Thursday Travel Ticker: MGM’s Studio 54 to close

Tioga Road in Yosemite National park reopened Wednesday. The popular east-west crossing of the Sierra Nevada has been closed since an early season snowstorm dropped a foot of snow earlier this month. . . . Iconic Vegas nightclub Studio 54 will close its doors Jan. 8 after a 14-year run in the MGM Grand. The closing is part of MGM renovation that includes guest rooms, the casino floor and dining areas. . . . Recycled Percussion, a “junk rock” band that mixes buckets, power tools and anything else they can get their sticks on, will play a 24-hour fundraiser at the Hard Rock Cafe in Las Vegas starting Nov. 22 at 10 p.m. To get in, bring a $10 donation or a new, unopened toy. . . . The Andaz West Hollywood RH Bar, with views of The Sunset Strip, is toasting Wednesdays with $7 drinks, $7 apps and $7 valet parking from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. . . . Utah’s Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort plans to open some intermediate and advanced terrain on Friday. . . . Lawmakers in Indianapolis, site of this year’s Super Bowl, plan to try to push through an expanded smoking ban that would add bars and hotel rooms to Marion County’s existing ban. . . . . Sites of other upcoming Super Bowls: 2013 New Orleans, 2014 New York/New Jersey. . . . “Big Shrimpin’,” the new reality-based series filmed in Alabama’s Bayou La Batre and on the Gulf of Mexico, premieres Thursday. . . . Travel quote of the day: “I love to travel, but hate to arrive.” (Albert Einstein)