Bye-bye to Bei Bei, reverse bank robbery, squirrel survey: News from around our 50 states

Alabama

Montgomery: The Poarch Band of Creek Indians is offering to pay the state $225 million for the exclusive right to operate casino games in Alabama. The tribe unveiled a compact proposal that includes exclusivity, table games and two new north casino sites. The state would also receive a negotiated share of the revenue. Poarch Tribal Chair Stephanie Bryan said the state has perpetual budget shortfalls, and the revenue could fill needs in education and other areas. The tribe projected it could boost state revenue by $1 billion including taxes and license fees. The proposal also includes a lottery. Dog tracks have long fought any proposal to give the tribe a monopoly. A spokeswoman for Gov. Kay Ivey says Ivey is open to recommendations, but it’s ultimately a question for legislators.

Alaska

Juneau: It appears increasingly less likely that a special session of the Legislature will be held this year to address the check paid to residents from the state’s oil-wealth fund, Gov. Mike Dunleavy says. In August, Dunleavy accepted the dividend passed by lawmakers, which amounted to $1,606, but said he viewed it as partial payment and anticipated a fall special session to address the issue. Under state law, at least 30 days’ notice is needed to hold a non-emergency special session during the interim. That would push any special session now up against the holidays. The Republican governor has pushed for a dividend in line with a long-standing calculation that hasn’t been followed since 2016. Many lawmakers said such a dividend is unaffordable.

Arizona

Phoenix: Wildlife officials say an endangered squirrel subspecies in southeastern Arizona is fighting its way back after much of its mountain habitat was burned by a 2017 wildfire. The state Game and Fish Department says the Mount Graham red squirrel’s population is stabilizing, with a 4% increase recorded in September during an annual survey that produced an estimate of 78 squirrels, up from 75 in 2018. According to the department, the population peaked at about 550 in the late 1990s. Before the 2017 wildfire, the population ranged between 200 and 300. Terrestrial wildlife specialist Tim Snow says the results are encouraging, though much work remains to help protect the squirrel population. The squirrel is found only in upper-elevation conifer forests of the Pinaleño Mountains.

Arkansas

Little Rock: The head of the city’s teachers union says another strike – or other actions – protesting state takeover of the local school district and the loss of collective bargaining rights is possible. Little Rock Education Association President Teresa Knapp Gordon spoke Friday, a day after hundreds of teachers in the system walked out for the first time in decades. Gordon called Thursday’s one-day strike in the 23,000-student district a success, saying it drew attention to the teachers’ call for a return to full local control of schools. Arkansas has run the Little Rock district since 2015, when it was taken over because of low test scores at several schools. Schools remained open during the strike, though the district said several hundred teachers and more than half the students were absent Thursday.

California

Sacramento: Author Maya Angelou and performer RuPaul are among the inductees for the next class of the California Hall of Fame. The class includes soccer player and two-time World Cup champion Brandi Chastain, skateboarder and entrepreneur Tony Hawk, actor and comedian George Lopez, chef and restaurateur Wolfgang Puck, astrophysicist France A. Cordova, author Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, civil rights leader James M. Lawson Jr. and winemaker Helen M. Turley. The class will be inducted during a ceremony Dec. 10, though Angelou died in 2014. The California Hall of Fame started in 2006, and inductees are selected each year by the governor and first partner. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who announced the inductees, says they “embody California’s innovative spirit.”

Colorado

Denver: Vail residents fighting to protect habitat for a beleaguered herd of bighorn sheep as developers push to build housing for resort workers have taken their case to state court, The Denver Post reports. A lawsuit filed last week in Eagle County District Court contends Vail town officials violated local rules when they approved a Triumph Development project to build high-density worker housing along Interstate 70 where the bighorns forage during winter. The battle pits the mountain resort’s economic demands against the needs of wildlife, in this case Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, the state animal. The Colorado bighorn population has dwindled to about 6,800, down from about 7,600 in 2012 and 8,000 in 2001, state data shows. Vail Valley bighorns have decreased to about 5% of their historic numbers.

