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The DHEC board decided to allow another vote on an amendment to the state health plan that will make it easier for Lexington Medical to gain state approval to build a heart center.

A DHEC committee, on a 7-6 vote, rejected the amendment in June. The committee will have to vote on the amendment again.

Lexington Medical asked the state Department of Health and Environmental Control to make changes in the state’s health insurance plan that would lower the minimum number of heart surgeries a heart center must perform to remain open and maintain quality.

Right now, only Providence Hospital and Palmetto Health are certified to perform open-heart surgeries in the region.

Kendra Patricia Samuel, 21, remains at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center.

Samuel is accused of shaking a 2 ½-month-old Aidan R. Harling causing his death on July 31.

Officials have said the woman shook the infant because he was fussy and wouldn’t take a bottle.

Samuel had recently moved from New York to Columbia and moved in with Jessica Davis, the baby’s mother, to help Davis care for her two children.

But don’t rush out to buy bread and milk. They might spoil before the system comes our way, if it becomes a tropical storm at all.

The system still is weak and has no center of circulation, making its future difficult to predict, said Mark Malsick, severe weather coordinator for the state climate office. It could fizzle out completely or grow into a serious threat to South Carolina, or anything in between.

The system is officially dubbed Invest 92. If it churns into a tropical storm, it would be named Fay. The National Hurricane Center says it could form into a tropical depression today.

Most of the computer models seem to agree it’s going to become a tropical storm and brush the northern side of Puerto Rico before turning to parallel the U.S. Atlantic coast. If it affects South Carolina, it won’t be until late next week.

The new policy, drafted by shopping center management with help from Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott, is being announced today and is scheduled to take effect Sept. 5, Richland County Councilwoman Val Hutchinson said Thursday.

Stephanie White, marketing manager at the shopping center, would not provide specifics of the policy.

Richland County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Sgt. Kim Myers would not discuss possible punishments for violating the new rules.

“I think they’re trying to make the village safe for citizens to eat and watch a movie and walk around at night,” Hutchinson said.

THEY’RE BAAAACK!

USC students return to town all weekend, so do yourself a favor and avoid the traffic that will be humming along Greene Street and elsewhere on campus.

USC volunteers will receive “move-in” T-shirts, and sandwiches and beverages will be provided at an official “move-in day” event from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday.

BENEDICT BASH

Richland County Council’s surprise decision not to put a sales-tax question on the November ballot frustrated business leaders and chafed volunteers the council had appointed to an 18-month study commission.

“The charge was too large and the time, too short,” said Caroline Whitson, who led the 39-member citizen committee.

“There was very little time left to do the political groundwork to make the (council) vote happen.”

Over the past three weeks, questions about whether the council’s rules allowed it to reconsider the issue, as well as scheduling difficulties caused by members’ traditional August break, fed speculation about supporters reviving the referendum by today’s deadline.

“I heard someone running through the apartment. Then gunshots,” said Clarkson, 50.

Upstairs, Darrell D. Williams III had been shot multiple times and died on the scene at 310 Berkshire Drive, Richland County Coroner Gary Watts said.

After the door was kicked in, Clarkson said she thought she heard three shots and then quick-paced steps on the black metal stairs leading to the parking lot.

“I didn’t look. In my younger days I would have, but not now,” she said.

Those are the marching orders passed down Thursday by the DHEC board on a committee vote cast six weeks ago that seemed to end Lexington Medical Center’s four-year pursuit of a new open-heart surgery unit.

The decision, reached after complaints lodged by Lexington Medical over how the State Health Planning Committee conducted its June vote, breathes temporary new life into the issue.

The state Department of Health and Environmental Control’s board said Thursday the committee met its obligation in finalizing a draft of the new State Health Plan in June.

But the planning committee’s secretive, paper-ballot vote in that same June 27 meeting on Lexington’s long-sought open-heart program — and the committee’s decision not to immediately disclose how individual members voted on it — violated at least the spirit of the state’s sunshine laws, the board said.

Smokers will begin paying the extra monthly fee in January 2010.

More than 400,000 workers and their family members are insured through the state health insurance plan. Those numbers include state employees, teachers, and some county and city employees.

