Twins give birth; elk nuzzles firefighters; wildlife death trap
- Updated
Odd and interesting news from the West
- Updated
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A roadkill researcher identified California's Interstate 280 as a death trap for wildlife, concluding that crashes between vehicles and animals in the state occur most frequently along the busy stretch from San Jose to San Francisco.
Of the 700,000 traffic crashes across the state last year, about 6,000 involved wild animals, including deer and mountain lions, according to a report released last week by Fraser Shilling, co-director of the Road Ecology Center at the University of California, Davis.
Lower speed limits, warning signs and structures that promote safe animal crossings could help prevent wildlife collisions, Shilling said. For example, squirrels would use rope bridges to cross roads if they are available, he noted.
Other roadways that saw clusters of roadkill were Interstate 80 between Davis and Sacramento and State Route 89 north of Lake Tahoe.
Wildlife living in and near national parks and other protected areas can be threatened by vehicles. Reptiles such as snakes, lizards, small mammals and endangered desert tortoises often get hit in Death Valley, along State Route 190, Shilling said. Similarly, dead wildlife is often found along highways near Yosemite National Park.
"So, our protected spaces aren't so protected, whether it's an open space in the Bay Area or in the national parks," Shilling said in a news release. "Traffic is leading to the loss of wildlife of a lot of different stripes."
While there were fewer animal deaths reported on Southern California roads, the report identified State Route 94 in San Diego County as a hot spot. Other spots include State Route 126 in Ventura and U.S. 101 near Lompoc and San Luis Obispo.
The report drew, in part, on data from the California Roadkill Observation System, which compiles accounts from more than 1,000 volunteers and other passers-by. The research looked at data from February 2015 to February 2016.
- Updated
BANNING, Calif. (AP) — Southern California fire officials say a brush fire was ignited in Banning when two bear cubs climbed a power pole, were electrocuted by high-voltage lines and their burning bodies fell to the ground.
Riverside County firefighters responded to the 1:46 a.m. Tuesday incident and stopped the fire's spread at 1½ acres.
The mother bear and another cub were in the area while 63 firefighters worked the blaze but they were not considered a threat.
State Fish and Wildlife authorities were called to deal with the deceased cubs.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho — New DNA testing in a 1996 Idaho murder found genetic material belonging to an unknown man but no DNA matching that of the person currently imprisoned for the killing.
The Post-Register reports that DNA samples taken from the body of 18-year-old Angie Dodge didn't belong to Chris Tapp, who is currently in prison for her murder after confessing.
There was also no match to a second man who police suspect was involved with the murder.
The samples were taken from swabs of Dodge's hands, the clothing she was wearing and a teddy bear found near her body. The DNA points to an unknown man who left semen, hair and skin cells at the crime scene.
Public defender John Thomas said the results indicate that Tapp's confession was false.
"It proves beyond a shadow of a doubt in my mind that he was not there," Thomas said. "His DNA has never been found on any piece of evidence at the crime scene."
Tapp is serving a sentence of 30 years to life for the 1996 rape and murder of Dodge. He was convicted because he confessed.
Tapp says it was a false confession and that he knows nothing about the crime except what was fed to him by police during a series of long interrogations and polygraph tests.
"We're going to ask the court to overturn the conviction based on the new DNA evidence, which shows that Chris Tapp's confession was false," Thomas said.
A slew of reports from former FBI investigators, a polygraph expert, DNA experts and false confession experts have come to the same conclusion: Tapp falsely confessed under coercion. Angie Dodge's mother, Carol, has reached the same conclusion.
Bonneville Prosecutor Danny Clark said the DNA tests also found trace amounts of DNA from other males. He declined to say what the new evidence means for Tapp.
"We stipulated to this testing," he said. "We'll continue to do that any time there's testing available to do."
