Gender-neutral licenses; sinkhole rescue; Silverstone bares it for PETA
- Updated
Odd and interesting news from around the West.
- Updated
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The nearly complete fossilized remains of a tyrannosaur found two years ago in southern Utah's Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument were airlifted to the Natural History Museum of Utah in Salt Lake City on Sunday.
The 75 million-year-old Teratophoneus was covered in plaster and flown by helicopter in pieces Sunday to the Salt Lake City museum, where paleontologists will spend several years removing rock from the fossil.
The Salt Lake Tribune reports the Teratophoneus lived several million years earlier than its relative, the T. rex. Paleontologists believe the dinosaur was about 12 feet tall and lived several million years before the T.rex.
The remains appear to be 80 percent complete. Most dinosaur remains are only 20 to 30 percent complete, making the discovery rare, museum paleontology lab manager Tylor Birthisel told the Deseret News.
Grand Staircase paleontologist Alan Titus discovered the fossils in the monument's Kaiparowits Formation, a thick layer of sandstone that also has vast coal reserves.
The fossils should help advance dinosaur research because they were found in the position in which the creature died, said Randy Irmis, the museum's paleontology curator.
"It looks like we have the entire skull and most of the body," Irmis told the Tribune. "The back part of tail is missing and a few toes. We don't know yet if the arms are there."
The species has only been found in Grand Staircase, which is about 250 miles south of Salt Lake City near the Arizona border.
The monument, created in 1996, is one of four national monuments in in the West that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has recommended be reduced in size, potentially opening hundreds of thousands of acres to mining and logging. President Donald Trump has yet to make public a decision on the recommendations.
- Updated
DENVER (AP) — Twenty five people are accused of stealing over $35,000 in goods from Denver area home improvement stores and returning the items to get merchandise credit cards.
The Denver District Attorney's Office said Monday that a grand jury indicted the members of the alleged theft ring last week after a months-long investigation.
Prosecutors say the credit cards were sold for cash which was used pay ring members — either in cash or drugs. Two of the defendants, including the alleged ringleader, were under supervision in other cases and their electronic monitoring devices allegedly placed them at the targeted Home Depot and Lowe's stores.
Prosecutors say the ringleader provided room and board for members, bonded them out of jail and then compelled them to keep working until they could pay off the bond amount.
- By JONATHAN J. COOPER Associated Press
- Updated
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Gov. Jerry Brown signed a measure allowing Californians to identify their gender as "non-binary" on driver's licenses if they don't identify solely as male or female, the latest effort by California to ease barriers for LGBT people.
The bill signed late Sunday was among the last of 977 bills that Brown acted on just before a deadline Sunday night.
At the same time, the Democratic governor vetoed three bills that looked to advance protections for women and signed a measure that could allow for a boost in public parks.
With Brown's signature on SB179, California joins Oregon in allowing a gender-neutral option on driver's licenses and state identification cards. The legislation also makes it easier for people to change their name and gender on other official documents such as birth certificates.
The Democratic governor also signed a separate measure that allows people in prison to ask a court for a name or gender change.
"I have dear friends in San Diego and around the state who have been waiting a long time for this," said Sen. Toni Atkins, a San Diego Democrat who wrote both bills.
Amid a growing national conversation about gender identity, California has banned unnecessary travel by state employees doing government work to states deemed hostile to LGBT people and has expanded gender-neutral bathrooms. In response to litigation, the state prison system has paid for an inmate's gender reassignment surgery and adopted policies allowing cosmetics, bras and personal items corresponding to an inmate's gender identity.
Meanwhile, Brown vetoed several bills that sought to expand rights of women at work and school. One would have guaranteed at least six weeks of full pay for teachers and other school employees who need to take pregnancy-related leaves of absence.
Brown he previously signed other legislation allowing extra pay for teachers who have children and believes further expanding paid leave should be a subject of collective bargaining agreements between unions and school administrators.
