An Unprecedented Fishing Ban in Minnesota; Should Georgia Be Renamed the ‘Blueberry’ State?
Walleye in net Dan Thornberg / Shutterstock
Also: The long list of Texas officials in legal trouble and secret oil-train information in New Jersey.
Here’s some of what we’ve been reading today …
LAKE MILLE LACS, Minnesota: There’s bad news for walleye fans in the Land of 10,000 Lakes: The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources announced on Sunday that fishing for walleye would be off-limits to non-tribal anglers at Lake Mille Lacs, one of the state’s most celebrated fishing lakes that’s located about 100 miles north of the Twin Cities. As the Pioneer Press reports, walleye stocks in the lake have been in decline for years and non-tribal walleye fishing may have already exceeded annual limits. [Pioneer Press]
LAURENS COUNTY, Georgia: Agriculture is the biggest industry in the Peach State and one that is continuing to grow. But Georgia leaders might want to rethink the state’s nickname since blueberries are now the state’s top fruit, with acres planted growing by 245 percent from 2007 to 2014. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution examines how agriculture is changing in Georgia, especially as drought ravages California, with science and technology providing new ways to make the agricultural sector even bigger than it is today. [The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]
SAN DIEGO, California: Most of the short-term rental units in San Diego aren’t run by homeowners, Voice of San Diego reports. Through a public records request, information about short-term rental units registered with the city are run by management companies, with “[t]wenty of the city’s top short-term rental management companies operate about 40 percent of those units, with each operating between 20 and 109 rental units.” [Voice of San Diego]
AUSTIN, Texas: With Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton facing felony indictments on alleged securities violations, The Dallas Morning News revisits the long list of top Texas officials who have run into legal trouble over the years, from charges that former Gov. John Connally accepted a $10,000 bribe “to influence milk prices” to former Gov. Rick Perry being indicted on charges of “abuse of official capacity.” [The Dallas Morning News]
BERGEN COUNTY, New Jersey: Information about trains carrying volatile crude oil through the Garden State will remain secret from the general public, though, per an agreement with CSX it will be shared with first responders and emergency management planners, according to The Record. But some firefighting and environmental organizations say that people who live along rail corridors have a right to know about the danger of the oil shipments. [The Record]
Michael Grass is Executive Editor of Government Executive’s Route Fifty.
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