Poodle in smoker; wilderness cellphones; intruder shaves head
- Updated
Odd and interesting news from around the West.
- Updated
RENO, Nev. (AP) — Nevada authorities arrested about four dozen people at Burning Man this year, mostly for drug-related offenses.
The Reno Gazette-Journal reports (http://on.rgj.com/2cEcv3z ) that the Pershing County Sheriff's Office has released a list of 46 arrests about two weeks after the Burning Man festival ended. The 70,000-person camp-out filled with large-scale art installations effectively creates a temporary city in the Black Rock Desert.
More than two-thirds of the people arrested were from California, but visitors from Spain, Italy and Mexico were also booked at the on-site jail. Pershing County Sheriff Jerry Allen says marijuana was the most common drug found at Burning Man this year, followed by cocaine, ecstasy and acid.
Deputies also arrested a Utah man for attempted murder and a California man for battery with use of a deadly weapon.
___
Information from: Reno Gazette-Journal, http://www.rgj.com
- By SCOTT SMITH and MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press
- Updated
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — The head of Yosemite National Park is retiring after employees complained that he created a hostile workplace by allowing bullying, harassment and other misconduct, allegations also raised in other popular national parks, officials said Thursday.
Superintendent Don Neubacher announced his plans Wednesday, said Andrew Munoz, a spokesman for the National Park Service. Regional administrators decided it was time for new leadership and offered to transfer him to Denver as a senior adviser to the agency's deputy director, Neubacher said in an emailed statement to park employees that was provided to The Associated Press.
It comes less than a week after a congressional oversight committee unveiled that at least 18 Yosemite staffers complained of a toxic work environment. The hearing also showed wider allegations of sexual harassment, bullying and other misconduct among employees at national parks including Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon.
Neubacher, who headed Yosemite for nearly seven years, was not immediately available for comment but said in Wednesday's message that his retirement is effective Nov. 1 and he will be on leave immediately.
"I regret leaving at this time, but want to do what's best for Yosemite National Park," he wrote. "It is an iconic area that is world renowned and deserves special attention."
Neubacher did not mention the allegations but listed several accomplishments the park made in recent years under his leadership, including adding 400 acres and restoring native Western Pond turtles. He worked with the park service for 37 years.
BuzzFeed first reported Neubacher's resignation.
At the congressional hearing, Kelly Martin, Yosemite's chief of fire chief and aviation management, testified that Neubacher publicly humiliated her and intimidated staffers in front of others.
"In Yosemite National Park today, dozens of people, the majority of whom are women, are being bullied, belittled, disenfranchised and marginalized," according to Martin's written testimony.
Yosemite employees described "horrific working conditions (that) lead us to believe that the environment is indeed toxic, hostile, repressive and harassing," the park service said in a preliminary report last month.
Neubacher sent an apology email to all park employees days after the hearing, referencing "some serious staff concerns related to Yosemite's workplace environment."
U.S. House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz said in an AP interview Wednesday, prior to Neubacher's retirement announcement, that he was concerned about a "corrosive culture" that tolerates sexual harassment within the National Park Service and has been allowed to persist for too long.
The Utah Republican predicted that the number of parks with sexual harassment scandals will grow as victims become more confident they will be heard.
He expressed dismay that those responsible for the misconduct — either directly or because it occurred under their watch — had not been punished sufficiently and instead promoted or shifted to other positions.
Chaffetz and other lawmakers have said problems at Yosemite are exacerbated because Neubacher's wife, Patricia Neubacher, is deputy director for the Pacific region, which includes Yosemite.
The inspector general of the U.S. Interior Department launched an investigation into the Yosemite accusations on Aug. 29, office spokeswoman Nancy DiPaolo said.
DiPaolo said the investigation and a similar one that began this week at Yellowstone National Park were park-specific and would not try to address sexual harassment issues that might exist across the National Park Service.
"We have a unique mission and our workforce is the lifeline of our organization," the agency's regional director, Laura Joss, said in an email to Yosemite employees. "We are committed to providing you a workplace that promotes our values and is free of discrimination or harassment."
___
Brown reported from Billings, Montana.
