WYOMING
Governor signs measure prohibiting abortion pills
Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon has signed into law the nation's first explicit ban on abortion pills since they became the predominant choice for abortion in the U.S. in recent years.
Gordon, a Republican, signed the bill on the night of March 17 while allowing a separate measure restricting abortion to become law without his signature.
The pills are already banned in 13 states that have blanket bans on all forms of abortion, and 15 states already have limited access to abortion pills. Until now, however, no state had passed a law specifically prohibiting such pills, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights.
Wellspring Health Access, a group seeking to open an abortion and women's health clinic in Casper, said it was evaluating legal options.
The clinic, which a firebombing prevented from opening last year, is one of two nonprofits suing to block an earlier Wyoming abortion ban. No arrests have been made, and organizers say the clinic is tentatively scheduled to open in April, depending on abortion's legal status in Wyoming then.
The Republican governor's decision on the two measures comes as a federal judge in Texas there raised questions about a Christian group's effort to overturn the decades-old U.S. approval of a leading abortion drug, mifepristone.
Medication abortions became the preferred method for ending pregnancy in the U.S. even before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the ruling that protected the right to abortion for nearly five decades. A two-pill combination of mifepristone and another drug is the most common form of abortion in the U.S.
With the earlier ban tied up in court, abortion currently remains legal in Wyoming up to viability, or when the fetus could survive outside the womb.
NEW MEXICO
Governor signs bill overriding local abortion bans
SANTA FE — New Mexico's governor signed an abortion-rights bill on March 16 that overrides local ordinances aimed at limiting access to abortion procedures and medications.
Reproductive health clinics in New Mexico offer abortion procedures to patients from states, including Texas, with strict abortion bans. The new law also aims to ensure access to gender affirming healthcare related to distress over gender identity that doesn't match a person's assigned sex.
New Mexico has one of the country's most liberal abortion access laws, but two counties and three cities in eastern New Mexico have recently adopted abortion restrictions that reflect deep-seated opposition to offering the procedure.
The bill signed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham overrides those local ordinances.
An additional bill working its way through New Mexico's Legislature would protect abortion providers and patients from out-of-state interference, prosecution or extradition attempts.
Anti-abortion ordinances — adopted over the past several months by officials in the cities of Hobbs, Clovis and Eunice, along with Lea and Roosevelt counties — reference an obscure U.S. anti-obscenity law that prohibits shipping of medication or other materials intended to aid abortions.
Separately, Democratic state Attorney General Raúl Torrez has urged the state Supreme Court to intervene against local abortion ordinances that he says violate state constitutional guarantees of equal protection and due process.
Post-wildfire conditions result in poor recovery for fish
ALBUQUERQUE — Fishing in rivers and streams that cross through a national monument in northern New Mexico is off limits as wildlife managers look for ways make the area more habitable following a catastrophic fire and years of subsequent flooding.
Managers at Bandelier National Monument issued a temporary fishing closure order on March 10, saying Rio Grande cutthroat trout and other species reintroduced following the 2011 blaze aren't recovering as expected.
Water testing has shown a decline in the insect larva that the fish feed on, and the water temperature also is warmer because of the lack of shade in the burn areas.
Biologists are considering alternative strategies for restoring the riparian habitat so the fish will have better chance of survival. Continued monitoring of the trout population will help to inform any park management decisions, officials said.
The Las Conchas fire — then the largest in New Mexico history — burned so hot in some spots that it turned entire hillsides to ash, leaving behind only charred skeletons of what had been towering ponderosa pine trees.
In 2011 and again in 2013, post-fire floods ravaged Bandelier and wiped out the native fish population. The National Park Service teamed up with the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish to return the Rio Grande cutthroat trout — the only cutthroat trout native to the state — to the area.
NAVAJO NATION
Ex-president Zah honored in funeral procession
LOW MOUNTAIN, Ariz. — Remembered as an inspirational, humble leader with a passion for education and commitment to his people, former Navajo Nation President Peterson Zah was honored on March 11 with a funeral procession that stretched for 100 miles from western New Mexico into eastern Arizona.
People lined roads on the reservation to say their final farewells to a monumental leader who made education, family, culture and Navajo language the hallmarks of his life.
Zah died March 7 in Fort Defiance, Arizona, surrounded by his family and after a lengthy illness. He was 85.
The procession passed through several Navajo communities, with people holding their hands to their hearts and displaying signs that declared Zah would be missed.
Zah was the first president elected on the Navajo Nation — the largest tribal reservation in the U.S. — in 1990 after the government was restructured into three branches to prevent power from being concentrated in the chairman's office.
Under Zah’s, the tribe established a now multi-billion-dollar permanent fund after winning a court battle that found the tribe had authority to tax companies that extracted minerals from the vast reservation.
Zah worked to ensure Native Americans were reflected in federal environmental laws like the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act.
He was well-known for his low-key but stern style of leadership, driving around in a battered, white 1950s International pickup that was on display outside at the public reception.
OKLAHOMA
Judge extends agreement date for poultry lawsuit
A federal judge is giving Oklahoma and nearly a dozen poultry companies, including the world's largest poultry producer, Tyson Foods, an additional 90 days to reach an agreement on plans to clean a watershed polluted by chicken litter.
U.S. District Judge Gregory Frizzell on March 18 scheduled a June 16 status conference in Tulsa, saying both sides requested the extension.
Frizzell ruled in January that Arkansas-based Tyson, Minnesota-based Cargill Inc. and other companies polluted the Illinois River, caused a public nuisance and trespassed by spreading the litter, or manure, on land in eastern Oklahoma, and that it then leached into the river's watershed. The ruling came from a 2005 lawsuit filed by Oklahoma.
State Attorney General Gentner Drummond said “productive” discussions were underway with the companies, adding that the industry has made “significant improvements” in how it handles litter abatement.
The January ruling had ordered the companies and the state to present an agreement by March 17 on how to remedy the pollution's effects, which includes low oxygen levels in the river, algae growth and damage to the fish population.
The other defendants named in the lawsuit are Cal-Maine Foods Inc., Tyson Poultry Inc., Tyson Chicken Inc., Cobb-Vantress Inc., Cargill Turkey Production L.L.C., George's Inc., George's Farms Inc., Peterson Farms Inc. and Simmons Foods Inc.
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