Connecticut

Hartford: Two new plans to improve the state’s transportation system include proposals to quicken commutes to and from New York City. Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont says it’s important for Connecticut to improve life for commuters, noting the Big Apple is the “global capital of the world,” and Connecticut is part of that metropolitan center. His 10-year, $21.3 billion transportation plan invests $6.2 billion in rail improvements, including new cars and locomotives. The state Senate Republican plan proposes a new Connecticut/New York Railroad Strategy Board to vet rail projects. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says his state has been investing in Metro-North Railroad, which has a contract with Connecticut to operate the New Haven Line.

Delaware

Dover: Twenty-two of Delaware’s 30 highest-paid state workers are men, according to salary figures from the Office and Management and Budget as of August. Of the top 10 paid men in 2019, nine earn a regular salary that tops $200,000 per year. That doesn’t include any extra pay such as stipends, benefits or overtime. Four of the top 10 paid women make that much, and the highest-paid female state worker makes less than the top three male workers.

District of Columbia

Washington: D.C. will have to say one of its hardest goodbyes Tuesday, to beloved panda Bei Bei, WUSA-TV reports. The 4-year-old panda will leave the Smithsonian National Zoo for China as part of the panda diplomacy program between the U.S and China. An agreement with the China Wildlife Conservation Association requires all cubs born at the zoo to move to China when they turn 4. Bei Bei will play in his outside habitat for the last time Tuesday, between 7 and 8 a.m., before he makes his way to Dulles Airport for a long flight. To give his many adoring fans time to bid Bei Bei farewell, the Smithsonian National Zoo has been hosting a series of public events, including postcard writing and friendship bracelet making. Panda Cam 1 is focused exclusively on Bei Bei for the duration of his “goodbye week.”

Florida

Tallahassee: Legal skirmishes over elections were fought on two fronts Friday, as a pair of federal court cases underscored the crucial role the state could play in next year’s election. Republicans and Democrats are battling over the order of names on ballots and who is eligible to vote. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis filed an appeal Friday in a bid to lift a federal judge’s temporary order allowing some felons to regain voting rights despite failing to settle unpaid fines and other legal debts. DeSantis also said he would appeal a ruling handed down by another federal judge who sided with Democrats on name order on ballots. Judge Mark Walker agreed that a candidate whose name appears first has an undue advantage. Noting Florida’s history of close elections, he said that “systematically allocating that small but statistically significant advantage” would be constitutionally unfair. Under current law, top ballot billing goes to the governor’s party.

Georgia

Atlanta: The state’s ethics commission has filed a lawsuit seeking communications between Democrat Stacey Abrams’ unsuccessful 2018 campaign for governor and several third-party organizations. But Abrams’ former campaign manager Lauren Groh-Wargo says they’ve already turned over thousands of financial records and calls the investigation politically motivated. The Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission filed the motion in Fulton County Superior Court on Friday. It’s part of an investigation accusing the Abrams campaign of “unlawful coordination” with an outside organization. The commission says the campaign isn’t complying with subpoenas issued last spring. Abrams narrowly lost to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp last year. Ethics commission chief David Emadi is a former county prosecutor who had donated to Kemp’s campaign.

Hawaii

Honolulu: After conducting an aerial survey of the island forest, officials have discovered an ohia tree-killing fungal disease local to the state is spreading on Oahu. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports state Division of Forestry and Wildlife officials tagged 41 more trees that could be ailing from rapid ohia death after first discovering an infected tree July 31. Wildlife officials say the latest confirmed tree is infected with Ceratocystis huliohia, the less aggressive fungal pathogen of two types associated with the disease. Officials say this form is known to take months to years to kill ohia trees. Officials say the more aggressive form has been discovered on Kauai and is responsible for wiping out 80% of the trees destroyed by rapid ohia death on the Big Island.

Idaho

Boise: The State Board of Health and Welfare has removed a controversial rule requiring transgender minors to get a doctor’s approval before changing the gender listed on their birth certificate. The Idaho Press reports after a closed-door executive session with attorneys on Thursday, board chairman Darrell Kerby announced the rule was being vacated because it didn’t have enough votes when it was approved last spring. At that time, three board members voted “yes,” one voted “no,” and one person abstained. Kerby says that fell short of the four affirmative votes required to put the rule into effect. In 2018 a federal judge ruled that Idaho violated the constitutional rights of two transgender women who were denied permission to change the gender on their birth certificates to match their identity. Idaho complied with the court order, but the Board of Health and Welfare created the rule requiring a doctor’s sign-off for minors a short time later.