- Updated
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A Portland feminist bookstore is cutting ties with the TV comedy "Portlandia," which used its space to film sketches parodying a feminist bookstore.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reports (http://bit.ly/2dgTaDt ) that actors Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen wore long-haired wigs and frumpy clothing as the humorless, aggressively conscientious co-owners of the Women and Women First bookstore in IFC's "Portlandia."
The Portland store, In Other Words, initially enjoyed the publicity. But its front door now features a sign listing several grievances with the show, including transmisogyny, racism, gentrification, queer antagonism and devaluation of feminist discourse.
The 23-year-old nonprofit has faced financial struggles and is currently running a fundraising campaign to help stay afloat.
In Other Words did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday. An IFC spokeswoman was not immediately available for comment.
___
Information from: The Oregonian/OregonLive, http://www.oregonlive.com
- Updated
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Authorities say a man who stole a South Pasadena police cruiser from the side of a highway was killed when the car crashed near downtown Los Angeles.
South Pasadena police Sgt. Spencer Lui says an officer exited the cruiser to investigate an unattended motorcycle early Thursday on the eastbound Interstate 10 transition to Interstate 110.
Lui says a man suddenly jumped into the police car and sped off after a short scuffle with the officer. A short time later the police car went off the road of another freeway transition road and hit a tree. The suspect died at the scene. His name was not released.
City News Service says police didn't immediately know if the carjacker was the man whose motorcycle was found on the ground.
- Updated
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Salt Lake City theater is working to build a barrier not just around its bar but over it to prevent patrons on a balcony above from seeing drinks being poured.
The Salt Lake Tribune reports (http://bit.ly/2dgW3nG ) that in addition to the barrier around the bar, often referred to as a "Zion Curtain," the Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control concluded that the Eccles Theater will need to have something more like a "Zion Ceiling" to prevent views from above.
The Zion Curtain is a barrier requirement has been in place for decades in some form and was preserved despite the liquor laws getting loosened in 2009. Supporters say they keep restaurants from looking like bars and curb underage drinking by hiding what they say is glamorous bartending.
___
Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune, http://www.sltrib.com
- Updated
KEIZER, Ore. (AP) — Burglary and criminal mischief charges have been filed against a man who shaved his head after entering an Oregon couple's home.
A man who lives at the home in Keizer tells the Statesman Journal (https://is.gd/TTtQfd ) he confronted the intruder after hearing a noise coming from the bathroom.
Rather than panic, the man tried to have a peaceful conversation with the stranger. The intruder then swept a three-bladed razor across his own head, using hand sanitizer as lubricant instead of shaving cream.
The couple eventually persuaded the man to leave. He asked the woman for a hug at the doorstep, but was denied.
Officers were able to identify the suspect, 39-year-old Eric Avila, because of the couple's description and by his partially shaved head.
___
Information from: Statesman Journal, http://www.statesmanjournal.com
- Updated
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — More than 80 people have died so far this year on Wyoming highways and Wyoming Highway Patrol says about 60 percent of those deaths involved people who were not using seat belts.
The Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports (http://bit.ly/2dgXe6D ) that according to the Wyoming Department of Transportation the state had an estimated seat belt compliance rate of 79.8 percent in 2015.
Neighboring states have higher seat belt compliance rates. Idaho has an 81.1 percent rate and Colorado has a rate of 85.2.
Wyoming only has secondary seat belt laws, meaning drivers can be cited for not wearing a seat belt but they cannot be pulled over for the offense.
Nationally, seat belt use rates are generally higher in the 34 states with primary enforcement, meaning drivers can be pulled over for a seat belt offense alone.
___
Information from: Wyoming Tribune Eagle, http://www.wyomingnews.com
- Updated
RIO RANCHO, N.M. (AP) — Power crews near Albuquerque have had it with the snakes inside transformer boxes.
KOAT-TV reports (http://bit.ly/2dh4f7o ) that officials say two bull snakes are to blame for a Tuesday power outage at Rio Rancho's V. Sue Cleveland High School. Maintenance crews tracked the outage to the school's solar panels, where they found a bull snake hanging next to wires in the transformer box. Another was on the ground nearby.
