Rock chalk dead hawk? A Missouri legislator wants to make the Jayhawk – the mythical symbol synonymous with Kansans – the official game bird of the Show Me State, reports the Lawrence Journal-World . The neighboring states have been at each others’ throats since before the Civil War, and their flagship universities continue to be fierce rivals. Former University of Kansas football coach Don Fambrough urged Kansas lawmakers to retaliate in kind against the University of Missouri’s mascot. “I’m going to recommend that our people make the Tiger our most wanted. I have no love for those people.”
No sangria for you! (Or boilermakers. Or Irish car bombs, for that matter.) A Virginia law passed in 1934 forbids restaurants and bars from mixing beer or wine with spirits, making it illegal for Spanish restaurants to serve their signature sangria, a fruity mix of red wine and brandy. After a tapas restaurant was fined for violating the law, Del. Adam Ebbin (D) proposed making an exception for sangria, the Washington Post writes. But bartenders beware: Even if the bill passes, sangria would be the only exempt drink.
First it was David Letterman and Conan O’Brien. Now it’s New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) who’s sporting a beard. The governor let his facial hair grow after he dropped out of the presidential race, the Albuquerque Journal reports. “You know, there are always periods of decompression in my life – this is one of them – that I grow a beard,” Richardson explained.
A New Jersey Republican lawmaker lashed out at Gov. Jon Corzine (D) after two conservative activists were arrested for trespassing outside of a hearing the governor held on raising tolls. “Who does he think he is, Josef Stalin?” asked GOP state Sen. Gerald Cardinale, according to the Asbury Park Press . The head of the New Jersey chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union also said it sounded like a “bogus arrest.” But that doesn’t mean the conservative protesters are willing to have the ACLU represent them. “I’d have to think about that,” said one.
Dress codes in bars are on the Iowa Legislature’s agenda this year, as a Des Moines Democrat tries to make sure saloons aren’t bouncing blacks because of the brands of clothes they wear, according to the Des Moines bureau of The Associated Press . “You can’t tell me I can’t come into a nightclub because I’m black – that’s against the law. But you can use what I wear, and that’s what they’ve been doing,” said state Rep. Wayne Ford, who is black.
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