Corn maze masher; $1.8M mastectomy suit; baby funeral scam
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Odd and interesting news from around the West.
- By RACHEL D'ORO and MARK THIESSEN Associated Press
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ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Cycling. Baseball. Track. Horse racing. Now dogsledding has become the latest professional sport to be engulfed in a doping scandal, this one involving the huskies that dash across the frozen landscape in Alaska's grueling, 1,000-mile Iditarod.
The governing board of the world's most famous sled dog race disclosed Monday that four dogs belonging to four-time Iditarod champion Dallas Seavey tested positive for a banned substance, the opioid painkiller tramadol, after his second-place finish last March.
It was the first time since the race instituted drug testing in 1994 that a test came back positive.
Seavey strongly denied giving any banned substances to his dogs, suggesting instead that he may have been the victim of sabotage by another musher or an animal rights activist. He accused the Iditarod of lax security at dog food drop-off points and other spots.
Race officials said he will not be punished because they were unable to prove he acted intentionally. That means he will keep his titles and his $59,000 in winnings this year.
But the finding was another blow to the Iditarod, which has seen the loss of major sponsors, numerous dog deaths, attacks on competitors and pressure from animal rights activists, who say huskies are run to death or left with severe infections and bloody paws.
Jeanne Olson, an Alaska veterinarian who treats sled dogs, sees no benefit in administering tramadol during a race because it causes drowsiness. Olson, who was the head veterinarian in the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race in the 1990s, prescribes it mostly for profound pain relief.
"But I also caution that the dogs are going to become sedated from it," she said. "So when I first heard ... that it was tramadol as the drug, I thought, 'Well, that's surprising. Why would anybody use that?'"
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals seized on the scandal Tuesday, saying, it's "further proof that this race needs to end."
Fern Levitt, director of the documentary "Sled Dogs," an expose on the treatment of the huskies, said, "The race is all about winning and getting to the finish line despite the inhumane treatment towards the dogs."
Frank Teasley, founder and executive director of Wyoming's Stage Stop Sled Dog Race, said the controversy is a shame but doesn't believe it will be a permanent stain on the sport. Teasley has participated in eight Iditarods and knows many of the top contenders, including Seavey, saying he believes the musher was sabotaged.
"When you're dealing with animals, doping anything is not acceptable. But I do not believe that Dallas did this," he said. "I've known him since he was, like, 8 years old. It's not in his nature."
Seavey won the annual Anchorage-to-Nome trek in 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016 and has had nine straight top 10 finishes. He finished second this year to his father, Mitch, who collected a first-place prize of $71,250.
Dogs are subject to random testing before and during the race, and the first 20 teams to cross the finish line are all automatically tested.
"I did not give a drug to my dog. I've never used a banned substance in the race," the 30-year-old Seavey said in an interview.
He said tramadol is not used at his kennel, and it is "incredibly unlikely" it was accidentally administered by anyone on his team.
Instead, he complained of inadequate security at checkpoints along the route where dog food is dropped off weeks ahead of time and at the dog lot in Nome, where thousands of huskies are kept after the race before they are flown home.
"Unfortunately I do think another musher is an option," he said. He added: "There are also people who are not fans of mushing as a whole. They are numerous videos out that are trying to say mushing is a bad thing. And I can see somebody doing this to promote their agenda."
Seavey said whoever gave the drug to the dogs knew it would cause a positive test, and "that should make me and my people the least likely suspect."
Earlier this year, the Iditarod lost a major corporate backer, Wells Fargo, and race officials accused animal rights organizations of pressuring the bank and other sponsors with "manipulative information" about the treatment of the dogs.
Five dogs connected to this year's race died, bringing total deaths to more than 150 in the Iditarod's 44-year history, according to PETA's count. And last year, two mushers were attacked by a drunken man on a snowmobile in separate assaults near a remote village. One dog was killed and others were injured.
Seavey said he has withdrawn from next year's race in protest and expects the Iditarod Trail Committee to ban him anyway for speaking out. Mushers are prohibited from criticizing the race or sponsors.
Iditarod spokesman Chas St. George said a ban would be up to the committee's board of directors.
The committee decided to release Seavey's name after scores of competitors demanded it. Race officials initially refused, saying it was unlikely they could prove the competitor acted intentionally.