In a photograph, the snake looks like a cluster of wires at first glance.
Beth Pendergrass of Rio Rancho Public Schools says the snake crawled on the truss, which carries 12,000 volts. The school believe the snakes' scales carried moisture onto the high voltage line, shorting the power supply.
Power crews say the snakes did not survive.
___
Information from: KOAT-TV, http://www.thenewmexicochannel.com/index.html
- By MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press
- Updated
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Adventure-seekers encounter untamed wilderness when they enter the backcountry of Yellowstone National Park. Howling wolves. Deadly grizzly bears. Steam-spewing geysers as seen nowhere else on earth.
A refuge from ringing cellphones? Not so much anymore.
In the popularity contest between Yellowstone's natural wonders and on-demand phone service, park administrators appear to have lost ground on a 2009 pledge to minimize cellphone access in backcountry areas.
Signal coverage maps for two of Yellowstone's five cellphone towers show calls can now be received in large swaths of Yellowstone's interior, such as the picturesque Lamar Valley and other areas until just recently out of reach.
The maps were obtained by a Washington, DC-based advocacy group, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), which has for years fought against new telecommunications infrastructure in the first national park in the U.S.
Their release comes just a week after lawmakers in the U.S. House introduced a bill that would allow even more cellphone towers and similar structures on public lands across the nation.
Ken Sinay, who operates the Yellowstone Safari tour company and has been running nature tours in the park's backcountry for two decades, said phone signals became far more prevalent in many parts of the park over the past several years.
His customers typically arrive to get away from modern-day distractions. But some are unable to resist the lure of taking business calls or calling home to check on their dogs.
"It's a real drag at Artists Point," Sinay said, referring to a famous overlook near Yellowstone Falls. "While people are trying to enjoy themselves somebody's on their phone waving their hands and gesturing and walking around in a circle."
Yellowstone technology chief Bret De Young acknowledged the occurrence of "spillover" cellphone signals into backcountry areas, but suggested the coverage maps — released by the park to Ruch's group under a public records request — exaggerated the quality of coverage in parts of the park.
In 2009, Yellowstone issued a wireless and telecommunications management plan that said cellphone coverage "would not be promoted or available along park roads outside developed areas, or promoted or available in any of the backcountry."
"No cellphone service will be allowed in the vast majority of Yellowstone," park officials said in a statement issued when the plan was adopted.
PEER executive director Jeff Ruch said the park had failed to meet those goals and instead ceded its telecommunications program to companies that wanted to offer blanket coverage.
"The ability to disconnect, the serenity value of that, is a park resource that they've given away without a thought," Ruch said.
De Young said it is not the intent to cover backcountry areas, and the park is taking steps to limit cell service as much as possible to developed areas.
That's being done with the installation of new antennas that direct signals more precisely so cellphone services are limited mainly to the small communities and campgrounds in the park.
Two of the park's five cellphone towers now use those specially aimed antennas, and De Young said a third is due to be converted this fall.
A cellphone coverage map provided by the park shows that the signals extend beyond targeted areas but lose signal strength as the distance from the communities and campgrounds increases.
"This will allow the service providers to keep up with new phone technology while limiting unintentional coverage areas," De Young said.
The House legislation introduced last week seeks to encourage even greater cellular and broadband coverage within national parks and other public lands. The measure from California U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman is known as the Public Lands Telecommunications Act.
It would impose rental fees on telecommunications companies with cell towers or other infrastructure on public lands. Money raised would be used by the U.S. Interior and Agriculture Departments to obtain additional communication sites and take other steps to foster greater coverage.
National Park Service spokesman Jeremy Barnum said the agency could not provide an estimate of the number of cell towers in national parks.
- Updated
VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) — Clark County has agreed to settle a case for $250,000 after a federal judge found earlier this month that the county was liable for seizing homeless people's belongings.
The Columbian reports (http://bit.ly/2dhexo3 ) that the council on Wednesday voted to approve a settlement agreement which includes $165,000 for attorneys' fees and $85,000 for the six plaintiffs in the suit, all of whom accused the county of throwing out their belongings during cleanups from 2012 to 2014.
