Pokemon gun; jail break(in); fancy fungi seized
- Updated
Odd an interesting news from around the West.
- By Sally Ho The Associated Press
- Updated
LAS VEGAS — Burning Man organizers are disputing their $2.8 million bill from the federal government — the cost last year of hosting its popular outdoor festival in the Black Rock Desert, a national conservation area in Nevada.
The festival takes issue with the Bureau of Land Management's discretion over the weeklong counterculture celebration, claiming that the authority has been overstaffing and overcharging without fully explaining the tab, as first reported by the Reno Gazette-Journal.
"If they can't explain all of it, than we're asking for all of it back," said Ray Allen, the San Francisco-based Burning Man organization's lawyer.
But the case also pulls back the curtain on the logistical hurdles and an evolving backstage power struggle behind an event once considered an extreme camping experience that has now achieved widespread popularity with millions in revenue.
Held in Nevada since 1990 and known for art displays, dust storms and communal living, this year's sold-out, 9-day festival in August and September is expected to draw tens of thousands of people to the scorching hot dry lake bed about 100 miles north of Reno. Burning Man — named for the large effigy burned during the festival — estimates more than $30 million in revenues from the 2015 event.
The festival's special recreation permit from BLM is the largest of its kind in the country. Burning Man agrees to and pays for a cost estimate before the event and the final accounting is provided months after, following a post-event inspection of the site.
A BLM spokesman declined to comment on the 2015 cost appeal, but its formal response submitted noted that Burning Man officials were provided with a detailed summary of costs with receipts and that "(f)ederal government agencies are obligated to recover the full cost of providing a special benefit..."
The festival is taking the issue to the Interior Department's internal appeals court, where an administrative law judge will decide on the case. This arbitration process, which could last more than a year, is commonly used for challenges related to grazing or mining uses and fees.
BLM contends that Burning Man demands year-round planning and an unparalleled response to protect the public lands given its scope and nature. The 2015 event required 84 law enforcement officers, as decided by the BLM.
The festival argues that that many officers aren't necessary given that more than a thousand Burning Man volunteers also patrol the event and that it has a clean record of taking care of the land. Burning Man said in its appeal that more than half the BLM bill was to pay for labor costs, but that the paperwork lacked specific information about the duties they actually performed.
In recent years, a more openly adversarial partnership has surfaced between the festival and the increasing number of local authorities assigned to oversee it. Allen said Burning Man has been stomaching dramatically increasing costs since 2011, when its permit was $730,000.
Meanwhile, there's been a noted crackdown on crime, which in the past has largely been drug-related. A tipping point also came last year when the BLM was forced to publicly rescinded its request for upgraded accommodations for its workers, from flushing toilets to Choco Tacos ice cream, that were derided as lavish and outlandish.
But there's also been recent BLM leadership changes in Nevada. Both the federal authority and Burning Man organizers said planning for the 2016 festival has been going smoothly. The new state director John Rush said BLM staffing numbers are expected to go down this year because communication between both sides are now much improved.
"We want to work collaboratively with the system," Allen said. "New BLM leadership will help us long term. We just need to get over this speed bump. We want the policies clarified moving forward."
- The Associated Press
- Updated
VISTA, Calif. — Authorities say a man fleeing San Diego County sheriff's deputies made one big mistake — he tried to escape by climbing into jail.
The San Diego Union-Tribune says the chase began around 2 a.m. Tuesday after a police officer in Oceanside tried to pull over a Nissan sedan for a minor traffic violation.
The car didn't stop and a chase began into nearby Vista, where sheriff's deputies took over.
Authorities say the driver meandered through the city for nearly 20 minutes before pulling into the parking lot of the Vista Jail.
Authorities say the driver got out, ran and climbed over a fence into the area where prisoners are taken for booking.
And that's just what happened. The 35-year-old man was arrested and booked for resisting and obstructing police.
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Information from: The San Diego Union-Tribune, http://www.utsandiego.com
- The Associated Press
- Updated
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — Authorities say human remains found in a remote part of northern Arizona may be those of a man sought in an April 2013 homicide in Glendale.
Coconino County sheriff officials say a rancher recently found the remains under a tree between Fredonia and Jacob Lake and that a handgun was found under the remains.
That's the same general area where a truck abandoned in 2013 was determined to have been stolen and used in the killing of 33-year-old Fernando "Frankie" Portillo, who was found dead in his home.
Glendale police say tests will be conducted to determine whether the remains are those of 28-year-old Jacob Medina of Glendale.
Medina was previously identified as a "person of interest" in the 2013 homicide and Glendale police now call him a "possible suspect."
- By MICHELLE L. PRICE Associated Press
- Updated
SALT LAKE CITY — Wet weather and rough salt have forced the cancellation of Speed Week races at Utah's famous Bonneville Salt Flats for the past two years, but organizers say they now have enough miles of smooth, dry salt to hold the event.
