Stored body parts; consensual sex ads; hungry pigs attack lawns
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Odd and interesting news from around the West.
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TULAROSA, N.M. (AP) โ New Mexico residents living near the site of the first atomic bomb have held their annual demonstration as visitors caravanned into the Trinity Test Site for a tour.
The Alamogordo Daily News reports (https://goo.gl/nvNkt0) Tularosa Basin Downwinders protested Saturday as caravanners enter the site that is opened twice a year to visitors.
The group says the 1945 Trinity Test irreparably altered the gene pools of residents in surrounding communities such as the historic Hispanic village of Tularosa. Members say descendants have been plagued with cancer and other illnesses.
The Downwinders are currently lobbying for compensation and apologies from the U.S. government.
On July 16, 1945, scientists from the then-secret city of Los Alamos successfully exploded the first atomic bomb at the Trinity Site. Similar bombs were later dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
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Information from: Alamogordo Daily News, http://www.alamogordonews.com
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ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) โ Authorities say a hunter has shot and killed a brown bear after it attacked his hunting partner on Chichagof Island in southeast Alaska.
KTUU-TV reports (http://bit.ly/2dkqMUH ) that Alaska State troopers say 36-year-old Anthony Lindoff, of Juneau, and 30-year-old Josh Dybdahl, of Hoonah, had been deer hunting near Neka Bay on Saturday when the brown bear charged them.
The female bear then pinned Dybdahl on the ground and butted him. Troopers say Lindoff had been able to get his rifle out and shoot the animal, which died.
The two men contacted the U.S. Coast Guard and were taken to a hospital.
Dybdahl suffered injuries that were not life- threatening.
Troopers say the attack likely occurred as a result of the bear being startled.
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Information from: KTUU-TV, http://www.ktuu.com
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SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) โ Wild pigs are eating front yards in at least one San Jose neighborhood.
KNTV reports (http://bit.ly/2dMprSp) the pigs strike in the middle of the night, digging up front laws in the Evergreen neighborhood in South San Jose.
Resident Rod Murchison says there are about 20 wild boars that have destroyed more than half a dozen lawns in the neighborhood over the past week.
Some pigs have also eaten geranium plants.
Residents say they believe the pigs are coming from nearby ranchland.
One resident put up a device that shines a red light, simulating a pig predator, hoping it will be enough to keep the hungry grub hunters away.
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Information from: KNTV-TV.
- HILARY CORRIGAN The Bulletin
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POWELL BUTTE, Ore. (AP) โ Not long after she turns 11 later this month, Powell Butte resident Molly Gaynor could sing for a rock concert-sized crowd.
Her mom, Yvette Gaynor, wonders how such a big voice can come out of such a tiny body. She suspects Molly gets it from her dad, Alec Gaynor, who she says sounds just like George Strait when he sings.
"It's got to come from him," Yvette said, emphasizing that it's not from her.
Molly started singing for church at age 5 or 6.
"And we thought, little ones aren't supposed to carry a tune that well," Yvette said, noting how Molly projects, loud, from deep down.
The 10-year-old has since sung at various rodeos and a couple of other events.
"We realized, 'Wow, she's pretty good at it,'" Alec said. "She went out in front of 2,500 people and just belted it out at 6 years old."
Molly's now a finalist โ along with two other children under the age of 12 โ to sing the national anthem at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas in December. The 10-day rodeo features 120 contestants each night in seven events. It draws tens of thousands of people, plus a large TV-viewing crowd. It marks the culmination of the year's rodeos, and Alec likens it to the Super Bowl of rodeo.
"It's kind of a big deal," Alec said. "It's pretty cool."
The anthem singing competition now relies on fans' online voting, and anyone can vote through Thursday for contestants in child and adult categories. A YouTube video of Molly, taken during the July 4 St. Paul, Oregon, rodeo, shows the plaid-shirted, blue-jeaned 10-year-old in cowboy boots and hat singing the anthem in a strong, clear voice while standing in a dirt arena as a horse and rider circle with an American flag.
Molly's parents submitted the video that has advanced this far in the competition thanks to votes from online fans and selection by a panel of judges.
Molly, who turns 11 on Oct. 10, says she loves singing the anthem.
"I always want to keep doing it because it makes people happy," she said.
But this is the first time the family has entered a big competition like this. Otherwise, Molly leads a regular 10-year-old's life on a 100-acre ranch in Powell Butte.
She helps tend the family's animals โ 45 cows, 32 calves, three horses, a bunch of chickens, four dogs, three cats, two rabbits, a guinea pig, two goats, one miniature pony and some catfish in a pond. Over the weekend, she helped vaccinate and wean the calves, sorting them from their moms and putting them in a holding pen where they get one vaccine up the nose and two others as injections in their sides.
She does children's rodeo events and has reached a personal record of 16 seconds for goat tying โ but she touts the faster speed of her younger sister, Mattie. She won a red ribbon for market and a blue ribbon for showmanship with her steer, Steve, during a 4-H Club event at the Crook County Fair over the summer. Steve ate the blue ribbon.
