Flag ladies, bees for vets, Hovenweep: News from around our 50 states

Alabama

Mobile: The state had already spent almost $60 million on a toll bridge project before the governor pronounced the project “dead.” Alabama Department of Transportation spokesman Tony Harris says the department spent about $40 million since 1997 on alignment studies, preliminary engineering and other costs. He says the state also spent another $19.6 million to buy land for the bridge. The proposed bridge across Mobile Bay would have had tolls of up to $6. Gov. Kay Ivey’s pronouncement late last month that the project was “dead” came after the Eastern Shore Metropolitan Planning Organization removed the bridge from the area’s transportation plan. The project must be in the plan detailing the region’s transportation priorities to qualify for federal funding.

Alaska

Fairbanks: A new group hopes to overhaul the state’s oil and gas tax credit system through a ballot initiative called the Fair Share Act. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports the group hopes to enact the proposal into law in 2020. The group includes former Democratic state Sen. Joe Paskvan, who previously served as Senate Resources Committee chair. Group steering committee member Robin Brena says the initiative would only apply to three of the state’s large oil fields. Brena says Prudhoe Bay, Alpine and Kuparuk produced an average daily minimum of 40,000 barrels of oil in the last calendar year. The initiative would increase the gross minimum production tax for those fields from the current 4% to 10%. The measure would also increase net production tax.

Arizona

Phoenix: Thirsty wildlife are getting help from the state. The Arizona Game and Fish Department has hauled more than 1.5 million gallons of water to 3,000 catchments around the state this year. Hot temperatures and a dry monsoon season are fueling the need. A fourth of the state is in moderate drought, and almost all of it is abnormally dry. The Game and Fish Department has collected more than $72,000 in donations since June to help with the water deliveries. They say the water keeps animals alive and away from urban areas. The donations have been used to replace tires on water trucks, rent water trucks and offset the cost of a water trailer. Officials also airlifted water to catchments near Kingman for bighorn sheep.

Arkansas

Little Rock: The legislator who sponsored a measure requiring a Ten Commandments statue at the state Capitol is asking that video from his deposition in a lawsuit challenging the monument only be available to attorneys in the case, citing concerns that it could be used to harass him. An attorney for state Sen. Jason Rapert asked a federal judge Wednesday to issue an order limiting the use of any deposition video in the lawsuit challenging the display’s constitutionality. The Republican sponsored the 2015 law requiring the privately funded monument on Capitol grounds. The monument was installed at the Capitol last year, less than a year after a man crashed his car into the original statue. Rapert’s attorney cited concerns that an edited version of the video could distributed online to embarrass the lawmaker.

California

Sacramento: The state Senate has passed a bill that would give new wage and benefit protections to workers at so-called gig economy companies like Uber and Lyft. The 29-11 vote late Tuesday sends the bill back to the state Assembly for final approval over strident Republican opposition. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has said he supports it. The proposal has drawn staunch opposition from on-demand delivery and ridesharing companies while winning support from many of the Democratic presidential contenders. It puts into law a California Supreme Court decision making it harder for companies to classify workers as independent contractors. The bill would make those companies classify their workers as employees instead. While its impact on gig economy companies has drawn most of the attention, it would affect a wide array of industries.

Colorado

Denver: An effort to recall two state senators has ended after backers informed the secretary of state’s office that they will not be turning in the signatures they collected to force special elections to remove the pair. The recall effort involved Democratic Sens. Pete Lee, of Colorado Springs, and Brittany Pettersen, of Lakewood. The failed effort comes after the backers of a campaign to recall Democratic Gov. Jared Polis last week didn’t collect enough signatures to seek removing him from office. An effort to remove Rep. Tom Sullivan, D-Centennial, from office also was abandoned this summer. There is still one active legislative recall campaign in the works. An effort to oust Senate President Leroy Garcia, D-Pueblo, has until Oct. 18 to collect 13,506 signatures.