He also blocked a bill that would have prohibited churches, religious schools and other religious organizations from firing or disciplining employees for having an abortion, using birth control or receiving in vitro fertilization. Brown said nonreligious employers have long been barred from taking such actions, and the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing should handle any disputes.
In addition, Brown vetoed a measure that sought to codify guidelines from the Obama administration about campus sexual assault. Some of the guidelines have been rolled back by President Donald Trump's education secretary, Betsy DeVos.
Brown said California has recently taken strong actions to strengthen sexual assault guidelines on college campuses, including a "yes means yes" policy that requires affirmative consent for sexual activity, and he wants to better understand the full impact of those changes.
"We may need more statutory requirements than what this bill contemplates. We may need fewer. Or still yet, we may simply need to fine tune what we have," Brown wrote in his veto message. "It is time to pause and survey the land."
Of the 977 bills approved by lawmakers this year, Brown signed 859, or 88 percent. The rest were vetoed.
- Updated
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Downtown Eugene's ban on dogs will come to an end Nov. 1.
Eugene city councilors are letting their ban on dogs in the city center expire.Several city councilors who voted for the ban in April said they intended for it to be temporary, The Register-Guard reported .
The downtown dog ban was one of numerous initiatives the city launched to try to make the area safer and more welcoming. City councilors had heard concerns about people downtown being frightened by aggressive dogs.
Eugene police said they have not compiled how many citations they issued to violators or how many other contacts they had downtown with dog owners.
City councilors would need at least two public votes, plus a public notice and a public hearing, before they could reinstate the ban.
For years, homeless people and others who congregate downtown have brought dogs with them. Critics said the ban was aimed at excluding such people from the downtown, a claim supporters denied.
Councilor Alan Zelenka said the city's initiatives improved the atmosphere downtown and attracted more people to public spaces they previously avoided, including the Park Blocks and Broadway Plaza.
"We took a lot of heat for instituting (the dog ban), but I think the results speak for themselves," he said.
Zelenka said he may reconsider his stance if people resume bringing dogs into the downtown and cause problems.
___
Information from: The Register-Guard, http://www.registerguard.com
- Updated
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Portland drivers are seeing a lot of Alicia Silverstone.
The vegan actress who starred in "Clueless" appears naked in a new billboard that's gone up on busy West Burnside Street. Sponsored by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, it shows Silverstone turned slightly away from the viewer, holding a sheep mask near her exposed bottom.
The billboard that has also appeared in New York reads: "I'd rather go naked than wear wool. Wear your own skin. Let animals keep theirs."
Silverstone said in a statement released by PETA on Monday that she ditched wool because sheep are cut during the shearing process. The organization says Silverstone is among a list of celebrities who have bared it all to promote kinder wardrobe choices.
- Updated
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Wildlife officials say one or more poachers illegally shot eight mule deer in eastern Montana with a type of ammunition used for small game that likely caused the animals to suffer considerably.
Fish, Wildlife and Parks Warden Todd Tryan said in a statement Monday that one of the animals, a fawn, was found injured but still alive and had to be put down.
The animals were shot with a shotgun loaded with shells typically used to hunt pheasants.
They were found by a local resident Sunday morning in northern McCone County, where the dead deer were scattered along a two-mile stretch of road 528.
Officials are asking for the public's help in identifying those responsible and offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to a conviction.
- Updated
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A Wyoming wild horse roundup continues after a judge declined to stop it during a lawsuit.
As of Sunday, U.S. Bureau of Land Management contract workers had rounded up 1,367 adult horses and 350 foals. The BLM plans to round up 1,560 adults plus the foals of gathered mares in three areas in southwestern Wyoming.
The lawsuit questions how the government counts the horses. The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign and two photographers claim the roundup can't exceed 1,560 horses of all ages.
The horse advocates asked U.S. District Judge Nancy Freudenthal to stop the roundup while their lawsuit moves ahead. Freudenthal ruled Friday the roundup may continue.
