisheries and conservation, and it’s also a celebration of local food. The salmon federation says this year’s menu will include fried smelt, smoked mackerel, moose stew and local blueberries. The event takes place in the town of about 560 every spring.

Annapolis
The General Assembly has given final approval to raising the state’s minimum wage from $10.10 to $15 an hour by 2025. The House and Senate voted Wednesday for a compromise. That sends the bill to Gov. Larry Hogan (above), who opposes the measure. The House and Senate passed the bill with enough votes to override a veto. The minimum wage would increase to $11 in January. It would then go up 75 cents a year to $14 in 2024 and reach $15 the following year. The bill gives companies with fewer than 15 employees more time to phase in the increase. After reaching $11 next year, the minimum wage would go up 60 cents a year, and those businesses would not pay $15 an hour until July 2026.

Boston
The city has created an online registry to allow people to directly order their birth certificates. Officials say the move will help residents comply with the REAL ID Act that takes effect in October. The Boston Globe reports the Department of Innovation and Technology launched the web application in response to the 30 percent increase in requests for Boston-based birth certificates in the past year. The REAL ID Act will require people to possess enhanced drivers’ licenses to travel and enter federal buildings. The city says residents will need their birth certificates to get the new license. Democratic Mayor Marty Walsh says he’s partnered with Democratic state Rep. Michael Moran to create a statewide version of the registry.

Detroit
Jordan Vogt-Roberts (above), the director of “Kong: Skull Island,” peppered his 2017 hit with Detroit actors and Motor City references. Now he plans to make a creature feature that will be set in Detroit. And he has a big-name producing partner: Michael B. Jordan of “Black Panther” and “Creed” fame. Detroit is expected to be central to the plot line. “The film is set in Michigan and is more than a backdrop or a setting. In many ways it’s a character in the film and plays into the larger thematics,” the director said via email. Vogt-Roberts, who grew up in Royal Oak, will produce the film with New Regency and Jordan’s Outlier Society production company.

Avon
Scouts BSA Troop 32 made history in Central Minnesota, but its members are more concerned with earning their Wilderness Survival badges. “I want to learn how to survive, and make a fire, and how to make your own food from the wilderness,” rattled off 11-year-old Greta Shofner. Shofner and six other girls ages 10-14 are members of the first all-girl troop in the region’s Scouts BSA program. These Scouts are planning their first lock-in, an overnight event that, like most of the troop activities, is planned primarily by the Scouts themselves. Senior patrol leader Morgan Poepping (above right), 13, says she was interested in joining the Scouts BSA because she didn’t want to limit her extracurricular activities to those that are “stereotypical to womanhood.” “Boy Scouts is about taking things into your own hands and learning more for it,” she says.

Jackson
A minor engaged in prostitution should be considered a victim and not face criminal charges, a legislative bill says. That bill, on a 116-0 vote, headed to the governor after the House agreed Tuesday with slight changes made by the Senate. House Speaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton, filed the bill to prohibit a sex trafficking victim younger than 18 from being charged with a misdemeanor. House Bill 571 also allows the child to be taken into protective custody and have counseling provided. “We want this to be something effective for our children,” House Judiciary B Chairwoman Angela Cockerham, I-Magnolia, said on the House floor. Democrat David Baria of Bay St. Louis called it “a good bill.”

Jefferson City
The state Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that local courts can’t throw people back in jail for not paying previous jail debts, a practice that critics said led to modern-day debtors’ prisons. At issue are boarding costs for time spent in county jails, which are commonly referred to as board bills. Judges wrote in a unanimous decision that while inmates are responsible for those costs, “if such responsibilities fall delinquent, the debts cannot be taxed as court costs and the failure to pay that debt cannot result in another incarceration.” The ruling was lauded by critics of the policy including Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt, who in a statement said Missourians “shouldn’t be forced into a cycle of incarceration and used as an ATM simply for being unable to pay jail debts.”

