Chappelle-hosted Ohio benefit brings out Stevie Wonder and Chance the Rapper, rare bee shows up in Wisconsin for first time in over a century, and more

This conversation is moderated according to USA TODAY’s community rules. Please read the rules before joining the discussion.

Montgomery: The state will require new forms for getting married beginning Thursday. The Alabama Department of Public Health issued guidance about the new process last week. Instead of a marriage license, couples will fill out a new form, have it notarized and then take it to the probate judge within 30 days. A wedding ceremony is no longer required, but a couple can still have one if they choose. The Legislature this year voted to change marriage procedures to accommodate conservative probate judges who objected to same-sex marriage. A few probate judges had refused to issue marriage licenses to anyone so they didn’t have to give them to gay couples. Republican Sen. Greg Albritton proposed the change, saying it should allow people to get marriage documents everywhere.

Charlene Zanoria speaks about her internship at Juneau Public Libraries and the project she organized, People of Color Palooza – intended to remind people the libraries are for the entire community, and that includes people of color. (Photo: Michael Penn/Juneau Empire via AP)

Juneau: Charlene Zanoria used her summer internship to give underrepresented cultures a moment in the spotlight. Zanoria, a freshman at University of Alaska Southeast and graduate of Thunder Mountain High School, interned for Juneau Public Libraries this summer. For her connected learning project – an effort that combines interests, supportive relationships and learning – she came up with a celebration of people of color that featured music, dancing and food, Capital City Weekly reports. “I wanted to make an event that would include minorities that aren’t normally represented in the library,” she said. Zanoria, who is Filipina, said she hoped P.O.C. Palooza, which was held Aug. 16, reminded people Juneau Public Libraries are for the entire community. Among featured songs and performances were some that incorporated the Maori culture of New Zealand.

Phoenix: The state starts a first-of-its-kind experiment Tuesday. Ninety days after the legislative session ended, the state will roll out a professional licensing law that Gov. Doug Ducey has touted as a game-changing tool to make it easier to move to Arizona and work in a range of regulated fields, from cosmetology to real estate and optometry. Known as universal recognition, the policy was a central part of Ducey’s legislative agenda this year and just one of several steps to roll back the power of state boards that oversee numerous skilled professions. The governor argues that those bodies have, at times, abused their power or gotten in the way of job-seekers. Arizona is the first state to try universal recognition, but the policy’s potential for real change remains unclear.

Attorney Cheryl Maples talks to her clients after a hearing at the Pulaski County Courthouse in Little Rock, Ark., in 2015. Maples died at age 69 on Thursday. (Photo: Danny Johnston/AP)

Little Rock: Cheryl Maples, an attorney who successfully challenged the state’s gay marriage ban before the nation’s highest court said same-sex couples could wed, has died at age 69. Melina Maples-Granger, Maples’ daughter, said Maples died Thursday in Little Rock from complications of congestive heart failure. Maples represented same-sex couples who challenged Arkansas’ constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman. A county judge struck the amendment down in 2014, which led to more than 500 same-sex couples marrying before the ruling was suspended by the state Supreme Court. Justices didn’t rule before the U.S. Supreme Court legalized gay marriage in 2015. Maples also represented same-sex couples who successfully challenged Arkansas’ birth certificate law.

Feral burros graze in the Mojave Desert near Needles, Calif. (Photo: U.S. Bureau of Land Management via AP)

Los Angeles: Someone has been killing the wild burros of the Mojave Desert, and the Bureau of Land Management is offering up to $10,000 to anyone who can help catch the culprit or culprits. Over the past three months, 42 burro carcasses containing gunshot wounds have been found scattered along a 60-mile stretch of Interstate 15, the main highway linking Los Angeles to Las Vegas. The animals, like wild horses, are protected under federal law. Anyone found guilty of harassing, branding or killing one faces a fine of up to $2,000 and a year in jail. More than that, burros are an enduring symbol of the American Southwest. With their pointy ears and distinctive “Hee-Haw” voices, they evoke a time when their sure-footedness in rocky terrain and ability to carry heavy loads long distances without complaint made them perfect pack animals for prospectors and others.

The Air Force Academy’s cadet chapel in Colorado Springs, Colo., is set for a big renovation. (Photo: Rich Grant, Visit Denver)

Colorado Springs: The U.S. Air Force Academy has announced it will close its cadet chapel for extensive renovations beginning next month. KOAA-TV reports the military academy says Sept. 3 is the final day scheduled for visits prior to the chapel’s three-year closure. Officials at the academy near Colorado Springs say a $158 million restoration and preservation project is scheduled to begin Nov. 1. Officials say work crews are expected to remove furniture and conduct other preparation work between Sept. 3 and Nov. 1. The chapel was originally scheduled to close in June, but the project was delayed. The Air Force says the funds were reallocated for repairs at Florida’s Tyndall Air Force Base following Hurricane Michael in October 2018. The chapel is registered as a national historic landmark.

