Beggars’ Night, ‘Stranger’ hotel stays, haunted history: News from around our 50 states

Alabama

Montgomery: Special tours Friday at Old Alabama Town, an otherwise charming group of restored 19th- and 20th-century structures, aim to show the frightful side of history. “It’s interwoven with character stories, as well as the history of the buildings and the people,” said Ella Martin, special events coordinator for Landmarks Foundation of Montgomery, who will be one of the tour guides for the Haunting at Old Alabama Town. Tickets are $25 at landmarksfoundation.com. There is limited space, and no tickets will be sold at the door. Tours will go through 10 buildings in Old Alabama Town’s Living Block, starting in Lucas Tavern, where guests be greeted by the ghost of Eliza Lucas, who ran the establishment. From there, a guide will lead guests to the Yancey dogtrot home, where Southern secession leader William Lowndes Yancey – the man Abraham Lincoln held responsible for the Civil War – lived and died. One of the darker stops will be Dr. Duncan’s office. “People were dying. Death was prevalent,” Martin said. “It’ll be a little scary because he’ll have his amputation kit and tell what he had to do take care of people since there weren’t any antibiotics around.” There’s also a gruesome story of a teenage horse rider from the Martin-Barnes House, whose life ended after being impaled on a fence. “He didn’t come home for supper,” Martin said. “He’ll be around to give his story. We’ll have a real horse there with its ghostly rider.” The tours are family-friendly but rated PG-13.

Alaska

Kenai: An impromptu fundraiser to allow a library to purchase books amid cries of censorship has twice surpassed its goal. The fund was established after the Kenai City Council delayed accepting a $1,500 grant until the library director provide a list of the books that would be purchased with the money. The grant was intended to buy library materials related to health and wellness, including mental health, suicide prevention, self-care, and reference books about Medicare and Medicaid, the Peninsula Clarion reports. The council asked Kenai Community Library Director Katja Wolfe to provide an inventory of proposed purchases to be funded by the Collection Equity Award grant, from Region 5 of the Network of the National Library of Medicine. Kenai Peninsula residents Sovala Kisena and Todd Smith said they organized the crowdsourcing page to raise funds for the library and act as a positive response to the council’s action. “It’s the definition of censorship … and it bothered me,” Smith said. Before the council voted to postpone action at its Oct. 20 meeting, one resident questioned whether any of the books would be about the coronavirus, the Clarion reports. Another said he took particular issue with the term “equity” in the name of the award and asked if the grant would be “enhancing some sort of a federal agenda … which would not necessarily represent the views of the people of Kenai.” “I think equity can create division,” Peck said.

Arizona

Phoenix: The Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, which is facing a spike in COVID-19 cases, is prohibiting trick-or-treating and haunted houses on Halloween. COVID-19 cases are up 140% over this time last year, according to an emergency declaration signed by community President Martin Harvier and posted on the community’s Facebook page. The Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community has land adjacent to Scottsdale, Tempe, Fountain Hills and Mesa. The community was created in 1879 and represents two pre-American tribes: the Pima and Maricopa, according to the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona. The Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community appears to be the first jurisdiction in Arizona to publicly ban trick-or-treating. Arizona health experts are advising that people who do go out on Halloween to take precautions. Banner Health, the state’s largest health system, advises people who do choose to take part in the tradition this year to remain outside and avoid crowds, such as Halloween parties. Children should also use hand sanitizer or wash their hands with soap and water after they get home and before they eat any treats, Banner Health officials said. Also, they should try to keep 6 feet away from anyone who doesn’t live with them.

Arkansas

Little Rock: The state filed a consumer protection lawsuit Wednesday against a medical supplier for nearly $11 million for failing to deliver supplies amid the coronavirus pandemic, Attorney General Leslie Rutledge said. Rutledge said Wednesday that Med-Care Healthlink LLC of Suffolk, Virginia, and its representatives failed to deliver gowns, ventilators and face shields ordered in March and April 2020 to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration. “This had been a company the state had worked with previously, and so therefore there was no reason to believe at that point that we would have something this significant occur,” Rutledge said. A phone call to the company rang unanswered. Deputy Attorney General Shannon Halijan said state officials were told at various times that the supplies had been bought by another entity, were held in China or were in other states. UAMS attorney Sherri Robinson said the company initially responded to questions about the supplies, then stopped after four to six months. UAMS ordered 1.5 million medical gowns and 60 ventilators, while the state ordered 2.5 million gowns, 500 ventilators and 1 million medical face shields, Rutledge said.

California

Tahoe City: Drought fueled by climate change has dropped Lake Tahoe below its natural rim and halted flows into the Truckee River, a historically cyclical event that’s occurring sooner and more often than in the past, raising fears about what might be in store for the famed alpine lake. Scientists are concerned that the growing frequency of low-water extremes may become the new normal. They point to seasonal shifts in weather patterns causing precipitation that historically falls as snow to arrive in the form of rain atop the Sierra along the California-Nevada state line. “Our summers are lasting longer. Springs are coming sooner,” said Gregory Schladow, a water resource and environmental engineering professor who is the founding director of the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center. Over the past century, the amount of precipitation falling as snow has declined from 52% in 1910 to 33% in 2020 and is projected to drop below 20% by the end of the century, according to experts at the research center. Rain runs off the mountains instead of piling up as snow on mountaintops for safe storage until it is most needed in late spring and summer – the high Sierra equivalent of leaving a freezer door open atop a refrigerator. Since summer, boat ramps have been closed. Docks sit precariously above the receding lake’s dry bottom. Boat and kayaking rentals have fallen, and river rafting operations on the Truckee River had to end early. “Our season was short, and we fear there may not be one next summer,” said Toni Rudnick of the Truckee River Raft Company.

Colorado

Denver: A federal judge has issued a restraining order against a suburban Denver county’s policy allowing parents to opt their children out of a mask mandate at school, finding that the rule violates the rights of students with disabilities who are vulnerable to COVID-19. U.S. District Judge John L. Kane on Tuesday called the Douglas County Board of Health order that allowed parents to opt their children out of mask-wearing a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which guarantees equal access to education for all. Kane’s order came in a hearing about a lawsuit filed by the Douglas County School District challenging the county Board of Health order. The school district, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of nine children with disabilities, argued that the board’s action allowed a relaxation of universal masking that placed those students at high risk of severe disease, The Denver Post reports. The school district also challenged the Board of Health’s relaxation of quarantine rules affecting students suspected of having the coronavirus. Kane’s order is not the end of the legal challenge, even though it sets aside the opt-out rule for now, and he set a Nov. 8 hearing about the case.