___
Information from: Post Register, http://www.postregister.com
- The Associated Press
- Updated
BOULDER, Colo. — A teen driver accused of pinning a man between two parked vehicles, severing his legs, in Boulder told police was using his phone at the time of the crash and had recently used drugs.
According to an arrest affidavit, 19-year-old Dylan Gottschling told investigators that he was looking at his phone to pick some music Monday evening when he crashed. However, a witness told police that he heard Gottschling telling someone on the phone that he was responding to a text at the time.
According to police, he told police he had used heroin Friday and took the anti-anxiety drug Xanax Sunday to help him come off the high from heroin.
Gottschling consented to a blood test and a search of his phone. He doesn't have a lawyer listed in court documents yet.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
SALT LAKE CITY — Firefighters are battling a small wildfire in northern Utah that may have started by sparks from a train.
Weber Fire District Marshal Brandon Thueson said Tuesday the blaze is less than 1 square mile in Weber Canyon southeast of Ogden. Thueson says it's burning on a steep, rugged hillside. It is about 20 percent contained.
No homes are threatened.
Thueson said fire investigators are working to determine the cause, but he said it started Monday afternoon around the time a train passed through the area.
The fire caused lane closures on Interstate 84 Monday. Thueson says they are trying to avoid closing lanes Tuesday.
Thueson says that high winds forecast for Tuesday afternoon could cause firefighters problems.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Hannah Skalicky started helping her dad pack peaches into boxes at age 3. Before long, she was flipping peach pancakes at the Fort Collins Peach Festival.
So when 10-year-old Hannah learned about first lady Michelle Obama's Healthy Lunchtime Challenge cooking contest only a few days before entries were due, she naturally turned to peaches.
The Denver Post reports that the resulting recipe, Hannah's Sweet and Savory Chicken and Peaches, was chosen as the winning Colorado entry.
The recipe will appear alongside dishes created by 55 other kids, representing all U.S. states, five territories and the District of Columbia, in a printable cookbook on the PBS website. The prize also includes a July 14 trip to the White House and a meal with First Lady Michelle Obama.
___
Information from: The Denver Post, http://www.denverpost.com
- The Associated Press
- Updated
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Authorities have arrested a Northern California man suspected of attacking the headquarters of Internet search giant Google with Molotov cocktails and a gun.
The man told authorities he was upset because he felt Google was watching him.
Mountain View police arrested Raul Diaz on the company's campus shortly after midnight Thursday. The 30-year-old is charged with one count of arson in connection with an attempted firebombing of a Google vehicle used to map streets. Authorities are investigating whether the 30-year-old is connected to two other attacks, including the torching a company self-driving car and the shooting out of office windows.
Authorities found the makings of a pipe bomb in Diaz' vehicle after he was arrested, according to court documents. It's unclear if Diaz is yet represented by an attorney.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
LAS VEGAS — An aircraft mechanic who police say created a disturbance at a Las Vegas airport security checkpoint and referred to planes falling from the sky is facing misdemeanor criminal charges.
Court documents say Neutne Michaelangelo Williamson is due in court Sept. 19 following his arrest June 16 at McCarran International Airport.
Attempts to reach Williamson on Tuesday weren't immediately successful.
A police report alleges he declared that people's lives were in his hands and told a police sergeant there was a reason planes "fall out of the sky."
Police say a Delta Air Lines official refused to grant Williamson a boarding pass and Williamson wouldn't leave the airport peacefully.
He faces harassment and violation of airport rules charges.
A spokeswoman for his employer, ExpressJet, says the company is investigating the incident.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — New data from the World Bank show that California's economy was equivalent to the sixth largest in the world last year.
The World Bank's annual rankings of countries' gross domestic products, released on Friday, confirm an analysis published last month by the California Department of Finance.
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reported last month that California's GDP was $2.5 trillion in 2015, up 4.1 percent from a year earlier.
California saw more economic growth than the United States as a whole, which was up 2.4 percent.
