Attorneys for Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and three allies were granted a final hearing Friday to try to dissuade a federal judge from referring them for criminal prosecution for contempt of court.

They faced a tough audience: the judge who had ruled that his orders had been disregarded in a long-running racial-profiling case against the office.

“Chief Deputy (Jerry) Sheridan and Sheriff Arpaio lied in a contempt hearing,” U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow told one of the attorneys. “They lied to my face, they lied not only to me but they lied to … internal investigators. Why isn’t it to my benefit to let them know … that I am through putting up with that kind of stuff?"

Snow did not announce a decision by the close of the day but indicated his ruling would be imminent.

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2016/07/22/arpaios-attorneys-lawman-should-not-referred-criminal-contempt/87448098/

Fanned by steady winds, a wildfire had consumed about 10,000 acres of Antelope Island on Saturday morning — nearly half of the state park's land.

"The total acreage for Antelope Island is 28,000," fire public information officer Jeremy Shaw said. "We're approaching half the island pretty rapidly. The wind's not helping us right now."

Shaw could not estimate when crews might begin to contain the fire, which was spreading north and east.

Ground crews fighting the fire were being aided by a helicopter Saturday morning.

Read more: http://www.sltrib.com/news/4149591-155/wind-whipped-wildfire-burns-10k-acres-on

BLANDING, Utah (AP) — Laminated sheets of paper held in place by rocks rest inside ancient cliff dwellings nestled underneath a spectacular red rock overhang in southeastern Utah.

“Don’t erase the traces of America’s past,” the signs read. “Please do not enter interior rooms.”

The weathered signs and a similar warning at the trailhead are the only protections in place for these easily accessible ruins along a canyon hiking path.

The cliff dwellings are part of an estimated 100,000 archaeological sites within a 1.9 million-acre area that a coalition of American Indian tribes wants President Barack Obama to designate a national monument to ensure protections for lands considered sacred.

Read more: http://universe.byu.edu/2016/07/21/push-to-create-utah-monument-marks-latest-western-land-fight/

A vote to raise Colorado’s minimum wage appears to be a certainty for the November ballot, as proponents said Thursday afternoon they expect to deliver 200,000 petition signatures to the secretary of state’s office Monday.

Initiative 101 would raise the Colorado minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2020. The current state minimum wage is $8.31. The federal minimum wage is $7.25.

“We’re so excited to have this much support,” said Lizeth Chacon, co-chairwoman of Colorado Families for a Fair Wage. “It’s indicative of the need and the excitment that’s out there to get this on the ballot.”

The campaign needs 98,492 signatures from registered Colorado voters to qualify for a statewide vote. Some signatures on ballot initiatives typically are rejected because of duplications, the signer not being a registered Colorado voter or other reasons. But with more than twice the needed number, it would be surprising for the issue to fail because of too few signatures.

Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/2016/07/21/minimum-wage-hike-colorado/

Ben Higgins, “The Bachelor” star who last week filed to run for Colorado’s House District 4, has withdrawn his candidacy.

The news was announced in a statement distributed by Walt Disney Co. publicist Caly Johnson, and is also posted on the Ben Higgins for Colorado website. “The Bachelor” is produced by Disney-owned ABC television network.

The statement says:



Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/2016/07/22/bachelor-ben-higgins-withdraws-colorado-house/

The city of Eugene has agreed to pay $115,000 to a man who threatened to sue after he was assaulted by a city police officer at the Lane County Jail.

The settlement in Arik Bumpas’ case comes nearly one month after a judge found officer John Sharlow guilty of misdemeanor assault and official misconduct in connection with the Sept. 11, 2014, incident that was captured on video by a jail surveillance camera.

Bumpas was handcuffed with his hands behind his back and seated on a bench inside a jail prebooking area when Sharlow grabbed him around the neck and threw him to the concrete floor. That caused Bumpas’ head to hit the ground in a move that a prosecutor said caused a small cut above the Eugene man’s right eyebrow.

