Flagstaff Today - News and Photos

The chase began Tuesday in Flagstaff, Ariz. It ended 250 miles later in Kanab. But only after Arizona Highway Patrol officers spiked the tires of the Honda Accord, and Kane County sheriff’s officers did the same after the car crossed the state line into Utah.

The driver, a man wanted on several felony warrants in Utah, then surrendered.

AHP troopers gave chase after the Accord was involved in a hit-and-run accident in Flagstaff, said Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. LaMar Heaton.

The Arizona troopers’ pursuit reach speeds of more than 100 mph, said Kane County Sheriff Lamont Smith, who didn’t identify the driver, but said there was a female passenger in the car.

The Accord’s tires were spiked south of Fredonia, Ariz., and again by sheriff’s officers just over the state line in Utah.

Smith said the driver has several felony warrants in Utah. He was booked into the Kane County jail. Authorities had not yet decided if the passenger would be arrested.

Salt Lake Tribune

Gov. Janet Napolitano announced that Northern Arizona University President John Haeger is up for Senate confirmation for his appointment to the state Board of Education.

Haeger’s senate hearing will be Wednesday, Feb. 28.

“President Haeger’s leadership at NAU will serve him well on the board,” Napolitano said. “He has demonstrated his commitment to education since his years as a professor and will add diversity and expertise to the board.”

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The Flagstaff City Council heard a proposal Monday to start charging development impact fees of up to $15,199 a lot.

Consultant Christopher Cullinan said the proposed fees would force new development to pay its fair share of increased costs for services and facilities. The proposal comes from a $70,000 study council approved last year to re-examine charging development impact fees in Flagstaff.

But critics said the fees would make already expensive housing in Flagstaff even less affordable.

Others wondered whether fees assessed to developers for roads, parks and open space would overlap with bond issues already approved and funded by voters citywide.

azdailysun.com

Schuff International, Inc., a family of companies providing fully integrated steel construction services, announced that its subsidiary Schuff Steel Company has purchased a facility outside of Flagstaff.

The 132,000-square-foot facility is located on 15 acres in Bellemont, Az which is approx. 10 miles west of Flagstaff.

“The Flagstaff facility will continue to expand Schuff’s fabrication capacity, allowing us to better service our growing customer base in the Southwest, especially the California & Las Vegas markets. The new location is strategically based & complements the ability of ourexisting plants in Phoenix & Gilbert, Az & Ottawa, Kansas, to meet our customers’ needs,” says Scott A. Schuff, CEO of Schuff International. “We hope to hire 100 Northern Arizona workers over the next year to work at the facility & we are especially appreciative ofthe assistance provided by the Greater Flagstaff Economic Council & the Az Dept of Commerce.”

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Unlike most people who go to rivers to watch them flow, Jane Marks goes to rivers to help them flow.

Marks, an associate professor in the biological sciences department, is developing ways to help rivers rebound to their natural ecosystems after dams are removed. Her first-hand experience of dam-removal research is featured in the March 2007 issue of Scientific American magazine.

Marks’ six-page article, “Down Go the Dams,” not only reports on the ebb and flow of her efforts to restore Arizona’s Fossil Creek to its natural habitat, it also provides an up-to-date account about current dam decommissionings and why a trend exists to restore rivers to their natural flow.

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A developer agreed to delay plans for a four-story apartment complex that would tower over adjacent single-story houses after homeowners expressed anger over not being consulted on the project.

The complex was to be considered by the city’s development review board this Thursday. But Scottsdale-based developer Rich Baxter said he intends to hold back his plans as he considers his options.

“I am taking the group’s comments and concerns into account and I sincerely want to be a good neighbor,” said Baxter. “I do not think that the project will be advancing this week as I consider what the best path forward will be.”

More than three dozen neighbors crowded into a City Hall conference room last week to discuss the project. The residents’ complaints focused chiefly on the project’s size.

“It just seems excessive for the neighborhood,” said Sue Pratt, whose home would be near the proposed complex.

The meeting was the first between Baxter and residents vehemently opposed to the current proposal.

