Easter egg flap fries Wyoming artists

Wyoming officials smell something rotten after an oversight let an out-of-stater design its White House Easter egg, the Cheyenne bureau of The Associated Press reports. An Illinois college student designed the Cowboy State’s egg, because the American Egg Board’s hunt for a new Wyoming egg artist turned up no one. Apparently, the search wasn’t all it was cracked up to be: The board didn’t call the governor’s office or the state’s arts council. The result? A drawing of a goggle-wearing egg on skis, standing on a mountain. (See all of the states’ entries here .)

West Virginia is called “Almost Heaven” by its residents, so no wonder its governor thinks the state’s far prettier than New Jersey. West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin III (D) told middle school students he didn’t want his state’s roads to look like the ones in the Garden State, where he recently visited. “It was filthy. I couldn’t believe how dirty the highways and streets were,” Manchin said, the Charleston Daily Mail reported.

Actually, New Jersey is thinking of cleaning up its act – in supermarkets, at least. Legislation pending in the Assembly would require grocery stores to provide sanitary wipes that customers could use to clean off their shopping carts, The Record of Bergen County reports.

Donald Trump is known for big talk, big hair and big buildings. But it’s a big U.S. flag that caused the real estate mogul’s recent spat with city officials in Palm Beach, Fla. and a potential legislative solution. Trump has been fined $80,000 for flying a huge flag on an 80-foot pole outside of his Palm Beach club, but the Florida Legislature could soon trump the local prohibitions against outsized flagpoles, the Palm Beach Post reports. “It just occurred to me that citizens in Florida really shouldn’t have to pay a fee to fly the American flag,” said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Nick Thompson (R).

Bills so fast you’ll freak: The reading clerk for the Oregon House talks so fast, he can read 44 words in 10 seconds – and those words usually come from the legislative lexicon, marvels The Oregonian . The clerk, Obie Rutledge, reads at twice the clip as normal people. The quick pace keeps legislative business moving. But, occasionally, the paper notes, Rutledge does slip up. Once, when reading the title of a bill about mad cow disease, he mangled “bovine spongiform encephalopathy.”

The Tilt-a-Whirl could soon join the ranks of the monarch butterfly, milk and the lady slipper as a Minnesota state symbol. Lawmakers are considering whether to make the Tilt-a-Whirl the state’s official amusement ride, the Owatanna People’s Press reports. The spinning ride was invented in Minnesota in 1927 and is still produced there. “Minnesotans like to have fun, and it’s a fun thing to do,” explained the sponsor.