Connecticut

New Haven: An early 18th-century painting depicting Yale University’s namesake with an enslaved Black child has been returned to public display at one of its museums even as art experts investigate its origins and amid campus discussions about the school’s ties to slavery. The nearly life-size, oil-on-canvas portrait shows Elihu Yale and family members sitting at a table with tobacco pipes and wine glasses, while an enslaved boy with a metal collar locked around his neck looks on. In the background are playing children, believed to be Yale’s grandchildren. The Yale Center for British Art removed the painting from display in October 2020 to conduct a technical analysis, which continues and includes efforts to identify the boy, as well as to confirm the identities of the others. Over the years, some patrons expressed concerns about the depiction of an enslaved child, but that was not a reason for removing it, said Courtney Martin, the center’s director. For several months, the painting was replaced by a 2016 work of art by Titus Kaphar that included a portrait of just the enslaved boy, without the metal collar, on top of what appears to be a crumpled version of the original painting. There is no evidence Elihu Yale owned slaves. His papers, including financial records, have not been found. But experts believe Yale oversaw slave trading and other commerce in India. There are other paintings showing Yale with slaves, and his relatives in New Haven were slave owners, researchers say.

Delaware

Wilmington: The Delaware Art Museum is reprising an exhibition 50 years after its premiere, in the wake of a nearly yearlong occupation of the city by the National Guard. National Guardsmen focused primarily on West Center City, a mostly Black community, after rioting and unrest following Dr. Martin Luther King’s murder. The trauma of those nine months in 1968 left the community reeling, and Percy Ricks, an artist and longtime educator, had something he thought people needed to see: a momentous exhibition of drawings, paintings, prints and photographs created by 66 Black artists. Ricks, the first Black art instructor in Wilmington’s public schools, was a driving force behind the city’s art scene. He went on to found arts and humanities collective Aesthetic Dynamics Inc., which aimed to highlight Black artists and their contributions to the arts. Still, the organization’s inaugural exhibition struggled to find a home as Black artists were shut out of institutions and as segregation persisted across Delaware. It eventually premiered at the Wilmington Armory but has largely been forgotten and overlooked by historians and institutions. Now, the Delaware Art Museum – which at the time overlooked requests to stage the exhibition – is trying to reconcile its initial disregard and to illustrate the cultural legacy Ricks left behind.

District of Columbia

Washington: Earlier this month, a federal judge held two top officials from the D.C. Department of Corrections in contempt over a delay in handing over medical records for a Jan. 6 Capitol riot defendant. Now, the Department of Justice says he appears to have “invented” the emergency that led to that decision, WUSA-TV reports. U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth hauled D.C. Jail Warden Wanda Patten and D.C. Department of Corrections Director Quincy Booth into court Oct. 13 to explain why the jail hadn’t complied with his order the prior week to turn over an orthopedic specialist’s notes about a hand surgery for Christopher Worrell. The Florida man has been in D.C. Jail custody since his arrest in March on multiple felony charges in connection with the insurrection, accused of joining other members of the Proud Boys in storming the U.S. Capitol and assaulting federal officers with pepper gel spray. In May, Worrell fell in his cell and broke his pinky finger. In filings, he claimed officials didn’t get him the proper medical treatment, and he’d need surgery because of the delay. On Wednesday, the Justice Department said a Howard University Hospital doctor determined Worrell’s hand had already healed normally, and he was suffering no pain or loss of function. Prosecutors said his records show he was “primarily dissatisfied with the appearance of his pinky finger” and demanded surgery even after the doctor told him the risks could outweigh the benefits.

Florida

Tallahassee: The state has withheld funding from two school districts over their coronavirus mask mandates, flouting threats from White House officials who warned that such penalties would violate federal law. School officials in Alachua and Broward counties on Wednesday said the state docked school board salaries and overall funding in amounts equal to federal aid packages meant to blunt the state’s sanctions on mask requirements. This month, more than $164,000 was withheld from the Alachua school district, and more than $455,000 was withheld from Broward. The penalties are the latest development in an ongoing feud between the White House and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration over coronavirus regulations. The Florida State Board of Education earlier this month approved plans to withhold a month’s salary from school board members in districts with classroom mask requirements and reduce overall funding if those counties receive a federal grant intended to offset the state’s fines. The announcements come days after the U.S. Department of Education sent a letter to Florida warning that deducting money from districts that received the grant would violate federal law. The letter added that the federal government “is prepared to initiate enforcement action to stop these impermissible state actions.”

Georgia

Atlanta: A high school is marking its new name and a larger building after students said the old name was offensive and pushed to remove it. Midtown High School hosted a ceremony this week to highlight the new name of the former Henry W. Grady High School, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Students had complained for years that their school was named after Grady, a newspaper editor who advocated for white supremacy after the Civil War. While credited by many with helping in the rebirth of Atlanta after the war, Grady also wrote editorials and gave speeches that ignored the plight of Black people in the region. Grady was an editor and part-owner of The Atlanta Constitution.

Hawaii

Honolulu: Starting next week, the city will allow outdoor and indoor entertainment venues to operate at full capacity with vaccinated attendees, the mayor said Wednesday as he announced the latest measures easing coronavirus restrictions. Patrons will have to wear masks, Mayor Rick Blangiardi said at a news conference. No food will be allowed, only water, he said. The change will take effect Nov. 3, in time for the next University of Hawaii football home game a few days later, when the Warriors host San Jose State. Blangiardi said the city plans to allow the Honolulu Marathon to go ahead Dec. 12, though the race will be required to stagger runners’ starting times. Competitors will leave the starting line in groups of no more than 200 people at a time, he said. He expressed confidence that the city was ready to relax its rules, noting Honolulu has one of the highest COVID-19 vaccination rates in the country. As of Wednesday, 95% of the population 12 and older had received at least one shot. The mayor said the city still has public safety and public health at top of mind, and it will be ready to tighten restrictions again if COVID-19 hospitalization metrics deteriorate. “This is about going forward and living with it,” the mayor said of the virus.

