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Selma: The federal government is giving the city a $1million emergency grant to combat violent crimes and gangs. The grant is expected to last 18 months. It’s supposed to cover police equipment and overtime costs associated with increased patrolling. U.S. Attorney Richard Moore announced the grant at a press conference Tuesday alongside community members affected by gang violence. He says the initiative is aimed at removing what he calls “trigger-pullers” from the streets. The grant will also fund mental health support, addiction treatment and neighborhood restoration. Selma has one of the highest rates of violent crimes per capita in the nation. Federal authorities last year indicted 18 members of a Selma-based gang on weapons and drug charges.
Napakiak: This community says spring storm damage to its riverbank is due to accelerated erosion caused by climate change. Alaska’s Energy Desk reports Napakiak has lost its boat landing and chunks of land along the Kuskokwim River. The community 15 miles southwest of Bethel says it has been dealing with erosion for years, but the pace has accelerated in the past few years. The erosion threatens fuel tanks about 140 feet from the river and a school less than 200 feet away from the water. A city council member estimates the most recent storm washed about 10 feet from the riverbank. He says roots hold the mud in place, but once the trees go, the erosion will accelerate further.
Norfolk: The Jacob Wolf House Historic Site will bring the pioneers to the town’s Pioneer Days this weekend. Visitors to the historic site this Friday and Saturday can watch more than 20 members of the Early Arkansaw Reenactors Association perform era-appropriate activities like rope making, using medicinal herbs, starting a fire with a piece of flint, and teaching about flintlock and percussion cap rifles. Norfork’s annual Pioneer Days festival offers attendees live music, craft vendors, a parade, a 5K run and a rubber duck race down the White River. “With the re-enactors, it’s like you’re stepping back in time to the 1820s or 1830s,” says Marlon Mowdy, historic site manager for the Wolf House. The Aux Arc, a 40-foot wooden keelboat, will also be dry docked on display at the historic site. It’s a working replica of the boats that commonly floated Arkansas’ rivers in the days before steamboat travel.
Imperial: The Imperial Irrigation District board of directors voted Tuesday to allow access across its lands for critically needed state wetlands projects at the Salton Sea, designed to tamp down dangerous dust storms and give threatened wildlife a boost. In exchange, California will shoulder the maintenance and operations of the projects, and the state’s taxpayers will cover the costs of any lawsuits or regulatory penalties if the work goes awry. Tuesday’s vote clears a key hurdle to constructing 3,700 acres around the heavily polluted New River at the south end of the lake, implementing what’s known as the Species Conservation Habitat plan. It’s one of the larger pieces of a stalled ten year pilot Salton Sea Management Plan to address increasing public health concerns and massive wildlife losses at California’s largest inland water body.
Denver: Beer sales in the state set a record at the beginning of this year, increasing by 20% over the same period last year. Colorado Public Radio reports that the state Department of Revenue taxed 9.8 million gallons of beer sales in January 2019, 1.6 million more than January 2018. For decades, Colorado limited full-strength beer sales to independently run liquor stores, while grocery and convenience stores could only sell beer with a maximum alcohol content of 3.2%. Sales of 3.2% beer decreased with the growth of the craft beer market that has come to dominate the state and the cap has subsequently been lifted to allow grocery and convenience stores to sell stronger craft brands. The Colorado Brewers Guild says it is too soon to predict the overall market effect.
Hartford: Lawmakers are moving closer toward passing legislation that could lead to more offshore wind farms. A bill authorizing state officials to solicit 2,000 megawatts of electricity – 30% of Connecticut’s entire energy load – from offshore wind sources cleared the House of Representatives on Tuesday. The bill now awaits action in the Senate. Tuesday’s action follows Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont’s recent announcement of a $93 million public-private investment at State Pier in New London. That plan calls for upgrading the pier’s infrastructure so it can accommodate wind turbine generator assembly and staging. Proponents say the bill will help Connecticut meet its future energy needs and lead to good-paying jobs. But critics say they worry about the large size of the turbines and whether the fishing industry might be harmed.
