MONTANA

Proposal would permit eagle deaths as renewables expand

BILLINGS – The Biden administration on Sept. 29 proposed a new permitting program for wind energy turbines, power lines and other projects that kill eagles, amid growing concern among scientists that the rapid expansion of renewable energy in the U.S. West could harm golden eagle populations now teetering on decline.

The Fish and Wildlife Service program is meant to encourage companies to work with officials to minimize harm to golden and bald eagles.

It comes after several major utilities have been federally prosecuted in recent years for killing large numbers of eagles without permits.

The federal government already issues permits to kill eagles. But the new proposal calls for new permits tailored to wind-energy projects, power line networks and the disturbance of breeding bald eagles and bald eagle nests.

Bald eagle numbers have quadrupled since 2009 to about 350,000 birds. There are only about about 40,000 golden eagles, which need much larger areas to survive and are more inclined to have trouble with humans.

Nationwide, 34 permits in place last year authorized companies to “take” 170 golden eagles – meaning that many birds could be killed by turbines or lost through impacts on nests or habitat, according to permitting data obtained by The Associated Press.

For each loss, companies are responsible for ensuring at least one eagle death is avoided somewhere else.

Illegal shootings are the biggest cause of death for golden eagles, killing about 700 annually, according to federal estimates. More than 600 die annually in collisions with cars, wind turbines and power lines; about 500 annually are electrocuted; and more than 400 are poisoned.

ARIZONA

Arizona abortion rights backers sue to overturn old ban

PHOENIX – Supporters of abortion rights on Oct. 4 sued to block an old Arizona law that criminalizes nearly all abortions, arguing that laws passed by the state Legislature after 1973’s Roe v. Wade decision should take precedence and abortions should be allowed until 15 weeks into a pregnancy.

The lawsuit filed by a Phoenix abortion doctor and the Arizona Medical Association repeats many of the arguments made by Planned Parenthood and its Arizona affiliate in their failed effort last month to persuade a Tucson judge to keep in place a 50-year-old injunction barring enforcement of the pre-statehood law. The judge said it was not procedurally proper for her to try to reconcile 50 years of later law with the old law.

Instead, she agreed with Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich that the injunction should be lifted now that the U.S. Supreme Court overruled Roe.

The Sept. 23 decision from Pima County Superior Court Judge Kellie Johnson came a day before a new law signed by Republican Gov. Doug Ducey that banned abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy took effect.

In wake of the decision that said the 1864 law that bans abortion unless the mother’s life is in danger is enforceable, abortion clinics statewide shut down. It was the second time clinics had halted services – they shut down the first time after the Supreme Court ruling, but some restarted after a federal judge ruled that a different “personhood” law was unenforceable.

There is no exception for rape or incest under the old law.

Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said in a statement that the result of the confusing set of laws is that providers and patients are in an untenable position where they “have no sense of what the law is and whether they are breaking it.”

NEW MEXICO

AG wants state’s anti-corruption law strengthened

ALBUQUERQUE – New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas is calling on lawmakers to strengthen the state’s anti-corruption law.

A recent ruling by the New Mexico Supreme Court upheld the dismissal of criminal charges against four defendants, and Balderas told the Albuquerque Journal that the court “took away from citizens a very necessary tool to prosecute public officials who use their public office for their own personal gain.”

The case dealt with the dismissal of ethics charges against a series of former public officials, including a former Doña Ana County treasurer, an ex-district attorney and a former taxation and revenue official.

The Journal reported that the state Supreme Court’s unanimous opinion centered on the enforcement of three provisions in the Governmental Conduct Act – subsections that direct officials to treat their positions as a public trust, conduct themselves in a way that justifies the confidence placed in them by the people and disclose conflicts of interest.

The high court ruled the sections were never intended by legislators to be enforced as criminal statutes and the language doesn’t “spell out what act or omission is required for its violation and does not establish criminal elements that could inform clear jury instructions.”

Annual hot air balloon festival draws global audience

ALBUQUERQUE – Hundreds of hot air balloons lifted off on the morning of Oct. 1, marking the start of an annual fiesta that has drawn pilots and spectators from across the globe to New Mexico’s high desert for 50 years now.

As one of the most photographed events in the world, the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta has become an economic driver for the state’s largest city and a rare – and colorful – opportunity for enthusiasts to be within arm’s reach as the giant balloons are unpacked and inflated.

Three of the original pilots who participated in the first fiesta in 1972 and the family members of others are among this year’s attendees. That year, 13 balloons launched from an open lot near a shopping center on what was then the edge of Albuquerque. It has since grown into a multimillion-dollar production.

Tens of thousands of people packed the field, wide-eyed with necks craned as they tried to soak in the spectacle.

Denise Wiederkehr McDonald was a passenger in her father’s balloon during the first fiesta. She made the trip from Colorado to participate in a re-enactment of that 1972 flight on Sept. 30. Her father, Matt Wiederkehr, was one of the first 10 hot air balloon pilots in the U.S. and held numerous world records for distance and duration and built a successful advertising business with his fleet of balloons.

The fiesta has grown to include a cadre of European ballooning professionals. More than 20 countries are represented this year, including Switzerland, Australia, Brazil, Croatia, Mexico, Taiwan and Ukraine.

NEVADA

Hundreds of cars pack streets for illegal stunts

RENO- Thousands of people in hundreds of cars took over northern Nevada parking lots and intersection late on Sept. 30 the, performing stunts in souped-up vehicles and leading to crashes and arrests, police said.

Police beefed up nighttime staffing after social media posts urged people from San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, to come to the “sideshow” in Reno, Police Lt. Michael Browett said.

The disturbances started as several hundred cars and their occupants met in the parking lot of a still-open Walmart store. Police tried to break up the crowds and drivers sped off, meeting up again at several intersections and industrial parks into Saturday morning. A dozen people were arrested, 14 cars impounded and 33 people were issued citations.

Browett said Reno is just the latest city to see late-night takeovers by auto enthusiasts who ignore law enforcement efforts to stop the illegal and dangerous activity.

In Reno, no one was seriously injured. But Browett said those arrested faces charges including reckless driving, hit and run causing injury and weapons possession.