Chainsaw chase; toxic children's jewelry; marijuana raids
- Updated
Odd and interesting news from the West.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
ROSWELL, N.M. — A New Mexico man is facing charges after police say he chased two women around a Roswell house with a chainsaw.
KRQE-TV in Albuquerque reports that Miguel Carrasco was recently arrested following the attempted attack with the power tool.
Police say the 44-year-old Carrasco started up a chainsaw after he and the two other women had been drinking. According to officers, the women told police Carrasco pointed the chainsaw and thrusted it toward them.
The women also told officers he chased them with the tool around a kitchen table and the house until they were able to escape.
It was unclear what prompted the attack.
Police say Carrasco was arrested after the women contacted authorities.
It was not known if he had an attorney.
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Information from: KRQE-TV, http://www.krqe.com
- The Associated Press
- Updated
HONOLULU — A second newly identified USS Oklahoma sailor killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor will be buried in Honolulu this week.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency says Ensign Lewis Stockdale will be laid to rest at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific on Friday.
The agency recently identified the 27-year-old from Anaconda, Montana after exhuming his remains along with the remains of nearly 400 of his shipmates last year. The military co-mingled and buried the remains as unknowns when it was unable to identify them after World War II.
The agency decided to dig up the remains because advances in forensic science and technology have made identification more feasible.
The first sailor to be reburied since the new identifications were made was buried last week.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Wyoming lawmakers are weighing how to regulate marijuana brownies and similarly spiked foods and beverages that increasingly are coming in from neighboring Colorado and other places where the drug is legal.
A bill to make it a felony to possess more than 3 ounces of marijuana edibles died in the Wyoming legislative session that ended this month. Lawmakers deadlocked on how to measure the concentration and potency of marijuana and its active ingredient, THC, when it's mixed with the other edible ingredients.
The Joint Judiciary Committee is set to consider the issue again before next year.
"Frankly, it's time the state take a comprehensive look at its marijuana laws in general, not just with edibles," said Rep. Charles Pelkey, a committee member and Democrat from Laramie, home to the University of Wyoming. "The reality is that in Colorado, 25 miles south of our only college town, it's legal."
For prosecutors to charge someone with felony drug possession, marijuana must be in its original form, Cheyenne District Attorney Jeremiah Sandburg said, citing a recent state Supreme Court decision. Unless the drug's original form can be isolated in edibles — which could well be impossible — possession of any amount of them is a misdemeanor, he said.
Sandburg's office brought felony charges of marijuana possession against a man with nearly 2 pounds of pot candies, cookies, bread and chocolate bars. A judge dismissed the case last summer, saying felony charges would require possession of more than 3 ounces of marijuana in plant form.
Casper District Attorney Mike Blonigen said he wants to see the state change the law to create balance between penalties for possession of the drug in its plant and edible forms.
"I could have literally a semi load full of edibles, and it would only be a misdemeanor," he said. "Now you still can't sell them, you still can't possess them legally."
The Wyoming Highway Patrol has seen a steep increase in marijuana edibles in recent years since other states legalized recreational pot use, Col. Kebin Haller said. Shipments are moving north from Colorado and east from Washington state, he said.
A Wyoming college student visiting Denver jumped to his death after eating a marijuana cookie in 2014, just months after recreational sales began in Colorado, said Thomas J. Gorman, director of the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. The federal office coordinates law enforcement response to drug trafficking in much of Colorado, parts of Utah and southern Wyoming.
An autopsy report listed marijuana intoxication as a "significant contributing factor" in the death of the 19-year-old.
"By legalizing marijuana, we were supposed to stop the black market," Gorman said of Colorado. "But in fact, we have become the black market for so many states around the country."
Gorman said it's not practical to require an analysis to determine the THC content of edibles to prosecute their possession. He noted that the law does not require an analysis of the potency of marijuana in plant form to make its possession a crime.
If Wyoming wants to make it a felony to have edibles, it could set a weight limit and stick to it regardless of the amount of the drug or THC they contain, Gorman said.
"It's just not worth it to make it so darn complicated," he said.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
BOISE, Idaho — An Idaho committee Tuesday unanimously backed a bill that would eliminate a resistance requirement from the Idaho sexual assault statute, despite concerns voiced by a conservative lawmaker.
Republican Rep. Ron Nate, of Rexburg, said by removing the resistance requirement from the statute, the state would place those accused of rape at risk of being falsely convicted.
Chairman of the Criminal Justice Commission Sarah Thomas told the House Judiciary, Rules and Administration Committee that over 30 other states have removed the resistance requirement from their statutes. Further, she argued no other criminal statute makes a victim prove they resisted the crime.
The bill also makes the sexual assault law gender neutral and strengthens spousal rape statues.
The measure will now go to the House for a floor vote.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
OLYMPIA, Wash. — State regulators have tested dozens of children's jewelry pieces and found high levels of cadmium and lead in five necklaces sold with girls' dresses.
