SeaWorld whale dies; Pot industry grows in New Mexico; Attorney handcuffed — literally
- Updated
Odd and unusual news from the West and the Rockies.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
ALBUQUERQUE — The medical marijuana industry is growing in New Mexico.
Several licensed growers are expected to open new facilities as well as dispensaries in the coming months, which would mean a boost in jobs and the economy, the Albuquerque Journal reported.
About $3 million in compensation and salaries was paid out by dispensaries and marijuana growers in the first quarter of 2016. That's an increase from $2.3 million in the same time frame last year. The number of licensed New Mexico patients who bought medical marijuana legally has tripled from last year's first quarter to more than 55,000. First-quarter sales went from $5.7 million in 2015 to $10 million this year.
Organtica President David C. Romero White says he predicts growth will continue at the same fast pace.
The state health department licensed a dozen nonprofit groups last year to set up growing facilities and dispensaries.
Romero White said his group was one of them.
"We're all trying to get our production facilities up and running," he said. "It's very tough - especially for the producers who are outside the Albuquerque market - and a little slow."
The Verdes Foundation was among the dozen to be licensed last year, and its owners say they're trying to keep up with demand. It sees about 300 patients daily at its current facility, with plans to open a second location this month that's about four times the size of its Albuquerque dispensary.
There are 23 licensed producers operating 37 dispensaries around the state.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
JACKSON, Wyo. — A deadly and degenerative disease is threatening wildlife around Jackson Hole and Cody.
Chronic wasting disease has been detected for the first time in a Star Valley mule deer, and two doe mule deer near Cody tested positive in April.
The disease is often fatal and attacks the central nervous system of white and mule deer, Rocky Mountain elk and sometimes moose.
The Jackson Hole area has gone years without a positive test in Star Valley, wildlife officials say. A dead doe deer found near Star Valley Ranch in February was recently discovered to be carrying the disease.
Medical researchers say there is no proof the disease can be transmitted to humans, but they do not recommend humans eat meat from animals that test positive for the disease.
Diseased deer in the Cody region were discovered on the South Fork of the Shoshone River last year, and other positive deer have turned up in the Meeteetse and Worland areas in the past, said Alan Osterland, Game and Fish wildlife supervisor in Cody.
The Star Valley incident is in an area that reaches as far north as Alpine and includes an elk feeding ground and large sections of Bridger-Teton National Forest property.
A year ago, a diseased buck whitetail deer was killed by a hunter in a hunting area that comes within 10 miles of Yellowstone National Park.
The disease has now gone statewide, Sierra Club Wyoming Chapter Conservation Director Lloyd Dorsey said. "Wyoming now has chronic wasting disease literally border to border, east-west and north-south, and it's approaching Yellowstone National Park and feed grounds and Jackson Hole inexorably," Dorsey said.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
GILLETTE, Wyo. — A group that uses social media to connect impaired people with designated drivers is getting some pushback.
The Gillette News Record reports that Designated Drivers of Gillette has over 1,000 members on Facebook.
Michael Harmon says his page is not about charging for rides, and that people who do are banned.
DC Cab owner Mark Collins told city council members that these designated drivers sometimes ask for gas money or other compensation.
Need-A-Ride Taxi owner David Roderick says the Facebook group cuts into his bar business slightly, but that his main concern is safety.
Gillette Police Department Lt. Brent Wasson said asking for gas money means a driver is for-hire under the city taxi ordinance.
Taxi drivers must have proper insurance and pay a $200 annual charge for city licensing.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
PORTLAND, Ore. — Technology giant Apple has announced plans to use recycled wastewater to cool its Prineville data centers.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reports (http://bit.ly/1U2Qx4u ) that Apple confirmed last week that it has agreed to pay for a treatment facility to re-use water for evaporative cooling. Apple says its new facility will save nearly 5 million gallons of water a year by not taking that water from the tap.
The water will come from Prineville's regular sewage treatment system and would otherwise have been less rigorously treated and then used at the municipal golf course or flow into pasturelands or the Crooked River.
Apple already uses the city's water, ranking among the top users with 27 million gallons going to the company's facilities last year. Officials say ongoing construction added to that figure.
- By KEN RITTER
- Updated
LAS VEGAS — A defense attorneys' group wants a judicial oversight panel to discipline a Las Vegas judge for ordering a public defender handcuffed in court last month when she wouldn't stop arguing to keep a client out of jail.
Nevada Attorneys for Criminal Justice accuses Justice of the Peace Conrad Hafen of violating judicial rules of conduct and of demeaning and humiliating attorney Zohra Bakhtary during the May 23 encounter.
It also cites two other cases since December in which Hafen declared people appearing before him in misdemeanor contempt.