BLM officials say they're pleased. Horse advocates say they're disappointed but point out Freudenthal has yet to rule on the counting method.
- Updated
SEATAC, Wash. (AP) — The SeaTac City Council approved payment of $4.25 million to a Seattle couple after a judge found the city had engaged in misrepresentation, inverse condemnation and interference with business expectancy when it orchestrated a secret land grab to wrestle a piece of prime real estate from the couple more than a decade ago.
The Seattle Times reports council members, in a vote last Tuesday, authorized the payment to Gerry and Kathy Kingen. The couple, who owns K&S Development, sued the city and was awarded more than $18 million in damages, legal fees and interest last year, a number that has since swelled to $22 million as interest has continued to accrue.
The $4.25 million is the city's share of a $13 million settlement agreement. The rest will come from insurance.
___
Information from: The Seattle Times, http://www.seattletimes.com
- Updated
NAMPA, Idaho (AP) — Officials with Northwest Nazarene University have announced the school is dropping the Crusaders as its team name and mascot.
The Idaho Press-Tribune reports that NNU President Joel Pearsall informed students Monday that the university's teams would now be the Nighthawks.
According to NNU, the change comes after students, community members and alumni raised concerns about the history of violence and destruction associated with crusaders.
The university formed a task force last year to determine a new mascot for the private school.
NNU officials say the mascot change is effective immediately, but the crusader mascot will remain on trophies and banners part of the campus' historical displays.
___
Information from: Idaho Press-Tribune, http://www.idahopress.com
- Updated
CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — A Wyoming woman will serve four years of probation for giving a marijuana gummy to her daughter.
The Casper Star-Tribune reports Vanessa Smith was sentenced Friday after pleading guilty in July to delivery of marijuana to a minor and child endangerment with methamphetamine, both felonies.
Smith was sentenced to four to five years imprisonment on the two felonies, with those sentences suspended. If she successfully completes probation, she won't have to go to prison.
Court documents say police alleged Smith returned from Colorado with marijuana edibles from a dispensary. After noticing Smith's daughter seemed out of sorts, Smith's sister asked about the child. Smith's boyfriend told the sister Smith had given the girl a marijuana gummy "to calm (the child) down.
Smith initially pleaded not guilty.
___
Information from: Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune, http://www.trib.com
- By MATT KEMP Associated Press
- Updated
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Honeymoons: a chance to relax after the stress of a wedding by sitting on a beach with a cocktail and contemplating the start of a happy, married life.
Or, in my case, a chance to travel to America and meet a baker.
I am addicted to bread. Growing up in the United Kingdom — where the staple diet is laced with carbs and gluten - bread really is daily. And I am hooked.
In 2012, I went from avid consumer to obsessive creator thanks to a bread-making course at a cottage deep in the English countryside. Nights out with friends have been canceled, weekend trips away postponed, as I became a slave to sourdough.
So, while Fiji was at the top of my bride's romantic getaway list, my mind went immediately to San Francisco. The Bay Area has a long history of making sourdough bread and it's now home to a plethora of sourdough bakeries. I also dreamed of meeting Chad Robertson, the man behind the city's highly acclaimed Tartine Bakery.
Fiji would have to wait. After our wedding, we embarked on a 5,300-mile trip to California. Despite jet lag, Kate and I headed straight to the city's oldest sourdough producers, Boudin Bakery near Fisherman's Wharf.
To make sourdough, flour and water are left to ferment for long enough that a natural leaven is created, allowing the baker to dispense with shop-bought yeast altogether. Legend, and Boudin's onsite museum, trace the company's mother dough, still used in each loaf, back to the California Gold Rush era.
The sheer scale of Boudin's operation is impressive. But while there's great pleasure in tearing the arm off a sourdough teddy bear, the scale is more industrial than artisanal with a flavor to match. This is not the dough I was looking for.
