The Pew Charitable Trusts

College football season is upon us, and states know their priorities. A Kansas City Star tally finds that all states but Alaska pay a state-funded university football or basketball coach more than they pay their chief executive. The highest earner is the University of Alabama's Nick Saban, whose $4 million salary far out-distances Republican Gov. Bob Riley's $113,000. Alaska, which doesn't have a college football team, pays a hockey coach the most but still $13,000 less than the governor. (Editor's Note: The Kansas City Star ran a clarification Sept. 11 noting that universities listed for Massachusetts (Boston College), New York (Syracuse University) and Rhode Island (Providence College) are private institutions, not public schools, as it had reported.)

Wisconsin Democrats pulled a button they were selling at the Dodge County Fair. The "F Scott Fitzgerald" buttons were a none-too-subtle dig at Republican state Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, according to the Fond du Lac Reporter . Fitzgerald derided Democrats for their "crude bathroom humor" and called for an apology.

In the Arkansas House, lawmakers can't even keep a glass of water on their desks, but rules do permit a cup for tobacco spit. State Rep. Pam Adcock (D) unleashed a torrent of protest with a proposal to ban chewing tobacco from the chamber and committee rooms, where smoking is prohibited. S tate Rep. Keven Anderson (R), for one, insisted lawmakers can discreetly chew tobacco without harming decorum or anyone else's health, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette . Adcock withdrew her proposal but said she plans to introduce legislation in 2009 to ban chewing tobacco in the Capitol.

If not for Florida state employees, the world might never have known that porn star Avy Scott has a natural bust. With the help of Wikiscanner, a Web site that tracks changes to the publicly edited online encyclopedia Wikipedia, the St. Petersburg Times reveals that state computers were used to make hundreds of edits to Wikipedia entries. Someone at the Florida Department of Health vouched for the bustline of Scott, a Tampa native. A gem traced to a Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles computer added a tidbit on kazoos: David Gilmour played the instrument in the Pink Floyd song, "Corporal Clegg."

No doubt the Founding Fathers would have been proud. Sporting flags bearing the words "Don't Tread On Me" - similar to pennants waved by colonial Americans to protest unfair taxation by the British - residents of Merrimark, N.H., staged a "toll revolt," paying the 50-cent toll at the town's three tollbooths in pennies and backing up traffic. A state study found that Merrimack residents pay on average 43 cents per mile, while other state residents pay only 3 cents a mile, the Nashua Telegraph reports.