Some campers had left to eat meals at a local shelter, then returned to find the work crews seizing their property and refusing to give it back. Earlier this month a judge ruled this violated the plaintiff's constitutional rights.
Plaintiffs' attorney Peter Fels says the $85,000 will be divided among the six plaintiffs.
Fels said authorities have promised to recommend a policy that will set stricter limits for when work crews can remove homeless people's belongings.
"One of the main things all of them wanted to have the policy changed, and that was negotiated and agreed to by the county," Fels said. "The settlement amount does compensate the individual clients, but . there are lots of people who were affected by the old policy and are not compensated."
___
Information from: The Columbian, http://www.columbian.com
- By JONATHAN J. COOPER Associated Press
- Updated
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Gov. Jerry Brown has signed legislation to develop a statewide earthquake early warning system in California, after devoting $10 million to the program in the state budget he signed this year.
Brown announced Thursday that he signed SB438 by Sen. Jerry Hill, a Democrat from San Mateo.
The legislation sets up the early warning program, called "ShakeAlert."
Seismic early warning systems are designed to detect the first shock waves from a large jolt, calculate the strength and alert people before the slower but damaging waves spread. Mexico, China and Japan are among the countries already using them.
Ultimately, scientists plan to develop apps for mobile phones and computers that would give the public the early alerts.
California officials will submit a plan to the state Legislature by February 2018.
- Updated
PHOENIX (AP) — A Goodyear man has been sentenced to six months in jail for strangling his family's dog and putting it in a barbecue smoker in May.
Maricopa County Superior Court officials say 42-year-old Patrick Zane Thompson also was sentenced Thursday to three years of supervised release and ordered by a judge not to own any more animals.
Goodyear police say Thompson became upset with a T-shirt that his 17-year-old daughter had because he believed it had to do with the devil.
Thompson pleaded guilty to one count each of assault and cruelty to animals.
He reportedly burned the shirt in a barbecue smoker parked in a side yard and then did the same to the family's poodle.
Police say Thompson told officers that he had smoked marijuana earlier in the day.
- Updated
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Police say a man sought for questioning in a shooting case was struck and killed by a tractor-trailer when he tried to run across a Las Vegas freeway with officers in pursuit.
Officer Larry Hadfield says the fatal crash happened a little before 11:30 a.m. Thursday on busy U.S. 95 near Flamingo Road.
The freeway was closed in both directions southeast of downtown Las Vegas following the crash.
Hadfield says detectives investigating a shooting last week wanted to talk to the man, but he failed to stop for a marked patrol car and then got out of his vehicle and ran on the freeway.
Hadfield says the Sept. 22 shooting left a man wounded in a parking area of a mobile home park on Boulder Highway, about 2 miles from where Thursday's chase occurred.
- Updated
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — A Las Cruces man has been sentenced to more than nearly six years in federal prison for unlawfully possessing a grenade.
Federal prosecutors say 37-year-old Keyton Wayne Lieber was given a 70-month sentence Thursday and will be on supervised release for two years after completing the prison term.
Lieber was arrested in January on a criminal complaint charging him with possessing a destructive device in Dona Ana County on April 21. Federal authorities safely disposed of it.
New Mexico State Police officers reported finding the grenade in Lieber's residence while executing a search warrant.
Lieber pleaded guilty in June to possessing a destructive device which was not registered to him.
- Updated
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) — Southern California's tallest waterfall will remain closed for another year while forest officials figure out how to address record-high numbers of visitor injuries.
The Press-Enterprise reports (http://bit.ly/2dgQWUm ) that San Bernardino National Forest Officials are extending the closure of Upper Big Falls. Officials first banned access to the upper three falls in the 500-foot-long series of cascades in October 2015.
Firefighters and deputies had to rescue at least 57 people who were hurt climbing around the falls in 2015. San Bernardino County Fire Department Capt. Tom McIntosh says 18 people have also been injured in the area in 2016, and all but one of them was in the banned region.
McIntosh says he's disappointed that forest officials haven't yet made an effective plan so that they can reopen the falls.
