Around-the-corner camera, puffin rebound, Tom Petty: News from around our 50 states

Alabama

Montgomery: Gov. Kay Ivey has called a meeting of a state panel over a proposed toll bridge in coastal Alabama. Ivey asked the Alabama Toll Road, Bridge and Tunnel Authority to meet Sept. 17 in Montgomery to discuss a planned bridge crossing the Mobile River and Mobile Bay. State officials say tolls from $3 to $6 are needed to help finance construction. Ivey said she is sensitive to the impact on working families and small businesses. But the governor said she is also concerned about the “cost of doing nothing.” Critics say the tolls could cost commuters more than $1,000 a year. Ivey said the panel will hear an update on the project and hear from people and groups who may want to propose viable options for financing.

Alaska

Fairbanks: An event billed as the world’s longest snowmobile race plans to change its course. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports the Iron Dog is expected to begin at Pikes Landing in Fairbanks and finish in Willow next year. Officials say the 37th running of the race is scheduled from Feb. 16 to Feb. 22 will add 375 miles to increase the course to 2,409 miles. The race normally begins in south central Alaska and finishes in Fairbanks. Race officials say the course reversal will increase the entertainment for fans and provide a change for competitors. Registration opened Aug. 1, while in past years the sign-up period began in October. Organizers say they hope to keep the event “as fresh as possible.”

Arizona

Flagstaff: Officials hope to use a drone to make it easier to get vote tallies from tribal land deep within the Grand Canyon during next year’s election. Voting machines on the Havasupai reservation have sent tallies electronically in recent years. But new equipment is forcing Coconino County to make a change. County recorder Patty Hansen said she’s working with the sheriff’s office and the tribe to see if a drone could carry a memory stick with vote tallies out of the canyon to a trailhead. The stick then would be driven more than two hours to Flagstaff. If that doesn’t work out, Hansen said, a county worker would have to hike the ballots out of the canyon after polls closed – similar to what’s been done in the past. The reservation famous for its blue-green waterfalls is accessible only through an 8-mile dirt trail or by helicopter. “It’s kind of dark there, and there could be animals, or you could fall or something, injure yourself,” she said.

Arkansas

Little Rock: Pink flamingos, Barbie dolls and vinegar are just some of the materials used this summer to prepare and excite high school students for the challenging Advanced Placement courses they will take when school starts next month. The nonprofit Arkansas Advanced Initiative for Math and Science once again hosted the “AP Prep Bootcamps” at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville; Arkansas State University in Jonesboro; and, most recently, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. A series of Super Saturday events featuring similar hands-on learning activities is planned for this fall in Helena-West Helena, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports. One student activity at the summer events was Barbie bungee jumping – using calculations and rubber bands to give Barbie dolls the most thrilling jump possible from a door frame while still keeping the doll intact.

California

Eureka: A man who accidentally tossed $23,000 into the recycling bin reunited with his life savings Saturday after a worker at a recycling facility in Northern California spotted a shoebox stuffed with money. When the man realized his mistake Thursday, the recycling bin had already been emptied into a truck bound for the Recology sorting facility in Humboldt County. The facility’s general manager told the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat most of the recyclables from the truck had been sorted by the time the man contacted Recology. Workers were nonetheless told to be on the lookout for the box. Someone spotted the box down the sorting line Friday and recovered all but $320. The money somehow stayed in the box during the 200-mile trip to the facility.

Colorado

Denver: State officials say the Great Colorado Payback program is not working as intended. The Denver Post reports the Colorado Auditor’s Office released a report last week identifying problems with the unclaimed property program. The Great Colorado Payback began in 1987 to tell Coloradans about unclaimed property the state is legally required to keep. The items include forgotten bank account balances, deposits to utility companies and unused gift cards. The 60-page report found that nearly half of claims were not acted upon within 90 days and that there was a failure to mail notifications to about 1.6 million people regarding unclaimed property since March 2005. Officials also determined 91% of unclaimed property records were duplicate, incomplete, inaccurate or questionable.

