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50 States

‘Alien’ for the stage, Van Gogh, film-developing beer: News from around our 50 states

A memorial to mudslide victims in Washington, an attempt at heated pavement in Iowa, and more
  • Florence

    Grammy-winning Heart of Dixie native Jason Isbell is bringing a new music festival to the Muscle Shoals area. The first-ever ShoalsFest is set for Oct. 5 and will feature performances by Isbell and The 400 Unit (above), Sheryl Crow, Mavis Staples and Amanda Shires – Isbell’s wife – on the event’s main stage. A second stage lineup will be announced soon. Al.com reports ShoalsFest will take place at McFarland Park in Florence. Tickets, starting at $60, go on sale to the public at 10 a.m. Monday, with only 5,000 tickets available. In a news release, the Green Hill native says he’s always wanted to bring a music festival to the Shoals. He says he’s excited about the project.

  • Anchorage
    A record number of people visited Alaska’s national parks in 2018, the Anchorage Daily News reports. The National Parks Service says visits to its parks in Alaska topped 2.9 million, the highest number of visits recorded for the state, and up from about 2.7 million in 2014. The Daily News reports that the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park (above) in Skagway had the most visits in the state last year, and it was the only national park site in Alaska to top 1 million visits. Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve, a remote volcano crater park site on the Alaska Peninsula, had the fewest, with 100 visits, the newspaper reports. The Daily News says a booming cruise industry bringing more passengers to the state in recent years is a major reason for the surge in parks visits.
  • Tucson
    A project to provide travelers on Interstate 10 with timely warnings about potentially deadly low-visibility conditions from dust storms on a 10-mile stretch between Phoenix and Tucson is just months from completion. The Arizona Daily Star reports the system planned by the Arizona Department of Transportation will combine several technologies, including closed-circuit cameras, radar and digital warning signs. A $12.8 million federal grant is funding the project, which is expected to be installed by October. As the main travel route between Arizona’s two most populous cities, I-10 has seen the carnage of vehicles involved in some of the deadliest crashes in the state. The system’s radar system will supplement the National Weather Service’s existing radar, and officials said they’ll have a more accurate reading of activity at ground level.
  • Little Rock
    The Arkansas Racing Commission has approved full casino licenses for a Hot Springs horse-racing track and a greyhound track in western Arkansas. Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration spokesman Scott Hardin said Saturday that the commission has granted casino license approval for Oaklawn Racing and Gaming in Hot Springs (above) and Southland Park Gaming and Racing in West Memphis and will issue the licenses in the coming days. Both facilities are scheduled to begin full casino operations April 1. Hardin says the commission also will accept applications in May for a casino in Jefferson County and another in Pope County. Voters approved an amendment to the state’s constitution last year allowing for the moves.
  • San Francisco
    A trip across the Golden Gate Bridge is about to get more expensive. The Press Democrat reports Golden Gate Bridge officials voted Friday to raise tolls up to $9.75 by 2023. The first increase will come in July, when a trip from the North Bay to San Francisco will rise from $7 to $7.35. The toll hikes are expected to raise an estimated $100 million over five years and help transportation officials buy another ferry boat to meet growing demand and add service between Larkspur and San Francisco. According to the California Department of Transportation, between 112,000 and 119,000 motorists use the 1.7-mile span each day.
  • Denver
    Lawmakers have introduced a bill designed to implement Gov. Jared Polis’ plan to offer state-funded full-day kindergarten. Colorado ensures funding for half-day kindergarten. School districts that do offer full-day kindergarten pay for it with local property taxes, by charging families, or by using funding designed for pre-school or other programs. Families would be given the choice to opt in to the full-day program. Polis (above) says early childhood education allows disadvantaged children to catch up to their peers early, improves long-term academic performance and reduces high school drop-out rates. The Joint Budget Committee has set aside $185 million to implement the plan in the fiscal year that begins July 1.
