RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina legislators have approved a ban on smoking in restaurants and bars in the country’s top tobacco-growing state by sales. Gov. Beverly Perdue has said she would sign it into law. The state House voted 62-56 on Wednesday to approve changes adopted in the Senate. North Carolina has come late to the national movement to limit places where smoking is allowed. The law would allow fines up to $50 for smokers who keep puffing after being asked to stop.
California: Big solar project
California utility Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has signed new solar contracts that are expected to produce enough electricity to power about 530,000 homes during peak hours. PG&E said Wednesday its partnership with Oakland-based BrightSource Energy is the nation’s largest solar deal, and would produce a record total of 1,310 megawatts of solar thermal power. The deal includes seven solar projects, the first of which is slated to begin producing power in 2012. If approved, all seven of the solar thermal plants could be up and running by 2017, a BrightSource spokesman said.
Rhode Island: Student tax
The mayor of Providence wants to slap a $150-per-semester tax on the 25,000 full-time students at Brown University and three other private colleges in the city, saying they use resources and should help ease the burden on struggling taxpayers. The mayor said the fee would raise between $6 million and $8 million a year for the city, which is facing a $17 million deficit. If enacted, it would apparently be the first time a U.S. city has directly taxed students just for being enrolled.
D.C.: New leader for the arts
President Obama Wednesday announced his intention to nominate Rocco Landesman, a major player in the commercial theater world, to head the National Endowment for the Arts. Landesman, a theater owner and producer, has brought many of the past decade’s biggest hits to Broadway, including the Tony Award winners “Jersey Boys,” “Into the Woods,” “The Producers” and “Proof.” He produced Tony Kushner’s landmark “Angels in America.” And he is backing the current revival of the Tony-nominated “Hair.”
New Jersey: Body recovered
The Coast Guard said commercial divers have recovered the body of a crew member killed when a fishing boat sank off southern New Jersey in March. Divers found the body of Tarzon “Bernie Mac” Smith around 8 p.m. Tuesday while searching the Lady Mary, a 71-foot fishing boat that went down about 75 miles east of Cape May. Smith was one of six crew members who died when the vessel sank on March 24; one survived.
Georgia: Huge meth bust
Federal authorities in Atlanta on Wednesday announced the biggest seizure of Mexican crystal methamphetamine ever recorded east of the Mississippi River. Federal drug enforcement agents seized about 351 pounds of meth from two houses in Duluth, in suburban Atlanta, in an operation that began Sunday and extended into Monday morning. They arrested four Mexican nationals, three of whom are in the U.S. illegally. In addition to the crystal meth, commonly known as “ice,” agents found one kilogram of cocaine and an undetermined amount of cash.
Texas: No Dr Pepper sale
A tattered old ledger book from the Texas drugstore where Dr Pepper was invented has failed to sell at auction. Heritage Auction Galleries said Wednesday that the bidding for the book containing a recipe titled “D Peppers Pepsin Bitters” failed to meet the $25,000 minimum reserve. A spokesman said the gallery is working on a possible private sale of the book. As for the recipe titled “D Peppers Pepsin Bitters,” Dr Pepper Snapple Group has said it isn’t a formula for a soft drink and likely is a recipe for a bitter digestive that bears the Dr Pepper name.
Britain: Stonehenge remodel
The British government Wednesday announced plans for major improvements at Stonehenge to be completed ahead of the 2012 Olympics, when hordes of visitors are expected. The plans call for one of the roads near the prehistoric monument to be closed and grassed over to make the site more tranquil and to link the mysterious stone circle to the rest of the site. In addition, the antiquated visitor’s center right next to the site will be shut down and replaced by a modern reception center about 1.5 miles away from the stones. Visitors will be able to use the center and then take a bus to the site, officials said.
From Herald news services
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