The Department of Ecology said Tuesday that two necklaces were found to be at least 90 percent cadmium. Cadmium and lead are metals that can cause serious health effects, especially in children. It can be toxic even in low concentrations.
The state tested 157 pieces of jewelry. None of the 132 pieces of jewelry sold separately contained concerning levels of heavy metals. Five of the 27 pieces packaged and sold with clothing did.
The state has notified the manufacturers that they're in violation of the state's Children's Safe Products Act. They could be required to take action or face penalties.
KWDZ Manufacturing spokeswoman Stephanie Reif says the company is looking into it and will do whatever it takes to comply.
Messages left with the other companies were not immediately returned.
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On the Internet:
Ecology Children's Jewelry Testing: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/hwtr/RTT/cspa/jewelryQandA.html
- The Associated Press
- Updated
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The federal government is setting aside nearly 22 square miles across three western states as critical habitat for a rare mouse that has already pitted ranchers against the U.S. Forest Service in New Mexico.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Tuesday that areas in New Mexico, Colorado and Arizona will be covered by the designation for the New Mexico meadow jumping mouse.
The management of vegetation along 170 miles of streams throughout the region will be affected.
"This carefully determined designation identifies habitat most vital to the survival of the species," Benjamin Tuggle, the agency's regional director, said in a statement.
The designation stems from an agreement with environmental groups that had pushed for the federal government to do more to protect the mouse and dozens of other species.
Federal biologists say 29 populations of the mouse have been documented in the three states since 2005, and all are small and isolated. Nearly a dozen of the populations have been affected by drought, wildfire, flooding and grazing.
The meadow jumping mouse — which depends on tall grass along streams and in other riparian areas — was first recognized as being in need of federal protection in 1985. It was placed on the waiting list in 1991 and again in 2007 and then listed under the federal Endangered Species Act in 2014.
Jay Lininger, a scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity, described the rodent as one of the most endangered mammals in the nation.
"Protecting its habitat will benefit a host of other species, too, and improve water quality," he said.
Others said the critical habitat designation doesn't go far enough.
Bryan Bird with the Santa Fe-based WildEarth Guardians suggested every mile of potential mouse habitat be protected.
Federal forest managers first ordered closures and began installing fencing along streams in parts of the Santa Fe and Lincoln national forests in New Mexico in 2014 to protect the mouse.
Ranchers protested the closures, arguing that their private property and water rights as well as the centuries-old ranching traditions of New Mexico's rural communities were being threatened.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
SEATTLE — The deaths of three firefighters in the Twisp River Fire last summer are inspiring a wave of job applicants in Washington.
KIRO-FM reports the State Department of Natural Resources isn't seeing people shy away from firefighting jobs after two record-breaking fire seasons.
Washington is preparing for its upcoming summer fire season.
New recruits must be healthy, 18 years old, have a license and high school diploma or GED, and be able to drive a stick shift.
The state trains firefighters in building a fire line, tracking fire behavior and other techniques.
Crews can work up to 16 hours daily, as many as 21 days in a row.
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Information from: KIRO-FM, http://mynorthwest.com/
- The Associated Press
- Updated
NOME, Alaska — Musher Aliy Zirkle on Tuesday completed a bittersweet Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race across Alaska, and credited the people of Alaska with helping her pull through a harrowing ride in which she was attacked by a man on a snowmobile.
Zirkle brought her team of 13 dogs down Nome's Front Street through a boisterous crowd chanting her name Tuesday morning. It's Zirkle's fifth consecutive top five finish.
The attacks on Zirkle and four-time champion Jeff King marred this year's race across two mountain ranges, down the mighty Yukon River and along the wind-scoured Bering Sea coast. Prosecutors contend the man rammed both mushers' dog teams or sleds, killing one of King's dogs and injuring or bruising others on both teams.
An exhausted Zirkle didn't address the attack directly in post-race interviews. However, she did say this year's Iditarod was "really hard, physically and emotionally."
Zirkle said her nature in these situations is to count only on herself and her dogs. But something happened — and then kept happening — after the early Saturday morning attack.
"It's kind of what I did, and then Alaska like tugged back," she said. "Every checkpoint I went through, people were so supportive.
"I couldn't just be with myself. It turned out, I was with everyone," said Zirkle, who is a favorite of mushing fans.
Zirkle had appeared shaken on a video after the attack telling a race official: "Someone tried to kill me with a snowmachine," using the Alaska term for snowmobile.
She was attempting to become only the third woman ever to win the nearly thousand-mile race across Alaska and the first since the late Susan Butcher won her fourth title in 1990. Zirkle finished second from 2012-2014, before dropping to fifth place last year.
Zirkle was born in Manchester, New Hampshire, in 1969 and first came to Alaska in 1990, midway through getting a degree in biology from the University of Pennsylvania. She lived in a wall tent on the Alaska Peninsula, counting birds for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
She went back to college and finished her degree in 1992, and then came right back to Alaska. She and her husband, musher Allen Moore, own a kennel. Both are entered in this year's race, and he was running in 32nd place.
