Space dummy, Bigfoot denial, pumped-up pumpkin: News from around our 50 states

Alabama

Opelika: A new golden eagle will be joining Auburn University’s avian air force. Aurea joins the bald eagle Spirit. The pair will soar over Jordan-Hare Stadium before home games, The Opelika-Auburn News reports. Aurea was brought to the Southeastern Raptor Center in Auburn’s College of Veterinary Medicine in 2016, after being found near Selma, Alabama, with an injury to her right wing. Auburn veterinarians brought her back to good health, but the aftermath of the injury causes her to have more drag during flights. “Her flight stamina isn’t quite good enough for her to be released into the wild, but it doesn’t affect her flying in the stadium because she’s not chasing a live animal,” says Andrew Hopkins, assistant director of raptor training and education at the Southeastern Raptor Center.

Alaska

Palmer: Dale Marshall of Anchorage broke his previous state record by nearly 600 pounds when the pumpkin he entered this year tipped the scale at 2,051 pounds during last week’s Alaska State Fair weigh-off. “It was mind-blowing,” Marshall says. “I wasn’t even thinking 2,000 pounds. I thought it would weigh between 1,700 and 1,900 pounds using the tape measure method. In pumpkin-growing land around the world, that is an elite club to grow 2,000. Nobody has grown a pumpkin this size this far north in the world.” Marshall says he thinks weather was a big factor this year. “With all the sunny days, I got plenty of heat in the greenhouse. The pumpkin is 89 days old. Nothing happens the first days. In 79 days, it grew to 2,051 pounds. That’s an average of 25 pounds per day. It grew 50 pounds a day in parts of July.”

Arizona

Flagstaff: Historians, archivists and librarians in northern Arizona are teaming up to protect artifacts in the event of a disaster. The Northern Arizona Cultural Heritage Preservation Initiative includes organizations like Cline Library at Northern Arizona University, the Museum of Northern Arizona, the Arizona Historical Society Pioneer Museum, Lowell Observatory and Flagstaff Public Library. The Arizona Daily Sun reports the group has met quarterly for the past year to begin conversations in order to formalize the disaster support partnerships that have existed among them for years. Cline Library’s special collections area holds more than 2 million items, including handwritten ledgers from the Babbitt Brother Trading Co., invoices from the Arizona Lumber and Timber Company, and other material dating back to the 1850s.

Arkansas

Little Rock: Two newspapers in the state are scheduled to shut down this week. The Stuttgart Daily Leader and the Helena-West Helena World each report they will publish their final editions Sept. 6, then be closed by Gatehouse Media. Gatehouse regional vice president Matt Guthrie says the company “is enthusiastically working with an interested party” for possible sale of the Stuttgart newspaper and will work with anyone interested in the Helena-West Helena publication. Gatehouse Media last month announced plans to purchase USA TODAY owner Gannett in an estimated $1.4 billion deal. In recent weeks it was reported Gatehouse has laid off more than two dozen journalists and other workers at 10 newspapers it owns across the nation.

California

Sacramento: Those body-length receipts from retail stores are here to stay. A bill before the Legislature would have banned paper receipts unless requested by a customer. But a legislative committee voted Friday not to send the legislation to the Senate floor for a vote. The move means the bill is unlikely to pass this year. California has been a trailblazer for environmental regulations, becoming the first state to adopt a cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon emissions from the state’s biggest polluters. The state bans plastic straws at full-service restaurants unless requested by customers. This year, lawmakers have advanced a bill that would ban hotels from providing small plastic bottles for shampoo and other toiletries. But banning those thin, crinkly, coupon-filled receipts appears to be a step too far, even for California.

Colorado

Cortez: The state’s drivers and passengers are using seat belts more often. A Department of Transportation survey shows 88% of Coloradoans report using seat belts, up from 86% in 2018 and 60% in 1997. The Cortez Journal reports the national rate for seat belt use is 90%. People in sport-utility vehicles have Colorado’s highest rate of seat-belt use, 92%. About 83% of people in pickup trucks and 76% of those in commercial vehicles use seat belts. Unbuckled motorists accounted for 220 of the 416 deaths on Colorado roads in 2018.

