News from Home

Alaska
News-Miner publisher joins Alaska Airlines
FAIRBANKS - The publisher of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner has been named Alaska Airlines' regional vice president for Alaska.
Marilyn Romano will oversee the company's public affairs and communications in the state, according to the News-Miner.

Romano replaces Senior Vice President Bill MacKay, who is retiring. She will be based in Anchorage.
Idaho
Federal Judge Nelson dies at 74 in Boise
BOISE - Judge Thomas Nelson was known among colleagues for blending common sense with his legal decisions and rulings.
"His decisions reflected both legal acumen and common sense," Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in a news release Friday. "And he did much to advance the practice of law in his home state and the nation."
Nelson - a former Idaho attorney who was nominated to the 9th Circuit by President George H.W. Bush and served on the court for almost 20 years - died Wednesday at his home in Boise due to complications from declining health, according to federal court officials. He was 74.
montana
Measure on abortion vetoed as political
HELENA - Gov. Brian Schweitzer vetoed a measure that stirred the abortion debate by proposing to make it illegal to kill an unborn child except in cases of medical procedures.
The measure brought opposition from backers of legal abortion, and support from those who want to eventually make the procedure illegal.
Republican supporters argued safeguards in the bill protect a woman from being charged in some way for the death of her own unborn child and say it has nothing to do with abortion.
The governor says he vetoed it Friday because the bill is more about a political agenda than protecting pregnant women.
nebraska
Copper thieves hit irrigation systems
NORTH PLATTE - Copper thieves are stripping parts off irrigation systems in farm fields across Nebraska.
The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office told KNOP-TV in North Platte that thieves are targeting copper and other scrap metals from the pivot systems. The Sheriff's Office reported thefts from four different systems in just over a month.
Sheriff Jerome Kramer said that in some cases, thieves stole as much as 1,600 feet of wire from one pivot system. He said that could cost a farmer as much as $10,000 to fix.
north dakota
Disaster declaration sought after flooding
BISMARCK - Gov. Jack Dalrymple said he's asked President Obama to issue a federal disaster declaration for 39 counties and three Indian reservations in North Dakota because of spring flooding.
The governor said in a statement Friday that a preliminary review by federal, state and local officials estimates damages of more than $43 million to roads, bridges and other public infrastructure.
A disaster declaration would provide federal money to pay up to 75 percent of eligible damages and repairs.
oregon
Tiny helicopter aids nursery with plants
BORING - It's enough to bring out the inner radio-control geek in anyone who sees it. Buzzing like a swarm of bees, a six-rotor helicopter revs to life and vaults straight up, rising quickly above thousands of potted trees at J. Frank Schmidt & Son Nursery.
It's only about 3 feet across and its spindly legs make it look like a flying spider, but this is no toy. Loaded on board is sophisticated GPS technology.
Pilot Heather Stoven flips a switch and takes a series of photographs of the trees below. The aerial images are downloaded to software that identifies and counts the potted trees.
Oregon's nurseries raise millions of trees and bushes for landscaping, and inventory control is critical. Counting by hand, however, is labor-intensive and expensive.
The machine potentially can detect disease, look for irrigation or fertilizer problems, gauge plant height and diameter and predict crop yield.
south dakota
School gets cleaning after kids get sick
MITCHELL - Cleaning crews gave a top-to-bottom scrubbing on Friday to an elementary school where one-third of the student body became sick with symptoms including vomiting and diarrhea.
State health officials were working to determine the exact nature of the illness that affected about 130 students and seven staff members at Gertie Belle Rogers Elementary in Mitchell, which closed Wednesday for the rest of the school week for a thorough cleaning.
State medical officials believe the illness is the result of a virus that causes vomiting and diarrhea for two to three days, but the finding is not official, The Daily Republic newspaper reported.
wyoming
Forest Service looks again at oil leases
CHEYENNE - The U.S. Forest Service will reconsider its decision not to allow drilling leases on nearly 45,000 acres in the Wyoming Range, the agency announced Thursday.
Bridger-Teton Forest Supervisor Jacque Buchanan said she's withdrawing her January decision to block leasing in the scenic mountain range in western Wyoming.
She said she needs better analysis of the possible effects of drilling on lynx, mule deer, air quality and other issues.
Although energy companies and some in Congress have protested Buchanan's original decision placing the land off-limits, Bridger-Teton spokeswoman Mary Cernicek said Buchanan's reversal was not the result of political pressure.
washington
Some gray wolves off endangered list
OLYMPIA - Gray wolves are being removed from the federal endangered species list for Eastern Washington east of U.S. 97, where they are considered part of the northern Rocky Mountain population.
However, the state Fish and Wildlife Department said wolves remain protected as a state endangered species throughout Washington, and it's illegal to harass or kill them under state law.
The change means the state Fish and Wildlife Department is the lead agency for the wolf in the eastern third of Washington, including reports of wolves killing livestock.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the lead agency in the rest of Washington where wolves remain on the federal list.
The state population is estimated at about two dozen wolves.
Source http://azstarnet.com/