During this year's race, the rules on doping essentially said that to punish a musher, race officials had to provide proof of intent. The rules have since been changed to hold mushers liable for any positive drug test unless they can show something beyond their control happened.
Wade Marrs, president of the Iditarod Official Finishers Club, said he doesn't believe Seavey intentionally administered the drugs. He said he believes the musher has too much integrity and intelligence to do such a thing.
"I don't really know what to think at the moment," Marrs said. "It's a very touchy situation."
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Follow Rachel D'Oro at https://twitter.com/rdoro .
- By MICHELLE L. PRICE Associated Press
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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A state council studying Utah's new law setting the country's strictest DUI threshold is backing away from recommending any changes, despite Gov. Gary Herbert's wish to soften some penalties following a backlash from the state's hospitality and ski industry.
The state Substance Use and Mental Health Advisory Council voted unanimously to support the new 0.05 percent blood alcohol limit scheduled to take effect next year after learning that law enforcement officials and Gov. Gary Herbert's office disagree on how the state could soften penalties for those convicted of a DUI under the lower limit.
The stalemate makes it tougher for legislators and Herbert, who had hoped to make changes to the law in the wake of the backlash and concerns that the lower limit could target responsible drinkers after one alcoholic beverage.
The law lowering Utah's DUI blood alcohol limit to 0.05 percent from 0.08 percent created a political problem for leaders who worry the strict new limit exacerbates Utah's reputation as a Mormon-dominated state that's unfriendly to those who drink alcohol.
Herbert, a Republican, signed the law this spring but said he would call lawmakers into a special session to address unintended consequences. The governor said in September that he'd like to see a tiered punishment system, with lighter penalties for a DUI between 0.05 percent and 0.08 percent.
At Herbert's request, a committee of prosecutors, law enforcement and officials and others has been working since spring to draft possible changes to the law, which were presented Tuesday to the substance use council.
Paul Boyden, an attorney in the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office, said the DUI study committee that he helped lead suggested changing the law so that drivers with a 0.05 to 0.07 blood alcohol limit faced some lighter penalties — such as no mandatory jail time — than a full-fledged DUI.
But the penalties would be harsher than Utah's lesser crime of impaired driving — an offense that Boyden said most drivers arrested for DUI are convicted of because they strike plea deals with prosecutors.
Drivers convicted of having a 0.05 blood alcohol limit would still face fines of at least $1,330, lose their driver's license for at least 90 days, and be required to have an ignition interlock device for a year.
Ron Gordon, a member of Herbert's staff and the executive director of the state Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice, said the governor felt the plan didn't lighten the penalties enough.
Herbert, who is traveling in Israel this week, could not be reached for comment, Kirsten Rappleye, a spokeswoman for his office, said the governor's position hasn't changed from when he signed the legislation and he would like to see changes made before the bill takes effect.
Proponents of the 0.05 limit, including the National Transportation Safety Board, say people start to become impaired with a first drink and shouldn't be driving and the lower limit will discourage people from thinking they can drink up to a point and drive safely.
"If we pass 0.05, people will live that would otherwise die if we do nothing," said Art Brown, president of the Utah chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. "If you walk away from it the way it's written, you can see it will diminish the effectiveness up and down about getting the impaired driver off the road."
At a blood-alcohol content of 0.05 percent, a driver may have trouble steering and have a harder time coordinating, tracking moving objects and responding to emergencies, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The new law means a 160-pound man could be over the 0.05 limit after two drinks, while a 120-pound woman could exceed it after a single drink, according to data from the California Department of Motor Vehicles.
However, a number of factors, including how much a person has had to eat and how fast they're drinking, can affect their blood alcohol levels.
- By GILLIAN FLACCUS Associated Press
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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The state prison system in Oregon will provide a transgender inmate with hormone therapy, bras and women's underwear and will consider transferring her to the state's only all-women's prison as part of a settlement agreement announced Tuesday.
The state will also pay Michalle Wright $167,500 in damages, waive medical fees associated with three suicide attempts, provide counseling and consider referring her for gender surgery in January if it's deemed medically necessary, according to the agreement.
The agreement was announced by the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon and confirmed by the Oregon Department of Corrections in a brief statement.
