“Otero County Commission is flaunting that process by appeasing unfounded conspiracy theories and potentially nullifying the votes of every Otero County voter who participated in the primary.”

Alaska state Rep. Kevin McCabe, R-Big Lake, making the case on the House floor last week for a bill establishing gold and silver as legal tender in the state — which passed the Legislature nearly unanimously and now awaits Gov. Mike Dunleavy's signature. The bill exempts gold and silver specie from sales taxes when used as currency, though it does not require any store or business to accept it. The lone no vote, Sen. Jesse Kiehl, D-Juneau, offered his own pointed summary: "We don't do this for Pokémon cards — they've gained value." (Anchorage Daily News)

Cohutta, Ga., Mayor Ron Shinnick, explaining his decision this week to dissolve his town's entire police department — all 10 officers — by posting a sign on the department's door reading "The PD has been dissolved, and all personnel have been terminated." The firing came a week after Shinnick had publicly declared a dispute between officers and his wife, the former town clerk, resolved through "open dialogue and good-faith mediation." The town council voted two days later to void his order and reinstate the department. (Daily Beast)

South Carolina Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey speaking on the Senate floor before a vote that blocked congressional redistricting efforts in the state. The South Carolina Senate rejected a push — backed by President Donald Trump and the White House — to redraw the state's congressional maps mid-decade. Massey, who had argued against redistricting for over a week, led the charge against bowing to federal pressure, joining the chamber's 12 Democrats and a handful of fellow Republicans to defeat the measure 29-17. Critics of the rushed process noted that redistricting typically unfolds over multiple years with statewide public. (Union-Bulletin)

Geologist Kurt Goebel, describing the transformation of a polluted former rail yard in Las Vegas. The city turned a contaminated Symphony Park site — once plagued by petroleum and arsenic pollution from a former Union Pacific rail yard — into one of downtown Las Vegas’ signature redevelopment successes. Backed by millions in Environmental Protection Agency funding and private investment, the area now includes cultural institutions, housing, retail and medical facilities, serving as a national example of brownfield revitalization. (Las Vegas Review Journal)