She's thinking she wants to be a veterinarian and a singer. She likes all music except jazz, prompting her dad to guess that her jazz-loving grandfather was rolling in his grave. She leans toward country, pop and Disney songs, along with singers like Meghan Trainor, Taylor Swift and Miranda Lambert.
Alec likes the idea of someone from the tiny community of Powell Butte winning the national anthem event.
"A local ranch girl that has a chance to go big," he said. "She's the real deal."
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The Bulletin: http://www.bendbulletin.com
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SEATTLE (AP) โ Seattle's giant drilling machine has passed the halfway mark as it digs beneath the city to complete a new highway tunnel.
The Washington Department of Transportation said Monday that the drill known as Bertha has passed the Pike Place Market, moving beyond the halfway point on the nearly 2-mile tunnel of the Highway 99 project.
The $2.1 billion tunnel to replace the earthquake-damaged Alaskan Way Viaduct was supposed to open in late 2015, but the boring machine broke down and the project hit other snags.
State transportation officials estimate the four-lane tunnel will be completed by late 2018 and would open to traffic in early 2019 after crews connect the tunnel to existing roadways.
The viaduct carries about 100,000 vehicles along Seattle's waterfront each day.
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Information from: The Seattle Times, http://www.seattletimes.com
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ATHENA, Ore. (AP) โ Evangelist Luis Palau travels around the world and attracts millions with his preaching.
The East Oregonian reported Monday (http://bit.ly/2dn0Zrq) that Palau will speak to a considerably smaller audience this month in the tiny Oregon town of Athena.
Palau -- who was born in Argentina -- is scheduled to speak on Oct. 15 at an 800-seat high school gym after a BMX bike demonstration.
The town of Athena is in Umatilla County in rural northeastern Oregon and has a population of just over 1,100 people.
Athena famer Bob Johns says he has been pestering Palau to visit for years.
The free event is sponsored by the churches of Athena, Helix, Weston and Adams and the Luis Palau Association.
- By KIMBERLY CAUVEL Skagit Valley Herald
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ANACORTES, Wash. (AP) โ An invasion has begun in Padilla Bay, with European green crabs infiltrating the mudflats and settling in among native shore crabs.
Green crabs are an invasive species that flourishes in a variety of habitats, enabling it to crowd out other wildlife.
Four green crabs have been found and removed from the area. The first was found by chance, and this week three others were lured out through a trapping effort.
Each of the green crabs was found in a different spot along about 7 miles of shoreline โ from the northeast part of the bay to the southernmost trapping site.
"While I am pleased that the crabs are not more abundant, it's somewhat concerning that they are distributed so broadly," University of Washington research scientist P. Sean McDonald said.
Experts expect the crabs are coming from a nearby, concentrated population. This means the crabs are likely to continue making their way to Padilla Bay.
"One crab doesn't scare me. Two crabs really isn't that bad. What's scary is large numbers of crabs coming in and settling broadly throughout Puget Sound," McDonald said.
McDonald is involved with the university's research institute, Washington Sea Grant, which coordinates European green crab monitoring with the state Department of Fish & Wildlife.
Fish & Wildlife, Washington Sea Grant and the Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve collaborated in the search this week for the crabs. The search came on the heels of the discovery of the first green crab in the bay a week earlier.
Reserve staff, volunteers trained through Washington Sea Grant's Crab Team and others have been on the lookout for European green crabs for several years, ever since the species settled along the state's coast and along Vancouver Island.
In some places the green crabs have impacted shellfish populations and uprooted eelgrass, which is important habitat for other crabs and fish in Padilla Bay.
"When there are a lot of (green) crabs in a confined space eating everything they can get their claws on, they can reduce the number of clams and worms and things like that in the sediment, and that reduces the food available for other species," McDonald said.
It's uncertain how the crabs will impact the Padilla Bay ecosystem. That will depend largely on how many there are and how well they do in the existing habitat.
"There's concern about how it's going to change the habitat ... and the whole ecosystem," Padilla Bay reserve research coordinator Jude Apple said.
Now that they're here, the work is just beginning for the reserve, Washington Sea Grant and Fish & Wildlife. The organizations are discussing what to do next, including more monitoring and trapping efforts.
"It's a really tragic but exciting opportunity for us to be at ground zero," Apple said. "We are set up to monitor and investigate a potential invasion."
As a national reserve, Padilla Bay is protected for research purposes, with water quality and eelgrass beds monitored closely.
Apple said the reserve will coordinate with Fish & Wildlife and Washington Sea Grant to plan increased, long-term monitoring for green crabs in the bay in order to track population changes and the impact the crabs have on the bay.
McDonald said additional trapping may be used to remove the crabs.
"Right now the population is very small. It's just getting off the ground so anything we can do to reduce the numbers is really important," he said. "The fewer crabs there are the less likely they are to find mates, and then they are less likely to reproduce."
Meanwhile, the crabs found in the bay may provide more insight in the lab, where researchers can determine whether the crabs have mated and potentially reproduced.