Connecticut

Hamden: Growers and gardeners from across the state plan to gather here this week for Connecticut’s 109th Plant Science Day. The state’s Agriculture Experiment Station is putting on the open house Wednesday at its Lockwood research farm. The farm has been the site of numerous agricultural breakthroughs over the past century, including the development in 1919 of a hybrid corn that vastly improved corn yields for farmers across the world. The open house will include discussions and demonstrations on topics ranging from the history of Connecticut’s broad leaf tobacco industry to managing root rot in Christmas trees. There also will be children’s activities and experts on hand to identify and answer questions about insects, plant disorders, soils and their management, and other problems facing farmers and gardeners.

Delaware

Dover: State regulators have fined a California energy company $40,000 for operating dozens of gas-powered fuel cells without a permit. The state’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control says Bloom Energy agreed to pay the fine for operating 42 fuel cells more than a month before it actually received permission to do so. The cells generate between 25 and 27.5 megawatts of power. The News Journal reports the fine is the first significant sanction imposed on Bloom since it received hundreds of millions of dollars in state incentives to bring a manufacturing facility to Newark. Delmarva Power customers have paid more than $200 million in “renewable energy” surcharges to use energy created by Bloom’s fuel cells even though they’re powered by natural gas.

District of Columbia

Washington: At least two terminally ill residents ended their lives last year through the district’s aid-in-dying law. The Washington Post reports the D.C. Department of Health released a report Friday on the impact of the Death With Dignity Act that went into effect in 2017. The act requires terminally ill patients make multiple requests for the drugs, which they ultimately have to administer to themselves. At least two witnesses must attest the decision is voluntary. The report says four cancer patients requested the fatal dose of drugs last year. Two died before they could get the drugs, which are prescribed by physicians. Health officials told the newspaper the report might not include people who requested the fatal medication if the city didn’t receive records about the dispensing pharmacy.

Florida

Gainesville: Singer/songwriter Tom Petty is getting his place in state history. The Florida Historical Marker Council voted Friday to erect one at a city park named after the late rocker. The Grammy winner played in the neighborhood park as a boy in the 1950s and ’60s, before he formed the band Mudcrutch as a teen. The group played throughout the region and at University of Florida events before leaving for Los Angeles in 1974. That move springboarded Petty into a career in which he sold millions of records as the front man for the Heartbreakers. A tribute to Petty will take up both sides of the marker, to be erected Oct. 20, his birth date. The script will recall how a Boy Scout who looked for crawfish in the park’s pond met Elvis Presley, learned how to play guitar, and formed a group that won a battle of the bands contest before leaving home to seek fame and fortune.

Georgia

Cumming: This city’s new police chief had to do more than promise to protect and serve. He also had to swear off all allegiance to his alma mater and take a new side in a famous football rivalry. The Forsyth County News reports that before Cumming Police Chief David Marsh was sworn in for real last month, Mayor Troy Brumbalow administered a jocular mock oath to the 2003 Auburn graduate, referencing the storied rivalry between Georgia and Auburn. It called on Marsh to answer “all cries of ‘War Eagle’ with ‘Go Dawgs’ ” and to ban “any and all Auburn paraphernalia from police department property.” Before becoming police chief, Marsh had been with the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office since 2004.

Hawaii

Honolulu: A small pond of water has been discovered inside the summit crater of the Kilauea volcano for the first time in recorded history, possibly signaling a shift to a more explosive phase of future eruptions. The U.S. Geological Survey says that after a week of questions about a green patch inside Kilauea’s Halemaumau crater, researchers were able to confirm the presence of water Thursday. USGS scientist Don Swanson says the pond had grown in size over the prior week. Swanson says the bottom of the crater, which once housed Kilauea’s famed lava lake, is now below the water table, and researchers believe the pond is coming from that groundwater. Lava interacting with the water table can cause explosive eruptions.

Idaho

Lewiston: Fisheries managers for the state Department of Fish and Game say they expect another poor return of steelhead to the Snake River and its tributaries. The Lewiston Tribune reports they also predict low numbers of B-run steelhead bound for the Clearwater River. Biologist Alan Byrne in Boise says the state expects 60,700 steelhead to return at least as far as Lower Granite Dam this fall. That includes 55,100 A-run steelhead that spend one year in the ocean and 5,600 B-run steelhead that usually spend two years at sea. Byrne says the A-run will include about 35,950 hatchery fish that have had their adipose fins clipped, making them available for harvest. He said the B-run likely will be similar to 2017 returns when the harvest of bigger steelhead was restricted.

