Washington, DC, USA. A Nevada education official resigns after smooching with his wife at a board meeting. A religious group in West Virginia balks at new driver's license security measures. And a trio of MIT students are in trouble for hacking the Boston subway. In case you missed those stories this week, Worth Noting fills you in.

 

Maybe it’s OK on reality TV. But the Nevada State Board of Education gladly accepted 49-year-old Greg Nance’s resignation from the 10-member panel after he giggled with and kissed his new 20-year-old wife during video-conferenced board meetings last weekend, the Las Vegas Review Journal reports.  That’s one less worry for Nevada's superintendent of public instruction, who was hurriedly searching statute books for a way to reprimand Nance, who was elected to the post, for distracting the meeting, according to the Las Vegas Sun.

 

Is it the Apocalypse, or just the federal Real ID Act? Fourteen people in West Virginia won a special exemption from having digital photos taken for their driver’s licenses, which have new security features required by the federal law. The group objected to their digital photographs being stored in the state motor vehicle department computer system on grounds it conflicts with their religious beliefs. The group fears storing the pictures could be the beginning of the biblical “mark of the beast,” according to The Charleston Gazette.

 

A California Senate hearing on global warming is stirring heat – on YouTube. The Rev. Robert Jones was interrupted less than two minutes into his testimony last week as he urged state lawmakers to consider how carbon cutbacks would affect minority communities, The Sacramento Bee writes. "Excuse me, but I think your arguments are bull——," state Sen. Pat Wiggins (D) told the stunned pastor. As of Aug. 15, the videotaped episode had more than 30,000 views.

 

Were they expecting a medal? Three students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) exploited a flaw in the fare card system of the Boston subway that would allow patrons to swipe free rides. They planned to give a talk about their findings at a hacker’s conference in Las Vegas, until the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority slapped them with a restraining order. The Boston Herald writes the court order surprised the students, who tried to tell the MBTA how to fix the problem.

 

A teen sent into a restaurant by the Arkansas Alcoholic Beverage Control Division to test whether the business was illegally serving liquor to underage patrons walked out in trouble with the law himself. Instead of trying to buy a drink, the restaurant reported that the 19-year-old announced he worked for the state ABC division and demanded free or cut-rate food, according to the Arkansas News Bureau. The restaurant owner reported him to police. The young man pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of soliciting unlawful compensation a few days later. And the ABC division says it is reassessing how it trains minors to work in its liquor compliance program.

 

 

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