Arizona lowers flags for Day; falcon chicks; man tries to sell son
- Updated
Odd and interesting news from the West.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
PHOENIX — Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has ordered the lowering of flags at state office buildings to half-staff on Monday in honor of Ann Day, a former Pima County official and ex-legislator who was killed in an automobile crash in the Tucson area.
Ducey says Day was a dedicated public servant who was a champion for southern Arizona and her constituents.
The 77-year-old Day was the sister of former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
Day was killed Saturday when a man's vehicle crossed the median and struck her car head-on. A truck then rear-ended Day's car.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
DENVER — A first-of-its-kind license for marijuana couriers awaits the governor's pen in Colorado.
State lawmakers agreed on a measure Monday to create a new "marijuana transporter" license.
Colorado already has 12 marijuana courier companies, which fill out shipping manifests to move pot from growing warehouses to store shelves. The couriers are currently classified as marijuana "vendors," a broad category which includes other ancillary services.
The new license would give those couriers additional powers, such as temporarily storing pot if an unexpected snowstorm closes a highway. Currently the pot couriers must return to the site of origin if they cannot deliver the marijuana within a designated window.
The courier licenses would cost about $4,400 for two years. Legislative analysts predict 24 people will apply.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
DENVER — New limits on solitary confinement for Colorado's juvenile offenders are headed to the governor's desk.
Lawmakers agreed Monday on a measure to make it harder to use solitary confinement in state-run juvenile facilities.
The bill limits the use of solitary confinement to four hours without approval of the head of the state Division of Youth Corrections. The practice could be used more than eight hours only if there's a court order. Staff must check on the youth every 15 minutes.
The bill also requires juvenile facilities to track the race, age and gender of youths held in solitary.
President Barack Obama in January called for a ban on putting juveniles housed in the federal prison system in solitary confinement.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
BOISE, Idaho — Three chicks have hatched in a peregrine falcon nest on the 14th floor of a downtown Boise building where a web camera supplies streaming video.
The Peregrine Fund spokeswoman Erin Katzner says two chicks hatched Thursday and another on Friday.
She says biologists will put bands on the chicks in early June before the birds fledge in mid-June and leave the nest at One Capital Center.
Katzner says four chicks successfully fledged from the nest last year.
She says Idaho Department of Fish and Game workers assisted last year when several of the young birds ended up at ground level in downtown Boise before becoming confident flyers.
Katzner says the parents are believed to be the same two unnamed adult falcons that have used the nest the last several years.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — Three women were killed when a vehicle traveling north in the southbound lanes of Interstate 15 collided with a semi-trailer west of Great Falls.
The Montana Highway Patrol reports the women were in a sport utility vehicle traveling the wrong way shortly before 3 a.m. Monday when the vehicle hit the southbound semi.
The patrol told KFBB-TV that the women in the SUV were not wearing seat belts and one was thrown from the vehicle. Their names have not been released.
The driver and passenger in the semi suffered minor injuries.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
SANTA FE, N.M. — When most people think UFOs and the unexplained in New Mexico, they turn to Roswell.
But residents of a tiny town in the northern part of the state say they've also seen some strange sights.
Residents of Dulce, a small town on the Jicarilla Apache Reservation, say they've seen flying saucers, UFOs and fast moving lights moving back and forth in the sky, The Santa Fe New Mexican reported. One resident even says he's tracked Bigfoot.
"The whole town of Dulce, whoever you want to talk to, they'll tell you what they've seen — a lot of them," said Geraldine Julian, 78,who claims to have seen multiple UFOs and other strange activity starting in the 1960s. "It's not just a fairy tale. All the things are true, and I believe every last one of them, too, because I've seen it myself."
Legend has it space aliens are working with the U.S. government at the so-called "Dulce Base" underneath the Archuleta Mesa, a mountain that overlooks the town.
Adding to the mystery, Gabe Valdez, a former New Mexico State Police trooper, documented unexplained cattle mutilations in the area in the mid-1970s. Though many said Valdez's evidence was clearly left by aliens, Valdez has said otherwise.
"The evidence that was left there, you know, predators don't leave gas masks, glow sticks, radar chaff. They don't leave that stuff. They don't have vitamin B-12," Valdez said in a radio interview.