"She was begging for help, I was begging for help — but nothing was getting better. Watching your child suffer needlessly was the worst pain a parent can experience," Wright's mother, Victoria Wright, said. "Nobody chose this road, nobody chose to be different."
Victoria Wright said she watched her 26-year-old child's mental health spiral after her conviction on a charge of attempted armed robbery in 2013.
Wright attempted suicide three times behind bars and tried to castrate herself twice. Nearly 100 requests for hormone therapy and other treatment for her gender dysphoria diagnosis — including the use of hair removal cream and access to a curling iron — were denied or ignored, according to court documents.
The settlement applies specifically to Wright, but it also outlines significant policy changes in Oregon prisons for all transgender inmates, said Mat dos Santos, legal director for ACLU Oregon. Those include access to doctors with experience treating transgender people, mental health care tailored to those with gender dysphoria and training for prison guards and staff, he said. There are about two dozen transgender inmates in the state's prisons, dos Santos said.
The state began providing hormone therapy for inmates about three months after Wright filed her October 2016 legal claim, dos Santos said.
In a statement, Oregon Department of Corrections Director Colette Peters said Oregon is a national leader in developing medical protocols for treating inmates with gender dysphoria and has an ongoing collaboration with Basic Rights Oregon to provide training and resources to prison staff.
Peters did not address the individual claims in the lawsuit, including allegations that prison guards had used slurs against Wright and taunted her for being transgender.
"Although ODOC disagreed with many of the allegations in this litigation, we never disputed the basic principles that transgender individuals within our care and custody should have access to quality medical and mental health care, and that they should be treated in a respectful, inclusive manner," Peters wrote.
Wright's mother said her daughter sensed from a very early age that she was transgender but didn't feel free to come out until her father passed away. Starting at age 16, she began to wear women's clothing and dealt with her anxiety and depression by drinking and abusing drugs, including heroin. She eventually wound up on the streets.
She was receiving therapy at a nonprofit that helps gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth and had started discussing the possibility of hormone treatments when she was raped, according to the lawsuit. She then committed the robbery that landed her in prison, her mother said Tuesday.
She accepts responsibility for her crime, her mother said, but needs more support and medical treatment while in custody.
"You are trapped inside your own body (and) your body is lying to you because your outside does not match your inside," Victoria Wright said.
Wright's earliest release date is November 2018.
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Follow Gillian Flaccus on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/gflaccus
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SEATTLE (AP) — Authorities say a veteran Seattle police officer has been charged with theft for skipping 55 days of work over the past year while still collecting pay and benefits.
King County prosecutors on Tuesday filed the charge against 46-year-old Michael J. Stankiewicz, of Marysville, who joined the department in 1997. According to a Seattle police investigation, his absenteeism came to light in August, when an East Precinct patrol team reported that it couldn't get in touch with a team consisting of Stankiewicz and a Department of Corrections officer.
The corrections officer reported that he hadn't seen Stankiewicz that day or the week before. That prompted an analysis of his dispatch records, access card usage, computer logins, in-car video and cellphone records. The investigation found that he was paid just under $24,000 for the 55 days he didn't work.
Stankiewicz, who was suspended from the force in late August, is not in custody. He declined to comment to The Associated Press. He faces arraignment Nov. 6.
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LAS VEGAS (AP) — An elected school board member in Las Vegas has been banned from directly contacting district employees and visiting schools without approval over allegations of harassment.
Clark County Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky issued a memo Tuesday notifying school workers in the nation's fifth-largest school system of the restrictions imposed on Trustee Kevin Child.
Skorkowsky cited student and employee safety for the urgent directive, saying there have been repeated and serious complaints of Child making district employees feel uncomfortable.
The 55-year-old Child blamed politics and said he is saddened by what he calls Skorkowsky's "shenanigans."
The real estate agent also said he earlier this year issued a cease-and-desist letter to the retiring superintendent over the harassment claims.
Skorkowsky ordered administrators to call district police if Child refuses to leave district property.
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BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) — The University of Montana's Grizzly Marching Band had to raise its own money this year to attend the Cat-Griz football game on Nov. 18 in Bozeman. And even some Bobcat fans chipped in.
Budget cuts meant the athletic department couldn't pay the estimated $18,000 cost for the trip to the rivalry game.