Helena
The state Senate has passed a bill allowing resort communities with fewer than 5,500 residents to temporarily levy an additional 1 percent resort tax to fund water, sewer, road, public service or other infrastructure projects. The Senate passed the bill 33-16 on Tuesday. It now goes to the House. Resort taxes can be levied on the retail cost of many goods and services in smaller towns whose economies rely mostly on businesses catering to tourists or people traveling through to get to tourist destinations. The taxes cannot be levied on groceries and medicine. Those communities can vote to levy a 3 percent resort tax. This bill would allow them to vote to add a temporary additional 1 percent tax to raise money for specific projects. The tax would end after the project is funded.

Offutt Air Force Base
Flooding has forced the Air Force to cancel the 2019 Defenders of Freedom Open House and Air Show at Offutt Air Force Base south of Omaha. Missouri River floodwater fed by heavy rain and snowmelt has covered about a third of the base and damaged dozens of buildings. Officials say, however, that the units based at Offutt remain capable of fulfilling their missions. The commander of Offutt’s 55th Wing, Col. Michael Manion, said Tuesday night that “it is obvious it will be some time before we can return to normal operations or have the capacity to host an event like an air show and open house.” The famed Air Force aerobatics team, Thunderbirds, was scheduled to be featured at the June 1-2 event.

Las Vegas
Lawmakers are considering allowing more 14-year-olds to drive under a measure backed by an assemblywoman who said that if young drivers are allowed in rural places, they should also be allowed in cities. The change could give students a way to get to class, including at charter schools, Assemblywoman Alexis Hansen, R-Sparks, told the Las Vegas Sun. Hansen said she’s not advocating “giving car keys to babies.” Her measure, Assembly Bill 53, faces a first hearing Thursday at the Assembly Committee on Growth and Infrastructure in Carson City. It would expand Department of Motor Vehicles authority to grant restricted licenses to 14- to 18-year-olds in counties with fewer than 55,000 residents or towns with less than 25,000 people where the school district doesn’t provide transportation.

Concord
It was a good day for red-tailed hawks Wednesday as the state House voted in favor of honoring the predator. Four years ago, lawmakers made national news by refusing to pass a bill promoted by Hampton Falls fourth-graders designating the red-tailed hawk as the state’s official raptor. Now in eighth grade, the students lobbied for a new bill this session and watched from the gallery Wednesday as the House voted 333-11 to send the bill to the Senate. Students wore T-shirts that played off the state’s motto that read: “Our Second Try to Live Free & Fly.” They argued red-tailed hawks were deserving of the honor because they’re determined, adaptable and share parenting responsibilities. Daniel Blankenship, one of the students, who spotted a red-tailed hawk on his way to the Statehouse, said the defeat four years ago was instructive.

Asbury Park
This year’s Asbury Park Music and Film Festival offers multiple Boss-related events. “The Bruce Springsteen Archives,” featuring rare footage from Springsteen’s own vaults, is coming to the Paramount Theatre on April 27. Tickets are $15 and $25 and can be purchased online. The bio “Clarence Clemons: Who Do You Think I Am?” will be shown the same day. The fest also includes Rock and Roll Hall of Famer David Crosby and Oscar-winning filmmaker Cameron Crowe at the New Jersey premiere of their new documentary, “David Crosby: Remember My Name.” Jakob Dylan, Cat Power, Jade of Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros and special guests will perform songs by the Byrds, Beach Boys, and the Mamas and Papas following an April 25 screening of “Echo in the Canyon,” highlighting the California sound of the ’60s.

Albuquerque
Final numbers show the rate of high school students in the state who earned diplomas last year was the highest it has ever been. The New Mexico Public Education Department announced this week that the 2018 class marked the highest graduation rate in the state’s history at 73.9 percent. That’s nearly a percentage point higher than the numbers announced in December under outgoing Republican Gov. Susana Martinez. While that’s still below the national average, the numbers mark a 10 percent increase since 2011 from when Martinez took office. Public Education Secretary Karen Trujillo told reporters Tuesday that graduation gains were made because of – and in spite of – policies under Martinez. She credited students and educators for the graduation jumps.