___
Information from: The Press-Enterprise, http://www.pe.com
RENO, Nev. (AP) — Nevada authorities arrested about four dozen people at Burning Man this year, mostly for drug-related offenses.
The Reno Gazette-Journal reports (http://on.rgj.com/2cEcv3z ) that the Pershing County Sheriff's Office has released a list of 46 arrests about two weeks after the Burning Man festival ended. The 70,000-person camp-out filled with large-scale art installations effectively creates a temporary city in the Black Rock Desert.
More than two-thirds of the people arrested were from California, but visitors from Spain, Italy and Mexico were also booked at the on-site jail. Pershing County Sheriff Jerry Allen says marijuana was the most common drug found at Burning Man this year, followed by cocaine, ecstasy and acid.
Deputies also arrested a Utah man for attempted murder and a California man for battery with use of a deadly weapon.
___
Information from: Reno Gazette-Journal, http://www.rgj.com
- By SCOTT SMITH and MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — The head of Yosemite National Park is retiring after employees complained that he created a hostile workplace by allowing bullying, harassment and other misconduct, allegations also raised in other popular national parks, officials said Thursday.
Superintendent Don Neubacher announced his plans Wednesday, said Andrew Munoz, a spokesman for the National Park Service. Regional administrators decided it was time for new leadership and offered to transfer him to Denver as a senior adviser to the agency's deputy director, Neubacher said in an emailed statement to park employees that was provided to The Associated Press.
It comes less than a week after a congressional oversight committee unveiled that at least 18 Yosemite staffers complained of a toxic work environment. The hearing also showed wider allegations of sexual harassment, bullying and other misconduct among employees at national parks including Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon.
Neubacher, who headed Yosemite for nearly seven years, was not immediately available for comment but said in Wednesday's message that his retirement is effective Nov. 1 and he will be on leave immediately.
"I regret leaving at this time, but want to do what's best for Yosemite National Park," he wrote. "It is an iconic area that is world renowned and deserves special attention."
Neubacher did not mention the allegations but listed several accomplishments the park made in recent years under his leadership, including adding 400 acres and restoring native Western Pond turtles. He worked with the park service for 37 years.
BuzzFeed first reported Neubacher's resignation.
At the congressional hearing, Kelly Martin, Yosemite's chief of fire chief and aviation management, testified that Neubacher publicly humiliated her and intimidated staffers in front of others.
"In Yosemite National Park today, dozens of people, the majority of whom are women, are being bullied, belittled, disenfranchised and marginalized," according to Martin's written testimony.
Yosemite employees described "horrific working conditions (that) lead us to believe that the environment is indeed toxic, hostile, repressive and harassing," the park service said in a preliminary report last month.
Neubacher sent an apology email to all park employees days after the hearing, referencing "some serious staff concerns related to Yosemite's workplace environment."
U.S. House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz said in an AP interview Wednesday, prior to Neubacher's retirement announcement, that he was concerned about a "corrosive culture" that tolerates sexual harassment within the National Park Service and has been allowed to persist for too long.
The Utah Republican predicted that the number of parks with sexual harassment scandals will grow as victims become more confident they will be heard.
He expressed dismay that those responsible for the misconduct — either directly or because it occurred under their watch — had not been punished sufficiently and instead promoted or shifted to other positions.
Chaffetz and other lawmakers have said problems at Yosemite are exacerbated because Neubacher's wife, Patricia Neubacher, is deputy director for the Pacific region, which includes Yosemite.
The inspector general of the U.S. Interior Department launched an investigation into the Yosemite accusations on Aug. 29, office spokeswoman Nancy DiPaolo said.
DiPaolo said the investigation and a similar one that began this week at Yellowstone National Park were park-specific and would not try to address sexual harassment issues that might exist across the National Park Service.
"We have a unique mission and our workforce is the lifeline of our organization," the agency's regional director, Laura Joss, said in an email to Yosemite employees. "We are committed to providing you a workplace that promotes our values and is free of discrimination or harassment."