  • Hartford
    A painting that has long been thought to be by Vincent Van Gogh has been authenticated as such by Dutch researchers. The Wadsworth Atheneum announced Friday that the oil painting “Vase with Poppies” has been verified by researchers at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam as having been painted by the Dutch artist in 1886, just after he moved to Paris. It has been in the Hartford museum’s collection since 1957. Its authenticity was called into question in 1990 by art historian and Van Gogh expert Walter Feilchenfeldt, who raised concerns about many purported Van Goghs around the world, the Hartford Courant reports. The artwork was taken out of museum displays and shelved. Years later, with advances in technology and knowledge of Van Gogh, the museum decided to revisit the question.
  • Milton
    Kodak says a new beer hitting the market can be used to develop its Super 8 movie film. Milton-based Dogfish Head Craft Brewery created its SuperEIGHT beer after a conversation with people at Kodak, the technology company most famous for its photographic roots. Dogfish learned from Kodak that heightened levels of acidity and vitamin C in certain beers could make them a processing agent for film. That inspired the brewery to design such a beer. Kodak helped by testing it. Dogfish founder Sam Calagione says he’ll document his summer travels on Super 8 film that will be developed in SuperEIGHT beer and turned into a short film. The beer, made with pear, mango, berries, kiwi, quinoa and salt, is set for national distribution next month.
  • Washington

    Reagan National Airport is celebrating the quasi-holiday of Star Wars Day with a dance party dedicated to all things outer space on “May the Fourth,” WUSA-TV reports. The out-of-this world party will take place Saturday, May 4, in the glass-enclosed lobby of Terminal A at the airport, according to the event’s website. Outer space-themed attire is encouraged for the event that blasts off at 8 p.m., after a twilight pre-show starting at 7 p.m. Tickets are $45 and can only be purchased online.

  • Palm Beach Gardens
    This suburb is being plagued by thousands of poisonous toads. Experts say the amphibians are bufo toads, also known as cane toads. Residents in the infested neighborhood worry toxins secreted by the toads will harm their pets and children. News stations broadcast images of the small toads clogging pool filters, hopping en masse across driveways and sidewalks, and lurking in landscaped lawns. Resident Jennifer Quasha told WPBF her family first noticed the toads Friday. She said hundreds of them were in her swimming pool. Mark Holladay of pest removal service Toad Busters told WPTV that recent rains coupled with warm temperatures sent the amphibians into a breeding cycle. Holladay said even more toads are likely to spread throughout South Florida in coming weeks.
  • Savannah
    Energy Secretary Rick Perry announced Friday that the Trump administration has finalized $3.7 billion in new loan guarantees to support completion of the first new U.S. commercial nuclear reactors in a generation, calling the expansion of nuclear energy “the real” Green New Deal. The expansion of Plant Vogtle in eastern Georgia has fallen years behind schedule while its price tag has nearly doubled since the government approved two new reactors at the plant in 2012. But Perry said the administration is determined to see the project finished despite the setbacks. He spoke Friday from the construction site in Waynesboro as a crane lowered a giant dome atop the containment building for housing one of the new reactors. “The message that gets sent on this plant: America is back in the nuclear energy industry, folks,” Perry told a crowd of workers in hardhats.
  • Honolulu
    The Aloha State leads the nation in union membership, according to a federal labor report. A U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report names Hawaii as the state with the highest national union membership in 2018 with 139,000 workers, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports. The report says that 23.1 percent of wage and salary workers across the islands are union members and that the state’s union representation increased from 21.3 percent in 2017. During the same period, the remainder of the country saw 10.5 percent of wage and salary workers represented by unions, down 0.2 percent from 2017, according to the report. Hawaii AFL-CIO President Randy Perreira calls the state “a special place that has long been union-friendly given the role that labor has played in our state’s history.”
  • Boise
    Legislation to limit how much the state Department of Fish and Game has to pay ranchers and farmers for damage to crops caused by elk, deer and other big game is headed to Gov. Brad Little. The House on Friday voted 54-12 to approve the bill that would cap the amount paid for any single claim at 10 percent of the money in the Expendable Big Game Depredation Trust Account. Backers say the cap is needed because a claim recently came in for $1 million, enough to wipe out the fund and eliminate smaller payments to others. Those opposed to the bill say it lets Fish and Game off the hook when it comes to paying for damage to crops caused by big game. The legislation passed the Senate earlier this month 33-0.