Illinois

Springfield: Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White says a state license plate featuring the St. Louis Cardinals will be sold in support of public schools. The plate was unveiled Thursday by White at Busch Stadium prior to the Cardinals game against the Chicago Cubs. The plates with the Cardinals “Birds on Bat” logo will be available for purchase after Labor Day. Fans will be able to order random-number, personalized or vanity plates. White says the plate offers an opportunity for fans to express pride for their team, while supporting public education in Illinois. According to the secretary of state’s office, the cost of a random-number Cardinals plate for a currently titled vehicle with valid Illinois registration will be $69. Pricing varies for vanity and personalized license plates.

Indiana

Linton: The state’s first property for off-road vehicles is reopening Friday after closing for several months for upgrades. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources says the Redbird State Recreation Area near Linton has been closed to the public since March 11. Since the closing, a former mining road has been repaved in the first phase of a project that will allow for construction of a new entrance and office building with a gatehouse. The DNR says the new entrance will give visitors better access to the property’s trails. The agency says spring rains delayed the completion of the repaving by six weeks. Other work during the closure included repair and establishment of multiple drainage areas on the most popular trails to provide a more sustainable surface.

Iowa

Des Moines: A state board has approved a measure that expands the number of medical conditions that can legally be treated by medical marijuana, but it rejected several others. The Iowa Medical Cannabidiol Board voted Friday to allow those with chronic pain to have legal access to medical marijuana. The condition joins others already allowed, including seizures, Crohn’s disease, AIDS, Lou Gehrig’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. But the board denied allowing generalized anxiety disorder and opioid dependency as qualifying conditions. The board also voted to delay a decision on allowing post-traumatic stress disorder to be a qualifying condition until its November meeting. Friday’s meeting was the first since Gov. Kim Reynolds vetoed an expansion of Iowa’s medical marijuana program in May.

Kansas

Lawrence: A University of Kansas study says many treatment centers for addiction in the Kansas City area will not accept or have restrictions on accepting patients who have been prescribed medications to fight their addiction. The Lawrence Journal-World reports Nancy Kepple, an assistant professor for KU’s School of Social Welfare and the study’s lead author, says it surveyed 360 Kansas City-area treatment facilities to determine their acceptance rates of people with opioid use disorder who have been prescribed medications to treat the disorder. The study found that 40% treatment centers have a “mixed-to-negative attitude” toward treating people who take medication to treat the disorder. Kepple says some use the traditional 12-step program, which often adheres to a full-abstinence philosophy.

Kentucky

Louisville: U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is recovering at home after suffering a shoulder fracture in a fall Sunday, a spokesman said. McConnell tripped on his outdoor patio at his Louisville home Sunday morning and has been treated and released after getting medical attention, said David Popp, a spokesman for the Kentucky Republican. Popp’s emailed statement said the 77-year-old McConnell is working from home and “will continue to work from home” for now. The statement didn’t elaborate on where he received help or what treatment he received or the expected time needed for recovery.

Louisiana

New Orleans: A local aquarium says its big new touch pool will open Oct. 5, with nine kinds of sharks and rays. The Audubon Aquarium of the Americas says the 13,000-gallon pool will be about six times the size of the current ray touch pool. Kids and adults will be able to touch zebra sharks, coral catsharks, white spotted bamboo sharks, epaulette sharks, southern stingrays, Atlantic guitarfish, bullnose rays, blue-spotted stingrays and cownose stingrays. Sharks and rays are usually wary of people. But these have been trained to swim up to touch hands reaching into the water, or have learned to do it by watching others. A huge interactive screen will run along one side of the 60-foot-long pool, describing the fish and their importance in their ecosystems. Shark-fin soup is the biggest threat to sharks and some rays – tens of millions are killed each year for their fins.