The Southern California Timing Association is planning the races for Aug. 13 to 19, as long as Mother Nature cooperates, according to association president Bill Lattin.
Speed Week is the largest event of several annual races staged at the treeless, white expanse about 100 miles west of Salt Lake City. For decades, people have used the flat, glasslike surface to set speed records sometimes topping 400 mph.
Speed Week was cancelled in 2014 just days before the time trials were scheduled to begin after monsoon storms dumped ankle-deep water on the flats.
Last year, it was called off weeks in advance after organizers found mud and slush. It's unclear exactly what caused those poor conditions, but racers said the patchy, thin salt crust confirmed their suspicions that the flats have been deteriorating for years.
The racing community says nearby mining is draining a salty aquifer that helps replenish the flats each year. Racers who have sounded the alarm want Congress to step in and pass a law because they think federal land managers aren't doing enough to restore the flats.
The Bureau of Land Management, which oversees the flats, has pointed to heavy rains as the cause of poor conditions and has noted that the agency requires the mining company to pump brine back onto the flats every winter with the goal of thickening the salt crust.
Lattin said he and other racers want to see much more brine pumped on the flats every year.
With dry weather, Lattin thinks organizers can clear an eight-mile track for long races next month and a shorter course of three or four miles. About 500 racing teams are expected this year.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
GARWOOD, Idaho — A northern Idaho junkyard dog that served as the official mascot for the business and became well known in the area after appearing in advertisements has died.
The Coeur d'Alene Press reported that the 100-pound tundra wolf-malamute mix with white fur named Dyno died last month at age 12.
Pegasus Auto Recycling owner L.T. Jones says the advertising campaign featuring Dyno began in 2013 and artists started showing up at the Garwood business with drawings of Dyno.
Jones says Dyno greeted customers and thought it was his job to let people pet him.
Jones says a wolfhound named Brenna and Dyno's biological nephew, Caymus, will start appearing in the advertisements and greeting customers.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
VANCOUVER, Wash. — Authorities in southwest Washington say two brothers came across upon a loaded handgun in a field while playing the popular Pokemon Go game.
The Clark County Sheriff's Office said Tuesday that the young men were on the trail of a virtual Pokemon creature when they found the gun in a field near Vancouver.
They called 911 and waited for a deputy to recover the weapon.
In a news release, Sgt. Fred Neiman said the gun had likely been discarded in the field a while ago; it looked weathered and had some rust but still appeared to be able to fire rounds.
In the free smartphone game, players hike around cities and battle with "pocket monsters," or Pokemon.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
TUCSON — The Tucson Fire Department says an electrical malfunction in attic wiring caused a fire that destroyed a day care and preschool in downtown Tucson.
The Fire Department says the Downtown Community School was empty at the time of the fire early Tuesday morning and that nobody was injured.
The facility is located in a converted home in the heart of Barrio Viejo near the Tucson Convention Center.
Firefighters responded after numerous people reported seeing the flames while driving on nearby Interstate 10.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
SAN DIEGO — Prosecutors say a house painter intended to kill a San Diego TV sports anchor when he ambushed the man outside his home.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reports (http://bit.ly/29D9wGx) that Monday marked the start of 55-year-old Mike Montana's trial on a charge of premeditated attempted murder.
Sportscaster Kyle Kraska had hired Montana to paint his Scripps Ranch home and there was a dispute over the payment. Montana shot at Kraska in retaliation in February 2015, injuring the sports anchor but not killing him.
Montana's attorney said in his opening statement that Montana did not intend to kill Kraska, only to shoot up his car. Deputy Public Defender Richard Jayakumar also argued that Montana's mental state was altered by the prescription pain medications he had been taking for years.
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Information from: The San Diego Union-Tribune, http://www.utsandiego.com
- The Associated Press
- Updated
JACKSON, Wyo. — Snow fell in some mountain areas of northwest Wyoming, chilling tourists in the Jackson Hole region, hampering travel and delaying mountain climbers.
However, the Jackson Hole News & Guide reported that the winter-like conditions were short-lived and more normal summer weather was returning.
A blast of cold air that swept over Northwest Wyoming starting Sunday plummeted temperatures into the 20s high in the Teton Range and left behind a coat of snow above about 9,500 feet elevation.
Most of Monday, Beartooth Pass along the Wyoming-Montana border was closed due to snow, high winds and icy conditions on the Wyoming side of the pass.
Brenton Reagan of Exum Mountain Guides says a number of climbing parties hoping to summit the Grand Teton and other peaks were stymied by the conditions.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
SALT LAKE CITY — Authorities say Utah polygamous sect leader Lyle Jeffs likely used olive oil or another lubricant to slip off his GPS ankle monitor and escape home confinement last month.
FBI spokeswoman Sandra Yi Barker said Tuesday Jeffs may have been driven away in a dark, late-model Ford Mustang that neighbors saw at his house June 18.