  • Champaign
    Actresses Gina Gershon, Virginia Madsen and Jennifer Tilly are among the guests at this year’s Ebertfest film festival. The annual festival honoring Roger Ebert, the late Chicago Sun-Times film critic, runs April 10-13 at Champaign’s Virginia Theatre. Festival host Chaz Ebert says the women are “three of Roger’s favorite actresses.” They are to appear onstage for question-and-answer sessions. Gershon and Tilly will speak about their movie “Bound” (above), and Madsen will discuss “Sideways.” This years’ lineup also includes documentaries about Aretha Franklin, Maya Angelou and children’s TV host Fred Rogers. Other films to be shown are Cameron Crowe’s “Almost Famous,” Jonathan Demme’s “Rachel Getting Married” and “Cold War,” a Polish movie nominated for an Oscar this year.
  • Bloomington
    State wildlife officials say a second type of invasive Asian carp has reached the waters just downstream of the state’s largest reservoir. The recent find of bighead carp in Salt Creek just below Lake Monroe’s dam comes after silver carp have been found since at least 2015 in the dam’s tailwaters. Asian carp haven’t been found in the lake, which spans nearly 11,000 acres in Monroe and Brown counties. But the Department of Natural Resources is reminding anglers it’s illegal to use small fish taken from the dam’s tailwaters as bait in Lake Monroe itself. That prohibition aims to keep juvenile Asian carp from reaching the lake and its upstream tributaries. DNR fisheries biologist Dave Kittaka tells The Herald-Times that “prevention is the best way to stop” Asian carp from spreading.
  • Ames
    Roadways can turn hazardous and deadly during winter’s wrath, and a project underway in the state is looking at one possible solution – heating the pavement. The Ames Tribune reports the Iowa Department of Transportation and Iowa State University are working together on heated pavement technology. ISU engineering professor Halil Ceylan, the director of the Institute for Transportation’s program for sustainable pavement engineering, is principal investigator of the heated-pavement project, which began as a class project. Lab tests and studies began in 2013. The first testing was at the Des Moines Airport. That caught the attention of the Iowa Department of Transportation, which along with the Highway Research Board now provides funding for the study.
  • Topeka
    Lawmakers are considering legislation aimed at addressing a shortage of social workers in the state. KCUR reports that low pay, challenging work and years of declining state funding have made it hard to hire and keep qualified social workers. Advocates say the state’s unusually high standards are making the problem worse. Lawmakers are considering a bill that would bring Kansas closer to certification requirements in other states. The state Senate unanimously approved the bill last month. It now awaits a vote from the House of Representatives. Advocates say it will motivate more social workers to seek jobs or clinical certification in Kansas while also making it easier for state agencies, nonprofit groups and others to recruit workers. The shortage particularly hits rural western Kansas.
  • Louisville
    American whiskey producers are suffering a worsening hangover from the Trump administration’s trade disputes. Overall exports of bourbon, Tennessee whiskey and rye whiskey fell 11 percent in the second half of 2018 compared to the prior-year period, as the impact of tariffs started to be felt, the Distilled Spirits Council says in a report. The drop-off was even larger in the European Union, the industry’s biggest export market. Last month, the council said total American whiskey exports declined by 8.2 percent between July and November, but that report did not include December numbers. American whiskey makers have been caught in the middle since mid-2018, when the EU targeted American whiskey and other U.S. products in response to President Donald Trump’s decision to slap tariffs on European steel and aluminum.
  • New Orleans
    New Orleans Saints and Pelicans owner Gayle Benson will deliver the commencement address to about 700 graduates of Loyola University in May. The university said in a news release that Benson (above left), a devout Catholic known for her philanthropy, will receive an honorary doctor of humane letters degree. Commencement exercises are set for 10 a.m. May 11 in the Superdome. Also receiving honorary degrees at the ceremony will be musician Deacon John Moore, Rabbi Alexis Berk and Hiroshi Motomura, an advocate and scholar in immigration law. At 6 p.m. that evening in the Superdome, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards will deliver the commencement address for Loyola’s College of Law. Edwards, an attorney, also will receive an honorary degree.
