Dead whale washes ashore; quit the bear selfies; Arpaio makes change
- Updated
Odd and interesting news from the West.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County lifeguards say a dead humpback whale has washed ashore at Dockweiler Beach.
The whale floated in just before 8 p.m. Thursday.
The whale is approximately 40 feet long and is believed to have been between 10 to 30 years old.
Marine animal authorities will try to determine why the animal died.
It's not the same whale that was spotted Monday off Southern California entangled in crab pot lines. The entangled animal is a blue whale.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
OGDEN, Utah — Authorities say a suicidal 16-year-old girl will face adult murder charges on accusations that she was speeding near 100 miles per hour when she caused a fatal crash that killed two people.
The Layton teenager was charged Friday with murder, failing to stop for an officer and failure to remain at the scene of a fatal crash.
The Associated Press is not naming the girl because she's a minor.
Police said she was headed to meet a friend to take drugs for a suicide attempt when the SUV she was driving slammed into a Hyundai while in a 45 miles-per-hour zone.
The crash killed the driver and passenger in the Hyundai early Thursday. They're identified as 20-year-old Maddison Haan of West Point and 19-year-old Tyler Christianson of Ogden.
- By RACHEL D'ORO Associated Press
- Updated
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — One month after the tires on 87 private airplanes were slashed at a small airport in Alaska's largest city, police publicly released grainy surveillance images Friday showing what they are calling a person of interest in the unsolved case.
The four images show a figure dressed in dark clothing and wearing a backpack near airplanes recorded around 1:20 a.m. June 2 at Merrill Field in Anchorage. The person in the image is shown on foot near airplanes in three of the images, and at a gate in the fourth.
There have been no arrests or suspects identified by police or the FBI, which is assisting in the investigation.
But the consensus among many affected pilots is that this was no ordinary vandalism spree, but a carefully planned and orchestrated mission.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
SALT LAKE CITY — State wildlife officials say a rare wolverine was found in Utah this week after the animal was hit and killed by a car near northern Utah's Bear Lake.
The state Division of Wildlife Resources says the last wolverine sighting in Utah was in 2014, when an animal was caught on a camera near a bait station in the Uinta Mountains.
Leslie McFarlane with the DWR says officials don't know how many wolverines, if any, live in Utah but about 250 to 300 live in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Washington.
Division director Greg Sheehan says in a statement that the young female wolverine found near the town of Laketown appears to have made its way into Utah.
Wildlife officials say a necropsy will be performed on the animal to confirm its cause of death and learn more about it.
The animals are not protected under the Endangered Species Act
- The Associated Press
- Updated
TWIN FALLS, Idaho — A prosecutor has filed a motion to dismiss a rape charge against a south-central Idaho TV weatherman.
Twin Falls County Prosecutor Grant Loebs in a motion filed Friday in 5th District Court says an analysis of all the facts has led the state to conclude John William Holland did not commit a rape.
The KMVT-TV weatherman was charged in February with felony rape, but Loebs says a continuing investigation and interviews of additional witnesses led to the decision to ask the charge be dismissed.
The motion now goes before a judge for a decision.
- By MATT VOLZ and MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press
- Updated
HELENA, Mont. — The Montana man killed by a bear near Glacier National Park was intimately familiar with both the beauty and the danger of the vast, wild forest that spreads from the shadows of the park's rugged peaks.
But there was seemingly nothing that former park ranger and longtime U.S. Forest Service law enforcement officer Brad Treat could do when he surprised the bear while riding his mountain bike along a trail in that forest minutes from his home.
Wildlife officials came up empty Thursday and Friday in their search for the bruin that killed Treat the day before, and they were not even certain what kind of bear it was or whether it was still in the area. A state wildlife response team set up traps, installed wilderness cameras and flew over the area in a helicopter, but it was not clear how long the search would continue.
"We're taking it one day at a time, seeing what results we get," Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokesman John Fraley said. "You just can't predict what a bear is going to do."