Illinois

O’Fallon: A $10 million pedestrian trail connecting two southwest Illinois counties has opened after 15 years of planning. The extension of the Madison County Transit Goshen Trail runs 7 miles connecting Troy in Madison County to O’Fallon in St. Clair County. The new trail is about 10 feet wide. Organizers have estimated roughly 115,000 people will use it every year, including cyclists and joggers. The initial idea came in 2003. It took time to secure ownership of properties. Funding was split among several entities, including the state, counties, a park district and the city of O’Fallon. Roughly 150 people attended the ribbon cutting Saturday. At the opening, Madison County Transit Managing Director Jerry Kane jokingly referred to it as the “It’s Finally Open Trail.”

Indiana

Indianapolis: Christmas came early at the Indianapolis Zoo last week. The two walruses at the zoo, Pakak and Aurora, were shipped off to new homes: Aurora to SeaWorld Orlando to breed, and Pakak to the Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma, Washington, to be reunited with the walrus with whom he was rescued. After saying goodbye, the Indianapolis Zoo welcomed 2-year-old walruses Aku and Ginger to the Oceans area. Aku is an 841-pound male who lost his right eye shortly after being rescued. Ginger is a 711-pound female who is very fond of Aku. Indianapolis Zoo public relations specialist Carla Knapp says the zoo is very hopeful the two walruses will eventually breed. According to a release, walruses are vulnerable to extinction, and there are only 14 in human care across four zoos and aquariums in the United States. Climate change and melting ice have resulted in fewer habitats for walruses.

Iowa

Des Moines: Organizers of a new statewide bicycle ride are changing the date of their planned event so it doesn’t conflict with an annual ride that dates to the 1970s. Organizers of Iowa’s Ride announced Friday on the group’s Facebook page that the ride would be held July 12-18, a week earlier than previously planned. The change means the ride won’t overlap with the Des Moines Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa, or RAGBRAI, scheduled for July 19-25. Iowa’s Ride also will move from east to west, while RAGBRAI traditionally travels west to east. The former director of RAGBRAI and his staff resigned and launched the rival event amid a backlash over the Register’s handling of a story involving fundraiser Carson King.

Kansas

Lawrence: The city has joined a community coalition to memorialize the lynching of three black men near downtown in 1882. The Lawrence chapter of the NAACP is working with the Equal Justice Initiative to erect a historical marker with information about the lynching, The Lawrence Journal-World reports. The city commission recently voted unanimously to become a member of the Community Remembrance Coalition. Mayor Lisa Larsen says she thinks joining the coalition signifies that the city supports the NAACP’s efforts. NAACP chapter President Ursula Minor wrote in a letter to Larsen that the purpose of the coalition is to build awareness and enable truthful conversations about the legacy of racial terrorism and injustice through the historical marker project. The Lawrence NAACP has been working on the project for several months.

Kentucky

Bowling Green: The Kentucky Folklife Program at Western Kentucky University is looking for proposals for articles and other pieces documenting the state’s folklife. The program said in a news release that this is the first call for proposals for the multimedia digital publication and said the magazine “explores the diversity of expressive cultures within Kentucky.” In addition to articles, the magazine is looking for ideas for photo essays, documentary film and audio, interviews, and oral histories and performances. Proposals of about 200 to 400 words can be submitted to kyfolklife@wku.edu with the subject heading “Kentucky Folklife Magazine Proposal.” Published features receive a contributor’s honorarium.

Louisiana

Baton Rouge: The governor says the state’s fishing industry has been hit with $258 million in losses due to historic flooding this year. In a news release, Gov. John Bel Edwards says the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries conducted an economic impact analysis to determine the flooding impacts. The analysis was submitted to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to help the state qualify for part of the fisheries disaster assistance. Edwards also asked the state’s congressional delegation for help in a letter Friday. According to the analysis, the private lease oyster industry was the hardest hit with $121 million in losses. Heavy rains in the Midwest kept the Mississippi River at flood stage for extended periods of time and forced the opening of the Bonnet Carre Spillway two times.