Pickering Beach: A fence has been reinstalled along a beach to keep horseshoe crabs out of a deadly marsh. Delaware State News reports the 350-foot fence was put up for the second time Wednesday, having successfully saved what’s estimated to be thousands of crabs during its pilot run last year. The crabs climb across the beach for mating season, but a sandy space seems to be causing navigation issues. The crabs end up lost and hunker down in the marsh’s wet sand to survive, but the sand quickly dries, and the creatures are baked to death. Little Creek Mayor Glenn Gauvry is the president of the Ecological Research & Development Group, which works to protect the world’s four types of horseshoe crab. He says the fence will be monitored by volunteers.
Washington: A 220-year-old Catholic girls’ school in the nation’s capital will now allow news about same-sex unions in its alumnae magazine. News outlets report the president emerita of Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School, Sister Mary Berchmans, announced the change this month. She says she was asked to reflect on what it means to “Live Jesus” when it comes to LGBTQ alumnae, and the policy change follows “the Gospel commandment of love.” She says the church is clear about its stance on same-sex marriage, but it’s equally clear in teaching that all people are children of God. An Archdiocese of Washington statement expresses disappointment that the school didn’t consult the diocese on a matter involving Catholic identity. It says the church’s stance on marriage doesn’t conflict with the Gospel message of love.
Tallahassee: Floridians will save on back-to-school and hurricane supplies under sales tax holidays signed into law by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday at the annual governor’s hurricane conference. The sales tax holiday for hurricane supplies will run from May 31 to June 6 on items such as batteries, generators, weather radios and fuel cans. The school supplies sales tax holiday will be Aug. 2-6 for items including clothes, notebooks, backpacks and shoes. Both tax holidays have cost limits on certain items. The new law also provides several tax breaks to help with Hurricane Michael recovery, such as building materials, replacement fencing and hurricane debris removal. It also includes a one-year property tax break for farmers who can no longer use their land.
Atlanta: Gov. Brian Kemp has delayed an annual trip to Los Angeles to promote the state’s film industry as movie executives, producers and actors criticize a new abortion ban. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports the delay announced Tuesday comes about a week after Kemp signed a bill into law that bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. Critics have called the ban unconstitutional, and abortion rights activists threatened to protest the May 22 film event. Industry workers have threatened to boycott Georgia, while some have said they would donate to groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union instead. Kemp spokesman Cody Hall says the event is now set for this fall. He says Kemp will soon tour Georgia film production firms and meet with industry workers to show his support.
Honolulu: The U.S. Postal Service will issue a stamp honoring the famous World War II battleship the USS Missouri that was the site of Japan’s unconditional surrender Sept. 2, 1945, in Tokyo Bay. The Postal Service says that the commemorative Forever stamp will be issued June 11 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of her commissioning. A first-day-of-issue ceremony will be held that day at the Pearl Harbor memorial, where a section of the ship is being repaired as part of a $3 million restoration project to address rust and other deterioration. The stamp shows the battleship, which was affectionately nicknamed “Mighty Mo,” cutting through the water with clouds looming in the background. Designed by art director Greg Breeding, the stamp features a digital illustration created by Dan Cosgrove.
Boise: Former political rivals Keith Allred and former Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter will join forces Friday to discuss a new program aimed at finding positive common ground across partisan lines. Allred is the executive director of the National Institute for Civil Discourse and the creator of the CommonSense American program, which aims to bring together people from across political parties to find common ground on various issues and then advocate for those positions to the government. In 2010, Allred unsuccessfully ran as a Democrat for governor against then-incumbent Otter, a Republican. Allred told the Idaho Press he asked Otter to help promote the CommonSense American program because the two are “shoulder to shoulder” when it comes to what makes the United States republic work. Allred, Otter and Olympic gold medalist Kristin Armstrong will discuss the new program at a free event at Boise State University this Friday.