They built their home in Two Rivers, Alaska, where they hunt moose in the fall.
At the finish line, fans chanted her name, hugged her and she even got a bouquet of roses.
''People are incredibly supportive of me. I guess I better go hold up my end of the bargain," she said.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
ST. GEORGE, Utah — Four years after she shattered both legs in a middle-of-the-night rappelling accident, Brittany Fisher returned to finish her descent.
Fisher was a student at Utah State University when she and some friends decided to go rappelling at Cougar Cliffs in St. George, reported KSL-TV. Something went wrong that night, and Fisher plummeted about 100 feet to the ground.
"It was a rough night," said Mike Thomas, a member of the Washington County Search and Rescue team that helped save Fisher. "The outcome was uncertain. Even after we put her on lifeflight, I couldn't wait for the next day to find out if she was stable in the hospital."
Fisher was alive, but doctors told her she probably wouldn't walk again.
Yet Fisher was determined to finish the rappel, and she told Thomas that about a year ago.
"Our guys are all volunteer, and I started making phone calls to see who wanted to do this for her, and you know how many 'no's' I got? Zero," said Thomas.
So the same team that helped Fisher after her leg-shattering fall met her at the cliffs on Saturday. Two of them rappelled alongside her and others held the ropes in place.
"I was pretty scared at the top," said Fisher. "But I knew I could do this. I can't (put) into words what I feel for every single one of them who took the time to help me do this."
Thomas said he was nervous, too.
"I was up half the night wondering, 'What if we can't make it happen? What if I forgot something?' Her safety was our responsibility," he said.
But Fisher touched the ground about 15 after she started. Her parents were there waiting for her.
"I think part of this is she had to come back and conquer this the right way," explained her father, Bryan Fisher. He and Fisher's mother came from Illinois to watch her face the cliffs again.
After finishing, Fisher said she's ready to move forward.
"I really feel at this point, like, free of it all," she said. "I'm healed in every other way. My legs aren't going to be perfectly healed in this life, but everything else, I've definitely conquered and overcome."
- The Associated Press
- Updated
SALT LAKE CITY — A former county treasurer is suspected of embezzling tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars.
Utah State Auditor John Dougall released a report Monday saying three years of thefts amounted to more than $90,000.
Kane County Commission chair Dirk Clayson told KUTV-TV that former Kane County Treasurer Georgia Baca turned in her letter of resignation when the she was given the opportunity to explain.
Baca had been placed on administrative leave in February.
County officials say $56,182 in cash is unaccounted for and that Baca transferred $34,600 to her personal account as well as $1,612 to her Verizon Wireless account.
The Kane County Sheriff's Department says arrests have not been made.
Dougall said it's likely a neighboring county would handle prosecution.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
POCATELLO, Idaho — A company started by a Post Falls seed potato farmer said it will put a driverless tractor on an Idaho field within the next two months.
Farb Guidance Systems' first GPS-guided tractor, which is about half the size of the normal machine and has no steering wheel or seat, will go to a southern Idaho farmer, the Capital Press reported Monday.
"Companies have prototypes out there, but we believe at this point in time we're the world leader in unmanned agricultural equipment," company founder David Farb said.
Farb said his company expects to build 60 tractors this year and has received commitments for 100.
"We think that once these get in the dirt that it will be an explosive-type market," Farb said. "It's pretty hard to say no to it at the cost and what it does for you."
Sensors alert farmers of equipment problems on the tractors, which start at $160,000 and have been tested on Farb's farm. He plans to use the machines in his regular farming operations come spring.
Farb is working with equipment dealers and a large southern Idaho dealership to create a maintenance network. He also is looking at partnering with Idaho State University on research.
Technology instructor Darren Leavitt said students could intern in map design.
"How are you going to send an unmanned tractor out to mitigate a problem in the field if you don't have the coordinates for that problem?" Leavitt said.
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Information from: The Capital Press (Ore.), http://www.capitalpress.com/washington
- The Associated Press
- Updated
HELENA, Mont. — A teacher fired from a Catholic school in Montana after an anonymous letter writer said she was unmarried and pregnant reached a confidential settlement with the school district and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena.
Shaela Evenson was fired from Butte Central Catholic Schools in 2014 after the diocese received the letter. Evenson sued, accusing the school district and the diocese of pregnancy discrimination, sex discrimination and breach of contract.
The school and diocese responded that she had breached her contract by going against the religious and moral teachings of the church.
After months of negotiations, the sides filed notice Monday that they reached a settlement and they expect to ask a judge to dismiss the case next week. Once executed, the deal would avert a trial scheduled for April.
The agreement is confidential, Butte Central Superintendent Tim Uhl said Tuesday. He said diocese Bishop George Leo Thomas told him to "do what's right" and take a conciliatory tone toward resolving the lawsuit.
