'Scooby Doo' driver sentenced; castle for sale; 'Fifty Shades' trailer
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Odd and interesting news from the West.
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TWIN FALLS, Idaho (AP) — Professional stuntman Eddie Braun successfully jumped over the Snake River Canyon Friday afternoon in an ode to his boyhood idol, Evel Knievel.
Braun soared over the southern Idaho canyon in a custom-built rocket dubbed "Evel Spirit."
It launched off a steep ramp on the edge of the canyon rim just before 4 p.m. as hundreds of onlookers watched.
The rocket reached an estimated 400 mph (644 kph) before its parachute deployed, allowing Braun and the ship to land safely in fields on the other side of the 1,400 foot-wide (427 meters-wide) canyon. He didn't appear to grant any interviews immediately following his flight; members of his team had earlier announced that he would instead be available for interviews on Monday morning in New York City.
Braun has said the rocket was identical to the model Knievel used for his failed canyon attempt on Sept. 8, 1974. Knievel landed at the bottom of the canyon when his parachute prematurely deployed partway across the canyon, but walked away with only minor injuries. The spot where Knievel jumped was 1,600 feet (488 meters) wide.
Braun hoped his effort would prove that Knievel could have made it across the canyon if his parachute had deployed at the correct time.
Before the jump, the 54-year-old Braun said he was optimistic he would make it across the canyon.
"I wouldn't be doing this if I thought it couldn't be done," he said.
Still, he had prepared for the worst in the days before the stunt, asking his young son to one day walk his sisters down the aisle at their wedding if Braun died in his attempt.
Months of testing was performed on the rocket designed by Scott Truax, whose father constructed the original "X2 Skycycle" for Knievel.
Truax followed his father's blueprints down to the last bolt and deviated only by updating the parachute system.
Braun had trouble finding corporate sponsors for the stunt, and said he spent about $1.5 million of his own money on the jump.
He looked at the stunt as a way to pay homage to Knievel, who inspired him to become a stuntman.
"I like to say I'm not doing something that Evel Knievel couldn't do," he told the Idaho Statesman before making the jump. "I'm simply finishing out his dream. How many people get to finish the dream of their hero?"
Not all in the southern Idaho town of Twin Falls have such fond memories of Knievel. Many residents remember Knievel's promise of a weeklong festival complete with celebrities and a golf tournament.
Knievel's attempt drew plenty of spectators, and the resultant partying, fighting and mischief upset locals. The daredevil was later accused of leaving town without paying debts to area businesses.
But the mystique of Knievel's failed stunt has lived on, with would-be daredevils showing up every decade or so to propose similar jumps. Knievel's son Robbie visited Twin Falls in the 1990s and in 2010 to float the idea of a possible jump, though it never came to fruition.
Braun appears to have been the first to actually try the stunt since Knievel's attempt.
- By GENE JOHNSON Associated Press
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SEATTLE (AP) — A federal judge in Tacoma has found a southwest Washington county liable for clearing out homeless encampments and seizing the residents' belongings.
In a ruling Friday, Judge Robert Bryan said Clark County's work crews violated the constitutional rights of at least a half-dozen homeless residents when they threw out their tents, stoves, medication, documents and photographs during sweeps from 2012 to 2014. A trial is set for Oct. 3 to determine how much the county must pay in damages, but settlement talks are also planned.
"The only evidence in the record is that the County's employees took all unattended property and then immediately destroyed the property, regardless of whether the property was abandoned," the judge wrote.
He declined to immediately rule on the merits of claims by two other campers, saying it wasn't clear who took their property.
The issue of encampment sweeps has become increasingly controversial as officials have struggled with rising rates of homelessness around the country. A detailed report by The Seattle Times last month found that despite efforts by some Seattle and state workers to provide advance notification of sweeps and connect homeless residents to social services, the cleanups were frequently ill-coordinated and residents often lost critical belongings. Mayor Ed Murray promised to do better.
The American Civil Liberties Union or other homeless advocates have filed recent lawsuits over sweeps in Los Angeles, Honolulu, Denver and other cities.
"It's important to remember that people who are homeless have constitutional rights, including the right to due process when government seeks to seize their possessions," Doug Honig, a spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, said in an email Friday. "While the possessions may not have great monetary value, they can be vital to the lives of people who do not have shelter."
The ACLU chapter was not involved in the Clark County lawsuit, but it and other civil rights groups have urged Seattle to change its approach to homeless encampments, noting that in a recent case challenging an anti-camping ordinance in Boise, Idaho, the U.S. Justice Department warned in a court filing, "If a person literally has nowhere else to go, then enforcement of the anti-camping ordinance against that person criminalizes her for being homeless."
In March 2012, the Clark County Department of Corrections adopted a policy that work crews should clean up camps immediately if they'd been abandoned. If they hadn't been abandoned, it said, the workers were to give one-hour notice that the residents had to vacate the area and take their belongings with them.
In practice, the crews often didn't care whether the property had been abandoned. One crew supervisor testified in a deposition that even if his workers complained that a campsite appeared to be recently occupied, he ordered them to clean up anyway.
A lawyer for the county did not immediately return an email seeking comment Friday.
Some campers left to eat meals at a local shelter, then returned to find the work crews seizing their property and refusing to give it back. Among the items taken were dentures, a photograph of a deceased child, and legal documents such as Social Security cards and disability insurance papers.
One homeless resident, Terry Ellis, left a backpack at a bus stop while he offered to help a woman whose car had broken down nearby. Even though Ellis was within sight when the work crew arrived, the crew took it, ignoring his explanation for why he left it there, Ellis said in court filings.