The Padilla Bay search was arranged after reserve education coordinator Glen "Alex" Alexander found a green crab while leading a class in the mudflats on Sept. 19.
"I turned over a rock and I saw the mud moving ... so I knew there was a crab there and I grabbed it and pulled it out," Alexander said. "The first thing I noticed was that it had surprisingly long and thin legs ... It was noticeably different than anything I had ever seen."
The reserve confirmed it was a European green crab and reported the find to Fish & Wildlife and Washington Sea Grant.
The news came just as a team of researchers and wildlife managers was wrapping up a search for the green crabs in San Juan Island's Westcott Bay, where the first confirmed green crab in the state's inland waters was found in August.
There the surveyors found one discarded shell from a green crab.
"We were relieved to find very little evidence of a larger population of invasive European green crab in Westcott Bay," Washington Sea Grant's Emily Grason said in a news release. "But finding an additional crab at a site more than 30 miles away suggests that ongoing vigilance is critical across all Puget Sound shorelines."
The surveyors set 192 traps at 31 sites in Padilla Bay this week to get a better idea of how many of the crabs are out there.
Over the next two days, three teams went to various sites where the traps were set. As they trudged through the mud to each trap, the hope was that they would find no more green crabs.
"This one looks pretty empty, which is a good thing," said Washington Sea Grant marine ecologist Jeff Adams, as he opened one of about a dozen traps at one of the survey sites. "If we find more than one, there's more of a chance that they are breeding, or could be."
While only three green crabs were caught during the three-day search this week, the fact that they're here at all is problematic.
"Having that first detection shows there are pathways bringing them in, which is a major concern because we've never seen that before," said Fish & Wildlife's Allen Pleus, who leads the agency's aquatic invasive species unit.
Because the green crabs caught this week are roughly the same size, they are believed to be the same age, and possibly the first of their species in Padilla Bay.
"That means there is a population that is supplying these larvae, and that means we have to keep an eye out and monitor for additional crabs to be showing up," McDonald said.
His best guess is that the green crabs were larvae from the population that is on the south side of Vancouver Island, and that they were carried into Padilla Bay by the currents.
While European green crab populations are also established in coastal areas such as Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor โ and larvae can be unknowingly transported by boats or shellfish shipments โ Fish & Wildlife's Pleus said it's more likely those in Padilla Bay came from the north.
Regardless of where they came from, it's impossible to cordon off Padilla Bay and keep them out. McDonald said that's why it's important to continue watching for green crabs in the bay and removing them in an effort to limit population growth.
"It's kind of like a ding in your windshield. One ding is not a problem, but if you don't deal with it and it spreads it becomes a big problem," he said.
McDonald said early detection can help prevent damage to the state's marine habitats.
"Once volunteers or the public raise the alarm, a trapping effort can be initiated. The situations in Westcott Bay and Padilla Bay are excellent examples of how an early detection and rapid response program should operate," he said.
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Information from: Skagit Valley Herald, http://www.skagitvalleyherald.com
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HELENA, Mont. (AP) โ Lewis and Clark County is trying to figure out what to do with dozens of decades-old body parts still stored on county property after their longtime coroner died.
The Helena Independent Record reports (http://bit.ly/2dpu70R ) that county officials are calling for a financial audit in the wake of Coroner M.E. "Mickey" Nelson's Sept. 11 and asking that uncatalogued items be dealt with as deputy coroner Bryan Backeberg takes over.
Nelson was coroner for 42 years before his death. He had been criticized for falling behind on finalizing death certificates and for being disorganized.
Now the county is looking at whether to move human remains dating back to the 1980s to an independent party for storage so Backeberg can have a "clean slate."
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Information from: Independent Record, http://www.helenair.com
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LAS VEGAS, N.M. (AP) โ A famous northern New Mexico landmark where a newspaper publisher shot a judge and a highway official during the 1920s is being sold.
The Las Vegas Optic reports (https://goo.gl/KQa33d) the owners of the Prohibition-era El Fidel Hotel in Las Vegas, New Mexico are selling the building in an online auction.
Two years after it opened, the hotel then called The Meadows made headlines as the site of a shooting involving Las Vegas Judge David Leahy and Carl Magee, founder of the now-defunct Albuquerque Tribune.
Leahy attacked Magee in the hotel's lobby over Magee's coverage of political corruption. Magee drew a revolver and shot Leahy and killed a State Highway Department official.
Magee was acquitted of manslaughter.
The Spanish Colonial Revival-style hotel is on the National Register of Historic Places.
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Information from: Las Vegas Optic, http://www.lasvegasoptic.com
- By MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press
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BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) โ U.S. wildlife officials say greater protections are needed for two rare aquatic insects in Glacier National Park as climate change melts their icy habitat.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Monday proposed adding the western glacier stonefly and the meltwater lednian stonefly to the government's list of threatened species.
The stoneflies live in streams fed by cold water from glaciers in northwest Montana.
Those glaciers are predicted to largely disappear by 2030, in part due to climate change. Researchers say the stoneflies also could disappear.
It's uncertain what measures could be taken to preserve the insects. There have been preliminary discussions among biologists about raising stoneflies in laboratories and seeding different streams with them.