Idaho

Boise: The company that successfully brought genetically modified potatoes to the market announced an agreement Thursday to help a plant breeding company grow strawberries they say will stay fresh longer and have a longer growing season. J.R. Simplot Co. and California-based Plant Sciences Inc., both privately held companies, said they expect to launch the first commercially available, gene-edited strawberries within a few years. U.S. growers produced $2.2 billion in strawberries in 2020, mostly in California, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But consumers discarded an estimated 35% of the crop due to spoilage. Simplot and Plant Sciences officials said genetically modified strawberries will help reduce waste and make them available to consumers much of the year. The strawberries will only contain genes from strawberries, selecting desirable traits that have been cultivated over decades. “It’s the same technology we’re working on with potatoes,” said Doug Cole, director of Marketing and Biotech Affairs at Simplot. There is no evidence that genetically modified organisms, known as GMOs, are unsafe to eat, but changing the genetic code of foods presents an ethical issue for some. Federal agencies approved a previous gene-modifying technique on Simplot potatoes. Now, more than 1.1 billion pounds of the potatoes are sold in some 40 states and 4,000 supermarkets and 9,000 restaurants.

Illinois

Springfield: The state Senate on Thursday night approved a weakened and criticized plan to preserve ramifications for those who refuse to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Democrats who control both houses of the General Assembly struggled through caustic debate all week in pushing a COVID-19 carve-out of the Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act. The Senate endorsed the plan 31-24 on the last day of the Legislature’s fall session. Initially approved in the 1970s to protect physicians from repercussions for refusing, based on religious beliefs, to perform abortions, supporters argue the law was never intended to give similar protections to people who refuse to get a preventive shot in a worldwide pandemic. “Your right to exercise your religious belief is not always without consequence, and the Health Care Right of Conscience is not a defense in certain circumstances,” Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, said during floor debate. “You’ve asked where we draw the line. The line of my personal liberty ends at the beginning of your nose.” Lawsuits have sprung up – nine alone in which Gov. J.B. Pritzker or other public agencies are defendants – in which repercussions, such as losing a job, are being contested based on the right of conscience law. The proposal, which now goes to Pritzker, doesn’t require anyone to be vaccinated. It targets the law’s language prohibiting retribution, such as dismissal from a job, in the case of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Indiana

Bloomington: A hotel offers guests a chance to enter the “Upside Down” with themed accommodations based on the Netflix series “Stranger Things,” set in the fictional Indiana town of Hawkins. Entering Graduate Bloomington yields a few subtle hints. The hotel’s ground floor mixes framed Eggo waffle art and a photo of the faded Starcourt Mall facade with older references to famous Hoosiers and pop culture. Its restaurant, Poindexter, offers an Upside Down burger and Demogorgon smoothie on the menu. And on the third floor, spaces once occupied by rooms 318 and 320 now house the “Upside Down Experience,” a suite with detailed recreations of two key settings from the sci-fi hit. The suite’s showstopper is an alphabet and Christmas light wall, like the one Winona Ryder’s character, Joyce Byers, uses to communicate with her captured son, Will. The Wheelers’ basement serves as the suite’s bedroom, complete with a Dungeons and Dragons game. General Manager Corey Parton said the suite, which opened to the public Tuesday, is meant to be an immersive experience. Guests are loaned Polaroid cameras for an ’80s documentation of their visits, as well as Eleven’s Eggo Extravaganza – a recreation of the main character’s iconic meal of three waffles doused in whipped cream and candy. A stay also includes two passes to the nearby WonderLab Science Museum, as a nod to the main characters’ love for science. Graduate also donates 11% of the suite’s profits to WonderLab.

Iowa

Des Moines: Beggars’ Night is nearly here. Trick-or-treaters in the city go out Oct. 30, not Oct. 31, in a quirky tradition started about 80 years ago to curb the violence and vandalism that had become an annual problem. In the 1930s, a long list of teenage miscreants who’d spent the night soaping windows, setting fires and tossing bricks at homes was published every year in the Nov. 1 newspaper. Kathryn Krieg, then the director of recreation for the Des Moines Playground Commission (now the Parks and Recreation Department), proposed naming Oct. 30 “Beggars’ Night” and sending children out to perform for homeowners after saying “tricks-for-eats.” Children were to receive a treat “only if such a ‘trick’ as a song, a poem, a stunt or a musical number, either solo or in group participation, is presented.” The event reversed the conventional tradition of asking homeowners to provide a treat to avoid being tricked or pranked. Beggars’ Night gained traction and in 1942 was promoted as a way for children to play a part in the war effort. The rallying headline “Kids! - Don’t help the Axis on Halloween” topped an Oct. 29, 1942, Des Moines Register article. It also chided teenagers for soaping windows, saying that “soap wasted … means waste of an ingredient used in manufacture of high explosives.”

Kansas

Manhattan: Construction on a national laboratory to study diseases that can be spread from animals to humans has been delayed, federal officials said. Officials said earlier this year that the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan would be substantially completed by this October. Now, the construction is expected to finish next spring, with commission of the laboratory in the summer, The Manhattan Mercury reports. The Department of Homeland Security and the United States Department of Agriculture are collaborating on opening the facility. A Homeland Security official said technology upgrades and equipment installation are taking longer than expected. “The technology efficacy of the building is of the utmost importance and is a critical aspect of standing up this facility,” Tim Barr, NBAF program manager for Homeland Security, said in a statement. “We are testing individual systems and testing again as systems are integrated with other systems, so it is very difficult to predict how long it will take to ensure each system is working as intended given the complexities of the facility.” The U.S. Department of Agriculture began managing operations and maintenance in the facility earlier this month.

Kentucky

Hazard: The superintendent of Hazard Independent Schools said that “appropriate disciplinary action has been taken” after photos surfaced showing students giving lap dances to staff and wearing scant clothing as part of Hazard High School’s homecoming week festivities. Students and staff took part in a “Man Pageant” and “Costume Day” on Tuesday, according to Hazard High School’s Facebook page. Photos that were subsequently taken down from the athletics department’s Facebook page showed students in underclothing giving lap dances to faculty and staff, including Principal Donald “Happy” Mobelini, who is also mayor of the Perry County city. Other photos on the athletics page that also were later taken down showed female students dressed up in “Hooters” outfits and students and staff appearing to paddle one another. Mobelini, the principal and mayor, did not immediately return a request for comment Wednesday. “Um. Exactly what is going on here, y’all? C’mon Hazard,” Nema Brewer, cofounder of education advocacy group KY 120 United, wrote Tuesday night in a tweet that showed the lap dance photos. “Get it together.”