Maine

Scarborough: A Maine-based supermarket chain says it’s launching a new initiative to tackle hunger and food insecurity in children, starting with a $1 million donation. Hannaford Supermarkets says it’s calling the project “Fuel Kids at School.” The company says it will work with hunger relief groups to establish 90 school food pantries in Maine and other states in the Northeast. Hannaford says it expects the effort to take two years. Company President Mike Vail says the goal of the effort is for “access to food to be easy for kids.” The company says the pantries will be located inside schools and will allow students to choose foods they can eat during and after the school day.

Maryland

Bel Air: Police have arrested a bank teller accused of breaking into the home of a customer who had recently withdrawn a large sum of money. The Harford County Sheriff’s Office said in a release that 19-year-old Nathan Michael Newell assaulted a 78-year-old man and his stepdaughter Monday night inside a Bel Air home. He got away but was arrested at the bank Wednesday. Freedom Federal Credit Union president and CEO Michael MacPherson told The Baltimore Sun that Newell has been fired. Charging documents say Newell confessed to the crime and said he did it because he was tired of working two jobs. Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler told WJZ-TV it was “almost like a reverse bank robbery,” and he hadn’t seen anything like it in 34 years in law enforcement.

Massachusetts

Boston: The state’s cranberry growers are getting assistance to help overhaul their bogs. Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration says 21 growers have received a total of nearly $1 million for bog renovation projects. The new grant program is meant to help growers reduce their environmental impact while making their bogs more efficient and productive. Farmers are receiving state grants to reconfigure bogs, improve irrigation systems and plant higher-yield cranberry varieties. Baker says the effort comes from a 2016 recommendation from the state’s Cranberry Revitalization Task Force. The price of cranberries has plummeted 57% over the past decade as the industry struggles with overproduction and weakening demand for cranberry juice. Massachusetts is the nation’s second-largest cranberry growing region after Wisconsin. It has 363 farms on more than 13,555 acres.

Michigan

Leland: A late 19th-century shipwreck has been discovered in northern Lake Michigan. MLive reports the discovery of W.C. Kimball was announced last week with photos and videos documenting the details on social media. Shipwreck hunter Ross Richardson, technical diver Steve Wimer and a group of other wreck enthusiasts documented its position in May. Richardson initially found it more than a year ago on his boat’s sonar screen. He was passing through the lake when he noticed a small blip. At first, there was speculation the Kimball was run over by a larger ship. But the condition of the boat has ruled out that claim. The ship was lost in an 1891 storm with four people aboard. Richardson’s website account notes that it was set to round the Leelanau Peninsula.

Minnesota

St. Paul: The president of Macalester College is asking his board of trustees to remove the school founder’s name from a campus building over concerns about his racist and sexist views in the 1800s. The Star Tribune reports that Brian Rosenberg, leader of the private liberal arts college, told faculty last week that he planned to strip Edward Duffield Neill’s name from the humanities building, following pressure from student activists and journalists. Neill Hall was chosen in 2013. Rosenberg said in a statement to the newspaper that his recommendation “is based on the racism reflected in his historical writings, which are extreme even by the standards of his time.” The decision came two weeks after the student publication Mac Weekly published a special issue citing numerous examples of derogatory comments Neill made about American Indians in his published writings.

Mississippi

Jackson: The governor has announced more than $53 million in projects to help coastal communities recover from the 2010 BP oil spill. Money for the 15 projects is coming from civil and criminal penalties resulting from the spill. They include $8 million to find and counter sources of coastal water pollution and $7 million to restore and create wetlands with dredged silt. Projects totaling at least $10 million are aimed at economic recovery. Those include $3 million each to improve the Interstate 10 commercial corridor in Moss Point, to help build an information systems job training center at a community college and to improve a public marina in Biloxi. Nearly $6 million would continue assessing reef fish in coastal and nearshore Gulf of Mexico waters.