Connecticut

Hartford: Author Wally Lamb says he’s eager to get his writing program for female prisoners back up and running after state officials cleared him of wrongdoing alleged by two former inmates. Lamb said in an email to the Associated Press that he understood prison officials had to perform due diligence. He said inmates still in the program deny the allegations made by two former offenders. They had claimed they haven’t been paid for their contributions to Lamb’s planned third anthology of female prisoner writings. A lawsuit by one of them, Chandra Bozelko, remains pending. Department of Correction officials reinstated the program Thursday. Bozelko claims prison investigators did not contact key witnesses or gather all the facts. Lamb is the author of “I Know This Much Is True,” which HBO is turning into a series.

Delaware

Rockland: Nemours Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children welcomed a few hundred painted ladies last week. The bright orange-black-and-white butterflies are the focus of a new garden at the pediatric hospital in Rockland. The fuzzy little creatures were released Wednesday morning as part of a project from Greenville teen Kendra Kaericher to give back to her community. The senior got a grant from St. Paul’s School, her New Hampshire boarding school, to create a project that gives back to the world. The 17-year-old was nominated by her peers and teachers for the Kiril and Kate Sokoloff Grant for Compassion and Kindness. It included $2,500 to create any project she wanted, and she picked the garden at Nemours, inspired by her summer of interning there. The garden features a number of perennial plants and a butterfly bush.

District of Columbia

Washington: The district’s attorney general is investigating how e-cigarette giant Juul Labs’ blockbuster vaping device became so popular with underage teens. The company’s rapid rise to the top of the multibillion-dollar U.S. e-cigarette market has been accompanied by accusations from parents, politicians and public health advocates that Juul fueled a vaping craze among high schoolers. Five other state attorneys general are probing or suing Juul. Marrisa Geller, a spokeswoman for District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine, confirmed in a statement that an investigation of Juul is underway. She said Racine is concerned about “the dramatic increase in the use of vaping products by district youth” as well as the policies and practices employed by e-cigarette manufacturers to prevent minors from using their products.

Florida

Titusville: Boeing has welcomed its newest astronaut to the Starliner team. Unlike other crew members, he doesn’t have advanced degrees in aerospace or much experience at all. In fact, he’s pretty dumb. Meet the Boeing Starliner’s anthropometric test device, also known as a crash-test dummy. A group of engineers and technicians have suited up the dummy, which will fly on the inaugural flight of the Starliner spacecraft now slated to launch late September or early October from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. It took a team of five people to wrestle the rigid plastic dummy into the space suit. Melanie Weber, a Starliner design engineer, joked: “It’s like trying to get a bride in a wedding dress when’s she’s gained 10 pounds.” The procedure brings Boeing one step closer to launching humans to orbit, something that hasn’t happened from U.S. soil since the end of the shuttle program in 2011.

Georgia

Duluth: A probation officer has resigned and her friend has been arrested for borrowing that officer’s badge and gun to get free snacks at a QuikTrip. WSB-TV reports 33-year-old Pektra LaQuiche Edgerton was arrested and charged with impersonating an officer. Gwinnett County Police Officer J.T. Smith says he saw Edgerton inside the QuikTrip with a badge and gun requesting free snacks, and her actions seemed suspicious. Smith’s body cam footage shows he pulled Edgerton over, and she was still wearing the badge. The footage shows Edgerton admitting that her passenger, Brandi Green, was an officer with the Department of Community Supervision, who let her borrow the gun and badge. The department says Green was suspended but later resigned.

Hawaii

Kailua-Kona: Court officials have announced plans to converge operations in a newly built courthouse expected to open this week. West Hawaii Today reports the new Keahuolu Courthouse is expected to open Tuesday for its first day of official court operations on the Big Island. Officials say the $95.8 million courthouse will bring together all Family, Circuit and District courts cases that were operating out of three sites in north and south Kona. Officials say the three-story, 140,000-square-foot judiciary complex is expected to have five courtrooms, a law library, a traffic violations bureau, a grand jury room, a jury deliberations room and more. Judges say attorneys and their clients have been informed of the move and told their cases would be heard at the new location.