Louisiana

Shreveport: Violence at a high school has stopped since a group of fathers started patrolling the campus, and the dads are aiming to expand their initiative into a movement across the parish. “Dads on Duty” started in response to a series of fights at Southwood High School in September that led to the arrests of about two dozen students. Michael LaFitte gathered other parents after a Sept. 17 incident to form a strategy for combating violence at the school. Expected to meet for 45 minutes that weekend, the group solidified a plan four hours later. “At the end of the meeting, there was a group of fathers who decided to just go to the school and patrol and walk around and show a strong male presence on the campus,” LaFitte said. “I don’t care how old you are or what size you are – it’s something about seeing a man, a positive male figure, a father, your daddy or whatever you want to call them, at the school. It will make you straighten up and fly right.” On the Monday after the meeting, a group of fathers showed up before the 7:30 a.m. bell to usher students inside. Dads have been there every morning since, with about 40 now taking shifts to patrol during lunch and after school, too. They’ve tried to assume the roles of “cool uncles” to the students, according to LaFitte. He said there have not been any fights on campus since they started.

Maine

Augusta: Forestry officials are asking residents who want to decorate for the fall and winter to be on the lookout for common invasive plants. The plants are sometimes used in wreaths and garlands and other decorations, according to the Maine Department of Agricultural, Conservation and Forestry. State law prohibits the import or sale of invasive plants in any form. The forestry department said the most common invasive plants in the decorations are Asiatic bittersweet and multiflora rose. The plants can cause environmental damage and overtake forests, wetlands and backyards. The state said the plants are also difficult to control and can re-sprout after being cut. It’s asking decorators to use native species, such as winterberry holly, red twig dogwood and American mountain ash.

Maryland

Hagerstown: The city will move forward with its plans for a multimillion-dollar indoor sports facility, despite calls to slow down the project. The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to enter into an agreement with Eastern Sports Management to develop the structure, along with authorizing city staff members to prepare a demolition contract for Municipal Stadium, which sits on the property where the structure will be built. The money will come from the city’s fiscal year 2021 general fund surplus. Early estimates for the new indoor turf facility were around $7 million, but it is now estimated to cost between $10 million and $20 million, according to city officials. The city will be responsible for tearing down Municipal Stadium, which will cost about $100,000.

Massachusetts

Worcester: A hospital says someone hacked into its employee email system, potentially exposing the personal information of thousands of patients. UMass Memorial Health notified patients earlier this month if their information was involved in the breach, which occurred between June 2020 and January. The personal data included Social Security numbers, insurance information and medical information. More than 200,000 patients and health plan participants could have been affected by the breach, according to a federal database of cybersecurity incidents at medical facilities. The hospital said it had investigated the incident but couldn’t determine how much of the personal information might have been stolen. Affected patients will receive free credit monitoring and data protection assistance.

Michigan

Detroit: The state Supreme Court has agreed to take another look at a law that allows communities to collect millions of dollars from poor criminal defendants to pay salaries, keep lights on, and wax floors in courthouses up and down the state. The issue is whether it’s unconstitutional, especially when a judge knows a conviction will bring in cash and please local officials who count on the money to ease budget pressures. The Supreme Court issued an order Wednesday saying it would hear arguments in a case from Alpena County. Travis Johnson was ordered to pay $1,200 in local court costs for a pair of convictions. The court especially wants to hear whether the law “deprives criminal defendants of their right to appear before an impartial judge.” A judge can order people convicted of crimes to pay a portion of a court’s operating costs, such as salaries, utilities and other services. Someone who is acquitted doesn’t get a bill for overhead, nor do parties in a civil lawsuit. If prosecutors lose a case, money isn’t deducted from their budget. From 2016 through 2019, courts collected $172 million, nearly 75% of it in district courts, which handle traffic tickets, drunken driving cases and other misdemeanors mostly committed by people who can least afford it.

Minnesota

Minneapolis: A judge has denied a defense request to dismiss the most serious charge against a former suburban police officer who said she meant to use a Taser instead of a handgun when she fatally shot Black motorist Daunte Wright. Former Brooklyn Center police Officer Kim Potter will stand trial in Hennepin County on first- and second-degree manslaughter charges in the death of Wright, who was shot after being stopped April 11 for a traffic violation. Potter, who is white, was initially charged with second-degree manslaughter, which requires a finding that she acted with “culpable negligence” in Wright’s death. Prosecutors later added a first-degree manslaughter count against Potter, alleging she recklessly handled a firearm and endangered Wright’s safety when death or great bodily harm was reasonably foreseeable. In allowing the first-degree manslaughter charge, Hennepin County Judge Regina Chu said Wednesday that she only had to view the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution and make a finding of “probable cause,” meaning it was more probable than not that a crime was committed. She noted the state will have a much higher burden of proving the crime beyond a reasonable doubt during a trial, the Star Tribune reports.

Mississippi

Jackson: Two new lawsuits claim hundreds of children have been exposed to dangerous lead levels through the drinking water in the capital city, which has been facing water system problems for years. One lawsuit represents one child, while the other has hundreds of children as plaintiffs. The suits, filed last week in federal court in Jackson, say the city and the state Health Department have made “conscience-shocking decisions and have shown deliberate indifference that have led to Plaintiffs’ exposure to toxic lead in Jackson’s drinking water.” One of the attorneys who filed the lawsuits, Corey M. Stern, has represented people who sued over tainted water in Flint, Michigan. Attorneys for Jackson are reviewing the lawsuits, and “the city will eventually have a response,” city spokesman Justin Vicory said. The lawsuits seek unspecified amounts of money for punitive damages and compensatory damages, plus attorneys’ fees and “other relief the Court deems appropriate.” Jackson has about 160,000 residents, and the city has long-standing problems with water quality and distribution. Since July 1, Jackson has been under a safe drinking water consent order with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which sets a schedule for work on water treatment facilities and delivery systems.

