• VT. HOUSE IN RESOLUTION: THANKS FOR THE M&MS: MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — The Vermont House has passed a resolution thanking one of its members for the peanut M&Ms.

Rep. Ken Atkins, a Winooski Democrat, has carried on a tradition since 1999 in which every time there’s a pause in legislative action for a House roll call, he dumps a bunch of M&Ms into a glass jar on his desk and other House members gather around for a snack.

The retired teacher says he likes a snack during House action, and he used to tell his students not to bring a snack to class without enough to share.

Atkins says he tried putting out plain M&Ms with the peanut ones once, but no one took the plain ones.



• FORMER MISS NEW HAMPSHIRE USA FACES ASSAULT CHARGE: MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Police say a former Miss New Hampshire USA faces a simple assault charge stemming from a confrontation with her boyfriend.

Police say Sunday that 26-year-old Nicole Houde was arrested Wednesday. Authorities say the Manchester beauty queen punched, kicked, scratched and bit 33-year-old Scott Nickerson, also of Manchester.

Police say the two were arguing and Nickerson took Houde’s cellphone, prompting the physical confrontation.

Houde was the 2010 Miss New Hampshire USA.

Miss New Hampshire USA and Miss Teen New Hampshire USA are distinct from Miss New Hampshire and Miss America pageants.



• 1958 POSTCARD MAILED FROM CHICAGO FINALLY ARRIVES: CHICAGO (AP) — A postcard mailed from Chicago in 1958 has finally reached its intended recipient, but not without a little help from Facebook.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that a postcard depicting Shedd Aquarium recently arrived at Scott McMurry’s Virginia home, more than five decades after his mom mailed it.

The 71-year-old says he immediately recognized his mother’s handwriting.

The postcard was addressed to Clairmont Lane in Decatur, Ga., where McMurry grew up. But it recently arrived in Elizabeth Fulcher’s mailbox on Clairmont Lane in South Daytona, Fla.

Fulcher posted a picture of the postcard on Facebook and her friends helped track down McMurry.

The half-century mail delay remains a mystery.



• ST. LOUIS TENT COLLAPSE RAISES SAFETY QUESTIONS: ST. LOUIS (AP) — St. Louis officials are expected to more closely scrutinize the large tents commonly set up near downtown stadiums after one of the temporary structures collapsed in high winds Saturday, resulting in the death of an Illinois man and dozens of injuries after a baseball game.

Sam Dotson, a spokesman for Mayor Francis Slay, said it’s unclear if adequate regulations were in place and being followed Saturday or if the disaster was simply the result of people not paying attention to severe weather warnings.

The fast-moving storm ripped a large beer tent at Kilroy’s Sports Bar from its moorings and sent it and debris hurtling through the air about 80 minutes after the end of a St. Louis Cardinals game. Seventeen people in the tent were taken to hospitals and up to 100 of the 200 gathered were treated at the scene, which was near Busch Stadium.