Marijuana marriage; anti-California graffiti; car in pool
- Updated
Odd and interesting news from around the West.
- By DON THOMPSON Associated Press
- Updated
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The number of hate crimes in California increased about 11 percent last year, the second consecutive double-digit increase, but the overall number still was a third lower total than a decade ago, the state's attorney general reported Monday. Blacks, Jews and gay men were among the most frequent targets.
There were 931 such crimes reported statewide in 2016, nearly 100 more than in 2015. That equated to about one for every 42,000 Californians.
By comparison, there were 1,426 hate crimes reported in 2007, when the state had about 3 million fewer people than the more than 39 million in 2016.
More than half the crimes reported last year were based on the victim's race or ethnicity. Hate crimes involving a victim's sexual orientation increased about 10 percent, to 207 last year, with about three-quarters of those targeting gay men.
Less than 20 percent were because of the victim's religion. Jews, not Muslims, were the most common targets even amid heated rhetoric by Donald Trump during the presidential campaign regarding potential terror threats from Muslims.
There are no statewide statistics on hate crimes in California since Trump took office in January.
"When someone commits a crime motivated by hate, it is not just an attack on one innocent person, but an attack on the entire state and our communities," Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement. "Words matter, and discriminatory rhetoric does not make us stronger but divides us and puts the safety of our communities at risk."
He noted that FBI reports show a nationwide increase in hate crimes. More than half of such crimes are not reported to police, he said, while pledging to work with law enforcement to prosecute those responsible.
Racially motivated attacks spurred much of the overall increase last year. They increased more than 20 percent, from 428 in 2015 to 519 last year. Those targeting whites increased from 34 to 56; those against blacks from 231 to 251.
The reports are submitted to the attorney general's office by California law enforcement agencies and district attorneys' offices.
Nearly two-thirds of all the hate crimes reported last year were violent, while the rest were property crimes.
About 40 percent of crimes categorized as violent involved intimidation and 30 percent simple assault. About a quarter were aggravated assaults. Ninety percent of the property crimes involved vandalism.
More than 300 hate crime cases were forwarded to county prosecutors last year, and they filed charges in 220 of them. Of the cases completed by year's end, more than 80 percent resulted in convictions.
- Updated
JEROME, Idaho (AP) — A former lieutenant with the Jerome County Sheriff's Office is facing a felony charge on accusations he took money intended for undercover drug buys.
Former Lt. Dan Kennedy, who has since resigned, was charged mid-June with misappropriation of public funds, The Times-News reported (http://bit.ly/2szcrtY ). If convicted, Kennedy could face a sentence of one to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
Kennedy is accused of taking $2,722 from a small safe at the sheriff's office.
Deputies were moving items from the old sheriff's office to the new one when the money was discovered missing.
Power County Chief Deputy Sheriff Max Sprague wrote to the court that Kennedy told the sheriff there was no money in the safe because he had returned it to the county auditor's office on Feb. 9, 2016. Bingham County Detective Mark Phillips said the treasurer's office told him they had never received any money from Kennedy.
Kennedy's lawyer, Brad Calbo, declined to comment in detail, saying it is too early in the case. His client will plead not guilty to all charges, Calbo said.
The Power County Prosecuting Attorney's Office is handling the case because of Kennedy's connection to prosecutors in Jerome.
___
Information from: The Times-News, http://www.magicvalley.com
- Updated
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Authorities say an armed man was fatally shot by police after seizing a helicopter near Portland, Oregon.
Hillsboro police Lt. Henry Reimann said the man jumped a fence Monday to get into Hillsboro Airport and then approached a flight instructor and student who were inside a helicopter. The man ordered them to get out, firing at least one round during the incident.
Reimann says the man got into the helicopter, which was running, but officers arrived before he could take off.
The man ran into a field, where a Hillsboro officer fatally shot him.
The man has not been identified. No other injuries have been reported.
- Updated
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — The father of a University of Colorado student who was shot and killed by police two years ago has sued, arguing that city police shot their son needlessly and have a "culture of excessive force."
Twenty-two-year-old Samuel Forgy was shot by officers in July of 2015. He was outside his apartment naked, having threatened his roommates while high on LSD. The roommates who called police told dispatchers that Forgy was on drugs and acting erratically.