Riverside: The warning about “zombie raccoons” may sound like something out of a bad television show, but a suburban Chicago police department says they present serious dangers to family pets. The critters are called zombies because those carrying the distemper virus often stagger on their hind legs and bare their teeth. Riverside’s police department says if they bite dogs, they can transmit the serious disease that can cause respiratory and gastrointestinal problems and affect the nervous system. The department issued its warning after fielding calls about raccoons acting oddly and says anyone who sees such an animal should call police. Chief Tom Weitzel tells the Chicago Tribune that officers will put the animals down, and public works crews will dispose of their carcasses.
Clarksville: A historic site in the state’s south is now part of a new 1,200-mile expansion of the Lewis and Clark Historic Trail. The News and Tribune reports national, state and local leaders gathered Monday at the Falls of the Ohio Interpretive Center in Clarksville to officially recognize the trail’s expansion. Sen. Todd Young, who sponsored legislation about the designation, called it “a magnificent day.” The expanded recognition includes areas in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, plus new portions of trail in Illinois and Missouri. The expedition across the western U.S. by explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark officially started in 1804, but Lewis and Clark met up a year earlier in Clarksville as they prepared for the journey. One new sign notes that meeting.
Iowa City: Searching for arrowheads this past weekend, a teenager happened across something much bigger – a prehistoric jaw bone. The 30-inch-long bone belonged to a juvenile mastodon, an elephant-like animal, believed to have roamed Iowa 34,000 years ago. Before it died, the mastodon might have stood about 7 feet tall. Now the animal’s remains are neatly tucked away in cabinets in Trowbridge Hall on the University of Iowa campus. The farmers who donated the jaw and related bones to the UI Paleontology Repository did so on the understanding that they would not be named. The couple said they didn’t want to encourage people to trespass on their property looking for prehistoric remains. And there indeed may be more mastodon remains on the land. Decades earlier, the farming couple came across other mastodon remains while fishing on their property.
Lawrence: Recent flooding is delaying plans for a newly legal crop of hemp in the state. Rick Gash is a farmer in rural Butler County who operates the Hemp Development Group and is one of many farmers who hoped to plant hemp seeds this year after the Legislature legalized the crop in 2018 and allowed Kansas farmers to begin harvesting hemp this year. The crop can be farmed only through the state’s research program, which requires a state-issued license. Gash was preparing 80 acres to plant hemp last week, but his land was flooded after heavy rains. The Lawrence Journal-World reports some farmers will still get to plant their seeds and start hemp production. Gash says he’s working with farmers to amend their state licenses if the weather prevents them from planting.
Louisville: The death toll has risen to 57 in the state’s hepatitis A outbreak, which has fallen from its peak but still hasn’t been wrestled under control, according to the state’s latest weekly report. Kentucky’s deaths account for one-third of what the Centers for Disease Control says are at least 170 deaths nationally from hepatitis A outbreaks, which since 2016 have spread to 22 states, largely among the homeless and drug users. The contagious liver disease has sickened 4,621 Kentucky residents since it was declared in November 2017, the state report found. It continues to rank as the nation’s largest. Spread person-to-person, the virus has hospitalized 48% of its victims and hit 108 of Kentucky’s 120 counties, with 15 counties reporting new cases in the week ending May 4.
Baton Rouge: The state has ranked dead last for the third straight year in U.S. News & World Report’s “Best States” list, even looking up at its neighbor Mississippi in the rankings. The annual analysis that began in 2017 was released this week and bases its ranking on such measures as education and health care. Gov. John Bel Edwards says the analysis relies too much on old data and isn’t reflective of where the state stands now. “Unfortunately, this ranking doesn’t accurately reflect the progress Louisiana has made in recent years and how much better we are doing today, given the gains that we have made in many critical areas that directly impact people’s lives,” Edwards said in a statement. Louisiana’s individual rankings in the report: crime (50); opportunity (50); environment (50); economy (49); education (48); fiscal stability (43); health care (45); and infrastructure (48).