But California's rise in the global rankings comes largely at the expense of Brazil, which is struggling economically, and France, which was burdened by a weaker currency.
Only five countries produced more last year than California: the U.S., China, Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
GILBERT, Ariz. — Gilbert residents have grown accustomed to laying their loved ones to rest out of town, but the 96-year-old community is working to change that.
The Phoenix suburb is negotiating the establishment of its first cemetery with Bunker Family Funerals & Cremation after decades of interring residents in Mesa, Queen Creek and other nearby communities, The Arizona Republic reported.
"I've been here for 30-plus years, and I remember it being a big deal the day the first big grocery store came to town, and it being a big deal the day the medical center opened," Mayor John Lewis said. "This is another big deal in terms of our life cycle and an important part of our future."
The cemetery's first phase is expected to accommodate more than 9,000 burials and could open in spring 2018 if the talks and construction go smoothly. Conceptual drawings of the cemetery, which would be located on 22 acres of park land, show a funeral home, cremation garden, mausoleum and private estates.
The full site is estimated to have a 75-year capacity.
Gilbert has grown to a population of 240,000, and International Cemetery Cremation and Funeral Association Executive Director Robert Fells said it's wise for the town to act quickly.
"A quarter-million people sooner or later are going to meet their maker, and if the town doesn't have any cemetery at all, that could be a problem," Fells said.
Gilbert appears to be the largest municipality in the Phoenix area without its own burial grounds.
"Historically, families have preferred to bury their loved ones in the town where they live, because it makes it easier to visit the grave site," Fells said. "If there are other cemeteries 40 miles away, OK, that's nice, but most people are still going to want to have something where they're living."
- The Associated Press
- Updated
RENO, Nev. — Authorities have identified the man who was shot and killed by police after a minivan crashed into a downtown Reno chicken wing festival over the holiday weekend.
The Washoe County Sheriff's office said Tuesday that Raul Saavedra-Vargas died in the July 3 incident that temporarily shut down the Biggest Little City Wing Fest.
Sheriff's deputy Jeff McCaskill declined to say why the man's age and hometown aren't being released.
Police said Saavedra-Vargas on Sunday afternoon drove toward the festival area, swerved toward an officer on foot and crashed into a vendor.
Saavedra-Vargas died at the hospital.
No bystanders were hurt from the festival that typically draws 80,000 visitors.
Police said the confrontation began after they tried to stop the silver minivan that Saavedra-Vargas was driving in for a traffic stop.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
EUGENE, Ore. — A lumber mill west of Eugene has been on high alert since an online claim that an environmental group may put metal spikes inside some of its logs.
A group called SAP claimed on an Earth First! website that it revived that strategy on June 11 by placing dozens of spikes in logs at the Swanson Brothers mill in Noti, The Register-Guard reported.
The mill operated as usual for two days before learning about SAP's claim, said Swanson Brothers President Larry Konnie.
Mill workers have been cautious since then, but no one has found any spikes or evidence that someone trespassed at the mill, said Konnie.
He said workers haven't been able to check all the logs in the yard because some are stacked as high as 50 feet, making it dangerous for people to climb them looking for spikes. He estimated that the mill has 800 to 900 truckloads of logs because it is stocking up to stay busy through winter.
"It could be next spring before we run everything," Konnie said.
Konnie said he is worried about his workers, especially the head rig sawyer and spotter, who stay close to the logs as they pass through high-tension bandsaws. He said he's talked to both workers and they said they want to keep doing their jobs.
Grayson Flory, editor of Earth First! Newswire, said the people behind the website don't know who is involved with SAP.
When asked about the reported log spiking, the Cascadia Forest Defenders, an environmental activist group known for protests in the Eugene area, sent a brief email saying it "does not encourage, condone or commit acts of senseless sabotage."
Some environmentalists turned to such tactics during logging debates in the 1990s. They would pound the spikes into live trees, making it potentially dangerous for loggers to cut them down.
More like this...
