An Arizona Department of Public Safety bomb robot that was sent into the Chase Bank in Flagstaff, Arizona when a suspicious bag was found in the building after the bank was robbed. (Brandon Neuman / NAZ Today)

Flagstaff (NAZ Today)-   While students at NAU were taking part in the winter graduation ceremony at the Northern Arizona University (NAU) police officers were busy searching the northern and central areas around the campus for a bank robbery suspect.   The Chase Bank branch located just west of the NAU campus along South Milton Rd. was robbed at approximately 10:53 a.m.

Witnesses to the robbery told officers that a male subject had entered the bank and began demanding money.  The subject reportedly displayed or mentioned that he had some sort of a device.  After collecting an undetermined amount of money from the tellers the suspect then fled from the scene in an unknown direction.  No injuries were reported during the incident.

The bank was closed for several hours after the robbery as police conducted an investigation.  Bomb technicians from the Flagstaff Police Department and the Arizona Department of Public Safety were also called to the bank.  Bomb robots were sent into the bank to check a bag that was left in the bank during the robbery.  Police officials did not specify what was in the bag.

The Flagstaff Department is still looking for a male subject who was last seen wearing brown or tan boots, dark pants and a dark jacket and carrying a purple backpack or duffle bag. This subject is to be considered armed and dangerous.

There was a collaborate effort between Flagstaff Police Department, Northern Arizona University Police, Arizona Department of Public Safety and Coconino County Sheriffs Office during the investigation of this bank robbery.

Interview with Flagstaff Police Sergeant James Jacskon -  (Raw Interview)

A Department of Public Safety Bomb Robot sent into the Chase Bank in Flagstaff, Arizona after the bank had been robbed. (Brandon Neuman / NAZ Today)

A Department of Public Safety Bomb Robot approaching the entrance to the Chase Bank in Flagstaff, Arizona. The robot was sent in to investigate a suspicious bag after the bank had been robbed. (Brandon Neuman/NAZ Today)

One of the suspects, Bradley Woolf, was stopped for a traffic violation near the suspect’s 11th Street home and was cited for having a suspended driver’s license.

Detectives followed the suspects after the traffic stop and obtained a search warrant for the home after locating evidence of methamphetamine use and sales involving Woolf.

Inside the house, YCSO detectives found “usable quantities of methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana,” along with drug pipes, vials, and syringes.

In addition to the illicit drugs, detectives found a pawn slip and, upon investigation, discovered a pawned gun that was stolen out of the Phoenix area.

Suspects Thomas Lewis Jr. and Diana Obeso were booked at the Camp Verde Detention Center. Lewis was charged with Possession of Methamphetamine, Cocaine and prescription narcotics. He was also charged with possessing a weapon during a drug offense, prohibited possessor. He’s being held without bond on a Parolee at Large warrant. Obeso was charged with possession of Methamphetamine, cocaine, and a prescription narcotic.

The other four suspects involved, Lisette Meza, Erin Finley, Rachel Walters, and Woolf, were cited with Possession of Drug Paraphernalia and released.

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Information from: the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office

Answer: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approved 1,553 shipments of commercial nuclear waste from 1979 to 2007, mostly using the interstate highway system. The most heavy transport is on the east cost, but almost every state is connected.

Q: What is the nuclear waste being shipped?

A: The waste is low level commercial nuclear waste. Low level is a bit misleading because it does not mean that it is not highly radioactive. The most common form of the waste, however, is medical grade. This could come from hospital x-ray machines and is usually not too highly radioactive. Transuranic radioactive waste, however, can be highly radioactive. No high level, which is the type of waste that comes from spent fuel, is currently allowed to be transported in the United States.

Q: Is it dangerous?

A: The shipment process is highly secure. The NRC states that in the more than one million miles of travel, none of the shipments have resulted in an injury.

Q: Who has to report the shipments through the NRC.