Missouri

Kansas City: Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mark McCloskey said he does not support allowing abortions for young girls who become pregnant through rape or incest. McCloskey, a St. Louis personal injury lawyer who gained national attention after he and his wife waved guns at racial injustice protesters last summer, made the remarks last week at a forum in Osage Beach. “I’ve got a client who was raped by an uncle when she was 13 years old, had the child; she finished high school, finished college and got a master’s degree,” McCloskey said. “That child she would have aborted finished high school, finished college and now has a master’s degree. … I don’t believe in any exceptions.” McCloskey did not specifically address whether he would support an abortion to save the life of the mother, The Kansas City Star reports. He said it has always bothered him that people who oppose the death penalty often support abortion rights. “The justices of the Supreme Court in the most heinous crimes don’t have the right to decide who should live and die,” he said. “But every 13-year-old girl on the street should be able to decide the fate of the life of their child?” The subject of abortion exceptions famously sank the U.S. Senate campaign of another Missouri candidate in 2012. Asked if he supported abortions for women who were raped, Republican nominee Todd Akin, who died this month, responded: “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”

Montana

Helena: A commission created to allocate federal COVID-19 relief funding to help stabilize the state’s economy recommended Wednesday that the governor allocate $4 million to help recruit new medical workers to Montana. But members rejected a proposal to spend $13 million on retention bonuses for existing hospital workers. The health care worker recruitment program would allow health care providers to cover up to $12,500 in moving expenses for new hires, along with another up to $4,300 to cover the taxes on that payment, said Scott Mendenhall, the state’s new American Rescue Plan Act program director. The program could recruit another 238 medical employees to the state, which has seen a surge in COVID-19 cases since mid-July. New workers would have to remain in their jobs in Montana for at least a year, or they would have to repay the money, Mendenhall said. Democratic House Minority Leader Kim Abbott, a member of the committee, argued the proposal overlooked members of the existing health care workforce, who are stressed and frustrated by seeing traveling workers receiving more pay than they receive. Abbott proposed recommending that the state set aside $13 million in federal relief funding for retention bonuses for employees of inpatient hospitals who stuck with their jobs during the pandemic.

Nebraska

Omaha: The state’s largest and oldest prison lost running water because of a plumbing issue, forcing inmates and staffers to use bottled water and portable toilets and raising concerns about conditions at the facility. Officials at the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln said they had to shut off the water Tuesday when they discovered numerous leaks in the facility’s old, brittle pipes. Laura Strimple, a spokeswoman for the state corrections department, said in an email Thursday that crews had restored water service to the prison. State Sen. Terrell McKinney visited the prison Wednesday and said he saw toilets filled with human waste. He said he was told prisoners were getting two water bottles a day, but some complained that they had only received one, and a few prisoners were using mop buckets to shower. “From what I saw, it was horrible,” McKinney said. “You could smell it when you walked in.” Prison officials said the problem demonstrates the need for a new, $230 million facility proposed by Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts. But some state lawmakers, including McKinney, an Omaha Democrat, argue that a new prison isn’t necessary, especially when other states are closing prisons to save money.

Nevada

Las Vegas: Tourists are returning, events are expanding, and a wave of wagering is washing over the state, where a September casino winnings report showed gambling at pre-pandemic levels. Casinos statewide took in almost $1.2 billion in house winnings in September, the Nevada Gaming Control Board reported Wednesday. The figure marked seven straight months of $1 billion or more – one short of a record eight-month streak set in late 2006 and early 2007, before the Great Recession. Tourism officials in Las Vegas reported separately that hotel occupancy increased to 73% last month and that more than 2.9 million people visited the region, down 15% from the same month in 2019 but up 72% from 1.7 million in September 2020. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority characterized the month as a “stabilization” and noted that nightly hotel room rates have climbed to the highest during the “pandemic era,” to an average of $155. Increased vehicle traffic on Interstate 15 at the California-Nevada border reflected a return of domestic tourists, but regular international air travel has not returned to pre-pandemic levels. Federal authorities have set vaccination requirements for foreign, non-immigrant adults flying to the U.S. beginning Nov. 8.

New Hampshire

Concord: The state’s Executive Council on Wednesday approved using federal funds to boost COVID-19 vaccination efforts in a vote that involved much less drama – and money – than previous requests. Two weeks ago, the Republican-led council that approves state contracts turned down $27 million from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over concerns that language in the grants would have bound the state to follow federal directives and mandates related to COVID-19. More than 100 vaccine-mandate opponents packed the room, and nine were arrested for interrupting the meeting. But protestors were absent Wednesday when the the council unanimously voted to use $4.7 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funding to help community health centers and regional public health networks set up school-based and community vaccination clinics. “This will be an additional resource that is needed,” Republican Councilor Joe Kenney said. But Cinde Warmington, the lone Democrat on the council, noted that using the ARPA funds instead of the CDC money diverts money that could have been used for other programs. Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Lori Shibinette agreed.

New Jersey

Oceanport: Netflix has confirmed it will enter the bidding for a 289-acre tract of Fort Monmouth, where it hopes to create a mix of soundstages, post-production buildings and backlot sets. Gov. Phil Murphy supports Netflix’s bid, according to an account in The New York Times, the first to report on the development. In a statement to the Asbury Park Press on Tuesday, Netflix said: “America’s first movie studio was in New Jersey, and today it’s home to many talented people working in entertainment.” The world’s first film studio was part of Thomas Edison’s laboratories in West Orange – now part of the U.S. National Park Service. Years later, but before the motion picture industry moved to the warmer and stable climate of Los Angeles, the capital of American filmmaking was Fort Lee. Fort Monmouth was formerly the base for the U.S. Signal Corps and over its long, nearly 100-year history contributed to many technological advances. Radar was developed at the fort, and it was the first place to bounce an electronic signal off the moon. The fort closed in 2011 and has been undergoing redevelopment and a return to private hands. Prospective purchasers have until Jan. 12 to submit a proposal to buy what is called the Mega Parcel, which sits in parts of Eatontown and Oceanport.

New Mexico

Las Cruces: School bus drivers in the city have gone on strike, shutting down much of the public school transportation system that serves 3,500 students. Current drivers picketed the office of southern New Mexico district school bus contractor STS New Mexico on Thursday, demanding better pay and working conditions. Bus driver shortages have strained schools across the state as education officials struggle to hire and train more workers. Some offer free training, signing bonuses and other perks for new employees. The shortage has led the company to push mechanics into driving service, meaning there aren’t mechanics to fix buses when they break down, a bus driver union representative said. “We’re just going to do the best that we can do,” STS General Manager Van Wamel said. “This shift in focus is unfortunate, but we are confident that it is temporary,” Las Cruces Public Schools Superintendent Ralph Ramos said in a statement. District officials told parents by text message Thursday to “please make alternative transportation arrangements if possible.” District spokeswoman Kelly Jameson said special education students with transportation specified in their individualized learning plans won’t be affected by the strike.