Former UM band member Bridget Stepan started a GoFundMe page on Oct. 18 that had raised just over $14,000 in less than a week. Some donations came from MSU fans.
Along with other donations, band director Kevin Griggs says he's confident the band will be able to go. The money pays for travel for 125 band members, meals and game tickets.
Band members from both universities look forward to the halftime show during which they each play and then combine to perform the final song.
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GRANDVIEW, Wash. (AP) — The State Patrol says it's looking for two people among the vineyards of south-central Washington after they opened fire on a trooper who tried to pull them over for speeding.
Trooper Chris Thorson, a patrol spokesman, says the trooper pursued the vehicle until it stopped at a home in Grandview, southeast of Yakima, at about 9 p.m. Monday. He says the men got out of the car and started shooting at the trooper, whose cruiser was stopped about 50 feet away.
Thorson released a photo of the cruiser Tuesday showing three bullet holes in the passenger side of the windshield, and two more apparent bullet marks on the body of the police car. He says the trooper got behind his car and returned fire but was not injured.
It's not clear if the suspects were hit, but they ran off. Thorson says a State Patrol plane was searching for them Tuesday, and detectives were awaiting a search warrant for their vehicle.
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HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — The Nevada Department of Taxation says the state hauled in nearly $5 million in total tax revenue from recreational marijuana sales in August.
That's up from the $3.7 million in taxes in July, the state's first month of recreational weed sales.
According to figures released Monday, $3.35 million were generated by the 10 percent sales tax on recreational marijuana, while $1.51 million generated by the 15 percent wholesale tax at the cultivation level on all marijuana (up from $974,060 in July).
CEO of The+Source dispensaries and President of the Nevada Dispensary Association Andrew Jolley says he expects the market to continue to grow steadily over the next several months.
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TONOPAH, Ariz. (AP) — Maricopa County authorities say a 15-year-old Tonopah girl and her 21-year-old boyfriend have been arrested in the shooting death of the girl's father.
Sheriff's Sgt. Joaquin Enriquez says the girl and the boyfriend were taken into custody following interviews with detectives after the girl originally told dispatchers that she'd seen a former boyfriend shoot her father Monday several hours before she called 911.
No information was released on a possible motive.
The boyfriend was arrested and booked into jail on suspicion of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and tampering with evidence.
The girl was detained at a juvenile facility on suspicion of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and tampering with evidence.
Tonopah is located 50 miles west of Phoenix.
- By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press
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ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed the remaining claims in a case that pitted Hispanic ranchers against the U.S. government over its handling of grazing permits.
Attorneys for the ranchers had argued during the years-long legal battle that the U.S. Forest Service violated the law when deciding to limit grazing on historic land grants despite recognition by the government that the descendants of Spanish colonists have a unique relationship with the land.
The ranchers claimed the agency failed to consider social and economic effects that would result from limiting grazing in a region where poverty and dependence on the land for subsistence is high.
The judge ruled that federal law doesn't require the Forest Service to consider any social or economic effects that aren't directly related to environmental changes resulting from the agency's actions.
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LITTLETON, Colo. (AP) — A woman visiting a Halloween-themed Colorado corn maze says a man in all black, wearing a white mask, jumped out from the corn stalks and demanded she dance with him, touch him, or kiss him in order to pass.
The victim, identified as Audrey in the Jefferson County police report, told police she was walking through the Chatfield corn maze Saturday night with her cousins and some friends, when a man suddenly came out of the corn stalks.
The report says she tried to go around him, but the man "whipped her around," threw her to the ground "forcefully" and then dragged her.
Jefferson County sheriff's deputies says the report is under investigation.
A spokesperson with Denver Botanic Gardens, which owns Chatfield Farms, says they plan to ramp up security.
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SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) — Deputies say they arrested two women on charges of conspiracy to commit fraud in San Bernardino, California, after they solicited donations for a baby's funeral.
KABC-TV reports that deputies with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department arrested a 26-year-old woman suspected of panhandling near a busy intersection on Sunday. About an hour after that arrest, a 41-year-old woman was arrested for panhandling at the same location.
Deputies say that investigators found evidence that the two women were working together, and the women had made posters to ask for donations. The sign had a photo of a baby, and it asked for donations to cover the child's funeral expenses.