Connecticut

Hartford: Connecticut’s state parks saw an increase of hundreds of thousands of visitors this season. State park officials and advocates believe that’s due in part to sunny weekends and a 2-year-old program that provides free admittance for vehicles with a Connecticut license plate. Rough estimates indicate there’s been a roughly 10% percent increase in traffic to the parks this season compared to last season, which was the first year of the Passport to Parks initiative. There was also an estimated 10% jump in attendance in 2018. State Parks Director Tom Tyler says there has also been an approximate 10% increase in out-of-state parking fees. Connecticut’s parks receive roughly 10 million visitors annually. The passport program is being credited with encouraging people to make shorter visits, freeing up space for other visitors.

Delaware

Wilmington: A woman who thought she couldn’t have children says she unexpectedly gave birth in her sister’s bathroom without showing any symptoms before delivering. Wilmington resident Carla Collazo says pregnancy tests came back negative, and she hadn’t experienced weight gain or nausea ahead of self-delivering a baby girl in the toilet last month. As the ambulance arrived, her sister tied off the umbilical cord with a shoestring. The women say the baby was born about six weeks early and weighed under 3 pounds. She’s recovering in the hospital, but Collazo says she’s healthy. Collazo says she always wanted a child but thought a medical condition would prevent her. Now, the new mom says she’s shocked and happy to have her “miracle baby.”

District of Columbia

Washington: For the first time, the Metropolitan Police Department has publicly released detailed stop-and-frisk data, WUSA-TV reports. In its “Stop Data Report” released Monday, Metro Police admits that a disproportionate number of the people stopped by D.C. police officers are black. April Goggans of Black Lives Matter DC says the significance of the department’s admission is important. “They can’t hide it anymore,” Goggans says. D.C. police studied a recent four-week period from July 22 to Aug. 18 and found that 70% of people stopped by its officers were black. As of July 2018, D.C.’s population was 46.4% African American and 45.6% white, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Florida

Orlando: One of only a handful of orange juice processing plants left in the state stopped processing fruit Tuesday in yet another sign of the havoc that imported juice, diseases and Hurricane Irma have had on the fortunes of the state’s signature crop. Officials at U.S. Sugar-owned Southern Gardens Citrus announced the end of processing at its plant in southwest Florida a month before the start of the next growing season in Florida. Southern Gardens will have its fruit processed at other plants. It will bring the juice back for storage and then distribution to its customers. Shipping, growing and research operations also will continue at the plant, company officials said. Company officials said the plant was built a quarter-century ago to process 20 million boxes of fruit, but it only processed 6.5 million boxes of citrus last year.

Georgia

Atlanta: Public universities could see overall state funding increase next year, despite guidance from Gov. Brian Kemp to trim budgets this year and next. The state Board of Regents voted Tuesday to recommend a $75 million increase in the system’s budget for the year that will begin next July. The increase points to one aspect of Kemp’s call for 4% budget cuts this year and 6% next year: Many expensive education and health programs are exempted. Regents set $11 million in cuts this year and $16.5 million next year, some from agencies that don’t touch students. Decreases are outweighed by increases requested next year because of rising enrollment and expanding campuses. Of $27.5 billion the General Assembly appropriated this year, more than $15 billion is budgeted for education.

Hawaii

Honolulu: A senior University of Hawaii official says losing the Thirty Meter Telescope could mean losing billions of dollars in research funding over the next few decades. University of Hawaii Vice President for Research and Innovation Vassilis Syrmos tells the Honolulu Star-Advertiser not building the advanced telescope on the summit of Mauna Kea could impair the school’s ability to attract research dollars. He says the university is expecting to receive billions for TMT-related astronomy research and instrumentation development from the National Science Foundation. Syrmos says the funding will go elsewhere if the telescope isn’t built in Hawaii. Some Native Hawaiians oppose building the telescope on Mauna Kea because they believe its summit is sacred. Protesters have been blocking the road to the summit since mid-July to prevent construction from getting underway.

