NATION/WORLD
Wednesday, December 27, 2017
East Oregonian
Page 11A
Appeal seeking Idaho horse herd sterilization is dismissed
By KEITH RIDLER
Associated Press
BOISE, Idaho — A federal
appeals court has dismissed an
effort to allow the sterilization of a
herd of wild horses in Idaho.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals earlier this month granted
a request by the U.S. Bureau of
Land Management to stop the
effort.
Documents filed by BLM
seeking the dismissal of its own
appeal didn’t include a reason.
“This case threatened to set a
dangerous precedent for the steril-
ization of wild horses throughout
the West,” said Nick Lawton, an
attorney representing American
Wild Horse Campaign and other
groups.
The BLM in 2015 released
a plan to sterilize horses in the
Saylor Creek Herd Management
Area and replenish the herd with
wild horses captured elsewhere
to maintain a herd of 50 to 200
horses.
The American Wild Horse
Campaign, The Cloud Foundation
and Return to Freedom sued in
2016, fearing the case could set a
precedent. A U.S. District Court
in Idaho ruled in September that
the herd had to be able to produce
healthy foals, and the BLM
appealed last month.
Federal officials didn’t imme-
diately return calls from The
Associated Press on Tuesday.
Lawton said federal agencies
sometimes file appeals to extend
the time they have to decide
whether to mount a challenge. At
any rate, he said, “it’s all over.”
The federal court in the
September ruling said the BLM
plan violated a requirement that
the herd be able to produce healthy
foals. The federal judge also ruled
that the BLM didn’t consider “the
significant impacts its decision
may have on the free-roaming
nature of the herd nor explain why
its decision is appropriate despite
those impacts.”
The BLM says the range can
support 50 horses. The herd twice
since 2006 has been rounded up
and held in the agency’s Boise
Wild Horse Corrals after wildfires
destroyed rangeland forage.
The agency has said the most
Ashley Smith/The Times-News via AP, File
In this 2011 file photo, some of the 30 horses from the Saylor Creek Herd, released by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, storm out
of their trailers 15 miles south of Glenns Ferry, Idaho.
“This is a very
important decision
from our perspective.
It affirmed that the
BLM has a legal
mandate to manage
wild, viable herds.”
— Suzanne Roy,
executive director of
American Wild Horse Campaign
Ashley Smith/The Times-News via AP, File
In this 2011 file photo, some of the 30 horses from the Saylor Creek
Herd, being released by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, wait
to be released from trailers 15 miles south of Glenns Ferry, Idaho.
recent capture involved 195 horses
following a wildfire in August
2010. The BLM in September
2011 released 30 of those horses
— 13 females and 17 males —
back onto the range. The agency
said a count this spring found the
herd had nearly tripled with 71
adults and 12 foals.
Wild horses far exceed U.S.
government population goals,
and officials say the free-roaming
horses that number about 73,000
can face starvation. Captured
horses are offered for adoption, but
46,000 are being held at govern-
ment corrals and pastures costing
taxpayers $50 million annually.
Wild horse advocate groups
have questioned federal popula-
tion goals for wild horses as being
on the low side.
Suzanne
Roy,
executive
director of American Wild Horse
Campaign, said that sterilizing
the Idaho herd could have led to
the sterilization of herds in other
states. Her group and the others
had planned to battle in the appeals
court, but that’s no longer neces-
sary with the BLM withdrawing
its appeal.
“This is a very important deci-
sion from our perspective,” Roy
said. “It affirmed that the BLM has
a legal mandate to manage wild,
viable herds.”
BRIEFLY
In break with tradition,
Trump hosts no state dinners
WASHINGTON (AP) — President
Donald Trump couldn’t stop talking about
the red carpets, military parades and fancy
dinners that were lavished upon him during
state visits on his recent tour of Asia.
“Magnificent,” he declared during the trip.
But Trump has yet to reciprocate,
making him the first president in almost
a century to close his first year in office
without welcoming a visiting counterpart to
the U.S. with similar trappings.
Trump spoke dismissively of state
dinners as a candidate, when he panned
President Barack Obama’s decision to
welcome Chinese President Xi Jinping
with a 2015 state visit. Such visits are an
important diplomatic tool that includes a
showy arrival ceremony and an elaborate
dinner at the White House.
Last month it was Xi’s turn to literally
roll out the red carpet. The Chinese leader
poured on the pageantry as he welcomed
Trump to Beijing on what was billed as a
“state visit, plus.” Trump also made state
visits to South Korea and Vietnam.
White House press secretary Sarah
Huckabee Sanders said there is no “singular
reason” why Trump hasn’t extended a
state visit invitation yet, but added that the
administration hopes to schedule a visit
early in 2018. Sanders gave no hints about
which of Trump’s foreign counterparts are
being considered for the diplomatic honor.
U.S. says it negotiated $285M
cut in United Nations budget
The U.S. government says it has
negotiated a significant cut in the United
Nations budget.
The U.S. Mission to the United Nations
said on Sunday that the U.N.’s 2018-2019
budget would be slashed by over $285
million.
The mission said reductions would
also be made to the U.N.’s management
and support functions. The announcement
didn’t make clear the entire amount of the
budget or specify what effect the cut would
have on the U.S. contribution.