Cape Elizabeth: The waterfront park that’s home to the state’s oldest and most-photographed lighthouse will remain free to visitors – but not for their cars. The Cape Elizabeth Town Council has voted unanimously to charge for parking at Fort Williams Park, home to the Portland Head Light. About 1 million people visit the 90-acre park each year to see the lighthouse commissioned by George Washington. It was completed in 1791. Town officials say paid parking could generate $300,000 in revenue. Under the proposal, parking fees of $2 per hour for a two-hour minimum or $10 for a full day will begin in July under a pay-and-display system. The fees will be collected between May 1 and Nov. 1. Cape Elizabeth residents will park for free.
Baltimore: A chimpanzee named Alex is the latest new attraction at the city’s zoo. In a Tuesday statement, the Maryland Zoo announced that Alex has recently completed a monthlong quarantine, a standard procedure when introducing a new animal. He was able to see and hear the other chimps in the zoo’s “Chimpanzee Forest” exhibit during that time. The 21-year-old primate is gradually being introduced to the zoo’s troop of 11 chimpanzees, eight females and three other males. The animals range in age from 12 to 47. Alex came from a much smaller troop at Indiana’s Potawatomi Zoo. Pam Carter, the exhibit’s manager, says Alex’s introduction “will be strategic and unhurried,” and zookeepers’ hope is that he will grow “confident and comfortable around everyone.” Chimpanzees are classified as endangered.
Wenham: Gordon College is cutting eight majors and eliminating 36 jobs. The Salem News reports that the small Christian liberal arts college in Wenham is making what it calls “fundamental shifts” to prepare for its future and avoid the financial woes affecting other small colleges. Eliminated majors include social work, physics, middle school and secondary education, French and Spanish. Layoffs will include 11 faculty and six staff employees. Another 17 positions will not be filled. Two retiring faculty members will not be replaced. Current students can still graduate in their major. A college spokesman said while some majors will be cut, programs are not being eliminated, and students can still pursue those areas of study through other majors. The school’s enrollment has decreased about 6% since 2014.
East Lansing: High water in the Great Lakes may spell trouble for the piping plover, an endangered bird that builds its nests on shorelines. Water levels have surged in recent years as the lakes bounced back from record-setting lows. Vincent Cavalieri of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says that means narrower beaches and less room for the plover. The most recent count last year turned up 67 breeding pairs of the sand-colored birds. That’s an improvement from the low point of 12 pairs in 1990 but a slight drop from 76 pairs two years ago. Cavalieri says when plovers nest farther from the water and closer to trees and bushes, they’re more vulnerable to predators such as skunks and raccoons. Other beach-nesting species such as terns could be affected as well.
St. Paul: State Attorney General Keith Ellison says school districts cannot block students from graduation ceremonies over unpaid lunch debt. Ellison issued a written opinion Wednesday citing two state laws governing school lunches and lunch aid. He says participation in a graduation ceremony “cannot be restricted by your ability to afford your life.” Ellison says his opinion comes at the request of Education Commissioner Mary Cathryn Ricker. Her request came after Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid said some districts were blocking students with meal debt from participating in graduation ceremonies. That followed publicity over an $8,000 donation from Valerie Castile, mother of slain motorist Philando Castile, so that seniors at Robbinsdale Cooper High School in New Hope could graduate without debt. That school says it has never blocked graduation participation over lunch debt.
Tupelo: A sheriff’s office has stopped publishing inmate mug shots on its website. The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reports that the Lee County Sheriff’s Office had been posting such photos for more than a decade but stopped over the weekend. A message posted Monday on the department’s Facebook page said the change is due to what it calls “rogue” websites or social media pages that have been using the photos to threaten or harass people. The newspaper says Sheriff Jim Johnson did not respond to a reporter’s call about the change, but the Facebook message was posted within about 20 minutes of the call. The sheriff’s office did not identify the sites or pages. The newspaper said two Facebook pages had been posting mug shots. Neither was accessible Tuesday.