Idaho

Almo: A daredevil sport in which an individual attempts to walk across a rope or nylon strap suspended high above the ground has been banned at a national reserve and state park in south-central Idaho. Officials at the state-managed City of Rocks National Reserve and Castle Rocks State Park say the ban took effect Aug. 28 after several highlining episodes among the towering, rocky outcrops. Superintendent Wallace Keck tells The Times-News that officials want to analyze the potential effects of the sport before possibly allowing it to continue. Keck says some potential considerations include views being marred by ropes stretched between pinnacles, damage to the area and illegally anchoring ropes on federal land within the reserve.

Illinois

Chicago: The wife of a powerful city alderman facing federal corruption allegations will become the Illinois Supreme Court’s next chief justice. The state’s highest court selected Anne Burke this week. The 13-year veteran of the court will start her three-year term Oct. 26. A court statement says she’ll be the third female chief justice on the 200-year-old court, following current Justice Rita Garman and late Justice Mary Ann McMorrow. She’ll succeed Chief Justice Lloyd Karmeier. Burke’s husband, Ed Burke, has been on Chicago’s City Council for 50 years. He was charged this year with trying to extort executives seeking city remodeling permits. He has pleaded not guilty. Because it is a federal case, no appellate issues related to it would come before the state Supreme Court.

Indiana

Indianapolis: The Bureau of Motor Vehicles says the state’s attorney general has stalled a measure that would allow people to change their gender on driver’s licenses and IDs. Bureau spokeswoman Susan Guyer tells The Journal Gazette that Attorney General Curtis Hill declined to sign off on the rule because the public wasn’t sufficiently informed of the plan. The bureau proposed the rule that would require a birth certificate or a special state Department of Health form to change gender on licenses and IDs. It was slated to become effective in October. Hill’s decision last week jeopardizes the department’s plan to allow gender change on a birth certificate with a physician’s statement. The move isn’t a formal rejection, but it puts the rule on hold while changes are considered.

Iowa

Des Moines: Secretary of State Paul Pate has launched a drive to get schools involved in registering young voters. The Legislature passed a law in May 2017 that lowered the voter registration age to 17 as of Jan. 1 of this year. Under the new law, those who will be 18 in time for the next general election also may participate in primary elections. Pate on Tuesday announced plans to award schools that register at least 90% of their eligible students to vote with the Carrie Chapman Catt Award, named after the Iowan who was a national leader in the women’s suffrage movement. He encouraged schools to organize voter registration events on Sept. 24, which is National Voter Registration Day.

Kansas

Wichita: The state’s farmers have begun planting their next year’s winter wheat crops. The National Agricultural Statistics Service reported Monday that 1% of the winter wheat has now been planted in Kansas. That is near the average for this time of year. The agency also reports that 4% of the corn in the state has now been cut, near the 8% average for this point in the season. About 28% of the corn has matured. Other major field crops also are making progress as harvest nears in Kansas. About 89% of soybean crops are setting pods, and 7% are dropping leaves. The government is also reporting that 3% of the sorghum in the state is now mature.

Kentucky

Elizabethtown: Officials with Kentucky State Police say a new Victim Advocacy Program will provide needed support for crime victims. A statement from the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet says details of the statewide initiative are being announced Thursday at the Kentucky State Police post in Elizabethtown. Officials say 16 advocates are being hired and trained to assist crime victims and those involved with critical incidents by providing support during and after a crisis. The statement says funding will come from the Victims of Crime Act and partnerships with statewide agencies.

Louisiana

New Orleans: Visitors to the Big Easy who want to learn more about cocktails will soon have a new place to go. The Sazerac Co., a Louisiana-based spirits maker, is opening the Sazerac House on Oct. 2. The six-story building houses multiple floors of exhibits as well as a gift shop and the company’s headquarters. Visitors can walk through and learn about the city’s cocktail culture and the various spirits the Sazerac Company makes, especially those used in the signature New Orleans drink called the Sazerac. Rye whiskey – a key ingredient in the cocktail – will be made on site. But the first batch won’t be ready for six years. Tasting is encouraged. Free samples will be given to visitors, and there will be special classes and tastings daily.