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A roadkill researcher identified California's Interstate 280 as a death trap for wildlife, concluding that crashes between vehicles and animals in the state occur most frequently along the busy stretch from San Jose to San Francisco.
Of the 700,000 traffic crashes across the state last year, about 6,000 involved wild animals, including deer and mountain lions, according to a report released last week by Fraser Shilling, co-director of the Road Ecology Center at the University of California, Davis.
Lower speed limits, warning signs and structures that promote safe animal crossings could help prevent wildlife collisions, Shilling said. For example, squirrels would use rope bridges to cross roads if they are available, he noted.
Other roadways that saw clusters of roadkill were Interstate 80 between Davis and Sacramento and State Route 89 north of Lake Tahoe.
Wildlife living in and near national parks and other protected areas can be threatened by vehicles. Reptiles such as snakes, lizards, small mammals and endangered desert tortoises often get hit in Death Valley, along State Route 190, Shilling said. Similarly, dead wildlife is often found along highways near Yosemite National Park.
"So, our protected spaces aren't so protected, whether it's an open space in the Bay Area or in the national parks," Shilling said in a news release. "Traffic is leading to the loss of wildlife of a lot of different stripes."
While there were fewer animal deaths reported on Southern California roads, the report identified State Route 94 in San Diego County as a hot spot. Other spots include State Route 126 in Ventura and U.S. 101 near Lompoc and San Luis Obispo.
The report drew, in part, on data from the California Roadkill Observation System, which compiles accounts from more than 1,000 volunteers and other passers-by. The research looked at data from February 2015 to February 2016.
BANNING, Calif. (AP) — Southern California fire officials say a brush fire was ignited in Banning when two bear cubs climbed a power pole, were electrocuted by high-voltage lines and their burning bodies fell to the ground.
Riverside County firefighters responded to the 1:46 a.m. Tuesday incident and stopped the fire's spread at 1½ acres.
The mother bear and another cub were in the area while 63 firefighters worked the blaze but they were not considered a threat.
State Fish and Wildlife authorities were called to deal with the deceased cubs.
- The Associated Press
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho — New DNA testing in a 1996 Idaho murder found genetic material belonging to an unknown man but no DNA matching that of the person currently imprisoned for the killing.
The Post-Register reports that DNA samples taken from the body of 18-year-old Angie Dodge didn't belong to Chris Tapp, who is currently in prison for her murder after confessing.
There was also no match to a second man who police suspect was involved with the murder.
The samples were taken from swabs of Dodge's hands, the clothing she was wearing and a teddy bear found near her body. The DNA points to an unknown man who left semen, hair and skin cells at the crime scene.
Public defender John Thomas said the results indicate that Tapp's confession was false.
"It proves beyond a shadow of a doubt in my mind that he was not there," Thomas said. "His DNA has never been found on any piece of evidence at the crime scene."
Tapp is serving a sentence of 30 years to life for the 1996 rape and murder of Dodge. He was convicted because he confessed.
Tapp says it was a false confession and that he knows nothing about the crime except what was fed to him by police during a series of long interrogations and polygraph tests.
"We're going to ask the court to overturn the conviction based on the new DNA evidence, which shows that Chris Tapp's confession was false," Thomas said.
A slew of reports from former FBI investigators, a polygraph expert, DNA experts and false confession experts have come to the same conclusion: Tapp falsely confessed under coercion. Angie Dodge's mother, Carol, has reached the same conclusion.
Bonneville Prosecutor Danny Clark said the DNA tests also found trace amounts of DNA from other males. He declined to say what the new evidence means for Tapp.
"We stipulated to this testing," he said. "We'll continue to do that any time there's testing available to do."
___
Information from: Post Register, http://www.postregister.com
- The Associated Press
BOULDER, Colo. — A teen driver accused of pinning a man between two parked vehicles, severing his legs, in Boulder told police was using his phone at the time of the crash and had recently used drugs.