KVOA

Flagstaff-area homeowners are seeing assessed values jump, on average, more than 20 percent for the second year in a row.

As valuation notices trickle into mailboxes, some homeowners will see an even bigger spike in valuations — Old Flagstaff near downtown experienced a 40 percent jump in the average market value of homes.

And in the bedroom communities of Doney Park, Fort Valley and Kachina Village outside Flagstaff, assessed valuations rose just as sharply, with Doney Park jumping 40.3 percent.

That doesn’t mean property taxes are going up by that amount, however. Under state law, local governments have limits on how much revenue can be raised from property taxes and how much tax revenues can rise in one year. When values go up, taxing agencies adjust their tax rates downward to avoid collecting too much revenue.

azdailysun.com

A tractor-trailer rolled on Interstate 17 south of Sunset Point this morning, spilling debris across the southbound lanes and blocking traffic for most of the day.

Naomi DeHoag, a dispatcher at the Department of Public Safety’s Flagstaff office, said officers hope to have the accident cleared before 5 p.m. At 3:20 p.m., a heavy-duty tow truck was at the scene, as were work crews from the state Department of Transportation.

DeHoag said officers were able to keep one lane of traffic open throughout the morning and early afternoon, but traffic had backed up as far north as five miles north of the wreck (near Bumble Bee).

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Two elderly women were robbed at knifepoint in their Doney Park-area home Friday. The intruder cut one of the women on the hand and disabled all of their phones before escaping.

According to the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office, at about 2 p.m., the man knocked on the front door of the home on Burris Lane off North Highway 89 and was allowed entry by one of the occupants. The other victim questioned the suspect as to the nature of his business and why he was in her home.

The suspect then demanded money from the two victims and produced a large, 8-to-12-inch knife in a threatening manner. He ordered the women to a bedroom to retrieve their purses, and one of the victims gave him an undetermined amount of cash from her purse before he forcibly took more contents from it.

azdailysun.com

Nurses at Flagstaff Medical Center are going to have to wait a little longer before heading back to the voting booths.

The National Labor Relations Board recently announced it would delay setting up a new election for the 500 nurses eligible to vote on a union at FMC until after new unfair labor practice charges against the hospital can be investigated. Earlier this month, federal officials upheld a ruling invalidating last year’s unsuccessful unionization attempt.

The announcement by the NLRB is in direct response to a letter sent by FMC in early February requesting a new election be set for the earliest possible date.

azdailysun.com

A 22-year-old man who sexually assaulted two girls on the Navajo reservation in 2002 then killed a woman, will spend the rest of his life in prison.

Darryl James Junior was convicted by a federal jury in September of felony murder robbery and second-degree murder along with two charges of aggravated sexual abuse of a minor.

James was sentenced Wednesday in federal court to two consecutive life sentences plus 75 years for using firearms in the commission of the crimes.

James was 17 at the time of the crime spree.

KOLD

W. L. Gore & Associates will embark on an ambitious expansion in Phoenix that will add 150 jobs this year with a long-term plan to create up to 800 positions at a new campus for the company’s fast-growing medical-device division.

The Newark, Del.-based company will launch its Phoenix expansion at a leased facility at 19th Avenue and Happy Valley Road while it searches for a large chunk of land in north Phoenix to build a campus that could include up to five buildings.

Phoenix officials on Thursday said Gore’s expansion is welcome news for the region’s economy and the timing couldn’t be more fortunate, just one day after US Airways tapped Pittsburgh over Phoenix for a 600-employee flight operations center.

Arizona Republic

Gregory T. Fowler, the assistant police chief for the city of Mesa, has been selected as the next chief of police for the Northern Arizona University Police Department.Fowler, a 28-year member of the Mesa PD, will replace interim Chief Kathy Paleski, who will retire in late April. His anticipated start date at NAU is in early April.

“To me there is nothing more exciting than a career in law enforcement,” Fowler said. “I love working with people and public safety.”