Idaho

Coeur d’Alene: Universities in the state have been asking students to make up the difference as state funding has decreased over the past few decades, according to a report. A report by the Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy has found that universities are getting about 47% of their funding from student tuition and fees, the Coeur d’Alene Press reports. Tuition and fees made up about 7% of universities’ funding in 1980, with state money making up the rest, according to the report released last month. The average cost for a year of college adjusted for inflation is about $7,800. The average cost was $1,300 in 1980.

Illinois

Chicago: Nature lovers will no longer have to fish between couch cushions for money to get into the Shedd Aquarium. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that admission to the aquarium will be free for Illinois residents on every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday this month. Residents need to show a photo ID or other proof of residency to gain admission. Although admission will be free, the aquarium says visitors should get tickets in advance because space is limited.

Indiana

Shelbyville: Sports betting is underway in the state, with Gov. Eric Holcomb placing a bet at the Indiana Grand Racing & Casino in Shelbyville on Sunday. The governor placed a $10 bet for the Colts to win the Super Bowl, a $10 bet for the Pacers to win the NBA Championship and a $10 bet for the Indiana Fever to win Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Lynx. Sports betting also opened at Ameristar Casino in East Chicago and the Hollywood casino in Lawrenceburg. Most of Indiana’s 13 state-regulated casinos and all three off-track betting parlors plan on offering sports betting by the month’s end. They expect to attract gamblers from neighboring states where sports wagers aren’t allowed. The Indiana Gaming Commission has approved the Horseshoe Hammond casino to start taking wagers Wednesday. The French Lick Resort has approval for opening its sportsbook Friday.

Iowa

Des Moines: Officials are moving ahead with a proposed $24 million recycling center in Polk County that they say will ensure paper sorted for recycling is no longer dumped in a landfill. Environmentally aware Des Moines residents were frustrated after learning that nearly 20 tons of recycled paper ended up in the landfill every day last summer after the metro’s recycling company couldn’t find a buyer. Metro Waste Authority official Michael McCoy says the agency, which runs the landfill, wants to construct the facility to handle, sort and ultimately sell up to 45,000 tons of recyclables annually. The recycling center could open in 2021. McCoy noted the facility won’t increase Metro Waste ratepayers’ trash and recycling fees. But the president of a recycling processor believes otherwise.

Kansas

Ottawa: The oldest continuously operating movie theater in the world might figure to be in New York or Hollywood, but Kansas takes the title. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that Ottawa is home to the Plaza 1907 Cinema, showing films since May 22, 1907, when black-and-white silent movies ruled the day. Ottawa is about 50 miles southwest of Kansas City, Missouri, and is home to 12,300 people. What sets the theater apart is that over the past 112 years, it has never shut down and has remained at the same location. The Plaza applied for inclusion in the Guinness Book of World Records in 2017. It achieved the distinction of being the “World’s Oldest Operating Purpose-Built Cinema” after it was determined it was two days older than a theater in Denmark.

Kentucky

Inez: A school superintendent has apologized after some high school students were told to change out of gay pride T-shirts they wore to class. Martin County Superintendent Larry James told the Lexington Herald-Leader that students should have been allowed to wear the shirts. He blamed a miscommunication and said the situation has been resolved and won’t happen again. James said students can wear anything they want as long as it’s not “vulgar or obscene.” WYMT-TV reported that students were wearing shirts with the messages “lady lesbian” and “queer queen” when they were asked to change due to a dress code violation. James said it wasn’t the intent of school administrators to discriminate against anyone.

Louisiana

New Orleans: The state’s oldest children’s museum has a shiny new home with spaces for kids of all ages, from those just learning to crawl to those who want to see a cicada’s delicate wings up close. The Louisiana Children’s Museum’s new $47.5 million building and grounds opened Saturday in City Park. Its 8¹/₂-acre campus includes lots of outside space to run around in, a toddler play area with a small picnic table, and a small lagoon with a floating classroom that children can crank along its track. The areas inside include one designed for play with babies and toddlers and four hands-on galleries for older kids. Those include a field-to-table exhibit about food and a 100-foot-long model of the Mississippi River, complete with running water.