Dulce has been featured on the History Channel's "UFO Hunters" television show. When interviewed for the show, Valdez told a different story, saying a mutilated cow was left with a fetus inside that looked like "a human, a monkey and a frog."
With all the rumors, employees at the town's casino and hotel said they get visitors who are in search for UFOs.
"They prefer rooms with a view of the mountain, that way they can see it," said Chelse Anderson, 27, who works at the Wild Horse Casino. "We have some (guests) that wander around the building at night."
The casino's hotel is already booked for next weekend, when a local nonprofit is hosting a Dulce Base UFO Conference as a fundraiser. Apache Indigenous Defenders Inc. is using the conference to raise money for organizations that work to keep local Native traditions alive.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
ALBUQUERQUE — An Albuquerque man is facing drug and child abuse charges after authorities say he was found stumbling in a park and reportedly tried to sell his infant son.
The Albuquerque Journal reports (http://goo.gl/oozpZv) a criminal complaint says James Dingman was arrested Saturday morning after a caller told police she heard the man say he wanted "to sell the baby."
The complaint says officers found the 39-year-old Dingman in a park with the baby "swinging around" in the carrier strapped to his chest. Officers say Dingman stumbled when he tried stand up and they feared he might fall on the baby.
Police say they found 15 small packages of heroin on Dingman.
It was not known if he had an attorney.
- By RUSSELL CONTRERAS The Associated Press
- Updated
ALBUQUERQUE — The New Mexico Public Education Department said Monday that it will remove a rule that prohibits state teachers from making disparaging remarks about standardized tests.
Robert McEntryre, a spokesman for the department, confirmed Monday that officials are working on getting rid of the Gov. Bill Richardson-era regulation and that the department has never used it against any teacher.
"We don't want it and we've never used it so we are pleased to get rid of it," McEntryre said.
The move comes after the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico filed a lawsuit in March challenging a regulation that prohibits teachers and other public school employees from criticizing standardized tests. The lawsuit was filed in Santa Fe District Court on behalf of five public school teachers in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, along with a parent of an Albuquerque student.
The ACLU said the provision against making disparaging statements could result in a license suspension or revocation for teachers and other educators.
ACLU-NM Staff Attorney Maria Martinez Sanchez says the group is pleased the department is ending this "unconstitutional gag rule." ''We should be listening to the teachers' expertise on these issues, not trying to stifle their free speech by threatening their jobs," Sanchez said.
The Public Education Department said the regulation dates back to 2009. It was designed to ensure that students are encouraged to do their best on performance exams.
No one has been disciplined under the provision during the administration of Gov. Susana Martinez, the department said.
The agency had said the ACLU's lawsuit was designed to push an "extreme agenda" against all student testing.
State officials will ask the court for a stay while it goes through the necessary steps to remove the gag rule from the books.
- By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press
- Updated
JUNEAU, Alaska — When you're governor, you get swag — gifts that are protocol from other government officials or pleasantries from people you meet as part of your travels or duties.
Since taking office, Gov. Bill Walker reported receiving a wide array of gifts. They range from calendars, pins and books to sea otter mittens, duck calls and a silver-plated framed photograph of Norway's king, from the king himself.
The gifts were reported in ethics disclosures filed by Walker.
Walker says a gift often reflects the values or priorities of a government or dignitary, and his administration tries to reciprocate by giving Alaska-made gifts.
He says gifts may help break the ice and show respect but the purpose of any meeting is to further the interests of Alaskans.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
WINSLOW — Authorities say a 17-year-old Navajo girl died after intentionally unclipping from a zipline and dropping into a creek during a high school ROTC exercise in northeastern Arizona.
Navajo County sheriff's Chief Deputy James Molesa say Marisa Trujillo of the Chinle (chin-LEE') area dropped 50 feet into a creek north of Interstate 40 west of Winslow on Saturday.
An autopsy will determine cause of death.
According to Molesa, other students have intentionally dropped into the creek in previous years and that Trujillo said she planned to do it and didn't heed calls from others to not drop.
Molesa says a safety diver who was in the creek was unable to find Trujillo in the murky water.
Divers later found Trujillo's body down 15 to 20 feet in the water.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
ELK GROVE, Calif. — Authorities say thieves broke into a two gun stores Sunday but left without any weapons.