Jefferson City: Lawmakers have passed a bill that could give parents and guardians greater rights in end-of-life decisions involving children. The House gave final approval Monday to “Simon’s Law” – named for a St. Louis boy with a rare genetic disorder who died at 3 months old in 2010. His parents said they discovered later that hospital employees did not try to save their son’s life because a doctor had issued a do-not-resuscitate order without their knowledge. The legislation prohibits medical personnel from instituting do-not-resuscitate orders for those younger than 18 without the consent of at least one parent or legal guardian. Simon’s mother, Sheryl Crosier, emotionally thanked Missouri lawmakers Monday as she watched them vote on the bill.
Missoula: A new report says two spots in the state are among the best small cities in the country to start a small business. Go.Verizon.com studied 300 cities, focusing on small cities that weren’t towns. The population must fall between 50,000 and 75,000 people to be considered a “small city,” according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The report, called 2019 Best Small Cities to Start a Small Business, then ranked the business-friendly bona fides of cities based on population, education, travel time to work, income per capita, broadband access, loans per capita, taxes and non-farm business. Missoula was the ninth and Great Falls the 11th best place to start a small business, according to the report.
Omaha: A farmer is recovering after cutting off his own leg with a pocket knife to save himself from a piece of farm equipment that had ensnared him. KETV reports that 63-year-old Kurt Kaser, of Pender, was unloading corn last month when he got out of his truck and accidentally stepped on the grain hopper opening. An auger in the hopper caught Kaser’s leg, pulling it in and mangling it. Kaser said he couldn’t pull his leg out and didn’t have his cellphone. There was no one around to help. So he took his pocket knife out and sawed off his leg below the knee. After he was freed, he crawled 150 feet to the nearest phone and was flown to a hospital. Kaser says he never lost consciousness. On Friday, Kaser was released from a rehabilitation center. He will have to wait for the amputated leg to fully heal before getting a prosthetic leg.
Carson City: A bill aims to boost state education funding by diverting money from a marijuana sales tax. The legislation introduced Tuesday would reroute funds from a 10% sales tax on retail marijuana sales away from the state’s rainy day fund. Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson says the change will redirect about $120 million to fund education over the biennium. The education funding bump comes days after the Clark County Education Association teachers union announced members had authorized a strike during the next school year if demands for pay raises and resources are not met. Gov. Steve Sisolak outlined a 3% pay increase for public school employees and a 2% merit pay raise in his proposed budget.
Concord: The state Senate has voted to pass a bill designating the red-tailed hawk as the Granite State’s official raptor, four years after House lawmakers rejected the bird as too violent. Hampton Falls fourth-graders lobbied for the bill back then. One legislator had said it would make a good mascot for Planned Parenthood because it tears its prey apart, “limb from limb.” On Wednesday, Democratic Rep. Renny Cushing, a sponsor of the original bill, said it had been “hijacked by unrelated political debates in an embarrassing moment” for the Legislature. Now in eighth grade, the students lobbied for a new bill and watched Wednesday as the Senate voted 24-0 for it. The Senate made a minor change and sent the measure back to the House, which also had passed it.
Trenton: The state Senate’s president says voters will be asked to decide next year if recreational use of marijuana should be legalized. Steve Sweeney made the announcement Wednesday. The Democrat also says lawmakers will move forward with related measures that would expand the state’s medical marijuana program and expunge the criminal records of people with convictions for possessing pot. Legalizing recreational marijuana was a campaign promise of Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, but he and Sweeney have been unable to muster enough support from fellow Democrats to pass the measure. A measure to legalize recreational weed for those 21 and over while also allowing marijuana-related convictions to be wiped clean failed to get enough support in March.