According to most estimates, about 24 percent of state residents smoke. If that percentage held true for the 400,000 South Carolinians insured by the state, the higher rates would affect 96,000 people.

Smokers would have to pay $25 extra a month per policy, not per smoker. But Gov. Mark Sanford, who pushed the fee, is open to charging the extra fee for every smoker who is insured by the state.

Bone marrow fat levels in horse skeletons excavated from properties managed by James Trexler’s family were low enough to show the animals died of starvation, forensic veterinarian Melinda Merck said in the report provided by the South Carolina Humane Society.

Merck is a veterinarian with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Atlanta. She examined horse bones recovered earlier this year after authorities found malnourished horses on property belonging to Trexler, his mother and his brother.

Bone marrow fat levels 60 percent or higher are considered normal, Merck said in her report. A horse leg bone excavated from the Trexlers’ land in Sumter measured around 31 percent, while part of another skeleton found at the family’s Richland County property measured less than 1 percent.

“When the bone marrow fat is low, it indicates the animal died of end-stage starvation,” Merck wrote, adding that an animal could starve even with normal bone marrow fat levels.

Jones, 34, of Gilbert, received the award at a banquet as part of the association’s summer training conference in Myrtle Beach. He serves as assistant commander of the Sheriff’s Department Region II Patrol District based in Pelion, Lexington County Sheriff James R. Metts said.

The Sheriffs’ Association recognized Jones for his conduct during several incidents:

• On Jan. 23, 2007, Jones was the first supervisor to assist two deputies involved in a gunfight with a suspect at the man’s home, Metts said. Jones took one of the deputies who had been wounded to a safe area and EMS personnel treated the officer.

• On May 9, 2007, Jones served as incident commander in a standoff with a man who was barricaded in his vehicle on Interstate 26, Metts said. The man had fled from law enforcement officers after being identified as a suspect in an investigation. Jones directed the response of officers from the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department and other agencies, Metts said. After three hours, the suspect surrendered and was arrested.

Gov. Mark Sanford visited for a signing ceremony to give the designation to a 30-mile stretch from the Lake Wylie dam to the S.C. 9 bridge.

“It was a little wet, but we had a good turnout,” Catawba riverkeeper David Merryman said. “This was a day of the river saying, ‘Thanks for recognizing my beauty,’ but still asking for more help.”

The designation allows conservationists, landowners and public officials to convene as an official advisory group on river-related concerns.

— Matt Garfield

Thornhill Drive, 600 block: A woman called police at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday and said another woman was threatening her. The woman who called police said she is the co-worker of a man who is serving 90 days in a naval brig. She said she had been working with the incarcerated man to help him keep his property together, but the man’s wife was angry at her for communicating with her husband. The co-worker said the wife calls her home and sends text messages to her cell phone with threats, telling her to back off.

Exeter Lane, 7000 block: Police were called to a home at noon Tuesday after a woman said her cousin had stolen her camera. The woman told officers the cousin had asked to borrow the $178 camera to take some family photos, but when the woman asked for her camera back, the cousin said she had misplaced it. After several attempts to retrieve her camera, the woman reported the theft. Now, she said, the cousin is harassing her because of the police report.

FOREST ACRES

Forest Drive, 4000 block: A man called police at 8 a.m. Thursday to ask for help in evicting an unwanted roommate. The 33-year-old man told officers he had allowed a woman he knew to move into his home for two or three weeks so she could get on her feet. The man said the woman has now moved her three daughters between 6 and 9 into his home, so he told her to leave. She got angry and began to wreck his house, he said. She destroyed his $175 cell phone and broke an expensive mirror. She also threatened to hurt herself and to tell police he did it, the man said.

Willard Eugene Bryant, 48, is charged with petit larceny and auto tampering, a police news release said.

He is accused of acting as a lookout while someone stole the catalytic converter outside Ryan’s Family Steakhouse on Charleston Highway, the release said.

— Lee Higgins

The system still is weak and had no center of circulation Thursday, making its future difficult to predict, said Mark Malsick, severe-weather liaison for the state climate office. It could fizzle out or grow into a serious threat to South Carolina, or anything in between.

The National Hurricane Center officially dubbed the system Invest 92. If it churns into a tropical storm, it would be named Fay.