Voluntown: The state plans to conduct mosquito control spraying in parts of Pachaug State Forest considered to be at high risk for mosquito-borne illnesses. Spraying will be conducted Monday at Mount Misery campground, the nearby horse camp, and roads leading from the main forest entrance to Hell Hollow Road. Spraying will begin at 7 p.m., weather permitting. It will continue overnight, and roads will be closed to vehicular traffic. The state’s mosquito management program, an interagency response to mosquito-borne diseases, says there’s a high concentration of mosquitoes in the area infected with Eastern equine encephalitis virus and West Nile virus. The state is using a pesticide called Anvil. Officials say the location is not a residential area, and those living in surrounding areas do not need to take precautions during the spraying.

Wilmington: A high-profile case of a doctor convicted of raping and abusing more than 85 children has led to major changes in how the state investigates and disciplines doctors. Since Earl Bradley’s arrest in 2009, 178 Delaware doctors have received some form of disciplinary action from the state. In the decade before that, licensing records show only 48 doctors were disciplined by the state. Bradley’s ability to keep practicing exposed several failures in how the state’s medical community reported and disciplined doctors. The case led to the General Assembly passing a series of laws, one of which made it easier to suspend the license of a doctor who poses a “clear and immediate danger.”

Washington: As D.C. kids get ready to go back to school Monday, some have more to worry about than the grades, WUSA-TV reports. Those living and going to school in Southeast face the specter of violence every day, with some parents reporting hearing gunfire “almost every night.” One parent tweeted Saturday: “I see DC Public Schools Turner Elementary in Ward 8 still has bullet holes in glass over the front doors after months … kids left being greeted by tape & bullet holes daily, they shouldn’t come back to it.” Within a couple of hours, the D.C. Department of General Services had tweeted that it was investigating. When WUSA paid a visit to Turner Elementary to check out the damage, crews were already working on repairs.

In Mexico’s Riviera Nayarit, the months of June through November are the nesting season for the protected olive ridley turtles. (Photo: Riviera Nayarit Convention & Visitors Bureau)

Marathon: A non-native, juvenile olive ridley sea turtle has been released off the Florida Keys. Officials say the 30-pound turtle named Harry was released Thursday with a small satellite transmitter affixed to the top of its shell. The electronic device should provide tracking data to help marine biologists gain insights into the reptile’s movements in unfamiliar territory, before it detaches in two to six months. Harry was rescued by recreational boaters in early February, entangled in a large fishing net, off the Upper Keys. Emaciated and near death, the reptile was transported to the Florida Keys-based Turtle Hospital for treatment. Hospital officials say olive ridley turtles typically live in the southern Atlantic and Pacific oceans. They say only six olive ridleys have been documented in Florida waters.

Atlanta: A new report says the state’s public colleges and universities had an economic impact worth $17.7 billion statewide during the 2018 fiscal year. The University System of Georgia said in a news release that the economic impact of its 26 schools increased by 5% over the previous fiscal year. It credited Georgia’s public colleges with creating 168,284 jobs – 70% of which were off-campus positions in the private and public sector. The annual study was conducted by University of Georgia economist Jeffrey Humphreys. The latest report covers the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2018. University system Chancellor Steve Wrigley says the results show that Georgia’s colleges and universities play an “important role in generating jobs and boosting businesses across the state.”

The coral reef in this watershed in Kaneohe Bay, Oahu, Hawaii, could struggle to adapt to climate extremes. (Photo: Keoki Stender, Marinelifephotography.com)

Honolulu: Scientists in the state have started to prepare for a major coral reef bleaching event due to warmer-than-average ocean temperatures. The Star-Advertiser reports the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration analyzed ocean temperatures across the islands and found they’ve risen by 3 degrees Fahrenheit. Scientists say coral bleaching has occurred before, but they are already seeing worse signs at Kealakekua Bay on Hawaii island and at Kaneohe Bay and Hanauma Bay on Oahu. Experts say coral bleaching is a change from normal coloration of browns, yellows and greens to a nearly white color because of increased exposure to environmental stressors, including temperature increases. Scientists say coral reefs are important for marine habitats; have cultural, recreational and economic benefits; and also provide protection for coastal shorelines during storms.