Inside the backpack were new clothes he had been given so he could apply for a job, he said.
Peter Fels, one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs, said he learned of their plight by volunteering at a legal clinic at the shelter.
After the lawsuit was filed last year, the county conducted training to explain to work crew supervisors that they should not remove property from homeless camps and to help them identify property that has not been abandoned.
But Fels and his co-counsel, Moloy Good, said Friday more changes are needed. In addition to damages, they are seeking to have the county make clear that work crews shouldn't pick up any unattended property.
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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A wildlife group says a hawk found weak and flightless in Utah apparently had his wing feathers cut by someone who'd been keeping it as a pet after illegally capturing it.
HawkWatch International says the young Cooper's hawk is recovering at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Northern Utah.
He unable to fly when he was found because all 44 of his flight feathers were cut, apparently with scissors.
The group says the feathers will regrow, but the bird may never recover enough to be released into the wild.
Capturing, harming or disturbing wild birds violates the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
- By MICHELLE RINDELS Associated Press
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LAS VEGAS (AP) — In a move that resolves the most contentious issue in Nevada's rooftop solar debate, the state Public Utilities Commission on Friday approved a deal that will restore older, more favorable rates to about 32,000 customers who installed or applied for a rooftop solar system before this year.
The commission's vote seals a settlement between utility NV Energy, rooftop solar company SolarCity, the state Bureau of Consumer Protection and the commission's staff.
A panel of lawmakers voted this spring to recommend the "grandfathering" policy after regulators approved a much-maligned rate hike in the winter.
NV Energy called Friday's regulatory action, which it requested, "the most efficient and timely way" to implement the recommendation. The new rates will take effect in December and extend for 20 years.
"The Public Utilities Commission of Nevada's decision today is fair for this set of existing net metering customers, and at the same time reinforces the clear path forward they established in February 2016 for those considering rooftop solar in the future," said NV Energy President Paul Caudill.
Commissioners raised rates for rooftop solar customers this year, saying it corrected a subsidy that non-solar customers were paying for those who had panels.
Rooftop solar companies that had ramped up operations in Nevada responded with hundreds of layoffs and launched a campaign to reverse the decision, which they called a "bait and switch" tactic that changed the rules on people after they'd invested in solar systems.
A PAC funded by SolarCity sought to restore the old rates for all solar customers, including future ones, and gathered far more signatures than needed to qualify the measure for the November ballot. A group largely funded by NV Energy fought back and eventually prevailed at the Nevada Supreme Court, which ruled the measure shouldn't be up for a statewide vote.
Solar proponents applauded regulators' decision to grandfather customers, with the SolarCity-backed Bring Back Solar campaign calling it a "tremendous victory" for people who had "advocated tirelessly for solar since last year's rate hike."
But advocates also said more must be done for future customers.
"While the action today by the PUCN is a step in the right direction, and brings justice to homeowners that already have solar, it does nothing to bring solar jobs back, or to make it possible for homes and businesses to go solar," said Andy Maggi of the Nevada Conservation League.
He called for state lawmakers to eliminate solar fees, restore net metering credits and promote solar development in low-income areas.
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REDSTONE, Colo. (AP) — A Colorado mansion formerly owned by a coal baron, a Rockefeller and a Roosevelt is set to go to auction in October.
The Post Independent reports (http://tinyurl.com/jnt9ufe ) that the property in Pitkin County, known as Redstone Castle, is set to be auctioned on Oct. 7 for at least $2 million.
The 42-room estate was opened by mining magnate John C. Osgood in 1902. Since then the estate at 58 Redstone Blvd. has hosted Theodore Roosevelt and John D. Rockefeller.
The estate a 23,000-square-foot main residence appointed with silk-upholstered walls, gold leaf ceilings, Tiffany lamps, a 12-stall carriage house and grounds totaling 150 acres.
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Information from: Post Independent, http://www.postindependent.com/
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BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Civil rights activists are suing the Idaho State Police with the intent of striking down a state law prohibiting places that are licensed to serve alcohol from showing live performances that depict sexual acts.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho, along with several other Boise attorneys, filed the 28-page lawsuit Thursday on behalf of performance artist Anne McDonald, an art gallery and a repertory theater.
"We are asking the court to strike down the statute so that Idahoans have the opportunity to enjoy the arts without government censorship," said Deborah Ferguson, whose law firm prevailed in striking down Idaho's same-sex marriage ban in 2014, in a prepared statement.
According to the complaint, two undercover Idaho State Police detectives were served alcohol while watching a burlesque show performed by McDonald at Boise's Visual Arts Collective in March. The ISP then filed a complaint alleging that the art gallery failed to prevent the exposure of some parts of the female performers' bodies in violation of state law. Idaho code prohibits the live display of certain portions of the buttocks and female breast in establishments where alcohol is served.
The Visual Arts Collective agreed to pay a fine and a short liquor suspension to avoid having its liquor license permanently revoked.
"My breasts are being made into political objects. They are part of my body and the discretion on how they are shown within the context of performance should be mine," McDonald said, adding that standup comedians often reference sexually explicit material, but female performers are punished for approaching similar topics with body movements.
Idaho State Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The plaintiffs are seeking an immediate injunction to prevent the Idaho law from being enforced at the Alley Repertory Theater's seasonal opening of a play called "The Totalitarians" — a dark political satire.
Earlier this year, Idaho lawmakers repealed a similar ban for Idaho movie theaters after a theater sued when its liquor license was threatened for showing "Fifty Shades of Grey" while serving alcohol. The Republican-dominant Legislature did not repeal the ban on live performances.