Maine

Windham: Archaeologists are racing the clock to dig up the remains of a fort from the 1700s. The Maine Historical Preservation Commission says Province Fort was built during the Colonial era to protect settlers from Native Americans who opposed their encroachment in what’s now Windham. The remains were covered by a road, and archaeologists have a narrow window to check out the site during a road widening and repaving project. Archaeologists have found bases of chimneys, walls, bottles and pottery. Archaeologist John Mosher said he and others were worried that there was nothing left at the site. But he said what they’ve found has been “absolutely amazing.”

Maryland

Baltimore: The home where renowned journalist H.L. Mencken lived for decades before his death is getting a $1.5 million facelift. The Sun reports that contractors expect to complete renovation work on the office portion of the residence this fall. After that, restoration work is due to begin on the Hollins Street home’s public rooms. A retired Navy commander who lived in Hawaii and died in 2005 donated the money for the renovation work. Mencken’s father bought the home in 1883, three years after his son’s birth. After Mencken died there in 1956, his brother gave the property to the University of Maryland before the city took it over. A year ago, the nonprofit Baltimore National Heritage Area signed a lease with the city to assume stewardship of the home.

Massachusetts

Cape Cod: Local businesses are dealing with a challenging summer that’s included heightened shark fears, freak tornadoes and new taxes. Chamber of Commerce data suggests lodging and beach visit numbers are down, one year after the famous tourist destination dealt with two shark attacks, including Massachusetts’ first fatal one in more than 80 years. Colette Cummings, owner of Ducks in the Window toy shop, says tourist activity has been noticeably lighter but hasn’t yet hurt her bottom line. And Gail Knell, co-owner of The Ebb Tide, says she’s looking forward to the fall season to recoup thousands of dollars her restaurant she lost during the tornadoes. Wendy Northcross, the chamber’s CEO, says she expects August tourism numbers to rebound. Local officials are also urging beachgoers to remain vigilant, as last year’s fatal attack happened weeks after Labor Day.

Michigan

Grand Rapids: About 39% of communities in the state that approved a recreational marijuana ballot measure last year have since introduced local bans that prohibit businesses selling pot. Michigan’s Marijuana Regulatory Agency issued emergency rules in July giving local authorities six months to introduce bans before it starts to accept applications for business licenses Nov. 1. MLive.com reports that 308 of the 792 cities and townships that passed Proposal 1 in November have prohibited recreational marijuana businesses. Bruce Barcott, deputy editor of the marijuana news website Leafly, describes the local bans as the “second phase of legalization” and warns that banning legal sales will only encourage the black market to thrive.

Minnesota

Minneapolis: Preliminary numbers show the freshman class at the University of Minnesota could be the largest in decades. Vice Provost and Dean Robert McMaster says the 6,200-student freshman class this year eclipses 2017’s as the largest in 50 years. Although the official enrollment number won’t be published until this fall, McMaster tells KARE-TV the university extended more offers to prospective students in 2019 after experiencing a slight decrease in applications. The number of applications fell from 44,000 last year to roughly 40,000 this year. He says the offers resulted in the large incoming class. Out-of-state and international student numbers appear to have increased in 2019. Last year, those figures dropped to their lowest percentage levels in about a decade.

Mississippi

Tupelo: Part of the museum marking Elvis Presley’s birthplace could get a little easier to access. City of Tupelo Chief Operating Officer Don Lewis tells the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal that the city is likely to buy some land from the Elvis Presley Birthplace Foundation. The foundation runs the museum, but the city owns the land. The foundation bought the land for about $8,500 so it could expand a road and add parking at a hilltop on the property where two Elvis statues stand. Elvis Presley Birthplace Director Dick Guyton says Elvis spent time atop the hill as a boy, dreaming about his future. Now, people must walk up the hill, but Guyton says that’s physically difficult for some visitors. Work on the road and parking spaces could start in October.