KCRA reports (http://bit.ly/1WkzCAe ) MTG Firearms and Laguna Guns and Accessories were targeted around 6 a.m. Sunday.
Police and Laguna Guns and Accessories Owner Andrew Tonis say thieves backed a vehicle into the front doors of the shop but failed to get any guns because they were locked down.
Surveillance video from the store shows the three burglars searching for the guns, backpacks open but no merchandise to fill them, the station reported.
Two miles down the road, MTG Firearms was hit just minutes later, likely by the same suspects.
Crime scene investigators gathered evidence, including a footprint from one of the suspects.
Last week, a gun store in nearby Rocklin was robbed or more than 100 firearms. Police don't know if the cases are linked.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
SAN FRANCISCO — Five activists who refused to eat for 17 days, along with hundreds of their supporters, plan to hold a general strike Monday at City Hall in their continued call for the removal of San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr.
The five ended their hunger strike Saturday after they were hospitalized for deteriorating health.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports (http://bit.ly/1WVqgt8 ) the protest comes one day after 33 people were cited inside City Hall for allegedly trespassing and failing to follow dispersal orders. Organizers urged people to refrain from going to work or school and join them at the picket line beginning at 8 a.m., the newspaper reported.
The group named the Frisco Five started the hunger strike April 21 to protest two shooting deaths of minorities by police and the revelations that officers exchanged racist and homophobic text messages.
- The Associated Press
- Updated
MISSOULA, Mont. — A 61-year-old man is charged with possession of dangerous drugs with intent to distribute after officers recovered 35 pounds of marijuana from in and around his vehicle after it crashed on an Interstate 90 exit near Frenchtown.
Steven Elmer Spanbauer was arrested early Friday and made an initial court appearance, where Justice of the Peace Karen Orzech set his bail at $25,000.
Court records say Spanbauer told investigators that he was transporting the marijuana for a dealer and was to be paid $1,400. Court records say he also was transporting some commercial and homemade goods, such as cookies, that contained marijuana.
Officers recovered 70 half-pound packages of marijuana from the vehicle and the site of the rollover crash.
- The Associated Press
PHOENIX — Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has ordered the lowering of flags at state office buildings to half-staff on Monday in honor of Ann Day, a former Pima County official and ex-legislator who was killed in an automobile crash in the Tucson area.
Ducey says Day was a dedicated public servant who was a champion for southern Arizona and her constituents.
The 77-year-old Day was the sister of former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
Day was killed Saturday when a man's vehicle crossed the median and struck her car head-on. A truck then rear-ended Day's car.
- The Associated Press
DENVER — A first-of-its-kind license for marijuana couriers awaits the governor's pen in Colorado.
State lawmakers agreed on a measure Monday to create a new "marijuana transporter" license.
Colorado already has 12 marijuana courier companies, which fill out shipping manifests to move pot from growing warehouses to store shelves. The couriers are currently classified as marijuana "vendors," a broad category which includes other ancillary services.
The new license would give those couriers additional powers, such as temporarily storing pot if an unexpected snowstorm closes a highway. Currently the pot couriers must return to the site of origin if they cannot deliver the marijuana within a designated window.
The courier licenses would cost about $4,400 for two years. Legislative analysts predict 24 people will apply.
- The Associated Press
DENVER — New limits on solitary confinement for Colorado's juvenile offenders are headed to the governor's desk.
Lawmakers agreed Monday on a measure to make it harder to use solitary confinement in state-run juvenile facilities.
The bill limits the use of solitary confinement to four hours without approval of the head of the state Division of Youth Corrections. The practice could be used more than eight hours only if there's a court order. Staff must check on the youth every 15 minutes.
The bill also requires juvenile facilities to track the race, age and gender of youths held in solitary.
President Barack Obama in January called for a ban on putting juveniles housed in the federal prison system in solitary confinement.
- The Associated Press
BOISE, Idaho — Three chicks have hatched in a peregrine falcon nest on the 14th floor of a downtown Boise building where a web camera supplies streaming video.
The Peregrine Fund spokeswoman Erin Katzner says two chicks hatched Thursday and another on Friday.
She says biologists will put bands on the chicks in early June before the birds fledge in mid-June and leave the nest at One Capital Center.