Maine

Portland: One of the most beloved birds in the state is having one of its most productive seasons in years for mating pairs on remote islands off the coast. Atlantic puffins, with their colorful beaks and waddling walks, are one of New England’s best recognized seabirds. Maine is the only state in the nation where the birds breed, and they do so on hard-to-reach places like Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge in the Gulf of Maine. The birds are well on their way to setting a record for the number of breeding pairs, says National Audubon Society scientist Stephen Kress, who has studied the birds for years. Kress says nearly 750 pairs nested on Seal Island and Eastern Egg Rock in 2018, and this year’s number will likely be higher. The birds are thriving due to multiple factors, including an abundance of the type of fish they’re best suited to eat, such as young haddock and hake and herring.

Maryland

Baltimore: A van that was stolen from a center that donates free books to children has been returned nearly two weeks later covered in spray paint, adorned with reproductions of Vincent Van Gogh’s artwork and needing thousands of dollars in repairs. Last month, Kimberly Crout of the Maryland Book Bank said the van disappeared from outside its warehouse, and workers suspected a thief was to blame. The van reappeared at the center Friday almost unrecognizable. Photos taken by WJZ show it was covered in gold spray paint, with copies of Van Gogh’s art pasted to its sides and the phrase “van go” written on the hood. It also had a shattered window and no keys. WJZ reports repairs could cost thousands. The van is used to pick up book donations.

Massachusetts

Boston: Voters will soon get their first peek at some of the issues that might end up on the November 2020 state ballot. Wednesday is a deadline for sponsors of initiative petitions to file their ballot questions with Attorney General Maura Healey’s office. It marks the beginning of an arduous process that generally ends with only a handful of questions making it to the finish line. Healey must first certify that the proposals meet constitutional guidelines for initiative petitions. Sponsors who clear that hurdle must then collect at least 80,239 signatures of registered voters and submit them to city and town clerks by Nov. 20. If the Legislature fails to act on the petition by next May, sponsors can secure a spot on the ballot by collecting another 13,374 certified signatures.

Michigan

Lansing: The director of Michigan State University’s $765 million nuclear research facility says it should open in 2021. The Facility for Rare Isotope Beams will be used to study the short-lived particles produced as charged beams collide with a target. The findings could have implications in understanding how matter formed in the universe and in fields including national security and medicine. Laboratory Director Thomas Glasmacher says it is 92% complete. Engineers installed the first of three pieces of the linear accelerator, which will fire the particle beams. Glasmacher says the second piece will be installed by next summer. The U.S. Department of Energy contributed $635.5 million to the project. The state gave $94.5 million, and the university paid $35 million.

Minnesota

Duluth: Rapidly rising water levels in the Great Lakes are damaging shorelines and creating uncertainty for lakeshore residents. Duluth has dealt with three major storms on Lake Superior in less than two years, with the latest hitting last October. The city’s construction project supervisor, Mike LeBeau, says high water levels are making the storms even more destructive, Minnesota Public Radio News reports. City officials estimate total damage from the three storms at nearly $30 million. “It’s been hard for the city to catch its breath, frankly,” LeBeau says. Around the Great Lakes, beaches have disappeared, docks have been submerged, and the shoreline is eroding. Lake levels began rising rapidly in 2014. This summer, lakes Erie and Ontario reached their highest levels ever recorded. Lake Superior has set new monthly records.

Mississippi

Jackson: The state can take part in big multistate lottery games starting early next year. The Mississippi Lottery Corporation says directors of the Multi-State Lottery Association have approved Mississippi for Powerball and Mega Millions. Sales for those games are expected to begin during the first three months of 2020. Mississippi has been one of six states without a lottery, but lawmakers met in 2018 and authorized creation of a Mississippi Lottery to help generate money for highways. The Mississippi Lottery Corporation president, Tom Shaheen, has said sales for games that are only in Mississippi could begin Dec. 1. Shaheen will join the board of directors of the Multi-State Lottery Association once the multistate games begin in Mississippi.