If it affects South Carolina, it likely won’t be until late next week.

The discussion will focus on Eau Claire cluster schools, three of which are designated as schools in need of extra academic attention and accountability. Call (803) 691-1168.

Kendra Patricia Samuel, 21, remains at the Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center. She is accused of shaking 2½-month-old Aidan R. Harling, causing his death July 31.

Officials have said the woman shook the infant because he was fussy and wouldn’t take a bottle.

The concert will be Sept. 13 at the North Charleston Coliseum. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. today and are available at the coliseum box office or at www.ticketmaster.com.

The concert is part of S.C. State’s Lowcountry Classic III weekend Sept. 12-13, when the Bulldogs take on the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats at Johnson Hagood Stadium in Charleston.

A judge ordered Lyman Rea on Thursday to pay $37,000 before he’s released, WYFF-TV in Greenville reported. He was arrested Wednesday while preparing for an evening service at Second Baptist Church in Greenville.

Other projects unfunded because of the budget gap include university access to a national fiber-optic grid that can carry high volumes of data at high speed.

State Comptroller Richard Eckstrom says he filled the shortfall by emptying $34 million from agencies’ surplus funds, $124 million from a state reserve account and $92 million from an emergency fund.

With the new school year starting next week, it’s no doubt a warm-up of things to come.

Homework is your child’s responsibility, but there are things parents can do to lay the groundwork for success. Three ideas:

• Set up “homework central” at your house. The area should have good lighting and no distractions (television, for example). It also should include a calendar for important school events, projects and deadlines; folders or notebooks for organization; as well as other supplies that might be useful.

• Set expectations about homework during the school year — and make clear they’re non-negotiable. Homework should take priority over any recreational activity at home. Allow kids a brief break when they get home, but then settle them in for homework. Set a reasonable deadline to complete it.

Craig Baldwin was sentenced after he entered an Alford plea to voluntary manslaughter in the death of his 83-year-old mother. An Alford plea does not admit guilt, but concedes there is enough evidence for a conviction.

Neighbors found Dale Baldwin’s body covered with a blanket in the bushes on her front lawn about a mile from downtown Aiken in June 2006. Authorities said she had been dead for a week.

A day after his mother’s body was found, Craig Baldwin walked his daughter down the aisle at her wedding in Lexington, Ky.

Investigators said Baldwin embezzled thousands of dollars from his mother.

Council funded two more positions in the preservation planning office in this year’s budget, which started July 1.

Amy Moore, preservation planner for the city, said the new hires already are on the job.

“We were drowning a bit here,” Moore said. “The process of designation is a long one, but it’s just the beginning of the workload that’s involved.”

The city has 11 neighborhoods with historic designation, and several who have requested consideration.

Supporters say Town Hall needs to start looking at bringing in service, a step opponents say will be costly for minimal routes.

Councilman Barry A. Walker Sr. is pushing for the town to become part of the panel running the Central Midlands Regional Transit Authority.

It’s a first step toward getting buses to run in town, he said.

“If we’re not on the board, we can’t have a say on routes,” Walker said.

Gone is the pod-style design that has defined the school for decades. In its place is a new three-story high school campus with a centralized arts wing for Spring Valley’s Arts Academy, additional parking for students and staff, and an extensive athletics compound boasting softball, baseball, tennis soccer and football fields.

In addition to the major renovations at Spring Valley, the district is opening its 15th elementary school when the new year kicks off Aug. 21. Bridge Creek Elementary will serve parts of The Summit and other areas.

While students and faculty moved into Spring Valley’s new academic building in December, the new media center, landscaping and some additional parking lots remain to be completed.

Jack Carter, district operations director, said construction staffers faced unique challenges while renovating the campus.

COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS

PALMETTO PERSONAL COMPUTER CLUB: 6-8:30 tonight at Capital Senior Center, 1650 Park Circle (Maxcy Gregg Park). Nancy Johnson will demonstrate CrazyTalk 5, Reallusion’s computer animation software. Special Interest Groups meet before the main meeting; SIGs include Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Windows, Advanced Users and Beginner/Intermediate Users. www.palmettopc.org

WOODFIELD PARK HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION: 7:30 tonight at Woodfield Park Baptist Church, 1834 Morninglo Lane. Guests will be a representative from the National Cemetery at Fort Jackson and a member of the Richland County Sheriff’s Department.