Next up, a trip to the Ferry Building Marketplace and an outpost of the Acme Bread Company. Founded in 1983, Acme is a major player in the city, providing bread to dozens of restaurants and grocery stores across the Bay Area. With a depth of flavor and a beautiful, blistered crust, the sourdough round I sampled was, to my palate, a step up from Boudin's.
Stop three: Tartine Manufactory, a light, airy space in the Mission District where the tangy, welcoming smell of sourdough invades your senses as you enter. It's bread nirvana.
As we arrived, the Manufactory was a hive of activity with Robertson, who is recognized as one of the world's leading bakers, front and center, pulling crackling, burnished loaves from an enormous deck oven (a type of commercial oven with shelves) as his team buzzed around him.
While my short-suffering wife settled down with a beer and a grilled cheese-and-zucchini sandwich, I indulged myself, watching the process I'd pored over in Robertson's 2010 book "Tartine Bread." I'd arranged for a chat with him and started off by asking if my pilgrimage was unique.
"No, no. A lot of people come," said the soft-spoken Texan with a smile. "I'm always just hoping it's a good bread day when they show up! Every day there's new people. People definitely come from all over and I love it. It's pressure. I just always hope that we are living up to people's expectations. It's not a bad thing. It's just a constant challenge."
With an estimated 3 million Americans suffering from celiac disease, one of Tartine's other challenges is catering for the one in 133 people who are allergic to gluten.
However, as Robertson - whose wife, Tartine co-founder Elisabeth Prueitt, is gluten-intolerant - is quick to point out, there's a difference between being a celiac and avoiding gluten as a lifestyle choice.
"Americans in particular are always trying to find a silver bullet - like 'Oh this is the problem' and they've found that that gluten intolerance is not the problem," he says. "Gluten-free has as much junk food as regular conventional crackers."
The economics of the gluten-free market aren't lost on Robertson either: "It's big business, so once the cereal companies see that this this a growing segment that they can produce food for, then it just keeps rolling on."
Tartine is also teaming up with pizza guru Chris Bianco for a new venture in Los Angeles, with plans under way for a New York outlet too. It's a long way from Robertson's humble beginnings, spending years in front of a wood-fired oven in West Marin in "a solitary trance" trying to perfect his ideal bread.
As my baking hero headed back to his deck oven, I walked outside with a country loaf under my arm and immediately broke through its shattering crust to reveal the pearlescent, still warm crumb inside. It's a revelation - moist and irresistible, with a complexity of flavor that changes daily during our remaining time in San Francisco.
It's the sourdough that dreams, and honeymoons, are made of.
- Updated
YORBA LINDA, Calif. (AP) — Authorities say a fire at a suspected California cannabis honey-oil lab injured a man and sent fireworks shooting into the surrounding neighborhood, causing the Orange County Sheriff's Department to deploy its bomb squad to the scene.
The Orange County Register reports Orange County firefighters responded to a call Sunday afternoon in Yorba Linda and discovered a backyard shed on fire.
Bottle rockets began shooting out of the shed and into neighboring properties, causing the Orange County Fire Authority to call a helicopter to survey the neighborhood for small spot fires that might spread.
Responders transported a 40-year-old man with injuries to a local burn center.
Investigators did not immediately know the cause of the fire but suspected the shed had been used as a lab to manufacture butane honey oil.
___
Information from: The Orange County Register, http://www.ocregister.com
- Updated
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) — Authorities say a 75-year-old California man was rescued after falling into a sinkhole.
The San Bernardino Sun reports the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department says neighbors, sheriff's deputies and Apple Valley firefighters rescued Dennis Love on Sunday after the ground became unstable around the faulty septic system that authorities say caused the sinkhole.
The sheriff's news release says dirt, rocks and debris fell onto Love, and at one point an emergency medical technician fell into the hole and was pulled to safety by a deputy who caught his belt.