Missouri

Kansas City: An artist-driven nonprofit says it plans to open a museum that celebrates children’s literature in a Kansas City warehouse early next year. Rabbit Hole co-founder Debbie Pettid tells KCUR-FM that the group has chosen renowned works and sometimes-overlooked titles by authors from diverse backgrounds to fill the 165,000-square-foot space just north of downtown. The nonprofit bought the warehouse last year and started on the second phase of construction in July after raising more than half of its $12 million budget. It plans to open the museum in March 2020. The space will include dozens of exhibits, including Max’s room from Maurice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are,” and a “Goodnight Moon” room to host book clubs and other events.

Montana

Helena: A half-dozen organizations are suing Montana Attorney General Tim Fox to change the wording of a ballot referendum that would limit local governments’ ability to enact their own gun restrictions. Republican lawmakers sent the measure to the 2020 election in response to a 2016 Missoula ordinance requiring background checks for all gun purchases made in the city. Missoula, along with the Montana League of Cities and Towns, a labor union, a school board association, a human rights group and a gun safety organization, filed a petition with the state Supreme Court on Friday. They say the ballot statement that voters would see is misleading and doesn’t provide a true, impartial or fair explanation of what the measure would actually do.

Nebraska

Lincoln: State officials have issued new health alerts for two lakes tainted by toxic algae. The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission says in a news release that alerts have been issued for Rockford Lake in Gage County and Wagon Train Lake in Lancaster County. A similar alert continues for Harlan County Reservoir. Samples taken earlier this week at the lakes showed elevated levels of microcystin, a toxin released by certain strains of blue-green algae. The alerts mean swimming beaches at the lakes are closed. Boating and fishing are permitted, but officials advise people and pets to avoid exposure to the water. People can still use the public areas for camping, picnics and other outdoor activities.

Nevada

Sparks: For “Burners,” the devoted attendees of the Burning Man festival, those mutant vehicles and cumbersomely large art pieces that are so stunning in the desert can pose a storage problem for the other 11 ¹/₂ months of the year. The nonprofit community art space The Generator is on the verge of acquiring a more than 200,000-square-foot warehouse dedicated to storage and working space for the larger-than-life art pieces and vehicular behemoths Burning Man has become known for. While The Generator is not-for-profit, The Generator Storage Co., which is being set up as a separate entity, will be for-profit. Revenue will be fed into The Generator, creating what organizers hope will be a stable funding stream for an organization that has relied on donations and fundraising to survive.

New Hampshire

Concord: State Congresswoman Annie Kuster has reintroduced a bill to repeal a provision that strips health coverage for Medicaid enrollees who are involved in the criminal justice system. Kuster says the bill would increase their access to quality coverage and care needed to help them successfully return to their communities, including treatment for mental health and substance use disorders, and save state and taxpayer dollars. She is touring the New Hampshire Correctional Facility for Women in Concord this week for a discussion with Corrections Commissioner Helen Hanks and staff to discuss mental health and substance misuse care for inmates and released individuals.

New Jersey

Ocean City: Aggressive seagulls have been a summer scourge in the city, swooping close to humans to grab food. But this past weekend, the gulls stayed away so they wouldn’t become food themselves for birds of prey. Four hawks, two falcons and an owl, deployed by Lodi-based East Coast Falcons, began flying over the beach and boardwalk Saturday to scare off the hungry gulls. Ocean City contracted with the falcon firm as a creative approach to bird abatement, “believed to be the first of its kind for any shore town on the East Coast,” Mayor Jay A. Gillian said in an open letter posted on the town’s website. The launch weekend went “very well,” said Erik Swanson, owner of East Coast Falcons, which also has helped chase nuisance birds from places such as farms, golf courses, airports and ballparks.

New Mexico

Carlsbad: A small lizard native to southeast New Mexico is the latest animal to spark a debate among environmentalists, the federal government, and oil and gas operators. A federal report says the habitat for the dunes sagebrush lizard has shrunk to only about 655 square miles in the Mescalero Sands area, east of Artesia and northern Eddy County. Environmentalist groups that have recently sued the federal government to force it to protect the lesser prairie chicken are looking at similar action to help the dunes sagebrush lizard. The rare lizard remains unlisted as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service but is listed as endangered by the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish.