According to an arrest affidavit, 19-year-old Dylan Gottschling told investigators that he was looking at his phone to pick some music Monday evening when he crashed. However, a witness told police that he heard Gottschling telling someone on the phone that he was responding to a text at the time.
According to police, he told police he had used heroin Friday and took the anti-anxiety drug Xanax Sunday to help him come off the high from heroin.
Gottschling consented to a blood test and a search of his phone. He doesn't have a lawyer listed in court documents yet.
- The Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY — Firefighters are battling a small wildfire in northern Utah that may have started by sparks from a train.
Weber Fire District Marshal Brandon Thueson said Tuesday the blaze is less than 1 square mile in Weber Canyon southeast of Ogden. Thueson says it's burning on a steep, rugged hillside. It is about 20 percent contained.
No homes are threatened.
Thueson said fire investigators are working to determine the cause, but he said it started Monday afternoon around the time a train passed through the area.
The fire caused lane closures on Interstate 84 Monday. Thueson says they are trying to avoid closing lanes Tuesday.
Thueson says that high winds forecast for Tuesday afternoon could cause firefighters problems.
- The Associated Press
FORT COLLINS, Colo. — Hannah Skalicky started helping her dad pack peaches into boxes at age 3. Before long, she was flipping peach pancakes at the Fort Collins Peach Festival.
So when 10-year-old Hannah learned about first lady Michelle Obama's Healthy Lunchtime Challenge cooking contest only a few days before entries were due, she naturally turned to peaches.
The Denver Post reports that the resulting recipe, Hannah's Sweet and Savory Chicken and Peaches, was chosen as the winning Colorado entry.
The recipe will appear alongside dishes created by 55 other kids, representing all U.S. states, five territories and the District of Columbia, in a printable cookbook on the PBS website. The prize also includes a July 14 trip to the White House and a meal with First Lady Michelle Obama.
___
Information from: The Denver Post, http://www.denverpost.com
- The Associated Press
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Authorities have arrested a Northern California man suspected of attacking the headquarters of Internet search giant Google with Molotov cocktails and a gun.
The man told authorities he was upset because he felt Google was watching him.
Mountain View police arrested Raul Diaz on the company's campus shortly after midnight Thursday. The 30-year-old is charged with one count of arson in connection with an attempted firebombing of a Google vehicle used to map streets. Authorities are investigating whether the 30-year-old is connected to two other attacks, including the torching a company self-driving car and the shooting out of office windows.
Authorities found the makings of a pipe bomb in Diaz' vehicle after he was arrested, according to court documents. It's unclear if Diaz is yet represented by an attorney.
- The Associated Press
LAS VEGAS — An aircraft mechanic who police say created a disturbance at a Las Vegas airport security checkpoint and referred to planes falling from the sky is facing misdemeanor criminal charges.
Court documents say Neutne Michaelangelo Williamson is due in court Sept. 19 following his arrest June 16 at McCarran International Airport.
Attempts to reach Williamson on Tuesday weren't immediately successful.
A police report alleges he declared that people's lives were in his hands and told a police sergeant there was a reason planes "fall out of the sky."
Police say a Delta Air Lines official refused to grant Williamson a boarding pass and Williamson wouldn't leave the airport peacefully.
He faces harassment and violation of airport rules charges.
A spokeswoman for his employer, ExpressJet, says the company is investigating the incident.
- The Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — New data from the World Bank show that California's economy was equivalent to the sixth largest in the world last year.
The World Bank's annual rankings of countries' gross domestic products, released on Friday, confirm an analysis published last month by the California Department of Finance.
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reported last month that California's GDP was $2.5 trillion in 2015, up 4.1 percent from a year earlier.
California saw more economic growth than the United States as a whole, which was up 2.4 percent.
But California's rise in the global rankings comes largely at the expense of Brazil, which is struggling economically, and France, which was burdened by a weaker currency.