Missouri

Kansas City: U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue says he has “absolutely zero regrets” over the decision to move two research agencies’ headquarters from Washington, D.C., to Kansas City. Perdue joined government leaders from Kansas and Missouri on Friday to tour the new headquarters for the Economic Research Service and National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Critics say the move will harm agriculture research and make the findings less accessible to federal policymakers. Perdue contends moving the agencies to the heart of agriculture country will allow researchers to work more closely with farmers, land grant universities and private agriculture-related companies. But Laura Dodson, an agricultural economist and union representative at the Economic Research Service, said the agencies’ researchers focus on national questions, and living near agricultural land is irrelevant to the work they do.

Montana

Troy: A moose tested positive for chronic wasting disease, marking the first time the disease has been detected in the species in the state. A hunter harvested the bull moose in late October near Pulpit Mountain west of Quartz Creek and north of Troy. The harvest occurred less than half a mile to the west of the existing Libby CWD Management Zone. CWD is a fatal disease that can affect the nervous system of mule deer, white-tailed deer, elk and moose. Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks collected the voluntary sample from the moose and submitted it for testing to the Veterinary Diagnostic Lab at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. The lab identified it to be suspected of CWD infection and confirmed the positive detection with a second test.

Nebraska

Valentine: The state Transportation Department is reporting progress in restoring traffic on floodwater-covered highways in the Sandhills region. The department said Thursday that normal, two-lane traffic is returning to U.S. Highway 83 between Thedford and Valentine, and one lane of traffic has been restored on Nebraska Highway 97 south of Merritt Reservoir. The department also says it plans to raise a portion of the roadbed this week on Nebraska Highway 61 between Hyannis and Merriman. Unusually high rainfall since spring flooded Sandhills marshes and ponds, resulting in floodwaters covering nearby highways and county roads.

Nevada

Reno: Nineteen unvaccinated students were forced to temporarily unenroll from a local high school to avoid exposure during an outbreak of whooping cough. Unenrolling during the disease’s 21-day incubation period allows the Damonte Ranch High School students to avoid being classified as chronically absent. The 19 affected students claimed a religious exemption from the vaccine for whooping cough. The Washoe County Health Department says they should avoid going to school until 21 days after the last student was diagnosed. A school district official says the students will be in touch with their teachers and won’t be held back. She says absences because of a lack of vaccination can’t be excused under federal law. Three students at the school have been diagnosed with whooping cough.

New Hampshire

Manchester: The Currier Museum of Art on Friday acquired a second New Hampshire home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The Kalil House in Manchester was built in 1957 and is an example of the “Usonian Automatic” houses Wright designed as a more moderately priced option for the postwar middle class. The two-bedroom house, which includes the original furniture and fixtures, is made of modular concrete blocks made in Manchester and mahogany imported from the Philippines. It was built for Dr. Toufic and Mildred Kalil, who were inspired by the home of a friend whose Wright house had been built on the same street a few years earlier. That property, the Zimmerman house, was left to the Currier in 1988. The Kalil house went on sale this year. The Currier said an anonymous donor provided the funds.

New Jersey

Pleasantville: More piping plover pairs nested in the state this year – 114 compared with 98 last year – with an average of 1.24 young per nest reaching independence, The Press of Atlantic City reports. That’s a 19% increase in pairs, according to the 2019 nesting results report by the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey and the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife Endangered and Nongame Species Program. But it’s still not back to the long-term average of 117 pairs and is well below the peak of 144 in 2003, the report states. Depredation, particularly by red foxes, continues to plague the endangered species that must build its nest in small impressions on beach sand. But residents in Brigantine and Stone Harbor have protested state programs to protect the plovers by trapping and killing red foxes there.

New Mexico

Las Vegas: New Mexico Highlands University says it’s developing a special anthropology master’s degree program focused on cultural resource management. If approved by higher education officials, the program would be delivered through distance learning. Highlands professor Orit Tamir developed the proposal with the goal of preparing people to work in the private sector or with tribal, state and federal agencies. In New Mexico, Tamir says, a master’s degree in anthropology is needed to be a principal or lead investigator on a cultural resources project or other forms of professional anthropology analysis. University Provost Roxanne Gonzales says offering the program through distance learning will allow working professionals to bolster their skills and make themselves more marketable. The program could begin as soon as fall 2020 once it gets final approval.