Watkins Glen
Jay-Z, Dead & Company and the Killers will headline one of the 50th anniversary shows commemorating the groundbreaking Woodstock festival this summer. Woodstock co-founder Michael Lang announced Tuesday that Miley Cyrus, Santana, Imagine Dragons, Robert Plant and The Sensational Space Shifters, the Black Keys and Chance the Rapper will also perform at the Woodstock 50 Music and Arts Fair, which will take place Aug. 16-18 in Watkins Glen, about 115 miles northwest of the original site. The event is separate from an anniversary concert planned at the site of the original festival in 1969. Tickets for the three-day festival pushing the message of peace, love and music go on sale April 22, which is Earth Day. The more than 80 artists lined up also include David Crosby, Janelle Monae and boygenius.

Asheboro
A baby chimpanzee has been born at the North Carolina Zoo. The zoo announced that the healthy baby was born Monday to a chimp named Gerre and started nursing quickly. The baby’s gender hasn’t been determined. The announcement said there have been only two other successful chimpanzee births in the past two years at Association of Zoos and Aquariums zoos. Since 2010, three have been born at the North Carolina Zoo. Gerre is about 20 years old and came to North Carolina in 2012 from the Dallas Zoo. Jennifer Ireland, the North Carolina Zoo’s mammal curator, says the rest of the chimp troop has been very curious about the new arrival.

Bismarck
Defying a national trend, the Legislature has passed a bill that would prohibit communities from restricting or charging a fee for the use of plastic bags, straws, cups or other containers. The Senate passed the House bill 31-14 on Wednesday. Minot Republican Rep. Dan Ruby introduced the bill. Ruby also owns a waste-hauling business that covers much of northwestern North Dakota. Ruby says the bill stops a potential patchwork of regulations across the state.

Dayton
Doctors are raising concerns about rules requiring counseling for people who receive drug addiction treatment. The Dayton Daily News reports the state medical board currently requires patients to have counseling if they receive Suboxone, a drug used to treat addiction. The board has proposed rules specifying which types of counseling or therapy qualify. Some doctors and other critics say rules requiring specific counseling could limit the number of doctors treating people with addiction and encourage some patients to avoid treatment. Mike Ward, managing partner at the treatment program Cornerstone Project, wants the medical board to enact more rules. He says some doctors operate cash-only clinics without referring patients to further treatment, which sometimes leads to patients selling their prescriptions on the streets.

Oklahoma City
A court-ordered inspection of every inmate in the Oklahoma County jail found that a 20-year-old woman had been wrongly incarcerated for two weeks on a warrant that had been dismissed months before, a lawyer said. Giselle Perez was jailed Feb. 26 after a traffic stop because of an outstanding arrest warrant on a 2015 juvenile theft charge that had actually been dropped in December. Perez said she never even went to court yet lost her job while she was being held. Perez was released March 12 after the mistake was discovered. Bob Ravitz, the county public defender, told the presiding judge in a March 15 report that “this is the most egregious case,” The Oklahoman reports. A judge ordered a check of county inmates after learning one detainee had been lost in the criminal justice system for nearly eight months.

Eugene
City officials expect to spend $14 million on a planned 3-acre riverfront park, the showpiece of the community’s yearslong effort to connect downtown with the Willamette River. The Register-Guard reports they also anticipate spending another $4 million on the neighboring 1-acre plaza, which will be constructed in a future phase. The park, scheduled to be completed well before the 2021 world track and field championships, includes green space, a rebuilt section of the riverfront path that separates cyclists and walkers, narrower pedestrian paths that connect to overlooks, interpretative exhibits and public art. It is part of the overall transformation of downtown Willamette riverfront land into an accessible riverfront neighborhood destination.

Harrisburg
Penn State is set to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars from the defunct charity for at-risk youth founded by now-imprisoned Jerry Sandusky while he was an assistant football coach. The state attorney general’s office says the university will receive $733,000 as a result of a recent agreement. The university says it will receive additional money from the insurers of the charity, The Second Mile, though terms are confidential. When Penn State took steps in 2017 to sue The Second Mile, it didn’t spell out why it was going after the charity. But prosecutors have said Sandusky used The Second Mile to find children he would later abuse. Some testified at Sandusky’s 2012 trial. The Sandusky scandal has cost Penn State over a quarter-billion dollars, including over $100 million to settle abuse claims.