Authorities say Love, who lives in Apple Valley, called for help when he fell in and two neighbors came to his aid. They couldn't pull him out, but were able to keep his head above water.
___
Information from: The Sun, http://www.sbsun.com
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The nearly complete fossilized remains of a tyrannosaur found two years ago in southern Utah's Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument were airlifted to the Natural History Museum of Utah in Salt Lake City on Sunday.
The 75 million-year-old Teratophoneus was covered in plaster and flown by helicopter in pieces Sunday to the Salt Lake City museum, where paleontologists will spend several years removing rock from the fossil.
The Salt Lake Tribune reports the Teratophoneus lived several million years earlier than its relative, the T. rex. Paleontologists believe the dinosaur was about 12 feet tall and lived several million years before the T.rex.
The remains appear to be 80 percent complete. Most dinosaur remains are only 20 to 30 percent complete, making the discovery rare, museum paleontology lab manager Tylor Birthisel told the Deseret News.
Grand Staircase paleontologist Alan Titus discovered the fossils in the monument's Kaiparowits Formation, a thick layer of sandstone that also has vast coal reserves.
The fossils should help advance dinosaur research because they were found in the position in which the creature died, said Randy Irmis, the museum's paleontology curator.
"It looks like we have the entire skull and most of the body," Irmis told the Tribune. "The back part of tail is missing and a few toes. We don't know yet if the arms are there."
The species has only been found in Grand Staircase, which is about 250 miles south of Salt Lake City near the Arizona border.
The monument, created in 1996, is one of four national monuments in in the West that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has recommended be reduced in size, potentially opening hundreds of thousands of acres to mining and logging. President Donald Trump has yet to make public a decision on the recommendations.
DENVER (AP) — Twenty five people are accused of stealing over $35,000 in goods from Denver area home improvement stores and returning the items to get merchandise credit cards.
The Denver District Attorney's Office said Monday that a grand jury indicted the members of the alleged theft ring last week after a months-long investigation.
Prosecutors say the credit cards were sold for cash which was used pay ring members — either in cash or drugs. Two of the defendants, including the alleged ringleader, were under supervision in other cases and their electronic monitoring devices allegedly placed them at the targeted Home Depot and Lowe's stores.
Prosecutors say the ringleader provided room and board for members, bonded them out of jail and then compelled them to keep working until they could pay off the bond amount.
- By JONATHAN J. COOPER Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Gov. Jerry Brown signed a measure allowing Californians to identify their gender as "non-binary" on driver's licenses if they don't identify solely as male or female, the latest effort by California to ease barriers for LGBT people.
The bill signed late Sunday was among the last of 977 bills that Brown acted on just before a deadline Sunday night.
At the same time, the Democratic governor vetoed three bills that looked to advance protections for women and signed a measure that could allow for a boost in public parks.
With Brown's signature on SB179, California joins Oregon in allowing a gender-neutral option on driver's licenses and state identification cards. The legislation also makes it easier for people to change their name and gender on other official documents such as birth certificates.
The Democratic governor also signed a separate measure that allows people in prison to ask a court for a name or gender change.
"I have dear friends in San Diego and around the state who have been waiting a long time for this," said Sen. Toni Atkins, a San Diego Democrat who wrote both bills.
Amid a growing national conversation about gender identity, California has banned unnecessary travel by state employees doing government work to states deemed hostile to LGBT people and has expanded gender-neutral bathrooms. In response to litigation, the state prison system has paid for an inmate's gender reassignment surgery and adopted policies allowing cosmetics, bras and personal items corresponding to an inmate's gender identity.
Meanwhile, Brown vetoed several bills that sought to expand rights of women at work and school. One would have guaranteed at least six weeks of full pay for teachers and other school employees who need to take pregnancy-related leaves of absence.
Brown he previously signed other legislation allowing extra pay for teachers who have children and believes further expanding paid leave should be a subject of collective bargaining agreements between unions and school administrators.