Katzner says four chicks successfully fledged from the nest last year.
She says Idaho Department of Fish and Game workers assisted last year when several of the young birds ended up at ground level in downtown Boise before becoming confident flyers.
Katzner says the parents are believed to be the same two unnamed adult falcons that have used the nest the last several years.
- The Associated Press
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — Three women were killed when a vehicle traveling north in the southbound lanes of Interstate 15 collided with a semi-trailer west of Great Falls.
The Montana Highway Patrol reports the women were in a sport utility vehicle traveling the wrong way shortly before 3 a.m. Monday when the vehicle hit the southbound semi.
The patrol told KFBB-TV that the women in the SUV were not wearing seat belts and one was thrown from the vehicle. Their names have not been released.
The driver and passenger in the semi suffered minor injuries.
- The Associated Press
SANTA FE, N.M. — When most people think UFOs and the unexplained in New Mexico, they turn to Roswell.
But residents of a tiny town in the northern part of the state say they've also seen some strange sights.
Residents of Dulce, a small town on the Jicarilla Apache Reservation, say they've seen flying saucers, UFOs and fast moving lights moving back and forth in the sky, The Santa Fe New Mexican reported. One resident even says he's tracked Bigfoot.
"The whole town of Dulce, whoever you want to talk to, they'll tell you what they've seen — a lot of them," said Geraldine Julian, 78,who claims to have seen multiple UFOs and other strange activity starting in the 1960s. "It's not just a fairy tale. All the things are true, and I believe every last one of them, too, because I've seen it myself."
Legend has it space aliens are working with the U.S. government at the so-called "Dulce Base" underneath the Archuleta Mesa, a mountain that overlooks the town.
Adding to the mystery, Gabe Valdez, a former New Mexico State Police trooper, documented unexplained cattle mutilations in the area in the mid-1970s. Though many said Valdez's evidence was clearly left by aliens, Valdez has said otherwise.
"The evidence that was left there, you know, predators don't leave gas masks, glow sticks, radar chaff. They don't leave that stuff. They don't have vitamin B-12," Valdez said in a radio interview.
Dulce has been featured on the History Channel's "UFO Hunters" television show. When interviewed for the show, Valdez told a different story, saying a mutilated cow was left with a fetus inside that looked like "a human, a monkey and a frog."
With all the rumors, employees at the town's casino and hotel said they get visitors who are in search for UFOs.
"They prefer rooms with a view of the mountain, that way they can see it," said Chelse Anderson, 27, who works at the Wild Horse Casino. "We have some (guests) that wander around the building at night."
The casino's hotel is already booked for next weekend, when a local nonprofit is hosting a Dulce Base UFO Conference as a fundraiser. Apache Indigenous Defenders Inc. is using the conference to raise money for organizations that work to keep local Native traditions alive.
- The Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE — An Albuquerque man is facing drug and child abuse charges after authorities say he was found stumbling in a park and reportedly tried to sell his infant son.
The Albuquerque Journal reports (http://goo.gl/oozpZv) a criminal complaint says James Dingman was arrested Saturday morning after a caller told police she heard the man say he wanted "to sell the baby."
The complaint says officers found the 39-year-old Dingman in a park with the baby "swinging around" in the carrier strapped to his chest. Officers say Dingman stumbled when he tried stand up and they feared he might fall on the baby.
Police say they found 15 small packages of heroin on Dingman.
It was not known if he had an attorney.
- By RUSSELL CONTRERAS The Associated Press
ALBUQUERQUE — The New Mexico Public Education Department said Monday that it will remove a rule that prohibits state teachers from making disparaging remarks about standardized tests.
Robert McEntryre, a spokesman for the department, confirmed Monday that officials are working on getting rid of the Gov. Bill Richardson-era regulation and that the department has never used it against any teacher.
"We don't want it and we've never used it so we are pleased to get rid of it," McEntryre said.
The move comes after the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico filed a lawsuit in March challenging a regulation that prohibits teachers and other public school employees from criticizing standardized tests. The lawsuit was filed in Santa Fe District Court on behalf of five public school teachers in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, along with a parent of an Albuquerque student.
The ACLU said the provision against making disparaging statements could result in a license suspension or revocation for teachers and other educators.