Only five countries produced more last year than California: the U.S., China, Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom.
- The Associated Press
GILBERT, Ariz. — Gilbert residents have grown accustomed to laying their loved ones to rest out of town, but the 96-year-old community is working to change that.
The Phoenix suburb is negotiating the establishment of its first cemetery with Bunker Family Funerals & Cremation after decades of interring residents in Mesa, Queen Creek and other nearby communities, The Arizona Republic reported.
"I've been here for 30-plus years, and I remember it being a big deal the day the first big grocery store came to town, and it being a big deal the day the medical center opened," Mayor John Lewis said. "This is another big deal in terms of our life cycle and an important part of our future."
The cemetery's first phase is expected to accommodate more than 9,000 burials and could open in spring 2018 if the talks and construction go smoothly. Conceptual drawings of the cemetery, which would be located on 22 acres of park land, show a funeral home, cremation garden, mausoleum and private estates.
The full site is estimated to have a 75-year capacity.
Gilbert has grown to a population of 240,000, and International Cemetery Cremation and Funeral Association Executive Director Robert Fells said it's wise for the town to act quickly.
"A quarter-million people sooner or later are going to meet their maker, and if the town doesn't have any cemetery at all, that could be a problem," Fells said.
Gilbert appears to be the largest municipality in the Phoenix area without its own burial grounds.
"Historically, families have preferred to bury their loved ones in the town where they live, because it makes it easier to visit the grave site," Fells said. "If there are other cemeteries 40 miles away, OK, that's nice, but most people are still going to want to have something where they're living."
- The Associated Press
RENO, Nev. — Authorities have identified the man who was shot and killed by police after a minivan crashed into a downtown Reno chicken wing festival over the holiday weekend.
The Washoe County Sheriff's office said Tuesday that Raul Saavedra-Vargas died in the July 3 incident that temporarily shut down the Biggest Little City Wing Fest.
Sheriff's deputy Jeff McCaskill declined to say why the man's age and hometown aren't being released.
Police said Saavedra-Vargas on Sunday afternoon drove toward the festival area, swerved toward an officer on foot and crashed into a vendor.
Saavedra-Vargas died at the hospital.
No bystanders were hurt from the festival that typically draws 80,000 visitors.
Police said the confrontation began after they tried to stop the silver minivan that Saavedra-Vargas was driving in for a traffic stop.
- The Associated Press
EUGENE, Ore. — A lumber mill west of Eugene has been on high alert since an online claim that an environmental group may put metal spikes inside some of its logs.
A group called SAP claimed on an Earth First! website that it revived that strategy on June 11 by placing dozens of spikes in logs at the Swanson Brothers mill in Noti, The Register-Guard reported.
The mill operated as usual for two days before learning about SAP's claim, said Swanson Brothers President Larry Konnie.
Mill workers have been cautious since then, but no one has found any spikes or evidence that someone trespassed at the mill, said Konnie.
He said workers haven't been able to check all the logs in the yard because some are stacked as high as 50 feet, making it dangerous for people to climb them looking for spikes. He estimated that the mill has 800 to 900 truckloads of logs because it is stocking up to stay busy through winter.
"It could be next spring before we run everything," Konnie said.
Konnie said he is worried about his workers, especially the head rig sawyer and spotter, who stay close to the logs as they pass through high-tension bandsaws. He said he's talked to both workers and they said they want to keep doing their jobs.
Grayson Flory, editor of Earth First! Newswire, said the people behind the website don't know who is involved with SAP.
When asked about the reported log spiking, the Cascadia Forest Defenders, an environmental activist group known for protests in the Eugene area, sent a brief email saying it "does not encourage, condone or commit acts of senseless sabotage."
Some environmentalists turned to such tactics during logging debates in the 1990s. They would pound the spikes into live trees, making it potentially dangerous for loggers to cut them down.
Seen and heard at BYU: On campout ban, off-duty Sundays and a Sugar Shack