Providence
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit over the state’s new truck tolls. A U.S. District Court judge said Tuesday that the court lacks jurisdiction and that the case should be brought in the state court system. Rhode Island began tolling trucks in June as part of an infrastructure plan to repair bridges and roads. The American Trucking Associations, a national industry group, sued, arguing that the tolls violate the U.S. Constitution’s Commerce Clause and pose a discriminatory and disproportionate burden on out-of-state operators and truckers. Cumberland Farms, New England Motor Freight and M&M Transport Services are also plaintiffs in the lawsuit. The state argued that the District Court cannot restrain the collection of state taxes, such as tolls, and that state matters should be adjudicated in state court.

Columbia
Faith leaders voiced their support Wednesday for legalizing medical marijuana, saying it is a necessary step toward improving the quality of life for seriously ill people. The diverse group of clergy held a news conference at the Statehouse to push for passage of the Compassionate Care Act. The legislation introduced in the House and Senate has bipartisan backing and would allow patients to purchase up to 2 ounces of marijuana or its equivalent every two weeks if authorized by their doctor. Legalizing medical marijuana transcends both religion and politics, said Baptist minister and Democratic Rep. Terry Alexander of Florence: “It’s not a religious thing. It’s not a drug thing. It is a relief thing to me, basically.” The fact two conservative Republicans introduced the legislation is indicative of the progress being made in the state, he said.

Lead
A 440-acre ski resort in the western part of the state is up for sale two years after it was shut down amid bankruptcy proceedings. The Rapid City Journal reports that the owners of the former Deer Mountain/Mystic Miner resort near Lead say they’ve cleaned up the property, made repairs and upgraded a water system serving residences near the resort. The Kansas City-based Milan Investment Club owned most of the mortgage debt on the property and was the sole bidder at a September 2017 sheriff’s auction of the foreclosed property. Milan paid almost $3.8 million for the resort and ski runs. Milan spokesman N. William Phillips says the group has invested more than $50,000 to fix the water system and to pay overdue bills and salaries. The property is listed for $3.25 million.

Nashville
The Metro Council approved a $17.5 million incentive package to Amazon on Tuesday in exchange for the 5,000 jobs the company says it will bring downtown for its new operations hub. The tech giant announced in November that it will bring its new hub to Nashville, a consolation prize in the national sweepstakes for Amazon’s coveted “HQ2.” It’s the largest single new jobs announcement in the state’s history. The company plans to invest $230 million with 1 million square feet of energy-efficient office space. It would deliver $1 billion in new tax revenue in the coming decade. Community activists and labor union leaders have called for greater scrutiny of Nashville’s deal with Amazon. Several residents spoke in opposition to the incentives ahead of the vote Tuesday, while others held signs that said: “No $$ for Amazon.”

Austin
Experts say recent rain across much of Texas has contributed to a spectacular 2019 wildflowers season. The Texas Parks & Wildlife Department on Tuesday announced the colorful displays range from bluebonnets (above) to buttercups to Indian blanket. Botanist Jason Singhurst says admirers of wildflowers can expect more concentrations through April and into May. Agency officials say Texas, with more than 90 state parks and nearly 6,000 plant species, has plenty of photo opportunities. Central Texas features bluebonnets, Mexican hat and white milkwort. The Coastal Texas prairies, barrier islands and South Texas have prairie clovers and silverleaf sunflowers. East Texas has trout lilies, wisteria and flowering dogwood. North Texas includes showy evening primrose, fleabane and wild indigo. West Texas has rigid paintbrush, yellow rocknettle and the purple wooly locoweed.

