MONTANA
Canada lynx protections deal sealed by US, environmentalists
BILLINGS — U.S. wildlife officials have agreed to craft a new habitat plan for the snow-loving Canada lynx that could include more land in western states where the rare animals would be protected, according to a legal agreement made public on April 26.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service faces a 2024 deadline to draft the new plan for the wild cats after settling a legal challenge from two environmental groups — Wild Earth Guardians and Wilderness Workshop. U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen issued an order on April 25 approving the settlement.
The groups sued to enforce a prior court ruling from Christensen that said federal officials wrongly excluded areas of Colorado, Montana and Idaho when they designated almost 40,000 square miles in 2014 as critical for the lynx’s long-term survival.
On land designated as critical, federal agencies are required to consult with wildlife officials before taking or allowing any activities that could destroy or alter the habitats of a protected species. Those consultations can potentially lead to restrictions of logging in federal forests or limitations on dirt roads used for recreation.
Christensen cited the presence of a reproducing lynx population in the southern Rocky Mountains of Colorado.
Agency officials had earlier concluded that Colorado and adjacent areas of Wyoming and New Mexico were “not essential” for the recovery of the species, pointing in part to low population densities of snowshoe hares that lynx eat.
To comply with the judge’s order, the Fish and Wildlife Service will evaluate which parts of the Southern Rockies and elsewhere are critical for lynx and propose them for potential protections by Nov. 21, 2024, according to a statement provided by agency spokesperson Joe Szuszwalak.
NEW MEXICO
State resolves 1987 lawsuit by developmentally disabled
SANTA FE — A legal battle aimed at providing adequate services to people with developmental disabilities in New Mexico has come to a close after more than three decades.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said on April 28 that a final U.S. District Court order recognizes the state’s establishment of a community-based system that protects the health and safety of intellectually and developmentally disabled New Mexico residents.
The case stems from a class-action lawsuit filed in 1987 that alleged civil rights violations on behalf of developmentally disabled residents at two state-supported institutions. Those facilities closed years ago, but the state’s obligations continued under a series of stipulations and decrees.
The state estimates it has spent more than $80 million on the litigation — known as the Jackson v. New Mexico case.
In a court order, U.S. Magistrate Judge John Robbenhaar said the original violations have been remedied with lasting improvements.
“The court concludes that the violations that existed at the commencement of this suit have been rectified, that the parties have crafted a durable remedy, and that the defendants have demonstrated a clear intent to safeguard in the long-term the constitutional and statutory rights … of the developmentally disabled,” Robbenhaar said.
KANSAS
Tornado generated 165 mph winds as it destroyed homes
WICHITA — The tornado that damaged more than more than 1,000 buildings in south-central Kansas generated winds up to 165 mph and carved a path of destruction nearly 13 miles long.
The National Weather Service said the tornado that caused extensive damage on April 29 mostly in the Wichita suburb of Andover and injured several people rated an EF3 on the Enhanced Fujita scale it uses to assess tornadoes.
Andover Fire Chief Chad Russell said that at least 300 to 400 buildings were destroyed by the storm as part of a total of 1,074 buildings that were damaged. The Weather Service said the tornado was on the ground for 21 minutes.
Four people, including two firefighters who were responding to a call in Andover, were injured during the storm but their injuries were minor.
Russell said it will take years for Andover to recover from this storm.
By Sunday, utility crews had restored power to nearly all of the more than 15,000 customers who lost power during the storm.
In addition to the storm damage, the Oklahoma State Patrol said three University of Oklahoma meteorology students were killed in a car crash about 85 miles north of Oklahoma City in Oklahoma on April 29 as they returned from storm chasing in Kansas.
NEVADA
Body in barrel exposed as Lake Mead level drops
LAS VEGAS — A body inside a barrel was found on the the newly exposed bottom of Nevada’s Lake Mead as drought depletes one of the largest U.S. reservoirs — and officials predicted the discovery could be just the first of more grim finds.
“I would say there is a very good chance as the water level drops that we are going to find additional human remains,” Las Vegas police Lt. Ray Spencer told KLAS-TV on May 2.
The lake’s level has dropped so much that the uppermost water intake at drought-stricken Lake Mead became visible in late April. The reservoir on the Colorado River behind Hoover Dam has become so depleted that Las Vegas is now pumping water from deeper within Lake Mead, which also stretches into Arizona.
Personal items found inside the barrel indicated the person died more than 40 years ago in the 1980s, Spencer said.
Police plan to reach out to experts at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas to analyze when the barrel started eroding. The Clark County coroner’s office will try to determine the person’s identity.
Boaters spotted the barrel on May 1. National Park Service rangers searched an area near the lake’s Hemenway Harbor and found the barrel containing skeletal remains.
Lake Mead and Lake Powell upstream are the largest human-made reservoirs in the U.S., part of a system that provides water to more than 40 million people, tribes, agriculture and industry in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming and across the southern border in Mexico.
NEBRASKA
Buffett to auction off one last private lunch for charity
OMAHA — The world’s most expensive lunch will go on sale again this spring when investor Warren Buffett auctions off a private meal to raise money for a California homeless charity one last time.
Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway’s 91-year-old CEO, held the lunch auction once a year for 20 years before the pandemic began to raise money for the Glide Foundation, which helps the homeless in San Francisco. The auction has been on hiatus for the past two years, but Glide said on April 25 that the event will be revived this year.
Every winning bid since 2008 has topped $1 million, and Buffett has raised nearly $34.5 million for the charity over the years.
Many of the past winners have been investors who revere Buffett for his remarkable track record of finding undervalues companies and stocks to buy for his Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate. But in the last auction, a cryptocurrency pioneer paid $4,567,888 in 2019 for the chance to dine with Buffett.
Buffett has said he supports Glide because they help people in difficult situations find hope again in life. Glide provides meals, health care, job training, rehabilitation and housing support to the poor and homeless.
The weeklong eBay auction will begin June 12 with an opening bid of $25,000 and continue through June 17. The winner will get to bring up to seven people to eat with Buffett at the Smith & Wollensky steak house in New York City. The only topic that’s off limits at the lunch is what Buffett might buy next.