Missouri

Jefferson City: The state attorney general’s office says Gov. Mike Parson should stop using the First Amendment to justify withholding some public information. Parson’s office has cited the First Amendment when refusing to release information such as phone numbers, addresses and emails of private citizens who contacted the governor’s office. The Kansas City Star reports Deputy Attorney General Justin Smith wrote in a letter to Parson on Thursday that courts have allowed redactions in specific cases but “not as a blanket approach.” State Auditor Nicole Galloway, a Democratic candidate for governor, asked Attorney General Eric Schmitt in May for an opinion on whether Parson’s approach violated the open records law. Parson’s spokeswoman, Kelli Jones, said in a statement the governor’s actions were intended to protect people from harassment.

Montana

Billings: A wildlife organization says it has expanded its conservation area after purchasing a ranch. The Billings Gazette reports the American Prairie Reserve has added 22 square miles of land from Blue Ridge ranch in northeastern Montana. Wildlife officials say the organization owns 655 square miles of land with hopes to acquire enough private land to connect to about 4,700 square miles of existing public lands. Officials say the goal is to create a short-grass prairie ecosystem with its original inhabitants, including bison. Officials say ranchland adds elk, bighorn sheep, mule deer, pronghorn and prairie dogs to the conservation area. Some land owners say the organization is hurting family-owned and operated ranches and farms.

Nebraska

Lincoln: State health officials are reporting an outbreak of the mumps. The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services says at least 30 cases of the highly contagious illness have been identified – 2¹/₂ times the number of cases reported in the state for all of 2018. Most of this year’s cases occurred among people attending a wedding in northeastern Nebraska and in a workplace in southeastern Nebraska. Mumps is a virus that causes swollen glands, puffy cheeks, fever, headaches and, in severe cases, hearing loss and meningitis. It can spread quickly through coughing and sneezing. The health agency recommends people get vaccinated to avoid contracting the virus. People also are urged to avoid sharing drinking glasses and eating utensils, among other things.

Nevada

Reno: A 33-year-old man died Thursday at Burning Man in the Black Rock Desert north of Reno. Shane Billingham, from New Zealand, was pronounced dead at an on-site medical facility at Burning Man, according to a release Friday from the Washoe County Regional Medical Examiner. Billingham showed a concentration of carbon monoxide in his blood “that would be poisonous to human life,” with the presence of controlled substances an exacerbating factor, according to toxicology results shared by the Pershing Sheriff’s Office. A spokesperson for the Burning Man organization said Billingham was discovered unresponsive in his vehicle at his camp, Beats Boutique, about 6:30 p.m. Thursday. Bystanders immediately began CPR, and emergency responders arrived shortly after.

New Hampshire

Plymouth: Homeless veterans are getting more help in northern New Hampshire. Harbor Homes, a nonprofit agency, led the development of the Boulder Point Veterans Housing project, which includes a 29,000-square-foot building in Plymouth with 25 one-bedroom apartments and five two-bedroom units. In addition to stable housing, residents will receive support services, health care and case management. The project got its start nearly seven years ago when a small group of residents raised concerns about the lack of resources for homeless veterans in the area. Public and private funding helped bring the project to fruition. A ribbon-cutting ceremony is planned for Friday.

New Jersey

Montclair: A son of reggae legend Bob Marley and a Colorado firm have applied to open a medical marijuana dispensary in the city. Rohan Marley and Colorado-based dispensary Lightshade are seeking to open a store in Montclair. State officials recently announced that five cultivation, four vertically integrated and 15 retail dispensary licenses would be granted. Rohan Marley, who raised his five children in South Orange, said in a statement that his family in Jamaica has long advocated the medicinal benefits of marijuana. He would help with the dispensary’s marketing and hiring. Bob Marley, who died in 1981, was an adherent of the Rastafarian faith that regards cannabis as spiritually important. The New Jersey Department of Health says there is no immediate timetable for when licenses will be granted.