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REDDING, Calif. (AP) — A judge in Northern California has sentenced a woman to more than two years in prison for leading police on a chase in a minivan styled like the "Scooby Doo" Mystery Machine.
The Redding Record Searchlight reports (http://bit.ly/2ceIoiV ) that 51-year-old Sharon Turman pleaded guilty in April and asked Superior Court Judge Cara Beatty to place her on probation instead of giving her the two year, eight month prison sentence.
Turman says she was high on methamphetamine at the time of the chase but is now dedicated to leading a sober and law-abiding life.
Beatty commended Turman's plan to get sober but said she wouldn't grant her parole, calling her crime "horrifying."
Police say Turman was on supervised release for theft when she fled a traffic stop in the colorful van.
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Information from: Record Searchlight, http://redding.com
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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The parents of a boy who died after a falling tree struck the car his mother was driving seek $2.5 million in a lawsuit against the owners of the Portland property from which the tree fell.
The lawsuit filed Thursday in Multnomah County asserts the property owners should have known the cedar tree was dead and posed a risk of toppling onto Southwest Terwilliger Boulevard during a windy night in December 2014.
The Oregonian/OregonLive (http://bit.ly/2cwqLsS ) reported at the time that the tree fell as 11-year-old Thomas Graham and his mother were heading home to Lake Oswego. After getting struck by the tree, the car continued another 50 feet and hit another tree.
Graham was a sixth-grader at Lake Oswego Junior High School.
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Information from: The Oregonian/OregonLive, http://www.oregonlive.com
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — A former Los Angeles Police Department sergeant who leaked recordings of an actress being detained by officers is seeking to block public disclosure of his and other officers' personnel records.
Retired Sgt. Jim Parker detained "Django Unchained" actress Daniele Watts and her boyfriend in September 2014 while investigating reports of people having sex in a car. Both the actress and her boyfriend pleaded no contest to disturbing the peace.
The Los Angeles Times reports (http://lat.ms/2ccRDeN ) that the Los Angeles Ethics Commission has formally accused Parker of misusing his position and disclosing confidential information by giving TMZ the recording to his encounter with Watts.
Parker filed a lawsuit Thursday arguing that a hearing slated for Sept. 26 will need his confidential personnel records if he is to defend himself.
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Information from: Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com/
- By HENRY BREAN Las Vegas Review-Journal
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LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Mount Charleston blue butterfly is still incredibly rare, but researchers are seeing more of them in more places than they have in decades.
Close to 200 of the endangered insects were spotted over the summer at several locations high in the Spring Mountains, including isolated patches of previously unknown habitat from Bonanza Peak to the ridge line above the Lee Canyon ski area.
UNLV biologist and butterfly expert Daniel Thompson said it's been 20 years since anyone has counted as many butterflies along the Bonanza Trail as his group saw in 2015 and 2016, reported the Las Vegas Review-Journal (http://bit.ly/2cpxBAz).
This year, the team of researchers and students from UNLV, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Forest Service also found a few Mount Charleston blues on a second ski run at Lee Canyon, suggesting the butterfly might be expanding its range there.
"The more places they are located across the mountain top, the less likely that one disturbance could take the entire population out," Thompson said.
And that's not the only good news he had to offer. Based on the plants his team has seen growing this summer and last, Thompson said it looks like the Carpenter 1 Fire in 2013 may have opened up a sizable new addition to the butterfly's habitat.
"The first plants that have come back in these burned areas between the trees are the host plants of the butterfly and the nectar plants of the butterfly," he said.
The Mountain Charleston blue butterfly was added to the list of endangered species in September 2013, one month after the Carpenter 1 fire was contained at almost 28,000 acres.
In 2015, federal regulators designated more than 5,200 acres in the Spring Mountains, including portions of the Lee Canyon ski resort, as critical habitat for the insect.
The Mount Charleston blue is a distinctive subspecies of the wider-ranging Shasta blue butterfly. The males sport iridescent blue-and-gray wings to attract mates, while the dull, bluish-brown females flutter about depositing tiny eggs on one of two small, ground-hugging host plants.
There is a lot researchers still don't know about the species. For example, Thompson said, no one has ever seen the insect in its larval, caterpillar stage, which is thought to last up to two years.
The exact population is unknown, but there have been years when surveyors couldn't find any of the insects.
The adult butterflies only live a week or two, generally taking flight between late June and the end of August to mate and lay eggs during the short window of warm weather in the high country.
This year, researchers spotted their first Mount Charleston blue on June 17, the earliest sighting on record. "We were actually up there just trying to get ready for the season," said Thompson, the principal investigator of the species since 2010. "I was astounded."
Keeping tabs on the elusive butterfly is a great way to stay in shape.
To reach one of the core habitat areas, the survey team has to hike 6 1/2 miles up the South Loop Trail to a ridge line 11,400 feet above sea level. For roughly two miles, the trail crosses through the area burned by the Carpenter 1 fire. "Literally in the last mile, every single tree is burned," Thompson said.
Once they know the blues are flying, the researchers will try to check on them once a week or so, which makes for a lot of hiking over steep terrain ranging in elevation from about 9,500 to 11,500 feet.
And that wasn't the only walking Thompson did this summer. He and fellow UNLV professor Scott Abella, whose expertise is in ecology, also spent time in other parts of the Spring Mountains, outside known butterfly habitat, collecting tiny seeds from host and nectar plants as part of a habitat restoration effort they helped develop for the federal agencies overseeing protection of the species.
The plan is to improve and expand the butterfly's range by introducing more of its preferred nectar plants at suitable areas already populated by host plants.