New York

Albany: Winter hasn’t officially begun, but state officials are already urging families to start thinking about summer camp. Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos says online registration for the agency’s 2020 summer camps opens Jan. 26. Parents are encouraged to register early because some weeks fill up quickly. The department operates four residential camps: Colby in Saranac Lake, Camp DeBruce in Livingston Manor, Camp Rushford in Caneadea and Pack Forest in Warrensburg. The camps offer weeklong programs in conservation education for children ages 11 through 17. Activities include fishing, bird watching, fly-tying, archery, canoeing, hiking, camping, orienteering and hunter safety. One week of camp costs $350 per child.

North Carolina

Pittsboro: Authorities say three people were arrested during a protest near a Confederate statue slated for removal. The News & Observer reports a fight erupted Saturday in Pittsboro when protesters who oppose the statue’s removal complained about counterprotesters standing near a protester’s vehicle. The Chatham County Sheriff’s Office said 52-year-old Allan Wayne Hall was charged with inciting a riot and simple affray; 29-year-old Calvin James Megginson was charged with simple assault; and 63-year-old Robert Butler was charged with inciting a riot. All three live in Pittsboro. On Wednesday, a judge lifted an injunction that has blocked the county from removing the statue from where it has stood outside a courthouse since 1907. Several people have been arrested at previous protests.

North Dakota

Fargo: A police sergeant has undergone a four-hour surgery after shooting himself in the hand. KFGO radio reports Sgt. Matt Ysteboe was hurt Friday while hunkering down after a man fired a gun toward officers. Fargo Police Chief David Todd says Ysteboe suffered a serious injury. No further information about Ysteboe’s condition was released. Todd says the 54-year-old suspect shot a revolver with a laser in the direction of officers and fired additional shots in the Radisson Hotel lobby, where he was arrested. No other injuries were reported. Ysteboe, who was the night shift supervisor Friday, has been with the department since 2001. He was promoted to sergeant in 2016.

Ohio

Columbus: A group of conservative lawmakers in the state has introduced a bill to outlaw abortion outright. State Rep. Candice Keller, a Republican from Middletown, says backers are tired of taking an incremental approach to ending abortion. The legislation was introduced Thursday. It declares a fetus a person and would subject doctors who terminate pregnancies to potential murder charges. The bill appears to make an exception for the life of the mother. Ohio is among states that have passed restrictive abortion laws in recent years in hopes of sparking a legal challenge that would overturn Roe v. Wade. The conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court has emboldened abortion opponents. The Ohio bill is opposed by abortion rights groups. The state’s largest anti-abortion group is remaining neutral.

Oklahoma

Oklahoma City: The Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals has upheld the class action designation of a lawsuit against an oil company over damage caused by earthquakes near Prague in November 2011, including one of magnitude 5.7. The court on Friday rejected the appeal of New Dominion LLC in the lawsuit filed by Jennifer Lin Cooper. Three other oil companies originally included in the lawsuit agreed to a settlement in December. The lawsuit alleges saltwater disposal wells led to the earthquakes. The 5.7 magnitude quake was the largest ever recorded in Oklahoma until a magnitude 5.8 temblor struck near Pawnee in 2016. The lawsuit would include residents in Lincoln, Payne, Logan, Oklahoma, Cleveland, Pottawatomie, Seminole, Okfuskee and Creek counties who had earthquake-related property damage.

Oregon

Coos Bay: The proposed Jordan Cove liquefied natural gas terminal and its 230-mile feeder pipeline in southern Oregon would have some adverse and significant impacts, according to staff at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The Oregonian/OregonLive reports the agency’s staff issued their final environmental analysis of the contentious natural gas export project Friday, concluding it would result in “temporary, long-term and permanent impacts on the environment.” The report says the project would impact Coos Bay and 18 threatened and endangered species. The report says many of those impacts would not be significant or could be reduced to less than significant levels with avoidance and mitigation measures.