Police said Forgy was threatening them with a hammer. One officer shot a non-lethal Taser gun at the student but missed. Officer Dillon Garretson shot Forgy four times with a real gun. Garretson was cleared of wrongdoing.
Forgy's father sued Monday, seeking unspecified damages and increased training for the Boulder Police Department.
- Updated
HILDALE, Utah (AP) — Utah health authorities said there are six cases connected to an E.coli outbreak that killed two children in a mostly-polygamous community on the Utah-Arizona border.
Southwest Utah Public Health Department spokesman David Heaton said Monday the four non-fatal cases are a combination of children and adults but he didn't have the exact breakdown. He declined to release their conditions due to privacy concerns but says they've all received medical care.
Heaton says investigators don't think the town's water supply is the cause. He says the outbreak may be linked to contaminated food or exposure to animals.
Heaton declined to give the ages of the children who died or say if they are related.
The sister towns of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona, are home to a polygamous group known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
- Updated
DEVILS TOWER, Wyo. (AP) — The number of people who climb an unusual rock formation in northeast Wyoming during June is on the rise despite the concerns of American Indian tribes who hold the place sacred.
Devils Tower is nearly 900 feet tall from base to summit. Devils Tower National Monument was the first U.S. national monument and many know the volcanic feature for its role in the 1977 film "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."
Devils Tower is a popular target for climbers but also culturally significant to at least 25 tribes in the region. In the mid-1990s, climbers, the tribes and National Park Service officials agreed to a compromise that put the tower voluntarily off-limits to climbing during June.
The number of people climbing Devils Tower in June fell from 1,200 to just 167 in June 1995. Lately the number is back up, reaching 373 in June 2016, Wyoming Public Radio reported (http://bit.ly/2sbn6Xi).
A steady increase in June climbing over the past five years isn't tied to the growing number of people visiting Devils Tower, monument superintendent Tim Reid said.
"It's safe to say that largely, the bulk of June climbing is done by relatively local or regional climbers who for whatever reasons find it personally acceptable to climb in June," Reid said.
It's painful when climbers ignore the closure, said Waylon Black Crow Sr. as he chaperoned Lakota youth from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
"We see them climbing up there," said Black Crow. "And all we can do is watch."
Recent June climbers included commercial guide and lodge owner Frank Sanders, who said he knew not everyone agreed with his decision to climb then.
"The tower's not for one person, or one group of people, or one month, or one day, or one week," said Sanders. "It's for all of us."
___
Information from: KUWR-FM, http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/wpr/
- By KATIE FRANKOWICZ DAILY ASTORIAN
- Updated
ASTORIA, Ore. (AP) — To release an Oregon silverspot butterfly caterpillar, biologist Anne Walker takes it out of a little Tupperware container and sets it gently on its preferred food, the spade-shaped leaves of the early blue violet.
It's not as precarious as it sounds.
"They're very adapted to their environment," said Walker, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and a silverspot expert. "They hide."
She's seen released caterpillars dive down and seemingly disappear in moments. Somewhere down there, she knows, they are starting to munch on the first of the roughly 200 violet leaves they will each need to eat to survive to adulthood.
This is the end point of a process called "augmentation" — an ongoing effort to reintroduce the threatened silverspot butterfly by releasing caterpillars at specific sites across the state.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently announced it will release hundreds of caterpillars at two new sites this summer and next: the Nestucca Bay National Wildlife Refuge in southern Tillamook County and the Saddle Mountain area in central Clatsop County.
The small reddish-orange butterflies with their distinctive silver spots were once found on coastal grasslands from Northern California to southern Washington, but development, changes to the forest and invasive weeds and grasses reduced the silverspots' preferred habitat.
The decline is linked primarily to a lack of early blue violets, normally the only plant on which the Oregon silverspot can successfully feed and develop as larva, according to Fish and Wildlife.
These plants are crucial throughout a silverspot's life cycle. Their presence stimulates the female butterflies to lay eggs in the first place. Later, young caterpillars feast on the leaves.
By 1980, the butterflies had vanished from at least 11 different localities. That same year, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the Oregon silverspot as a threatened species.