"It's very labor intensive," Thompson said of the seed collection process. "You're down on your hands and knees picking them up with your fingertips. Then you drop them in a bag and hope they don't blow away."
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Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com
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CALDWELL, Idaho (AP) — Authorities have released body camera footage of a Caldwell officer shooting a woman's dog after police say it acted aggressively toward him.
The Idaho Statesman reports (http://bit.ly/2chOXzM ) that last month's incident took place after officers responded to Alinah Stelly's home in search of the woman's sister who was wanted by police.
The footage released Thursday shows an officer pushing the front door open further after Stelly left it ajar to get her sister.
The woman's dog comes to the door barking and the officer pulls out his baton and tells it to "get back."
The dog then goes past him and toward another officer, who then shoots the dog.
Stelly says she would've been able to control the dog if the first officer hadn't pushed her door open. She's considering filing a lawsuit.
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Information from: Idaho Statesman, http://www.idahostatesman.com
- By JEN MULSON The Gazette
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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Human breast milk, no matter whose it is, does a baby good.
Lisa Tuttle's second son, Henry, was born at 26 weeks and weighed 1 pound and 11 ounces. He quickly needed nourishment and to get his gastrointestinal system working, but Tuttle's body wasn't able to produce the breast milk he needed for the first five days of his life.
"I started pumping the day of my delivery," said Tuttle, a registered nurse on the mom-baby unit at UCHealth Memorial Hospital. "We try to get any NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) mom pumping right away. It tells the body that you're going to breast-feed and it can take three to five days for milk to come in after a woman delivers."
But what's a mom to do in the meantime between delivery and when her milk comes in?
Hospitals often turn to formula, usually derived from cow's milk, but there's another, better option that many may not be aware of — donated breast milk.
Mothers' Milk Bank in Denver, a nonprofit program of Rocky Mountain Children's Health Foundation, collects, processes and provides donor human milk to babies across the country who may be premature or struggling with severe illnesses.
"I was very familiar with it," Tuttle said. "It made perfect sense for him to use it. They gave him one milliliter every four hours and gradually started to increase it as he tolerated it. For me, because my milk came in, it was five days' worth of donor milk and then they began using my milk."
Moms like Tuttle depend on donors like Kenzie Hudnall, reported The Gazette (http://bit.ly/2cI3CXb). The 20-year-old's son Kadyn was stillborn after she unexpectedly went into labor in July, almost 23 weeks into her pregnancy. She started pumping her milk the night he was born and asked hospital staff what she could do with it. When they gave her the options, which included donation, the idea immediately appealed to her.
"Babies are born prematurely a lot more than it's talked about," she said. "Stillbirths and miscarriages are super common."
Hudnall has donated about 400 ounces of milk and intends to keep going until her milk stops coming in or she gets pregnant again.
"It helps me come to acceptance of his death a lot quicker," she said. "It reminds me that he existed and it's an inspiration. It helps me know I'm doing something good in his name."
Milk banks
The first milk bank opened in Boston in 1909. Mothers' Milk Bank opened in 1984 and is now the largest nonprofit bank in North America. The organization has served many hundreds of thousands of babies over more than three decades, said Laraine Lockhart Borman, director of outreach for MMB. There are 22 banks in the United States but only one in Colorado. Last year MMB received more than 700,000 ounces of donated milk and dispensed 630,000 ounces to hospitals and individuals across the country, setting a record for both MMB and milk banking in North America. The nonprofit is on track to donate more than 700,000 ounces this year.
"Almost all the hospitals in Colorado order from us on a weekly or every other week basis," Borman said. "We serve hospitals out of state — around 130 hospitals. The hospitals with the sicker babies tend to get our milk more."
Prospective donors undergo a thorough screening process that adheres to strict guidelines set by the Human Milk Banking Association of North America. Approved milk donations are pasteurized using the Holder method, which eliminates viruses and bacteria but preserves the milk's immune properties, and before it's dispensed the processed milk is tested to confirm acceptability. UCHealth Memorial Hospital and St. Francis Medical Center are donation centers and drop-off locations for MMB.
"They (donors) can save a baby's life with extra milk by preventing infections, especially in pre-term infants," Borman said. "They can really do some major good in this world by donating milk. They're making it anyway and storing it in the freezer and thinking, 'What am I going to do with this?' They shouldn't throw it away. We all need to be out there helping each other. This is a way a mom can help pretty easily, too. It's pretty easy to be a donor."
Donor milk vs. formula
While standard formula fills a role, it will never have the same nutritional value as human milk. And while it's always better for a baby to receive her mother's milk, donor milk is the next best thing.
"Preemies who get their mom's own milk are at significantly less risk for a number of infections," said Dr. Mary Laird, a neonatologist at UCHealth Memorial Hospital. "They are able to move from IV fluid feeds to food that goes into the intestine more quickly than babies who get formula. The same benefit is conferred with donor milk."
Donor milk also helps decrease the possibility of necrotizing enterocolitis, a potentially life-threatening infection that can affect the intestines of preemies. Invading bacteria can cause removal of part of the intestinal wall, leading to a lifelong problem.
"Necrotizing enterocolitis infection has been one of the leading killers of premature babies," Laird said. "When babies get their own milk or human milk, they're much less likely to get that. That is the main benefit of donor milk over formula."
Tuttle recognizes that some families might be uncomfortable using donor milk.
"If we can, as a nurse, get in there and explain the benefits and that it's tested for disease and pasteurized and so good for babies," she said, "most moms are completely on board and really appreciate that we have that for them."