HARRIET HANCOCK COMMUNITY CENTER: Youth Out Loud, 7-9 p.m. the first and third Saturday monthly at 1108 Woodrow St. Meet and greet pizza party for ages 15-19. E-mail hollym1130@aol.com.

Houses in a neighborhood must be at least 50 years old before they can be considered for historic designation.

A list of neighborhoods who are waiting for historic designation:

Shandon

Heathwood

LEXINGTON SHERIFF

Fairview Avenue, 5500 block, between 9:20 and 9:21 p.m. Aug. 1. A man was assaulted and robbed of cash and other items worth $3,020.

ZIP CODE 29016

RICHLAND SHERIFF

The state Transportation Department is studying the idea of designating less-traveled lanes — called High Occupancy Vehicle lanes — to cars with passengers. State planners also are considering making such lanes toll lanes — or High Occupancy Toll lanes — for drivers who don’t have passengers but want access to less congestion and a shorter commute.

The idea is to encourage more carpooling and fewer cars on the road. Booming suburban growth in Irmo, Northeast Richland and Lexington make for congested highways in the Columbia area — and bumper-to-bumper traffic — during typical morning and evening rush hours.

Transportation planners are studying two portions of Interstate 20 in Northeast Richland and another section of Interstate 26 in Lexington County for car-pool lanes. Traffic is expected to double in the Midlands by 2030, and widening parts of I-20 and I-26 is not possible in some stretches.

“We’re supportive of the idea of HOV and HOT planning, and the cost of gasoline has accelerated interest in it,” said Norman Whitaker, executive director of Central Midlands Council of Governments, which does urban and rural transit planning for Richland, Lexington, Newberry, and Fairfield counties.

TBILISI, Georgia — Russian forces broadened their crushing offensive against Georgia on Monday, and Georgian officials feared the worst — that the Russian invasion would mean the end of their country’s independence.

Russian troops opened a second front in their attacks. They were reported in control of Georgia’s main east-west highway outside the central Georgian town of Gori, had taken control of Georgia’s main port at Poti, seized a Georgian military base in the west, and had complete dominion of the skies, from which they bombed and strafed retreating Georgian troops at will.

In Washington, President Bush warned of a “dramatic and brutal escalation” by Russia and said it appeared Russia might be trying to oust Georgia’s president, Mikhail Saakashvili, a former Washington lawyer who is a staunch U.S. ally.

Speaking in the White House Rose Garden, Bush said it appeared Russia was moving beyond the original “zone of conflict” and might soon bomb the civilian airport and attack Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi.

The two presidential candidates offered widely different top 10 favorite songs to Blender magazine but shared the same appreciation for Ol’ Blue Eyes. Obama chose “You’d Be So Easy to Love,” while McCain liked “I’ve Got You Under My Skin.”

In the September issue, the candidates delivered their lists.

McCain prefers ABBA’s disco classic “Dancing Queen.” Obama favors the hip-hop jam “Ready or Not” by the Fugees.

Obama, an Illinois Democrat, chose Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” as his No. 2 pick after the Fugees. Songs “I’m on Fire” by Bruce Springsteen, the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter” and Nina Simone’s “Sinnerman” rounded out his top five.

The Columbia metropolitan area had the fifth-highest increase in its working poor population from 1999 to 2005, according to the Brookings Institution, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C. The agency studied the country’s 58 largest metropolitan areas, including Columbia, which covers six counties.

But the area’s highest concentration of working poor people were in three ZIP codes: 29203, in North Columbia; 29052, in the lower Richland County communities of Eastover and Gadsden; and 29015, in western Fairfield County.

The Richland County ZIP codes fall within the Richland 1 school district, which has five underperforming schools at risk for state takeover — including two in the 29203 ZIP code. The concentrations of working people who are struggling, coupled with a cash-starved bus system that keeps them isolated, is a perfect storm for making things worse, researchers say.

“When the low-income population is economically segregated, it incurs social and economic cost,” said Elizabeth Kneebone, senior research analyst for the Brookings Institution. “It creates a cycle that helps perpetuate itself.”