The 56-year-old Jeffs was supposed to be on home confinement pending trial in an alleged multimillion-dollar food stamp fraud scheme.
His escape came less than two weeks after he was released from jail by U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart. The judge pointed out 10 other defendants from the group had already been released and obeyed court's conditions.
Prosecutors objected to his release, calling Jeffs a flight risk.
The FBI has since issued a wanted poster calling Jeffs armed and dangerous.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
BOZEMAN, Mont. — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy weighed in on the hit Broadway musical "Hamilton" and the death of fellow Justice Antonin Scalia during a visit to Montana.
The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reported that the 79-year-old Kennedy spoke to a crowd of hundreds gathered at Big Sky Resort on Monday.
He also shared his thoughts on how the internet and selfies have impacted civil discourse and tales from his time working in eastern Montana oil fields as a teenager. He also called "Hamilton" a splendid way to reinforce American heritage and civics and remembered Scalia as a man with a "magnificent mind."
The lighthearted conversation was part of the opening ceremony for the annual 9th Circuit Judicial Conference, which runs through Thursday.
- By RANDI BJORNSTAD The Register-Guard
- Updated
EUGENE, Ore. — The official name is necrotizing fasciitis (fash-ee-EYE-tis), known colloquially as flesh-eating disease.
But as two Creswell residents who literally have battled for life and limb recently can attest, anyone who experiences a sudden "perfect storm" of symptoms — high fever; localized pain and hot, red spots or patches anywhere on the body but especially on the limbs; headache; sometimes even vomiting or diarrhea — should head for the hospital quick.
To put it in a "good news, bad news" perspective: Necrotizing fasciitis is statistically rare and not contagious; however, if it's not identified, and treatment hasn't begun, within a few days, it can be fatal in up to 25 percent of cases.
The condition is caused by a sudden, massive bacterial infection that attacks membranes called "fascia" that surround muscles, nerves, fats and blood vessels. If unchecked, the toxins given off by the bacteria kill the surrounding tissue and continue spreading to adjacent healthy tissue.
The only remedy for necrotizing fasciitis is intravenous antibiotics and a surgical procedure called debriding to remove dead and dying tissue. The worst cases can involve multiple amputations or death by multiple organ failure.
It can happen when one or more types of bacteria — most commonly group A streptococcus — enter the body through an opening in the skin, such as a bug bite, scrape, scratch, lesion or gash, and for unknown reasons begin to spread unchecked by the body's natural defenses.
Some other bacteria that have been associated with the condition are Klebsiella, Clostridium, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Aeromonas hydrophila, according to the website of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
However, "(If) you're healthy, have a strong immune system, and practice good hygiene and proper wound care, your chances of getting necrotizing fasciitis are extremely low," the CDC said.
About 600 people per year in the United States contract the condition, a prevalence that puts the country third behind China and India among the 120 countries for which statistics are available.
An unlikely candidate
If he'd thought about it at all, Creswell chef Scott Pisani would have put his chances at contracting necrotizing fasciitis next to nil.
The first weekend in June, Pisani and his wife, Chelsea, took their 8- and 10-year-old sons on a family camping trip to Fall Creek, one of their favorite spots to pitch their tent and go fishing.
"It was starting to be evening, and Scott's left calf started cramping," Chelsea Pisani recalled. "I'm a massage therapist, so I'm pretty aware of that kind of thing, and there was no redness or hotness, no reason that I could see for a cramp, and he couldn't remember having done anything to hurt his leg."
They went to sleep, "and he got up in the middle of the night and literally fell out of the tent," she said. "I felt him — he was really, really hot — and I gave him some ibuprofen. The next day he was no better, so we just came home, and he crashed."
On Monday, Pisani went to his physician, still without any symptoms that would pinpoint something as serious as necrotizing fasiitis.
"The doctor thought he might have a blood clot in the leg, so they did a CT scan, and it didn't show anything," Chelsea said.
On Tuesday, things started to get worse.
"There was redness on the back of his left calf, and he couldn't put any weight on that leg," she said. "He was in excruciating pain — we went to the emergency room, and within three minutes they called a trauma team, and he was taken to the hospital."
That was surgery the first of seven, Chelsea said, "and they removed a whole chunk of tissue from behind his knee."
On Friday, more dying tissue was debrided — medically removed — and on Sunday morning, "I got him up to help him to the bathroom, and the entire back of his leg was necrotic," she said.
That day, Pisani was transferred by his family's decision to Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, where he underwent surgery No. 3 the next day.
"It was really extensive," Chelsea said. "They took it all the way down to the Achilles," threading their way and removing necrotic tissue between the soleus and the gastrocnemius muscles.
Four more surgeries followed, the last laying a film of integra, which consists of an underlayer of pure collagen to help tissue regenerate and an outer layer of silicone to prevent fluid loss and spur healing, a process that takes between two and three weeks.
