(FARMINGTON, N.M.)-KRQE-TV, Channel 13 in Albuquerque, N.M. reports the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission has begun a campaign to educate the public about drunkenness and how to handle situations involving people who are not intoxicated.

Commission spokeswoman Rachelle Todea has said the focus of the new campaign is to inform everyone that treating people who are intoxicated as inferiors takes away civil rights or human rights.

In an interview with the Farmington Daily-Times, Todea told the campaign will be distributing a brochure.

The brochure says that everyone, sober or not, has rights protected by the New Mexico Human Rights Act, the New Mexico Civil Rights Act and the U.S. Constitution.

The commission has cited recent examples of brutality toward people who are intoxicated or otherwise impaired, including beatings.

The commission also lists actions that are illegal or in violation of people’s civil rights, such as bullying, kidnapping or beating people in any way.

The commission also acknowledges alcoholism is a disease, while also stressing those who are drunk in public are responsible for their own behavior.

The commission has published a brochure saying the appropriate action is to contact law enforcement while staying with the person until help arrives.

(FARMINGTON, N.M.)-KRQE-TV, Channel 13 in Albuquerque, N.M. reports a New Mexico state senator is contending a proposed 25-year extension on a lease for the Four Corners Power Plant is a poor deal for the Navajo Nation.

Senator Lynda Lovejoy of Crownpoint, N.M. wrote a letter to Navajo President Ben Shelly saying the extension will mean a “meager annual payment” of $7 million for the next 25 years.

The lease awaits Shelly’s signature or veto and it was approved last week by the Navajo Tribal Council.

Phoenix-based Arizona Public Service Company, the plant’s operator, has said it would shutter the aging coal-fired plant if the lease wasn’t approved.

The northwestern New Mexico plant has been under increased scrutiny over emissions.

Lovejoy, who ran against Shelly in last year’s Navajo presidential race, urged him to evaluate the lease in a letter drafted on February 19.

Navajo Nation chief of staff for the office of the president and vice president, Sherrick Roanhorse, declined to comment on Lovejoy’s letter, saying Shelly will review the lease from different perspectives.

APS spokesman Damon Gross said approving the lease would benefit the Navajo Nation.

The current lease ends in 2016.

(ST. GEORGE)-When Dixie State College of Utah becomes a university, it will have the backing of numerous lawmakers throughout the state.

Friday at the state Legislature, the Senate unanimously approved a resolution supporting the southwestern school’s eventual move to four-year status.

The measure now proceeds to the House.

St. George Senator Stephen Urquhart, is the sponsor of S.C.R.111, which supports Dixie State’s move to university status and said the measure doesn’t commit the state to anything nor does it include a date for the transition.

Rather, it only acknowledges the college’s sprawling growth, Urquhart said.

The state Board of Regents estimates it would take about $10 million over a three-year period to phase in these changes.

The resolution does not indicate whether Dixie would follow the Weber State University model to university status or ensue in its current affiliation with the University of Utah.

(SALT LAKE CITY)-The Salt Lake Tribune reports two major Republican groups are running TV and radio ads claiming Democratic Representative Jim Matheson is a supporter of wasteful spending.

Matheson says he isn’t surprised at these attacks, being a rarity in extremely conservative Utah, but the timing is earlier than usual, he claims.

Washington-based Crossroads GPS, a conservative group which does not disclose its financial backers, produced radio ads in 22 House districts, some trying to protect recently elected Republicans and others targeting Democrats, such as Matheson.

The ads are seeking to connect Matheson to the fiscal agenda of President Barack Obama and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi for voting against a 2010 budget bill that cut money from a variety of programs.

Crossroads, which is connected to Karl Rove, says it spent a little more than $37,000 on the ad which is receiving significant airplay on numerous Utah radio stations and is part of a $450,000 campaign slated to end Tuesday.

Furthermore, the National Republican Congressional Committee has also gotten into the mix as it is spending nearly $15,000 on three weeks of television ads that will appear on FOX News until March 10.

The NRCC spot marks its first foray into the 2012 election cycle and highlights the second anniversary of the economic stimulus bill, claiming it was ineffective.

Matheson was the only member of Congress from Utah to vote for this legislation.

Matheson brushed off these accusations, saying by now Utahns should know what he’s really about as he has long been a staple in Washington despite his political affiliation.