Boise: The state must provide gender confirmation surgery to a transgender inmate who has been living as a woman for years but has continuously been housed in a men’s prison, a federal appeals court said Friday. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a federal judge in Idaho that the state’s denying the surgery for 31-year-old Adree Edmo amounted to cruel and unusual punishment, a violation of the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Under the ruling, Edmo would become the first Idaho inmate to receive gender confirmation surgery while in Idaho Department of Correction custody. “This is a complete win for Ms. Edmo,” said her attorney, Lori Rifkin. “Our client is immensely relieved and grateful that the court recognized her basic right to medical treatment.” Republican Gov. Brad Little said he planned to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Waukegan: The Chicago-area hometown of the late, famed science fiction writer Ray Bradbury marked his birthday with the dedication of a statue in his honor. The 12-foot-tall stainless steel statue outside the Waukegan Public Library depicts Bradbury astride a rocket ship while holding a book. The (Lake County) News-Sun reports artist Zachary Oxman told those at Thursday’s ceremony that the statue tells the story of a man “beaming with unbridled imagination, curiosity and surprise.” Bradbury was born in Waukegan in 1920 and often spoke of the hours he spent at the city’s library before his family moved to Los Angeles when he was a teenager. He died in 2012. He wrote hundreds of works, including “Fahrenheit 451” and “The Martian Chronicles.” The $125,000 project was financed primarily through donations.

Portage: The National Park Service has reopened beaches in northwestern Indiana, more than a week after a spill of cyanide and ammonia from a steel factory along Lake Michigan. The agency says three consecutive days of tests came out positive, including two days with no detection of cyanide. The government says samples were taken by Indiana environmental regulators and ArcelorMittal and reviewed by independent labs. The Park Service had closed the Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk beach areas at Indiana Dunes National Park. Fish were killed. ArcelorMittal says the spill occurred after its Burns Harbor mill had a failure at a blast furnace water recirculation system. Wastewater containing elevated levels of ammonia and cyanide was released in the Little Calumet River’s east branch. The company has apologized.

Des Moines: Google gave two local nonprofits $175,000 on Friday through the company’s Impact Challenge Iowa grant program. Five judges picked Iowa Jobs for America’s Graduates and Ethnic Minorities of Burma Advocacy and Resources as winners, along with three other nonprofits. Voters can cast ballots through Friday to pick the “People’s Choice” grant winner, which will receive another $125,000. IJAG is a mentor program that partners graduating students with employers in industries with a lot of job openings. The reward for EMBARC is for its RISE program, which helps prepare refugees for the workforce. The refugees work for other nonprofits in the state through the program, giving them job skills and helping them market themselves in the workforce.

Wichita: City police will begin using a system that places alerts on addresses where potential swatting targets could be living. Swatting involves someone making a hoax emergency call to send law enforcement officers, particularly SWAT teams, to a particular address. The program announced Friday is voluntary and open to people who think they might become victims of swatting. The alerts would be available to first responders. Officer Paul Cruz says the alerts wouldn’t slow emergency responders but would make them aware they might be responding to a hoax call. In 2017, Wichita police fatally shot Andrew Finch after a caller falsely claimed a murder and hostage situation was occurring at his home. The call was aimed at someone who lived at the home before Finch.

Frankfort: A print shop owner who refused to make a gay pride T-shirt argued before the state Supreme Court that he shouldn’t be compelled to promote messages that go against his religious beliefs. Blaine Adamson, owner of Hands-On Originals in Lexington, declined to print a shirt promoting an LGBT pride festival in 2012. The city’s Human Rights Commission said that refusal violated its gay-rights fairness ordinance. On Friday, the high court heard an attorney for the T-shirt maker argue that the First Amendment protects him from having to print that message. An attorney for the Human Rights Commission says the T-shirt maker cannot pick and choose who it wants to serve in the community. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments from attorneys and will issue a ruling at a later date.

Sugarcane is planted for the first time in the history of the LSU AgCenter Dean Lee Research and Extension Center near Alexandria, La. This plot will be used to study cold tolerance as Louisiana’s cane belt expands northward. (Photo: Olivia McClure/LSU AgCenter via AP)

Alexandria: One of the world’s northernmost sugarcane fields has been planted at a Louisiana State University research station in central Louisiana. The LSU AgCenter is looking into how well various varieties can survive chilly weather. The Dean Lee Research and Extension Center is generally considered too far north for the tall tropical grass. However, steady yields and prices have prompted some of the state’s farmers to push the limits, planting sugarcane in what has traditionally been corn and soybean country, an AgCenter news release says. One farmer is growing sugarcane a few miles south in the Lecompte area. There’s little data to indicate which varieties can best withstand central Louisiana’s deeper, more frequent freezes. So the AgCenter is working to get such information on eight varieties, some commercially available and some still experimental.