___
Brown reported from Billings, Montana.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A Portland feminist bookstore is cutting ties with the TV comedy "Portlandia," which used its space to film sketches parodying a feminist bookstore.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reports (http://bit.ly/2dgTaDt ) that actors Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen wore long-haired wigs and frumpy clothing as the humorless, aggressively conscientious co-owners of the Women and Women First bookstore in IFC's "Portlandia."
The Portland store, In Other Words, initially enjoyed the publicity. But its front door now features a sign listing several grievances with the show, including transmisogyny, racism, gentrification, queer antagonism and devaluation of feminist discourse.
The 23-year-old nonprofit has faced financial struggles and is currently running a fundraising campaign to help stay afloat.
In Other Words did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday. An IFC spokeswoman was not immediately available for comment.
___
Information from: The Oregonian/OregonLive, http://www.oregonlive.com
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Authorities say a man who stole a South Pasadena police cruiser from the side of a highway was killed when the car crashed near downtown Los Angeles.
South Pasadena police Sgt. Spencer Lui says an officer exited the cruiser to investigate an unattended motorcycle early Thursday on the eastbound Interstate 10 transition to Interstate 110.
Lui says a man suddenly jumped into the police car and sped off after a short scuffle with the officer. A short time later the police car went off the road of another freeway transition road and hit a tree. The suspect died at the scene. His name was not released.
City News Service says police didn't immediately know if the carjacker was the man whose motorcycle was found on the ground.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Salt Lake City theater is working to build a barrier not just around its bar but over it to prevent patrons on a balcony above from seeing drinks being poured.
The Salt Lake Tribune reports (http://bit.ly/2dgW3nG ) that in addition to the barrier around the bar, often referred to as a "Zion Curtain," the Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control concluded that the Eccles Theater will need to have something more like a "Zion Ceiling" to prevent views from above.
The Zion Curtain is a barrier requirement has been in place for decades in some form and was preserved despite the liquor laws getting loosened in 2009. Supporters say they keep restaurants from looking like bars and curb underage drinking by hiding what they say is glamorous bartending.
___
Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune, http://www.sltrib.com
KEIZER, Ore. (AP) — Burglary and criminal mischief charges have been filed against a man who shaved his head after entering an Oregon couple's home.
A man who lives at the home in Keizer tells the Statesman Journal (https://is.gd/TTtQfd ) he confronted the intruder after hearing a noise coming from the bathroom.
Rather than panic, the man tried to have a peaceful conversation with the stranger. The intruder then swept a three-bladed razor across his own head, using hand sanitizer as lubricant instead of shaving cream.
The couple eventually persuaded the man to leave. He asked the woman for a hug at the doorstep, but was denied.
Officers were able to identify the suspect, 39-year-old Eric Avila, because of the couple's description and by his partially shaved head.
___
Information from: Statesman Journal, http://www.statesmanjournal.com
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — More than 80 people have died so far this year on Wyoming highways and Wyoming Highway Patrol says about 60 percent of those deaths involved people who were not using seat belts.
The Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports (http://bit.ly/2dgXe6D ) that according to the Wyoming Department of Transportation the state had an estimated seat belt compliance rate of 79.8 percent in 2015.
Neighboring states have higher seat belt compliance rates. Idaho has an 81.1 percent rate and Colorado has a rate of 85.2.
Wyoming only has secondary seat belt laws, meaning drivers can be cited for not wearing a seat belt but they cannot be pulled over for the offense.
Nationally, seat belt use rates are generally higher in the 34 states with primary enforcement, meaning drivers can be pulled over for a seat belt offense alone.
___
Information from: Wyoming Tribune Eagle, http://www.wyomingnews.com
RIO RANCHO, N.M. (AP) — Power crews near Albuquerque have had it with the snakes inside transformer boxes.
KOAT-TV reports (http://bit.ly/2dh4f7o ) that officials say two bull snakes are to blame for a Tuesday power outage at Rio Rancho's V. Sue Cleveland High School. Maintenance crews tracked the outage to the school's solar panels, where they found a bull snake hanging next to wires in the transformer box. Another was on the ground nearby.
In a photograph, the snake looks like a cluster of wires at first glance.
Beth Pendergrass of Rio Rancho Public Schools says the snake crawled on the truss, which carries 12,000 volts. The school believe the snakes' scales carried moisture onto the high voltage line, shorting the power supply.