  • Portland
    Maine fishermen are taking to rivers and streams in the state to fish for baby eels in a high-stakes season they hope isn’t interrupted by poaching concerns, as it was a year ago. Fishermen use nets to harvest baby eels, called elvers, to feed demand from Asian aquaculture companies, who use them as seed stock. They are one of the most valuable fisheries in the country on a per-pound basis and were worth a record of more than $2,300 per pound last year. The elver season began Friday. Last year’s season was shut down two weeks early by state regulators after investigators found illegal sales had caused Maine to blow past its quota for the eels. New controls on the fishery are expected to clamp down on clandestine sales.
  • Annapolis
    A panel of state lawmakers has passed a scaled-back version of a measure aimed at making prescription drugs more affordable. The House Health and Government Operations Committee voted 20-3 Friday to create a Prescription Drug Affordability Board. Supporters say it would begin to address high costs of prescription drugs by setting limits on how much state and local government pay for expensive medications. It’s a scaled-back version of the initial proposal because it only affects prices paid for drugs by state and local government. The bill now goes to the House. A spokesman for Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America says the bill creates a new board with arbitrary authority to set prices, which can lead to delays and other challenges for patients who need critical medicines like cancer treatments.
  • Brookline
    A recreational pot shop that has opened in town is the first in the immediate Boston area and the first within close proximity to MBTA stations. The store, located in a former bank building, has been selling to medical marijuana patients but was recently licensed to sell to adult recreational users. It opened Saturday. Parking at the site is limited, so customers were encouraged to take public transportation. The store is a short distance from stops on the MBTA’s Green Line. The Boston Globe reports at least 100 people gathered outside for the morning opening, and there were no major traffic issues. It’s the 13th recreational pot shop to open in Massachusetts.
  • Lansing
    The state attorney general’s office has settled a lawsuit by same-sex couples who say their rights have been violated by faith-based adoption agencies that don’t want to work with gays and lesbians. Under the settlement announced Friday, the state says it will enforce non-discrimination provisions in its foster care and adoption agency contracts. Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel (above) initiated settlement talks upon taking office. She says discrimination in foster care and adoption services is “illegal, no matter the rationale.” Groups such as Catholic Charities and Bethany Christian Services are paid by the state to place children from troubled families with new families. The suit filed by two lesbian couples doesn’t directly challenge a 2015 Republican-backed law that says child-placement agencies aren’t required to provide services that conflict with their beliefs.
  • Minneapolis
    A study says homelessness in the state increased by 10 percent between 2015 and 2018, despite employment growing during the same period. Minnesota Public Radio reports that the St. Paul-based Wilder Foundation released its findings this month from a count of people experiencing homelessness in 2018. Researchers counted 10,233 homeless people in Minnesota on Oct. 25, a jump of nearly 1,000 people since the last study in 2015. Minnesota’s unemployment was at a historic low of 4 percent or less during the same period. Researchers conducted the count at shelters and transitional housing programs. They also included people camped outside and those seeking services at hot-meal programs and other drop-in locations. Researchers say the count likely missed many, particularly young people and those living in rural areas.
  • Pearl
    Getting a new driver’s license in the Magnolia State can be a multiday ordeal with long lines at short-staffed license stations. Some people are driving long distances to seek shorter lines in smaller towns. The Mississippi Department of Public Safety is asking for more money to fill vacant jobs for driver’s license examiners. But it is unclear whether legislators will fulfill that request as they put the final touches on the state budget for the coming year. Maj. Ken Brown, the department’s director of driver services, says short staffing is only part of the problem. He says the licensing process has become more time-consuming because of a federal requirement for increased security standards in issuing driver’s licenses and identification cards.
