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By Jeff Barnard The Associated Press GRANTS PASS, ORe. » Wildlife advocates are preparing to retrace the 1,200-mile path of a wandering wolf whose trek in 2011 across Oregon and California attracted worldwide attention, hop - ing their upcoming journey will help build greater accep- tance of wolves as they re- claim lost territories across the West. The wolf, dubbed OR-7 and wearing a GPS-equipped collar, became a celebrity at 2 years old after leaving a pack in northeastern Ore - gon in September 2011, just days after the state issued a kill order for his father and a sibling for preying on live - stock. "It is only through walking it that anyone can truly un- derstand that journey," said Jay Simpson, who plans daily blog posts of panoramic pho- tos and interviews with peo- ple the Wolf OR-7 Expedition contacts along the way. "It's not a thing you can under- stand on Google Earth." Using traditional story- telling, real-time multime- dia blogging, time-lapse pho- tography and a documen- tary film, they hope to offer new insights into what the spread of wolves across the West means for the people who live here, inspire new attitudes that ease conflicts in ranch country and recog - nize conservationists work- ing to protect wolves. On his route, OR-7 passed through where the last Or- egon wolf was killed by a bounty hunter in 1946, and where the last known Cali- fornia wolf was killed in 1924. OR-7's trek is standard procedure for young wolves trying to establish new ter- ritories. That's how wolves came to Oregon in the late 1990s from Idaho, where they were re-established as part of a federal endangered species program. "OR-7 is really a pioneer," said David Moskowitz, a wildlife biologist, tracker and photographer. "He is of - fering a first glimpse of the new story unfolding about what it is going to be like for wolves returning" to a changed landscape. Unlike five Oregon wolves that migrated east to Idaho, OR-7 has not been shot, noted Amaroq Weiss of the conservation group Cen - ter for Biological Diver- sity. Idaho has allowed wolf hunting since Endangered Species Act protection was lifted in 2011. The expedition was the brainchild of Portland sto - ryteller Rachael Pecore-Val- dez. She was in Berlin, where her husband was studying renewable energy, when she talked to a South African friend, Galeo Saintz, about a trek he had done to raise awareness for endangered rhinos. She decided to do something similar for OR-7. "For me the expedition is really about learning by talk - ing to other people and ask- ing questions and less about my opinions and thoughts about wolves," Pecore-Val- dez said. Saintz is founder of the Wild Peace Alliance, which uses expedition ad- venture to ease conf licts between people and wild- life and celebrate success- ful work by conservationists. "Wolf OR-7 inspires me, because he highlights that the ordinary is often re - markable if we just give it the right attention and ap- preciate what it means," he said in an email. "He is the ultimate lone wolf on an un- known quest to make the most of his one precious life, and I just love that." Pecore-Valdez contacted Moskowitz, whose wildlife tracking class she had taken, and they were rolling. OR-7 Group retracing trek of wolf RichaRd Shinn/califoRnia depaRtment of fiSh and Game, via ap this may 8, 2012 file photo provided by the california department of fish and Game shows oR-7, the oregon wolf that has trekked across two states looking for a mate, on a sagebrush hillside in modoc county. By eric Tucker The Associated Press WASH I NGTON » Toyota agreed to pay $1.2 billion to settle an investigation by the U.S. government, admitting that it hid infor - mation about defects that caused Toyota and Lexus vehicles to accelerate un- expectedly and resulted in injuries and deaths. Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday that the penalty is the larg - est of its kind ever imposed on an auto company. The four-year criminal investi- gation focused on whether Toyota promptly reported the problems related to un- intended acceleration. The company admitted to misleading consumers and regulators by assur - ing them that it had ade- quately addressed an accel- eration problem stemming from ill-fitting floor mats— which attracted widespread publicity in 2009 following a car crash in San Diego that killed a family of four — through a limited safety recall of certain models. Toyota knew at the time that it had not recalled other models susceptible to the same problem and also took steps to conceal from regulators a separate ac - celeration problem related to a faulty pedal, according to the Justice Department. "In other words, Toyota confronted a public safety emergency as it if were a simple public relations problem," Holder said at a news conference. According to a statement of f ac ts fi le d in t he ca se , an exasperated Toyota em - ployee was said to have re- marked at one point, "Idi- ots! Someone will go to jail if lies are repeatedly told. I can't support this." Toyota said in a state - ment that in the four years since the recalls it had "made fundamental changes to become a more responsive and customer- focused organization, and we are committed to con - tinued improvements." The company's finances have recovered from the re- calls, as well as the reces- sion and the 2011 tsunami in Japan. But its once-ster- ling reputation for qual- ity and reliability has been tarnished, and its market share is still below where it was in 2009. Prosecutors filed a crim - inal charge Wednesday al- leging the company de- frauded