Jemez Springs: A shortage of seasonal workers is forcing Valles Caldera National Preserve to delay the start of its summer hours. Preserve officials said Tuesday that a backlog in government background clearances has pushed back the arrival of the seasonal staff needed to operate the extended hours. Until the workers arrive, Valles Caldera will remain under the winter hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Officials also say access to the backcountry is limited since spring runoff washed out a culvert on the main road through the center of the northern New Mexico preserve, making it impassable by vehicle. Preserve Superintendent Jorge Silva-Banuelos says Valles Caldera has received emergency funding from the National Park Service to repair the road.
New York: Activists who believe the city’s massive gay pride parade has become too corporate are planning an alternative “Queer Liberation March” on the same day. Both events on June 30 will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall riots that helped spark the modern gay rights movement. The alternative march is slated to start at 9:30 a.m., while the main pride march will start at noon. Organizers of the alternative event said Tuesday that they are negotiating with the city Parks Department for a rally in Central Park after their march. Lawyer Norman Siegel says the alternative march will live up to “the spirit of what happened here 50 years ago.” Cathy Renna, spokeswoman for the main march, says she hopes the other event is a success.
Raleigh: Agreed-to state legislation from alcohol wholesalers and small breweries over who distributes their product as the beer-makers grow is finding little resistance within the General Assembly. The Senate Commerce and Insurance Committee recommended Wednesday following little debate the bipartisan legislation sought by the state’s largest microbreweries, which don’t like current limits on self-distributing their products. The measure already cleared the full House last month. Current law says once a brewery sells more than 25,000 barrels in a year, third-party distributors take over all sales, marketing and pricing. The compromise would double self-distribution to 50,000 barrels. Craft breweries in the state have grown this decade from 45 to over 200. Only a couple of these brewers produce enough now to potentially benefit in the near future.
Bismarck: A state judge has ruled that regulators properly refrained from becoming involved in a dispute over the location of an $800 million oil refinery being developed near Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The Public Service Commission last year declined to review whether the Davis Refinery could be built just 3 miles from the park, concluding its production capacity will be too small to warrant review under state law. Environmental groups don’t believe developer Meridian Energy is being forthright about the refinery’s capacity. But Judge Bruce Romanick sided with the PSC, ruling the agency properly followed the law. The national park is North Dakota’s top tourist attraction. Environmental groups worry the refinery will pollute it. Meridian says the facility will be the “cleanest refinery on the planet.”
Cincinnati: The Cincinnati Garlic Festival aims to show there’s no such thing as too much of the pungent bulbs, and it’s just a couple of weeks away. Listermann’s, Fifty West and Rhinegeist have brewed special garlic beers for the event. There will also be music and, of course, food – garlic gelato from Madisono’s, garlic pretzels from Wunderbar, garlic soup from La Soupe, garlic breads from Sixteen Bricks bakery, and garlic sausage and meats from Avril Bleh butchers. Arnold’s will be featuring garlic cocktails, garlic-themed appetizers, entrees and desserts from Chef Kayla Robison. The inspiration for the festival came from an event of the same name that Jim Tarbell hosted in the Grammar’s parking lot back in 1998. We Have Become Vikings, a local design firm, reinvented the mascot, logos and branding for the event, to be held Friday, May 31, and Saturday, June 1.
Oklahoma City: Gov. Kevin Stitt and Republican legislative leaders have reached a deal on an $8.3 billion budget for the upcoming fiscal year that includes an average $1,200 pay raise for public school teachers and tens of millions more dollars for public schools. The deal announced Wednesday by Stitt and GOP leaders from the House and Senate also socks away $200 million, about one-third of this year’s surplus revenue, into savings, a priority for the first-year governor. The plan also includes an average pay hike of about $1,300 annually for state workers. A rebounding economy and a boom in the state’s oil patch, along with a package of tax hikes approved by the Legislature last year, helped provide lawmakers with nearly $600 million in surplus revenue to spend this year.