A child explores the Penobscot River’s East Branch at the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument near Patten, Maine, in 2017. (Photo: Robert F. Bukaty, AP)

Millinocket: The Friends of Katahdin Woods and Waters group says it’s pleased with progress in the three years since the national monument was created in northern Maine. The group says improvements include a new bridge over Katahdin Brook, improved trails along the Loop Road at Deasey Pond and the Esker Trail built by Appalachian Mountain Club, and new trail signs put up by the National Park Service. Superintendent Tim Hudson says long-awaited road signs along I-95 and local roads should be going up by year’s end. As the Friends group hosted a celebration Saturday night to mark the third anniversary with music, dinner, awards and an auction, director Andrew Bossie thanked volunteer groups including the Baxter Youth Conservation Corps for their help.

Baltimore: City fire officials say they plan to dispatch fewer firefighters to initial fire alarms, as departments see the number of medical emergency calls rise above those of fires. A Wednesday memo said three engines, one truck and one battalion chief will respond to alarms starting Sept. 1, down from the five engines, two trucks, two battalion chiefs and one medic unit that’s considered a full assignment. Seventeen personnel will respond, still higher than the National Fire Protection Association standard of 15. Chief Niles R. Ford told The Baltimore Sun the reduction will free units for medical calls. More responders can be dispatched if needed. Baltimore’s firefighters union criticized the plan, saying it’d put responders and citizens in danger, but Ford pushed back.

Lewis Randa, of Duxbury, Mass., displays a United Nations flag while standing near a bronze statue of Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi on Wednesday at the Pacifist Memorial in Sherborn, Mass. (Photo: Steven Senne/AP)

Sherborn: A “peace park” in this Boston suburb has been forced to take down a United Nations flag after residents objected. Pacifist Memorial founder Lewis Randa recently removed the flag at the Sherborn site because residents of the condo development where it’s located argue that it violates their property agreement. The Abbey Road Condominium Trust says the 2012 land deal with Randa only allows him to maintain the memorial’s permanent installations, not to add new or temporary ones. But Randa says that while the U.N. flag was not part of the original memorial, one had flown for decades on the grounds. He suggests the dispute is rooted in long-simmering opposition to the memorial. Loretta Heuer, who heads the condo association, says the issue isn’t the flag but respecting property rights.

Ishpeming: An arsonist has severely hampered Santa’s toy production this fall. Mlive.com reports that Ishpeming Police on Saturday asked for the public’s help in solving the overnight arson and property damage case involving the Santa’s Workshop building used at Christmastime. Police said officers were dispatched to the site where the building is stored to find the structure destroyed. A city-owned pickup parked in the area was also damaged. Residents expressed their dismay on the police department’s Facebook page. Some offered to rebuild it for free in time for Christmas. One commenter suggested the guilty party rebuild it at no cost in addition to facing criminal charges. Another said that it’s “sad that the actions of a few people can ruin it for so many.”

Park Point Beach on Lake Superior in Duluth, Minn., is among the few spots in the area that offer soft sands. (Photo: Pete Markham / Flickr)

Duluth: The ever-present danger of rip currents in Lake Superior has some people in Duluth calling for more to be done to improve public safety. Retired police officer Dennis Hoelscher tells Minnesota Public Radio News that lifeguard services need to be improved. Lifeguards don’t work on “red flag” days that have high risk of rip currents. Hoelscher and others think guards should work on those days, work longer hours in general, work more beaches and be trained to work in big waves. The Duluth YMCA, which runs the lifeguard program on Park Point, says posting lifeguards misleads people to think it’s safe. And expanding services is difficult in what is currently mostly a break-even arrangement. MPR reports communities across the Great Lakes struggle with how to pay for lifeguards.

Columbus: Officials say the city was on its way into debt but has turned its finances around, saving about $805,000 since March. The Commercial Dispatch reports Mayor Robert Smith told councilmen last week that the city saved about $329,000 while adding $476,000 to unbudgeted revenue. Accountant Mike Crowder in March told the city it’d be more than $300,000 in debt by September if spending continued. Smith says several decisions helped the city save, like freezes on hiring and wages, upping the employee health insurance deductible from $100 to $500, and opening the court clerk’s office on Fridays, which collected $26,206 in additional fees. Smith says the city had $7 million in its coffers, including about $2 million in the operating funds. It’s unclear whether the fund will finish the fiscal year at a deficit.

