Wu-Tang, Gila monsters, the zia symbol: News from around our 50 states

A Southern California homeless shelter has 100 new bunk beds largely paid for by legal cannabis dispensaries. The temporary shelter in Oxnard received the upgrade after the police chief in neighboring Port Hueneme contacted Oxnard’s homeless program coordinator about a newspaper photo showing air mattresses on the floor. Chief Andrew Salinas then contacted cannabis dispensaries, and five of them quickly donated $25,000. Another $10,000 was provided by a Port Hueneme community fund. The bunk beds arrived Monday and were assembled by about 30 volunteers from a carpenters union local. The beds got strong reviews from the shelter’s residents, who said they are a definite improvement over the air mattresses they have been sleeping on.

Christiana Care Health System patients can now access their medical records through their iPhones, as the organization becomes the first health system in the state to partner with Apple. Delaware’s largest hospital system announced Monday that through the iPhone’s Health Records feature, a part of the Health app, patients can have their medical information organized in one place. This includes data such as lab results, medications and procedures. Patients will also receive notifications when their records are updated. The information will be encrypted and protected with the patient’s iPhone passcode, touch ID or face ID, officials said in a news release.

The White House says its annual Easter Egg Roll will be held April 22. Tickets are free and can be requested through an online lottery scheduled to open Thursday at 10 a.m. EST and close March 4 at 10 a.m. EST. The White House says there’s no fee to enter the lottery, and winners will be contacted by email by March 14. Families with children ages 13 and younger are invited to join President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump for a day of festivities on the South Lawn, where children use wooden spoons to roll dyed hard-boiled eggs. The White House Easter Egg Roll is an annual tradition that dates to 1878 and Rutherford B. Hayes’ presidency. Easter falls on April 21 this year.

Move over, Tallahassee – Cape Coral is now more populous than the capital, making it the state’s eighth-largest city. The southwest Florida locale has a population of 194,570, while Tallahassee has 194,170, according to worldpopulationreview.com. The growing population will provide new opportunities for the city, says Cape Coral Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Donna Germain. Experts have said it would put the city on more businesses’ radars as a place to grow and expand. City Public Information Specialist Maureen Buice says she thinks the city’s growth is due to its safety record, affordability and ongoing utilities extension project, and City Manager John Szerlag has said the city is on pace to surpass 200,000 full-time residents this year.

Music fans got their first taste this week of what’s coming to the anticipated Water Works amphitheater. English rock group The Struts were announced to play the amphitheater July 15, a Monday night. Tickets cost $25 and can be purchased Friday. Canadian rock group The Glorious Sons open the show. The Struts last played Des Moines in November, a sold-out performance at Wooly’s in the East Village. The group opened for Foo Fighters at Wells Fargo Arena in 2017. It’s the first confirmed concert booked at the outdoor venue, called the Lauridsen Amphitheater, which organizers hope to open in June. Discussed since 2014, the amphitheater plans to offer a summer home for ticketed concerts, symphony performances and heritage festivals.

Tributes have reigned down on Motown’s Queen of Soul since her death last year, but on Tuesday state lawmakers decided one more show of respect was due. The House Transportation Committee unanimously approved a bill that would rename a portion of M-10 in Detroit, better known as the Lodge Freeway, for Franklin. There was no disagreement among the committee. “I’d lose my Michigan card if we didn’t do this,” said state Rep. Jack O’Malley, R-Lake Ann. The stretch of highway was chosen because it starts near New Bethel Baptist Church, where Franklin’s father, the Rev. C.L. Franklin, was pastor and where Franklin honed her musical skills, and ends at I-94, which leads east and west across the state and symbolizes Franklin’s wide reach.

In the past, police might have had little information to help them navigate interactions with people with disabilities, but one app could help the St. Cloud Police Department change that. City police began using an app from Vitals Aware Services about a week ago, Commander Jim Steve says. The app allows citizens to fill out emergency contact forms, de-escalation techniques and personalized profiles for people with “invisible and visible conditions and disabilities,” according to a company brochure. Once a person or their family members sign up, Vitals will provide a free “beacon,” or fob, to the individual, which can be worn in shoelaces, watches or necklaces. When police come within 80 feet of a beacon, an alert appears on their phones.

A new agreement between the University of Southern Mississippi and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College could put teachers as young as 20 into classrooms and help alleviate the state’s teacher shortage. Southern Miss President Rodney Bennett and MGCCC President Mary Graham signed a memorandum of understanding Monday for what they called an “exciting new academic partnership.” Under the agreement, high school juniors and seniors who complete MGCCC’s Collegiate Academy, where they earn an associate’s degree while attending high school, could then enter the Southern Miss Teachers College program and earn a teaching degree in two years. They could take over as elementary and special education teachers and teacher assistants.