Maine

Freeport: Three women who’ve been waving the Stars and Stripes each week since the 9/11 attacks are folding up their flags. The tradition started after the terrorist attacks 18 year ago. With the nation reeling, Elaine Greene wanted to do something to help. She grabbed a flag and began waving it. Motorists honked their approval. The simple patriotic act has played out weekly ever since then. But JoAnn Miller, Carmen Footer and Greene did more than wave flags. They mailed care packages to troops deployed in the war on terror. They visited the wounded and attended funerals. Greene, who’s the youngest at 74, says age is taking a toll. She said Wednesday marked the end of the weekly tradition, but the women will remain active.

Maryland

Baltimore: Baltimore Symphony Orchestra musicians have filed a complaint with a federal agency accusing orchestra management of unfair labor practices. News outlets report the charge was filed Tuesday with the National Labor Relations Board. The musicians say the orchestra hasn’t bargained in good faith regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment. A bargaining session between the musicians and management ended without an agreement Monday. Musicians picketed with their instruments Tuesday. The first performance of the 2019-2020 season is scheduled for Saturday. The orchestra canceled its summer programming earlier this year, and musicians said they were losing 12 weeks of pay. The orchestra locked out its musicians in June when contract and salary negotiations stalled.

Massachusetts

Boston: A man who pulled four people from a burning car has been honored with a civilian bravery award named for a flight attendant on a hijacked jetliner that was flown into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. Ross Dugan received the Madeline Amy Sweeney award on Wednesday, the 18th anniversary of the attacks. Dugan, a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority electrician, was on Route 24 in West Bridgewater in February when he saw the burning vehicle. Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito said that “without regard for his own life,” Dugan pulled four people to safety. Dugan, who suffered burns, said he was “incredibly humbled.” Sweeney, of Acton, was a flight attendant aboard American Airlines Flight 11. She was credited with quietly providing authorities on the ground with key details about the unfolding attack.

Michigan

Mackinac Island: The owners of the iconic Grand Hotel say they’ve reached a tentative deal to sell it to a private equity firm. The Musser family announced the deal with KSL Capital Partners on Tuesday. They are expected to close within 30 days. Terms were not disclosed. The 397-room hotel was built in 1887 on the island in the Straits of Mackinac that separates Michigan’s Upper and Lower peninsulas. The Mussers have owned it since the 1930s. Dan Musser III said in a release that the decision to transfer ownership was not taken lightly. KSL principal Michael Mohapp said the firm “understands the importance of Grand Hotel to Mackinac Island, the state of Michigan and beyond, as well as its history, charm and traditions.”

Minnesota

Ulen: Classmates of a teenager recently killed in a car crash have honored her memory in a special way. Alivia Mortensen was posthumously crowed homecoming queen at Ulen-Hitterdal Secondary School this week. The 17-year-old standout athlete and honor student died in a crash in Clay County on June 2, just days after finishing her junior year. KFGO reports school counselor Kim Skjold explains that last spring before school was out, Alivia was selected as a candidate for homecoming queen. Skjold says that when the senior class and senior court were making a selection this summer, the students decided there was no better person to receive the honor than Mortensen. Her family agreed. Members attended Monday night’s coronation and accepted the crown in Alivia’s honor.

Mississippi

Seminary: A white man has received an 11-year prison sentence for his part in burning a cross near the home of an African American family. The Justice Department says 38-year-old Louie Bernard Revette was sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Keith Starrett in Hattiesburg. Revette pleaded guilty in April to one count each of interference with housing rights, which is a federal civil rights violation, and of using fire during the commission of a felony. Revette acknowledged recruiting someone to help him build a cross to burn near the home of a juvenile in a predominantly black area of Seminary in 2017. He also acknowledged building the cross to threaten, frighten and intimidate people because of their race. His accomplice pleaded guilty in August and awaits sentencing in November.