Wildlife officials planned to release an update on Saturday, including their plans to continue the search if the bear hasn't been found, Fraley said.
Treat, 38, was a local boy, having grown up in nearby Kalispell, where he was a standout distance runner in high school. He returned home after attending college in Washington state and Missoula and worked as a seasonal park ranger in Glacier from 1999 to 2001.
He married a local girl, a photographer named Somer Hileman, and became a Forest Service law enforcement officer in 2004. He spent the last 12 years stationed at the remote Hungry Horse District in the Flathead National Forest, whose territory stretches into the untamed Great Bear Wilderness.
"He was quite a guy by what everyone says, a big-time hiker, backcountry traveler who had a lot of experience," Fraley said.
Treat still loved to run as an adult, and he came in eighth in the Spokane Marathon in 2013. His childhood and college friend, Miles Mason, described Treat as "ultra-competitive" and said he used to get awakened by his friend every morning to go run.
"He was always the runner I aspired to be, and as I got to know him, the friend I aspired to be and later the husband I aspired to be. An amazing person," Mason said.
Treat was knocked off his bike Wednesday after he and another rider apparently surprised the bear while riding along a Flathead National Forest trail less than a mile from his home, authorities said. The other rider, a relative of Treat's whose name was not released, went to get help and was not hurt.
His death has hit the tight-knit community of Forest Service employees in northwestern Montana hard, Flathead National Forest spokeswoman Janette Turk said.
"They are traumatized and affected by this, grieving the loss of a comrade," she said.
Forest Service officials were working with the family on funeral arrangements, she said Friday.
Bears that attack humans are killed if it is found that they displayed predatory behavior, such as stalking the person or consuming their victim.
In this case, officials said is too soon to say what will be done to the bear if it is found. They are trying to determine if the animal was a mother with cubs, was protecting a food cache or simply reacted to the sudden appearance of the bikers, wildlife department spokesman Ron Aasheim said.
To confirm whether they have the right bear, wildlife officials typically collect DNA from the animal to compare it with evidence at the scene, analyze bite marks and other injuries on the victim, and examine the animal's claws, jaws and feces for human remains.
Officials said they are testing DNA to establish whether a grizzly or a black bear killed Treat. However, they won't know until next week whether the samples they collected at the site of the attack will be usable, Fraley said. If a bear is trapped, it would be held until then.
An autopsy also was performed on Treat, and the evidence gathered could help determine the size, age and sex of the bear, narrowing the search, Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry said.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
HANSEN, Idaho — A 66-year-old man has died after being thrown from a mule in south-central Idaho.
The Twin Falls County Sheriff's Office tells The Times-News that the man was bucked off the mule Friday morning and was pronounced dead after lifesaving measures failed.
Spokeswoman Lori Stewart says the man was riding with another person when he was bucked off.
Emergency responders drove near the site and hiked into a canyon to find the man.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
KALISPELL, Mont.— Fire officials with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes say a vehicle throwing sparks likely caused a fire that has burned 500 acres of grass and timber south of St. Ignatius.
Fire information officer Devlin Laframboise told the Daily Inter Lake that the fire was reported at about 4 p.m. Thursday just below a rest-area turnout. He said firefighters thought they had a handle on it at 18 acres, but the wind came up. A Christian boarding school was evacuated overnight, but residents were allowed to return Friday morning.
The fire is located east of U.S. Highway 93 and the National Bison Range.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
LAS VEGAS — For the second year in a row, June has set a record in Las Vegas for being the hottest ever.
The National Weather Service said Friday that the average temperature recorded at McCarran International Airport last month was 92.5 degrees.
This breaks the previous record of 91.9 degrees set in June 2015.
The months of June in 2012 and 2013 are also among the hottest ever recorded.
Thursday's monsoon weather pattern that brought heavy thunderstorms also made June 2016 the third wettest on record, with a total of 0.49 inch of rain.
The weather service said 0.47 inch came on the last day of the month, making it the highest one-day total amount of rain in June since 1990.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — A non-profit organization is trying to put a stop to bear selfies by raising money for renovations at a popular South Lake Tahoe wildlife viewing spot.