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Information from: The Gazette, http://www.gazette.com
TWIN FALLS, Idaho (AP) — Professional stuntman Eddie Braun successfully jumped over the Snake River Canyon Friday afternoon in an ode to his boyhood idol, Evel Knievel.
Braun soared over the southern Idaho canyon in a custom-built rocket dubbed "Evel Spirit."
It launched off a steep ramp on the edge of the canyon rim just before 4 p.m. as hundreds of onlookers watched.
The rocket reached an estimated 400 mph (644 kph) before its parachute deployed, allowing Braun and the ship to land safely in fields on the other side of the 1,400 foot-wide (427 meters-wide) canyon. He didn't appear to grant any interviews immediately following his flight; members of his team had earlier announced that he would instead be available for interviews on Monday morning in New York City.
Braun has said the rocket was identical to the model Knievel used for his failed canyon attempt on Sept. 8, 1974. Knievel landed at the bottom of the canyon when his parachute prematurely deployed partway across the canyon, but walked away with only minor injuries. The spot where Knievel jumped was 1,600 feet (488 meters) wide.
Braun hoped his effort would prove that Knievel could have made it across the canyon if his parachute had deployed at the correct time.
Before the jump, the 54-year-old Braun said he was optimistic he would make it across the canyon.
"I wouldn't be doing this if I thought it couldn't be done," he said.
Still, he had prepared for the worst in the days before the stunt, asking his young son to one day walk his sisters down the aisle at their wedding if Braun died in his attempt.
Months of testing was performed on the rocket designed by Scott Truax, whose father constructed the original "X2 Skycycle" for Knievel.
Truax followed his father's blueprints down to the last bolt and deviated only by updating the parachute system.
Braun had trouble finding corporate sponsors for the stunt, and said he spent about $1.5 million of his own money on the jump.
He looked at the stunt as a way to pay homage to Knievel, who inspired him to become a stuntman.
"I like to say I'm not doing something that Evel Knievel couldn't do," he told the Idaho Statesman before making the jump. "I'm simply finishing out his dream. How many people get to finish the dream of their hero?"
Not all in the southern Idaho town of Twin Falls have such fond memories of Knievel. Many residents remember Knievel's promise of a weeklong festival complete with celebrities and a golf tournament.
Knievel's attempt drew plenty of spectators, and the resultant partying, fighting and mischief upset locals. The daredevil was later accused of leaving town without paying debts to area businesses.
But the mystique of Knievel's failed stunt has lived on, with would-be daredevils showing up every decade or so to propose similar jumps. Knievel's son Robbie visited Twin Falls in the 1990s and in 2010 to float the idea of a possible jump, though it never came to fruition.
Braun appears to have been the first to actually try the stunt since Knievel's attempt.
- By GENE JOHNSON Associated Press
SEATTLE (AP) — A federal judge in Tacoma has found a southwest Washington county liable for clearing out homeless encampments and seizing the residents' belongings.
In a ruling Friday, Judge Robert Bryan said Clark County's work crews violated the constitutional rights of at least a half-dozen homeless residents when they threw out their tents, stoves, medication, documents and photographs during sweeps from 2012 to 2014. A trial is set for Oct. 3 to determine how much the county must pay in damages, but settlement talks are also planned.
"The only evidence in the record is that the County's employees took all unattended property and then immediately destroyed the property, regardless of whether the property was abandoned," the judge wrote.
He declined to immediately rule on the merits of claims by two other campers, saying it wasn't clear who took their property.
The issue of encampment sweeps has become increasingly controversial as officials have struggled with rising rates of homelessness around the country. A detailed report by The Seattle Times last month found that despite efforts by some Seattle and state workers to provide advance notification of sweeps and connect homeless residents to social services, the cleanups were frequently ill-coordinated and residents often lost critical belongings. Mayor Ed Murray promised to do better.
The American Civil Liberties Union or other homeless advocates have filed recent lawsuits over sweeps in Los Angeles, Honolulu, Denver and other cities.
"It's important to remember that people who are homeless have constitutional rights, including the right to due process when government seeks to seize their possessions," Doug Honig, a spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, said in an email Friday. "While the possessions may not have great monetary value, they can be vital to the lives of people who do not have shelter."
The ACLU chapter was not involved in the Clark County lawsuit, but it and other civil rights groups have urged Seattle to change its approach to homeless encampments, noting that in a recent case challenging an anti-camping ordinance in Boise, Idaho, the U.S. Justice Department warned in a court filing, "If a person literally has nowhere else to go, then enforcement of the anti-camping ordinance against that person criminalizes her for being homeless."
In March 2012, the Clark County Department of Corrections adopted a policy that work crews should clean up camps immediately if they'd been abandoned. If they hadn't been abandoned, it said, the workers were to give one-hour notice that the residents had to vacate the area and take their belongings with them.
In practice, the crews often didn't care whether the property had been abandoned. One crew supervisor testified in a deposition that even if his workers complained that a campsite appeared to be recently occupied, he ordered them to clean up anyway.
A lawyer for the county did not immediately return an email seeking comment Friday.
Some campers left to eat meals at a local shelter, then returned to find the work crews seizing their property and refusing to give it back. Among the items taken were dentures, a photograph of a deceased child, and legal documents such as Social Security cards and disability insurance papers.
One homeless resident, Terry Ellis, left a backpack at a bus stop while he offered to help a woman whose car had broken down nearby. Even though Ellis was within sight when the work crew arrived, the crew took it, ignoring his explanation for why he left it there, Ellis said in court filings.
Inside the backpack were new clothes he had been given so he could apply for a job, he said.