But those streams also could dry up as climate change drives global temperatures higher.
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LOGAN, Utah (AP) โ Utah State University is posting ads around campus designed to inform students about exactly what consensual sex is.
The Herald Journal reports (http://bit.ly/2dMOJQd) that the ads say consent is "enthusiastic, sober, verbal, non-coerced and mutual," and adds that harassment includes sending explicit text messages or videos without consent.
USU spokesman Tim Vitale says administrators want students to see the message often during the 10-week campaign. The ads have been posted on university shuttle buses and elsewhere on campus.
The campaign comes after a series of sexual assault cases at USU, including two where fraternity brothers pleaded guilty to separate criminal charges.
An ex-USU football player was also cut by the Atlanta Falcons after they found out Utah authorities had investigated four allegations of sexual assault against him. He has not been arrested or charged.
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Information from: The Herald Journal, http://www.hjnews.com
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Two former Tucson TV personalities have been sentenced to a year of probation and suspended 30-day jail terms on endangerment convictions after tests showed traces of cocaine in their baby.
Krystin Rae Lisaius and husband Somchai Lisaius were sentenced Monday in Pima County Superior Court after pleading guilty Aug 31.
They could have been sentenced to up to two years in prison or probation.
Police say the then-4-month-old baby was taken to a hospital on May 15 after being breastfed and appearing to be in distress. Tests revealed there was cocaine in the babyโs body, and police learned the couple had had a party the night before.
Charges of child abuse and drug possession were dropped under a plea agreement.
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PEORIA, Ariz. (AP) โ A young couple babysitting the man's 5-month-old nephew told investigators they forgot they'd left him in their car for about four hours after dropping off his mother at work, police said Monday.
The boy was pronounced dead at a hospital where he was taken after the couple retrieved him from the car left Sunday in an unshaded parking spot, police said in a probable cause statement.
Jose Garcia Jr., 18, and Monique Avila, 23, told police they forgot about the boy, who was in a car seat behind the driver's seat, after they returned from taking the boy's mother, Garcia's sister, to work late Sunday morning, the statement said.
When they went back to the car in the afternoon to pick up the mother, they discovered the unresponsive boy and took into the apartment, where they tried unsuccessfully to revive him by placing him in front of an air vent and by pouring cold water on him, police said in the statement.
Garcia and Avila were jailed on suspicion of child abuse. It wasn't clear whether they had attorneys who could comment on the allegations.
The probable-cause statement said police determined that outside temperatures rose from the mid 70s to the mid 80s between Sunday morning and afternoon when the boy was in the car and that the temperature inside the car about four hours after the boy died was over 100 degrees.
"Even with lower temperatures (Sunday), it's still possible for vehicles to get extremely hot," said Officer Brandon Sheffert, a police department spokesman.
The Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office will determine the cause of death.
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FRESNO, Calif. (AP) โ Authorities say three men have been arrested for attacking a California Highway Patrol vehicle and causing an estimated $12,000 in damage to it after the officer tried to stop a racer.
The officer, who has not been identified, was not injured.
The Fresno Bee reports (http://bit.ly/2cO2dcf) that police are searching for several other suspects, including the man responsible for smashing two of the vehicle's windows in the Sept. 25 incident.
Federico Gonzalez, 20, Gabriel Deanda, 18, and Milton Rodriguez, 29 have been arrested. It was not immediately known if the men have attorneys.
The California Highway Patrol officer had been patrolling the area outside downtown Fresno when he came across about 40 people surrounding a Chevrolet Tahoe doing doughnuts, Fresno police Lt. Mindy Casto said. The officer went to approach the SUV, but the driver sped off.
The officer returned to his vehicle to follow the driver when the crowd began damaging the patrol car, Castro said.
A motive for the attacks on the police vehicle are unclear.
"This kind of unruly behavior, which borders on animal, has to be addressed in our society or we will have a lawless society," Fresno police Chief Jerry Dyer said Friday. "And we need law and order in our society."
Dyer continued: "We know what the environment is across the nation today with protests, riots and police officers being attacked and a lot of the criticism that law enforcement faces. I believe this is the symptom of that. And there appears to be a willingness on the part of people to attack law enforcement."
Rodriguez, the racer, has a criminal history, including a prior conviction for reckless driving, the newspaper reported.
Gonzalez was arrested after his fingerprints were lifted from the CHP vehicle. He is a known Bulldog gang associate, Dyer told the newspaper.
Deanda, seen in a video kicking the patrol car, allegedly told investigators that he was upset at the CHP for towing his car. He is a known Bulldog gang member.
The incident comes at a time when tensions are high between law enforcement and communities across the country, from Charlotte in North Carolina, to Dallas and several cities in California.
In Fresno, the June shooting death of an unarmed 19-year-old man shot and killed by police also sparked demonstrations. Dylan Nobel's family has said that officers used excessive force when they opened fire and killed Noble. Officers stopped him in his pickup truck soon after getting a report of a man walking along a street with a rifle or shotgun.