No one has ever documented a silverspot at the Nestucca Bay site, but this area is within the butterfly's historical range, according to Fish and Wildlife. Why silverspots abandoned Saddle Mountain is mystery. The violets are still there, and thriving. The butterflies are not. They haven't been seen there since the 1970s.
Nestucca will be the first of the two sites to get this new influx of caterpillars. Next summer, it will be Saddle Mountain's turn. If these sites are successful, as biologists expect they will be, they will bring the overall population that much closer to recovery. Currently, silverspots are established at five sites; the ultimate recovery goal is 10 self-sustaining populations.
The caterpillars that biologists, such as Walker, will release this summer come from labs at Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo and Portland's Oregon Zoo.
Scientists collect female butterflies from the large wild population at Mount Hebo in Tillamook County's Siuslaw National Forest and bring them to labs at the zoos. Here technicians coax the females into laying eggs. When larvae hatch from these eggs, they are so small you could put them next to a penny and they wouldn't even be as long as Abraham Lincoln's beard, Walker said. By the time they are released, however, the caterpillars are about an inch long.
Adapted to the environment, biologists are optimistic that caterpillars at Saddle Mountain and Nestucca will succeed, but they also know not all the caterpillars will live long enough to become adult butterflies.
"We don't expect them all to survive," Walker said. But, she added, "Probably one of their functions within the ecosystem is to be food for other things."
Biologists expect to release approximately 3,000 caterpillars this summer; most will go to the Nestucca restoration site. Some will seed established sites and the rest will go back to areas where their mothers were collected.
___
Information from: The Daily Astorian, http://www.dailyastorian.com
- Updated
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — A 73-year-old woman escaped serious injury when she apparently mistook her gas pedal for the brake and drove her car into the swimming pool at the Cheyenne Mountain Resort in Colorado.
Colorado Springs police say the woman was leaving the resort at about 7:30 a.m. Monday when her car went up a hill and through a fence before landing in the pool.
Officers tell KKTV-TV (bit.ly/2uipDR2) that three bystanders helped the woman from the vehicle. No one was in the pool at the time.
The woman was able to talk with officers when they arrived. She did not suffer any serious injuries, but was taken to the hospital.
Police say she likely will be cited for careless driving.
The station reports the pool will have to be drained before the car can be removed.
___
Information from: KKTV-TV, http://www.kktv.com/
- Updated
ASTORIA, Ore. (AP) — The Maritime Archaeological Society plans to resume searching for the centuries-old Beeswax shipwreck.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reports (https://is.gd/xwDXHv ) the wreck is named for the lumps of beeswax that have been found scattered along the Oregon coast for the past two centuries. It is believed to be from a Spanish ship that wrecked in the late 1600s.
A training period will begin in early July. A team of about a dozen people initially will scan the coast between Cape Falcon and Manzanita.
Using an Astoria-based charter boat, the team will use sonar to find the wreck and a magnetometer, designed to locate steel and iron used in the ship.
To help fund the search, the Preserving Oregon Grant program is providing $6,600 from the state Parks and Recreation Department.
___
Information from: The Oregonian/OregonLive, http://www.oregonlive.com
- Updated
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Oregonians have spent decades blaming Californians for increased traffic and other problems.
But rarely does the frustration go beyond words.
On Sunday, however, Preston Page and Jessica Faraday awoke to find messages such as "Go back to California" spray-painted across the front of their house and car.
Page tells The Oregonian/OregonLive (http://bit.ly/2titsph ) they moved to Portland from Southern California in February and most people have been fantastic.
He believes the vandalism stemmed from an incident Saturday, when he dropped Faraday off in front of their house. The street outside the home is narrow, and a vehicle coming along behind their Prius couldn't get past.
The impatient driver exchanged words with Page. After noticing the out-of-state license plate, he barked at them to go back to California.
___
Information from: The Oregonian/OregonLive, http://www.oregonlive.com
- Updated
SEQUIM, Wash. (AP) — A Sequim wolf pack is expecting two timber wolf puppies to join their family.
The Peninsula Daily News reports (http://bit.ly/2sz0UKW ) the brother-sister duo, named Grace and Tonka, will be the first set of wolf puppies that the Olympic Game Farm has received in several years. President Robert Beebe says animal arrivals are not too common at the game farm, but it is even rarer to receive predatory babies.