New York

Mechanicville: A furry, four-legged scourge is wreaking havoc on a Hudson Valley town’s water supply, forcing local officials to scramble to keep up. The culprits are a family of beavers that has been building dams near Mechanicville, impeding the flow of water from the primary stream that empties into the small reservoir on which the town depends for drinking water. “I wouldn’t call it a fight. I call it a very challenging opponent, and we play a game of chess,” Mechanicville Public Works Commissioner Anthony Gotti told the Albany Times-Union. “I take his dam down. I’ve got to figure out where he goes next.” Towns like Mechanicville, about 20 miles up the Hudson River from Albany, don’t have the luxury of relying on large reservoirs fed by numerous tributaries. That has made the problem more pressing, as beavers are capable of building a dam in as little as two nights that can slow water flow and create algae in the reservoir. The challenge is complicated by the fact that the dams, which consist of tightly wound branches secured by mud and leaves, usually must be removed by hand, as work crews can’t bring heavy equipment into the forest without building a road, the Times-Union reports. The beaver, a protected species, became New York state’s official mammal in the 1970s and was once nearly extinct.

North Carolina

Raleigh: U.S. Sen. Richard Burr and his brother-in-law are being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission for potential insider trading – a case that stems from their abrupt sales of financial holdings during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, according to recent federal court filings. Burr, a Republican, is among several lawmakers from both parties who faced outrage over their aggressive trading in early 2020, before the economic threat from the virus was widely known. That fueled accusations that the members of Congress were acting on inside information gained through their official duties to benefit financially, which is illegal under a law known as the STOCK Act. Burr was previously investigated by the Trump administration’s Justice Department for offloading $1.6 million from his portfolio in January and February 2020. The department cleared him of wrongdoing almost a year later – on Jan. 19, Donald Trump’s last full day in office. But the SEC continued to investigate Burr, according to court documents filed in the Southern District of New York that were first made public last week. The agency enforces federal securities law. Attorneys for Burr as well as for Gerald Fauth, the brother of Burr’s wife, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Burr has previously denied any wrongdoing.

North Dakota

Minot: A lawmaker was barred from boarding a flight at Minot International Airport this week after a run-in with a security agent during a pat-down. Republican state Rep. Jeff Hoverson said he and his wife were planning to travel Monday for their anniversary. He said a Transportation Security Administration agent said he was going to give him a pat-down but did not ask permission. Hoverson said he moved the agent’s hand away. TSA said in a statement that the pat-down was initiated when Hoverson set off the alarm in the screening machine. The agency said Hoverson objected during the pat-down and called the police. He eventually complied, but the airline made the decision to deny boarding, TSA said. Hoverson said everyone overreacted, including himself. A pastor who’s among the most far-right legislators in the GOP-controlled Legislature, he introduced legislation last session to repeal mask mandates in the state. He also unsuccessfully sponsored legislation that would make it a felony to help women get abortions, including by giving them rides to abortion clinics. And as a freshman legislator two years ago, Hoverson protested a prayer by a Hindu cleric, saying he didn’t “want to be compelled to pray for a false god.”

Ohio

Cleveland: A roller derby team that has called itself the Cleveland Guardians since 2013 sued the city’s Major League Baseball team in federal court Wednesday, alleging that the switch from Indians to Guardians infringes on its trademark. “A Major League club cannot simply take a smaller team’s name and use it for itself,” the lawsuit said. “There cannot be two ‘Cleveland Guardians’ teams in Cleveland, and, to be blunt, Plaintiff was here first.” The Cleveland Indians announced in July that the team would assume the name Guardians for the 2022 season after years of criticism that the Indians name and Chief Wahoo logo were racist. The new name, the team has said, was influenced in part by the two large art deco statues that appear to stand guard on a bridge spanning the Cuyahoga River. The all-gender roller derby team is based in the Cleveland suburb of Parma. It formally registered the name Cleveland Guardians in 2017 with the Ohio secretary of state and has been selling team merchandise since 2014, the lawsuit said. The baseball team filed a trademark application for the Guardians name in the East African island nation of Mauritius, “effectively hiding the application unless one knew where to look,” it said. In a statement Wednesday, the Indians said officials “believe there is no conflict between the parties and their ability to operate in their respective business areas.”

Oklahoma

Oklahoma City: A federal judge has temporarily blocked parts of a new state law that makes it a misdemeanor for people to unlawfully obstruct a public street or highway during a protest. U.S. District Judge Robin Cauthron also put on hold Wednesday a provision that could result in fines of up $50,000 for groups or organizations “found to be a conspirator” with someone who violates any one of a number of state laws pertaining to riots and unlawful assemblies. The injunction temporarily prevents the enforcement of these parts of the law as the court weighs its constitutionality. A key provision of the new law that grants immunity to drivers who run people over is not being put on hold. The Oklahoma chapter of the NAACP sued Attorney General John O’Connor and Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater, alleging parts of the law are unconstitutional because it will limit protests and have a chilling effect on free speech. The law was passed this year by the Republican-controlled state Legislature and signed by GOP Gov. Kevin Stitt shortly after an incident in July in which a pickup truck pulling a horse trailer drove through Black Lives Matter protesters on Interstate 244 in Tulsa. Three people were seriously injured, including a 33-year-old man who fell from an overpass and was left paralyzed from the waist down.

Oregon

Portland: A lawsuit has been filed saying the residency requirements for the state’s assisted suicide law violate the U.S. Constitution. Oregon was the first state to legalize medical aid in dying in 1997, when it allowed adult residents with a terminal diagnosis and prognosis of no more than six months to live to end their lives by taking a lethal dose of prescribed medication. The national advocacy organization Compassion & Choices and an Oregon Health & Science University professor of family medicine filed the new lawsuit. Oregon Public Broadcasting reports experts believe the legal action could have broad implications as the first challenge in the nation to raise the question of whether such residency requirements are constitutional. Oregon’s law was the basis of the laws that have since been adopted in eight other states and Washington, D.C. California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico, and Vermont and Washington state allow aid in dying for residents of their states only. The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Portland on Thursday asks the court to prohibit Oregon officials from enforcing the residency provision of the law. It says the residency requirement violates the Privileges and Immunities Clause in Article IV of the Constitution and the Commerce Clause in Article I.