Salem: State lawmakers will have about $737 million in additional available money to divvy up this session after a “historic” increase in income tax collections over previous expectations, according to the state’s economic and revenue forecast released Wednesday. “The tax filing season was really remarkable,” says Mark McMullen, state economist with the Oregon Office of Economic Analysis. Oregon’s first-quarter personal income tax collections were up $241.8 million compared to the last revenue forecast in March. Corporate income tax collections were up $61.4 million. Both are up 50% compared to last year. McMullen attributed the phenomenon to federal tax changes signed into law in December 2017, as states across the country saw similar, if less dramatic, increases in tax revenue.
Pittsburgh: A funicular that gives sightseers and commuters a panoramic view of the city has reopened. The Monongahela Incline was closed for more than three months because of flood damage. The reopening had a slight hiccup when power went out in the neighborhood just an hour after service restarted late last week. The Port Authority says power to the incline was restored later in the morning. The Monongahela Incline opened in 1870 and is one of two in the city. It was the first passenger funicular railway built in the United States. A water main break in February damaged computer equipment and exposed serious deterioration in a support wall that was part of the original construction. About 600,000 riders use the funicular annually.
Providence: The governor has signed legislation about public employee contracts and allowed a bill about firefighter overtime to become law without her signature, despite strong opposition from municipal leaders. Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo signed the House and Senate versions of a bill to automatically extend expired municipal worker and teacher contracts Tuesday. She says it’s a fair compromise that protects workers’ wages and benefits from unilateral cuts after a contract expires. She says unions still have incentive to negotiate for future wage increases. Raimondo transmitted legislation to mandate overtime for firefighters to the secretary of state, allowing it to become law without her signature. Most municipalities already pay firefighters overtime after 42 hours.
Columbia: With an effective unemployment rate of zero and too many jobs for the available workforce, South Carolinians are leading the nation when it comes to job-hating tweets, a new analysis found. The job site Cultivated Culture put together the analysis, looking just at the month of April 2019, and found a higher percentage of workers in the Palmetto State expressing disdain for their livelihood than any other state in the U.S., says Ryan Taylor, a spokesman for the company. The analysis used geotagged data aggregated through Trendsmap software. Cultivated Culture staff queried the phrases “I hate my job” or “hate my job” or #hatemyjob, Taylor says. The result: 0.2% of all tweets coming out of South Carolina were about hating one’s job. That’s a higher percentage than any other U.S. state, the analysis found.
Sioux Falls: Two state agencies have teamed up to ask people not to move firewood anywhere in the state due to the emerald ash borer infestation in the city. The Department of Agriculture launched a “Don’t Move Firewood pledge” this week in a push to keep the emerald ash borer from spreading to other parts of the state on firewood. The agency is incentivizing the pledge – anyone who takes it by June 30 will be entered to win a camping set of a tent, sleeping bags and outdoor cooking equipment. The emerald ash borer, a destructive exotic beetle found in 35 states, was found in an ash tree in northern Sioux Falls last year. Ash trees are an important part of the ecological system in South Dakota, making up about 40% of the wind breaks and a third of the trees in communities around the state, Agriculture Secretary Kim Vanneman says.
Nashville: Women in the state who are financially responsible for their families’ economic well-being face several obstacles to gaining economic security that often start with hurdles during pregnancy, according to a study by ThinkTennessee and A Better Balance. The “State of Our State: Women in the Workforce” report emphasized the need for paid leave, workplace pregnancy accommodations, access to affordable and quality child care, and other policies to retain mothers in the workforce. Nearly 55% of Tennessee women are in the workforce or seeking employment, compared to nearly 68% of men. By adding more women to the workforce, the state could add $34 billion to its gross domestic product by 2025, the report estimates.
Fort Worth: Stained-glass windows honoring some religious leaders who helped shift the Southern Baptist Convention to a more conservative stance have been removed from a Texas chapel. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported Wednesday that the windows featured dismissed Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary President Paige Patterson, who was fired last May amid criticism of his responses to rape allegations made years apart by two students. The MacGorman Chapel windows were unveiled several years ago and funded by contributions. Seminary board officials criticized Patterson for his email to campus security in 2015 saying he wanted to meet alone with a student who said she’d been raped, to “break her down.”