Missouri

Kansas City: An audit report shows taxpayers spent more than $200,000 to defend former Gov. Eric Greitens’ use of a self-deleting text message app. A 2017 lawsuit alleged Greitens’ office used the app Confide to subvert state open records laws. The case was dismissed in July. Greitens resigned last year amid allegations of sexual misconduct and campaign violations. The Kansas City Star reports that state Auditor Nicole Galloway conducted the routine audit. Her report released Wednesday says most of the money funded private attorneys to represent the governor’s office in the lawsuit. Nearly $23,000 came from the state legal expense fund administered by the attorney general’s office. The governor’s office paid the remainder.

Montana

Helena: A federal appeals court says a state law that restricts automated telephone calls about political campaigns violates the First Amendment’s free-speech protections. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that so-called robocalls can’t be regulated based on the content of their messages. The ruling that strikes down the 1991 Montana law barring political robocalls also applies to the eight other Western states within the 9th Circuit’s jurisdiction. The judges say the court has previously upheld state laws that regulate robocalls, such as those that aim to protect consumers from scams. But they say restricting a robocall based on its content is a different matter. The opinion written by Judge Richard Paez says that “prohibiting political robocalls strikes at the heart of the First Amendment.”

Nebraska

Gering: A checkout program for sensory backpacks is now available at the Wildcat Hills Nature Center in the Nebraska Panhandle. Amanda Filipi, a Nebraska Game and Parks Commission outdoor education specialist based at the center, says she learned of sensory backpacks after her nephew was diagnosed on the autism spectrum. The backpack’s contents are designed to stimulate the senses and serve as a calming kit for youths who face anxiety during field trips and other busy events at the center. The contents include sunglasses, noise-dampening earmuffs, books and a variety of sensory toys. The backpacks complement a number of quiet spaces that have been designated in the building.

Nevada

Incline Village: The sixth annual Labor Day beach cleanup at Lake Tahoe did more than just remove 168 pounds of trash from the shoreline. It also apparently provided clues to help design new strategies to keep cigarette butts and other garbage from ending up there in the first place. Sixty-five volunteers removed 2,751 pieces of single-use plastic and 1,997 cigarette butts from Kings Beach. Maroliee Movius, the League to Save Lake Tahoe’s community engagement manager, told the Sierra Sun they used earlier data to help determine the locations where nine new cigarette canisters recently were installed around the lake. The league plans to eventually install 250 of the canisters as part of a joint program with the Tahoe Water Suppliers Association.

New Hampshire

Manchester: A small but growing number of veterans around the country are turning to beekeeping as a potential treatment for anxiety, PTSD and other conditions. Veterans Affairs has begun offering beekeeping at a few facilities including in New Hampshire, and researchers are starting to study whether the practice has therapeutic benefits. For now, there is little hard data, but veterans in programs like the one at the Manchester VA Medical Center in New Hampshire insist that beekeeping helps them focus, relax and become more productive. While some programs are geared to helping veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, others have a broader mandate. Their main goal is to expose veterans to beekeeping, and relief from PTSD or anxiety is an added benefit.

New Jersey

Glen Rock: Local pups will spend an evening at the pool next Monday to celebrate a new dog park dedicated to 9/11 search-and-rescue dogs. The Doggie Swim Day will be held at the municipal kiddie pool. The long-awaited bark park is opening on a 1-acre patch of land off Doremus Avenue. The dog park is a volunteer effort. Launched by resident Michelle Hillock in 2013, the initiative evolved into a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to the construction and upkeep of the dog park funded entirely by donations. The Doggie Swim Day, open to residents only, will be at the Glen Rock municipal pool on Doremus Avenue. Registration is required, and there are two swim times: small dogs from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. and big dogs from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.

New Mexico

Farmington: State environmental officials are working on plans to address ozone pollution as a number of counties are pushing the limit set by federal regulators. A monitor near Navajo Lake in northwestern New Mexico has met the ozone limit of 70 parts per billion set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. San Juan County is one of seven New Mexico counties that exceed 95% of the national ambient air quality standard for ozone. The others are Eddy, Lea, Dona Ana, Rio Arriba, Sandoval and Valencia. The state Environment Department is holding meetings and drafting ozone attainment plans. Right now, any measures taken to lower ozone levels will be voluntary. But if a county goes into non-attainment status, the measures become mandatory.