Kansas City: Authorities say a shirtless man reportedly dragging a topless, unconscious woman through downtown was actually lugging around a life-size doll. Police said in a tweet that callers reported the man looked like he wanted to throw the woman over a bridge, had dropped her and appeared to be trying to dress her. One caller said he was yelling “savior” while holding the woman. Police said that when officers learned the woman actually was a doll that the man had found in a trash bin, he was told “not to carry it around in public anymore.” Police titled the tweet: “And here is today’s episode of ‘Not What We Expected Going Into That.’ ” A traffic camera captured some of the incident.

Helena: State officials say U.S. health officials have approved Montana’s plan to create a reinsurance pool that aims to lower individual health insurance premium costs. Gov. Steve Bullock and State Auditor Matt Rosendale say the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved a waiver that authorizes the reinsurance program. A bill passed by state lawmakers this year creates a pool to help reimburse insurers for high-cost claims from $40,000 to $1 million. It will be funded with money that otherwise would have been used as premium tax credits and through a premium tax on all major medical plans sold in the state. The three Montana companies that offer health insurance policies on the individual marketplace are proposing reduced rates in 2020, in part because of the reinsurance program.

A sign reading “Stop the Transcanada Pipeline” is displayed in a field near Bradshaw, Neb., in 2013. (Photo: Nati Harnik/AP)

Lincoln: The state’s highest court lifted one of the last major hurdles for the Keystone XL pipeline in the state Friday when it rejected another attempt to derail the project by opponents who wanted to force the developer to reapply for state approval. The Nebraska Supreme Court upheld the decision of regulators who voted in November 2017 to greenlight a route through the state. The court’s decision was a victory for the $8 billion project, which has been mired in lawsuits and regulatory hearings since it was proposed in 2008. Despite the victory for Canada-based TC Energy, opponents vowed Friday that the legal fight to block construction was far from over. “The risky pipeline project’s fate is still very much in doubt, as three separate federal lawsuits continue to proceed that challenge the controversial project’s permits,” leading pipeline opposition group Bold Alliance said in a statement.

Steve Rahn and Catherine Clinckemaillie of Fort St. John, British Columbia, get a close look at a mounted polar bear at the Safari Club International’s Hunters Convention at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center in 2000. (Photo: RGJ file)

Reno: Safari Club International plans to hold its national convention in Las Vegas in 2021 instead of Reno. The sportsman’s club is ending its initial three-year agreement with the Biggest Little City a year early. The 2020 convention will continue in Reno in February. The club hasn’t officially announced the venue change, but the move has been confirmed by the Reno Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority. RSCVA Board Chairman Bob Lucy says it’s disappointing, but the board continues to have a good relationship with the club and hopes it returns someday. Safari Club returned to Reno this year following a five-year absence and declining attendance in Las Vegas. The RSCVA says this year’s convention generated an estimated $20 million in economic impact for the Reno-Tahoe area, including more than 17,000 room nights for the region’s hotels.

Concord: A year after Gov. Chris Sununu’s unsuccessful push to prolong school summer vacation until Labor Day, the vast majority of the state’s communities are sticking with their earlier start dates. Schools in 80% of districts will be starting before Labor Day this year. While four districts that started earlier last year will now start after Labor Day, two other districts went the other way. Sununu, a Republican, created a “Save Our Summers Study Commission” last August to explore a mandatory post-Labor Day start date. The group issued a report without taking sides, though it emphasized the economic benefits. Subsequent legislation to enact a mandate, however, was retained in the Senate Education Committee for reconsideration next year. Businesses tied to tourism support later start dates, while teachers oppose the idea.

The Daily Targum at Rutgers University will no longer have a print edition on Fridays. (Photo: ~Courtesy of Daily Targum)

New Brunswick: Rutgers University’s daily student newspaper will cease print publication on Fridays and shift to reporting more news online. The Daily Targum’s student leaders say the decision to cut their printing days to Mondays to Thursdays is meant to help it stay afloat after a devastating vote last spring resulted in a loss of all student fee funding. NJ.com reports the student newspaper will save money in its $750,000 budget by cutting printing to four days a week. The organization will also save money by tapping into advertising revenue and donations raised online. Rutgers says it will hold another vote to ask students if they want to use student fees to fund the campus newspaper. The paper says it will continue to pay its student reporters, photographers, editors and three-member professional staff.