"Appropriate sanctions are required," the organization said in its May 27 complaint to the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline. "Punishing a public defender for simply doing what is required of her demonstrates a callous disregard for the defense function, the dignity of defense counsel and the integrity of the criminal justice system."
Paul Deyhle, commission executive, confirmed receipt of the complaint, but said he couldn't comment about it. He said it could take several months to investigate and report to the commission, which meets quarterly.
Hafen, a former prosecutor in the Nevada state attorney general's office, was elected to the bench in 2010. He is up for re-election this year. Justices of the peace in Nevada hear misdemeanor cases and hold preliminary hearings to determine if there is enough evidence to move felony cases to state courts for trial.
Neither the judge nor attorney Lance Hendron, president of the 150-member attorneys' group, responded last week to messages from The Associated Press.
Bakhtary referred questions to her attorney, Dominic Gentile, who said he intends "to set the record straight and to show that Zohra should not have been held in contempt."
"I'm not out to get a judge," said Gentile, a prominent Nevada criminal defense and constitutional lawyer and adjunct law school professor. He said he wasn't a party to the commission complaint.
"The complaint is more than Zohra," Gentile said. "It's not in the best interest of Zohra or our firm to become part of the larger picture."
A public hearing about the conduct of a sitting judge is rare in Nevada. Commission action can range from dismissal of charges to a public reprimand to banishment. Proceedings can take years. In March, the commission prohibited a former Las Vegas-area family court judge already convicted and imprisoned in a federal fraud case from ever returning to the bench.
Hafen has said he ordered Bakhtary taken into custody to teach her a lesson about courtroom decorum and etiquette.
Bakhtary said at the time that she was trying to get the judge to consider her argument before jailing her client.
A court transcript showed Bakhtary kept talking and the judge warned her several times that she faced being held in contempt for interrupting while he tried to rule in her client's probation violation case.
With Bakhtary handcuffed and sitting with defendants in the courtroom, the man was sentenced to six months in jail. Hafen then ordered Bakhtary released from custody and told her to resume the court calendar.
"I think she's learned a lesson," the judge said.
The attorneys' complaint notes that Hafen denied Bakhtary's request after she was freed to summon her supervisor to the courtroom.
In December, Hafen ordered a man representing himself in a casino trespassing case taken into custody when he tried to invoke a 14th Amendment guarantee of due-process rights while questioning a witness, according to a transcript of that case. The man was released later that day.
In April, the judge ordered a woman who had been arrested on a bench warrant and held as a material witness jailed after an unspecified outburst in the courtroom. The woman was released two weeks later, when the defendant in the original case waived a preliminary hearing.
The commission complaint concerning Hafen is separate from a May 25 public protest signed by 12 board members of the 105-member Clark County Defenders Union.
It called handcuffing a public defender in Nevada unreasonable, unprecedented and improper.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
BAKER, Mont. — Several people were injured and one person had to be rescued after a tornado destroyed several homes and damaged a dozen others Saturday night in Baker in eastern Montana.
National Weather Service meteorologist Wright Dobbs says it happened about 7 p.m. Authorities say everyone in the town of about 1,900 people near the North Dakota border has been located.
Electricity was out and phone service was limited after the storm hit.
Dobbs says severe weather, including hail up to 2 inches in diameter, was reported near Miles City, 80 miles west of Baker.
- Updated
HAILEY, Idaho (AP) — State officials say a charter school in central Idaho is facing extreme financial troubles.
The Idaho Public Charter School Commission decided Thursday to send a letter of fiscal concern to the state regarding Syringa Mountain School, The Times-News (http://bit.ly/1ZEK03L) reported.
"SMS's financial position is extremely perilous," according to the commission's meeting materials. "While fundraising efforts have met current cash flow needs, SMS has struggled with lack of funds periodically throughout its years in operation."
The Hailey-based charter school received nearly $696,000 in state funds this year. But that amount won't be enough to cover the estimated $1.07 million the school expects to spend by the end of the fiscal year, which ends July 1.
To make up the difference, the school is now using donations, student fees and grants to cover the rest of the year's expenditures. However, the state commission says that method is not sustainable.
"We want the school board to have every opportunity to solve the problem in any way they find," said Tamara Baysinger, director of the Idaho Public Charter School Commission.
Syringa's operation director was not available to comment Thursday.
The board's letter will not affect how much money the school will receive from the state next year.
Unlike traditional public schools, Idaho's public charter schools are forbidden from bringing ballot measures, such as a bond, to help with operating and facility expenses. This means charter schools often face financial hurdles.
Syringa has 130 students enrolled in kindergarten through sixth grade.
A recent audit concluded that Syringa failed to meet a number of short and long-term financial measures.