New York

Geneva: Work has begun on creating the nation’s only hemp seed bank, in the Finger Lakes region. The Industrial Hemp Germplasm Repository will be established at Cornell University’s agricultural research facility in Geneva. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced the launch of the new facility Friday. He said he worked to secure $500,000 in federal funding for the project because of the potential the crop has to boost upstate New York’s economy. The seed bank will help breeders and geneticists develop new varieties of industrial hemp while also helping identify genes for pest and disease resistance.

North Carolina

Charlotte: Preparation failed to pay off for thousands of Boy Scouts leaving a worldwide jamboree who overwhelmed Charlotte International Airport over the weekend. Passengers reported security lines 500 deep Friday as Scouts who attended the 2019 World Scout Jamboree in West Virginia tried to return home. The airport is about a three-hour drive from the Jamboree site and was a popular spot for those who chose to fly to the event. The Charlotte Observer reports that Scout leaders coordinated for weeks in advance with the airport and airlines, but bad weather and high volume conspired against them. American Airlines operates a hub out of Charlotte and reported that 70% of its flights were held Friday to try to accommodate passengers stuck in security lines.

North Dakota

Bismarck: North Dakotans are allowed to shop on Sunday mornings for the first time since statehood. The Legislature in March voted to repeal the state’s long-standing Sunday business restrictions that are rooted in religious tradition, and the change took effect Aug. 1. The National Conference of State Legislatures says about a dozen states have some form of Sunday sales laws, but only North Dakota prohibited shopping altogether on Sunday mornings. Bismarck business owner Jeff Hinz says he will continue to be closed on Sunday mornings. He says he doesn’t want to work on Sunday mornings and won’t force any of his 60 employees to do it either.

Ohio

Dayton: Officials say the city will no longer hire people who flunk pre-employment tests for tobacco and nicotine. The Dayton Daily News reports the change is intended to encourage a healthier workplace and reduce the city’s health costs. Dayton Human Resources Director Kenneth Couch says employees who smoke cost thousands of dollars more annually in medical costs and lost productivity. Union leaders say they understand the policy’s aims but worry it’s a “slippery slope” to restricting employees based on other lawful lifestyle choices. The new policy doesn’t apply to smokers already on the payroll. But new applicants will be tested for tobacco and nicotine and, if hired, can be tested again if there’s reasonable suspicion they’ve used those products.

Oklahoma

Oklahoma City: The city is using a tactic seen in other locales – the use of goats as organic lawnmowers – and raising the stakes by having donkeys supervise. From the banks of a hilly canal, Monte and Sam watch the goats eat plants, butt heads and sit around on the job, The Oklahoman reports. A herd of a dozen goats serves as the mowing crew for steep inclines where mowers and machines are too dangerous to use. On a narrow trail along the top of the hill, the donkeys trot, clear to the other side to herd the goats, and get them back to work. Donkeys supervise the goats, herding them back to work when they get distracted, and the donkeys can also scare off coyotes or other threats to the goats. There are 61 goats in the city’s workforce, says Jennifer McClintock, city spokeswoman for the utilities department. They feed on invasive plants such as kudzu, poison ivy and poison oak.

Oregon

Salem: A program serving children with mothers in prison is in jeopardy after the Legislature ended its funding. The Family Preservation Project connects more than 400 women at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility with their children, providing supervised visits, parent coaching, resource centers and post-prison support. One of the project’s programs, Between the Lines, lets incarcerated parents read books into recorders, then mail the recording and book to their children. Others support those taking care of inmates’ children by offering camps, donations and gifts. Funding for the past two bienniums provided $400,000 per biennium, which represents about half of the program’s budget, said Family Preservation Project Director Jessica Katz. But after state support failed to pass, there is a scramble to raise $200,000 to continue operating until February 2020.

Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh: The mayor says he has beefed up his own security in response to threats after the city recently approved gun control measures. Democratic Mayor Bill Peduto says he’s extended the hours of his security detail into the evening following “direct death threats,” particularly around the issue of firearms. Peduto said he sends such threats to Pittsburgh police and tries to put them out of mind. The city approved gun control measures in the wake of the Tree of Life Synagogue shooting that killed 11 last fall. The measures approved in April would restrict military-style assault weapons as well as armor-piercing ammunition and high-capacity magazines and allow temporary seizure of guns from those deemed a threat. Lawsuits were filed alleging the measures violated state law.