Deputies say the baby on the poster was not the women's, and they did not need money for a funeral.
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Information from: KABC-TV, http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/
- By RACHEL D'ORO and MARK THIESSEN Associated Press
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Cycling. Baseball. Track. Horse racing. Now dogsledding has become the latest professional sport to be engulfed in a doping scandal, this one involving the huskies that dash across the frozen landscape in Alaska's grueling, 1,000-mile Iditarod.
The governing board of the world's most famous sled dog race disclosed Monday that four dogs belonging to four-time Iditarod champion Dallas Seavey tested positive for a banned substance, the opioid painkiller tramadol, after his second-place finish last March.
It was the first time since the race instituted drug testing in 1994 that a test came back positive.
Seavey strongly denied giving any banned substances to his dogs, suggesting instead that he may have been the victim of sabotage by another musher or an animal rights activist. He accused the Iditarod of lax security at dog food drop-off points and other spots.
Race officials said he will not be punished because they were unable to prove he acted intentionally. That means he will keep his titles and his $59,000 in winnings this year.
But the finding was another blow to the Iditarod, which has seen the loss of major sponsors, numerous dog deaths, attacks on competitors and pressure from animal rights activists, who say huskies are run to death or left with severe infections and bloody paws.
Jeanne Olson, an Alaska veterinarian who treats sled dogs, sees no benefit in administering tramadol during a race because it causes drowsiness. Olson, who was the head veterinarian in the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race in the 1990s, prescribes it mostly for profound pain relief.
"But I also caution that the dogs are going to become sedated from it," she said. "So when I first heard ... that it was tramadol as the drug, I thought, 'Well, that's surprising. Why would anybody use that?'"
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals seized on the scandal Tuesday, saying, it's "further proof that this race needs to end."
Fern Levitt, director of the documentary "Sled Dogs," an expose on the treatment of the huskies, said, "The race is all about winning and getting to the finish line despite the inhumane treatment towards the dogs."
Frank Teasley, founder and executive director of Wyoming's Stage Stop Sled Dog Race, said the controversy is a shame but doesn't believe it will be a permanent stain on the sport. Teasley has participated in eight Iditarods and knows many of the top contenders, including Seavey, saying he believes the musher was sabotaged.
"When you're dealing with animals, doping anything is not acceptable. But I do not believe that Dallas did this," he said. "I've known him since he was, like, 8 years old. It's not in his nature."
Seavey won the annual Anchorage-to-Nome trek in 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016 and has had nine straight top 10 finishes. He finished second this year to his father, Mitch, who collected a first-place prize of $71,250.
Dogs are subject to random testing before and during the race, and the first 20 teams to cross the finish line are all automatically tested.
"I did not give a drug to my dog. I've never used a banned substance in the race," the 30-year-old Seavey said in an interview.
He said tramadol is not used at his kennel, and it is "incredibly unlikely" it was accidentally administered by anyone on his team.
Instead, he complained of inadequate security at checkpoints along the route where dog food is dropped off weeks ahead of time and at the dog lot in Nome, where thousands of huskies are kept after the race before they are flown home.
"Unfortunately I do think another musher is an option," he said. He added: "There are also people who are not fans of mushing as a whole. They are numerous videos out that are trying to say mushing is a bad thing. And I can see somebody doing this to promote their agenda."
Seavey said whoever gave the drug to the dogs knew it would cause a positive test, and "that should make me and my people the least likely suspect."
Earlier this year, the Iditarod lost a major corporate backer, Wells Fargo, and race officials accused animal rights organizations of pressuring the bank and other sponsors with "manipulative information" about the treatment of the dogs.
Five dogs connected to this year's race died, bringing total deaths to more than 150 in the Iditarod's 44-year history, according to PETA's count. And last year, two mushers were attacked by a drunken man on a snowmobile in separate assaults near a remote village. One dog was killed and others were injured.
Seavey said he has withdrawn from next year's race in protest and expects the Iditarod Trail Committee to ban him anyway for speaking out. Mushers are prohibited from criticizing the race or sponsors.
Iditarod spokesman Chas St. George said a ban would be up to the committee's board of directors.
The committee decided to release Seavey's name after scores of competitors demanded it. Race officials initially refused, saying it was unlikely they could prove the competitor acted intentionally.
