Now's the time to gather up all your excess Mardi Gras beads and take them to Krispy Kreme's Mobile or Foley locations to exchange them for doughnuts through the Beads for Doughnuts program.

Research into clay deposits in Dunn and Stark counties could lead to the local manufacture of ceramic “bead” proppants, a product used in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, and now imported ...