(SALT LAKE CITY)-According to legislation from Spanish Fork Representative Michael Morley, Utah civics teachers would teach the United States a “constitutional compound republic” is just a Senate approval and a governor’s signature away from becoming law.

Morley’s bill, H.B.220, would amend a statute regarding the study of American history to include the phrase “instruction in American history and government shall include the study of forms of government, such as a democracy, monarch and oligarchy and the United States’ form of government: a republic.”

This advanced out of a Senate committee Friday at the state Legislature while it now advances to the Senate floor.

Opponents have argued his bill and others like it interfere with education’s control and supervision, which is the constitutional charge of the State Board of Education.

Associate state superintendent for instructional services, Brenda Hales said legislation like Morley’s and Orem Representative Stephen Sandstrom’s H.B.322, which is really similar, have cropped up nationwide in numerous other states.

Friday, Morley told the Senate committee his bill isn’t political in nature and is geared toward ensuring children are taught correct principles.

(MILFORD)-Search and rescue teams with the Beaver County Sheriff’s Department found the wreckage of a plane that was reported as missing in the Milford area last Saturday.

The pilot did not survive the crash.

According to Steven Miller, the public affairs officer for the Utah wing of the Civil Air Patrol, the single-engine Lance Air experimental plane was discovered in some sage brush about seven miles west of the Milford Airport around 1:30 p.m. Sunday.

Miller says the male pilot of the plane was killed while the plane broke into several pieces when it crashed.

Beaver County Sheriff Cameron Noel says the man was flying from Colorado to California when he ran into some bad weather.

The Air Force Rescue Coordination Center received a stress signal Saturday around 5:30 p.m. while notifying the Civil Air Patrol.

There were 17 search teams who worked into the night to locate the plane while resuming the search Sunday morning.

Monday morning, the Salt Lake Tribune reported the pilot has been identified as 48-year-old Los Angeles resident Allen Layton and says Layton took off from Vail, Colo. Saturday morning and was headed to Los Angeles, Noel said.

Noel said the pilot stopped in Grand Junction, Colo., due to weather, but resumed his journey later in the day.

Authorities say the plane disappeared from radar around 8:00 p.m. Saturday.

(PRICE)-Last Saturday evening, a Carbon County sheriff’s deputy was shot during a standoff outside a Price home while the accused shooter has been taken into custody and the deputy is at home recovering.

According to information released by the Price City Police Department, the situation began with several officers being dispatched to Price’s Castleview Hospital around 6:25 p.m. to meet with a woman who said she was assaulted by her estranged husband, the 40-year-old Gary Hinkins, at their home.

The 40-year-old Mechelle Hinkins was treated for serious blunt force trauma to her head and hands.

Meanwhile, several parole agents and two sheriff’s deputies went into the Hinkins’ home to find Gary Hinkins and upon their arrival, Hinkins was hiding in an RV behind the house.

When the deputies ordered Hinkins to come out, he fired at least seven rounds at them with a shotgun while one deputy returned fire.

The deputy who shot back, 44-year-old Michael Hreinson, was struck by at least one round and taken to Castleview Hospital where he was treated for wounds to his right leg and torso.

He has since been released.

Witnesses say Hinkins also had pipe bombs and dropped one while hiding in a child’s playhouse in the backyard of the Hilliards, the Hinkins’ neighbors.

From there, Hinkins led authorities on a chase through at least two more yards before he was taken into custody.

Hinkins was booked into the Carbon County Jail on numerous charges, including four counts of attempted homicide of a police officer, attempted homicide and possession of a firearm by a restricted person.

At least one home was evacuated during the shootout and the family was able to return to the home around 7:00 a.m. Sunday morning.

A call talker with the Price Domestic Violence says across the board, the organization has seen these types of cases increase, often due to drugs or economic stress.

(LOGAN)-Utah Senior Senator, Republican Orrin Hatch, says he would support former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney over Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. for the 2012 presidency, citing Romney’s efforts to assist Utah during the 2002 Winter Olympic games.

Hatch revealed this during an interview with the Logan Herald-Journal last Friday, while also saying he fully expects Romney to run for the presidency next year.

Hatch also lauded Romney’s economic background and decision-making abilities, including his role as chief executive officer of the 2002 Olympiad.

Hatch is facing a possible challenge from U.S. Representative Jason Chaffetz when he seeks a seventh term in 2012 and also touted his experience in the Senate as a reason he should remain in his position.