During this year's race, the rules on doping essentially said that to punish a musher, race officials had to provide proof of intent. The rules have since been changed to hold mushers liable for any positive drug test unless they can show something beyond their control happened.
Wade Marrs, president of the Iditarod Official Finishers Club, said he doesn't believe Seavey intentionally administered the drugs. He said he believes the musher has too much integrity and intelligence to do such a thing.
"I don't really know what to think at the moment," Marrs said. "It's a very touchy situation."
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Follow Rachel D'Oro at https://twitter.com/rdoro .
- By MICHELLE L. PRICE Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A state council studying Utah's new law setting the country's strictest DUI threshold is backing away from recommending any changes, despite Gov. Gary Herbert's wish to soften some penalties following a backlash from the state's hospitality and ski industry.
The state Substance Use and Mental Health Advisory Council voted unanimously to support the new 0.05 percent blood alcohol limit scheduled to take effect next year after learning that law enforcement officials and Gov. Gary Herbert's office disagree on how the state could soften penalties for those convicted of a DUI under the lower limit.
The stalemate makes it tougher for legislators and Herbert, who had hoped to make changes to the law in the wake of the backlash and concerns that the lower limit could target responsible drinkers after one alcoholic beverage.
The law lowering Utah's DUI blood alcohol limit to 0.05 percent from 0.08 percent created a political problem for leaders who worry the strict new limit exacerbates Utah's reputation as a Mormon-dominated state that's unfriendly to those who drink alcohol.
Herbert, a Republican, signed the law this spring but said he would call lawmakers into a special session to address unintended consequences. The governor said in September that he'd like to see a tiered punishment system, with lighter penalties for a DUI between 0.05 percent and 0.08 percent.
At Herbert's request, a committee of prosecutors, law enforcement and officials and others has been working since spring to draft possible changes to the law, which were presented Tuesday to the substance use council.
Paul Boyden, an attorney in the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office, said the DUI study committee that he helped lead suggested changing the law so that drivers with a 0.05 to 0.07 blood alcohol limit faced some lighter penalties — such as no mandatory jail time — than a full-fledged DUI.
But the penalties would be harsher than Utah's lesser crime of impaired driving — an offense that Boyden said most drivers arrested for DUI are convicted of because they strike plea deals with prosecutors.
Drivers convicted of having a 0.05 blood alcohol limit would still face fines of at least $1,330, lose their driver's license for at least 90 days, and be required to have an ignition interlock device for a year.
Ron Gordon, a member of Herbert's staff and the executive director of the state Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice, said the governor felt the plan didn't lighten the penalties enough.
Herbert, who is traveling in Israel this week, could not be reached for comment, Kirsten Rappleye, a spokeswoman for his office, said the governor's position hasn't changed from when he signed the legislation and he would like to see changes made before the bill takes effect.
Proponents of the 0.05 limit, including the National Transportation Safety Board, say people start to become impaired with a first drink and shouldn't be driving and the lower limit will discourage people from thinking they can drink up to a point and drive safely.
"If we pass 0.05, people will live that would otherwise die if we do nothing," said Art Brown, president of the Utah chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. "If you walk away from it the way it's written, you can see it will diminish the effectiveness up and down about getting the impaired driver off the road."
At a blood-alcohol content of 0.05 percent, a driver may have trouble steering and have a harder time coordinating, tracking moving objects and responding to emergencies, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The new law means a 160-pound man could be over the 0.05 limit after two drinks, while a 120-pound woman could exceed it after a single drink, according to data from the California Department of Motor Vehicles.
However, a number of factors, including how much a person has had to eat and how fast they're drinking, can affect their blood alcohol levels.
- By GILLIAN FLACCUS Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The state prison system in Oregon will provide a transgender inmate with hormone therapy, bras and women's underwear and will consider transferring her to the state's only all-women's prison as part of a settlement agreement announced Tuesday.
The state will also pay Michalle Wright $167,500 in damages, waive medical fees associated with three suicide attempts, provide counseling and consider referring her for gender surgery in January if it's deemed medically necessary, according to the agreement.
The agreement was announced by the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon and confirmed by the Oregon Department of Corrections in a brief statement.