Peter Fels, one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs, said he learned of their plight by volunteering at a legal clinic at the shelter.
After the lawsuit was filed last year, the county conducted training to explain to work crew supervisors that they should not remove property from homeless camps and to help them identify property that has not been abandoned.
But Fels and his co-counsel, Moloy Good, said Friday more changes are needed. In addition to damages, they are seeking to have the county make clear that work crews shouldn't pick up any unattended property.
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Follow Johnson at https://twitter.com/GeneAPseattle
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A wildlife group says a hawk found weak and flightless in Utah apparently had his wing feathers cut by someone who'd been keeping it as a pet after illegally capturing it.
HawkWatch International says the young Cooper's hawk is recovering at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Northern Utah.
He unable to fly when he was found because all 44 of his flight feathers were cut, apparently with scissors.
The group says the feathers will regrow, but the bird may never recover enough to be released into the wild.
Capturing, harming or disturbing wild birds violates the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
- By MICHELLE RINDELS Associated Press
LAS VEGAS (AP) — In a move that resolves the most contentious issue in Nevada's rooftop solar debate, the state Public Utilities Commission on Friday approved a deal that will restore older, more favorable rates to about 32,000 customers who installed or applied for a rooftop solar system before this year.
The commission's vote seals a settlement between utility NV Energy, rooftop solar company SolarCity, the state Bureau of Consumer Protection and the commission's staff.
A panel of lawmakers voted this spring to recommend the "grandfathering" policy after regulators approved a much-maligned rate hike in the winter.
NV Energy called Friday's regulatory action, which it requested, "the most efficient and timely way" to implement the recommendation. The new rates will take effect in December and extend for 20 years.
"The Public Utilities Commission of Nevada's decision today is fair for this set of existing net metering customers, and at the same time reinforces the clear path forward they established in February 2016 for those considering rooftop solar in the future," said NV Energy President Paul Caudill.
Commissioners raised rates for rooftop solar customers this year, saying it corrected a subsidy that non-solar customers were paying for those who had panels.
Rooftop solar companies that had ramped up operations in Nevada responded with hundreds of layoffs and launched a campaign to reverse the decision, which they called a "bait and switch" tactic that changed the rules on people after they'd invested in solar systems.
A PAC funded by SolarCity sought to restore the old rates for all solar customers, including future ones, and gathered far more signatures than needed to qualify the measure for the November ballot. A group largely funded by NV Energy fought back and eventually prevailed at the Nevada Supreme Court, which ruled the measure shouldn't be up for a statewide vote.
Solar proponents applauded regulators' decision to grandfather customers, with the SolarCity-backed Bring Back Solar campaign calling it a "tremendous victory" for people who had "advocated tirelessly for solar since last year's rate hike."
But advocates also said more must be done for future customers.
"While the action today by the PUCN is a step in the right direction, and brings justice to homeowners that already have solar, it does nothing to bring solar jobs back, or to make it possible for homes and businesses to go solar," said Andy Maggi of the Nevada Conservation League.
He called for state lawmakers to eliminate solar fees, restore net metering credits and promote solar development in low-income areas.
REDSTONE, Colo. (AP) — A Colorado mansion formerly owned by a coal baron, a Rockefeller and a Roosevelt is set to go to auction in October.
The Post Independent reports (http://tinyurl.com/jnt9ufe ) that the property in Pitkin County, known as Redstone Castle, is set to be auctioned on Oct. 7 for at least $2 million.
The 42-room estate was opened by mining magnate John C. Osgood in 1902. Since then the estate at 58 Redstone Blvd. has hosted Theodore Roosevelt and John D. Rockefeller.
The estate a 23,000-square-foot main residence appointed with silk-upholstered walls, gold leaf ceilings, Tiffany lamps, a 12-stall carriage house and grounds totaling 150 acres.
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Information from: Post Independent, http://www.postindependent.com/
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Civil rights activists are suing the Idaho State Police with the intent of striking down a state law prohibiting places that are licensed to serve alcohol from showing live performances that depict sexual acts.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho, along with several other Boise attorneys, filed the 28-page lawsuit Thursday on behalf of performance artist Anne McDonald, an art gallery and a repertory theater.
"We are asking the court to strike down the statute so that Idahoans have the opportunity to enjoy the arts without government censorship," said Deborah Ferguson, whose law firm prevailed in striking down Idaho's same-sex marriage ban in 2014, in a prepared statement.
According to the complaint, two undercover Idaho State Police detectives were served alcohol while watching a burlesque show performed by McDonald at Boise's Visual Arts Collective in March. The ISP then filed a complaint alleging that the art gallery failed to prevent the exposure of some parts of the female performers' bodies in violation of state law. Idaho code prohibits the live display of certain portions of the buttocks and female breast in establishments where alcohol is served.
The Visual Arts Collective agreed to pay a fine and a short liquor suspension to avoid having its liquor license permanently revoked.
"My breasts are being made into political objects. They are part of my body and the discretion on how they are shown within the context of performance should be mine," McDonald said, adding that standup comedians often reference sexually explicit material, but female performers are punished for approaching similar topics with body movements.
Idaho State Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The plaintiffs are seeking an immediate injunction to prevent the Idaho law from being enforced at the Alley Repertory Theater's seasonal opening of a play called "The Totalitarians" — a dark political satire.
Earlier this year, Idaho lawmakers repealed a similar ban for Idaho movie theaters after a theater sued when its liquor license was threatened for showing "Fifty Shades of Grey" while serving alcohol. The Republican-dominant Legislature did not repeal the ban on live performances.