Dyer has said officers believed Noble, who is white, was about to shoot them, but they later learned he was unarmed.
TULAROSA, N.M. (AP) โ New Mexico residents living near the site of the first atomic bomb have held their annual demonstration as visitors caravanned into the Trinity Test Site for a tour.
The Alamogordo Daily News reports (https://goo.gl/nvNkt0) Tularosa Basin Downwinders protested Saturday as caravanners enter the site that is opened twice a year to visitors.
The group says the 1945 Trinity Test irreparably altered the gene pools of residents in surrounding communities such as the historic Hispanic village of Tularosa. Members say descendants have been plagued with cancer and other illnesses.
The Downwinders are currently lobbying for compensation and apologies from the U.S. government.
On July 16, 1945, scientists from the then-secret city of Los Alamos successfully exploded the first atomic bomb at the Trinity Site. Similar bombs were later dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
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Information from: Alamogordo Daily News, http://www.alamogordonews.com
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) โ Authorities say a hunter has shot and killed a brown bear after it attacked his hunting partner on Chichagof Island in southeast Alaska.
KTUU-TV reports (http://bit.ly/2dkqMUH ) that Alaska State troopers say 36-year-old Anthony Lindoff, of Juneau, and 30-year-old Josh Dybdahl, of Hoonah, had been deer hunting near Neka Bay on Saturday when the brown bear charged them.
The female bear then pinned Dybdahl on the ground and butted him. Troopers say Lindoff had been able to get his rifle out and shoot the animal, which died.
The two men contacted the U.S. Coast Guard and were taken to a hospital.
Dybdahl suffered injuries that were not life- threatening.
Troopers say the attack likely occurred as a result of the bear being startled.
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Information from: KTUU-TV, http://www.ktuu.com
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) โ Wild pigs are eating front yards in at least one San Jose neighborhood.
KNTV reports (http://bit.ly/2dMprSp) the pigs strike in the middle of the night, digging up front laws in the Evergreen neighborhood in South San Jose.
Resident Rod Murchison says there are about 20 wild boars that have destroyed more than half a dozen lawns in the neighborhood over the past week.
Some pigs have also eaten geranium plants.
Residents say they believe the pigs are coming from nearby ranchland.
One resident put up a device that shines a red light, simulating a pig predator, hoping it will be enough to keep the hungry grub hunters away.
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Information from: KNTV-TV.
- HILARY CORRIGAN The Bulletin
POWELL BUTTE, Ore. (AP) โ Not long after she turns 11 later this month, Powell Butte resident Molly Gaynor could sing for a rock concert-sized crowd.
Her mom, Yvette Gaynor, wonders how such a big voice can come out of such a tiny body. She suspects Molly gets it from her dad, Alec Gaynor, who she says sounds just like George Strait when he sings.
"It's got to come from him," Yvette said, emphasizing that it's not from her.
Molly started singing for church at age 5 or 6.
"And we thought, little ones aren't supposed to carry a tune that well," Yvette said, noting how Molly projects, loud, from deep down.
The 10-year-old has since sung at various rodeos and a couple of other events.
"We realized, 'Wow, she's pretty good at it,'" Alec said. "She went out in front of 2,500 people and just belted it out at 6 years old."
Molly's now a finalist โ along with two other children under the age of 12 โ to sing the national anthem at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas in December. The 10-day rodeo features 120 contestants each night in seven events. It draws tens of thousands of people, plus a large TV-viewing crowd. It marks the culmination of the year's rodeos, and Alec likens it to the Super Bowl of rodeo.
"It's kind of a big deal," Alec said. "It's pretty cool."
The anthem singing competition now relies on fans' online voting, and anyone can vote through Thursday for contestants in child and adult categories. A YouTube video of Molly, taken during the July 4 St. Paul, Oregon, rodeo, shows the plaid-shirted, blue-jeaned 10-year-old in cowboy boots and hat singing the anthem in a strong, clear voice while standing in a dirt arena as a horse and rider circle with an American flag.
Molly's parents submitted the video that has advanced this far in the competition thanks to votes from online fans and selection by a panel of judges.
Molly, who turns 11 on Oct. 10, says she loves singing the anthem.
"I always want to keep doing it because it makes people happy," she said.
But this is the first time the family has entered a big competition like this. Otherwise, Molly leads a regular 10-year-old's life on a 100-acre ranch in Powell Butte.
She helps tend the family's animals โ 45 cows, 32 calves, three horses, a bunch of chickens, four dogs, three cats, two rabbits, a guinea pig, two goats, one miniature pony and some catfish in a pond. Over the weekend, she helped vaccinate and wean the calves, sorting them from their moms and putting them in a holding pen where they get one vaccine up the nose and two others as injections in their sides.
She does children's rodeo events and has reached a personal record of 16 seconds for goat tying โ but she touts the faster speed of her younger sister, Mattie. She won a red ribbon for market and a blue ribbon for showmanship with her steer, Steve, during a 4-H Club event at the Crook County Fair over the summer. Steve ate the blue ribbon.