___
Information from: The Times-News, http://www.magicvalley.com
- The Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE — The medical marijuana industry is growing in New Mexico.
Several licensed growers are expected to open new facilities as well as dispensaries in the coming months, which would mean a boost in jobs and the economy, the Albuquerque Journal reported.
About $3 million in compensation and salaries was paid out by dispensaries and marijuana growers in the first quarter of 2016. That's an increase from $2.3 million in the same time frame last year. The number of licensed New Mexico patients who bought medical marijuana legally has tripled from last year's first quarter to more than 55,000. First-quarter sales went from $5.7 million in 2015 to $10 million this year.
Organtica President David C. Romero White says he predicts growth will continue at the same fast pace.
The state health department licensed a dozen nonprofit groups last year to set up growing facilities and dispensaries.
Romero White said his group was one of them.
"We're all trying to get our production facilities up and running," he said. "It's very tough - especially for the producers who are outside the Albuquerque market - and a little slow."
The Verdes Foundation was among the dozen to be licensed last year, and its owners say they're trying to keep up with demand. It sees about 300 patients daily at its current facility, with plans to open a second location this month that's about four times the size of its Albuquerque dispensary.
There are 23 licensed producers operating 37 dispensaries around the state.
- The Associated Press
JACKSON, Wyo. — A deadly and degenerative disease is threatening wildlife around Jackson Hole and Cody.
Chronic wasting disease has been detected for the first time in a Star Valley mule deer, and two doe mule deer near Cody tested positive in April.
The disease is often fatal and attacks the central nervous system of white and mule deer, Rocky Mountain elk and sometimes moose.
The Jackson Hole area has gone years without a positive test in Star Valley, wildlife officials say. A dead doe deer found near Star Valley Ranch in February was recently discovered to be carrying the disease.
Medical researchers say there is no proof the disease can be transmitted to humans, but they do not recommend humans eat meat from animals that test positive for the disease.
Diseased deer in the Cody region were discovered on the South Fork of the Shoshone River last year, and other positive deer have turned up in the Meeteetse and Worland areas in the past, said Alan Osterland, Game and Fish wildlife supervisor in Cody.
The Star Valley incident is in an area that reaches as far north as Alpine and includes an elk feeding ground and large sections of Bridger-Teton National Forest property.
A year ago, a diseased buck whitetail deer was killed by a hunter in a hunting area that comes within 10 miles of Yellowstone National Park.
The disease has now gone statewide, Sierra Club Wyoming Chapter Conservation Director Lloyd Dorsey said. "Wyoming now has chronic wasting disease literally border to border, east-west and north-south, and it's approaching Yellowstone National Park and feed grounds and Jackson Hole inexorably," Dorsey said.
- The Associated Press
GILLETTE, Wyo. — A group that uses social media to connect impaired people with designated drivers is getting some pushback.
The Gillette News Record reports that Designated Drivers of Gillette has over 1,000 members on Facebook.
Michael Harmon says his page is not about charging for rides, and that people who do are banned.
DC Cab owner Mark Collins told city council members that these designated drivers sometimes ask for gas money or other compensation.
Need-A-Ride Taxi owner David Roderick says the Facebook group cuts into his bar business slightly, but that his main concern is safety.
Gillette Police Department Lt. Brent Wasson said asking for gas money means a driver is for-hire under the city taxi ordinance.
Taxi drivers must have proper insurance and pay a $200 annual charge for city licensing.
- The Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. — Technology giant Apple has announced plans to use recycled wastewater to cool its Prineville data centers.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reports (http://bit.ly/1U2Qx4u ) that Apple confirmed last week that it has agreed to pay for a treatment facility to re-use water for evaporative cooling. Apple says its new facility will save nearly 5 million gallons of water a year by not taking that water from the tap.
The water will come from Prineville's regular sewage treatment system and would otherwise have been less rigorously treated and then used at the municipal golf course or flow into pasturelands or the Crooked River.
Apple already uses the city's water, ranking among the top users with 27 million gallons going to the company's facilities last year. Officials say ongoing construction added to that figure.
- By KEN RITTER
LAS VEGAS — A defense attorneys' group wants a judicial oversight panel to discipline a Las Vegas judge for ordering a public defender handcuffed in court last month when she wouldn't stop arguing to keep a client out of jail.
Nevada Attorneys for Criminal Justice accuses Justice of the Peace Conrad Hafen of violating judicial rules of conduct and of demeaning and humiliating attorney Zohra Bakhtary during the May 23 encounter.
It also cites two other cases since December in which Hafen declared people appearing before him in misdemeanor contempt.