The Reno Gazette-Journal reported that the Taylor Creek Visitor Center boardwalk attracts swarms of tourists who hope to watch the annual autumn run of Kokanee salmon and spot bears looking for a feast. Some visitors, however, haven't been watching from a respectful distance.
So many people have tried to snap selfies with the fierce mammals that the U.S. Forest Service has warned that managers might need to restrict access to the site.
The Tahoe Fund hopes to raise $28,000 to raise, widen and add railings to the boardwalk rather than restrict responsible people from watching the bears and fish.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
EL MONTE, Calif. — Counterfeit sports team jerseys worth an estimated $250,000 have been seized by Los Angeles County sheriff's investigators.
The seizure Thursday followed a month-long investigation that confirmed sales of counterfeit jerseys were occurring throughout the San Gabriel Valley.
A search warrant was served at a location in El Monte and detectives seized jerseys bearing the logos of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Rams and Angels.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
MCGRATH, Alaska — An Alaska State Trooper in a floatplane rescued a 29-year-old New York City man who set out to build a cabin and live in the wilderness.
Vladimir Yakushin was picked up Wednesday on the north fork of the Kuskokwim River about 120 river miles northeast of McGrath.
Troopers described him as low on food and distraught.
Yakushin had been dropped off nine days earlier at a lake.
He told troopers he concluded he was not equipped to build a cabin or remain in the area.
A friend he expected to meet did not appear and a satellite phone he rented didn't work.
Yakushin hiked to a river and attempted to float out on a small raft. A state wildlife biologist and pilot spotted him frantically waving his paddles and alerted troopers.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
PHOENIX — Arizona troopers have responded to more than 840 calls for wrong-way drivers so far this year.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety announced the statistics Thursday, saying more than a dozen of those drivers were involved in serious or fatal collisions. Another 51 were arrested for suspected impairment.
In the last two weeks alone, two state troopers have been injured trying to stop wrong-way drivers.
The Department of Public Safety said not every call leads to troopers finding a wrong-way driver but they always respond quickly and treat each call seriously.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
YOUNGTOWN — Maricopa County Sheriff's officials have seized more than 30 small dogs from a Youngtown home.
3 TV (KTVK-TV) reports (http://bit.ly/29gpw1I ) that animal cruelty detectives served a search warrant at the home on Thursday and seized about 25 adult Shih Tzus and five puppies.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio says investigators believe the home was a puppy mill and not just a case of animal hoarding. He says the dogs were in rough shape and covered in filth. One puppy was taken to a veterinary clinic for treatment.
The homeowner was arrested on investigation of various animal cruelty charges. She surrendered the dogs to sheriff's officials.
Arpaio says the dogs will be available for adoption after they have been cleaned and are healthy.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
PHOENIX — The Arizona sheriff famous for making inmates wear pink underwear is now ordered that an American flag be affixed to inmate uniforms.
The red, white and blue addition to the black-and-white striped uniforms worn by thousands of Maricopa County inmates will be rolled out at noon on Monday, July 4.
Inmates who are U.S. military veterans will be joining Sheriff Joe Arpaio in the county's Tent City Jail to hand out the new uniforms.
Arpaio, an Army veteran, says the flag is being added out of respect for the nation's heritage and he hopes inmates will feel a sense of pride and honor when wearing the new uniforms.
County officials did not say how much the new uniforms cost.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
ASTORIA, Ore. — Police in Florence are asking for the public's help in finding whoever is responsible for the theft of an AK-47 assault rifle and several handguns from a hardware store.
The Register-Guard reports (http://bit.ly/299M45h ) that police had responded to the True Value Hardware store Thursday morning to find a broken window in the front of the building and several guns missing.
Police say the stolen guns include an AK-47 rifle, a short-barreled shotgun and several Glock handguns.
Police are offering a $500 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction of the suspect or suspects involved.