U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Nikki
Haley said that the “inefficiency and
overspending” of the organization is
well-known, and she would not let “the
generosity of the American people be taken
advantage of.”
She also said that while the mission
was pleased with the results of budget
negotiations, it would continue to “look
at ways to increase the U.N.’s efficiency?
while protecting our interests.”
Construction halted at church
destroyed in Sept. 11 attacks
NEW YORK (AP) — Construction on
a Greek Orthodox church to replace one
that was crushed in the Sept. 11 attacks has
movement with everything from olive oil to
heirloom tomato bisques infused with the
drug.
Cannabis-laced dinners with celebrity
chefs at private parties have flourished
across Los Angeles, San Francisco and
San Diego in recent years, but a medical
marijuana card was required to attend.
With that requirement gone, the edibles
market is expected to boom, though
manufacturers face a host of regulations,
and doctors fear the products could increase
emergency room visits and entice youth.
Marijuana industry analysts predict edibles
for the recreational marijuana market will
top $100 million in sales in 2018.
Democrat in Virginia race
asks court to invalidate tie
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File
In this Nov. 9 file photo, President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping
participate in a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China.
been temporarily suspended amid rising
costs and questions over how donations
have been managed.
The St. Nicholas National Shrine next
to the World Trade Center memorial plaza
was to replace a tiny church that was
obliterated when the trade center’s south
tower fell in 2001. The new building was
designed by renowned architect Santiago
Calatrava, who also created the soaring
white bird-like mall and transit hub nearby
called the Oculus.
But unlike the transit hub, built largely
with federal transportation dollars, the
church is being funded through donations
including from the Greek government,
Greek Orthodox church members around
the world, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese
of Boston and the Italian city of Bari,
whose patron saint is St. Nicholas.
In September, the estimated cost was
$50 million. But according to The New
York Times, which first reported the work
suspension, the cost had jumped to an
estimated $72 million to $78 million as of
earlier this month.
Two firms, PricewaterhouseCoopers
and BakerHostetler, had been hired to
perform an independent investigation
into the construction, according to a Dec.
9 statement posted on the website of the
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.
Amid slide, Harley-Davidson
wants to teach more to ride
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Harley-
Davidson is placing a renewed emphasis on
teaching people to ride as part of its efforts
to attract more customers.
The Milwaukee-based company’s
decision to expand the number of
dealerships with a Harley “Riding
Academy” comes as the industry grapples
with years of declining sales and an aging
customer base.
The program launched in 2000 with
about 50 locations and now 245 dealerships
in the U.S. offer the three- or four-day
course. The company says about a quarter
of those launched since 2014.
Harley sold 124,777 new motorcycles
through nine months in 2017, down
from 135,581 during the same period the
previous year, according to the company’s
most recent earnings report.
The Motorcycle Industry Council says
the median age of motorcycle owners
increased from 32 to 47 since 1990. About
46 percent of riders are over 50; only about
10 percent are 30-34.
California preps for pot fare,
everything from wine to tacos
SAN DIEGO (AP) — The sauvignon
blanc boasts brassy, citrus notes, but with
one whiff, it’s apparent this is no normal
Sonoma County wine. It’s infused with
THC, the psychoactive ingredient in
marijuana that provides the high.
Move over, pot brownies. The world’s
largest legal recreational marijuana market
kicks off Monday in California, and
the trendsetting state is set to ignite the
cannabis culinary scene.
Chefs and investors have been teaming
up to offer an eye-boggling array of
cannabis-infused food and beverages,
weed-pairing supper clubs and other
extravagant pot-to-plate events in
preparation for legalization come Jan. 1.
Legal pot in states like Oregon,
Washington and Colorado and California’s
longstanding medical marijuana market
already spurred a cannabis-foodie
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) — The
Democrat in a tied race for a Virginia
House seat that could affect which party
controls the chamber said Tuesday that
she’ll ask a court to declare the tie invalid
and her the winner.
Shelly Simonds and her lawyers said the
court failed to follow state election law by
allowing a ballot to be counted a day after
last week’s recount, among other errors.
The campaign said it will ask the same
court to reconsider its decision.
In the meantime, state election officials
said they postponed their plan to break the
tie Wednesday in Richmond by drawing
names from a bowl.
James Alcorn, chairman of Virginia’s
State Board of Elections, said in a series of
tweets that name drawing “is an action of
last resort.”
The race between Simonds and
Republican Del. David Yancey is for
the 94th House of Delegates District in
Newport News. If Simonds were declared
the winner, it would split party control of
Virginia’s House 50-50.
A rare power-sharing agreement would
have to be brokered between Democrats
and Republicans. If no agreement can be
reached, prolonged chaos could ensue.
Tribe plans to open zip lines
at west rim of Grand Canyon
More than 1 million people a year
visit Grand Canyon West, outside the
boundaries of the national park. It’s best
known for the Skywalk, a horseshoe-
shaped glass bridge that juts out 70 feet
from the canyon wall and gives visitors
a view of the Colorado River 4,000 feet
below.
The tribal corporation that runs it
recently opened a restaurant in a connected
visitor center that had been the subject of
a bitter dispute between a late Las Vegas
businessman and the tribe.
In January, the corporation plans to open
a pair of zip lines that will send guests
nearly 1,000 feet above a side canyon. Each
zip line will carry four people.