New Mexico

Santa Fe: The state Supreme Court is abolishing a legal privilege that bars use of testimony by a defendant’s spouse. The court’s ruling says the spousal communication privilege “has outlived its useful life” and is based in misogyny. The ruling Friday bars future use of the privilege in the state court system. The court took the action in a ruling that upholds David Gutierrez’s murder conviction in a 2002 killing in Clovis. He had made incriminating statements both to a wife he later divorced and to his second wife. Gutierrez’s defense unsuccessfully objected to a trial judge’s decisions to allow both women to testify about the incriminating statements.

New York

Albany: Canada goose hunting season is open throughout most of the state. Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos says the September goose hunting season is designed to help reduce the resident Canada goose population, which has expanded to nuisance levels in some areas. New York’s population of non-migrating Canada geese has grown from 80,000 in 1995 to more than 340,000 today. Hunting seasons have been liberalized in efforts to curb population growth. The September Canada goose season runs from Sept. 1 through Sept. 25 in upstate goose hunting zones. Hunters are allowed to take eight to 15 birds a day depending on the zone.

North Carolina

Nags Head: Old Bonner Bridge is coming down. About a half-mile of the center of the well-worn structure is gone, hauled offshore in massive pieces for its new purpose – an artificial reef, the Virginian-Pilot reports. Over nearly six decades, it endured thousands of vehicles traveling daily over its surface, barges and boats colliding into its pilings, harsh Outer Banks elements rusting the joints, and swirling currents nearly taking out its footing. The new $252 million, 2.8-mile Basnight Bridge over Oregon Inlet opened in February and is supposed to last 100 years. It is made with stronger concrete and steel, able to better resist the elements and boat collisions. Seven of its center spans measure 300 feet wide, much more accommodating for vessels to pass under and stay in the channel. The new bridge won several construction and engineering awards.

North Dakota

Bismarck: A new federal grant of $6.5 million will help replace 18 aging rural bridges in the state. The grant comes from the federal transportation department’s Bridge Rural Repair Program. North Dakota transportation spokeswoman Jamie Olson tells the Bismarck Tribune it’s the first time this grant has been offered. Most of the bridges that will be replaced are in western North Dakota, including three each in Williams and Stark counties, two each in Burleigh and Ward counties, and one in McKenzie County.

Ohio

Columbus: A zoo says two more western lowland gorillas will soon join its blended gorilla family. The Columbus Dispatch reports 4¹/₂-year-old Sulaiman and his mother, 17-year-old Shalia, will be arriving at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium this fall from the Milwaukee County Zoo. Columbus Zoo officials say Sulaiman, nicknamed Sully, is a half-sibling of nearly 2-year-old Zahra, who was transferred to the Columbus facility last year after her parents died from gastrointestinal infections likely caused by a water supply infected with E. coli bacteria. Sully and Zahra have the same father. Audra Meinelt, curator of the Columbus Zoo’s Congo Expedition, says Sully and his mother will integrate into 35-year-old silverback gorilla Mac’s troop, if all goes well. She says Mac has accepted the zoo’s other foster gorillas.

Oklahoma

Tahlequah: The Tribal Council of the Cherokee Nation has unanimously approved the newly elected chief’s selection to be the tribe’s first-ever delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives. The Tahlequah-based tribe says its 17-member council approved Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr.’s pick of Kimberly Teehee during a special meeting Thursday. Hoskin announced last month that he intends to exercise for the first time the tribe’s right to a congressional delegate, as outlined in treaties with the federal government. A Cherokee Nation citizen and former adviser to President Barack Obama, Teehee currently oversees government relations for the tribe and its business arm. Legal experts say the path to secure a tribal delegate would likely require congressional approval and be similar to those of island territories like Puerto Rico.

Oregon

Portland: Two years after a fire consumed trails and forests in the scenic Columbia River Gorge, the popular Eagle Creek Trail is in the final phases of reopening to the public. Stan Hinatsu with the U.S. Forest Service tells The Oregonian that the 13-mile trail could open as early as this fall or as late as next summer, depending on weather and assessments from forest officials. Crews still need to install replacements for two bridges that were destroyed in the fire, and the materials could be airlifted to the trail in late September. Hinatsu says once that’s complete, officials will need to determine whether to open the trail right away or wait until weather improves next summer.