He also blocked a bill that would have prohibited churches, religious schools and other religious organizations from firing or disciplining employees for having an abortion, using birth control or receiving in vitro fertilization. Brown said nonreligious employers have long been barred from taking such actions, and the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing should handle any disputes.
In addition, Brown vetoed a measure that sought to codify guidelines from the Obama administration about campus sexual assault. Some of the guidelines have been rolled back by President Donald Trump's education secretary, Betsy DeVos.
Brown said California has recently taken strong actions to strengthen sexual assault guidelines on college campuses, including a "yes means yes" policy that requires affirmative consent for sexual activity, and he wants to better understand the full impact of those changes.
"We may need more statutory requirements than what this bill contemplates. We may need fewer. Or still yet, we may simply need to fine tune what we have," Brown wrote in his veto message. "It is time to pause and survey the land."
Of the 977 bills approved by lawmakers this year, Brown signed 859, or 88 percent. The rest were vetoed.
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Downtown Eugene's ban on dogs will come to an end Nov. 1.
Eugene city councilors are letting their ban on dogs in the city center expire.Several city councilors who voted for the ban in April said they intended for it to be temporary, The Register-Guard reported .
The downtown dog ban was one of numerous initiatives the city launched to try to make the area safer and more welcoming. City councilors had heard concerns about people downtown being frightened by aggressive dogs.
Eugene police said they have not compiled how many citations they issued to violators or how many other contacts they had downtown with dog owners.
City councilors would need at least two public votes, plus a public notice and a public hearing, before they could reinstate the ban.
For years, homeless people and others who congregate downtown have brought dogs with them. Critics said the ban was aimed at excluding such people from the downtown, a claim supporters denied.
Councilor Alan Zelenka said the city's initiatives improved the atmosphere downtown and attracted more people to public spaces they previously avoided, including the Park Blocks and Broadway Plaza.
"We took a lot of heat for instituting (the dog ban), but I think the results speak for themselves," he said.
Zelenka said he may reconsider his stance if people resume bringing dogs into the downtown and cause problems.
___
Information from: The Register-Guard, http://www.registerguard.com
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Portland drivers are seeing a lot of Alicia Silverstone.
The vegan actress who starred in "Clueless" appears naked in a new billboard that's gone up on busy West Burnside Street. Sponsored by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, it shows Silverstone turned slightly away from the viewer, holding a sheep mask near her exposed bottom.
The billboard that has also appeared in New York reads: "I'd rather go naked than wear wool. Wear your own skin. Let animals keep theirs."
Silverstone said in a statement released by PETA on Monday that she ditched wool because sheep are cut during the shearing process. The organization says Silverstone is among a list of celebrities who have bared it all to promote kinder wardrobe choices.
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Wildlife officials say one or more poachers illegally shot eight mule deer in eastern Montana with a type of ammunition used for small game that likely caused the animals to suffer considerably.
Fish, Wildlife and Parks Warden Todd Tryan said in a statement Monday that one of the animals, a fawn, was found injured but still alive and had to be put down.
The animals were shot with a shotgun loaded with shells typically used to hunt pheasants.
They were found by a local resident Sunday morning in northern McCone County, where the dead deer were scattered along a two-mile stretch of road 528.
Officials are asking for the public's help in identifying those responsible and offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to a conviction.
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A Wyoming wild horse roundup continues after a judge declined to stop it during a lawsuit.
As of Sunday, U.S. Bureau of Land Management contract workers had rounded up 1,367 adult horses and 350 foals. The BLM plans to round up 1,560 adults plus the foals of gathered mares in three areas in southwestern Wyoming.
The lawsuit questions how the government counts the horses. The American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign and two photographers claim the roundup can't exceed 1,560 horses of all ages.
The horse advocates asked U.S. District Judge Nancy Freudenthal to stop the roundup while their lawsuit moves ahead. Freudenthal ruled Friday the roundup may continue.