New York

New York: The artist who created New York’s Charging Bull sculpture will oversee repairs to the statue after a vandal damaged it with a metal banjo. The head of a downtown Manhattan business association says artist Arturo Di Modica plans to travel from Sicily at the end of the month to supervise repairs to the bull. Police say 42-year-old Tevon Varlack, of Texas, bashed the bull repeatedly with a metal, banjo-like object Saturday. The attack left the bronze beast with a gash at the base of its right horn. Bowling Green Alliance chairman Arthur Piccolo said Tuesday that the upstate New York foundry Polich Tallix has been retained to repair the statue. Varlack was charged with criminal mischief and disorderly conduct. Legal Aid lawyers who are representing him declined to comment.

North Carolina

Raleigh: The state will get some much-needed money to help with mounting repair costs incurred in response to devastating hurricanes and other storms. The Federal Highway Administration said in a statement Tuesday that North Carolina would get $51 million for the cost of repairing roads and bridges. Most of the money is for damage incurred by Hurricane Florence in eastern North Carolina last year. There’s also money related to the damage from a 2018 storm that caused landslides in western North Carolina. Steve Abbott, a spokesman for the North Carolina Department of Transportation, said the money provide some relief for the storm-ravaged state. North Carolina has recently incurred hundreds of millions of unanticipated storm costs.

North Dakota

Fargo: A federal judge on Tuesday blocked a state law enacted earlier this year that required physicians to tell women they may reverse a so-called medication abortion if they have second thoughts. North Dakota is among eight states to pass or amend laws requiring doctors to tell women undergoing medication abortions they can still have a live birth after the procedure. The North Dakota law also would require doctors to tell the patient that “time is of the essence” if she changes her mind. Tammi Kromenaker, director of North Dakota’s sole abortion clinic in Fargo, which filed a lawsuit in June, said in a statement that the law would force doctors to give false information that is not backed up by science. ‘It’s simple,” Kromenaker said. “Patients need to be able to trust their providers.”

Ohio

Akron: A call for reading material for a jail’s newly reopened library resulted in thousands of donated books. Rebecca McCutcheon, director of inmate services for Summit County Jail, told the Akron Beacon Journal that the jail collected close to 15,000 books in a week after posting the request on Facebook. The jail is no longer accepting books, but McCutcheon says officials hope to continue to increase services for prisoners. She says the facility had struggled following a round of staff layoffs in August 2009. The implementation of recommendations from a jail advisory commission has allowed the facility to reopen the library and gym. The jail also lowered overtime costs, added hundreds of cameras and hired six full-time inmate services employees.

Oklahoma

McAlester: A judge has granted a prosecutor’s request to withhold the video of a fatal police shooting. Pittsburg County District Court Judge Mike Hogan on Tuesday granted District Attorney Charles Sullivan’s motion to quash an open records request for the video of the July 17 shooting of 35-year-old Mark Anson Schoggins. Police say he was shot following a police chase after he reportedly stole items from a liquor store. The officers’ names haven’t been released. Sullivan acknowledged the video is public record but said there are exceptions if it shows a death or severe violence or is part of an ongoing investigation. Sullivan told the McAlester News-Capital he hasn’t received an Oklahoma Highway Patrol report on its investigation. The newspaper and attorney Brecken Wagner requested the video.

Oregon

Portland: A weekend news anchor and TV reporter is doubling down on her preference for high-waisted pants after a male viewer told her to “dress like a normal woman” in a message sent to her Facebook work account. Maggie Vespa, who works at Portland’s NBC affiliate KGW-TV, posted photos of herself wearing a different pair of high-waisted pants on five separate newscasts over the weekend because she wanted to draw attention to the pressure that women who work in the public eye face daily. Vespa also delivered an on-air commentary about the remarks on Sunday’s late-night news with the support of her managers. Her male co-workers were shocked by the content of the man’s messages, she said, but this kind of incident is not new for women who work on TV.