Pennsylvania

Prosperity: Authorities say a coal mine worker was killed when a long wall of coal collapsed on top of him at a mine in western Pennsylvania. The wall fell about 6 p.m. Thursday in the Enlow Fork Mine in Prosperity, about 40 miles southwest of Pittsburgh. State police says 25-year-old Tanner Lee McFarland of Washington, Pennsylvania, was killed in the accident. But the cause and manner of death had not been determined. No other injuries were reported in the collapse, which remained under investigation. The facility in the Washington County community is owned by Consol Energy. The mine is used for “longwall” mining, a form of underground coal mining in which a long wall is mined in a single slice.

Rhode Island

Pawtucket: Attendance at Pawtucket Red Sox games has dropped as the team prepares to depart Rhode Island for Massachusetts. The Boston Globe reports the PawSox are averaging just 5,126 fans a game. The team averaged more than 9,500 fans a game in 2005. It’s the third-lowest attendance in the International League. The PawSox will play one more season at McCoy Stadium. The team is moving to Worcester in 2021 after Rhode Island leaders failed to agree on a deal to build a new stadium. PawSox vice president Dan Rea says the team expected “some small dip” in attendance. He says chilly weather in the early part of the season might have been partially responsible. Rea says the team is committed to not cutting operations during its last year at McCoy.

South Carolina

Columbia: Legislators are considering changing state laws that would allow short-sentenced criminals to serve in county jails due to prison staffing shortages. The Post and Courier reports an audit council released a report last week on the Department of Corrections that says the state has to either hire more staff or house fewer inmates to improve prison operations. It says increasing sentence requirements for state imprisonment could decrease inmate numbers. Inmates sentenced to more than three months must be sent to a state prison, which is the lowest minimum state sentence in the nation. About a third of the 2,350 state prison officer positions were vacant as of Aug. 1. The council says counties need to be compensated for the influx of inmates, but a figure hasn’t been proposed yet.

South Dakota

Madison: Dakota State University is another step closer to building a new athletics complex. The university has a $10 million gift from First Premier Bank/Premier Bankcard and Miles and Lisa Beacom – the largest single donation ever given to the school’s athletic program. Athletics director Jeff Dittman says the university’s facilities are outdated and inadequate for a competitive collegiate program. Plans for a new athletic complex feature a two-story concourse and outdoor facilities. Dittman says the new complex will allow DSU to host more events and camps and improve its ability to compete at the conference level. Premier Bankcard CEO Miles Beacom graduated from DSU in 1981 and is in the university’s athletics hall of fame.

Tennessee

Gatlinburg: The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is recognizing the contributions of its first African American naturalist. Park Superintendent Cassius Cash on Thursday presented Joe Lee with a mounted ranger hat in honor of his contribution to the history of the National Park Service. Cash said in a park news release that Lee’s service fifty years ago “broke employment barriers that once discouraged people of color from seeking employment in National Parks.” Cash, who is African American, said Lee’s service paved a path for him and others. Lee said he was “overwhelmed” by the recognition he received after reaching out to park staff to share his recollections. The park recently began a project to research the African American experience in southern Appalachia and share those stories.

Texas

Dallas: The Holocaust museum in the city is getting ready to open its doors on a new building that will also include information about other genocides, as well as human rights struggles in the U.S. The newly renamed Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum is the latest in the U.S. to broaden its permanent exhibit and embolden its efforts to inspire visitors to make the world a better place. It opens Sept. 18. Expanding the focus to include more recent atrocities and human rights struggles helps draw in more visitors to be reminded that the lessons from the Holocaust are still relevant. Museum president and CEO Mary Pat Higgins says the hope is that after visitors leave, they’ll contemplate what they can do to make a difference in their community.