The Ranch at Rock Creek has earned a five-star rating from Forbes for a record sixth year in a row. It’s the only Forbes five-star guest ranch in the state, and no other guest ranch in the world has been so honored six years consecutively. The ranch is situated on 6,600 acres of land with log homes, luxury “glamping” tents, rooms in a historic barn and lodge rooms. The former homestead also offers outdoor adventures such as fly fishing, horseback riding, archery, mountain biking, shooting and wildlife viewing, sleigh rides, skating, cross-country skiing, ATV outings and ski trips to Discovery Ski Area. Chef Josh Drage emphasizes farm-to-table food, drawing on Montana and regional sources. The ranch offers a spa, movie theater, billiards, bowling alley and more.

Nevadans would be able to seek physician-assisted suicide under a new bill heard at the state Legislature on Monday. Bill sponsor and state Sen. David Parks, D-Las Vegas, expects Senate Bill 165 to succeed where his past two attempts at right-to-die legislation have failed – despite passionate opposition from critics who fear the proposed law would allow insurance companies to nudge patients toward assisted suicide rather than expensive end-of-life care. Nevadans are already allowed to turn down life-saving treatment under certain circumstances. S.B. 165 would allow mentally competent patients over the age of 18 to seek life-ending drugs from a doctor if they have less than six months to live. Patients would need approval from two different doctors.

State officials are asking hikers and hunters to be on the lookout for deer behaving unusually because they may be infected with a fatal disease that gives them a zombie-like appearance. No deer have ever been diagnosed with chronic wasting disease in New Jersey, but they have been found as close as Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the state Division of Fish and Wildlife says. Whether that means the disease will soon spread to the Garden State is unknown, state officials say. More than 8,000 deer have been tested in New Jersey since 1997. Infected animals have been given the moniker “zombie deer” because symptoms include drastic weight loss, stumbling and listlessness, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A kind stranger cleaned out one Girl Scout troop’s cookie supply late last week so the girls could go home and get out of the cold weather, according to a social media post from Kayla Dillard, who manages cookie sales for Troop 1574. Dillard shared a photo of the man and two members of the troop posing next to their cookie sales table outside of a Mauldin Bi-Lo store Friday. The photo was accompanied by a post saying he first bought seven boxes of cookies with $40 and told the girls to keep the change before returning to spend $540 on the remaining boxes of cookies. The man told the girls to “pack up all of your cookies. I’m taking them all so y’all can get out of this cold,” Dillard wrote in her post.

Remedy Brewing Co. is planning a “major expansion,” adding a production and canning facility to increase its capacity and sell its beer more places, co-owner Matt Hastad says. The new facility will be used to brew and can five mainstays: Nonsense IPA, Queen Bee cream ale, Espina Mexican lager, Split-shift Dakota Common lager and Hefe Metal, a Bavarian-style hefeweizen. The production capacity means Remedy can also try the occasional “fun, unique and funky” brews, Hastad says. Canning beer means Remedy will be able to distribute its brews to liquor stores and gas stations and provide beer for events rather than kegs only. Remedy will be the second local brewer to can its product, following on the footsteps of Fernson Brewing Co.

A hip-hop act will headline a concert at the Ryman Auditorium for the first time this summer – on the final day of the CMA Music Festival, no less. Nashville’s “Mother Church of Country Music” will welcome Wu-Tang Clan on June 9. The wildly influential rap group includes Method Man, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, RZA and GZA among its sprawling ranks. Last year, it celebrated the 25th anniversary of the group’s landmark album, “Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers).” Only a handful of rappers have even graced the Ryman’s stage. In 2002, Floetry and Slum Village opened for India.Arie, and Nelly appeared with Florida Georgia Line during a charity gig in 2013. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday.

Crochet prodigy Jonah Larson, 11, has had a busy month after his Instagram account went viral. He’s scored a book deal to pen his own autobiography with the help of his mom. And now he’s using his newfound fame to help others. Jonah has started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for Roots Ethiopia, a nonprofit that partners with Ethiopian communities to improve education and support entrepreneurship. The nonprofit is close to Jonah’s heart for two reasons. First, it’s located in the village where he was born, before being adopted by his La Crosse parents when he was a baby. Second, the organization helps mothers identify and improve their skills so they can create their own businesses. It also helps support local schools to improve access to education.