ACLU-NM Staff Attorney Maria Martinez Sanchez says the group is pleased the department is ending this "unconstitutional gag rule." ''We should be listening to the teachers' expertise on these issues, not trying to stifle their free speech by threatening their jobs," Sanchez said.
The Public Education Department said the regulation dates back to 2009. It was designed to ensure that students are encouraged to do their best on performance exams.
No one has been disciplined under the provision during the administration of Gov. Susana Martinez, the department said.
The agency had said the ACLU's lawsuit was designed to push an "extreme agenda" against all student testing.
State officials will ask the court for a stay while it goes through the necessary steps to remove the gag rule from the books.
- By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press
JUNEAU, Alaska — When you're governor, you get swag — gifts that are protocol from other government officials or pleasantries from people you meet as part of your travels or duties.
Since taking office, Gov. Bill Walker reported receiving a wide array of gifts. They range from calendars, pins and books to sea otter mittens, duck calls and a silver-plated framed photograph of Norway's king, from the king himself.
The gifts were reported in ethics disclosures filed by Walker.
Walker says a gift often reflects the values or priorities of a government or dignitary, and his administration tries to reciprocate by giving Alaska-made gifts.
He says gifts may help break the ice and show respect but the purpose of any meeting is to further the interests of Alaskans.
- The Associated Press
WINSLOW — Authorities say a 17-year-old Navajo girl died after intentionally unclipping from a zipline and dropping into a creek during a high school ROTC exercise in northeastern Arizona.
Navajo County sheriff's Chief Deputy James Molesa say Marisa Trujillo of the Chinle (chin-LEE') area dropped 50 feet into a creek north of Interstate 40 west of Winslow on Saturday.
An autopsy will determine cause of death.
According to Molesa, other students have intentionally dropped into the creek in previous years and that Trujillo said she planned to do it and didn't heed calls from others to not drop.
Molesa says a safety diver who was in the creek was unable to find Trujillo in the murky water.
Divers later found Trujillo's body down 15 to 20 feet in the water.
- The Associated Press
ELK GROVE, Calif. — Authorities say thieves broke into a two gun stores Sunday but left without any weapons.
KCRA reports (http://bit.ly/1WkzCAe ) MTG Firearms and Laguna Guns and Accessories were targeted around 6 a.m. Sunday.
Police and Laguna Guns and Accessories Owner Andrew Tonis say thieves backed a vehicle into the front doors of the shop but failed to get any guns because they were locked down.
Surveillance video from the store shows the three burglars searching for the guns, backpacks open but no merchandise to fill them, the station reported.
Two miles down the road, MTG Firearms was hit just minutes later, likely by the same suspects.
Crime scene investigators gathered evidence, including a footprint from one of the suspects.
Last week, a gun store in nearby Rocklin was robbed or more than 100 firearms. Police don't know if the cases are linked.
- The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO — Five activists who refused to eat for 17 days, along with hundreds of their supporters, plan to hold a general strike Monday at City Hall in their continued call for the removal of San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr.
The five ended their hunger strike Saturday after they were hospitalized for deteriorating health.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports (http://bit.ly/1WVqgt8 ) the protest comes one day after 33 people were cited inside City Hall for allegedly trespassing and failing to follow dispersal orders. Organizers urged people to refrain from going to work or school and join them at the picket line beginning at 8 a.m., the newspaper reported.
The group named the Frisco Five started the hunger strike April 21 to protest two shooting deaths of minorities by police and the revelations that officers exchanged racist and homophobic text messages.
- The Associated Press
MISSOULA, Mont. — A 61-year-old man is charged with possession of dangerous drugs with intent to distribute after officers recovered 35 pounds of marijuana from in and around his vehicle after it crashed on an Interstate 90 exit near Frenchtown.
Steven Elmer Spanbauer was arrested early Friday and made an initial court appearance, where Justice of the Peace Karen Orzech set his bail at $25,000.
Court records say Spanbauer told investigators that he was transporting the marijuana for a dealer and was to be paid $1,400. Court records say he also was transporting some commercial and homemade goods, such as cookies, that contained marijuana.
Officers recovered 70 half-pound packages of marijuana from the vehicle and the site of the rollover crash.
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