Utah

Salt Lake City: Immigration activists have protested the pending deportation of a Mexican woman who has provided health and nutrition education for an immigrant aid group. The Salt Lake Tribune reported Friday that 55-year-old Cecelia Figueroa was detained when she went for what she thought was a routine check-in interview with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Figueroa says she was told by ICE officials that she would be deported Monday. Figueroa says she is from a violent part of Mexico that thinks returning immigrants coming from the U.S. are wealthy, making her and her family targets. Protesters say they want officials to consider giving her asylum. ICE says that people violating immigration laws are subject to arrest, detention and deportation and that they do not target based on advocacy positions.

Vermont

Bradford: An anonymous flyer denying that Bigfoot is behind the prolonged closure of a bridge has locals talking about the mythical forest creatures. The flyer first spotted at the Bradford post office said the prolonged closure of the Creamery Bridge over the Waits River was not due to the “displacement of or intrusion on a ‘Sasquatch’ or Bigfoot, either a single creature or several.” Last week Dartmouth College Professor Alexander Chee posted a photo of the flyer to Twitter. Since then, copies have been popping up across town. Local resident Claudia Johnson tells MyNBC5 she thinks there’s a local Bigfoot because she’s heard unexplained rustling behind her home. State transportation officials say the bridge is scheduled to be fixed in October.

Virginia

Lovingston: A distillery is toasting the end of a lawsuit alleging that it improperly tried to pass off American whiskey as Scotch. The Scotch Whisky Association alleged in federal court in Delaware that Virginia Distillery Co. engaged in false and deceptive labeling of whiskey sold under the brand name “Virginia-Highland Whisky.” The lawsuit claimed that the use of the term “Highland” and its spelling of “Whisky” without an “e” falsely implied that the product was produced in Scotland. The case was terminated last month. As part of the settlement, Virginia Distillery will stop using the word “Highland” after it sells remaining stock. The distillery will continue to label all products using “whisky” without the “e,” which it says is allowed under U.S. law.

Washington

Yakima: A federal judge has ruled that a disputed area in the state’s south is part of the Yakama Nation Indian Reservation. The Yakima-Herald Republic reports the ruling Wednesday by U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Rice allows the tribe to have jurisdiction over Native American residents in the nearly 190-square-mile rural area southwest of Goldendale. The land became disputed more than a century ago after the original map of the reservation was lost. Rice says in the ruling that the land disputes “prompted a number of erroneous federal surveys that further complicated the historical record.” Klickitat County officials argued that the tribe’s treaty with the U.S. government never intended to include the area and that the matter was settled when the government adopted a reservation boundary without it.

West Virginia

Huntington: The chief of the Huntington Fire Department has been named as the American Legion’s national firefighter of the year. Chief Jan K. Rader received the award at the American Legion’s 101st National Convention in Indianapolis last week. Rader is the state’s first female fire chief after having been a firefighter for nearly 25 years. The American Legion says it gives the annual award to a firefighter who exceeds the requirements of their position and shows a pattern of community service. The group noted Rader’s work on opioid addiction in Huntington as reason why she won. Rader says she’s humbled by the award.

Wisconsin

Milwaukee: The growing number of people living in tents in a homeless encampment under an overpass downtown has local officials concerned. Advocates for the homeless say there are about 50 to 60 people living in the camp under Interstate 794, which has been growing since April. Milwaukee County Housing Division outreach services manager Eric Collins-Dyke tells WTMJ-TV the goal is to get everyone off the street before the cold weather arrives. Collins-Dyke says in the past few weeks the county has been able to move 15 people into permanent housing. He says the camp continues to grow despite the best efforts of outreach workers trying to move people into housing.

Wyoming

Mammoth Hot Springs: A famous hotel in Yellowstone National Park is open again after renovations. The National Park Service reopened the Mammoth Hot Springs hotel Friday after a four-year project that cost $30 million. About 100 people attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Park maintenance worker Dean Heppner helped with the effort to fix up the 106-year-old hotel in northern Yellowstone. Heppner tells the Billings Gazette it was a chance to see features of the building nobody else could see. The hotel gets about 95,000 visitors a year.

From USA TODAY Network and wire reports

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