News from home

Woman finds career carving with chainsaw

LOGAN, Utah — Abigail Berg’s parents always told her not to play with the kitchen knives, but that didn’t stop her from exploring a passion that has shaped her life today: Chainsaw carving.

Berg, 25, frequently got into trouble for stealing her mother’s kitchen knives at the tender age of 5 years old. She became enthralled by whittling, and enjoyed making little men out of pieces of wood. She also sharpened sticks to make spears and walking sticks.

One day she cut her finger deep with a knife. After her mother took her to the hospital to get stitches, she realized Berg had a passion for whittling and allowed her to continue, as long as she did it with supervision.

“I just loved it,” said Berg, who transitioned in high school from whittling, using a knife, to chainsaw carving, and bought her first chainsaw from eBay.

Six years ago, she started to do it professionally, and formed a small business, Wild Pine Creations. Among many creations, she has carved wolves, dogs, bears, cowboys, owls and eagles for customers.

“Probably the most rewarding thing is being able to create something that wasn’t there before,” Berg said. “I really think it’s just creating something that wasn’t there and challenging myself and seeing how far I can go and how close to real I can make it, how much I can be.”

Iowa

University of Iowa will stop using ISIS service

IOWA CITY — The University of Iowa is scrapping the online course registration system that students have used for years because of its name.

The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports that university officials have decided to retire the service widely known as ISIS — an acronym for Iowa Student Information Systems.

Steve Fleagle, the university’s chief information officer, says students expressed concern about plugging the name “ISIS” into search engines and trying to find the university-owned website. ISIS is also used as shorthand for the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, an extremist group known for deadly attacks, kidnappings and torture.

Fleagle says the university will combine the services provided by its ISIS system with other online services to create a one-stop-shopping experience for students.

California

Athletes top water offenders in Bay Area

OAKLAND — A number of professional athletes and sports executives in the San Francisco Bay Area are being fined for using too much water amid California’s historic drought.

The Oakland Tribune reports that A’s manager Billy Beane, San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey, former world champion figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi, retired NFL running back Maurice Jones-Drew and Sacramento Kings co-owner Mark Mastrov were among the 1,862 customers the East Bay Municipal Utility District is citing for excessive water consumption this fall.

To encourage conservation, the utility this summer started charging customers an extra $2 for every 748 gallons of water they used above a two-month limit of 1,000 gallons per day.

Oregon

Toga party ends in frat suspension, charges

CORVALLIS — The city of Corvallis has filed charges against an Oregon State University fraternity following a toga party last week.

The Corvallis Gazette-Times reports the local chapter of Phi Delta Theta was charged with 39 counts of furnishing alcohol to minors and 39 counts of hosting a party for minors. The fraternity chapter president and a former chapter president face the same accusations, both misdemeanors.

University officials placed the fraternity under interim suspension and the international Phi Delta Theta fraternity ordered the local chapter to cease operations during the investigation. Students can still attend classes and live at the fraternity house.

“We are aware of the incident and the very serious allegations made by the Corvallis Police Department,” university spokesman Steve Clark said. “This kind of behavior is not acceptable and is a violation of both our policies and the culture of safety and healthy living that we believe in.”

A police report says two young women who attended the Dec. 4 party were taken to a hospital because they drank too much, and another required a medical evaluation.

Colorado

Cadaver falls from van on way to Denver

Police say a cadaver found along a North Texas road was being transported to Denver for medical research but fell out of a vehicle.

Denton, Texas, police said Friday there’s no indication of criminal wrongdoing, and the van transporting the body had a broken rear window.

A Denton officer early Tuesday discovered a bag containing the body of 79-year-old Nell Joseph.

Officials say Joseph had lung disease and died in Fort Worth. Her family donated her body to Science Care so the organization could study chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.