- The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County lifeguards say a dead humpback whale has washed ashore at Dockweiler Beach.
The whale floated in just before 8 p.m. Thursday.
The whale is approximately 40 feet long and is believed to have been between 10 to 30 years old.
Marine animal authorities will try to determine why the animal died.
It's not the same whale that was spotted Monday off Southern California entangled in crab pot lines. The entangled animal is a blue whale.
- The Associated Press
OGDEN, Utah — Authorities say a suicidal 16-year-old girl will face adult murder charges on accusations that she was speeding near 100 miles per hour when she caused a fatal crash that killed two people.
The Layton teenager was charged Friday with murder, failing to stop for an officer and failure to remain at the scene of a fatal crash.
The Associated Press is not naming the girl because she's a minor.
Police said she was headed to meet a friend to take drugs for a suicide attempt when the SUV she was driving slammed into a Hyundai while in a 45 miles-per-hour zone.
The crash killed the driver and passenger in the Hyundai early Thursday. They're identified as 20-year-old Maddison Haan of West Point and 19-year-old Tyler Christianson of Ogden.
- By RACHEL D'ORO Associated Press
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — One month after the tires on 87 private airplanes were slashed at a small airport in Alaska's largest city, police publicly released grainy surveillance images Friday showing what they are calling a person of interest in the unsolved case.
The four images show a figure dressed in dark clothing and wearing a backpack near airplanes recorded around 1:20 a.m. June 2 at Merrill Field in Anchorage. The person in the image is shown on foot near airplanes in three of the images, and at a gate in the fourth.
There have been no arrests or suspects identified by police or the FBI, which is assisting in the investigation.
But the consensus among many affected pilots is that this was no ordinary vandalism spree, but a carefully planned and orchestrated mission.
- The Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY — State wildlife officials say a rare wolverine was found in Utah this week after the animal was hit and killed by a car near northern Utah's Bear Lake.
The state Division of Wildlife Resources says the last wolverine sighting in Utah was in 2014, when an animal was caught on a camera near a bait station in the Uinta Mountains.
Leslie McFarlane with the DWR says officials don't know how many wolverines, if any, live in Utah but about 250 to 300 live in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and Washington.
Division director Greg Sheehan says in a statement that the young female wolverine found near the town of Laketown appears to have made its way into Utah.
Wildlife officials say a necropsy will be performed on the animal to confirm its cause of death and learn more about it.
The animals are not protected under the Endangered Species Act
- The Associated Press
TWIN FALLS, Idaho — A prosecutor has filed a motion to dismiss a rape charge against a south-central Idaho TV weatherman.
Twin Falls County Prosecutor Grant Loebs in a motion filed Friday in 5th District Court says an analysis of all the facts has led the state to conclude John William Holland did not commit a rape.
The KMVT-TV weatherman was charged in February with felony rape, but Loebs says a continuing investigation and interviews of additional witnesses led to the decision to ask the charge be dismissed.
The motion now goes before a judge for a decision.
- By MATT VOLZ and MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press
HELENA, Mont. — The Montana man killed by a bear near Glacier National Park was intimately familiar with both the beauty and the danger of the vast, wild forest that spreads from the shadows of the park's rugged peaks.
But there was seemingly nothing that former park ranger and longtime U.S. Forest Service law enforcement officer Brad Treat could do when he surprised the bear while riding his mountain bike along a trail in that forest minutes from his home.
Wildlife officials came up empty Thursday and Friday in their search for the bruin that killed Treat the day before, and they were not even certain what kind of bear it was or whether it was still in the area. A state wildlife response team set up traps, installed wilderness cameras and flew over the area in a helicopter, but it was not clear how long the search would continue.
"We're taking it one day at a time, seeing what results we get," Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokesman John Fraley said. "You just can't predict what a bear is going to do."
Wildlife officials planned to release an update on Saturday, including their plans to continue the search if the bear hasn't been found, Fraley said.