She's thinking she wants to be a veterinarian and a singer. She likes all music except jazz, prompting her dad to guess that her jazz-loving grandfather was rolling in his grave. She leans toward country, pop and Disney songs, along with singers like Meghan Trainor, Taylor Swift and Miranda Lambert.
Alec likes the idea of someone from the tiny community of Powell Butte winning the national anthem event.
"A local ranch girl that has a chance to go big," he said. "She's the real deal."
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The Bulletin: http://www.bendbulletin.com
SEATTLE (AP) โ Seattle's giant drilling machine has passed the halfway mark as it digs beneath the city to complete a new highway tunnel.
The Washington Department of Transportation said Monday that the drill known as Bertha has passed the Pike Place Market, moving beyond the halfway point on the nearly 2-mile tunnel of the Highway 99 project.
The $2.1 billion tunnel to replace the earthquake-damaged Alaskan Way Viaduct was supposed to open in late 2015, but the boring machine broke down and the project hit other snags.
State transportation officials estimate the four-lane tunnel will be completed by late 2018 and would open to traffic in early 2019 after crews connect the tunnel to existing roadways.
The viaduct carries about 100,000 vehicles along Seattle's waterfront each day.
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Information from: The Seattle Times, http://www.seattletimes.com
ATHENA, Ore. (AP) โ Evangelist Luis Palau travels around the world and attracts millions with his preaching.
The East Oregonian reported Monday (http://bit.ly/2dn0Zrq) that Palau will speak to a considerably smaller audience this month in the tiny Oregon town of Athena.
Palau -- who was born in Argentina -- is scheduled to speak on Oct. 15 at an 800-seat high school gym after a BMX bike demonstration.
The town of Athena is in Umatilla County in rural northeastern Oregon and has a population of just over 1,100 people.
Athena famer Bob Johns says he has been pestering Palau to visit for years.
The free event is sponsored by the churches of Athena, Helix, Weston and Adams and the Luis Palau Association.
- By KIMBERLY CAUVEL Skagit Valley Herald
ANACORTES, Wash. (AP) โ An invasion has begun in Padilla Bay, with European green crabs infiltrating the mudflats and settling in among native shore crabs.
Green crabs are an invasive species that flourishes in a variety of habitats, enabling it to crowd out other wildlife.
Four green crabs have been found and removed from the area. The first was found by chance, and this week three others were lured out through a trapping effort.
Each of the green crabs was found in a different spot along about 7 miles of shoreline โ from the northeast part of the bay to the southernmost trapping site.
"While I am pleased that the crabs are not more abundant, it's somewhat concerning that they are distributed so broadly," University of Washington research scientist P. Sean McDonald said.
Experts expect the crabs are coming from a nearby, concentrated population. This means the crabs are likely to continue making their way to Padilla Bay.
"One crab doesn't scare me. Two crabs really isn't that bad. What's scary is large numbers of crabs coming in and settling broadly throughout Puget Sound," McDonald said.
McDonald is involved with the university's research institute, Washington Sea Grant, which coordinates European green crab monitoring with the state Department of Fish & Wildlife.
Fish & Wildlife, Washington Sea Grant and the Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve collaborated in the search this week for the crabs. The search came on the heels of the discovery of the first green crab in the bay a week earlier.
Reserve staff, volunteers trained through Washington Sea Grant's Crab Team and others have been on the lookout for European green crabs for several years, ever since the species settled along the state's coast and along Vancouver Island.
In some places the green crabs have impacted shellfish populations and uprooted eelgrass, which is important habitat for other crabs and fish in Padilla Bay.
"When there are a lot of (green) crabs in a confined space eating everything they can get their claws on, they can reduce the number of clams and worms and things like that in the sediment, and that reduces the food available for other species," McDonald said.
It's uncertain how the crabs will impact the Padilla Bay ecosystem. That will depend largely on how many there are and how well they do in the existing habitat.
"There's concern about how it's going to change the habitat ... and the whole ecosystem," Padilla Bay reserve research coordinator Jude Apple said.
Now that they're here, the work is just beginning for the reserve, Washington Sea Grant and Fish & Wildlife. The organizations are discussing what to do next, including more monitoring and trapping efforts.
"It's a really tragic but exciting opportunity for us to be at ground zero," Apple said. "We are set up to monitor and investigate a potential invasion."
As a national reserve, Padilla Bay is protected for research purposes, with water quality and eelgrass beds monitored closely.
Apple said the reserve will coordinate with Fish & Wildlife and Washington Sea Grant to plan increased, long-term monitoring for green crabs in the bay in order to track population changes and the impact the crabs have on the bay.
McDonald said additional trapping may be used to remove the crabs.
"Right now the population is very small. It's just getting off the ground so anything we can do to reduce the numbers is really important," he said. "The fewer crabs there are the less likely they are to find mates, and then they are less likely to reproduce."
Meanwhile, the crabs found in the bay may provide more insight in the lab, where researchers can determine whether the crabs have mated and potentially reproduced.
The Padilla Bay search was arranged after reserve education coordinator Glen "Alex" Alexander found a green crab while leading a class in the mudflats on Sept. 19.