"It's been a fun ride," Scott said, sitting in the shade of a tree in the family's front yard near downtown Creswell.
The ride's not over yet. Still to come is weaning off the wound vac, an acronym for vacuum-assisted closure, which pulls out fluids that seep into the wound and further hastens healing.
Three weeks after that, he will be ready for skin grafts, each of which is followed by two more weeks of wound vac usage until the grafts heal sufficiently to be on their own.
"It will be 18 to 24 months before he is fully recovered," Chelsea said.
Ironically, another family in Creswell recently has gone through the same random illness, and the two cases are eerily similar.
Blake Nelson, a 16-year-old high school student athlete and jazz saxophonist, suddenly contracted the condition around Feb. 29, said his mother, Michelle Nelson, a copy editor at The Register-Guard.
Blake's case of necrotizing fasciitis also started in the left calf but also occurred in his left thigh, with no warning and no sign of external injuries. He has undergone months of treatment and 10 surgeries at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend.
It's possible in both cases that the men somehow injured internal tissue that left them vulnerable to the presence of the bacteria in their systems, because the condition can occur even without any visible surface signs of injury, according to research articles.
For both Pisani and Nelson, the initial prognosis for survival was ominous, but in both cases antibiotic treatment and frequent debriding helped stop the progression of tissue death, removing the serious threat that both might require amputation of the affected leg.
Unlike Pisani, however, Nelson should not have to undergo skin grafts. He will start his junior year at Creswell High School in September.
When Pisani was stricken, he was scheduled to start a new job as executive chef at Rain Northwest, a new restaurant in west Eugene. One of his previous stints was three years as sous chef at Koho Bistro.
"I've been working in kitchens since I was 7," he said. "I did food at Actors Cabaret, did culinary school at Lane Community College, did a lot of catering and a lot of weddings. But Rain is holding the job for me, and I'm really grateful. I love working — it's what keeps me going."
So did the response from the community, which Chelsea calls "overwhelming."
"There are no words to describe how wonderful people have been in helping us," including setting up a crowdfunding site to help them meet medical bills, she said. "We don't even know half the people who have donated."
Nelson has the same reaction to the small town where both families live.
In Blake's case, volunteer high school wrestling coach Wayne Roberts immediately started a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to help the Nelsons with medical and incidental expenses. Assistant wrestling coach James Wittenborn and his wife, Brandi, organized meal deliveries and helped with yardwork while Blake was recovering.
Fortunately, the family also had health insurance to help with the costs, Nelson said.
"My husband and I had talked occasionally about leaving Creswell when both of our boys are out of school," she said. "Now, after the way the community has rallied to support us, we're saying to ourselves, 'Why would you ever want to leave a place with such wonderful people?'?"
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Information from: The Register-Guard, http://www.registerguard.com
- The Associated Press
- Updated
PHOENIX — Sheriff Joe Arpaio is scheduled to be interviewed in a lawsuit that alleges his office pursued animal cruelty charges in 2014 against Sen. Jeff Flake's son to politically damage the senator.
Arpaio is scheduled for a deposition Thursday in Austin Flake's lawsuit over the investigation into the heat-exhaustion deaths of 21 dogs at a kennel operated by his in-laws.
The younger Flake and his wife were in charge of the dogs while the in-laws were out of town.
The in-laws initially said the animals died after a dog chewed through an air-conditioning wire.
An expert later determined the AC unit failed because it wasn't properly maintained.
Charges against the young couple were dropped.
The in-laws have pleaded guilty to animal cruelty.
Arpaio's office denied that the investigation was politically motivated.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
PORTLAND, Ore. — Crater Lake National Park rangers have seized 234 pounds of morel mushrooms worth an estimated $8,000 that were harvested illegally from the park over the Fourth of July weekend.
Chief Ranger Kean Mihata said Monday authorities have issued citations to 14 people in connection with the crime.
Mushroom hunting is prohibited in national parks but allowed in some areas of national forest. Harvesters who want the mushrooms for personal use can gather up to 5 gallons a day without a permit.
The mushrooms, which can retail for $20 a pound, grow in forests burned by wildfire, making the area surrounding Crater Lake ideal for hunters.
The park recorded its largest fire on record last year when flames burned nearly 21,000 acres in the park and nearby Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
VANCOUVER, Wash. — Authorities in southwest Washington say two brothers came across upon a loaded handgun in a field while playing the popular Pokemon Go game.
The Clark County Sheriff's Office said Tuesday that the young men were on the trail of a virtual Pokemon creature when they found the gun in a field near Vancouver.
They called 911 and waited for a deputy to recover the weapon.
In a news release, Sgt. Fred Neiman said the gun had likely been discarded in the field a while ago; it looked weathered and had some rust but still appeared to be able to fire rounds.