  • Kansas City
    Faced with resident concerns about violent crime, the city council is adding more police officers. The council voted unanimously last week to approve a $1.7 billion budget recommended by city staff in February. The Kansas City Star reports that the budget allocates another $300,000 to hire 12 additional officers for the fiscal year that starts May 1. It’s the second straight year the city is adding more police. Last year’s budget added 24 officers and 15 call-takers. A SurveyUSA poll commissioned by the Star and published Sunday shows crime is the biggest issue in the minds of voters in the upcoming mayoral election. The budget also includes $7.3 million to police for wage and benefit increases, pension and health insurance increases, and other priorities.
  • Helena
    The Legislature unanimously passed a bill Friday to clarify that fossils are part of a property’s surface rights, not its mineral rights, unless a contract separating those rights says otherwise. The state Senate passed the bill 50-0 after it passed the House 100-0 in February. It now goes to Gov. Steve Bullock for his signature. The bill, sponsored by Democratic Rep. Brad Hamlett, was prompted by a legal challenge over the ownership of valuable dinosaur fossils unearthed on an eastern Montana ranch in 2006. Supporters of the bill said federal agencies and state lands policies differentiate between minerals and fossils, and state law should follow suit. The legislation will not affect the court case over the ownership of the fossils of two dinosaurs that appeared to have been locked in battle when they died.
  • Lincoln
    A new report says the city might not need to build a new downtown convention center, despite concerns that it’s losing out on events because of a lack of facilities. The Lincoln Journal Star reports that Denver-based development consultant Progressive Urban Management Associates recently presented officials with a new downtown master plan. The report says the city could maximize existing venues to meet event needs instead of investing in a new facility. The report says further research is needed to determine if the city could support a larger convention center. Derek Feyerherm, director of sales and operations for the Lincoln Convention and Visitors Bureau, says events are going to other cities that have more available space.
  • Las Vegas
    Authorities say a three-year road overhaul is coming to the Las Vegas Strip. Clark County public works chief Denis Cederburg tells the Las Vegas Review-Journal the project will begin in June. It’ll replace water mains and repave the entire core of Las Vegas Boulevard, from Sahara Avenue to the Interstate 215 Beltway. Work is expected to last until July 2022. Plans include water main replacements, adding a fourth vehicle lane where space allows, upgrading traffic controls and installing new lighting. Cederburg says the cost of the 5.7-mile project has yet to be determined. Most work will occur from 2 a.m. to 10 a.m. Monday through Thursday, and lane restrictions will vary. Cederburg says officials hope to keep at least two lanes open in each direction during non-work hours.
  • Concord
    The Granite State’s first new law of 2019 looks to both the future and the state’s past. Republican Gov. Chris Sununu signed a bill into law Friday declaring June 2 to June 8 as New Hampshire State House Bicentennial Week. A commission has been planning numerous events, including music, fireworks, a panel discussion for former governors and a Legislative Old Home Day to invite back all living former lawmakers on June 6. The Statehouse opened June 2, 1819. The building is the oldest state capitol in which both houses of the Legislature meet in their original chambers.
  • North Bergen

    While it may be true that “in space, no one can hear you scream,” the same cannot be said for those who attended North Bergen High School’s stage production of the sci-fi horror classic “Alien” last week. Screams echoed through the school auditorium along with cheering and applause at the unusual, ambitious adaptation of the 1979 film that has caught the attention of tens of thousands of people across the globe after videos of the production went viral on social media. Students, teachers and staff have drawn praise from theater and science fiction fans and industry professionals. What caught most people’s attention about “Alien: The Play” is the professional-looking set design that many say perfectly captures the eerie, dystopian look of the film. Much of it was made with recycled materials on a low budget.

  • Albuquerque
    Final grant season for an endangered federal program that’s helped preserve the historic Route 66 Highway for two decades is ending next month. The Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program is accepting grant applications until April 12, and it’s not clear if Congress will continue the project. At risk are millions of dollars in grants aimed at reviving old tourist spots in struggling towns. The program has helped finance projects like the El Vado Motel neon sign restoration in Albuquerque. It’s administered by the National Park Service. Decommissioned as a U.S. highway in 1985, Route 66 went through eight states, connecting tourists with friendly diners and motor lodges in small towns.