BLM officials say they're pleased. Horse advocates say they're disappointed but point out Freudenthal has yet to rule on the counting method.
SEATAC, Wash. (AP) — The SeaTac City Council approved payment of $4.25 million to a Seattle couple after a judge found the city had engaged in misrepresentation, inverse condemnation and interference with business expectancy when it orchestrated a secret land grab to wrestle a piece of prime real estate from the couple more than a decade ago.
The Seattle Times reports council members, in a vote last Tuesday, authorized the payment to Gerry and Kathy Kingen. The couple, who owns K&S Development, sued the city and was awarded more than $18 million in damages, legal fees and interest last year, a number that has since swelled to $22 million as interest has continued to accrue.
The $4.25 million is the city's share of a $13 million settlement agreement. The rest will come from insurance.
___
Information from: The Seattle Times, http://www.seattletimes.com
NAMPA, Idaho (AP) — Officials with Northwest Nazarene University have announced the school is dropping the Crusaders as its team name and mascot.
The Idaho Press-Tribune reports that NNU President Joel Pearsall informed students Monday that the university's teams would now be the Nighthawks.
According to NNU, the change comes after students, community members and alumni raised concerns about the history of violence and destruction associated with crusaders.
The university formed a task force last year to determine a new mascot for the private school.
NNU officials say the mascot change is effective immediately, but the crusader mascot will remain on trophies and banners part of the campus' historical displays.
___
Information from: Idaho Press-Tribune, http://www.idahopress.com
CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — A Wyoming woman will serve four years of probation for giving a marijuana gummy to her daughter.
The Casper Star-Tribune reports Vanessa Smith was sentenced Friday after pleading guilty in July to delivery of marijuana to a minor and child endangerment with methamphetamine, both felonies.
Smith was sentenced to four to five years imprisonment on the two felonies, with those sentences suspended. If she successfully completes probation, she won't have to go to prison.
Court documents say police alleged Smith returned from Colorado with marijuana edibles from a dispensary. After noticing Smith's daughter seemed out of sorts, Smith's sister asked about the child. Smith's boyfriend told the sister Smith had given the girl a marijuana gummy "to calm (the child) down.
Smith initially pleaded not guilty.
___
Information from: Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune, http://www.trib.com
- By MATT KEMP Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Honeymoons: a chance to relax after the stress of a wedding by sitting on a beach with a cocktail and contemplating the start of a happy, married life.
Or, in my case, a chance to travel to America and meet a baker.
I am addicted to bread. Growing up in the United Kingdom — where the staple diet is laced with carbs and gluten - bread really is daily. And I am hooked.
In 2012, I went from avid consumer to obsessive creator thanks to a bread-making course at a cottage deep in the English countryside. Nights out with friends have been canceled, weekend trips away postponed, as I became a slave to sourdough.
So, while Fiji was at the top of my bride's romantic getaway list, my mind went immediately to San Francisco. The Bay Area has a long history of making sourdough bread and it's now home to a plethora of sourdough bakeries. I also dreamed of meeting Chad Robertson, the man behind the city's highly acclaimed Tartine Bakery.
Fiji would have to wait. After our wedding, we embarked on a 5,300-mile trip to California. Despite jet lag, Kate and I headed straight to the city's oldest sourdough producers, Boudin Bakery near Fisherman's Wharf.
To make sourdough, flour and water are left to ferment for long enough that a natural leaven is created, allowing the baker to dispense with shop-bought yeast altogether. Legend, and Boudin's onsite museum, trace the company's mother dough, still used in each loaf, back to the California Gold Rush era.
The sheer scale of Boudin's operation is impressive. But while there's great pleasure in tearing the arm off a sourdough teddy bear, the scale is more industrial than artisanal with a flavor to match. This is not the dough I was looking for.