The puppies are coming to the game farm from a nonprofit animal refuge sanctuary in Anacortes.
Beebe will watch over the puppies before they are introduced the game farm's nine-member timber wolf pack.
Grace and Tonka will join their ranks after 30 days once they receive their first set of immunizations.
___
Information from: Peninsula Daily News, http://www.peninsuladailynews.com
- Updated
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Mark Balfe-Taylor donned a bud of marijuana as a pocket square as he and his new wife, Anna Balfe-Taylor, became married inside the supplier of one of Las Vegas' largest marijuana dispensaries.
Anna says she had to think about it when Mark asked her to marry him inside the marijuana-growing facility, but eventually supported it. She says it was a great idea, even though neither of them will be smoking Mark's pocket square.
The two were completely sober and say they plan to keep it that way. Getting married in a grow house was more about showing support for the way marijuana laws are moving forward in Nevada.
Mark says his father was once imprisoned because of a marijuana-related offense, so the issue has always hit home with him.
- Updated
SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (AP) — Authorities say a California man's plan to jump railroad tracks on his motorcycle ended in him being taken to a hospital in serious, but not life-threatening condition.
The Ventura County Star reports (http://bit.ly/2timPU3 ) a bystander filmed the event on Sunday, which was planned by the injured 22-year-old man.
Simi Valley police said the man was cited for a municipal code violation regarding off-road driving.
A similar incident occurred three months earlier when a 24-year-old from San Clemente was critically injured after attempting a similar stunt in the area.
___
Information from: Ventura County Star, http://venturacountystar.com
- Updated
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Boy Scout leader is dead and several scouts are injured following a crash in central Utah.
The Utah Highway Patrol says the 78-year-old leader was driving with another leader and five boys on Saturday when the camp trailer hitched to their sport-utility vehicle began to sway on Interstate 15.
Authorities say the Ford Excursion detached from the trailer and crashed near Scipio, rolling several times.
The driver was wearing a seatbelt, but suffered major injuries and died at the scene. One Boy Scout who wasn't wearing a seatbelt was thrown from the SUV and suffered minor injuries. The other leader was hospitalized with neck injuries. The other boys were all wearing seatbelts and had minor injuries.
The man's name was not immediately released.
More like this...
- By DON THOMPSON Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The number of hate crimes in California increased about 11 percent last year, the second consecutive double-digit increase, but the overall number still was a third lower total than a decade ago, the state's attorney general reported Monday. Blacks, Jews and gay men were among the most frequent targets.
There were 931 such crimes reported statewide in 2016, nearly 100 more than in 2015. That equated to about one for every 42,000 Californians.
By comparison, there were 1,426 hate crimes reported in 2007, when the state had about 3 million fewer people than the more than 39 million in 2016.
More than half the crimes reported last year were based on the victim's race or ethnicity. Hate crimes involving a victim's sexual orientation increased about 10 percent, to 207 last year, with about three-quarters of those targeting gay men.
Less than 20 percent were because of the victim's religion. Jews, not Muslims, were the most common targets even amid heated rhetoric by Donald Trump during the presidential campaign regarding potential terror threats from Muslims.
There are no statewide statistics on hate crimes in California since Trump took office in January.
"When someone commits a crime motivated by hate, it is not just an attack on one innocent person, but an attack on the entire state and our communities," Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement. "Words matter, and discriminatory rhetoric does not make us stronger but divides us and puts the safety of our communities at risk."
He noted that FBI reports show a nationwide increase in hate crimes. More than half of such crimes are not reported to police, he said, while pledging to work with law enforcement to prosecute those responsible.
Racially motivated attacks spurred much of the overall increase last year. They increased more than 20 percent, from 428 in 2015 to 519 last year. Those targeting whites increased from 34 to 56; those against blacks from 231 to 251.
The reports are submitted to the attorney general's office by California law enforcement agencies and district attorneys' offices.
Nearly two-thirds of all the hate crimes reported last year were violent, while the rest were property crimes.
About 40 percent of crimes categorized as violent involved intimidation and 30 percent simple assault. About a quarter were aggravated assaults. Ninety percent of the property crimes involved vandalism.
More than 300 hate crime cases were forwarded to county prosecutors last year, and they filed charges in 220 of them. Of the cases completed by year's end, more than 80 percent resulted in convictions.