"I turned over a rock and I saw the mud moving ... so I knew there was a crab there and I grabbed it and pulled it out," Alexander said. "The first thing I noticed was that it had surprisingly long and thin legs ... It was noticeably different than anything I had ever seen."
The reserve confirmed it was a European green crab and reported the find to Fish & Wildlife and Washington Sea Grant.
The news came just as a team of researchers and wildlife managers was wrapping up a search for the green crabs in San Juan Island's Westcott Bay, where the first confirmed green crab in the state's inland waters was found in August.
There the surveyors found one discarded shell from a green crab.
"We were relieved to find very little evidence of a larger population of invasive European green crab in Westcott Bay," Washington Sea Grant's Emily Grason said in a news release. "But finding an additional crab at a site more than 30 miles away suggests that ongoing vigilance is critical across all Puget Sound shorelines."
The surveyors set 192 traps at 31 sites in Padilla Bay this week to get a better idea of how many of the crabs are out there.
Over the next two days, three teams went to various sites where the traps were set. As they trudged through the mud to each trap, the hope was that they would find no more green crabs.
"This one looks pretty empty, which is a good thing," said Washington Sea Grant marine ecologist Jeff Adams, as he opened one of about a dozen traps at one of the survey sites. "If we find more than one, there's more of a chance that they are breeding, or could be."
While only three green crabs were caught during the three-day search this week, the fact that they're here at all is problematic.
"Having that first detection shows there are pathways bringing them in, which is a major concern because we've never seen that before," said Fish & Wildlife's Allen Pleus, who leads the agency's aquatic invasive species unit.
Because the green crabs caught this week are roughly the same size, they are believed to be the same age, and possibly the first of their species in Padilla Bay.
"That means there is a population that is supplying these larvae, and that means we have to keep an eye out and monitor for additional crabs to be showing up," McDonald said.
His best guess is that the green crabs were larvae from the population that is on the south side of Vancouver Island, and that they were carried into Padilla Bay by the currents.
While European green crab populations are also established in coastal areas such as Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor โ and larvae can be unknowingly transported by boats or shellfish shipments โ Fish & Wildlife's Pleus said it's more likely those in Padilla Bay came from the north.
Regardless of where they came from, it's impossible to cordon off Padilla Bay and keep them out. McDonald said that's why it's important to continue watching for green crabs in the bay and removing them in an effort to limit population growth.
"It's kind of like a ding in your windshield. One ding is not a problem, but if you don't deal with it and it spreads it becomes a big problem," he said.
McDonald said early detection can help prevent damage to the state's marine habitats.
"Once volunteers or the public raise the alarm, a trapping effort can be initiated. The situations in Westcott Bay and Padilla Bay are excellent examples of how an early detection and rapid response program should operate," he said.
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Information from: Skagit Valley Herald, http://www.skagitvalleyherald.com
HELENA, Mont. (AP) โ Lewis and Clark County is trying to figure out what to do with dozens of decades-old body parts still stored on county property after their longtime coroner died.
The Helena Independent Record reports (http://bit.ly/2dpu70R ) that county officials are calling for a financial audit in the wake of Coroner M.E. "Mickey" Nelson's Sept. 11 and asking that uncatalogued items be dealt with as deputy coroner Bryan Backeberg takes over.
Nelson was coroner for 42 years before his death. He had been criticized for falling behind on finalizing death certificates and for being disorganized.
Now the county is looking at whether to move human remains dating back to the 1980s to an independent party for storage so Backeberg can have a "clean slate."
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Information from: Independent Record, http://www.helenair.com
LAS VEGAS, N.M. (AP) โ A famous northern New Mexico landmark where a newspaper publisher shot a judge and a highway official during the 1920s is being sold.
The Las Vegas Optic reports (https://goo.gl/KQa33d) the owners of the Prohibition-era El Fidel Hotel in Las Vegas, New Mexico are selling the building in an online auction.
Two years after it opened, the hotel then called The Meadows made headlines as the site of a shooting involving Las Vegas Judge David Leahy and Carl Magee, founder of the now-defunct Albuquerque Tribune.
Leahy attacked Magee in the hotel's lobby over Magee's coverage of political corruption. Magee drew a revolver and shot Leahy and killed a State Highway Department official.
Magee was acquitted of manslaughter.
The Spanish Colonial Revival-style hotel is on the National Register of Historic Places.
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Information from: Las Vegas Optic, http://www.lasvegasoptic.com
- By MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) โ U.S. wildlife officials say greater protections are needed for two rare aquatic insects in Glacier National Park as climate change melts their icy habitat.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Monday proposed adding the western glacier stonefly and the meltwater lednian stonefly to the government's list of threatened species.
The stoneflies live in streams fed by cold water from glaciers in northwest Montana.
Those glaciers are predicted to largely disappear by 2030, in part due to climate change. Researchers say the stoneflies also could disappear.
It's uncertain what measures could be taken to preserve the insects. There have been preliminary discussions among biologists about raising stoneflies in laboratories and seeding different streams with them.