Next up, a trip to the Ferry Building Marketplace and an outpost of the Acme Bread Company. Founded in 1983, Acme is a major player in the city, providing bread to dozens of restaurants and grocery stores across the Bay Area. With a depth of flavor and a beautiful, blistered crust, the sourdough round I sampled was, to my palate, a step up from Boudin's.
Stop three: Tartine Manufactory, a light, airy space in the Mission District where the tangy, welcoming smell of sourdough invades your senses as you enter. It's bread nirvana.
As we arrived, the Manufactory was a hive of activity with Robertson, who is recognized as one of the world's leading bakers, front and center, pulling crackling, burnished loaves from an enormous deck oven (a type of commercial oven with shelves) as his team buzzed around him.
While my short-suffering wife settled down with a beer and a grilled cheese-and-zucchini sandwich, I indulged myself, watching the process I'd pored over in Robertson's 2010 book "Tartine Bread." I'd arranged for a chat with him and started off by asking if my pilgrimage was unique.
"No, no. A lot of people come," said the soft-spoken Texan with a smile. "I'm always just hoping it's a good bread day when they show up! Every day there's new people. People definitely come from all over and I love it. It's pressure. I just always hope that we are living up to people's expectations. It's not a bad thing. It's just a constant challenge."
With an estimated 3 million Americans suffering from celiac disease, one of Tartine's other challenges is catering for the one in 133 people who are allergic to gluten.
However, as Robertson - whose wife, Tartine co-founder Elisabeth Prueitt, is gluten-intolerant - is quick to point out, there's a difference between being a celiac and avoiding gluten as a lifestyle choice.
"Americans in particular are always trying to find a silver bullet - like 'Oh this is the problem' and they've found that that gluten intolerance is not the problem," he says. "Gluten-free has as much junk food as regular conventional crackers."
The economics of the gluten-free market aren't lost on Robertson either: "It's big business, so once the cereal companies see that this this a growing segment that they can produce food for, then it just keeps rolling on."
Tartine is also teaming up with pizza guru Chris Bianco for a new venture in Los Angeles, with plans under way for a New York outlet too. It's a long way from Robertson's humble beginnings, spending years in front of a wood-fired oven in West Marin in "a solitary trance" trying to perfect his ideal bread.
As my baking hero headed back to his deck oven, I walked outside with a country loaf under my arm and immediately broke through its shattering crust to reveal the pearlescent, still warm crumb inside. It's a revelation - moist and irresistible, with a complexity of flavor that changes daily during our remaining time in San Francisco.
It's the sourdough that dreams, and honeymoons, are made of.
YORBA LINDA, Calif. (AP) — Authorities say a fire at a suspected California cannabis honey-oil lab injured a man and sent fireworks shooting into the surrounding neighborhood, causing the Orange County Sheriff's Department to deploy its bomb squad to the scene.
The Orange County Register reports Orange County firefighters responded to a call Sunday afternoon in Yorba Linda and discovered a backyard shed on fire.
Bottle rockets began shooting out of the shed and into neighboring properties, causing the Orange County Fire Authority to call a helicopter to survey the neighborhood for small spot fires that might spread.
Responders transported a 40-year-old man with injuries to a local burn center.
Investigators did not immediately know the cause of the fire but suspected the shed had been used as a lab to manufacture butane honey oil.
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Information from: The Orange County Register, http://www.ocregister.com
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) — Authorities say a 75-year-old California man was rescued after falling into a sinkhole.
The San Bernardino Sun reports the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department says neighbors, sheriff's deputies and Apple Valley firefighters rescued Dennis Love on Sunday after the ground became unstable around the faulty septic system that authorities say caused the sinkhole.
The sheriff's news release says dirt, rocks and debris fell onto Love, and at one point an emergency medical technician fell into the hole and was pulled to safety by a deputy who caught his belt.
Authorities say Love, who lives in Apple Valley, called for help when he fell in and two neighbors came to his aid. They couldn't pull him out, but were able to keep his head above water.
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Information from: The Sun, http://www.sbsun.com
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