In the free smartphone game, players hike around cities and battle with "pocket monsters," or Pokemon.
- By Sally Ho The Associated Press
LAS VEGAS — Burning Man organizers are disputing their $2.8 million bill from the federal government — the cost last year of hosting its popular outdoor festival in the Black Rock Desert, a national conservation area in Nevada.
The festival takes issue with the Bureau of Land Management's discretion over the weeklong counterculture celebration, claiming that the authority has been overstaffing and overcharging without fully explaining the tab, as first reported by the Reno Gazette-Journal.
"If they can't explain all of it, than we're asking for all of it back," said Ray Allen, the San Francisco-based Burning Man organization's lawyer.
But the case also pulls back the curtain on the logistical hurdles and an evolving backstage power struggle behind an event once considered an extreme camping experience that has now achieved widespread popularity with millions in revenue.
Held in Nevada since 1990 and known for art displays, dust storms and communal living, this year's sold-out, 9-day festival in August and September is expected to draw tens of thousands of people to the scorching hot dry lake bed about 100 miles north of Reno. Burning Man — named for the large effigy burned during the festival — estimates more than $30 million in revenues from the 2015 event.
The festival's special recreation permit from BLM is the largest of its kind in the country. Burning Man agrees to and pays for a cost estimate before the event and the final accounting is provided months after, following a post-event inspection of the site.
A BLM spokesman declined to comment on the 2015 cost appeal, but its formal response submitted noted that Burning Man officials were provided with a detailed summary of costs with receipts and that "(f)ederal government agencies are obligated to recover the full cost of providing a special benefit..."
The festival is taking the issue to the Interior Department's internal appeals court, where an administrative law judge will decide on the case. This arbitration process, which could last more than a year, is commonly used for challenges related to grazing or mining uses and fees.
BLM contends that Burning Man demands year-round planning and an unparalleled response to protect the public lands given its scope and nature. The 2015 event required 84 law enforcement officers, as decided by the BLM.
The festival argues that that many officers aren't necessary given that more than a thousand Burning Man volunteers also patrol the event and that it has a clean record of taking care of the land. Burning Man said in its appeal that more than half the BLM bill was to pay for labor costs, but that the paperwork lacked specific information about the duties they actually performed.
In recent years, a more openly adversarial partnership has surfaced between the festival and the increasing number of local authorities assigned to oversee it. Allen said Burning Man has been stomaching dramatically increasing costs since 2011, when its permit was $730,000.
Meanwhile, there's been a noted crackdown on crime, which in the past has largely been drug-related. A tipping point also came last year when the BLM was forced to publicly rescinded its request for upgraded accommodations for its workers, from flushing toilets to Choco Tacos ice cream, that were derided as lavish and outlandish.
But there's also been recent BLM leadership changes in Nevada. Both the federal authority and Burning Man organizers said planning for the 2016 festival has been going smoothly. The new state director John Rush said BLM staffing numbers are expected to go down this year because communication between both sides are now much improved.
"We want to work collaboratively with the system," Allen said. "New BLM leadership will help us long term. We just need to get over this speed bump. We want the policies clarified moving forward."
- The Associated Press
VISTA, Calif. — Authorities say a man fleeing San Diego County sheriff's deputies made one big mistake — he tried to escape by climbing into jail.
The San Diego Union-Tribune says the chase began around 2 a.m. Tuesday after a police officer in Oceanside tried to pull over a Nissan sedan for a minor traffic violation.
The car didn't stop and a chase began into nearby Vista, where sheriff's deputies took over.
Authorities say the driver meandered through the city for nearly 20 minutes before pulling into the parking lot of the Vista Jail.
Authorities say the driver got out, ran and climbed over a fence into the area where prisoners are taken for booking.
And that's just what happened. The 35-year-old man was arrested and booked for resisting and obstructing police.
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Information from: The San Diego Union-Tribune, http://www.utsandiego.com
- The Associated Press
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — Authorities say human remains found in a remote part of northern Arizona may be those of a man sought in an April 2013 homicide in Glendale.
Coconino County sheriff officials say a rancher recently found the remains under a tree between Fredonia and Jacob Lake and that a handgun was found under the remains.
That's the same general area where a truck abandoned in 2013 was determined to have been stolen and used in the killing of 33-year-old Fernando "Frankie" Portillo, who was found dead in his home.
Glendale police say tests will be conducted to determine whether the remains are those of 28-year-old Jacob Medina of Glendale.
Medina was previously identified as a "person of interest" in the 2013 homicide and Glendale police now call him a "possible suspect."
- By MICHELLE L. PRICE Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY — Wet weather and rough salt have forced the cancellation of Speed Week races at Utah's famous Bonneville Salt Flats for the past two years, but organizers say they now have enough miles of smooth, dry salt to hold the event.
The Southern California Timing Association is planning the races for Aug. 13 to 19, as long as Mother Nature cooperates, according to association president Bill Lattin.