But those streams also could dry up as climate change drives global temperatures higher.
LOGAN, Utah (AP) โ Utah State University is posting ads around campus designed to inform students about exactly what consensual sex is.
The Herald Journal reports (http://bit.ly/2dMOJQd) that the ads say consent is "enthusiastic, sober, verbal, non-coerced and mutual," and adds that harassment includes sending explicit text messages or videos without consent.
USU spokesman Tim Vitale says administrators want students to see the message often during the 10-week campaign. The ads have been posted on university shuttle buses and elsewhere on campus.
The campaign comes after a series of sexual assault cases at USU, including two where fraternity brothers pleaded guilty to separate criminal charges.
An ex-USU football player was also cut by the Atlanta Falcons after they found out Utah authorities had investigated four allegations of sexual assault against him. He has not been arrested or charged.
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Information from: The Herald Journal, http://www.hjnews.com
Two former Tucson TV personalities have been sentenced to a year of probation and suspended 30-day jail terms on endangerment convictions after tests showed traces of cocaine in their baby.
Krystin Rae Lisaius and husband Somchai Lisaius were sentenced Monday in Pima County Superior Court after pleading guilty Aug 31.
They could have been sentenced to up to two years in prison or probation.
Police say the then-4-month-old baby was taken to a hospital on May 15 after being breastfed and appearing to be in distress. Tests revealed there was cocaine in the babyโs body, and police learned the couple had had a party the night before.
Charges of child abuse and drug possession were dropped under a plea agreement.
PEORIA, Ariz. (AP) โ A young couple babysitting the man's 5-month-old nephew told investigators they forgot they'd left him in their car for about four hours after dropping off his mother at work, police said Monday.
The boy was pronounced dead at a hospital where he was taken after the couple retrieved him from the car left Sunday in an unshaded parking spot, police said in a probable cause statement.
Jose Garcia Jr., 18, and Monique Avila, 23, told police they forgot about the boy, who was in a car seat behind the driver's seat, after they returned from taking the boy's mother, Garcia's sister, to work late Sunday morning, the statement said.
When they went back to the car in the afternoon to pick up the mother, they discovered the unresponsive boy and took into the apartment, where they tried unsuccessfully to revive him by placing him in front of an air vent and by pouring cold water on him, police said in the statement.
Garcia and Avila were jailed on suspicion of child abuse. It wasn't clear whether they had attorneys who could comment on the allegations.
The probable-cause statement said police determined that outside temperatures rose from the mid 70s to the mid 80s between Sunday morning and afternoon when the boy was in the car and that the temperature inside the car about four hours after the boy died was over 100 degrees.
"Even with lower temperatures (Sunday), it's still possible for vehicles to get extremely hot," said Officer Brandon Sheffert, a police department spokesman.
The Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office will determine the cause of death.
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) โ Authorities say three men have been arrested for attacking a California Highway Patrol vehicle and causing an estimated $12,000 in damage to it after the officer tried to stop a racer.
The officer, who has not been identified, was not injured.
The Fresno Bee reports (http://bit.ly/2cO2dcf) that police are searching for several other suspects, including the man responsible for smashing two of the vehicle's windows in the Sept. 25 incident.
Federico Gonzalez, 20, Gabriel Deanda, 18, and Milton Rodriguez, 29 have been arrested. It was not immediately known if the men have attorneys.
The California Highway Patrol officer had been patrolling the area outside downtown Fresno when he came across about 40 people surrounding a Chevrolet Tahoe doing doughnuts, Fresno police Lt. Mindy Casto said. The officer went to approach the SUV, but the driver sped off.
The officer returned to his vehicle to follow the driver when the crowd began damaging the patrol car, Castro said.
A motive for the attacks on the police vehicle are unclear.
"This kind of unruly behavior, which borders on animal, has to be addressed in our society or we will have a lawless society," Fresno police Chief Jerry Dyer said Friday. "And we need law and order in our society."
Dyer continued: "We know what the environment is across the nation today with protests, riots and police officers being attacked and a lot of the criticism that law enforcement faces. I believe this is the symptom of that. And there appears to be a willingness on the part of people to attack law enforcement."
Rodriguez, the racer, has a criminal history, including a prior conviction for reckless driving, the newspaper reported.
Gonzalez was arrested after his fingerprints were lifted from the CHP vehicle. He is a known Bulldog gang associate, Dyer told the newspaper.
Deanda, seen in a video kicking the patrol car, allegedly told investigators that he was upset at the CHP for towing his car. He is a known Bulldog gang member.
The incident comes at a time when tensions are high between law enforcement and communities across the country, from Charlotte in North Carolina, to Dallas and several cities in California.
In Fresno, the June shooting death of an unarmed 19-year-old man shot and killed by police also sparked demonstrations. Dylan Nobel's family has said that officers used excessive force when they opened fire and killed Noble. Officers stopped him in his pickup truck soon after getting a report of a man walking along a street with a rifle or shotgun.
Dyer has said officers believed Noble, who is white, was about to shoot them, but they later learned he was unarmed.
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