  • New York
    A vintage plane that went from flying passengers in the 1950s to running drugs in the 1970s visited Times Square on Saturday before its next transformation into a cocktail lounge at the former TWA terminal at Kennedy Airport. The fuselage of the 1958 Lockheed Constellation spent the weekend in Times Square as part of an upcoming documentary about the redevelopment of Eero Saarinen’s landmark TWA Flight Center into a hotel. The plane was trucked Friday night from Kennedy Airport to Times Square, where the same model plane was featured in an eight-story billboard in the late 1950s. The Constellation, known as Connie, flew for TWA for three years before it was forced into retirement by the Boeing 707. It was later used as an Alaskan bush plane and then as a marijuana dropper by South American drug traffickers.
  • Pembroke
    A $10 million low-income housing project planned for the lands of the Lumbee Tribe may break ground this year. The Robesonian reports the Lumbee Tribal Council was updated Thursday on the project, which has been in development for years. Tribal Housing Director Bradley Locklear says the project will create 50 affordable homes at about 1,200 square feet each. He says no household will pay more than 20 percent of its adjusted income. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has awarded about $9.5 million toward the project, which also has about $585,000 in funding from the Golden LEAF Foundation. The tribe has about 300 people waiting for affordable housing. Locklear says tribe members living in “dilapidated housing” will also be moved into affordable housing.
  • Grand Forks
    Hollywood actor Josh Duhamel is soon to be a doctor in his native state. The “Transformers” star will receive an honorary doctorate degree during the University of North Dakota’s spring commencement ceremony in May. The degree recognizes his success in the film industry and his promotional work on behalf of the state tourism division. Duhamel is a Minot native who earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Minot State University in 2005. Minot State doesn’t grant doctoral degrees, so the university couldn’t offer a similar honor to Duhamel. UND’s graduation ceremony is Saturday, May 11, at the Alerus Center in Grand Forks.
  • Cleveland
    Opponents of the Cleveland Indians’ Chief Wahoo logo are planning to demonstrate before the club’s home opener even though the team has dropped the mascot from its caps and jerseys. Organizers of the protest say they still want the team to change its name. That’s why they’ll be outside Progressive Field again when Cleveland opens its home season against the Chicago White Sox on April 1. The cartoonish, red-faced logo has been part of the team’s history for more than 60 years. The team decided in early 2018 to bench the polarizing Chief Wahoo this season after lengthy talks with the leaders of Major League Baseball. But one of the protest organizers tells cleveland.com that fans won’t stop dressing up like Native Americans until the name is changed.
  • Oklahoma City
    City officials say work to replace the lighting system along the Bricktown Canal will be underway by next year. The city now has an architects’ report recommending safety features not in place when 23-year-old Wesley Seeley of Tuttle died and 31-year-old Brian Gann of Van Buren, Arkansas, was critically injured after both were electrocuted in the canal last year. Seeley was electrocuted after he fell into the canal Sept. 30 and tried to pull himself up by wires from a broken lamp post. Gann was injured trying to rescue Seeley. The recommendations include adding circuit breakers and replacing flush-mounted light fixtures with lights mounted on poles or, where possible, on structures. Cost estimates for the project range from $126,000 to $259,000.
  • Salem

    Environmental groups are doubling down on demands for a megadairy moratorium in the state as a new owner takes over the troubled Lost Valley Farm. Easterday Farms, based in Pasco, Washington, just bought the shuttered Boardman dairy, which was permitted to have 30,000 cows. In less than two years in operation, Lost Valley racked up nearly $200,000 in fines for more than 200 environmental violations. Easterday has hired an Oregon lobbyist and registered an Oregon corporation called Easterday Farms Dairy LLC. Owner Jody Easterday did not return a phone call for comment late last week. Advocacy groups want to make sure that Easterday doesn’t reopen Lost Valley and that other operators don’t move into the state until stricter rules for megadairies are in place.