"He doesn't want to take it to court because there has been a lot of hurt and harm," Uhl said. "I know it was very painful for Ms. Evenson, as well as the Butte Central community, and we're hoping to put this behind us and move on."
Evenson's attorney, Brian Gallik of Bozeman, did not return calls for comment.
Evenson became pregnant through artificial insemination and gave birth to a boy in 2014. She taught literature and physical education to middle-school students for nine years.
She also led classes in daily prayer and accompanied her class to Mass, which attorneys for the school district said qualified her as a ministerial employee ineligible to make discrimination claims.
A religious exemption in federal law prohibits discrimination lawsuits by employees who perform essentially religious functions. Evenson's attorneys said she was not a ministerial employee.
Uhl declined to comment on the details of the settlement but said it did not include any provision to change district personnel policy.
The diocese provides policy guidelines but managing school policy is up to individual school districts, diocese spokesman Dan Bartleson said.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
DENVER — Authorities are raiding homes and warehouses in the Denver area as part of a lengthy investigation into suspected illegal marijuana grows.
Denver police said Tuesday that the ongoing probe, which began two years ago, targets unlicensed pot grows of varying sizes. Investigators won't say how much pot they've seized but say there haven't been any arrests. Agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration are also involved.
Police say it's possible some of the operators may be shipping pot out of state.
Some illegal drug traffickers have sought a safe haven in Colorado's flourishing marijuana industry. Some ship the drug out of state, where it can sell for more than it would in a legal Colorado shop, and pocket millions of dollars from the sale.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
ALPINE, Calif. — State records show that a brawl at a now-closed group home for troubled youth in California was more extensive than originally reported.
The San Diego Union Tribune reports (http://bit.ly/1R0rrBP) that the records show what San Diego County reported as a fight among five residents of the Phoenix House involved as many as 20 people and required a large police force to stop.
The account of the January 2015 incident also says an injured resident, nurse and sheriff's deputy locked themselves inside a trailer while a crowd of angry youth surrounded the structure.
The fight was one of several incidents that occurred at the facility before it abruptly closed last September. Officials said it closed for financial reasons.
Phoenix House is a rehabilitation organization that operates several other treatment centers. Executives there declined to address the reports.
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Information from: The San Diego Union-Tribune, http://www.utsandiego.com
- The Associated Press
- Updated
LAS VEGAS — A former Boulder City animal control supervisor accused of illegally killing dogs at a shelter, including a Dachshund that belonged to her ex-husband, has posted bond and is free pending trial on felony animal cruelty charges.
Mary Jo Frazier pleaded not guilty March 8 in Clark County District Court to two felony counts that could get her up to eight years in prison. She was accused of unnecessarily euthanizing the Dachshund and failing to provide proper food or care for a pit bull puppy.
Frazier, who ran the shelter, retired from the city near Hoover Dam and moved to Oregon shortly after a police investigation concluded that more than 90 animals had been euthanized in one year without a required five-day waiting period and veterinary exam.
The city police chief who decided against seeking charges against Frazier resigned in January, a month after Boulder City officials sent the case to the district attorney with a request that Frazier be prosecuted.
Frazier was released last week after a judge set bond at $50,000 and said she could live at home in Grants Pass, Oregon, pending trial Sept. 12 in Las Vegas, court records show.
Frazier also was ordered not to have any contact with animals, prosecutor Amy Ferreira said. Frazier's lawyer didn't immediately respond to messages.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
CASPER, Wyo. — A former Natrona County District Attorney legal assistant has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor theft charge for stealing money from her co-worker's purse.
The Casper Star-Tribune reports Melanie Dunn received a suspended 90-day sentence and won't spend time in jail.
She's been ordered to pay District Attorney's office Victim Witness Unit director Nancy Johnson $400 in restitution as well as a $300 fine.
Johnson said in a witness impact statement that she was friends with Dunn and now has trouble trusting co-workers.
Court documents say the thefts occurred over the course of several months. A Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation agent installed a motion-activated camera that filmed one of the thefts.
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Information from: Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune, http://www.trib.com
- The Associated Press
- Updated
SANTA FE, N.M. — The Santa Fe mayor says he doesn't regret appearing on Caitlyn Jenner's reality TV show despite being criticized for the decision.
The New Mexican reports that Mayor Javier Gonzales spoke about gender-neutral bathrooms in Santa Fe on an "I Am Cait" episode that aired Sunday.
The controversy has nothing to do with Jenner's status as a famous transgender woman. Rather, Gonzales has been drawing flak online because of Jenner's conservative politics.
Gonzales, a staunch Democrat, is backing Hillary Clinton for president.
But Jenner said on Sunday's show that the country "is over" if Clinton is elected and argued that Republican candidate Donald Trump would be very good for women's issues.
Gonzales described Jenner's political views as stomach-turning but praised her work raising awareness of the transgender community.