Pennsylvania

Harrisburg: The state Senate on Wednesday approved legislation that would bar municipalities in the nation’s No. 2 natural gas state from adopting building codes that prohibit gas hookups or otherwise restricting utility service based on the energy source. The Republican-penned bill passed 35-15 and heads to the state House of Representatives for consideration there. The chamber approved it without debate, with six Democrats joining all 29 Republicans in favor of it. The bill defends a homegrown energy source in Pennsylvania as some states, cities and counties elsewhere begin looking at all-electric building codes that exclude gas infrastructure as a way to fight climate change and accelerate progress toward a carbon-free electricity grid. The vast Marcellus Shale reservoir beneath Pennsylvania is the nation’s most prolific natural gas reservoir, and the state has helped subsidize the build-out of gas infrastructure to help the industry find new customers. The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Gene Yaw, R-Lycoming, said the legislation ensures the state controls any decision to restrict the use of an energy source in housing and commercial buildings. Combustion of natural gas emits carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, while natural gas contains methane, which is far more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, according to researchers.

Rhode Island

Cranston: The thousands of drivers who use the Route 37 highway on their way to work every day probably have no idea they are passing over the graves of some people who died in the late 1800s and early 1900s at state institutions. Route 37 was built between 1963 and 1969 over part of the institution cemetery called State Farm Cemetery #1, which has about 1,200 gravesites containing 3,000 people, WPRI-TV reports. A thousand of those graves should have been moved, said Charles St. Martin, a spokesperson for the Rhode Island Department of Transportation. “It was during a time when regulations were far more lax than they are now,” he wrote in an email. “This would never happen now.” There were no grave markers when the highway was built because the original grave markers were wooden stakes that had rotted away, St. Martin said. Some of the grave markers had been destroyed by fire too. The cemetery was near railroad tracks, and sparks from the steam engines set fires that consumed the markers, according to a description of the cemetery by the Rhode Island Historical Cemetery Commission. The cemetery deteriorated and became overgrown. In 2006, when dozens of coffins were exposed due to rain, the transportation department realized the graves were there, St. Martin said. The agency does not plan to move the graves that are under Route 37.

South Carolina

Columbia: The governor wants to put $500 million of federal COVID-19 relief money toward fixing and improving water systems across the state, with priority given to rural and smaller systems. Gov. Henry McMaster announced his idea Thursday, saying a modern clean drinking water and sewer system is vital to citizens and to bring in businesses. “In rural South Carolina, water and sewer is the key to life,” McMaster said at a news conference in Great Falls. The $500 million is part of about $2.4 billion in pandemic relief money that the state can spend. The General Assembly will make the final decision on where the money goes. Senate and House committees discussing the relief money have brought up the idea of water system building and repair, but with a big difference: requiring local systems to also put up money for the effort. The state has more than 260 water systems and 200 wastewater systems, and their average age is approaching 50 years old, officials said. McMaster said a local match wasn’t in his plan. “Some of these communities just don’t have the money,” the governor said.

South Dakota

Pierre: Gov. Kristi Noem issued an executive order Wednesday aimed at ensuring that state employees can easily obtain medical and religious exemptions from federal vaccine mandates. Noem said the move was necessary to ensure employees aren’t forced to get COVID-19 vaccinations under President Joe Biden’s initiative, which covers not only people directly paid by federal contracts but also anyone who works to support them. State lawmakers have said South Dakotans are being denied medical and religious exemptions from feds and have called for a special session to stop the order. Noem spokesman Jordan Overturf said Noem’s exemptions are “explicit and offer a clear path” for state workers to opt out of the shots. For medical exemptions, state employees need a note from a doctor stating that the vaccination is too risky because of health reasons. For religious exemptions, workers need to fill out and sign a form stating they object to the COVID-19 vaccine based “on religious grounds, which includes moral, ethical, and philosophical beliefs or principles.” Once either forms are submitted, the exemptions are automatic, Overturf said. Noem said she is talking to lawmakers about extending those protections to private employees.

Tennessee

Nashville: A new piece of legislation aims to grow and preserve the city’s beleaguered tree canopy by creating a dedicated stream of revenue to help fund the effort. Nashville’s continued growth and development has come at an environmental cost. Between 2008 and 2016, the city lost 918 acres of tree canopy to development – about 13% of its urban canopy, according to a 2018 report. More than 30,000 metric tons of carbon were released into Davidson County’s atmosphere as a result. The bill, drafted by Mayor John Cooper’s administration, would create a dedicated revenue stream for tree restoration by allocating 1% of annual revenue from each of three funding sources: building permits, grading permits and general obligation bond-funded construction projects. The tree restoration and maintenance fund would be capped at $2.5 million annually, and the legislation would “sunset” June 30, 2023, allowing an opportunity for future review and potential renewal if deemed necessary. The bill will go before the Metro Council for its first of three readings Tuesday. The majority of tree loss in Davidson County occurs on private property, according to the bill.

Texas

Fort Worth: A museum dedicated to telling the history of Juneteenth with a national scope is set to be built in the city. The National Juneteenth Museum will be built as part of a mixed-use development, the city of Fort Worth said in a news release Tuesday. When President Joe Biden signed a bill into law over the summer making June 19 a federal holiday to commemorate the end of slavery in the U.S., those by his side included Opal Lee, a 95-year-old Fort Worth woman who spent years rallying people to join her push to see the day get that recognition. The city said Lee has been leading the charge for the new museum, which will be built on land that currently houses her Fort Worth Juneteenth Museum. “To have lived long enough to see my walking and talking make an impact is one thing, but to know that a state-of-the-art museum that will house the actual pen that President Biden used to sign the bill, and many other exhibits, is coming to pass as well – I could do my holy dance again,” Lee said. The city said the museum will be led by a collaboration that includes activists, researchers and historians.