A new study suggests that a surprising number of overweight people — about half — have normal blood pressure and cholesterol levels, while an equally startling number of trim people suffer from some of the ills associated with obesity.

The first national estimate of its kind bolsters the argument that you can be hefty but still healthy, or at least healthier than has been believed.

The results also show that stereotypes about body size can be misleading, and that even “less voluptuous” people can have risk factors commonly associated with obesity, said study author MaryFran Sowers, a University of Michigan obesity researcher.

“We’re really talking about taking a look with a very different lens” at weight and health risks, Sowers said.

The Bush administration wants federal agencies to decide for themselves whether highways, dams, mines and other construction projects might harm endangered animals and plants.

New regulations, which don’t require the approval of Congress, would reduce the mandatory, independent reviews government scientists have been performing for 35 years, according to a draft obtained by The Associated Press.

The draft rules also would bar federal agencies from assessing the emissions from projects that contribute to global warming and its effect on species and habitats.

If approved, the changes would represent the biggest overhaul of the Endangered Species Act since 1988. They would accomplish through regulations what conservative Republicans have been unable to achieve in Congress: ending some environmental reviews that developers and other federal agencies blame for project delays and cost increases.

“There are probably close to 150,000 individual items, because we often classify some in groups,” said the museum’s Michelle Baker. “Our collection is really pretty large considering the time we’ve been collecting.”

The museum, which opened on Oct. 29, 1988, will celebrate its success at a 20th Anniversary Birthday Bash this weekend, with 20 hours of live entertainment, storytelling, hayrides and more.

About 95 percent of the museum’s collection is in storage. Those items go on display only once in a while or never at all.

However, after some digging in the back rooms and around the 20th anniversary exhibit, the museum staff found seven unique pieces that represent the diversity of its collection.

1898: Fighting in the Spanish-American War came to an end.

1944: During World War II, Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., eldest son of Joseph and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, was killed with his co-pilot when their explosives-laden Navy plane blew up over England.

1953: The Soviet Union conducted a secret test of its first hydrogen bomb.

1960: The first balloon satellite, the Echo 1, was launched by the United States from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

IRMO to DOWNTOWN: A 9.22-mile section of I-126 between Irmo and the Huger Street exit. SCDOT says this is one of the two most heavily traveled sections of interstate highways in S.C. and there is no widening potential.

I-126 to I-26: A 7.22-mile section of I-26 starting at the I-126 interchange near Bush River Road and heading east toward Orangeburg at the U.S. 321 exit.

NORTHEAST RICHLAND: A six-mile section of I-20, starting east of Interstate 77. This is the area that serves the growing Northeast Richland suburb and is near one of the Midlands’ largest employers, Blue Cross/Blue Shield. It could be widened, but there are no funds for such a project.

NORTHEAST RICHLAND to LEXINGTON: A 14.45-mile section of I-20, from west of the I-77 exchange in Northeast Richland to U.S. 378 in Lexington County. SCDOT says this section is heavily traveled and cannot be widened.

I-126 — Between Irmo and downtown Columbia

I-20 — East of I-77 in Northeast Richland

I-20 — West of I-77 between Northeast Richland and Lexington

I-26 — Between I-126 in Columbia and Lexington

$11,750: single, no children

$31,030: single, one child

$35,263: single, two children

$13,750: married, no children

Shriver, a former tennis star, has filed for divorce from Lazenby and cited “irreconcilable differences” for ending their six-year marriage.

The 68-year-old Lazenby said Sunday through spokesman Michael Sands that he loves his children “very much” and will seek sole legal and physical custody. Shriver has said she will seek custody with supervised visits for Lazenby.

The 46-year-old Shriver won 22 Grand Slam doubles titles and has served as a tennis commentator since retiring.

Lazenby starred as James Bond in “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.”

A family member found him unresponsive near a treadmill and he was pronounced dead an hour later at Baptist East Hospital in Memphis, according to the sheriff’s office. The cause of death was not immediately known.

In the early 1970s, Hayes laid the groundwork for disco, for what became known as urban-contemporary music and for romantic crooners like Barry White. And he was rapping before there was rap.

His career hit another high in 1997 when he became the voice of Chef, the sensible school cook and devoted ladies man on the animated TV show “South Park.”