JEROME, Idaho (AP) — A former lieutenant with the Jerome County Sheriff's Office is facing a felony charge on accusations he took money intended for undercover drug buys.
Former Lt. Dan Kennedy, who has since resigned, was charged mid-June with misappropriation of public funds, The Times-News reported (http://bit.ly/2szcrtY ). If convicted, Kennedy could face a sentence of one to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
Kennedy is accused of taking $2,722 from a small safe at the sheriff's office.
Deputies were moving items from the old sheriff's office to the new one when the money was discovered missing.
Power County Chief Deputy Sheriff Max Sprague wrote to the court that Kennedy told the sheriff there was no money in the safe because he had returned it to the county auditor's office on Feb. 9, 2016. Bingham County Detective Mark Phillips said the treasurer's office told him they had never received any money from Kennedy.
Kennedy's lawyer, Brad Calbo, declined to comment in detail, saying it is too early in the case. His client will plead not guilty to all charges, Calbo said.
The Power County Prosecuting Attorney's Office is handling the case because of Kennedy's connection to prosecutors in Jerome.
___
Information from: The Times-News, http://www.magicvalley.com
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Authorities say an armed man was fatally shot by police after seizing a helicopter near Portland, Oregon.
Hillsboro police Lt. Henry Reimann said the man jumped a fence Monday to get into Hillsboro Airport and then approached a flight instructor and student who were inside a helicopter. The man ordered them to get out, firing at least one round during the incident.
Reimann says the man got into the helicopter, which was running, but officers arrived before he could take off.
The man ran into a field, where a Hillsboro officer fatally shot him.
The man has not been identified. No other injuries have been reported.
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — The father of a University of Colorado student who was shot and killed by police two years ago has sued, arguing that city police shot their son needlessly and have a "culture of excessive force."
Twenty-two-year-old Samuel Forgy was shot by officers in July of 2015. He was outside his apartment naked, having threatened his roommates while high on LSD. The roommates who called police told dispatchers that Forgy was on drugs and acting erratically.
Police said Forgy was threatening them with a hammer. One officer shot a non-lethal Taser gun at the student but missed. Officer Dillon Garretson shot Forgy four times with a real gun. Garretson was cleared of wrongdoing.
Forgy's father sued Monday, seeking unspecified damages and increased training for the Boulder Police Department.
HILDALE, Utah (AP) — Utah health authorities said there are six cases connected to an E.coli outbreak that killed two children in a mostly-polygamous community on the Utah-Arizona border.
Southwest Utah Public Health Department spokesman David Heaton said Monday the four non-fatal cases are a combination of children and adults but he didn't have the exact breakdown. He declined to release their conditions due to privacy concerns but says they've all received medical care.
Heaton says investigators don't think the town's water supply is the cause. He says the outbreak may be linked to contaminated food or exposure to animals.
Heaton declined to give the ages of the children who died or say if they are related.
The sister towns of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona, are home to a polygamous group known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
DEVILS TOWER, Wyo. (AP) — The number of people who climb an unusual rock formation in northeast Wyoming during June is on the rise despite the concerns of American Indian tribes who hold the place sacred.
Devils Tower is nearly 900 feet tall from base to summit. Devils Tower National Monument was the first U.S. national monument and many know the volcanic feature for its role in the 1977 film "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."
Devils Tower is a popular target for climbers but also culturally significant to at least 25 tribes in the region. In the mid-1990s, climbers, the tribes and National Park Service officials agreed to a compromise that put the tower voluntarily off-limits to climbing during June.
The number of people climbing Devils Tower in June fell from 1,200 to just 167 in June 1995. Lately the number is back up, reaching 373 in June 2016, Wyoming Public Radio reported (http://bit.ly/2sbn6Xi).
A steady increase in June climbing over the past five years isn't tied to the growing number of people visiting Devils Tower, monument superintendent Tim Reid said.
"It's safe to say that largely, the bulk of June climbing is done by relatively local or regional climbers who for whatever reasons find it personally acceptable to climb in June," Reid said.
It's painful when climbers ignore the closure, said Waylon Black Crow Sr. as he chaperoned Lakota youth from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
"We see them climbing up there," said Black Crow. "And all we can do is watch."