Bloomfield’s Ten Commandments monument stands at Bloomfield First Baptist Church last year. (Photo: Jon Austria/The Daily Times)

Bloomfield: The city has asked residents to help fund the remaining balance of fees resulting from a Ten Commandments monument lawsuit. Bloomfield launched an online fundraiser asking for help coming up with $467,000 it owes the American Civil Liberties Union lawyers after courts ruled against the city. Officials say the ACLU represented several residents who said the monument violated their First Amendment rights. Officials say the city owes lawyers $700,000 by June 30, 2021, and has already paid more than $200,000. Anything not raised will be paid for using the gross receipts tax and is currently budgeted. Officials say the resident-funded monument was displayed in front of city hall before being moved to a nearby church.

Tupper Lake: Organizers of a new semi-pro baseball team in the Adirondacks are rooting around for a new nickname after some residents grunted at the proposed moniker “River Pigs.” The Adirondack Daily Enterprise reports that Tupper Lake Village Board Trustee David Maroun posted on Facebook that the name of the new Empire League team will be changed. The name River Pigs was chosen to reflect the region’s logging history. River pigs were skilled loggers who broke up logjams on rivers. But when the team was announced in late July, some Tupper Lake residents said the name “Pigs” sounded demeaning. Fire Chief Royce Cole says the village baseball committee will discuss other options over the weekend. The team is slated to arrive in Tupper Lake next summer.

Raleigh: State election officials on Friday certified bar code ballots for use in elections starting next year despite an outcry that they can’t be trusted by voters uncertain their choices are accurately counted. The State Board of Elections voted 3-2 to allow a voting-machine maker to sell equipment that digitizes votes into bar code data, which is then tallied by the company’s counting machines. Almost two dozen speakers urged the elections board to reject bar code systems because voters can’t read the bar codes to check that they’re correct. But Democratic board chairman Damon Circosta sided with two Republicans on the five-member panel, citing the risk of delay after touchscreen-only equipment is disallowed in December. New voting machines in about a quarter of the state’s counties need to be replaced as primary elections loom in March.

Built in 1883 using state-of-the-art construction methods, the majestic Bismarck-Mandan Rail Bridge was the first to span the Upper Missouri River. (Photo: Bismarck Veterans Memorial Library)

Bismarck: A study finds that converting a historic railroad bridge into a pedestrian bridge can be done but would be expensive. Landscape architecture professors at North Dakota State University looked at repurposing the Bismarck-Mandan Rail Bridge as a footbridge. The Bismarck Tribune reports the study concluded that would cost almost $6.9 million. Proponents of saving the structure acknowledge they don’t yet have any funding commitments. Bridge owner BNSF Railway maintains that converting the 136-year-old bridge – rather than demolishing it – would delay a needed new bridge and also cause safety concerns. The bridge over the Missouri River connects Bismarck and Mandan. Friends of the Rail Bridge is proposing to convert the bridge into a pedestrian and bicycle path.

Comedian and host Dave Chappelle, right, helps musician Stevie Wonder onto the stage during the Gem City Shine event in the Oregon District of Dayton, Ohio, on Sunday. (Photo: Marshall Gorby/Dayton Daily News via AP)

Dayton: Celebrities and musicians came out Sunday evening for Dave Chappelle’s Gem City Shine benefit. Earlier in the day, Kanye West brought a surprise Sunday Service gospel experience to RiverScape Metro Park. Actor and comedian Jon Stewart made a surprise appearance to help Chappelle introduce Chance the Rapper. Chapelle escorted music legend Stevie Wonder out to perform following Chance the Rapper’s set. The Gem City Shine block party kicked off at 4 p.m. to benefit the families and survivors of the Aug. 4 mass shooting that rocked the city. The sold-out event was held in the Oregon District, blocks away from where a gunman killed nine people and injured 27 others.

Oklahoma City: The city council is expected to set a citywide vote for a one-cent sales tax that would generate nearly $980 million over eight years to fund dozens of city projects, including money for social services like mental health and homelessness. The proposal outlined Friday is the fourth iteration of Metropolitan Area Projects, a comprehensive capital improvement program first approved by city voters in 1993. The council is expected to consider a resolution Tuesday that calls for a special election Dec. 10. Funding in the MAPS 4 proposal includes $40 million for mental health and addiction services and $38 million for a family justice center offering services to victims of abuse. Another $50 million would be earmarked for affordable housing for the homeless.

Lawmakers convene at the Oregon Senate in June after the minority Republicans ended a walkout they had begun over a carbon-emissions bill they said would harm their rural constituents, in Salem, Ore. (Photo: Andrew Selsky/AP)

Salem: After two walkouts this year by minority Republican senators in the Legislature, Democrats say they’ll ask voters to change quorum rules, allowing the Statehouse to convene with only a simple majority of lawmakers present instead of the current two-thirds requirement. The boycotts by the Republicans prevented the Senate from convening. Democrats dropped proposals on gun control and vaccines, and Democratic Gov. Kate Brown ordered state police to bring the missing lawmakers back during the second walkout. The Republicans left the state to avoid apprehension and returned only after a sweeping bill to combat global warming was moot. Senate Democrats said Majority Leader Ginny Burdick will introduce a constitutional amendment next year to lower quorum requirements. Voters would then decide on the proposed change in the 2020 election.