Salt Lake City
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said Wednesday that two of its missionaries have returned to the U.S. after they were detained in Russia for more than two weeks in an alleged visa violation case. The men were treated well and permitted to stay in contact with their relatives and church officials during the detention, church spokesman Eric Hawkins said in a statement. The Utah-based faith had previously said it was “troubled by the circumstances” of the young men’s detention but declined to elaborate or discuss the case in more detail. Latter-day Saint missionaries have not been allowed to legally proselytize in Russia since 2016 and are called “volunteers” while they perform missionary duty in the country. The change was triggered by an anti-terrorism law signed that year by Russian President Vladimir Putin that put restrictions on religious missionary practices.

Montpelier
The state will offer a third gender option on state driver’s licenses as soon as this summer. “When an ID does not match the gender identity or expression of the holder, the person can be exposed to potentially uncomfortable situations,” Department of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Wanda Minoli said in a statement. The license change was two years in the making, according to Brenda Churchill of the LGBTQIA Alliance of Vermont. Former DMV commissioner Robert Ide began discussions in 2017, during the planning process for the new driver’s license system, according to Minoli. Ide consulted transgender and nonbinary Vermonters, as well as law enforcement, for input. Vermonters who do not identify as male or female will have the option to select X for their gender, according to a DMV statement.

Williamsburg
Glenn Close will speak at William & Mary’s commencement ceremony in May. The Daily Press reports the award-winning actress graduated from the school in 1974. She also received an honorary degree in 1989. She will be awarded an honorary fellowship at the upcoming graduation. Close was a theater and anthropology major at the university in Williamsburg. She went on to win three Tony Awards, three Emmy Awards and three Golden Globes. William & Mary’s commencement will also be the first at which President Katherine A. Rowe will preside. She and close will speak alongside William & Mary Chancellor Robert M. Gates, a former U.S. defense secretary.

Seattle
The National Weather Service says the city’s high temperature of 79 degrees makes it the warmest March day on record since 1894. The National Weather Service said on Twitter that the temperature was recorded Tuesday afternoon. The previous record was 78 degrees on March 29, 2004. On Monday, Seattle hit 76 degrees, which was the earliest ever in the calendar year that Seattle has been that warm. The weather service says other cities in Western Washington including Olympia, Bellingham and Hoquiam also broke daily record-high temperatures on Tuesday.

Charleston
The nation’s largest Muslim civil rights organization says it has accepted an invitation from lawmakers to visit the state Capitol in the wake of an Islamophobic display outside the House of Delegates chamber. The Council on American-Islamic Relations made the announcement Wednesday in a statement that didn’t indicate when the visit would take place. Wayne County Democrat Ken Hicks wrote a March 8 letter signed by other delegates to CAIR national board chair Roula Allouch (above) extending the invitation. A poster falsely connected a U.S. congresswoman to the 2001 U.S. terrorist attacks and was part of a group’s March 1 display during the legislature’s “GOP Day.” The poster bore an image of the burning World Trade Center juxtaposed with a picture of Rep. Ilhan Omar.

Madison
A legislative committee has decided to allow wildlife officials to lift restrictions on the state’s elk hunt. Current regulations allow an elk season if herds in the Clam Lake and Black River regions reach 200 and 150 animals respectively. The number of permits is limited to 5 percent of the elk population. The Department of Natural Resources projects the Clam Lake herd will stand at between 211 to 236 elk after calving this spring. The Black River herd is projected to stand at between 70 and 80. DNR officials want to drop population and permit restrictions so they’ll have more freedom to manage the herds. The Assembly’s sporting heritage committee decided Wednesday not to object, clearing the way for the DNR to eliminate the restrictions.

Cheyenne
The U.S. government approved plans Tuesday to expand a uranium mine in the state while it considers a proposed new mine by the same developer not far away. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management will allow Littleton, Colorado-based Ur-Energy to more than double the surface area of its Lost Creek Mine while tapping deeper deposits underlying the sagebrush country of south-central Wyoming. The BLM, meanwhile, is considering the company’s plans for a new mine in Shirley Basin about 50 miles east of Lost Creek. The BLM is taking initial comments from the public on that proposal until Monday. Wyoming produces more uranium than any other state. It all comes out of the ground by way of in-situ mining, a process that uses wells rather than pits or mine shafts to reach the nuclear fuel.