Power crews say the snakes did not survive.
___
Information from: KOAT-TV, http://www.thenewmexicochannel.com/index.html
- By MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Adventure-seekers encounter untamed wilderness when they enter the backcountry of Yellowstone National Park. Howling wolves. Deadly grizzly bears. Steam-spewing geysers as seen nowhere else on earth.
A refuge from ringing cellphones? Not so much anymore.
In the popularity contest between Yellowstone's natural wonders and on-demand phone service, park administrators appear to have lost ground on a 2009 pledge to minimize cellphone access in backcountry areas.
Signal coverage maps for two of Yellowstone's five cellphone towers show calls can now be received in large swaths of Yellowstone's interior, such as the picturesque Lamar Valley and other areas until just recently out of reach.
The maps were obtained by a Washington, DC-based advocacy group, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), which has for years fought against new telecommunications infrastructure in the first national park in the U.S.
Their release comes just a week after lawmakers in the U.S. House introduced a bill that would allow even more cellphone towers and similar structures on public lands across the nation.
Ken Sinay, who operates the Yellowstone Safari tour company and has been running nature tours in the park's backcountry for two decades, said phone signals became far more prevalent in many parts of the park over the past several years.
His customers typically arrive to get away from modern-day distractions. But some are unable to resist the lure of taking business calls or calling home to check on their dogs.
"It's a real drag at Artists Point," Sinay said, referring to a famous overlook near Yellowstone Falls. "While people are trying to enjoy themselves somebody's on their phone waving their hands and gesturing and walking around in a circle."
Yellowstone technology chief Bret De Young acknowledged the occurrence of "spillover" cellphone signals into backcountry areas, but suggested the coverage maps — released by the park to Ruch's group under a public records request — exaggerated the quality of coverage in parts of the park.
In 2009, Yellowstone issued a wireless and telecommunications management plan that said cellphone coverage "would not be promoted or available along park roads outside developed areas, or promoted or available in any of the backcountry."
"No cellphone service will be allowed in the vast majority of Yellowstone," park officials said in a statement issued when the plan was adopted.
PEER executive director Jeff Ruch said the park had failed to meet those goals and instead ceded its telecommunications program to companies that wanted to offer blanket coverage.
"The ability to disconnect, the serenity value of that, is a park resource that they've given away without a thought," Ruch said.
De Young said it is not the intent to cover backcountry areas, and the park is taking steps to limit cell service as much as possible to developed areas.
That's being done with the installation of new antennas that direct signals more precisely so cellphone services are limited mainly to the small communities and campgrounds in the park.
Two of the park's five cellphone towers now use those specially aimed antennas, and De Young said a third is due to be converted this fall.
A cellphone coverage map provided by the park shows that the signals extend beyond targeted areas but lose signal strength as the distance from the communities and campgrounds increases.
"This will allow the service providers to keep up with new phone technology while limiting unintentional coverage areas," De Young said.
The House legislation introduced last week seeks to encourage even greater cellular and broadband coverage within national parks and other public lands. The measure from California U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman is known as the Public Lands Telecommunications Act.
It would impose rental fees on telecommunications companies with cell towers or other infrastructure on public lands. Money raised would be used by the U.S. Interior and Agriculture Departments to obtain additional communication sites and take other steps to foster greater coverage.
National Park Service spokesman Jeremy Barnum said the agency could not provide an estimate of the number of cell towers in national parks.
VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) — Clark County has agreed to settle a case for $250,000 after a federal judge found earlier this month that the county was liable for seizing homeless people's belongings.
The Columbian reports (http://bit.ly/2dhexo3 ) that the council on Wednesday voted to approve a settlement agreement which includes $165,000 for attorneys' fees and $85,000 for the six plaintiffs in the suit, all of whom accused the county of throwing out their belongings during cleanups from 2012 to 2014.
Some campers had left to eat meals at a local shelter, then returned to find the work crews seizing their property and refusing to give it back. Earlier this month a judge ruled this violated the plaintiff's constitutional rights.
Plaintiffs' attorney Peter Fels says the $85,000 will be divided among the six plaintiffs.