Pennsylvania

West Mifflin: A Pittsburgh-area amusement park’s newest and biggest attraction has won an industry award as best new roller coaster of the year. Kennywood’s Steel Curtain won the Golden Ticket honor for best new coaster awarded by Amusement Today, an industry publication. The Steel Curtain is in the park’s new Steelers Country section, a collaboration with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The 4,000-foot-long coaster contains nine inversions, which park officials say is the most in North America, and the world’s tallest inversion at 197 feet. It also placed second as 2019’s best new attraction installation. Kennywood is in West Mifflin, about 10 miles southeast of downtown Pittsburgh.

Rhode Island

Providence: A city official is proposing a 24-hour nightlife district to concentrate the capital’s nightlife in a manageable area outside residential neighborhoods. Board of Licenses Chairman Dylan Conley says clubs located within such a district would be allowed to serve alcohol and provide entertainment 24 hours a day. Conley says creating a space that is easier to police would solve problems faced by having nightclubs scattered in various neighborhoods. Regulations would change to allow bottle service and exemptions from noise ordinances. Ward 11 City Councilwoman Mary Kay Harris says she and her constituents would be disproportionately affected and were left out of the conversation.

South Carolina

Columbia: A court ruling says online retailer Amazon owes the state likely millions of dollars in sales taxes from other vendors who use the company’s website. The South Carolina Administrative Law Court ruled Tuesday that Amazon has the responsibility to collect taxes due from transactions made through its website. The State newspaper reports Amazon had argued the third-party retailers were responsible for paying the taxes. The ruling says the state Revenue Department will determine how much Amazon should pay. Lawmakers tried to clarify the situation with a law passed earlier this year specifying retailers must collect sales taxes from third-party vendors who sell to shoppers in the state. Amazon says it disagrees with the ruling but appreciates the new law in South Carolina.

South Dakota

Pierre: The Game, Fish and Parks Commission is weighing whether to raise fees by nearly $3 million next year. The commission says declining revenues and the need to repair flood damage may mean visitors paying more to enter state parks and campgrounds. State Director of Parks and Recreation Scott Simpson says entrance fees and camping fees are the primary funding source for South Dakota’s nearly $40 million parks and recreation budget. Simpson says park entrance fees were last raised in 2013, and camping fees were last increased in 2014. The public has 30 days to comment on the proposal. The commission will hold a public hearing Oct. 3 as it finalizes the proposal at its next meeting in Chamberlain.

Tennessee

Nashville: The Music Pathways trail has a new stop, the Tennessee State Museum. The museum says it has been designated as a stop on the state Tourist Development Department’s trail. A sign near the Nashville museum’s Rosa L. Parks entrance marks the designation. There is also an entry on the Music Pathways website recognizing the museum’s role in preserving the state’s music legacy. “The State of Sound: Tennessee’s Musical Heritage” is on exhibition through February at the museum. The displays show the people, places and events that developed Tennessee’s music center. Included are an early parlor guitar from Pulaski, images and records connected to the Fisk Jubilee Singers, a bow tie worn by Jimmy Rodgers and a performance outfit worn by Isaac Hayes.

Texas

Laredo: The Trump administration is ready to open a tent court on the state’s southern border to help handle tens of thousands of cases of asylum-seekers forced to wait in Mexico, with hearings held entirely by videoconference. The court – or “soft-sided” facility, as U.S. officials call it – is scheduled to begin operations Monday in Laredo. Another is expected to open soon in Brownsville in the Rio Grande Valley, the busiest corridor for illegal crossings. The administration introduced its “Remain in Mexico” policy in San Diego in January and later expanded it to El Paso, but hearings there are conducted inside large buildings with normal courtrooms, and the judge usually appears in person.

Utah

Salt Lake City: The U.S. government is allowing oil and gas companies to make lease bids on lands considered archaeologically sensitive near a national monument that houses sacred tribal sites. Included in the Bureau of Land Management’s September oil and gas lease sale is about 47 square miles of land north of Hovenweep National Monument, a group of prehistoric villages overlooking a canyon with connections to several indigenous tribes throughout the U.S. Southwest. The parcels for lease are about five to 20 miles north of the monument. Hovenweep was designated as an International Dark Sky Park in 2014 for its striking night skies and star-gazing opportunities. Business owners in Bluff say the dark skies drive tourism to Hovenweep and worry the industrial light pollution, as well as the sounds and smells of energy development, could drive visitors away.