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Information from: The Santa Fe New Mexican, http://www.sfnewmexican.com
- The Associated Press
ROSWELL, N.M. — A New Mexico man is facing charges after police say he chased two women around a Roswell house with a chainsaw.
KRQE-TV in Albuquerque reports that Miguel Carrasco was recently arrested following the attempted attack with the power tool.
Police say the 44-year-old Carrasco started up a chainsaw after he and the two other women had been drinking. According to officers, the women told police Carrasco pointed the chainsaw and thrusted it toward them.
The women also told officers he chased them with the tool around a kitchen table and the house until they were able to escape.
It was unclear what prompted the attack.
Police say Carrasco was arrested after the women contacted authorities.
It was not known if he had an attorney.
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Information from: KRQE-TV, http://www.krqe.com
- The Associated Press
HONOLULU — A second newly identified USS Oklahoma sailor killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor will be buried in Honolulu this week.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency says Ensign Lewis Stockdale will be laid to rest at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific on Friday.
The agency recently identified the 27-year-old from Anaconda, Montana after exhuming his remains along with the remains of nearly 400 of his shipmates last year. The military co-mingled and buried the remains as unknowns when it was unable to identify them after World War II.
The agency decided to dig up the remains because advances in forensic science and technology have made identification more feasible.
The first sailor to be reburied since the new identifications were made was buried last week.
- The Associated Press
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Wyoming lawmakers are weighing how to regulate marijuana brownies and similarly spiked foods and beverages that increasingly are coming in from neighboring Colorado and other places where the drug is legal.
A bill to make it a felony to possess more than 3 ounces of marijuana edibles died in the Wyoming legislative session that ended this month. Lawmakers deadlocked on how to measure the concentration and potency of marijuana and its active ingredient, THC, when it's mixed with the other edible ingredients.
The Joint Judiciary Committee is set to consider the issue again before next year.
"Frankly, it's time the state take a comprehensive look at its marijuana laws in general, not just with edibles," said Rep. Charles Pelkey, a committee member and Democrat from Laramie, home to the University of Wyoming. "The reality is that in Colorado, 25 miles south of our only college town, it's legal."
For prosecutors to charge someone with felony drug possession, marijuana must be in its original form, Cheyenne District Attorney Jeremiah Sandburg said, citing a recent state Supreme Court decision. Unless the drug's original form can be isolated in edibles — which could well be impossible — possession of any amount of them is a misdemeanor, he said.
Sandburg's office brought felony charges of marijuana possession against a man with nearly 2 pounds of pot candies, cookies, bread and chocolate bars. A judge dismissed the case last summer, saying felony charges would require possession of more than 3 ounces of marijuana in plant form.
Casper District Attorney Mike Blonigen said he wants to see the state change the law to create balance between penalties for possession of the drug in its plant and edible forms.
"I could have literally a semi load full of edibles, and it would only be a misdemeanor," he said. "Now you still can't sell them, you still can't possess them legally."
The Wyoming Highway Patrol has seen a steep increase in marijuana edibles in recent years since other states legalized recreational pot use, Col. Kebin Haller said. Shipments are moving north from Colorado and east from Washington state, he said.
A Wyoming college student visiting Denver jumped to his death after eating a marijuana cookie in 2014, just months after recreational sales began in Colorado, said Thomas J. Gorman, director of the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. The federal office coordinates law enforcement response to drug trafficking in much of Colorado, parts of Utah and southern Wyoming.
An autopsy report listed marijuana intoxication as a "significant contributing factor" in the death of the 19-year-old.
"By legalizing marijuana, we were supposed to stop the black market," Gorman said of Colorado. "But in fact, we have become the black market for so many states around the country."
Gorman said it's not practical to require an analysis to determine the THC content of edibles to prosecute their possession. He noted that the law does not require an analysis of the potency of marijuana in plant form to make its possession a crime.
If Wyoming wants to make it a felony to have edibles, it could set a weight limit and stick to it regardless of the amount of the drug or THC they contain, Gorman said.
"It's just not worth it to make it so darn complicated," he said.
- The Associated Press
BOISE, Idaho — An Idaho committee Tuesday unanimously backed a bill that would eliminate a resistance requirement from the Idaho sexual assault statute, despite concerns voiced by a conservative lawmaker.
Republican Rep. Ron Nate, of Rexburg, said by removing the resistance requirement from the statute, the state would place those accused of rape at risk of being falsely convicted.
Chairman of the Criminal Justice Commission Sarah Thomas told the House Judiciary, Rules and Administration Committee that over 30 other states have removed the resistance requirement from their statutes. Further, she argued no other criminal statute makes a victim prove they resisted the crime.
The bill also makes the sexual assault law gender neutral and strengthens spousal rape statues.
The measure will now go to the House for a floor vote.
- The Associated Press
OLYMPIA, Wash. — State regulators have tested dozens of children's jewelry pieces and found high levels of cadmium and lead in five necklaces sold with girls' dresses.
