New chief border patrol agent takes charge of Tucson Sector

PRESCOTT VALLEY - Yavapai County Sheriff’s officials say a Prescott Valley woman is facing 21 counts of animal cruelty.

They say 22-year-old Marie Spak is accused of keeping animals in deplorable conditions at her leased home.

Spak recently moved, and the cleaning crew reported finding two dead rabbits inside a kennel in the master bedroom. Both were in an extreme case of decomposition.

Officials say the odor in the house was so bad, the crew had to wear respirators.

Inside the shed, authorities found a dead dog in a cardboard box.

Five dead chickens were found behind the shed, and two more dead dogs were in trash cans.

Next to the trash cans, a plastic storage bin contained 10 dead baby chickens.

Authorities say another dead dog was found in the yard.

Closed-door interviews under scrutiny in Mohave County

KINGMAN - The Mohave County Board of Supervisors is taking heat for allegations that it broke open-meeting laws by holding interviews for the vacated District 5 seat behind closed doors.

Today’s News Herald reported Thursday that Board President Gary Watson said the call to hold the candidate interviews behind closed doors was to provide them with a calm setting.

Supervisor Buster Johnson, however, expressed concerns.

Johnson says the interviews “really should have been in public” so people could have made up their own mind on who would be the best person for the job.

Johnson disagrees that the interviews

MARANA - The Arizona Department of Transportation says a major Tucsonarea freeway interchange construction project is on schedule after months of work but still with a long ways to go.

Construction of a new Interstate 10 interchange with Ina Road in Marana began in February and is scheduled to be completed in 2019.

The project includes widening I-10 to eventually accommodate four lanes of traffic in each direction, expanding Ina Road to two lanes in each direction and reconstructing frontage roads

The interchange will have new bridges carrying Ina Road traffic over I-10, Union Pacific railroad tracks and the Santa Cruz River.

ADOT says crews are about halfway done with work on the western side of I-10. Crews will move to the eastern side of I-10 early next year.

TUCSON - The Tucson Sector of the U.S. Border Patrol has a new chief.

The agency announced Friday that Rodolfo Karisch began his term as chief patrol agent on Aug. 20. He was previously in charge of the Del Rio Sector in Texas and was the acting assistant commissioner of the Office of Professional Responsibility for Customs and Border Protection, the Border Patrol’s parent agency.

A former El Paso Police Department Officer, Karisch joined the Border Patrol in 1986.

State representative will pursue bid to be justice of the peace

APACHE JUNCTION - State Rep. Doug Coleman has decided to abandoned plans for re-election and instead pursue a justice of the peace seat in 2018.

Coleman, 60, of Apache Junction, made the announcement last week. Justice of the peace serve four-years terms and primarily handle lawsuits disputing no more than $10,000 or small-claims disputes over no more than $3,500.

Coleman told the Casa Grande Dispatch Wednesday that a justice of the peace can have more of a direct impact on individuals than a state lawmaker.

— Associated Press