To regulate hikers using the cable system to the top of Half Dome, Yosemite National Park will begin requiring day-use permits for the popular climb when the cables are put back up in May. The National Park Service wants to address safety issues resulting from crowding, which leads to unsafe conditions.

The Half Dome day-use permits will be required Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays as well as holidays. Four hundred will be issued per day, with 100 of those to be included in wilderness permits.

In 1875, Scottish carpenter George Anderson spent a week drilling eyebolts into the rock and setting fixed ropes on Half Dome's east face. Today, the Half Dome hike is one of the most famous in the world. On virtually every sunny day in summer and fall, hundreds of people reach the summit, grasping a cable handrail near the original ascent route to pull themselves up the treacherous final section. Permits will cost $1.50 at http://nps.gov/yose.

WASHINGTON STATE

PICASSO EXHIBIT MAKES ITS WAY TO SEATTLE

The Seattle Art Museum has landed a major exhibition of Pablo Picasso's work. The exhibit opens in October and will feature 75 paintings and sculptures from throughout Picasso's eight-decade career, plus drawings and photographs.

The artworks come from the Musee National Picasso in Paris, which houses Picasso's personal collection. The Musee Picasso recently closed for renovation, and the Seattle Art Museum says this is likely the only time such a comprehensive survey of Picasso's work will travel the world.

Seattle is the exhibit's first stop in the U.S. Among the highlights will be "Cubist Man with a Guitar" from 1911, "Cat Clutching a Bird" from 1939 and the self-portrait "The Matador" from 1970.

IN THE AIR

AMERICAN CHARGING $8 FOR BLANKET, PILLOW

If you want a pillow and blanket in coach on American Airlines, it's going to cost you. The airline will charge $8 for a pillow and blanket in coach class for domestic trips and some international flights longer than two hours, beginning May 1. The international flights are to and from Canada, Mexico, Hawaii, the Caribbean and Central America.

Spokeswoman Andrea Huguely said blankets will remain complimentary in premium-class cabins and in all cabins for other international flights.

JetBlue and US Airways charge $7 for a blanket-and-pillow set, with US Airways adding eye shades and earplugs.

— Advertiser Staff