Pennsylvania

Harrisburg: Discussions on raising the state’s minimum wage for the first time since 2009 are heating up, in part to get Gov. Tom Wolf to abandon an effort to extend overtime pay eligibility to tens of thousands of additional workers. Negotiators are up against a Thursday deadline, when a state rule-making board is scheduled to vote on an overtime regulation proposed by Wolf. If Wolf, a Democrat, is to get the GOP-controlled Legislature to agree to raise the minimum wage, he’ll have to make concessions, including rescinding the overtime proposal. The increase under negotiation is far more modest than what Wolf proposed in January when he pushed for a multiyear increase to $15 an hour in 2025. The discussion revolves around increasing the minimum wage to about $9.50 an hour in steps over 18 months or so, while Wolf would have to drop elements of his January proposal, including eliminating Pennsylvania’s tipped wage minimum, now $2.83.

Rhode Island

Providence: Gov. Gina Raimondo has announced her plan to make construction of new homes a priority as the state joins its neighbors at a “tipping point” of high housing costs. The Providence Journal reports Raimondo has not committed to any specific policy for dealing with the state’s housing issue in 2020 but has reiterated that having secure housing is a “moral” and “economic” imperative. The Democratic governor says the issue is one of supply and demand in which not enough homes are being built to meet the market’s demand and the affordable housing bonds are not enough to help fill the gap. The newspaper reports the state’s housing market has come back somewhat after the recession, but as home prices rise steadily, construction of new units remains idle.

South Carolina

Columbia: The University of South Carolina is investigating members of a fraternity who a television reporter says made sexist and offensive remarks to her while she was working. WACH-TV says reporter Brittany Breeding was covering Lambda Chi Alpha’s four-year suspension Monday when some fraternity members yelled out derogatory remarks at her. University spokesman Jeff Stensland says a staff member witnessed the harassment and reported it. Fraternity spokesman Tad Lichtenauer says it expects ethical behavior from all students and takes harassment allegations seriously. News outlets report Lambda Chi Alpha had already been suspended from the school’s campus until 2023 because of hazing allegations involving violence and alcohol.

South Dakota

Sioux Falls: An organization in the state has received a national award for its work in immigration and justice. South Dakota Voices for Peace was named a winner of the J.M.K. Innovation Prize, which is given to groups working on social challenges in the United States, according to a news release from the J.M. Kaplan Fund. South Dakota Voices for Peace, along with its sister organization South Dakota Voices for Justice, aims to counter anti-immigrant, anti-refugee and anti-Muslim legislation as well as build a rural model to sustain immigration services. The award is given out every other year to 10 organizations nationwide. Each awardee receives up to $175,000 over three years and the ability to work with other social justice organizations.

Tennessee

Chattanooga: Volkswagen plans to donate $1.25 million to help expand Cherokee National Forest near the company’s Chattanooga plant and offer community grants. The Conservation Fund has announced a collaboration with Volkswagen to open three tracts near the plant for outdoor public recreation and to protect the habitat for the black bear and the Indiana bat. Volkswagen is using $200,000 of the $1.25 million on community grants up to $50,000 each to help nonprofits, schools and public agencies improve water quality, increase outdoor recreation access and advance environmental education. Volkswagen broke ground Wednesday on an $800 million expansion to make electric cars in Chattanooga. The company has sought to transform itself after the 2015 diesel scandal, in which Volkswagen was caught using software to cheat on emissions testing.

Texas

Austin: Planned Parenthood gave up roughly $60 million when it left a federal family planning program this year in opposition to a new Trump administration rule prohibiting clinics from referring women for abortions. In Texas, a network of eight Christian pregnancy centers is jockeying for that Title X funding as it makes plans to take the unprecedented step of offering unmarried women contraceptives next year. The move by The Source marks a turning point for faith-based pregnancy centers that are opposed to abortions and typically do not provide birth control, while they instead preach abstinence outside of marriage. Andy Schoonover, chief executive for The Source, said the nonprofit organization will add contraception options including pills, injections and intrauterine devices to its services. The chain of clinics will not provide the morning-after pill or copper-based IUDs.