"She was begging for help, I was begging for help — but nothing was getting better. Watching your child suffer needlessly was the worst pain a parent can experience," Wright's mother, Victoria Wright, said. "Nobody chose this road, nobody chose to be different."
Victoria Wright said she watched her 26-year-old child's mental health spiral after her conviction on a charge of attempted armed robbery in 2013.
Wright attempted suicide three times behind bars and tried to castrate herself twice. Nearly 100 requests for hormone therapy and other treatment for her gender dysphoria diagnosis — including the use of hair removal cream and access to a curling iron — were denied or ignored, according to court documents.
The settlement applies specifically to Wright, but it also outlines significant policy changes in Oregon prisons for all transgender inmates, said Mat dos Santos, legal director for ACLU Oregon. Those include access to doctors with experience treating transgender people, mental health care tailored to those with gender dysphoria and training for prison guards and staff, he said. There are about two dozen transgender inmates in the state's prisons, dos Santos said.
The state began providing hormone therapy for inmates about three months after Wright filed her October 2016 legal claim, dos Santos said.
In a statement, Oregon Department of Corrections Director Colette Peters said Oregon is a national leader in developing medical protocols for treating inmates with gender dysphoria and has an ongoing collaboration with Basic Rights Oregon to provide training and resources to prison staff.
Peters did not address the individual claims in the lawsuit, including allegations that prison guards had used slurs against Wright and taunted her for being transgender.
"Although ODOC disagreed with many of the allegations in this litigation, we never disputed the basic principles that transgender individuals within our care and custody should have access to quality medical and mental health care, and that they should be treated in a respectful, inclusive manner," Peters wrote.
Wright's mother said her daughter sensed from a very early age that she was transgender but didn't feel free to come out until her father passed away. Starting at age 16, she began to wear women's clothing and dealt with her anxiety and depression by drinking and abusing drugs, including heroin. She eventually wound up on the streets.
She was receiving therapy at a nonprofit that helps gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth and had started discussing the possibility of hormone treatments when she was raped, according to the lawsuit. She then committed the robbery that landed her in prison, her mother said Tuesday.
She accepts responsibility for her crime, her mother said, but needs more support and medical treatment while in custody.
"You are trapped inside your own body (and) your body is lying to you because your outside does not match your inside," Victoria Wright said.
Wright's earliest release date is November 2018.
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Follow Gillian Flaccus on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/gflaccus
SEATTLE (AP) — Authorities say a veteran Seattle police officer has been charged with theft for skipping 55 days of work over the past year while still collecting pay and benefits.
King County prosecutors on Tuesday filed the charge against 46-year-old Michael J. Stankiewicz, of Marysville, who joined the department in 1997. According to a Seattle police investigation, his absenteeism came to light in August, when an East Precinct patrol team reported that it couldn't get in touch with a team consisting of Stankiewicz and a Department of Corrections officer.
The corrections officer reported that he hadn't seen Stankiewicz that day or the week before. That prompted an analysis of his dispatch records, access card usage, computer logins, in-car video and cellphone records. The investigation found that he was paid just under $24,000 for the 55 days he didn't work.
Stankiewicz, who was suspended from the force in late August, is not in custody. He declined to comment to The Associated Press. He faces arraignment Nov. 6.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — An elected school board member in Las Vegas has been banned from directly contacting district employees and visiting schools without approval over allegations of harassment.
Clark County Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky issued a memo Tuesday notifying school workers in the nation's fifth-largest school system of the restrictions imposed on Trustee Kevin Child.
Skorkowsky cited student and employee safety for the urgent directive, saying there have been repeated and serious complaints of Child making district employees feel uncomfortable.
The 55-year-old Child blamed politics and said he is saddened by what he calls Skorkowsky's "shenanigans."
The real estate agent also said he earlier this year issued a cease-and-desist letter to the retiring superintendent over the harassment claims.
Skorkowsky ordered administrators to call district police if Child refuses to leave district property.
BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) — The University of Montana's Grizzly Marching Band had to raise its own money this year to attend the Cat-Griz football game on Nov. 18 in Bozeman. And even some Bobcat fans chipped in.
Budget cuts meant the athletic department couldn't pay the estimated $18,000 cost for the trip to the rivalry game.
Former UM band member Bridget Stepan started a GoFundMe page on Oct. 18 that had raised just over $14,000 in less than a week. Some donations came from MSU fans.