Treat, 38, was a local boy, having grown up in nearby Kalispell, where he was a standout distance runner in high school. He returned home after attending college in Washington state and Missoula and worked as a seasonal park ranger in Glacier from 1999 to 2001.
He married a local girl, a photographer named Somer Hileman, and became a Forest Service law enforcement officer in 2004. He spent the last 12 years stationed at the remote Hungry Horse District in the Flathead National Forest, whose territory stretches into the untamed Great Bear Wilderness.
"He was quite a guy by what everyone says, a big-time hiker, backcountry traveler who had a lot of experience," Fraley said.
Treat still loved to run as an adult, and he came in eighth in the Spokane Marathon in 2013. His childhood and college friend, Miles Mason, described Treat as "ultra-competitive" and said he used to get awakened by his friend every morning to go run.
"He was always the runner I aspired to be, and as I got to know him, the friend I aspired to be and later the husband I aspired to be. An amazing person," Mason said.
Treat was knocked off his bike Wednesday after he and another rider apparently surprised the bear while riding along a Flathead National Forest trail less than a mile from his home, authorities said. The other rider, a relative of Treat's whose name was not released, went to get help and was not hurt.
His death has hit the tight-knit community of Forest Service employees in northwestern Montana hard, Flathead National Forest spokeswoman Janette Turk said.
"They are traumatized and affected by this, grieving the loss of a comrade," she said.
Forest Service officials were working with the family on funeral arrangements, she said Friday.
Bears that attack humans are killed if it is found that they displayed predatory behavior, such as stalking the person or consuming their victim.
In this case, officials said is too soon to say what will be done to the bear if it is found. They are trying to determine if the animal was a mother with cubs, was protecting a food cache or simply reacted to the sudden appearance of the bikers, wildlife department spokesman Ron Aasheim said.
To confirm whether they have the right bear, wildlife officials typically collect DNA from the animal to compare it with evidence at the scene, analyze bite marks and other injuries on the victim, and examine the animal's claws, jaws and feces for human remains.
Officials said they are testing DNA to establish whether a grizzly or a black bear killed Treat. However, they won't know until next week whether the samples they collected at the site of the attack will be usable, Fraley said. If a bear is trapped, it would be held until then.
An autopsy also was performed on Treat, and the evidence gathered could help determine the size, age and sex of the bear, narrowing the search, Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry said.
- The Associated Press
HANSEN, Idaho — A 66-year-old man has died after being thrown from a mule in south-central Idaho.
The Twin Falls County Sheriff's Office tells The Times-News that the man was bucked off the mule Friday morning and was pronounced dead after lifesaving measures failed.
Spokeswoman Lori Stewart says the man was riding with another person when he was bucked off.
Emergency responders drove near the site and hiked into a canyon to find the man.
- The Associated Press
KALISPELL, Mont.— Fire officials with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes say a vehicle throwing sparks likely caused a fire that has burned 500 acres of grass and timber south of St. Ignatius.
Fire information officer Devlin Laframboise told the Daily Inter Lake that the fire was reported at about 4 p.m. Thursday just below a rest-area turnout. He said firefighters thought they had a handle on it at 18 acres, but the wind came up. A Christian boarding school was evacuated overnight, but residents were allowed to return Friday morning.
The fire is located east of U.S. Highway 93 and the National Bison Range.
- The Associated Press
LAS VEGAS — For the second year in a row, June has set a record in Las Vegas for being the hottest ever.
The National Weather Service said Friday that the average temperature recorded at McCarran International Airport last month was 92.5 degrees.
This breaks the previous record of 91.9 degrees set in June 2015.
The months of June in 2012 and 2013 are also among the hottest ever recorded.
Thursday's monsoon weather pattern that brought heavy thunderstorms also made June 2016 the third wettest on record, with a total of 0.49 inch of rain.
The weather service said 0.47 inch came on the last day of the month, making it the highest one-day total amount of rain in June since 1990.
- The Associated Press
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — A non-profit organization is trying to put a stop to bear selfies by raising money for renovations at a popular South Lake Tahoe wildlife viewing spot.