Nude bicyclist Oren Roth-Eisenberg has a message opposing fossil fuel consumption painted on his torso by his wife before the start of the Philly Naked Bike Ride in Philadelphia on Saturday. (Photo: Dino Hazell/AP)

Philadelphia: Hundreds of bicyclists have been caught with their pants down – and their shirts and underwear off, too. The cyclists gathered in a Philadelphia park Saturday to disrobe before saddling up and setting off on the annual Philly Naked Bike Ride. About 3,000 riders pedal a 10-mile course around the City of Brotherly Love while taking in sights including Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, organizers say. Some riders wear their birthday suits, while others flaunt their underwear or sport just a splash of body paint and glitter. The ride is intended to promote positive body image, advocate for the safety of cyclists and protest dependence on fossil fuels. It used to be held in September but was moved up to August because the nude and scantily clad participants complained about chilly weather.

Providence: A state lawmaker says he’s frustrated that mandated replacement license plates will have a design similar to the state’s distinctive “wave” plates in use since 1996. Sen. Louis DiPalma tells the Providence Journal the new design is supposed to make it easier for police to tell from a distance that a plate is old. The Department of Motor Vehicles told lawmakers last week the new plates would maintain the integrity of the current wave design with enough differences to serve the purpose of the plate reissue. Gov. Gina Raimondo’s spokesman says the new design will “closely mirror” existing plates. DiPalma, a Middletown Democrat, wants to meet with Raimondo and DMV officials to get an explanation. Rhode Islanders with existing wave plates will have to get new ones starting next year.

North Charleston: The city is giving $1 million to a new African American history museum and asking it to include the city’s story. The North Charleston City Council voted unanimously Thursday to give the money from the city’s taxes on hotels to the International African American Museum being built in Charleston. Mayor Keith Summey says he hopes the money helps tell the story of North Charleston’s predecessor Liberty Hill, where a black couple bought farmland during the Civil War that was later sold to other African Americans. North Charleston’s history also includes racial struggles. The city paid a $6.5 million settlement to the family of a black man, Walter Scott, who was shot in the back and killed by a white police officer in 2015.

Rapid City: A state board is weighing whether to raise bonding requirements for natural gas and oil drillers. The Rapid City Journal reports the Board of Minerals and Environment is considering the increase as the state pursues a $15.5 million lawsuit against a Texas-based company for abandoning gas wells in western South Dakota. Spyglass Cedar Creek drilled 40 natural gas wells near Buffalo and then abandoned them after natural gas prices plummeted. Board members called the Spyglass saga a “perfect storm.” Department of Environment and Natural Resources Minerals and Mining program administrator Mike Lees says the state has not had similar issues with other oil and gas developers in the state.

The giraffe calf now known as Bea was born July 1 to Frances at Zoo Knoxville. (Photo: Amy Smotherman Burgess)

Knoxville: A baby giraffe has officially been named Big Girl Two but will be called Bea. Zoo Knoxville officials announced the 2-month-old giraffe’s name at a Saturday event for zoo members. They also celebrated the fourth birthday of Bea’s mother, Frances. Frances gave birth to Bea, her first calf, on July 1. Zookeepers found mother and her healthy baby when they arrived for work that morning. Bea is the first giraffe calf born at the zoo in 17 years. She’s part of herd made up of her mother; her father, Jumbe; and female giraffe Lucille. The four live in the zoo’s Africa Grasslands natural habitat.

Zach Colyer checks the labels on bottles as they come off the production line at Balcones Distilling in Waco, Texas. (Photo: Jerry Larson/Waco Tribune-Herald via AP)

Waco: More farmers in the state are wading into the whiskey business, but their end users are far removed from the era of moonshine stills and midnight raids by ax-toting lawmen. The Waco Tribune-Herald reports the burgeoning Texas whiskey industry is doubling down on Lone Star pride by recruiting growers. An ode to this phenomenon is High Plains Texas Single Malt, a whiskey produced at Balcones Distilling in Waco using Texas-grown barley malted by Blacklands Malt in Leander. The finished product had its roots in an experiment involving Balcones, Blacklands and Texas A&M University Agrilife, which was exploring ways to develop a barley industry in Texas. Now, after more than two years of aging, High Plains Texas Single Malt has arrived. It is priced at $80 a bottle and available exclusively at Balcones.