Recent June climbers included commercial guide and lodge owner Frank Sanders, who said he knew not everyone agreed with his decision to climb then.
"The tower's not for one person, or one group of people, or one month, or one day, or one week," said Sanders. "It's for all of us."
___
Information from: KUWR-FM, http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/wpr/
- By KATIE FRANKOWICZ DAILY ASTORIAN
ASTORIA, Ore. (AP) — To release an Oregon silverspot butterfly caterpillar, biologist Anne Walker takes it out of a little Tupperware container and sets it gently on its preferred food, the spade-shaped leaves of the early blue violet.
It's not as precarious as it sounds.
"They're very adapted to their environment," said Walker, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and a silverspot expert. "They hide."
She's seen released caterpillars dive down and seemingly disappear in moments. Somewhere down there, she knows, they are starting to munch on the first of the roughly 200 violet leaves they will each need to eat to survive to adulthood.
This is the end point of a process called "augmentation" — an ongoing effort to reintroduce the threatened silverspot butterfly by releasing caterpillars at specific sites across the state.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently announced it will release hundreds of caterpillars at two new sites this summer and next: the Nestucca Bay National Wildlife Refuge in southern Tillamook County and the Saddle Mountain area in central Clatsop County.
The small reddish-orange butterflies with their distinctive silver spots were once found on coastal grasslands from Northern California to southern Washington, but development, changes to the forest and invasive weeds and grasses reduced the silverspots' preferred habitat.
The decline is linked primarily to a lack of early blue violets, normally the only plant on which the Oregon silverspot can successfully feed and develop as larva, according to Fish and Wildlife.
These plants are crucial throughout a silverspot's life cycle. Their presence stimulates the female butterflies to lay eggs in the first place. Later, young caterpillars feast on the leaves.
By 1980, the butterflies had vanished from at least 11 different localities. That same year, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the Oregon silverspot as a threatened species.
No one has ever documented a silverspot at the Nestucca Bay site, but this area is within the butterfly's historical range, according to Fish and Wildlife. Why silverspots abandoned Saddle Mountain is mystery. The violets are still there, and thriving. The butterflies are not. They haven't been seen there since the 1970s.
Nestucca will be the first of the two sites to get this new influx of caterpillars. Next summer, it will be Saddle Mountain's turn. If these sites are successful, as biologists expect they will be, they will bring the overall population that much closer to recovery. Currently, silverspots are established at five sites; the ultimate recovery goal is 10 self-sustaining populations.
The caterpillars that biologists, such as Walker, will release this summer come from labs at Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo and Portland's Oregon Zoo.
Scientists collect female butterflies from the large wild population at Mount Hebo in Tillamook County's Siuslaw National Forest and bring them to labs at the zoos. Here technicians coax the females into laying eggs. When larvae hatch from these eggs, they are so small you could put them next to a penny and they wouldn't even be as long as Abraham Lincoln's beard, Walker said. By the time they are released, however, the caterpillars are about an inch long.
Adapted to the environment, biologists are optimistic that caterpillars at Saddle Mountain and Nestucca will succeed, but they also know not all the caterpillars will live long enough to become adult butterflies.
"We don't expect them all to survive," Walker said. But, she added, "Probably one of their functions within the ecosystem is to be food for other things."
Biologists expect to release approximately 3,000 caterpillars this summer; most will go to the Nestucca restoration site. Some will seed established sites and the rest will go back to areas where their mothers were collected.
___
Information from: The Daily Astorian, http://www.dailyastorian.com
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — A 73-year-old woman escaped serious injury when she apparently mistook her gas pedal for the brake and drove her car into the swimming pool at the Cheyenne Mountain Resort in Colorado.
Colorado Springs police say the woman was leaving the resort at about 7:30 a.m. Monday when her car went up a hill and through a fence before landing in the pool.
Officers tell KKTV-TV (bit.ly/2uipDR2) that three bystanders helped the woman from the vehicle. No one was in the pool at the time.
The woman was able to talk with officers when they arrived. She did not suffer any serious injuries, but was taken to the hospital.
Police say she likely will be cited for careless driving.
The station reports the pool will have to be drained before the car can be removed.