Along with other donations, band director Kevin Griggs says he's confident the band will be able to go. The money pays for travel for 125 band members, meals and game tickets.
Band members from both universities look forward to the halftime show during which they each play and then combine to perform the final song.
GRANDVIEW, Wash. (AP) — The State Patrol says it's looking for two people among the vineyards of south-central Washington after they opened fire on a trooper who tried to pull them over for speeding.
Trooper Chris Thorson, a patrol spokesman, says the trooper pursued the vehicle until it stopped at a home in Grandview, southeast of Yakima, at about 9 p.m. Monday. He says the men got out of the car and started shooting at the trooper, whose cruiser was stopped about 50 feet away.
Thorson released a photo of the cruiser Tuesday showing three bullet holes in the passenger side of the windshield, and two more apparent bullet marks on the body of the police car. He says the trooper got behind his car and returned fire but was not injured.
It's not clear if the suspects were hit, but they ran off. Thorson says a State Patrol plane was searching for them Tuesday, and detectives were awaiting a search warrant for their vehicle.
HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — The Nevada Department of Taxation says the state hauled in nearly $5 million in total tax revenue from recreational marijuana sales in August.
That's up from the $3.7 million in taxes in July, the state's first month of recreational weed sales.
According to figures released Monday, $3.35 million were generated by the 10 percent sales tax on recreational marijuana, while $1.51 million generated by the 15 percent wholesale tax at the cultivation level on all marijuana (up from $974,060 in July).
CEO of The+Source dispensaries and President of the Nevada Dispensary Association Andrew Jolley says he expects the market to continue to grow steadily over the next several months.
TONOPAH, Ariz. (AP) — Maricopa County authorities say a 15-year-old Tonopah girl and her 21-year-old boyfriend have been arrested in the shooting death of the girl's father.
Sheriff's Sgt. Joaquin Enriquez says the girl and the boyfriend were taken into custody following interviews with detectives after the girl originally told dispatchers that she'd seen a former boyfriend shoot her father Monday several hours before she called 911.
No information was released on a possible motive.
The boyfriend was arrested and booked into jail on suspicion of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and tampering with evidence.
The girl was detained at a juvenile facility on suspicion of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and tampering with evidence.
Tonopah is located 50 miles west of Phoenix.
- By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed the remaining claims in a case that pitted Hispanic ranchers against the U.S. government over its handling of grazing permits.
Attorneys for the ranchers had argued during the years-long legal battle that the U.S. Forest Service violated the law when deciding to limit grazing on historic land grants despite recognition by the government that the descendants of Spanish colonists have a unique relationship with the land.
The ranchers claimed the agency failed to consider social and economic effects that would result from limiting grazing in a region where poverty and dependence on the land for subsistence is high.
The judge ruled that federal law doesn't require the Forest Service to consider any social or economic effects that aren't directly related to environmental changes resulting from the agency's actions.
LITTLETON, Colo. (AP) — A woman visiting a Halloween-themed Colorado corn maze says a man in all black, wearing a white mask, jumped out from the corn stalks and demanded she dance with him, touch him, or kiss him in order to pass.
The victim, identified as Audrey in the Jefferson County police report, told police she was walking through the Chatfield corn maze Saturday night with her cousins and some friends, when a man suddenly came out of the corn stalks.
The report says she tried to go around him, but the man "whipped her around," threw her to the ground "forcefully" and then dragged her.
Jefferson County sheriff's deputies says the report is under investigation.
A spokesperson with Denver Botanic Gardens, which owns Chatfield Farms, says they plan to ramp up security.
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) — Deputies say they arrested two women on charges of conspiracy to commit fraud in San Bernardino, California, after they solicited donations for a baby's funeral.
KABC-TV reports that deputies with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department arrested a 26-year-old woman suspected of panhandling near a busy intersection on Sunday. About an hour after that arrest, a 41-year-old woman was arrested for panhandling at the same location.
Deputies say that investigators found evidence that the two women were working together, and the women had made posters to ask for donations. The sign had a photo of a baby, and it asked for donations to cover the child's funeral expenses.
Deputies say the baby on the poster was not the women's, and they did not need money for a funeral.
___
Information from: KABC-TV, http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/
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