A: The NRC does not regulate all shipments. The shipments involved come from universities with research facilities and reactors, utilities and private companies, such as hospitals. The U.S. Department of Energy or the U.S. Department of Defense have their own regulations.

Q: Why was the proposal revised?

A: Tribal officials were not against the original 1999 proposal. There were disputes on the method the NRC proposed to use.

Q: Who gets to know now?

A: Any state governor, or a single designated top-ranking official.

Q: Could this extend to high-level waste in the future?

A: If high level waste is approved for transport it will most likely be  under the jurisdiction of the Department of Energy.

Q: How often does waste pass through reservations?

A: The NRC has no information on that.

Q: Why would nuclear waste pass through Arizona?

A: Low level nuclear waste can come from anywhere. Hospitals are the most prominent example. Northern Arizona also lies between two Department of Energy facilities which are currently moving transuranic waste. WIPP, or the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, and the Nevada National Security Site which both currently store and transfer all types of  low level waste.

Q: How do I read or comment on the document?

A: It’s available for comment and review here.

FLAGSTAFF (AP) — The custodial mother of an Arizona toddler who was found dead in a wash this summer, weeks after his family reported him missing from a campsite, was arrested Monday on suspicion of child abuse.

However, it was unclear if the charges involved the boy who died or some other child.

Yavapai County sheriff’s officials arrested Christina Priem, 36, at a Flagstaff auto parts store. She faces three felony counts of involving a minor in a drug offense.

Sheriff’s spokesman Dwight D’Evelyn couldn’t say which child or children the three counts refer to, or when and where the alleged offenses occurred.

“They (deputies) want to talk to her and clear up some of the things they’re working on,” he said. “They had probable cause to justify the arrest on these counts.”

It was unknown Monday if Priem had an attorney.

The arrest stems from an investigation into the disappearance and death of 2-year-old Sylar Newton. The boy was camping with Priem and her family near Rimrock in July when they reported that he wandered away from a tent and disappeared.

Searchers walked up and down washes, and scoured a landfill, trash bins and other areas of the campsite for more than a week but could not find him.

Weeks later, a distant relative of Sylar who lives in the area and had been looking for the boy called authorities to say he spotted something in the bottom of a wash near the campsite. DNA tests confirmed it was Sylar.

Witnesses at the campground, about 40 miles south of Flagstaff, told detectives that Sylar appeared to be under the influence of drugs or medication. The results of toxicology tests are pending, D’Evelyn said.

Sylar’s biological mother, Charity Newton, was pregnant with Sylar when she met Priem through Priem’s sister. Newton had intended to have Priem adopt Sylar.

She told The Associated Press on Monday she is hopeful authorities will figure out exactly what happened to her son.

“They’re continuing in the direction of bringing justice to my son, I know that,” she said. “They’ve told me numerous times that they’re not going to give up.”

Priem was being held at the Camp Verde Detention Center.

UPDATES

Priem is accused of giving her children – a son and a younger daughter – and the son’s teenage friend drugs. D’Evelyn wouldn’t say what drugs she is accused of giving them.

“We’ve broken open the door a little bit to have some idea what was going on, where detectives felt they could make a case for these other victim children and dig in further  to figure out what was going on with Sylar,” D’Evelyn said.

Priem appeared in court Tuesday, where her bond was set at $250,000. Court documents indicate she would hire her own attorney. She was scheduled to enter a plea Dec. 14.

Patrick Williams

Chino Valley (NAZ Today) – Authorities with the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office say they have arrested 18 year old Patrick Williams of Chino Valley for the murder of his 67 year old neighbor Stella Streppa.

On the afternoon of December 5th, deputies were called to perform a welfare check on the victim, after family members became concerned due to not hearing from her recently. Once inside the home, deputies found the victims body and determined she had been killed by another person.

Deputies learned that the victims truck was also missing and on Monday, December 6, the vehicle was located in Prescott. Officials found Williams near the vehicle, and developed information linking him to Streppa’s death.

Williams lived in the same neighborhood as the victim.