The Department of Ecology said Tuesday that two necklaces were found to be at least 90 percent cadmium. Cadmium and lead are metals that can cause serious health effects, especially in children. It can be toxic even in low concentrations.
The state tested 157 pieces of jewelry. None of the 132 pieces of jewelry sold separately contained concerning levels of heavy metals. Five of the 27 pieces packaged and sold with clothing did.
The state has notified the manufacturers that they're in violation of the state's Children's Safe Products Act. They could be required to take action or face penalties.
KWDZ Manufacturing spokeswoman Stephanie Reif says the company is looking into it and will do whatever it takes to comply.
Messages left with the other companies were not immediately returned.
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On the Internet:
Ecology Children's Jewelry Testing: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/hwtr/RTT/cspa/jewelryQandA.html
- The Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The federal government is setting aside nearly 22 square miles across three western states as critical habitat for a rare mouse that has already pitted ranchers against the U.S. Forest Service in New Mexico.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Tuesday that areas in New Mexico, Colorado and Arizona will be covered by the designation for the New Mexico meadow jumping mouse.
The management of vegetation along 170 miles of streams throughout the region will be affected.
"This carefully determined designation identifies habitat most vital to the survival of the species," Benjamin Tuggle, the agency's regional director, said in a statement.
The designation stems from an agreement with environmental groups that had pushed for the federal government to do more to protect the mouse and dozens of other species.
Federal biologists say 29 populations of the mouse have been documented in the three states since 2005, and all are small and isolated. Nearly a dozen of the populations have been affected by drought, wildfire, flooding and grazing.
The meadow jumping mouse — which depends on tall grass along streams and in other riparian areas — was first recognized as being in need of federal protection in 1985. It was placed on the waiting list in 1991 and again in 2007 and then listed under the federal Endangered Species Act in 2014.
Jay Lininger, a scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity, described the rodent as one of the most endangered mammals in the nation.
"Protecting its habitat will benefit a host of other species, too, and improve water quality," he said.
Others said the critical habitat designation doesn't go far enough.
Bryan Bird with the Santa Fe-based WildEarth Guardians suggested every mile of potential mouse habitat be protected.
Federal forest managers first ordered closures and began installing fencing along streams in parts of the Santa Fe and Lincoln national forests in New Mexico in 2014 to protect the mouse.
Ranchers protested the closures, arguing that their private property and water rights as well as the centuries-old ranching traditions of New Mexico's rural communities were being threatened.
- The Associated Press
SEATTLE — The deaths of three firefighters in the Twisp River Fire last summer are inspiring a wave of job applicants in Washington.
KIRO-FM reports the State Department of Natural Resources isn't seeing people shy away from firefighting jobs after two record-breaking fire seasons.
Washington is preparing for its upcoming summer fire season.
New recruits must be healthy, 18 years old, have a license and high school diploma or GED, and be able to drive a stick shift.
The state trains firefighters in building a fire line, tracking fire behavior and other techniques.
Crews can work up to 16 hours daily, as many as 21 days in a row.
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Information from: KIRO-FM, http://mynorthwest.com/
- The Associated Press
NOME, Alaska — Musher Aliy Zirkle on Tuesday completed a bittersweet Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race across Alaska, and credited the people of Alaska with helping her pull through a harrowing ride in which she was attacked by a man on a snowmobile.
Zirkle brought her team of 13 dogs down Nome's Front Street through a boisterous crowd chanting her name Tuesday morning. It's Zirkle's fifth consecutive top five finish.
The attacks on Zirkle and four-time champion Jeff King marred this year's race across two mountain ranges, down the mighty Yukon River and along the wind-scoured Bering Sea coast. Prosecutors contend the man rammed both mushers' dog teams or sleds, killing one of King's dogs and injuring or bruising others on both teams.
An exhausted Zirkle didn't address the attack directly in post-race interviews. However, she did say this year's Iditarod was "really hard, physically and emotionally."
Zirkle said her nature in these situations is to count only on herself and her dogs. But something happened — and then kept happening — after the early Saturday morning attack.
"It's kind of what I did, and then Alaska like tugged back," she said. "Every checkpoint I went through, people were so supportive.
"I couldn't just be with myself. It turned out, I was with everyone," said Zirkle, who is a favorite of mushing fans.
Zirkle had appeared shaken on a video after the attack telling a race official: "Someone tried to kill me with a snowmachine," using the Alaska term for snowmobile.
She was attempting to become only the third woman ever to win the nearly thousand-mile race across Alaska and the first since the late Susan Butcher won her fourth title in 1990. Zirkle finished second from 2012-2014, before dropping to fifth place last year.
Zirkle was born in Manchester, New Hampshire, in 1969 and first came to Alaska in 1990, midway through getting a degree in biology from the University of Pennsylvania. She lived in a wall tent on the Alaska Peninsula, counting birds for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
She went back to college and finished her degree in 1992, and then came right back to Alaska. She and her husband, musher Allen Moore, own a kennel. Both are entered in this year's race, and he was running in 32nd place.