Fels said authorities have promised to recommend a policy that will set stricter limits for when work crews can remove homeless people's belongings.
"One of the main things all of them wanted to have the policy changed, and that was negotiated and agreed to by the county," Fels said. "The settlement amount does compensate the individual clients, but . there are lots of people who were affected by the old policy and are not compensated."
___
Information from: The Columbian, http://www.columbian.com
- By JONATHAN J. COOPER Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Gov. Jerry Brown has signed legislation to develop a statewide earthquake early warning system in California, after devoting $10 million to the program in the state budget he signed this year.
Brown announced Thursday that he signed SB438 by Sen. Jerry Hill, a Democrat from San Mateo.
The legislation sets up the early warning program, called "ShakeAlert."
Seismic early warning systems are designed to detect the first shock waves from a large jolt, calculate the strength and alert people before the slower but damaging waves spread. Mexico, China and Japan are among the countries already using them.
Ultimately, scientists plan to develop apps for mobile phones and computers that would give the public the early alerts.
California officials will submit a plan to the state Legislature by February 2018.
PHOENIX (AP) — A Goodyear man has been sentenced to six months in jail for strangling his family's dog and putting it in a barbecue smoker in May.
Maricopa County Superior Court officials say 42-year-old Patrick Zane Thompson also was sentenced Thursday to three years of supervised release and ordered by a judge not to own any more animals.
Goodyear police say Thompson became upset with a T-shirt that his 17-year-old daughter had because he believed it had to do with the devil.
Thompson pleaded guilty to one count each of assault and cruelty to animals.
He reportedly burned the shirt in a barbecue smoker parked in a side yard and then did the same to the family's poodle.
Police say Thompson told officers that he had smoked marijuana earlier in the day.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Police say a man sought for questioning in a shooting case was struck and killed by a tractor-trailer when he tried to run across a Las Vegas freeway with officers in pursuit.
Officer Larry Hadfield says the fatal crash happened a little before 11:30 a.m. Thursday on busy U.S. 95 near Flamingo Road.
The freeway was closed in both directions southeast of downtown Las Vegas following the crash.
Hadfield says detectives investigating a shooting last week wanted to talk to the man, but he failed to stop for a marked patrol car and then got out of his vehicle and ran on the freeway.
Hadfield says the Sept. 22 shooting left a man wounded in a parking area of a mobile home park on Boulder Highway, about 2 miles from where Thursday's chase occurred.
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — A Las Cruces man has been sentenced to more than nearly six years in federal prison for unlawfully possessing a grenade.
Federal prosecutors say 37-year-old Keyton Wayne Lieber was given a 70-month sentence Thursday and will be on supervised release for two years after completing the prison term.
Lieber was arrested in January on a criminal complaint charging him with possessing a destructive device in Dona Ana County on April 21. Federal authorities safely disposed of it.
New Mexico State Police officers reported finding the grenade in Lieber's residence while executing a search warrant.
Lieber pleaded guilty in June to possessing a destructive device which was not registered to him.
RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) — Southern California's tallest waterfall will remain closed for another year while forest officials figure out how to address record-high numbers of visitor injuries.
The Press-Enterprise reports (http://bit.ly/2dgQWUm ) that San Bernardino National Forest Officials are extending the closure of Upper Big Falls. Officials first banned access to the upper three falls in the 500-foot-long series of cascades in October 2015.
Firefighters and deputies had to rescue at least 57 people who were hurt climbing around the falls in 2015. San Bernardino County Fire Department Capt. Tom McIntosh says 18 people have also been injured in the area in 2016, and all but one of them was in the banned region.
McIntosh says he's disappointed that forest officials haven't yet made an effective plan so that they can reopen the falls.
___
Information from: The Press-Enterprise, http://www.pe.com
Most Popular
-
Tucson cuts off water for Project Blue, demands payback
-
Tucson's newest Shake Shack gets neighbors -
New images show Arizona archaeological site scarred by border wall work
-
Project Blue protest in Tucson turns physical
-
Former FAU rim protector Devin Williams reportedly visiting Arizona men's basketball
