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KSJD Newscast - March 1st, 2016

  • Cases of the zika virus have been reported in two of the Four Corners states.
  • Two Democratic legislators in Utah have filed an ethics complaint over the refusal of a law firm to share information about suing for control of federal lands.

Cases of Zika virus have been reported in two of the Four Corners states. Health officials say a child in Utah and two people in Colorado, who have all recovered, had traveled to countries affected by Zika. The mosquito-borne virus normally produces only mild symptoms, but it has been tentatively linked to severe birth defects in some babies born to infected women, and to occasional cases of Guillain Barré, a potentially fatal illness. Zika is carried by Aedes species mosquitoes, which do not live in Colorado. However, Aedes aegypti, which also transmits yellow fever and dengue, has been found in the Southeast and portions of Texas and Oklahoma, and is expected to spread north as climate change makes winters shorter and milder.

Two Democratic legislators in Utah have filed an ethics complaint with the Utah State Bar over the refusal of a law firm to share information about suing for control of federal lands. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that the two are the only Democrats on the Commission on Stewardship of Public Lands. The commission paid $640,000 to the Davillier firm to evaluate the chances of Utah winning a $14 million lawsuit claiming possession of 30 million acres of federal lands. The Democrats say the firm gave a full report to the commission’s Republicans but not to them.
 

Gail Binkly is a career journalist who has worked for the Colorado Springs Gazette and Cortez Journal, and was the editor of the Four Corners Free Press, based in Cortez.
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