“In (Bumpas’) view, (the settlement amount) is enough compensation for what was done to him,” Eugene attorney Brian Michaels said. He and another local lawyer, Marianne Dugan, represented Bumpas. They informed city officials last year of their client’s intention to sue over the incident. The settlement was announced Friday.

Read more: http://registerguard.com/rg/news/local/34603699-75/city-of-eugene-reaches-115000-settlement-with-man-assaulted-by-police-officer-at-jail.html.csp

A federal jury Thursday awarded the former police chief of Scappoose $4.1 million in damages, finding that the former Scappoose city manager initiated investigations of the chief and disciplined him after the chief raised questions about city financial irregularities.

In the winter of 2012-2013, then-Scappose Police Chief Doug Greisen questioned the city manager's budget and financial management practices, and the city manager at the time, Jon Hanken, told the chief to stay "on his side of City Hall,'' according to Greisen and his lawyers.

When Greisen persisted, Hanken initiated three disciplinary investigations of the chief, one involving the chief's stop of a felon after a police chase, the second into alleged workplace harassment and the third, involving an alleged discovery of cash in the chief's desk meant to go to charities, according to his lawyers.

Hanken ended up suspending the chief for two weeks without pay stemming from the police pursuit investigation. He later barred him from city property and prohibited him from talking about the issues while the second and third inquiries continued, Greisen's attorneys argued.

Read more: http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2016/07/federal_jury_awards_41_million.html

A Compass Airlines flight from Seattle to San Diego landed in Portland on Saturday morning facing an unspecified and unverified threat. Police and firefighters responded.

The flight diverted to Portland "out of an abundance of caution as a result of a security concern," Compass said in a written statement. The airline said the flight carried 58 passengers and four crew on an Embraer 175 aircraft.

Compass flight 5733 landed at Portland International Airport around 9:30 a.m., according to the airline. Initial reports from the Port of Portland indicated it was a Delta Air Lines flight -- Compass said it's actually a Delta Connection flight.

Online flight trackers indicate the flight had nearly reached the California border on its flight from Seattle before turning around and flying to Portland. FlightAware indicates the flight left Portland, again en route to San Diego, at 12:44 p.m.

Read more: http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2016/07/delta_flight_coming_into_portl.html

The relatives of four Hillsboro family members who drowned in Hagg Lake are suing Washington County for $4 million, saying the county failed to warn swimmers of dangerous conditions at the lake.

Three generations of the Garcia-Ixtacua family drowned on Aug. 25, 2014, while swimming at the Gaston-area lake. Fishermen found 3-year-old Jeremy Scholl's body floating. His mother, Gabriela Garcia-Ixtacua, 25; her 13-year-old brother, Michael Garcia-Ixtacua; and their mother, Jova Ixtacua-Castano,42, were later found nearby at the bottom of the lake.

The lawsuit, filed by Gabriella and Michael Garcia-Ixtacua's sister, Maria Garcia, on May 6, said the county knew the lake was unsafe for swimmers because of a deep trench causing a sudden drop-off near the wading area.

While wading in the lake, the children stepped into or floated above the trench then disappeared, the lawsuit said. Family members tried to rescue them but were also caught in the trench.

Read more: http://www.oregonlive.com/washingtoncounty/index.ssf/2016/07/relatives_of_family_who_drowne.html

With six and a half weeks to go before the start of the first trial in the Oregon standoff case, nine of the 26 defendants have pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge.

Three of the nine were part of leader Ammon Bundy's inner circle. Two of those have negotiated, or are in the process of negotiating, a resolution to a federal indictment in Nevada as well.

The developments are not unusual in a complex conspiracy prosecution involving multiple defendants, but they likely "ratchet up the pressure'' on those defendants still holding out, legal observers say.

"This is proceeding in a very typical fashion,'' criminal defense lawyer Kevin Sali said.

Read more: http://www.oregonlive.com/oregon-standoff/2016/07/oregon_standoff_9_guilty_pleas.html