The Reno Gazette-Journal reported that the Taylor Creek Visitor Center boardwalk attracts swarms of tourists who hope to watch the annual autumn run of Kokanee salmon and spot bears looking for a feast. Some visitors, however, haven't been watching from a respectful distance.
So many people have tried to snap selfies with the fierce mammals that the U.S. Forest Service has warned that managers might need to restrict access to the site.
The Tahoe Fund hopes to raise $28,000 to raise, widen and add railings to the boardwalk rather than restrict responsible people from watching the bears and fish.
- The Associated Press
EL MONTE, Calif. — Counterfeit sports team jerseys worth an estimated $250,000 have been seized by Los Angeles County sheriff's investigators.
The seizure Thursday followed a month-long investigation that confirmed sales of counterfeit jerseys were occurring throughout the San Gabriel Valley.
A search warrant was served at a location in El Monte and detectives seized jerseys bearing the logos of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Rams and Angels.
- The Associated Press
MCGRATH, Alaska — An Alaska State Trooper in a floatplane rescued a 29-year-old New York City man who set out to build a cabin and live in the wilderness.
Vladimir Yakushin was picked up Wednesday on the north fork of the Kuskokwim River about 120 river miles northeast of McGrath.
Troopers described him as low on food and distraught.
Yakushin had been dropped off nine days earlier at a lake.
He told troopers he concluded he was not equipped to build a cabin or remain in the area.
A friend he expected to meet did not appear and a satellite phone he rented didn't work.
Yakushin hiked to a river and attempted to float out on a small raft. A state wildlife biologist and pilot spotted him frantically waving his paddles and alerted troopers.
- The Associated Press
PHOENIX — Arizona troopers have responded to more than 840 calls for wrong-way drivers so far this year.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety announced the statistics Thursday, saying more than a dozen of those drivers were involved in serious or fatal collisions. Another 51 were arrested for suspected impairment.
In the last two weeks alone, two state troopers have been injured trying to stop wrong-way drivers.
The Department of Public Safety said not every call leads to troopers finding a wrong-way driver but they always respond quickly and treat each call seriously.
- The Associated Press
YOUNGTOWN — Maricopa County Sheriff's officials have seized more than 30 small dogs from a Youngtown home.
3 TV (KTVK-TV) reports (http://bit.ly/29gpw1I ) that animal cruelty detectives served a search warrant at the home on Thursday and seized about 25 adult Shih Tzus and five puppies.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio says investigators believe the home was a puppy mill and not just a case of animal hoarding. He says the dogs were in rough shape and covered in filth. One puppy was taken to a veterinary clinic for treatment.
The homeowner was arrested on investigation of various animal cruelty charges. She surrendered the dogs to sheriff's officials.
Arpaio says the dogs will be available for adoption after they have been cleaned and are healthy.
- The Associated Press
PHOENIX — The Arizona sheriff famous for making inmates wear pink underwear is now ordered that an American flag be affixed to inmate uniforms.
The red, white and blue addition to the black-and-white striped uniforms worn by thousands of Maricopa County inmates will be rolled out at noon on Monday, July 4.
Inmates who are U.S. military veterans will be joining Sheriff Joe Arpaio in the county's Tent City Jail to hand out the new uniforms.
Arpaio, an Army veteran, says the flag is being added out of respect for the nation's heritage and he hopes inmates will feel a sense of pride and honor when wearing the new uniforms.
County officials did not say how much the new uniforms cost.
- The Associated Press
ASTORIA, Ore. — Police in Florence are asking for the public's help in finding whoever is responsible for the theft of an AK-47 assault rifle and several handguns from a hardware store.
The Register-Guard reports (http://bit.ly/299M45h ) that police had responded to the True Value Hardware store Thursday morning to find a broken window in the front of the building and several guns missing.
Police say the stolen guns include an AK-47 rifle, a short-barreled shotgun and several Glock handguns.
Police are offering a $500 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction of the suspect or suspects involved.
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