They built their home in Two Rivers, Alaska, where they hunt moose in the fall.
At the finish line, fans chanted her name, hugged her and she even got a bouquet of roses.
''People are incredibly supportive of me. I guess I better go hold up my end of the bargain," she said.
- The Associated Press
ST. GEORGE, Utah — Four years after she shattered both legs in a middle-of-the-night rappelling accident, Brittany Fisher returned to finish her descent.
Fisher was a student at Utah State University when she and some friends decided to go rappelling at Cougar Cliffs in St. George, reported KSL-TV. Something went wrong that night, and Fisher plummeted about 100 feet to the ground.
"It was a rough night," said Mike Thomas, a member of the Washington County Search and Rescue team that helped save Fisher. "The outcome was uncertain. Even after we put her on lifeflight, I couldn't wait for the next day to find out if she was stable in the hospital."
Fisher was alive, but doctors told her she probably wouldn't walk again.
Yet Fisher was determined to finish the rappel, and she told Thomas that about a year ago.
"Our guys are all volunteer, and I started making phone calls to see who wanted to do this for her, and you know how many 'no's' I got? Zero," said Thomas.
So the same team that helped Fisher after her leg-shattering fall met her at the cliffs on Saturday. Two of them rappelled alongside her and others held the ropes in place.
"I was pretty scared at the top," said Fisher. "But I knew I could do this. I can't (put) into words what I feel for every single one of them who took the time to help me do this."
Thomas said he was nervous, too.
"I was up half the night wondering, 'What if we can't make it happen? What if I forgot something?' Her safety was our responsibility," he said.
But Fisher touched the ground about 15 after she started. Her parents were there waiting for her.
"I think part of this is she had to come back and conquer this the right way," explained her father, Bryan Fisher. He and Fisher's mother came from Illinois to watch her face the cliffs again.
After finishing, Fisher said she's ready to move forward.
"I really feel at this point, like, free of it all," she said. "I'm healed in every other way. My legs aren't going to be perfectly healed in this life, but everything else, I've definitely conquered and overcome."
- The Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY — A former county treasurer is suspected of embezzling tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars.
Utah State Auditor John Dougall released a report Monday saying three years of thefts amounted to more than $90,000.
Kane County Commission chair Dirk Clayson told KUTV-TV that former Kane County Treasurer Georgia Baca turned in her letter of resignation when the she was given the opportunity to explain.
Baca had been placed on administrative leave in February.
County officials say $56,182 in cash is unaccounted for and that Baca transferred $34,600 to her personal account as well as $1,612 to her Verizon Wireless account.
The Kane County Sheriff's Department says arrests have not been made.
Dougall said it's likely a neighboring county would handle prosecution.
- The Associated Press
POCATELLO, Idaho — A company started by a Post Falls seed potato farmer said it will put a driverless tractor on an Idaho field within the next two months.
Farb Guidance Systems' first GPS-guided tractor, which is about half the size of the normal machine and has no steering wheel or seat, will go to a southern Idaho farmer, the Capital Press reported Monday.
"Companies have prototypes out there, but we believe at this point in time we're the world leader in unmanned agricultural equipment," company founder David Farb said.
Farb said his company expects to build 60 tractors this year and has received commitments for 100.
"We think that once these get in the dirt that it will be an explosive-type market," Farb said. "It's pretty hard to say no to it at the cost and what it does for you."
Sensors alert farmers of equipment problems on the tractors, which start at $160,000 and have been tested on Farb's farm. He plans to use the machines in his regular farming operations come spring.
Farb is working with equipment dealers and a large southern Idaho dealership to create a maintenance network. He also is looking at partnering with Idaho State University on research.
Technology instructor Darren Leavitt said students could intern in map design.
"How are you going to send an unmanned tractor out to mitigate a problem in the field if you don't have the coordinates for that problem?" Leavitt said.
___
Information from: The Capital Press (Ore.), http://www.capitalpress.com/washington
- The Associated Press
HELENA, Mont. — A teacher fired from a Catholic school in Montana after an anonymous letter writer said she was unmarried and pregnant reached a confidential settlement with the school district and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Helena.
Shaela Evenson was fired from Butte Central Catholic Schools in 2014 after the diocese received the letter. Evenson sued, accusing the school district and the diocese of pregnancy discrimination, sex discrimination and breach of contract.
The school and diocese responded that she had breached her contract by going against the religious and moral teachings of the church.
After months of negotiations, the sides filed notice Monday that they reached a settlement and they expect to ask a judge to dismiss the case next week. Once executed, the deal would avert a trial scheduled for April.
The agreement is confidential, Butte Central Superintendent Tim Uhl said Tuesday. He said diocese Bishop George Leo Thomas told him to "do what's right" and take a conciliatory tone toward resolving the lawsuit.