Utah

Salt Lake City: Karen Pence visited the city to file paperwork to put President Donald Trump on the state’s GOP primary ballot in the 2020 presidential race. The Deseret News reports Vice President Mike Pence’s wife told supporters Friday that the race will be close. She also highlighted Trump’s support of religious liberty and other conservative values. Republican Sen. Mike Lee will serve as co-chairman of the president’s re-election campaign in the state – a turnaround from 2016, when he led a fight against Trump’s nomination. Lee says he took the “scenic route” to becoming a Trump supporter and respects him for keeping campaign promises. Reps. Chris Stewart and Rob Bishop as well as former Sen. Orrin Hatch are also among the honorary co-chairmen of the Trump Victory campaign in Utah.

Vermont

Bellows Falls: A community group is attempting to save a former YMCA building that the town wants to demolish. Elijah Zimmer told village trustees last week that the group has received an emergency grant to evaluate the structure and has applied for emergency repair funds. The Brattleboro Reformer reports the structure was built in 1835. It used to be a YMCA and at one time was a church. Zimmer says the building, if restored, could provide a large community space that Bellows Falls lacks. Trustees say the structure is so deteriorated that it isn’t safe to have workers inside, and money is being spent on barriers. Trustees voted to pursue legal options for demolition, but some said they hope Zimmer can save the building.

Virginia

Richmond: Three African American lawmakers are expected to lead powerful legislative committees next year in the House of Delegates. Black legislators haven’t led a House committee in two decades. Democratic Del. Eileen Filler-Corn, who is set to be the next House speaker, announced the heads of four legislative committees Thursday. Three of the four are African American. Del. Luke Torian will lead the House Appropriations Committee; Del. Jeion Ward will lead the House Commerce and Labor Committee; and Del. Roslyn Tyler will lead the House Education Committee. Democrats flipped control of the Virginia’s General Assembly in legislative elections this month.

Washington

Seattle: Military families have raised concerns saying housing at Joint Base Lewis-McChord made them sick. KOMO-TV reports multiple families who were living on the base are now living in motels and recreational vehicles because of moldy conditions. Private company officials from Lincoln Military Housing say they are working to fix the problem. Army wife Kelsey White says the mold gave her family serious health issues, including her 7-month-old son. Company officials say the White family was put in a motel and then moved to an RV because no other on-base housing was offered. Company officials say they are preparing a statement in response to concerns. Attorneys for the White family and 22 other military families expect to file a lawsuit in the next few months.

West Virginia

Morgantown: A library says violent threats prompted it to cancel an event where drag queens were going to read to children. The Morgantown Public Library System announced it was canceling its Drag Queen Story Time event in a Facebook post Friday. The statement cited “multiple threats of violence against the volunteer readers” as the reason for the cancellation. A voicemail left at the library wasn’t immediately returned. The library’s statement says it “remains committed to fostering a love of reading for all ages” and will instead have its staffers read for the event Saturday morning. Libraries and bookstores across the country have had similar events where men in drag read stories to kids, with some drawing protests.

Wisconsin

Florence: Florence County, in rural northeastern Wisconsin, has declared itself a Second Amendment sanctuary, a move commissioners say is designed to send a “keep your hands off our guns” message to politicians. The nonbinding measure gives the sheriff the ability to “exercise sound discretion to not enforce against any citizen an unconstitutional firearms law.” Florence County Supervisor Edwin Kelley says a recent call by Gov. Tony Evers for gun control action has made his constituents nervous. Sheriff Dan Miller says people who live “up north” tend to be more conservative and like their guns. He says the ordinance “sends a message that all of Wisconsin is not exactly the same.” The ordinance doesn’t mean firearms will not be taken away from convicted felons or in criminal cases, including domestic violence or drugs.

Wyoming

Cheyenne: Lawmakers have decided against giving college students more state scholarship money for high grades. The Joint Education Interim Committee voted 8-5 against the proposal Thursday in Cheyenne. The bill would have enabled students to boost Hathaway Scholarship funding by maintaining a 3.75 GPA for two consecutive semesters. The Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports some lawmakers worry GPA-based incentives would be unfair for students seeking certain degrees. Students can use the Hathaway Scholarship at the University of Wyoming or any in-state community college. The bill would have increased the amount awarded through the scholarships by $3.6 million annually. Democratic Sen. Chris Rothfuss, of Laramie, says he would rather use the increase for more scholarship funding overall.

From USA TODAY Network and wire reports

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Bye-bye to Bei Bei, reverse bank robbery: News from around our 50 states