REDDING, Calif. (AP) — A judge in Northern California has sentenced a woman to more than two years in prison for leading police on a chase in a minivan styled like the "Scooby Doo" Mystery Machine.
The Redding Record Searchlight reports (http://bit.ly/2ceIoiV ) that 51-year-old Sharon Turman pleaded guilty in April and asked Superior Court Judge Cara Beatty to place her on probation instead of giving her the two year, eight month prison sentence.
Turman says she was high on methamphetamine at the time of the chase but is now dedicated to leading a sober and law-abiding life.
Beatty commended Turman's plan to get sober but said she wouldn't grant her parole, calling her crime "horrifying."
Police say Turman was on supervised release for theft when she fled a traffic stop in the colorful van.
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Information from: Record Searchlight, http://redding.com
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The parents of a boy who died after a falling tree struck the car his mother was driving seek $2.5 million in a lawsuit against the owners of the Portland property from which the tree fell.
The lawsuit filed Thursday in Multnomah County asserts the property owners should have known the cedar tree was dead and posed a risk of toppling onto Southwest Terwilliger Boulevard during a windy night in December 2014.
The Oregonian/OregonLive (http://bit.ly/2cwqLsS ) reported at the time that the tree fell as 11-year-old Thomas Graham and his mother were heading home to Lake Oswego. After getting struck by the tree, the car continued another 50 feet and hit another tree.
Graham was a sixth-grader at Lake Oswego Junior High School.
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Information from: The Oregonian/OregonLive, http://www.oregonlive.com
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A former Los Angeles Police Department sergeant who leaked recordings of an actress being detained by officers is seeking to block public disclosure of his and other officers' personnel records.
Retired Sgt. Jim Parker detained "Django Unchained" actress Daniele Watts and her boyfriend in September 2014 while investigating reports of people having sex in a car. Both the actress and her boyfriend pleaded no contest to disturbing the peace.
The Los Angeles Times reports (http://lat.ms/2ccRDeN ) that the Los Angeles Ethics Commission has formally accused Parker of misusing his position and disclosing confidential information by giving TMZ the recording to his encounter with Watts.
Parker filed a lawsuit Thursday arguing that a hearing slated for Sept. 26 will need his confidential personnel records if he is to defend himself.
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Information from: Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com/
- By HENRY BREAN Las Vegas Review-Journal
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Mount Charleston blue butterfly is still incredibly rare, but researchers are seeing more of them in more places than they have in decades.
Close to 200 of the endangered insects were spotted over the summer at several locations high in the Spring Mountains, including isolated patches of previously unknown habitat from Bonanza Peak to the ridge line above the Lee Canyon ski area.
UNLV biologist and butterfly expert Daniel Thompson said it's been 20 years since anyone has counted as many butterflies along the Bonanza Trail as his group saw in 2015 and 2016, reported the Las Vegas Review-Journal (http://bit.ly/2cpxBAz).
This year, the team of researchers and students from UNLV, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Forest Service also found a few Mount Charleston blues on a second ski run at Lee Canyon, suggesting the butterfly might be expanding its range there.
"The more places they are located across the mountain top, the less likely that one disturbance could take the entire population out," Thompson said.
And that's not the only good news he had to offer. Based on the plants his team has seen growing this summer and last, Thompson said it looks like the Carpenter 1 Fire in 2013 may have opened up a sizable new addition to the butterfly's habitat.
"The first plants that have come back in these burned areas between the trees are the host plants of the butterfly and the nectar plants of the butterfly," he said.
The Mountain Charleston blue butterfly was added to the list of endangered species in September 2013, one month after the Carpenter 1 fire was contained at almost 28,000 acres.
In 2015, federal regulators designated more than 5,200 acres in the Spring Mountains, including portions of the Lee Canyon ski resort, as critical habitat for the insect.
The Mount Charleston blue is a distinctive subspecies of the wider-ranging Shasta blue butterfly. The males sport iridescent blue-and-gray wings to attract mates, while the dull, bluish-brown females flutter about depositing tiny eggs on one of two small, ground-hugging host plants.
There is a lot researchers still don't know about the species. For example, Thompson said, no one has ever seen the insect in its larval, caterpillar stage, which is thought to last up to two years.
The exact population is unknown, but there have been years when surveyors couldn't find any of the insects.
The adult butterflies only live a week or two, generally taking flight between late June and the end of August to mate and lay eggs during the short window of warm weather in the high country.
This year, researchers spotted their first Mount Charleston blue on June 17, the earliest sighting on record. "We were actually up there just trying to get ready for the season," said Thompson, the principal investigator of the species since 2010. "I was astounded."
Keeping tabs on the elusive butterfly is a great way to stay in shape.
To reach one of the core habitat areas, the survey team has to hike 6 1/2 miles up the South Loop Trail to a ridge line 11,400 feet above sea level. For roughly two miles, the trail crosses through the area burned by the Carpenter 1 fire. "Literally in the last mile, every single tree is burned," Thompson said.
Once they know the blues are flying, the researchers will try to check on them once a week or so, which makes for a lot of hiking over steep terrain ranging in elevation from about 9,500 to 11,500 feet.
And that wasn't the only walking Thompson did this summer. He and fellow UNLV professor Scott Abella, whose expertise is in ecology, also spent time in other parts of the Spring Mountains, outside known butterfly habitat, collecting tiny seeds from host and nectar plants as part of a habitat restoration effort they helped develop for the federal agencies overseeing protection of the species.
The plan is to improve and expand the butterfly's range by introducing more of its preferred nectar plants at suitable areas already populated by host plants.