___
Information from: KKTV-TV, http://www.kktv.com/
ASTORIA, Ore. (AP) — The Maritime Archaeological Society plans to resume searching for the centuries-old Beeswax shipwreck.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reports (https://is.gd/xwDXHv ) the wreck is named for the lumps of beeswax that have been found scattered along the Oregon coast for the past two centuries. It is believed to be from a Spanish ship that wrecked in the late 1600s.
A training period will begin in early July. A team of about a dozen people initially will scan the coast between Cape Falcon and Manzanita.
Using an Astoria-based charter boat, the team will use sonar to find the wreck and a magnetometer, designed to locate steel and iron used in the ship.
To help fund the search, the Preserving Oregon Grant program is providing $6,600 from the state Parks and Recreation Department.
___
Information from: The Oregonian/OregonLive, http://www.oregonlive.com
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Oregonians have spent decades blaming Californians for increased traffic and other problems.
But rarely does the frustration go beyond words.
On Sunday, however, Preston Page and Jessica Faraday awoke to find messages such as "Go back to California" spray-painted across the front of their house and car.
Page tells The Oregonian/OregonLive (http://bit.ly/2titsph ) they moved to Portland from Southern California in February and most people have been fantastic.
He believes the vandalism stemmed from an incident Saturday, when he dropped Faraday off in front of their house. The street outside the home is narrow, and a vehicle coming along behind their Prius couldn't get past.
The impatient driver exchanged words with Page. After noticing the out-of-state license plate, he barked at them to go back to California.
___
Information from: The Oregonian/OregonLive, http://www.oregonlive.com
SEQUIM, Wash. (AP) — A Sequim wolf pack is expecting two timber wolf puppies to join their family.
The Peninsula Daily News reports (http://bit.ly/2sz0UKW ) the brother-sister duo, named Grace and Tonka, will be the first set of wolf puppies that the Olympic Game Farm has received in several years. President Robert Beebe says animal arrivals are not too common at the game farm, but it is even rarer to receive predatory babies.
The puppies are coming to the game farm from a nonprofit animal refuge sanctuary in Anacortes.
Beebe will watch over the puppies before they are introduced the game farm's nine-member timber wolf pack.
Grace and Tonka will join their ranks after 30 days once they receive their first set of immunizations.
___
Information from: Peninsula Daily News, http://www.peninsuladailynews.com
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Mark Balfe-Taylor donned a bud of marijuana as a pocket square as he and his new wife, Anna Balfe-Taylor, became married inside the supplier of one of Las Vegas' largest marijuana dispensaries.
Anna says she had to think about it when Mark asked her to marry him inside the marijuana-growing facility, but eventually supported it. She says it was a great idea, even though neither of them will be smoking Mark's pocket square.
The two were completely sober and say they plan to keep it that way. Getting married in a grow house was more about showing support for the way marijuana laws are moving forward in Nevada.
Mark says his father was once imprisoned because of a marijuana-related offense, so the issue has always hit home with him.
SIMI VALLEY, Calif. (AP) — Authorities say a California man's plan to jump railroad tracks on his motorcycle ended in him being taken to a hospital in serious, but not life-threatening condition.
The Ventura County Star reports (http://bit.ly/2timPU3 ) a bystander filmed the event on Sunday, which was planned by the injured 22-year-old man.
Simi Valley police said the man was cited for a municipal code violation regarding off-road driving.
A similar incident occurred three months earlier when a 24-year-old from San Clemente was critically injured after attempting a similar stunt in the area.
___
Information from: Ventura County Star, http://venturacountystar.com
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Boy Scout leader is dead and several scouts are injured following a crash in central Utah.
The Utah Highway Patrol says the 78-year-old leader was driving with another leader and five boys on Saturday when the camp trailer hitched to their sport-utility vehicle began to sway on Interstate 15.
Authorities say the Ford Excursion detached from the trailer and crashed near Scipio, rolling several times.
The driver was wearing a seatbelt, but suffered major injuries and died at the scene. One Boy Scout who wasn't wearing a seatbelt was thrown from the SUV and suffered minor injuries. The other leader was hospitalized with neck injuries. The other boys were all wearing seatbelts and had minor injuries.
The man's name was not immediately released.
Tucson's newest Shake Shack gets neighbors
