MONTANA

Forest protections cut back to boost logging

BILLINGS — President Donald Trump’s administration acted to roll back environmental safeguards around future logging projects on more than half of U.S. national forests under an emergency designation announced April 4 that cites dangers from wildfires.

Whether the move will boost lumber supplies as Trump envisioned in an executive order last month remains to be seen. Former President Joe Biden’s administration also sought more logging in public forests to combat fires, which are worsening as the world gets hotter, yet U.S. Forest Service timber sales stayed relatively flat under his tenure.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins did not mention climate change in the directive, which called on her staff to speed up environmental reviews.

It exempts affected forests from an objection process that allows outside groups, tribes and local governments to challenge logging proposals at the administrative level before they are finalized. It also narrows the number of alternatives federal officials can consider when weighing logging projects.

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Logging projects are routinely contested by conservation groups, both at the administrative level and in court, which can drag out the approval process for years.

The emergency designation covers 176,000 square miles of terrain primarily in the West but also in the South, around the Great Lakes and in New England. Combined, it is an area larger than California and amounts to 59% of Forest Service lands.

Most of those forests are considered to have high wildfire risk, and many are in decline because of insects and disease.

Threats including severe wildfires, insect and disease outbreaks — combined with overgrown forests, more homes in wild areas and decades of aggressive fire suppression — add up to a “forest health crisis” that could be helped with more logging, said Rollins, a former conservative legal activist and president of a Trump-aligned think tank.

Environmentalists rejected the claim that wildfire protection was driving the changes to forest policy and called the it a gift to the timber industry, pointing to the directive’s plans to increase available timber by 25% over the next four or five years.

Judge pauses anti-transgender bathroom law

HELENA — A judge on April 2 temporarily blocked a Montana law that restricts transgender people’s use of bathrooms in public buildings.

The measure, which Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte signed into effect a week earlier, threatened to deprive transgender people of their constitutional right to equal protection under the law, Montana District Court Judge Shane Vannatta ruled. The law prevents people from using restrooms in public buildings that do not align with the sex they were assigned at birth.

The five people who sued over the law were likely to prevail, Vannatta added in his ruling.

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The judge’s order will be in effect at least until an April 21 hearing on whether it should continue to be blocked while the lawsuit moves ahead.

Gianforte spokesperson Kaitlin Price said the governor will defend the law “and the privacy and safety of women and girls.”

The law passed this year despite opposition from Democrats who worried it would complicate daily life for two fellow lawmakers who are transgender and nonbinary. The law would require public buildings including the state Capitol, schools, jails, prisons, libraries and state-funded domestic violence shelters to provide separate spaces for men and women. It defines the sexes based on a person’s chromosomes and reproductive biology, despite a recent state court ruling that declared the definitions unconstitutional.

NEW MEXICO

National Guard mobilized to tackle crime

ALBUQUERQUE — Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on April 8 declared a state of emergency in New Mexico’s largest city, saying that a significant increase in crime in Albuquerque warrants the help of the New Mexico National Guard.

She signed an executive order, clearing the way for several dozen troops to be deployed along the historic Route 66 corridor starting in mid-May. The order also frees up state funds for the National Guard to use as part of the effort.

Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina said that having the National Guard on the ground would free up officers to patrol the streets.

The troops can help secure crime scenes, distribute food and other supplies to the homeless population throughout the corridor, transport prisoners, provide security at the courthouse and run drone operations used for locating suspects or assessing incidents, officials said.

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Lujan Grisham’s emergency declaration follows a March 31 request by the police chief, who pointed to the fentanyl epidemic and an increase in violent juvenile crime.

The New Mexico Legislature adjourned last month, drawing much criticism from law enforcement leaders, prosecutors and even the governor for failing to address what many have described as an ongoing crime crisis in Albuquerque and other New Mexico communities.

Lujan Grisham has indicated she will call lawmakers back at some point for a special session to consider public safety proposals.

ARIZONA

Airline to fly deportation flights for ICE

Budget carrier Avelo Airlines signed an agreement to fly federal deportation flights from Arizona beginning in May, according to the company, whose founder acknowledged the decision may be controversial.

Andrew Levy, also the company’s CEO, said Avelo is flying for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration Control and Enforcement agency as part of a “long-term charter program” to support the agency’s deportation efforts. The company decided the move would help with expansion and protect jobs, he said.

The domestic and international flights will be supported by three Boeing 737-800 planes and based at Mesa Gateway Airport Flights, Avelo said in a statement.

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Tom Cartwright, a flight data analyst for the advocacy group Witness at the Border, whose social media feeds are closely watched in immigration circles, said he wasn’t aware of any other commercial airlines who’ve provided such flights for ICE in the past five years that he’s been tracking flights. He called the decision by Avelo “unusual” considering charter companies the public likely hasn’t heard of typically make these flights.

In New Haven, Connecticut, where Avelo flies out of Tweed New Haven Airport, Democratic Mayor Justin Elicker said he called Levy over the weekend to express his opposition to the arrangement and urged the CEO to reconsider.

An immigrant rights group in New Haven is urging people to sign an online petition, pledging to boycott the airline.

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