NEW MEXICO

Company tests high-altitude airship over desert

ALBUQUERQUE — A technology company that wants to bring broadband to more remote areas and monitor methane and other emissions from the oil and gas industry launched one of its airships from the New Mexico desert on June 14 as part of a key test on the way to commercial operations.

Sceye Inc. is developing a high-altitude platform station that company officials hope will provide an option other than satellites and airplanes for boosting internet connectivity and collecting data on everything from industrial pollution to wildfire threats.

It took a couple of hours for the unmanned helium-filled station to reach the stratosphere. It will maintain its position there for 24 hours, a milestone that will bring Sceye closer to commercial operations over the next 18 to 24 months.

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Founder and CEO Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsenand said his team will aim for more longevity with subsequent flights from their home base in Roswell.

Vestergaard Frandsenand said it takes about eight months to build a station, which consists of a sleek reflective fabric designed to operate in the stratosphere at 65,000 feet above the Earth’s surface.

The New Mexico Economic Development Department pledged up to $5 million in funding when Sceye announced it would locate in the state. The company has operations in Roswell and Moriarty, a small community near Albuquerque.

Volcanic cones near peak sacred to tribes gain protection

ALBUQUERQUE — A years-long effort to protect land around a New Mexico mountain peak held sacred by many Native American tribes got a major boost on June 2 with the announcement that dozens of additional square miles will be set aside for wildlife, cultural preservation and recreation.

The $34 million effort by the national conservation group Trust for Public Land comes as New Mexico and the federal government look to preserve more natural landscapes as part of a nationwide commitment.

Trust for Public Land partnered with other organizations and foundations to purchase adjoining properties that make up the sprawling L Bar Ranch, which sits in the shadow of Mount Taylor just west of Albuquerque.

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The more than 84 square miles includes grassland, rugged mesas and part of the Mount Taylor Traditional Cultural Property, which is on the state register of historic places due to its significance to Native Americans in New Mexico and Arizona.

Part of the property has been conveyed to the New Mexico Game and Fish Department and the rest will be turned over to land managers in the coming years to create what will be the largest state-owned recreation property in New Mexico. A legislative appropriation and money allocated through a federal excise tax on firearms, ammunition and archery equipment helped with the effort.

A management plan will be developed to ensure recreational access with special considerations for areas important to the pueblos of Acoma, Laguna and Zuni and the Hopi and Navajo people.

KANSAS

Heat stress blamed for thousands of cattle deaths

BELLE PLAINE — Thousands of cattle in feedlots in southwestern Kansas have died of heat stress due to soaring temperatures, high humidity and little wind in early June, industry officials said.

The final toll remains unclear, but as of June 16 at least 2,000 heat-related deaths had been reported to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, the state agency that assists in disposing of carcasses. Agency spokesman Matt Lara said he expected that number to rise as more feedlots report losses from an ongoing heat wave.

The cattle deaths have sparked unsubstantiated reports on social media and elsewhere that something besides the weather is at play, but Kansas agriculture officials said there’s no indication of any other cause.

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Temperatures spiked from the 70s to higher than 100 degrees on June 11, said Scarlett Hagins, spokeswoman for the Kansas Livestock Association.

“And it was that sudden change that didn’t allow the cattle to acclimate that caused the heat stress issues in them,” she said.

The deaths represent a huge economic loss because the animals, which typically weigh around 1,500 pounds, are worth around $2,000 per head, Hagins said. Federal disaster programs will help some producers who incurred a loss, she added.

Hagins said heat-related deaths in the industry are rare because ranchers take precautions such as providing extra drinking water, altering feeding schedules so animals are not digesting during the heat of the day, and using sprinkler systems to cool them down.

MONTANA

Governor under fire for vacationing during flooding

RED LODGE — As punishing floods tore through Yellowstone National Park and neighboring Montana communities, the state’s governor was nowhere to be seen.

In the immediate aftermath, the state issued a disaster declaration attributed to the Republican governor, but it carried the lieutenant governor’s signature.

It wasn’t until Wednesday — more than 48 hours after the flood hit the state — that Gov. Greg Gianforte’s office acknowledged the tech mogul was out of the country, though it wouldn’t say exactly where he was, citing unspecified security concerns.

Gianforte returned on the night of June 16 from what his office said was a vacation with his wife in Italy. But he found himself facing a torrent of criticism for not hurrying home sooner and for not telling the public his whereabouts during the emergency.

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While Gianforte was away, Montana’s lieutenant governor served as acting governor. Gianforte’s office said he was briefed regularly about the flooding, which caused widespread damage to small communities in the southern part of the state and had threatened to cut off fresh water to Billings, the state’s largest city.

But Gianforte’s critics seized on his mysterious disappearance and started the mocking social media hashtag #WhereIsGreg.

Gianforte toured the flood zone on June 17 but didn’t address his absence. He instead encouraged visitors to still come to the Yellowstone region.

The floods washed away roads, bridges and houses and closed all of Yellowstone, threatening some of the communities on the park’s outskirts that depend heavily on tourists visiting one of America’s most beloved natural attractions.

Yellowstone officials said they could reopen the southern end of the park as soon as next week, offering visitors a chance to see Old Faithful and other attractions. But the northern entrances in Montana, which lead to the wildlife-rich Lamar Valley and Tower Fall, could be closed all summer, if not longer.

NEBRASKA

Warren Buffett’s final charity lunch draws record $19M bid

OMAHA — An anonymous bidder has shelled out a record $19 million for a private lunch with billionaire Warren Buffet at a steakhouse in New York City.

The meal with the Berkshire Hathaway CEO was offered on an eBay auction to benefit the San-Francisco-based charity GLIDE, which helps homeless people and those in poverty. The winner can bring up to seven guests.

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Buffett has raised $53 million for GLIDE since the auction began in 2000. The charity earned the philanthropist billionaire’s support when his first wife, Susie, introduced him to it after she started volunteering there. She died in 2004.

This year’s event will be the first private lunch offered with the 91-year-old billionaire since the previous record-setting bid of $4.5 million by cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun in 2019. The past two auctions were called off due to COVID-19 concerns and Buffett has said this will be the last.

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