  • Philadelphia
    Naked bicyclists say they were so cold riding around the city last September that this year they’ll do it in August. Organizers of the annual Philly Naked Bike Ride say they’ve “ridden in chilly weather” the past two Septembers, so this time they’ll saddle up Aug. 24 and “hope it’s a scorcher!” The nude ride was Sept. 8 last year and Sept. 9 the year before that, with temperatures reaching only about 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Participants in the ride can go as bare as they dare. Some of the cyclists wore their birthday suits accentuated with body paint or glitter, while others wore underwear or masks. They pedaled past sights including Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell.
  • Providence
    The state has been awarded $6.5 million in federal funding to fight opioid addiction. The state’s congressional delegation announced the funding from a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration grant program, saying the program was increased substantially due to changes to the funding formula that were included in an omnibus spending bill the federal lawmakers supported. The grants aim to help states increase access to medication-assisted treatment and reduce opioid overdose deaths through prevention, treatment and recovery activities. Democratic U.S. Sen. Jack Reed says the funding is vital to help people get treatment, but he’s concerned about the administration’s proposed cuts to opioid-specific grant programs for law enforcement and community groups.
  • Charleston
    The Poor People’s Campaign has launched a national bus tour of poverty-stricken areas to bring attention to what it calls the “real crises” or “interlocking injustices” afflicting the country, including systematic racism, poverty, voter suppression and ecological devastation. “The war on poverty is not over. It was assassinated. It was defunded. It was rolled back, and it is time for us, now, to build it again,” the Rev. William Barber II said in a phone interview. The National Emergency Truth and Poverty Tour kicked off Saturday in Charleston, and more than 30 states will participate in the bus tours. Last year, The Poor People’s Campaign organized rallies nationwide where protesters called for 40 days of non-violent action to refocus the national conversation around what they called fundamental issues.
  • Rapid City
    A local social service organization is seeking to educate elementary and middle school students on health hazards related to the new vaping trend amid a statewide decline in teen usage of traditional tobacco products. The Rapid City Journal reports Lifeways counselor Michele Brink-Gluhosky said that while vaping can be safer for heavy smokers who are already experiencing lung damage, it is not safe for kids. A 2017 state Department of Health report shows 8 percent of the South Dakota middle school students surveyed say they’ve used e-cigarettes or vaporizers at least once, up 5 percent from 2015. Lifeways now discusses the products in its intervention- and prevention-oriented programming. The group obtained $2,000 in state grants this year to coordinate a programming partnership with Rapid City schools.
  • Nashville

    The city is auctioning off Greer Stadium’s giant guitar scoreboard. Bidding for the massive prop on eBid Nashville begins at 9 a.m. Monday. In November, Mayor David Briley announced plans to demolish the abandoned Greer Stadium and reincorporate the property into the campus of the Civil War-era Fort Negley historic site. The stadium opened in 1978 as the home of the Nashville Sounds minor league baseball team, but the team moved to the new First Tennessee Park in Germantown in 2015. The scoreboard, installed in 1993, was posted on eBid’s website this week, and the opening bid is $54,815. According to eBid, the scoreboard is offered in “as is” condition, and the sale is final. The auction runs through April 4.

  • Austin
    A conservative Christian group has dropped its lawsuit attempting to overturn the capital city’s anti-discrimination ordinance that extends employment protection to sexual orientation and gender identity. The Austin American-Statesman reports the U.S. Pastor Council has dismissed its federal lawsuit against the city. The Houston-based council sued in October. The group alleges that Austin’s ordinance is unconstitutional and invalid because it doesn’t include a religious exemption for 25 member churches in the city that refuse to hire LGBT people. Austin’s ordinance allows faith-based schools and organizations to limit hiring to members of a particular religion. But the pastors’ lawsuit argued the exemptions didn’t go far enough. The council’s leader, Dave Welch, says the decision to drop the lawsuit was based on legal advice, but its position remains unchanged.
  • Salt Lake City
    The city’s zoo is offering visitors a new behind-the-scenes tour of an area outsiders rarely experience. The Salt Lake Tribune reports the walk through Hogle Zoo’s animal hospital reveals what veterinarians see and what they do in real-life scenarios like a polar bear swallowing a glove or a sea lion eating a sock. The program launched this month shows people different operating rooms, including one with a table that can hold an animal up to 2,000 pounds. There’s also a peek into the quarantine area where new animals stay for a month before being introduced into exhibits. The necropsy room, meanwhile, holds reptile and mammal preserves used for studies. The monthly tours can have up to eight people and cost $40 a person.