consumers by issu- ing misleading statements. They said they'll move to dismiss the charge in three years if Toyota complies with the terms of the set - tlement. An independent monitor will review policies, prac- tices and procedures at the company. No Toyota executives were charged under the deal. U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara of the Southern District of New York, whose office brought the case, said he expected the agreement to be a "final resolution." St ar ti ng i n 200 9, T oy - ota issued massive recalls, mostly in the U.S., totaling more than 10 million vehi- cles for various problems including faulty brakes, sticky gas pedals and ill-fit- ting floor mats. From 2010 through 2012, Toyota paid fines totaling more than $66 million for delays in report - ing safety problems. Toy- ota agreed last year to pay more than $1 billion to own- ers of its cars who claimed to have suffered economic losses because of the re- calls. The company still faces wrongful death and injury lawsuits that have been consolidated in California state and federal courts. In December, Toyota filed court papers after saying that it's in settlement talks on nearly 400 U.S. lawsuits, but some other cases aren't included in the talks. The negotiations began less than two months after an Oklahoma jury awarded $3 million in damages to the injured driver of a 2005 Camry and to the family of a pa ss en ge r wh o wa s ki ll ed . The ruling was signifi - cant because Toyota had won all previous unin- tended acceleration cases that went to trial. AuTOmAkeR Toyota to pay $1.2 billion to settle criminal probe By Phuong Le The Associated Press SeATTLe » Federal investi- gators plan to reconstruct the wreckage of a fatal he- licopter accident to deter- mine what caused the air- craft to crash at a busy in- tersection near Seattle's Space Needle, killing two men on board and seri- ously burning a third on the ground. A team from Illinois- based Helicopters Inc., which owned the aircraft, also is in the state assist - ing with the probe, Dennis Hogenson with the National T ra nspor tation Sa fet y Board said Wednesday. Investigators are poring over pilot, maintenance and company records, and they will recreate the crash scene to look for anomalies, he said. Wreckage from the helicopter has been moved to a hangar in Auburn, about 30 miles south of Se - attle. It may be months before federal investigators know what caused the KOMO- TV news chopper to hit the pavement and burst into f lames Tuesday, setting three vehicles ablaze and spewing burning fuel down the street. The KOMO-TV f light was one of many helicop - ter flights that take off and land in Seattle's downtown. Mayor Ed Murray said offi- cials would review rules for helicopter pads in the city to determine if any changes need to be made. W it ne s s e s r ep or t e d hearing unusual noises coming from the aircraft as it lifted off from the helipad on top of Fisher Plaza, KO - MO's headquarters, after refueling, Hogenson said Tuesday. Witnesses also re- ported seeing the helicopter rotate before it crashed. "It pitched sideways. It was off balance, and you could tell right away some - thing wasn't right," said Bo Bain, an excavation fore- man at a nearby construc- tion project who watched the aircraft take off. "The helicopter was struggling to stay up. It spun around, hit the top of the tree and landed on the street." Seconds later, "It was just a fireball. The whole thing burst into flames," he said. Mourners on Wednes - day left flowers at the crash site to remember former KOMO veteran photogra- pher Bill Strothman and pilot Gary Pfitzner. Both men were working for Heli- copters Inc., which owned the Eurocopter AS350 he- licopter. The aircraft was leased jointly by KOMO and KING-TV. M a rk P f itz ner t old KOMO that his brother, Gary, put himself through flight school, loved to fly and "tried to do his best report - ing for people." News anchor and re- porter Molly Shen remem- bered Strothman as "one of the best storytellers to have ever graced the halls of KOMO." Richard Newman, 38, who suffered serious burns when the helicopter crashed on his car, was breathing on his own Wednesday, said Susan Gregg, a spokes - woman with Harborview Medical Center. The Seat- tle man remained in seri- ous condition. A man and a woman who were in vehi- cles that were struck by the helicopter were uninjured. Other cities have expe- rienced helicopter crashes as TV stations rush to cover the news from above major cities. The last helicopter crash in Seattle was in November 1999, when a KIRO-TV news helicopter collided in mid - air with another helicop- ter over Lake Union. There were only minor injuries, af- ter both pilots landed safely at nearby helipads, accord- ing to an NTSB report. Current rules in Seattle allow helipads to be used downtown and in some commercial zones and in - dustrial areas. They can be used only for public ser- vice, emergency medical care and for news agen- cies, mayor's office spokes- man Jeff Reading said. Two news helicopters collided in midair in Phoe- nix in 2007 as the aircraft covered a police chase, sending fiery wreckage plummeting onto a park. HeLIcOPTeR cRASH Probe looks for anomalies in Seattle chopper crash Smog Check (MOST CARS & PICK-UPS) 527-9841 • 195 S. Main St. starting at $ 29 95 + $ 8 25 certificate SERVICES AT LOWER PRICES All makes and models. We perform dealer recommened 30K, 60K, 90K Members Welcome 530-366-3166 545 Adobe Rd. Red Bluff www.redbluffdodge.com 1104 Walnut St., Red Bluff 530-690-2232 office | NEWS | RedBlUffdailYneWS.com thURSdaY, maRch 20, 2014 8 A