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Six chickens that might have been used for cock-fighting have been seized by Flagstaff police.
Flagstaff PD found four foul in the truck of a man they had stopped for DUI on Saturday.

An animal control officer saw that the birds showed signs of being used for fighting, including shaved combs and elongated spurs.

Another search later turned up another live rooster and hen in a bag.

The birds were making weak chirping sounds, and detectives say that if they had not freed the birds when they did, they likely would have died inside the bag.

Police took custody of the vehicle and will obtain a search warrant for future action. The chickens remain at a shelter.

KOLD

Northern Arizona University recently made a commitment to guarantee its freshman students a “Finish in Four” graduation plan.

Beginning this fall, NAU promises to provide students the advisement help and courses necessary to finish obtaining their degree within four years.

“With the Finish in Four program the university has created a clear pathway and a set of comprehensive supports for students to achieve their goals,” said Karen Pugliesi, vice provost for Undergraduate Studies. “The program will help students develop a plan for their education and stay on track to attainment of their degree.”

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Flagstaff boasts one of the nation’s largest medical device companies, a world-renowned anthrax expert and a soon-to-open satellite office for gene researchers TGen.

With these anchors secured, city officials believe this city of ponderosa pines and a live-and-let-live ethos is poised to sprout more bioscience and research startups.

First up is a technology incubator that could provide space for up to two dozen companies and researchers to develop their ideas. Construction of the incubator, funded by a $2.5 million federal economic development grant and $1 million from Flagstaff, will start this fall.

Arizona Republic

A proposal to create a new health-care college at Northern Arizona University has some up in arms, particularly within the NAU School of Forestry, whose executive director has resigned over the issue.

The proposal by NAU President John Haeger would dissolve the Consortium of Professional Schools by moving two of its health-related schools to a new College of Nursing and Health Sciences.

The School of Hotel and Restaurant Management would become part of the College of Business Administration and the School of Forestry would become part of the College of Engineering and Natural Sciences.

In response, David Patton, the dean of the consortium and executive director of the School of Forestry, has resigned from both posts. He declined further comment on the issue.

azdailysun.com

Jacob Cortez and his family don’t watch much television at their rustic cabin southeast of Flagstaff.

So Jacob writes.

And thus was born “The Legend of the Teenage Sages.”At age 16, Jacob is quite possibly one of the youngest published authors in Flagstaff Unified School District. And he’s already halfway through his sequel: “From Darkness to Light” (working title).

KVOA

Electric-car maker Tesla Motors won’t be setting up operations in Flagstaff, instead opting to go farther east to Albuquerque to build its first U.S. assembly plant. According to a Flagstaff city official, the San Carlos, Calif.-based company announced its intent to locate its plant in New Mexico on Monday morning, the Arizona Daily Sun reported. Michael Kerski, the city’s community investment director, said the city had been working with state and federal officials since August to develop an incentive package to lure Tesla to Flagstaff. Tesla officials did not immediately return calls made to its San Carlos headquarters.

Arizona Daily Star

(Business 2.0 Magazine) — Solar startups are so 2006.This year the cutting edge of alternative energy will be selling consumers on a clean technology previously used only at an industrial level: wind power. A dozen U.S. companies are set to offer turbines that can be placed in users’ yards to cut their energy bills.

That’s good news for Andy Kruse, founder of Southwest Windpower, based in Flagstaff, Ariz.

Kruse raised $10 million in financing and teamed up with scientists at the National Renewable Energy Lab to create the Skystream 3.7, a sleek 33-foot turbine with 6-foot blades that can work at wind speeds as low as 9 mph (and provide as much as 80 percent of the average household’s electricity).

Skystreams cost up to $13,000 a pop, but Kruse shipped 150 of them during the first two months of production. “Everybody in the world has just woken up” to wind power, Kruse says, projecting global revenue of $24 million for 2007. “We had to turn down countless investors.”

Right now, startups like Kruse’s are targeting wealthy consumers who live on big plots of land - the 13 million Americans with half an acre or more.

CNNMoney.com

More: Skystream 3.7, Southwest Wind Power