Rhode Island

Providence: Cities and towns in the state are participating in a national community-building and crime prevention campaign. The 36th annual National Night Out is scheduled for Tuesday. Rhode Island U.S. Attorney Aaron Weisman says he’s joining law enforcement, community leaders and residents who are participating, as a way to promote partnerships between law enforcement and communities and neighborhood camaraderie. He says strengthening these relationships helps prevent and deter crime. Weisman says events are scheduled in 14 Rhode Island communities, and he’s participating in the Providence, Warwick and Cranston festivities. Nationwide, thousands of communities plan to hold neighborhood block parties, festivals, cookouts, safety demonstrations and seminars for the National Night Out, held annually on the first Tuesday in August.

South Carolina

Hilton Head Island: Clumps of hotel towels dot the shores of this island, cluttering the surf and creating hazards for wildlife. The Island Packet reports wildlife activists say the towels invade the shores each year, but this season’s piles gained so much attention that town officials intervened. The newspaper says that photos of the piles posted online prompted the town to announce that it has contacted officials from every major beachfront resort about the problem. Assistant town manager Josh Gruber says towels aren’t a “traditional” type of litter, but they still shouldn’t be there. Dale Mathe, part of an organization that cleans the beach, says beachgoers often forget towels on rented beach chairs. She says she donated over 400 forgotten towels to an animal shelter last season.

South Dakota

Sturgis: The annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is underway in the Black Hills, and local communities have beefed up law enforcement. The Rapid City Journal reports law enforcement agencies in Meade and Pennington counties are hiring more officers, temporarily opening a second jail and keeping a courthouse open seven days a week. The rally started Friday and runs through Aug. 11. Sturgis Police Chief Geody VanDewater says officers are “already busy.” VanDewater wouldn’t say how many temporary officers he hires but said they come from South Dakota, North Dakota, Colorado, Minnesota and other states. VanDewater says the most common issues officers deal with are illegal parking, followed by drunken driving and drug use. Nearly half a million people attended last year’s rally.

Tennessee

Lebanon: Restoration plans for the original Cracker Barrel Old Country Store have been chopped. The company announced Friday that the building is too deteriorated to be successfully restored. The company will instead salvage some pieces to use in future endeavors like a heritage project that could include a museum connected to a Lebanon store. The building was saved from demolition last month and moved to the Wilson County fairgrounds. The plan was to restore the building and permanently add it to the Fiddlers Grove Historic Village, which includes several artifacts that reflect Wilson County. Cracker Barrel founder Danny Evins opened the first store 50 years ago in Lebanon, where it began as a gas station, eatery and gift shop. The company says it closed around 1984.

Texas

Texarkana: Twins and other twosomes have been invited to dress alike and take part in a “twice as nice” photo shoot meant to promote both Southern cities named Texarkana. The Texarkana Gazette reports it’s an effort by Texarkana, Texas, and neighboring Texarkana, Arkansas, to encourage downtown development through historic preservation. Officials with nonprofit Main Street Texarkana, made up of citizens from both states, say locals are encouraged to show up at noon Wednesday in front of the downtown courthouse and post office. The federal building, at 500 N. State Line Ave., is located in both states. The area includes Photographer’s Island, where people are encouraged to snap images on the shared state line marked with a red, white and blue sign. Members of the Texarkana Twins baseball team are also participating.

Utah

Escalante: A geologist is spending his retirement hunting and documenting arch formations across the state. The Deseret News reports Jens Munthe has discovered hundreds of arches over the years. Utah is known for its sandstone arches found in the state’s red rock terrain. His database includes close to 2,000 arches plotted on maps. Munthe says he discovered more than 700 of the formations himself. He gives the arches whimsical names like “Aliens Arrive Arch” and “Echo Arch.” Munthe said he loves analyzing the unique, photogenic sandstone formations and called it a “sport of nature.” Other hikers and arch hunters have contributed their discoveries to his database.