Steve Shular, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office, said authorities received a 911 call after Hayes’ wife and young son and his wife’s cousin returned home from the grocery store and found him collapsed in a downstairs bedroom. A sheriff’s deputy administered CPR until paramedics arrived.

Russian jets bombed near Tbilisi, the Georgian capital, including civilian housing, military bases, factories and the international airport, according to Georgia officials. Also, Russian warships deployed off the Black Sea coast, sinking a Georgian missile boat that approached them, state-run Russian news media said.

Russian troops and tanks, meanwhile, took control of Tskinvali, the devastated capital of South Ossetia, according to Russian state-run media, and there were reports that an armored column tried to push out of the separatist enclave’s boundary toward the city of Gori before being turned back by Georgian forces. The military campaign also expanded, with Russian troops entering Abkhazia, another separatist province.

Tensions between the United States and Russia sharpened as the Bush administration suggested that Russia’s objective goes beyond securing South Ossetia to the ousting of President Mikhail Saakashvili, who has close ties to the United States and is seeking admission to NATO.

Russia denied the charge, repeating that it is obliged to stop “numerous war crimes” against civilians, many of who carry Russian passports, end a “major humanitarian disaster,” and restore the situation to where it was before a Georgian military incursion on Friday.

1. “The Dark Knight,” $26 million

2. “Pineapple Express,” $22.4 million

3. “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor,” $16.1 million

4. “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2,” $10.8 million

What it does: Live theater, including dramas, comedies and musicals; theater classes

Founded: 1967

Location: Bull and Gervais streets

Cost, location of new home: $4 million, Elmwood Avenue and Gadsden Street

Workshop Theatre has raised about $850,000 toward the $4 million it needs to build a new facility on Elmwood Avenue. The Nickelodeon, meanwhile, has about $400,000 in the bank for a $4.8 million renovation of an old movie house on Main Street between Taylor and Blanding.

Can they do it in these hard economic times? Those involved say they can.

“I don’t think there’s any good or bad time,” said Larry Hembree, executive director of the Nickelodeon. “You raise money when you’re ready — and we’re ready.”

Nancy Brooks, executive director of Workshop, echoes that: “It’s hard any time you do it, and it’s especially hard for Workshop. We haven’t been in the mode (to raise money) in a long time.”

That figure is less than the $192,467 it cost to find Pastides’ predecessor, Andrew Sorensen. But it was significantly more than the $110,450 the university spent on the 1991 search that ended with the hiring of John Palms.

Most of the money spent on this recent search — just under $101,000 — went to Dallas-based William Funk and Associates, a national search firm that has helped 67 universities across the country find presidents or chancellors.

USC conducted a national search, considering more than 80 candidates from across the country, before deciding on Pastides, who was on its campus all along, as vice president for research and health sciences.

However, USC trustee Miles Loadholt says the nationwide search served its purpose: to make sure the university considered a range of the best candidates available.

“Some people call it mineral water,” said Bess King, waiting in the shade to collect a week’s worth of drinking water.

“Others just call it the healing spring.”

Cool water flows from a simple pipe at the base of the monument at Veighle Chapel Baptist Church.

Somehow, people from all over the state seem to know about this spring, surrounded by an asphalt parking lot.

Beijing organizers of the games faced tough criticism Wednesday after a whistleblower revealed that the 9-year-old who performed a song during the spectacular opening ceremony was lip-synching to another girl's vocal track.

Yang Peiyi, a 7-year-old with bright eyes and a smile made crooked by the stubs of her first grown-up teeth, was heard by an audience estimated in the billions during Friday night's ceremony, singing "Ode to the Motherland."

But they never saw her face.

Organizers passed the song off as being sung by Lin Miaoke, another perky schoolgirl who donned a sparkly red dress and soared on wires above the 91,000-strong crowd at the Bird's Nest stadium.

The band will be the first recipient of the new recognition, created by Rex.

The stop is part of Rex’s ongoing statewide Back-to-School tour aimed at raising awareness about the need for public school funding reform. It’s also the last stop of the band’s Homegrown Tour, a series of shows encouraging fans to bring school supplies that will be donated to local schools in need.