NEW MEXICO

Fight over jaguar habitat in Southwest heads back to court

ALBUQUERQUE – A federal appeals court is ordering a U.S. district judge in New Mexico to reconsider a case involving a fight over critical habitat for the endangered jaguar in the American Southwest.

Groups representing ranchers had sued, arguing that a 2014 decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to set aside thousands of acres for the cats was arbitrary and violated the statute that guides wildlife managers in determining whether certain areas are essential for the conservation of a species.

With the order released in March, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned an earlier ruling that had sided with the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Jaguars are currently found in 19 countries. Several individual male jaguars have been spotted in Arizona and New Mexico over the last two decades but there’s no evidence of breeding pairs establishing territories beyond northern Mexico.

Under a recovery plan finalized last year, Mexico as well as countries in Central and South America would be primarily responsible for monitoring jaguar movements within their territory. At issue in the latest legal battle is more than 170 square miles that span two desert mountain ranges in Arizona and New Mexico.

The appellate court said there was no evidence in the record of jaguars being present in the two areas around the time of the initial listing in 1972 or at any time before 1995.

Man says he unknowingly stole TVs while drunk

GALLUP – A New Mexico man is facing charges after he told police he unknowingly stole two televisions while drunk.

The Gallup Independent reports Sage Aaron Cummins was arrested shortly following his arrival to the victim’s apartment to return the TVs.

According to Gallup police, an officer was investigating a burglary report when Cummins approached him and admitted he had stolen the televisions from the victim’s home.

Cummins told police he was “very intoxicated” when he entered the residence.

A police report says Cummins said he only remembered knocking on the door and, when it was apparent that no one was home, he entered the residence. Cummins says he did not remember what happened after that.

“He woke up at 8:30 a.m. the next day and noticed he had two TV’s in his room,” the police report says.

The 24-year-old Cummins was arrested and charged with receiving stolen property. He was released on an unsecured bond of $1,500.

IDAHO

Governor signs GOP’s anti-transgender bills, setting up likely legal challenges

BOISE – Gov. Brad Little has signed into law two anti-transgender bills.

One bill would ban transgender girls and women from participating in sports that align with their gender identity. The other bill would make it illegal for transgender people to change gender markers on their Idaho birth certificates.

Little signed the bills March 30. He didn’t issue signing statements on either bill.

The bills’ next likely stop will be the courts for a lengthy and expensive legal battle. Republican lawmakers passed both bills despite legal warnings of their unconstitutionality.

House Bill 500, dubbed the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, would apply to all sports teams sponsored by public schools, colleges and universities. A girls or women’s team would not be open to students who were born as male, even if they identify as female. The bill does not apply to transgender students wanting to participate in boys or men’s sports.

Under House Bill 509 a birth certificate can be amended only within one year of its filing. After one year, it can be changed only via a court challenge “on the basis of fraud, duress, or material mistake of fact.” Lawmakers passed the bill despite a federal court ruling that a previous Idaho ban on changing birth certificates was unconstitutional.

An Idaho Attorney General’s Office’s analysis of the bills, which was provided to lawmakers, found them possibly unconstitutional and open to legal challenge.

The ACLU of Idaho issued a statement saying that it would not hesitate to fight the measures:

MONTANA

Disputed Canada-US oil pipeline work to start in April

BILLINGS – A Canadian company said March 31 it plans to start construction of the disputed Keystone XL oil sands pipeline through the U.S. Midwest in April, after lining up customers and money for a proposal that is bitterly opposed by environmentalists and some American Indian tribes.

Construction would begin at the pipeline’s border crossing in Montana, said TC Energy spokesman Terry Cunha. That would be a milestone for a project first proposed in 2008.

The announcement came after the company secured $1.1 billion in financing from the Canadian provincial government of Alberta to cover construction through 2020 and agreements for the transport of 575,000 barrels of oil daily.

Despite plunging oil prices in recent weeks, Alberta Premiere Jason Kenney said the province’s resource-dependent economy could not afford for Keystone XL to be delayed until after the coronavirus pandemic and a global economic downturn have passed.

The pipeline was rejected twice by the administration of President Barack Obama over worries it could make climate change worse. President Donald Trump has been a strong proponent of the $8 billion project and issued it a permit that environmentalists say was illegal.

A court hearing in the permit dispute is set for April 16 before U.S. District Judge Brian Morris in Great Falls. Morris has previously ruled against the project.

The company said the 1,200-mile pipeline would start sending oil to the U.S. in 2023. It’s designed to move up to 830,000 barrels of crude daily at from the oil sand fields of western Canada to Steele City, Nebraska, where it would connect to other pipelines that feed oil refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

UTAH

Businessman found guilty in fraud scheme with polygamists

SALT LAKE CITY – A California businessman accused of helping a pair of Utah polygamists expand a biodiesel fraud scheme that ended up stealing nearly $500 million in government funds was found guilty March 16 on 10 counts including money laundering and mail fraud.

The verdict against gas station owner Lev Dermen came despite his attorney urging the judge to declare a mistrial based on the contention that jurors shouldn’t be kept in close quarters during the spread of the coronavirus when everyone is supposed to be practicing social distancing.

Attorneys from the U.S. Department of Justice argued during the nearly seven-week trial that Dermen sold polygamist Jacob Kingston on the idea that he had an umbrella of government officials he knew who would protect the scheme from investigation and prosecution. Under that false aura of protection, a fraud that started with just Kingston and his brother grew with Dermen as the government paid out claim after claim until they were denied the final $650 million claim they made in 2015. The three men were indicted in 2018.

Kingston, his brother and two other family members took plea deals last year on money fraud and other charges. Jacob Kingston testified against Dermen at the trial.

John Huber, U.S. Attorney for the District of Utah, touted the convictions as the culmination of the largest tax fraud case in Utah history and a major strike against the Kingtsons’ polygamous group that he said law enforcement has long believed practice fraud. Dermen and the Kingstons used the money to buy luxury sports cars and million-dollar homes.

Defense attorney Mark Geragos said he’ll continue to fight to clear Dermen, but didn’t provide details.