Vermont

Burlington: Ben & Jerry’s co-founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield have released an unofficial, limited-edition flavor called “Bernie’s Back!” to scoop up support for Sen. Bernie Sanders for the 2020 presidential election. The hot cinnamon ice cream represents “our political revolution holding politicians’ feet to the fire to make America work for working people of all races and genders,” according to Sanders’ campaign website. The flavor also contains a chocolate disc at the top (representing the wealth consolidated to the top 1% in the U.S.) and a butter toffee backbone (to show “Bernie’s steadfast determination to un-rig our economy”). The limited-edition pints will be hand-signed and numbered by Cohen and Greenfield, Sanders’ website says. “Bernie’s Back” is only the first in a complete line of Bernie-themed ice cream flavors, Cohen tweeted Friday. It is not affiliated with Ben & Jerry’s, now owned by Unilever PLC.

Virginia

Richmond: The state’s attorney general has decided not to appeal a ruling that struck down a law allowing police to arrest and jail people designated as “habitual drunkards.” Mark Herring said Friday that he will not appeal the ruling last month by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In a statement, Herring called the law “strange and regressive” and said Virginia’s General Assembly should have taken it off the books a long time ago. Herring said the state “can find better ways” to address alcohol disorders. The full appeals court found that the law is unconstitutionally vague, reversing earlier rulings dismissing a lawsuit challenging the law. The Legal Aid Justice Center argued that the law targets homeless alcoholics and violates the 8th Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

Washington

Olympia: Gov. Jay Inslee has spent more than half his days traveling out of state on the campaign trail in the five months since declaring his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination. The Seattle Times and Northwest News Network report that between March 1 and the end of July, Inslee was on the road for all or parts of 90 days out of 153, or nearly 60% of the time. Inslee has spent his campaign crisscrossing the county, touring flooded towns in Iowa and solar installations in California. He’s also been a regular guest in New York and Washington, D.C., cable news studios. New figures released by the Washington State Patrol show that the governor’s security detail has cost taxpayers more than $580,000 between March and June in travel and overtime expenses.

West Virginia

Huntington: Research has found that the state’s mobile voting app for overseas residents has increased voter turnout. The Herald-Dispatch cites research done by University of Chicago associate professor Anthony Fowler, which was presented this month at the Election Science, Reform & Administration Conference at the University of Pennsylvania. Fowler found the app increased voter turnout by 3 to 5 percentage points. In 2018, West Virginia was the first state to allow mobile voting for overseas voters from some counties during a federal election. Fowler says the research underscores that mobile voting has the potential to affect voter turnout while lowering the cost of voting. Cybersecurity experts and many Americans remain wary of mobile voting, and Fowler says there’s good reason for the concern, as officials aren’t sure how secure it is.

Wisconsin

Madison: Researchers in Wisconsin and Spain have developed a “virtual camera” that can see around corners, an important breakthrough with a wide array of possible applications, from helping searchers locate lost people to allowing police outside a building to pinpoint an active shooter inside. Scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Universidad de Zaragova in Spain reported their results Monday in the journal Nature. The new technology has the promise to help military units engaged in house-to-house fighting in a city such as Mosul in Iraq. Lack of vision can lead to friendly fire death rates as high as 30%, says Andreas Velten, the UW professor who led the research. He says the technology also offers the U.S. space program a potential way to peer inside caves on the moon and Mars. NASA is interested in the moon caves as possible locations where astronauts could live.

Wyoming

Jackson: An interim legislative committee has rejected a proposal to prohibit killing coyotes by running them over with snowmobiles. The Jackson Hole News & Guide reports that Teton County Democratic Rep. Mike Yin tried to bring forward a bill to ban killing or injuring predatory animals using snowmobiles. Yin’s bill, which he first tried to push during this year’s legislative session, was rejected at a recent hearing in Thermopolis. It was inspired by Lisa Robertson, a Jackson Hole wildlife activist who has posted online videos of so-called coyote whacking. Coyotes are classified as predators that can be killed indiscriminately, along with red fox, skunks and raccoons. Most members of the Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee told Yin the panel wasn’t the proper forum for the bill.

From USA TODAY Network and wire reports

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: News from around our 50 states