"Appropriate sanctions are required," the organization said in its May 27 complaint to the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline. "Punishing a public defender for simply doing what is required of her demonstrates a callous disregard for the defense function, the dignity of defense counsel and the integrity of the criminal justice system."
Paul Deyhle, commission executive, confirmed receipt of the complaint, but said he couldn't comment about it. He said it could take several months to investigate and report to the commission, which meets quarterly.
Hafen, a former prosecutor in the Nevada state attorney general's office, was elected to the bench in 2010. He is up for re-election this year. Justices of the peace in Nevada hear misdemeanor cases and hold preliminary hearings to determine if there is enough evidence to move felony cases to state courts for trial.
Neither the judge nor attorney Lance Hendron, president of the 150-member attorneys' group, responded last week to messages from The Associated Press.
Bakhtary referred questions to her attorney, Dominic Gentile, who said he intends "to set the record straight and to show that Zohra should not have been held in contempt."
"I'm not out to get a judge," said Gentile, a prominent Nevada criminal defense and constitutional lawyer and adjunct law school professor. He said he wasn't a party to the commission complaint.
"The complaint is more than Zohra," Gentile said. "It's not in the best interest of Zohra or our firm to become part of the larger picture."
A public hearing about the conduct of a sitting judge is rare in Nevada. Commission action can range from dismissal of charges to a public reprimand to banishment. Proceedings can take years. In March, the commission prohibited a former Las Vegas-area family court judge already convicted and imprisoned in a federal fraud case from ever returning to the bench.
Hafen has said he ordered Bakhtary taken into custody to teach her a lesson about courtroom decorum and etiquette.
Bakhtary said at the time that she was trying to get the judge to consider her argument before jailing her client.
A court transcript showed Bakhtary kept talking and the judge warned her several times that she faced being held in contempt for interrupting while he tried to rule in her client's probation violation case.
With Bakhtary handcuffed and sitting with defendants in the courtroom, the man was sentenced to six months in jail. Hafen then ordered Bakhtary released from custody and told her to resume the court calendar.
"I think she's learned a lesson," the judge said.
The attorneys' complaint notes that Hafen denied Bakhtary's request after she was freed to summon her supervisor to the courtroom.
In December, Hafen ordered a man representing himself in a casino trespassing case taken into custody when he tried to invoke a 14th Amendment guarantee of due-process rights while questioning a witness, according to a transcript of that case. The man was released later that day.
In April, the judge ordered a woman who had been arrested on a bench warrant and held as a material witness jailed after an unspecified outburst in the courtroom. The woman was released two weeks later, when the defendant in the original case waived a preliminary hearing.
The commission complaint concerning Hafen is separate from a May 25 public protest signed by 12 board members of the 105-member Clark County Defenders Union.
It called handcuffing a public defender in Nevada unreasonable, unprecedented and improper.
- The Associated Press
BAKER, Mont. — Several people were injured and one person had to be rescued after a tornado destroyed several homes and damaged a dozen others Saturday night in Baker in eastern Montana.
National Weather Service meteorologist Wright Dobbs says it happened about 7 p.m. Authorities say everyone in the town of about 1,900 people near the North Dakota border has been located.
Electricity was out and phone service was limited after the storm hit.
Dobbs says severe weather, including hail up to 2 inches in diameter, was reported near Miles City, 80 miles west of Baker.
HAILEY, Idaho (AP) — State officials say a charter school in central Idaho is facing extreme financial troubles.
The Idaho Public Charter School Commission decided Thursday to send a letter of fiscal concern to the state regarding Syringa Mountain School, The Times-News (http://bit.ly/1ZEK03L) reported.
"SMS's financial position is extremely perilous," according to the commission's meeting materials. "While fundraising efforts have met current cash flow needs, SMS has struggled with lack of funds periodically throughout its years in operation."
The Hailey-based charter school received nearly $696,000 in state funds this year. But that amount won't be enough to cover the estimated $1.07 million the school expects to spend by the end of the fiscal year, which ends July 1.
To make up the difference, the school is now using donations, student fees and grants to cover the rest of the year's expenditures. However, the state commission says that method is not sustainable.
"We want the school board to have every opportunity to solve the problem in any way they find," said Tamara Baysinger, director of the Idaho Public Charter School Commission.
Syringa's operation director was not available to comment Thursday.
The board's letter will not affect how much money the school will receive from the state next year.
Unlike traditional public schools, Idaho's public charter schools are forbidden from bringing ballot measures, such as a bond, to help with operating and facility expenses. This means charter schools often face financial hurdles.
Syringa has 130 students enrolled in kindergarten through sixth grade.
A recent audit concluded that Syringa failed to meet a number of short and long-term financial measures.
___
Information from: The Times-News, http://www.magicvalley.com
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