Detectives assigned to the case are asking for the public’s help. Detectives learned that sometime last week, possibly Tuesday, November 30th, someone called 911 and spoke to Prescott Police dispatchers after seeing Williams in the victim’s truck. Detectives would like to speak with the person who made this call. Please call Detective Mike Poling at 928-771-3260 with any information you may have.

In all, two Flagstaff Fire units, two Guardian Medical ambulances, and Flagstaff PD were on the scene to assist with five patients in the home.

Firefighters obtained readings of CO over 400 ppm (parts per-million). These levels can be lethal within a short amount of time. Normal CO limits can range from 0 ppm up to 20 ppm. Two of the patients were transported to Flagstaff Medical Center, while three others were being treated on scene.

Firefighters ventilated the home and after a primary investigation determined a wood stove may have created the near lethal levels.

There were no CO detectors in the home; the 911 call came in from a friend who had stopped by the residence at around 6:20am this morning.  After finding all five occupants of the home in various stages of CO poisoning, he called 911.

The Flagstaff Fire Department reminds everyone to place a CO detector in your home. If you suspect a CO leak, exit the home and call 911.

CO poisoning symptoms are very similar to flu-like conditions; nausea, vomiting, lethargy.

Tyrone Wilson (Booking photo from the U.S. Marshal's Office)

A man wanted in connection with a recent sexual assault on the NAU campus is in custody.  According to the US Marshals Service, 22-year-old Tyrone Wilson was arrested this afternoon at a residence on the Navajo Nation.  Wilson was wanted by NAU police for numerous sexual charges,  assault, and kidnapping.  An 18-year-old N-A-U student was assaulted on November 19 and Wilson was identified as the suspect.  Wilson was extradited to Flagstaff and has been booked into the Coconino County Jail.

The Save the Peaks Coalition filed a lawsuit against the forest service in US District Court to block Snowbowl from using reclaimed wastewater to make snow.

The coalition says that the forest service failed to properly evaluate the health and environmental risks of using treated wastewater.

U-S District Court Judge for the State of Arizona, Mary Murguia ruled that the Forest Service was thorough enough in its study of the use of treated wastewater, and that the Coalition waited too long to file the latest lawsuit.

NAZ Today spoke with the Attorney representing the Save the Peaks Coalition,  Howard Schanker, and he says the decision misstates the facts and misapplies the law.  Shanker told NAZ Today that he doesn’t believe the Courts are taking the possible health risks of using reclaimed water seriously enough.

Meanwhile, Arizona Snowbowl has released a statement saying they look forward to starting construction of the snowmaking system once the weather and other conditions permit.  Snowbowl General Manager J.R. Murray says, “We could have completed the $14 million dollar snowmaking project this summer which would have employed hundreds of construction workers. We would have opened prior to Thanksgiving and begun hiring over 500 seasonal employees. Instead we are waiting for additional snow to open the ski area this season. Flagstaff needs the jobs and the economic impact that a reliable winter ski season will bring. It’s a shame that the vocal minority continues to try to close the ski area…”

Schanker plans to file an appeal on behalf of Save the Peaks… with the 9th Circuit Court within the next week.

The Department of Administration says an estimate 29,000 state employees will take Friday off without pay.

State officials project that the six furlough days will save up to $20 million in the current fiscal year.

Certain state agencies providing public services deemed to be essential will remain open. Those include prisons, juvenile corrections facilities and the state mental hospital. Also, the Highway Patrol will remain on the job and the hot line for child abuse and neglect reports will be in operation.

The next furlough day is Dec. 23.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.

Between 9:00 am and 6:00 pm Sunday, Arizona Department of Public Safety Officers had already responded to more than 20 weather related accidents, and they feared the worst was yet to come. “The wet roadways will likely turn into black ice, causing even more accidents,” said one officer.

As of 6:00 pm no serious injuries had been reported, but at least 10 people had been taken to area hospitals as result of accidents.