Speed Week is the largest event of several annual races staged at the treeless, white expanse about 100 miles west of Salt Lake City. For decades, people have used the flat, glasslike surface to set speed records sometimes topping 400 mph.
Speed Week was cancelled in 2014 just days before the time trials were scheduled to begin after monsoon storms dumped ankle-deep water on the flats.
Last year, it was called off weeks in advance after organizers found mud and slush. It's unclear exactly what caused those poor conditions, but racers said the patchy, thin salt crust confirmed their suspicions that the flats have been deteriorating for years.
The racing community says nearby mining is draining a salty aquifer that helps replenish the flats each year. Racers who have sounded the alarm want Congress to step in and pass a law because they think federal land managers aren't doing enough to restore the flats.
The Bureau of Land Management, which oversees the flats, has pointed to heavy rains as the cause of poor conditions and has noted that the agency requires the mining company to pump brine back onto the flats every winter with the goal of thickening the salt crust.
Lattin said he and other racers want to see much more brine pumped on the flats every year.
With dry weather, Lattin thinks organizers can clear an eight-mile track for long races next month and a shorter course of three or four miles. About 500 racing teams are expected this year.
- The Associated Press
GARWOOD, Idaho — A northern Idaho junkyard dog that served as the official mascot for the business and became well known in the area after appearing in advertisements has died.
The Coeur d'Alene Press reported that the 100-pound tundra wolf-malamute mix with white fur named Dyno died last month at age 12.
Pegasus Auto Recycling owner L.T. Jones says the advertising campaign featuring Dyno began in 2013 and artists started showing up at the Garwood business with drawings of Dyno.
Jones says Dyno greeted customers and thought it was his job to let people pet him.
Jones says a wolfhound named Brenna and Dyno's biological nephew, Caymus, will start appearing in the advertisements and greeting customers.
- The Associated Press
VANCOUVER, Wash. — Authorities in southwest Washington say two brothers came across upon a loaded handgun in a field while playing the popular Pokemon Go game.
The Clark County Sheriff's Office said Tuesday that the young men were on the trail of a virtual Pokemon creature when they found the gun in a field near Vancouver.
They called 911 and waited for a deputy to recover the weapon.
In a news release, Sgt. Fred Neiman said the gun had likely been discarded in the field a while ago; it looked weathered and had some rust but still appeared to be able to fire rounds.
In the free smartphone game, players hike around cities and battle with "pocket monsters," or Pokemon.
- The Associated Press
TUCSON — The Tucson Fire Department says an electrical malfunction in attic wiring caused a fire that destroyed a day care and preschool in downtown Tucson.
The Fire Department says the Downtown Community School was empty at the time of the fire early Tuesday morning and that nobody was injured.
The facility is located in a converted home in the heart of Barrio Viejo near the Tucson Convention Center.
Firefighters responded after numerous people reported seeing the flames while driving on nearby Interstate 10.
- The Associated Press
SAN DIEGO — Prosecutors say a house painter intended to kill a San Diego TV sports anchor when he ambushed the man outside his home.
The San Diego Union-Tribune reports (http://bit.ly/29D9wGx) that Monday marked the start of 55-year-old Mike Montana's trial on a charge of premeditated attempted murder.
Sportscaster Kyle Kraska had hired Montana to paint his Scripps Ranch home and there was a dispute over the payment. Montana shot at Kraska in retaliation in February 2015, injuring the sports anchor but not killing him.
Montana's attorney said in his opening statement that Montana did not intend to kill Kraska, only to shoot up his car. Deputy Public Defender Richard Jayakumar also argued that Montana's mental state was altered by the prescription pain medications he had been taking for years.
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Information from: The San Diego Union-Tribune, http://www.utsandiego.com
- The Associated Press
JACKSON, Wyo. — Snow fell in some mountain areas of northwest Wyoming, chilling tourists in the Jackson Hole region, hampering travel and delaying mountain climbers.
However, the Jackson Hole News & Guide reported that the winter-like conditions were short-lived and more normal summer weather was returning.
A blast of cold air that swept over Northwest Wyoming starting Sunday plummeted temperatures into the 20s high in the Teton Range and left behind a coat of snow above about 9,500 feet elevation.
Most of Monday, Beartooth Pass along the Wyoming-Montana border was closed due to snow, high winds and icy conditions on the Wyoming side of the pass.
Brenton Reagan of Exum Mountain Guides says a number of climbing parties hoping to summit the Grand Teton and other peaks were stymied by the conditions.
- The Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY — Authorities say Utah polygamous sect leader Lyle Jeffs likely used olive oil or another lubricant to slip off his GPS ankle monitor and escape home confinement last month.
FBI spokeswoman Sandra Yi Barker said Tuesday Jeffs may have been driven away in a dark, late-model Ford Mustang that neighbors saw at his house June 18.