The varied terrain of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument near Boulder, Utah. (Photo: Douglas C. Pizac/AP)

Salt Lake City: A new U.S. government management plan unveiled Friday clears the way for coal mining and oil and gas drilling on land that used to be off limits as part of a sprawling national monument in the state before President Donald Trump downsized the protected area two years ago. The plan released by the Bureau of Land Management would also open more lands to cattle grazing and recreation and acknowledges there could be “adverse effects” on land and resources in the monument. But while allowing more activities, the plan would also add a few safeguards for the cliffs, canyons, waterfalls and arches still inside Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument that weren’t in a proposed plan issued last year. Among them are opening fewer acres to ATVs and canceling a plan that would have allowed people to collect some non-dinosaur fossils in certain areas.

Colchester: Police are investigating the theft of about $37,000 worth of equipment stolen from a music center during the Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival. The Tuesday night or Wednesday morning burglary at the Elley Long Music Center in Colchester occurred when at least one person broke into an engineering room and stole a case of audio equipment. Rosina Cannizzaro, the executive director for the Vermont Youth Orchestra Association, calls it a “cowardly act.” She says she hopes the equipment can be returned to the owner. MyNBC5 reports the music center says it has implemented overnight security and will be removing all valuable items like sound gear and cash from the building every night.

Adamaah Gray and Ferricia Fatia reflect in the ocean after an emotional cleansing ceremony and tribute to ancestors at Buckroe Beach in Hampton, Va., during commemoration events of the 400th anniversary of the first African landing at Point Comfort. (Photo: Evelyn Hockstein for The Washington Post)

Hampton: Gov. Ralph Northam and other state officials are observing the arrival of enslaved Africans to what is now Virginia 400 years ago. Northam said he signed a directive Saturday to create a commission on African American history in the state. He says it will review educational standards and instructional practices to teach black history in the state. Northam says the state must ensure that all students develop a full understanding of the African American voices that contribute to the nation’s story. He made the announcement at the 2019 African Landing Commemorative Ceremony in Hampton. The landing in August 1619 is considered a pivotal moment that presaged a system of race-based slavery.

Tacoma: Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium is celebrating the birth of its first tamandua pup, which is the size of an avocado. KING-TV reports the southern tamandua is a species of anteaters native to South America that lives in trees. The healthy pup was born Aug. 18 and weighs just more than a half-pound. The baby tamandua will make a public debut once it is stronger and more confident. Until then, it will practice riding on its mother’s back and begin eating fruit and insects in about two months. Zookeepers won’t know the baby’s gender until it is older.

Pipestem: Fans of all things horror gathered at Pipestem Event Center on Saturday to visit the first-ever FearFestWV. “It’s important to bring something like this to this area. There are fans of all ages here from age 5 to 75,” said event hostess and personality Coen Beck, also known as Coen the Butcher. Guests enjoyed vendors specializing in horror merchandise, live music of the metal genre and big-name horror actors. With VIP tickets, guests could meet and speak one-on-one with their favorite big-screen menaces. Actors present included Bill Moseley (“The Devil’s Rejects,” “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “House of 1000 Corpses”), Michael Berryman (“The Hills Have Eyes,” “The Devil’s Rejects”) and Tony Moran, known for his iconic role of Michael Myers in “Halloween.”

Scientists found a type of rare bee known as the Epeoloides pilosulus, or the cuckoo bee, this summer in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. (Photo: Courtesy of U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service)

Madison: A rare bee not seen in the state in more than a century has turned up in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. U.S. Forest Service scientists found the bee in July while surveying pollinators as part of an inventory of native bees in the Great Lakes region. It’s known commonly as a cuckoo bee, but its scientific name is a mouthful: Epeoloides pilosulus. The bee was once widespread in eastern and central America but was thought to have gone extinct. It was then found in 2002 in Nova Scotia, Canada – and only two such bees have been found since, in Connecticut in 2006 and New York in 2014. Wisconsin has about 500 native bee species.

Casper: The city will begin restoring another stretch of the North Platte River in October, the next step in a long-term project expected to cost at least $23 million. The Casper Star-Tribune reports the upcoming work will cost $2.5 million and cover about half a mile of the river. It will include adjusting the channel, stabilizing the banks, removing debris, restoring native vegetation and installing a boat ramp. The river suffered from decades of pollution from industry and a landfill. The city launched the restoration project in 2015, and the upcoming work will be the fourth of seven planned phases. The city and the Two Fly Foundation, a fly-fishing group, started an annual volunteer cleanup day for the river in 2005. The next event is next month.