Vermont

South Burlington: State Attorney General T.J. Donovan and advocates are asking residents to speak out against the Trump administration’s proposed changes to the federal food stamp program that they say will affect more than 5,000 households in Vermont, including over 4,000 children. They say the proposed changes to the eligibility for benefits would cost Vermont families about $7.5 million in food benefits. They also say the changes to Vermont’s program – 3SquaresVT – would also affect the eligibility of children to get free and reduced meals at schools. The USDA said it would close “a loophole” enabling people to be eligible automatically for the federal program. Donovan’s asking Vermonters to send comments against the proposal by Sept. 23 on Hunger Free Vermont’s website.

Virginia

Alexandria: An Episcopal seminary in northern Virginia is starting a $1.7 million reparations fund to make up for its reliance on slave labor in the 19th century. The Virginia Theological Seminary announced the fund’s creation last week. The endowment will be used for a variety of purposes, including assistance to any descendants of slaves who worked there. The seminary was founded in 1823 by a group that included “Star-Spangled Banner” author Francis Scott Key. Enslaved workers helped build the campus and worked there after its creation. The money will also be used to support black clergy in the Episcopal Church, promote justice and inclusion, and support the needs of local African American congregations connected to the seminary.

Washington

Seattle: The City Council has adopted a resolution acknowledging violence against indigenous women and girls and vowing to address the crisis. The Seattle Times reports the resolution says the city will hire a special liaison, invest in human services, consult with tribal governments, improve data collection and train police. It doesn’t on its own allocate money immediately, but sponsor Councilmember Debora Juarez said she believed the detailed measure would soon lead to positive changes. “We will be invisible no more,” said Juarez, who grew up on the Puyallup Reservation in Tacoma and is an enrolled member of the Blackfeet Nation. A report last year by the Seattle Indian Health Board, using research from 71 U.S. cities, identified 506 cases of missing or murdered indigenous women and girls since 1943. It identified 45 cases in Seattle, more than in any other city studied.

West Virginia

Welch: A public-private group is hailing the start of construction for apartment-style housing for public school teachers in impoverished McDowell County. Officials for Reconnecting McDowell held a groundbreaking ceremony for the $8 million Renaissance Village housing project Monday. The housing project is the centerpiece of a decadelong effort to revitalize the county’s schools and economy and is an effort to attract and retain teachers. The building will have 16 apartments on two floors alongside two additional floors of retail and commercial space. Original plans called for up to five floors of apartments but turned out to be too expensive. It’s the first new multistory construction in the community of 1,800 residents in more than 50 years. Construction is expected to take about a year.

Wisconsin

Madison: Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ administration scrapped a public website created under his Republican predecessor to track compliance on public records requests, a move criticized in a report issued Monday by a conservative law firm. Doing away with the website dashboard is one example of a step backward in open record compliance that’s occurred between Scott Walker’s administration and Evers, says the report from the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty. The report accuses Evers of slow response times, disorganization and a lack of transparency on open records issues. Evers disputed many of the report’s key findings, with his spokesman Melissa Baldauff saying Evers is actually responding more quickly to requests than did Walker.

Wyoming

Grand Teton National Park: Park officials are trying to determine if some of the park’s 11 glaciers are still moving or if they are now remnant glaciers or ice patches. The Post Register reports the park is making an effort to better understand Teton, Middle Teton, Schoolroom, Petersen and Falling Ice glaciers. National park glaciologist Simeon Caskey says it will take about a decade to gather enough information to see how the park’s glaciers fit in with climate change models. Scientists are using GPS readings from the surface of the glaciers, time-lapse photos and stakes to examine the glaciers. Experts say the park’s glaciers formed during the Little Ice Age from about 600 to 150 years ago.

From USA TODAY Network and wire reports

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