Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/743970
ByStevenDubois and Gillian Flaccus TheAssociatedPress PORTLAND,ORE. Thelead- ers of an armed group who seized a national wildlife refuge in rural Oregon were acquitted Thursday in the 41-day standoff that brought new attention to a long-running dispute over control of federal lands in the U.S. West. A jury found brothers A m m o n and Ryan Bundy not guilty of possessing a firearm in a federal facility and c o n s p i r - ing to im- pede fed- eral work- ers from their jobs at the Mal- heur Na- tional Wild- life Refuge, 300 miles southeast of Portland where the trial took place. Five co-defendants also were tried one or both of the charges. Despite the acquittal, the Bundys were expected to stand trial in Nevada early next year on charges stemming from another high-profile standoff with federal agents. Authori- ties rounding up cattle at their father Cliven Bun- dy's ranch in 2014 because of unpaid grazing fees re- leased the animals as they faced armed protesters. The brothers are part of a Nevada ranching fam- ily embroiled in a lengthy fight over the use of pub- lic range, and their oc- cupation drew an inter- national spotlight to a uniquely American West dispute: federal restric- tions on ranching, mining and logging to protect the environment. The U.S. gov- ernment, which controls much of the land in the West, says it tries to bal- ance industry, recreation and wildlife concerns to benefit all. The armed occupiers were allowed to come and go for several weeks as authorities tried to avoid bloodshed seen in past standoffs. The confrontations reig- nited clashes dating to the so-called Sagebrush Rebel- lion of the late 1970s, when Western states such as Ne- vada tried to win more control of vast federal land holdings. The group began occu- pying the bird sanctuary in remote southeastern Oregon on Jan. 2. They ob- jected to prison sentences handed down to Dwight and Steven Hammond, two local ranchers con- victed of setting fires. They demanded the government free the father and son and relinquish control of pub- lic lands to local officials. Ammon Bundy gave fre- quent news conferences and the group used social media in a mostly unsuc- cessful effort to get others to join them. The Bundys and other key figures were arrested in a Jan. 26 traffic stop out- side the refuge that ended with police fatally shooting Robert "LaVoy" Finicum, an occupation spokesman. Most occupiers left after his death, but four hold- outs remained until Feb. 11, when they surrendered after a lengthy negotiation. At trial, the case was seemingly open-and-shut. There was no dispute the group seized the refuge, established armed patrols and vetted those who vis- ited. "Ladies and gentlemen, this case is not a who- dunit," Assistant U.S. At- torney Ethan Knight said in his closing argument, arguing that the group de- cided to take over a federal workplace that didn't be- long to them. On technical grounds, the defendants said they never discussed stopping individual workers from accessing their offices but merely wanted the land and the buildings. On emotional grounds, Am- mon Bundy and other de- fendants argued that the takeover was an act of civil disobedience against an out-of-control federal gov- ernment that has crippled the rural West. Federal prosecutors took two weeks to pres- ent their case, finishing with a display of more than 30 guns seized after the standoff. An FBI agent testified that 16,636 live rounds and nearly 1,700 spent casings were found. Bundy testified in his defense, spending three days amplifying his be- lief that government over- reach is destroying West- ern communities that rely on the land. He said the plan was to take ownership of the ref- uge by occupying it for a period of time and then turn it over to local offi- cials to use as they saw fit. Bundy also testified that the occupiers carried guns because they would have been arrested immediately otherwise and to protect themselves against possi- ble government attack. Ryan Bundy, who acted his own attorney, did not testify. WILDLIFE REFUGE Juryacquitsleaders of Oregon standoff of federal charges A. Bundy R. Bundy By Will Weissert The Associated Press NEW YORK Republican vice presidential candi- date Mike Pence's cam- paign plane slid off a run- way during a rainstorm at New York's LaGuardia Air- port Thursday, tearing up two tracks of concrete be- fore coming to rest on a patch of grass. Pence told reporters that no one had been in- jured. "We can see mud on the front windows," a calm Pence said in the press cabin about a minute after the plane came to rest. He said he felt fine. Later, the Indiana gover- nor tweeted: "So thankful everyone on our plane is safe. Grateful for our first responders & the concern & prayers of so many. Back on the trail tomorrow!" In Geneva, Ohio, GOP presidential candidate Don- ald Trump told his support- ers that Pence had come "pretty close to grave, grave danger." But, he added: "I just spoke to Mike Pence and he's fine. Everybody's fine." After a bumpy approach, the Boeing 737 Eastern Airlines charter landed roughly, making first con- tact with the runway con- crete. The pilot slammed on the brakes and passengers could smell burning rubber. The roughly 40 pas- sengers and crew, includ- ing Pence, were evacuated through the back of the plane. The Port Authority shut down the runway follow- ing the incident, but later reopened it. In a statement the agency confirmed that the plane had "overshot" the runway, there were no injuries and there was no fire. Pence spokesman Marc Lotter said Pence spoke with Trump shortly af- ter the landing. The vice presidential candidate also called into the $1 million fundraiser he had been ex- pected to attend, Lotter said. NEW YORK CITY Pence plane slides off runway at LaGuardia Airport By Jonathan J. Cooper The Associated Press SACRAMENTO Most of Cal- ifornia's 188 Department of Motor Vehicle offices re- turned to offering full ser- vices Thursday following a catastrophic computer fail- ure that crippled the DMV's operations for days. Still, 21 offices that deal with customers faced lim- its Thursday, including six that could not process driv- er's licenses or vehicle reg- istration matters. Computer struggles that began Monday forced DMV customers around the state to wait out what offi- cials have called a "perfect storm" of multiple hard- drive failures. Some said their lives were put on hold while they waited to re- place stolen identification cards or renew vehicle reg- istrations on the verge of ex- piring. The department's disas- ter recovery systems were not designed to handle such severe failures over a short period of time, DMV spokesman Jaime Garza said in an email. DMV officials say the de- partment may waive late fees for customers affected by the outage. They'll have to fill out a form or write a letter explaining why they're late. Kennidi Beatie made her third frustrating trip this week to a California De- partment of Motor Vehi- cles office on Wednesday, only to be told again that the DMV's computers were still down. Her purse containing her driver's license and check- book was stolen from her burglarized vehicle on Sat- urday, and her bank ac- counts remain frozen be- cause she had no driver's license to prove her identity. "I thought I'd just give it a whirl every day. Sooner or later they'll have to work, I guess," Beatie said as she waited in line outside the DMV office in Roseville, 20 miles northeast of Sacra- mento. "I'm at, like, a stand- still, so that's frustrating of course." Garza said experts were working to repair the sys- tem and get office functions back online. But he did not provide an estimate for completing the work. DMV officials have said the computers were not hacked or targeted. It was not immediately clear what caused the failure. "Industry experts would characterize the events ex- perienced in the DMV sys- tem, over the past few days, as 'the perfect storm,' and this is a series of events that the department has not pre- viously witnessed," Garza said. The offices were able to provide road tests for driv- ers and scheduled appoint- ments for people unable to accomplish their DMV busi- ness. People lined up well be- fore the office in Roseville opened Wednesday because the DMV said things would be back to normal. Many were upset that systems were not working when the doors opened. While the latest outage began Monday, some of- fices also had trouble Fri- day because of a scheduled security upgrade, Garza said. PUBLIC SERVICES Drivers frustrated by computer failures at California DMV RICHPEDRONCELLI—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Grace Stratman leaves the Department of Motor Vehicles in Carmichael on Wednesday a er she was unable to get her driver's license renewed due to a computer failure. 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