Salt Lake City: Brigham Young University promised Tuesday to be more transparent in how it enforces its honor code, though some who protested their treatment at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints-owned institution wonder if the changes go far enough. The announcement doesn’t alter the code itself, which bans drinking, premarital sex, beards and piercings, but Honor Code Office Director Kevin Utt promised to be more transparent in investigating alleged violations. The office will now identify who made the report, unless there’s a safety concern, and give the accused a fuller explanation of how the process works and resources available during what can be a nerve-wracking experience for students, Utt said in a statement. The group Restore Honor said it’s very happy with the “baby steps” and optimistic more will happen down the road.
Montpelier: The state Department of Fish and Wildlife is reminding people to leave fawns alone, even those that appear to be abandoned, because the mother usually isn’t far away. Vermont Deer Biologist Nick Fortin says most fawns are born in late May and the first and second weeks of June. When people see a fawn alone, they often mistakenly assume it is helpless, lost or needs to be rescued. During their first few weeks of life, the young deer do not attempt to evade predators. Instead, they rely on camouflage and stillness to remain undetected. Bringing a fawn into a human environment separates it from its mother, and it usually results in a sad ending for the animal.
Staunton: An inmate is being hailed for intervening when a female prison employee was under assault. With no corrections officers in the immediate vicinity, the employee at the Augusta Correctional Center who was left alone in her office with a convicted killer last year was sexually assaulted. But when Jeffrey Michel heard the woman’s screams, he fought her attacker, and the sexual assault was halted. “What you did was heroic,” Augusta County Commonwealth’s Attorney Tim Martin told Michel. The attacker, Sean S. Earl, 30, was convicted on charges of attempted rape, abduction, damaging a phone line and indecent exposure. Earl will be sentenced Aug. 23.
Seattle: Authorities say four new measles cases have been diagnosed in the western part of the state. The Washington State Department of Health said Wednesday that two of the cases were in King County and one each in Pierce and Snohomish counties. In a statement, the health department said the exact exposure information isn’t known, but all of those infected spent time in SeaTac Airport. Public health officials had just recently declared that a months­long Northwest measles outbreak that sickened more than 70 people was over. Washington state this year passed a law to end all nonmedical exemptions for the measles vaccine.
Minden: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has added the site of a former mining equipment operation to its National Priorities List of Superfund sites. The EPA announced in a news release the addition of the Shaffer Equipment/Arbuckle Creek Area Site in Minden to the list. That would make it a federal priority for cleanup, enforcement and funding. EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler visited the site Monday. The Shaffer Equipment Co. manufactured equipment used in mining from 1970 to 1984. Leaks, spills and dumping contributed to PCB contamination at the facility and runoff in adjacent Arbuckle Creek. Gov. Jim Justice said in the EPA statement that Monday marked an important day because Minden residents “have been hurting for too long and they’ve been waiting on this level of help for decades.”
Milwaukee: If the northern lights are on your bucket list, you could get lucky this week in the Badger State. Chances for the colorful, pulsating aurora borealis filling the night sky in Wisconsin are pretty good. A geomagnetic storm on the sun this week has greatly increased the probability of the northern lights appearing in night skies. The Space Weather Prediction Center issued a “moderate” geomagnetic storm watch for Thursday, and Wisconsin is smack dab in the middle of the area for the most likely visibility. That doesn’t mean it will happen or that the northern lights are going to blink on like Christmas displays throughout Wisconsin. It normally has to be a stronger solar storm for folks in the state to see the northern lights.
Yellowstone National Park: Park officials are telling drivers to honk at bears. Recently a black bear in the northern part of Yellowstone National Park put its paws up on cars. Similar problems have happened over the past year. Park officials say drivers should honk and drive away whenever a bear gets too close. They say bears that are used to people and get food from them can become aggressive and have to be killed.
From staff and wire reports
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Zombie raccoons, honking at bears, nunchuck blowback: News from around our 50 states
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