LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Two Arkansas legislators said Wednesday it is inappropriate to honor Martin Luther King Jr. and the leader of the Confederate Army on the same day and proposed ending the state's decades-old tradition of honoring Robert E. Lee.

Arkansas is one of just three states to jointly celebrate King, the black civil-rights leader, and Lee, the white Confederate general, on the third Monday of January. Some have labeled the practice incongruous, and most public celebrations center on King.

Rep. Nate Bell, R-Mena, said that while he has “absolute and total respect” for Lee, and that his own daughter attended Washington & Lee University in Virginia, honoring both men together highlights racial divides.

“There are people who profit from racial division,” he said. “It needs to be off the table.”

Rep. Fredrick J. Love, D-Little Rock, also introduced a bill Wednesday ending the holiday.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — An asteroid up to 1,800 feet across is headed Earth's way. But don't worry: It will miss us by 745,000 miles, about three times the distance between Earth and the moon.Still, that's close for such a large rock.NASA scientists say asteroid 2004 BL86 will come closest Monday. That will be the nearest the asteroid gets for another 200 years. And it will be the closest known encounter by such a giant space rock until another mega-asteroid flies by in 2027.