"He doesn't want to take it to court because there has been a lot of hurt and harm," Uhl said. "I know it was very painful for Ms. Evenson, as well as the Butte Central community, and we're hoping to put this behind us and move on."
Evenson's attorney, Brian Gallik of Bozeman, did not return calls for comment.
Evenson became pregnant through artificial insemination and gave birth to a boy in 2014. She taught literature and physical education to middle-school students for nine years.
She also led classes in daily prayer and accompanied her class to Mass, which attorneys for the school district said qualified her as a ministerial employee ineligible to make discrimination claims.
A religious exemption in federal law prohibits discrimination lawsuits by employees who perform essentially religious functions. Evenson's attorneys said she was not a ministerial employee.
Uhl declined to comment on the details of the settlement but said it did not include any provision to change district personnel policy.
The diocese provides policy guidelines but managing school policy is up to individual school districts, diocese spokesman Dan Bartleson said.
- The Associated Press
DENVER — Authorities are raiding homes and warehouses in the Denver area as part of a lengthy investigation into suspected illegal marijuana grows.
Denver police said Tuesday that the ongoing probe, which began two years ago, targets unlicensed pot grows of varying sizes. Investigators won't say how much pot they've seized but say there haven't been any arrests. Agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration are also involved.
Police say it's possible some of the operators may be shipping pot out of state.
Some illegal drug traffickers have sought a safe haven in Colorado's flourishing marijuana industry. Some ship the drug out of state, where it can sell for more than it would in a legal Colorado shop, and pocket millions of dollars from the sale.
- The Associated Press
ALPINE, Calif. — State records show that a brawl at a now-closed group home for troubled youth in California was more extensive than originally reported.
The San Diego Union Tribune reports (http://bit.ly/1R0rrBP) that the records show what San Diego County reported as a fight among five residents of the Phoenix House involved as many as 20 people and required a large police force to stop.
The account of the January 2015 incident also says an injured resident, nurse and sheriff's deputy locked themselves inside a trailer while a crowd of angry youth surrounded the structure.
The fight was one of several incidents that occurred at the facility before it abruptly closed last September. Officials said it closed for financial reasons.
Phoenix House is a rehabilitation organization that operates several other treatment centers. Executives there declined to address the reports.
___
Information from: The San Diego Union-Tribune, http://www.utsandiego.com
- The Associated Press
LAS VEGAS — A former Boulder City animal control supervisor accused of illegally killing dogs at a shelter, including a Dachshund that belonged to her ex-husband, has posted bond and is free pending trial on felony animal cruelty charges.
Mary Jo Frazier pleaded not guilty March 8 in Clark County District Court to two felony counts that could get her up to eight years in prison. She was accused of unnecessarily euthanizing the Dachshund and failing to provide proper food or care for a pit bull puppy.
Frazier, who ran the shelter, retired from the city near Hoover Dam and moved to Oregon shortly after a police investigation concluded that more than 90 animals had been euthanized in one year without a required five-day waiting period and veterinary exam.
The city police chief who decided against seeking charges against Frazier resigned in January, a month after Boulder City officials sent the case to the district attorney with a request that Frazier be prosecuted.
Frazier was released last week after a judge set bond at $50,000 and said she could live at home in Grants Pass, Oregon, pending trial Sept. 12 in Las Vegas, court records show.
Frazier also was ordered not to have any contact with animals, prosecutor Amy Ferreira said. Frazier's lawyer didn't immediately respond to messages.
- The Associated Press
CASPER, Wyo. — A former Natrona County District Attorney legal assistant has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor theft charge for stealing money from her co-worker's purse.
The Casper Star-Tribune reports Melanie Dunn received a suspended 90-day sentence and won't spend time in jail.
She's been ordered to pay District Attorney's office Victim Witness Unit director Nancy Johnson $400 in restitution as well as a $300 fine.
Johnson said in a witness impact statement that she was friends with Dunn and now has trouble trusting co-workers.
Court documents say the thefts occurred over the course of several months. A Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation agent installed a motion-activated camera that filmed one of the thefts.
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Information from: Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune, http://www.trib.com
- The Associated Press
SANTA FE, N.M. — The Santa Fe mayor says he doesn't regret appearing on Caitlyn Jenner's reality TV show despite being criticized for the decision.
The New Mexican reports that Mayor Javier Gonzales spoke about gender-neutral bathrooms in Santa Fe on an "I Am Cait" episode that aired Sunday.
The controversy has nothing to do with Jenner's status as a famous transgender woman. Rather, Gonzales has been drawing flak online because of Jenner's conservative politics.
Gonzales, a staunch Democrat, is backing Hillary Clinton for president.
But Jenner said on Sunday's show that the country "is over" if Clinton is elected and argued that Republican candidate Donald Trump would be very good for women's issues.
Gonzales described Jenner's political views as stomach-turning but praised her work raising awareness of the transgender community.
___
Information from: The Santa Fe New Mexican, http://www.sfnewmexican.com
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