"It's very labor intensive," Thompson said of the seed collection process. "You're down on your hands and knees picking them up with your fingertips. Then you drop them in a bag and hope they don't blow away."
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Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com
CALDWELL, Idaho (AP) — Authorities have released body camera footage of a Caldwell officer shooting a woman's dog after police say it acted aggressively toward him.
The Idaho Statesman reports (http://bit.ly/2chOXzM ) that last month's incident took place after officers responded to Alinah Stelly's home in search of the woman's sister who was wanted by police.
The footage released Thursday shows an officer pushing the front door open further after Stelly left it ajar to get her sister.
The woman's dog comes to the door barking and the officer pulls out his baton and tells it to "get back."
The dog then goes past him and toward another officer, who then shoots the dog.
Stelly says she would've been able to control the dog if the first officer hadn't pushed her door open. She's considering filing a lawsuit.
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Information from: Idaho Statesman, http://www.idahostatesman.com
- By JEN MULSON The Gazette
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Human breast milk, no matter whose it is, does a baby good.
Lisa Tuttle's second son, Henry, was born at 26 weeks and weighed 1 pound and 11 ounces. He quickly needed nourishment and to get his gastrointestinal system working, but Tuttle's body wasn't able to produce the breast milk he needed for the first five days of his life.
"I started pumping the day of my delivery," said Tuttle, a registered nurse on the mom-baby unit at UCHealth Memorial Hospital. "We try to get any NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) mom pumping right away. It tells the body that you're going to breast-feed and it can take three to five days for milk to come in after a woman delivers."
But what's a mom to do in the meantime between delivery and when her milk comes in?
Hospitals often turn to formula, usually derived from cow's milk, but there's another, better option that many may not be aware of — donated breast milk.
Mothers' Milk Bank in Denver, a nonprofit program of Rocky Mountain Children's Health Foundation, collects, processes and provides donor human milk to babies across the country who may be premature or struggling with severe illnesses.
"I was very familiar with it," Tuttle said. "It made perfect sense for him to use it. They gave him one milliliter every four hours and gradually started to increase it as he tolerated it. For me, because my milk came in, it was five days' worth of donor milk and then they began using my milk."
Moms like Tuttle depend on donors like Kenzie Hudnall, reported The Gazette (http://bit.ly/2cI3CXb). The 20-year-old's son Kadyn was stillborn after she unexpectedly went into labor in July, almost 23 weeks into her pregnancy. She started pumping her milk the night he was born and asked hospital staff what she could do with it. When they gave her the options, which included donation, the idea immediately appealed to her.
"Babies are born prematurely a lot more than it's talked about," she said. "Stillbirths and miscarriages are super common."
Hudnall has donated about 400 ounces of milk and intends to keep going until her milk stops coming in or she gets pregnant again.
"It helps me come to acceptance of his death a lot quicker," she said. "It reminds me that he existed and it's an inspiration. It helps me know I'm doing something good in his name."
Milk banks
The first milk bank opened in Boston in 1909. Mothers' Milk Bank opened in 1984 and is now the largest nonprofit bank in North America. The organization has served many hundreds of thousands of babies over more than three decades, said Laraine Lockhart Borman, director of outreach for MMB. There are 22 banks in the United States but only one in Colorado. Last year MMB received more than 700,000 ounces of donated milk and dispensed 630,000 ounces to hospitals and individuals across the country, setting a record for both MMB and milk banking in North America. The nonprofit is on track to donate more than 700,000 ounces this year.
"Almost all the hospitals in Colorado order from us on a weekly or every other week basis," Borman said. "We serve hospitals out of state — around 130 hospitals. The hospitals with the sicker babies tend to get our milk more."
Prospective donors undergo a thorough screening process that adheres to strict guidelines set by the Human Milk Banking Association of North America. Approved milk donations are pasteurized using the Holder method, which eliminates viruses and bacteria but preserves the milk's immune properties, and before it's dispensed the processed milk is tested to confirm acceptability. UCHealth Memorial Hospital and St. Francis Medical Center are donation centers and drop-off locations for MMB.
"They (donors) can save a baby's life with extra milk by preventing infections, especially in pre-term infants," Borman said. "They can really do some major good in this world by donating milk. They're making it anyway and storing it in the freezer and thinking, 'What am I going to do with this?' They shouldn't throw it away. We all need to be out there helping each other. This is a way a mom can help pretty easily, too. It's pretty easy to be a donor."
Donor milk vs. formula
While standard formula fills a role, it will never have the same nutritional value as human milk. And while it's always better for a baby to receive her mother's milk, donor milk is the next best thing.
"Preemies who get their mom's own milk are at significantly less risk for a number of infections," said Dr. Mary Laird, a neonatologist at UCHealth Memorial Hospital. "They are able to move from IV fluid feeds to food that goes into the intestine more quickly than babies who get formula. The same benefit is conferred with donor milk."
Donor milk also helps decrease the possibility of necrotizing enterocolitis, a potentially life-threatening infection that can affect the intestines of preemies. Invading bacteria can cause removal of part of the intestinal wall, leading to a lifelong problem.
"Necrotizing enterocolitis infection has been one of the leading killers of premature babies," Laird said. "When babies get their own milk or human milk, they're much less likely to get that. That is the main benefit of donor milk over formula."
Tuttle recognizes that some families might be uncomfortable using donor milk.
"If we can, as a nurse, get in there and explain the benefits and that it's tested for disease and pasteurized and so good for babies," she said, "most moms are completely on board and really appreciate that we have that for them."
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Information from: The Gazette, http://www.gazette.com
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