The 56-year-old Jeffs was supposed to be on home confinement pending trial in an alleged multimillion-dollar food stamp fraud scheme.
His escape came less than two weeks after he was released from jail by U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart. The judge pointed out 10 other defendants from the group had already been released and obeyed court's conditions.
Prosecutors objected to his release, calling Jeffs a flight risk.
The FBI has since issued a wanted poster calling Jeffs armed and dangerous.
- The Associated Press
BOZEMAN, Mont. — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy weighed in on the hit Broadway musical "Hamilton" and the death of fellow Justice Antonin Scalia during a visit to Montana.
The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reported that the 79-year-old Kennedy spoke to a crowd of hundreds gathered at Big Sky Resort on Monday.
He also shared his thoughts on how the internet and selfies have impacted civil discourse and tales from his time working in eastern Montana oil fields as a teenager. He also called "Hamilton" a splendid way to reinforce American heritage and civics and remembered Scalia as a man with a "magnificent mind."
The lighthearted conversation was part of the opening ceremony for the annual 9th Circuit Judicial Conference, which runs through Thursday.
- By RANDI BJORNSTAD The Register-Guard
EUGENE, Ore. — The official name is necrotizing fasciitis (fash-ee-EYE-tis), known colloquially as flesh-eating disease.
But as two Creswell residents who literally have battled for life and limb recently can attest, anyone who experiences a sudden "perfect storm" of symptoms — high fever; localized pain and hot, red spots or patches anywhere on the body but especially on the limbs; headache; sometimes even vomiting or diarrhea — should head for the hospital quick.
To put it in a "good news, bad news" perspective: Necrotizing fasciitis is statistically rare and not contagious; however, if it's not identified, and treatment hasn't begun, within a few days, it can be fatal in up to 25 percent of cases.
The condition is caused by a sudden, massive bacterial infection that attacks membranes called "fascia" that surround muscles, nerves, fats and blood vessels. If unchecked, the toxins given off by the bacteria kill the surrounding tissue and continue spreading to adjacent healthy tissue.
The only remedy for necrotizing fasciitis is intravenous antibiotics and a surgical procedure called debriding to remove dead and dying tissue. The worst cases can involve multiple amputations or death by multiple organ failure.
It can happen when one or more types of bacteria — most commonly group A streptococcus — enter the body through an opening in the skin, such as a bug bite, scrape, scratch, lesion or gash, and for unknown reasons begin to spread unchecked by the body's natural defenses.
Some other bacteria that have been associated with the condition are Klebsiella, Clostridium, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Aeromonas hydrophila, according to the website of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
However, "(If) you're healthy, have a strong immune system, and practice good hygiene and proper wound care, your chances of getting necrotizing fasciitis are extremely low," the CDC said.
About 600 people per year in the United States contract the condition, a prevalence that puts the country third behind China and India among the 120 countries for which statistics are available.
An unlikely candidate
If he'd thought about it at all, Creswell chef Scott Pisani would have put his chances at contracting necrotizing fasciitis next to nil.
The first weekend in June, Pisani and his wife, Chelsea, took their 8- and 10-year-old sons on a family camping trip to Fall Creek, one of their favorite spots to pitch their tent and go fishing.
"It was starting to be evening, and Scott's left calf started cramping," Chelsea Pisani recalled. "I'm a massage therapist, so I'm pretty aware of that kind of thing, and there was no redness or hotness, no reason that I could see for a cramp, and he couldn't remember having done anything to hurt his leg."
They went to sleep, "and he got up in the middle of the night and literally fell out of the tent," she said. "I felt him — he was really, really hot — and I gave him some ibuprofen. The next day he was no better, so we just came home, and he crashed."
On Monday, Pisani went to his physician, still without any symptoms that would pinpoint something as serious as necrotizing fasiitis.
"The doctor thought he might have a blood clot in the leg, so they did a CT scan, and it didn't show anything," Chelsea said.
On Tuesday, things started to get worse.
"There was redness on the back of his left calf, and he couldn't put any weight on that leg," she said. "He was in excruciating pain — we went to the emergency room, and within three minutes they called a trauma team, and he was taken to the hospital."
That was surgery the first of seven, Chelsea said, "and they removed a whole chunk of tissue from behind his knee."
On Friday, more dying tissue was debrided — medically removed — and on Sunday morning, "I got him up to help him to the bathroom, and the entire back of his leg was necrotic," she said.
That day, Pisani was transferred by his family's decision to Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, where he underwent surgery No. 3 the next day.
"It was really extensive," Chelsea said. "They took it all the way down to the Achilles," threading their way and removing necrotic tissue between the soleus and the gastrocnemius muscles.
Four more surgeries followed, the last laying a film of integra, which consists of an underlayer of pure collagen to help tissue regenerate and an outer layer of silicone to prevent fluid loss and spur healing, a process that takes between two and three weeks.