Utah

St. George: The Southwest Symphony opens its 41st season Friday with the annual Halloween Spooktacular, featuring the music of John Williams. Maestro Lucas Darger returns for his sixth season as music director and conductor. Over the years, Darger and his predecessor Gary Caldwell have offered audiences an smorgasbord of Williams’ works. The composer best known for his film scores has received Academy Awards, Grammys, Golden Globes and Emmys. “Our ‘haunted’ orchestra will feature Williams’ music with selections from ‘Star Wars,’ ‘Jurassic Park,’ ‘Superman,’ ‘E.T.,’ ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and many more,” said Scott Raine, marketing director of the Southwest Symphony. The traditional Handel’s “Messiah” will be returning in early December. Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf” is slated to be presented in early February, followed by award-winning international flutist Demarre McGill in March.

Vermont

Rockingham: The town is planning to spend up to $20,000 to save the steeple and a stained glass window from an old church in the village of Bellows Falls that is slated for demolition. The Brattleboro Reformer reports the Rockingham Select Board voted unanimously to spend up to $15,000 to remove the steeple from the Methodist Meeting House and up to $5,000 to remove and crate the stained glass window of “The Parable of the Sower.” Town Manager Scott Pickup said what will happen to the historic items after they are removed has not been decided. The demolition date has been pushed back to December to allow more time to salvage the historic items, Pickup said. The board voted last month to demolish the 1835 building. It was extensively renovated in 1880. But while it was home to the local YMCA, the building fell into a state of serious disrepair. Efforts to save the building failed. The town took ownership of the dilapidated building this summer. Select Board member Elijah Zimmer, a member of the town’s Historic Preservation Commission, said the steeple is in excellent condition, unlike the rest of the building. “I’m sad to lose the building, but glad to see a commitment to historic preservation,” Zimmer said.

Virginia

Richmond: Police are warning that an unlicensed tow truck is being used to quickly steal vehicles throughout the city. On Sunday, the tow truck was captured on surveillance video backing up toward a vehicle, lifting it with tow gear and towing it away seconds later, Richmond Police said in a news release. Police said the truck is black with no logo or lettering on it, as is required for tow trucks for hire. Detectives asked the public to call 911 if they see this tow truck or any tow truck without a company name, lettering or logo.

Washington

Seattle: A federal jury has determined that The GEO Group must pay minimum wage – rather than $1 a day – to immigration detainees who perform tasks like cooking and cleaning at its for-profit detention center in the state. The verdict came Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma in a second trial over the issue. The first trial ended in June with a deadlocked jury. “This multi-billion dollar corporation illegally exploited the people it detains to line its own pockets,” Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in a statement. “Today’s victory sends a clear message: Washington will not tolerate corporations that get rich violating the rights of the people.” The jury will now consider how much the immigrant detainees who worked at the facility are owed, and U.S. District Judge Robert Bryan on his own will determine what The GEO Group must pay the state for its claim that the company unjustly enriched itself. Ferguson, a Democrat, sued the Florida-based GEO Group in 2017, saying the company had unjustly profited by running the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma – now known as the Northwest ICE Processing Center – on the backs of captive workers. A separate lawsuit filed on behalf of detainees was also filed that year, seeking back pay. The judge, who rejected several attempts by GEO to dismiss the lawsuits, consolidated the cases for trial.

West Virginia

Charleston: A new program enables owners of small forestlands to prosper from improving forest health while slowing climate change. The Family Forest Carbon Program, which pays family and individual small-forest owners to implement practices that increase the amount of carbon sequestered and stored on the land, is opening enrollment to West Virginia landowners. The program could pay significant financial and environmental dividends in the Mountain State, given that West Virginia is the third-most-forested state in the nation, with more than 12 million acres of forestland. The program, a product of the American Forest Foundation and the Nature Conservancy, enables the carbon sequestered by enrolled landowners to become part of a carbon market in the form of carbon credits to be verified by a third party. The program provides expert consultation from foresters to landowners and a forest management plan customized for the landowner’s property. “We built into (the program) a management plan, not to tell them what to do but to help them reach the goals and visions they have for their land, put it into a management plan so that their woods are producing timber, wildlife, carbon for the years to come,” American Forest Foundation CEO Tom Martin said.

Wisconsin

Madison: A sheriff who supports former President Donald Trump accused the bipartisan state Elections Commission of breaking the law during last year’s election, taking the unusual step Thursday of detailing the allegations publicly even though no charges have been filed. Racine County Sheriff Charles Schamling called on the Wisconsin Department of Justice to investigate the commission’s decision last year to tell local elections officials not to send poll workers into nursing homes to assist residents with voting during the pandemic. The move is the latest example of Trump supporters seeking to undermine confidence in the election in a critical battleground state that President Joe Biden carried last year. The state Department of Justice has already said it has no plans to pursue the case, the sheriff said. In a 75-minute presentation streamed on his Facebook page, Schmaling detailed what he said was evidence collected from the Ridgewood Care Center in Racine County. Trump issued a statement encouraging his supporters to watch the presentation. Schmaling said the families of eight residents told investigators they believed that their loved ones did not have the capacity to vote but that ballots were cast for them. “I don’t know how or who they voted for,” the sheriff said. “I didn’t ask because it doesn’t matter.”

Wyoming

Cheyenne: Central High School’s theater program returned in full capacity with an intimate production of “Typhoid Mary.” The play tells the story of Mary Mallon, an Irish cook who immigrated to America in the early 1900s while unknowingly serving as a carrier of the disease typhoid. The story begins after Mary has already infected and killed several people with her cooking, but still she refuses to be vaccinated or studied by scientists who offer to help her. Choosing a play with such a relevant premise was entirely intentional, but director Jeremiah Kolkman wasn’t looking to take sides, the Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports. “If the audience walks out of here thinking that they were able to relate to this because of current events as they are, that’s great,” he said. “If audience members are walking out of here disgusted because they don’t like the differences of religion and science, that’s great. I just want them walking out of here thinking about it.” While the director chose the play for its relevance, the production remains bipartisan. It presents the situation from a variety of different perspectives. Mary and her husband struggle through religious reconciliation, while the two scientists throughout the production face conflict in their field. Prior to last weekend’s shows, the last time Cheyenne Central held a full production was fall 2019, before the contagious, deadly coronavirus reared its head.

From USA TODAY Network and wire reports

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Beggars’ Night, ‘Stranger’ hotel stays: News from around our 50 states