  • Montpelier
    A committee of the state Senate has approved a bill that could lead to the state amending its constitution to preserve a woman’s right to abortion. On Friday, the Senate Health and Welfare Committee voted 5-0 to approve the measure known as the Right to Personal Reproductive Liberty. It will now be considered by the full Senate. If approved, it would go to the House. To amend the constitution, the measure must be approved by two consecutively elected Legislatures and then approved by a statewide vote. The proposed amendment is in addition to a separate bill passed by the House last month to guarantee a woman’s access to an abortion that is now being considered by the Senate. Opponents say the measures could expand access to abortion in the state.
  • Richmond
    Would-be makers of switchblades in the state are out of luck. Gov. Ralph Northam announced last week that he has vetoed legislation that would allow people to make and sell switchblades to out-of-state buyers. Current law prohibits Virginians from owning switchblades, throwing stars and brass knuckles. Republican-led attempts to overturn the law in past years have failed. This year, the GOP-led General Assembly passed legislation exempting switchblade manufactures whose knives are “shipped to any person outside the commonwealth.” Supporters said the bill would help Virginia-based knife manufacturers grow their businesses. Northam, a Democrat, said that if Virginia law says switchblade knives are too dangerous to be sold in state, they shouldn’t be sold out of state.
  • Oso
    Five years after the deadliest landslide in U.S. history decimated a community northeast of Seattle, residents Gail and Ron Thompson (above) unveiled a bronze sculpture of mailboxes that were at the entrance to the Oso neighborhood. The Daily Herald reports families of the victims, along with survivors and first responders, gather each year to remember the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide March 22, 2014. Dayn Brunner, who lost his sister, Summer Raffo, in the slide, says Friday’s gathering also was a milestone because the sculpture marked the start to a permanent memorial. The mailboxes are just one element in a proposed park. Part of Highway 530 also has a new name. Signs for the Oso Slide Memorial Highway were unveiled between Arlington and Darrington. For Gail Thompson, it symbolizes how the two towns came together for Oso and the valley between them.
  • South Charleston
    Officials say the West Virginia State Police Forensic Lab has reduced pending cases by more than half. News outlets report a statement from police says the backlog at the end of 2016 was nearly 5,000 cases, but that has been reduced to 2,300 cases. The state’s only full-service crime lab to analyze evidence is located at West Virginia State Police headquarters in South Charleston. The statement says employee turnover and equipment upgrades have posed challenges in recent years, but grants and improved funding have resulted in more competitive salaries and equipment purchases. Police say the reduction in pending caseloads means fewer delays in criminal cases, which will reduce jail costs.
  • Ashland
    Two sheriff’s deputies rescued a pair of bear cubs trapped in a flooded culvert that had served as their den. The Ashland Daily Press reports that Ashland County deputies Zach Pierce and Dylan Wegner discovered the baby bruins Friday near the Bad River Indian Reservation in northern Wisconsin. Pierce says the cubs were soaked and cold, so they brought them into their squad car to warm up. Pierce said they realized they risked angering the cubs’ mother who was nearby. He said she was slow and groggy from waking up, and “the little cubs were screaming and crying like crazy.” A conservation warden then arrived on scene, and the cubs were placed in an open area for their mother to gather up.
  • Casper
    The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality has issued more ozone air pollution warnings than usual this year in the southwest part of the state. The warnings are issued when the right mix of factors combine to create ground-level ozone over the Jonah and Pinedale gas field. When the agency issues a warning for a particular day, oil and gas operators must take steps to reduce emissions from their operations. The Casper Star-Tribune reports that for reasons still unclear to state regulators, in one corner of the Upper Green, those steps haven’t been enough this winter. DEQ spokesman Keith Guille says the agency is concerned about the situation and looking into it. The agency has asked operators to find more ways to voluntarily cut emissions.