"It's been a fun ride," Scott said, sitting in the shade of a tree in the family's front yard near downtown Creswell.
The ride's not over yet. Still to come is weaning off the wound vac, an acronym for vacuum-assisted closure, which pulls out fluids that seep into the wound and further hastens healing.
Three weeks after that, he will be ready for skin grafts, each of which is followed by two more weeks of wound vac usage until the grafts heal sufficiently to be on their own.
"It will be 18 to 24 months before he is fully recovered," Chelsea said.
Ironically, another family in Creswell recently has gone through the same random illness, and the two cases are eerily similar.
Blake Nelson, a 16-year-old high school student athlete and jazz saxophonist, suddenly contracted the condition around Feb. 29, said his mother, Michelle Nelson, a copy editor at The Register-Guard.
Blake's case of necrotizing fasciitis also started in the left calf but also occurred in his left thigh, with no warning and no sign of external injuries. He has undergone months of treatment and 10 surgeries at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at RiverBend.
It's possible in both cases that the men somehow injured internal tissue that left them vulnerable to the presence of the bacteria in their systems, because the condition can occur even without any visible surface signs of injury, according to research articles.
For both Pisani and Nelson, the initial prognosis for survival was ominous, but in both cases antibiotic treatment and frequent debriding helped stop the progression of tissue death, removing the serious threat that both might require amputation of the affected leg.
Unlike Pisani, however, Nelson should not have to undergo skin grafts. He will start his junior year at Creswell High School in September.
When Pisani was stricken, he was scheduled to start a new job as executive chef at Rain Northwest, a new restaurant in west Eugene. One of his previous stints was three years as sous chef at Koho Bistro.
"I've been working in kitchens since I was 7," he said. "I did food at Actors Cabaret, did culinary school at Lane Community College, did a lot of catering and a lot of weddings. But Rain is holding the job for me, and I'm really grateful. I love working — it's what keeps me going."
So did the response from the community, which Chelsea calls "overwhelming."
"There are no words to describe how wonderful people have been in helping us," including setting up a crowdfunding site to help them meet medical bills, she said. "We don't even know half the people who have donated."
Nelson has the same reaction to the small town where both families live.
In Blake's case, volunteer high school wrestling coach Wayne Roberts immediately started a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to help the Nelsons with medical and incidental expenses. Assistant wrestling coach James Wittenborn and his wife, Brandi, organized meal deliveries and helped with yardwork while Blake was recovering.
Fortunately, the family also had health insurance to help with the costs, Nelson said.
"My husband and I had talked occasionally about leaving Creswell when both of our boys are out of school," she said. "Now, after the way the community has rallied to support us, we're saying to ourselves, 'Why would you ever want to leave a place with such wonderful people?'?"
___
Information from: The Register-Guard, http://www.registerguard.com
- The Associated Press
PHOENIX — Sheriff Joe Arpaio is scheduled to be interviewed in a lawsuit that alleges his office pursued animal cruelty charges in 2014 against Sen. Jeff Flake's son to politically damage the senator.
Arpaio is scheduled for a deposition Thursday in Austin Flake's lawsuit over the investigation into the heat-exhaustion deaths of 21 dogs at a kennel operated by his in-laws.
The younger Flake and his wife were in charge of the dogs while the in-laws were out of town.
The in-laws initially said the animals died after a dog chewed through an air-conditioning wire.
An expert later determined the AC unit failed because it wasn't properly maintained.
Charges against the young couple were dropped.
The in-laws have pleaded guilty to animal cruelty.
Arpaio's office denied that the investigation was politically motivated.
- The Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. — Crater Lake National Park rangers have seized 234 pounds of morel mushrooms worth an estimated $8,000 that were harvested illegally from the park over the Fourth of July weekend.
Chief Ranger Kean Mihata said Monday authorities have issued citations to 14 people in connection with the crime.
Mushroom hunting is prohibited in national parks but allowed in some areas of national forest. Harvesters who want the mushrooms for personal use can gather up to 5 gallons a day without a permit.
The mushrooms, which can retail for $20 a pound, grow in forests burned by wildfire, making the area surrounding Crater Lake ideal for hunters.
The park recorded its largest fire on record last year when flames burned nearly 21,000 acres in the park and nearby Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest.
- The Associated Press
VANCOUVER, Wash. — Authorities in southwest Washington say two brothers came across upon a loaded handgun in a field while playing the popular Pokemon Go game.
The Clark County Sheriff's Office said Tuesday that the young men were on the trail of a virtual Pokemon creature when they found the gun in a field near Vancouver.
They called 911 and waited for a deputy to recover the weapon.
In a news release, Sgt. Fred Neiman said the gun had likely been discarded in the field a while ago; it looked weathered and had some rust but still appeared to be able to fire rounds.
In the free smartphone game, players hike around cities and battle with "pocket monsters," or Pokemon.
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