DENVER—An Oregon jury returned a surprise verdict yesterday, finding Ammon Bundy, Ryan Bundy, and five other militants not guilty of conspiring to impede employees at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. The trial is a setback for the U.S. government working to stem the tide of militant extremism on public lands; the trial’s outcome may also embolden militia groups in states across the Western United States.
The militant occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is but one of many instances of militia groups threatening the safety of public land managers. And while the Bundy family and their devotees fall far outside mainstream public opinion on Western public lands, militants remain committed to using public lands and government employees to express their anti-government sentiments.
Documents obtained by the Center for Western Priorities via a Freedom of Information Act Request to the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service highlights the dangerous reality for land managers and scientists working on America’s public lands.
The records reveal four key findings:
Government employees are regularly threatened by militia and sovereign citizens on public lands.
Civil servants receive threats against their life.
Militia groups routinely use public lands for training.
The occupation at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge emboldened militants.
The Center for Western Priorities obtained documents through a Freedom of Information Request to the Bureau of Land Management for reports and complaints involving militia activity in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, New Mexico, and Nevada between January 1, 2012 and August 21, 2015. The request asked for information concerning the discharge of firearms or other weapons, militia activities, or incidents involving the Oath Keepers, the Three Percenters, the Militia of Montana, the Council of Conservative Citizens, or sovereign citizens.
Bureau of Land Management law enforcement officers reported 26 incidents related to militia or sovereign citizen activity on public lands in the seven states between 2012 and 2015.
Ten incidents involving sovereign citizens or militia groups were reported in Arizona, nine of which occurred in the Sonoran Desert National Monument.
Bureau of Land Management employees received multiple death threats from anonymous callers during the Bundy Ranch standoff.
Law enforcement officers in the Sonoran Desert National Monument stopped two militia members who were on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s domestic terrorist watch list.
The Ada County Lightfoot Militia attempted to close off portions of public lands for shooting without a permit.
A Bureau of Land Management officer was harassed by a sovereign citizen during a property rights investigation.
A Sovereign citizen accused of domestic assault refused to recognize the authority of a Bureau of Land Management officer attempting to arrest him on public lands.
The Center for Western Priorities obtained documents from a Freedom of Information Request concerning incidents of threatening behavior, vandalism and other acts at U.S. wildlife refuges in the West as armed militants held the Malheur Wildlife Refuge.
While many of the records received were redacted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under various FOIA exemptions, the unredacted information reveals emboldened militias willing to take aggressive action on American public lands. According to the documents, between January 31, 2016 and February 14, 2016, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recorded 26 different incidents. These occurred at 16 different wildlife refuges across the West. That includes four incidents at the Pahranagat National Wildlife Refuge in Nevada and five at the Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge in Washington.
While this week’s verdict could embolden anti-public land militants, it is also important to remember that the leaders of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation—Ammon Bundy and Ryan Bundy—are not walking free. Both will stand trial next year, alongside their father Cliven Bundy, on charges pending in Nevada for their role in the dangerous 2014 armed standoff at the Bundy Ranch.
Ensuring the Bundys are held accountable for their illegal activities in Nevada will send a signal to militant extremists that they are not above American laws.
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The collaborative grants provide seed funding for projects aimed at transforming healthcare
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, USA, October 28, 2016 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Stanford Medicine and Intermountain Healthcare have announced the recipients of more than $500,000 in seed grants focused on transforming healthcare.
The seven research projects were chosen from a competitive field of proposals, using a vetting process similar to that used by the National Institutes of Health, which establishes selection criteria and scoring systems.
“The Intermountain-Stanford grant program is part of an exciting collaboration between Intermountain and Stanford that began almost two years ago and is focused on advancing clinical care best practices, education and training and clinical research in heart disease, cancer, and other conditions. The purpose of the grant award is to spearhead and accelerate research between the two organizations and support innovative projects in research, patient care, and medical education,” said Laura Kaiser, Intermountain Healthcare’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.
“Our collaboration will foster those scientific discoveries that have potential to improve patient care in both institutions,” said David Larson, MD, MBA, co-chair of the Intermountain-Stanford Collaborative Committee and Stanford University School of Medicine’s Associate Professor of Pediatric Radiology and Associate Chair of Performance Improvement in the Department of Radiology.
The seed grants, up to $75,000 each, were awarded to projects that will be jointly led by principal investigators from Intermountain and Stanford, and will take effect on November 1, 2016.
The seven selected projects focus on genomics, machine learning, biomarkers and epidemiology, biomarkers closer to basic science research, networks of care, infectious disease, and telemedicine. Although they’re from diverse clinical areas, all the studies are designed to improve patient care.
Following are the names of the grant recipients and their project titles:
• Whole-genome DNA sequencing of stage-3 colorectal cancer — Lincoln Nadauld, MD, PhD, Intermountain precision genomics; James Ford, MD, associate professor of oncology and of genetics at Stanford.
• Baseline assessment of hand hygiene practices and ICU microbiology — Bill Beninati, MD, Intermountain critical care medicine; Arnold Milstein, MD, MPH, professor of medicine at Stanford.
• Developing a precision-based approach for the diagnosis and prognosis of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction in the community — Kirk Knowlton, MD, Intermountain cardiovascular medicine; Francois Haddad, MD, clinical associate professor of cardiovascular medicine at Stanford.
• Translational approaches to the mechanisms of septic cardiomyopathy — Samuel Brown, MD, Intermountain critical care medicine; Euan Ashley, MRCP, DPhil, associate professor of cardiovascular medicine at Stanford.
• Implementation and evaluation of graduating from pediatric to adult care — Aimee Hersh, MD, department of pediatrics, University of Utah and Intermountain’s Primary Children’s Hospital; Korey Hood, PhD, clinical professor of pediatrics at Stanford.
• Impact of donor-derived BK virus infection and immune recovery in kidney transplant recipients — Diane Alonso, MD, Intermountain transplant services; Benjamin Pinsky, MD, PhD, assistant professor of pathology and of infectious diseases at Stanford.
• Development and implementation of a digital health-care program for patients with atrial fibrillation — Jared Bunch, MD, Intermountain heart-rhythm services; Mintu Turakhia, MD, assistant professor of cardiovascular medicine at Stanford.
“We are privileged to collaborate with the Stanford University School of Medicine, a premier medical school and worldwide leader in science and research,” said Raj Srivastava, MD, MPH, co-chair of the Intermountain-Stanford Collaborative Committee and AVP of Research at Intermountain Healthcare. “We are excited to see these initial projects launch, foster new scientific collaborations focused on improving patient care, and set the stage for the healthcare transformation potential from the Intermountain-Stanford grant program.”
Intermountain Healthcare is a Utah-based, not-for-profit system of 22 hospitals, 185 clinics, a Medical Group with some 1,300 employed physicians, a health plans division called SelectHealth, and other health services. Helping people live the healthiest lives possible, Intermountain is widely recognized as a leader in transforming healthcare through high quality and sustainable costs. For more information about Intermountain, visit intermountainhealthcare.org.
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