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1 ALMANAC A2 AROUND TOWN A2 CLASSIFIEDS B5 COMICS A8 DEAR ABBY A8 LOTTERY A3 MOVIES A6 OPINION A5 SPORTS B1 $1.50 Volume 72, Issue 295 A Lee Enterprises Newspaper Copyright 2018 Follow us online: facebook.com/ArizonaDailySun twitter.com@azds instagram.com/azdailysun See more photos of Search and drone initiative AT AZDAILYSUN.COM DISCOVER DIGITAL THUNDERSTORMS 82 57 FORECAST, A2 Saturday, July 21, 2018 azdailysun.com Executive order Ducey says lawmakers must be cited ARIZONA, A3 Picking up the pace Flagstaff coach using innovative drills to connect with kids SPORTS, B1 EMERY COWAN Sun Staff Reporter In May of last year, the 120,000 photovoltaic solar panels at the Kayenta Solar Plant went op- erational, becoming the first utility-scale solar plant on the Navajo Nation. Now, just over a year later, the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority that owns the Kayenta plant is pushing ahead with two more solar projects on the reservation. First up is a new array located adjacent to the Kayenta solar plant that will double solar gen- erating capacity at that site to 55 megawatts. Construction will begin in August. The other project is being proposed near Gray Mountain and Cameron, less than an hour north of Flagstaff.

In a community meeting at the Cameron Chapter last month, NTUA officials outlined a plan for a 100- to 150-megawatt so- lar plant capable of powering at JAKE BACON Arizona Daily Sun Amazon is not the only orga- nization hoping to one day make deliveries by drones. While they prefer to call their aircraft Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), the Coconino County Office Search and Rescue Unit is looking to a future where they will have the option of flying a radio, food, water or even medicine to people that they are working to rescue. The agency currently has four people trained to fly unmanned aerial systems, and each earned a standard Federal Aviation Ad- ministration Part 107 Drone Pilot License. Search and Rescue started its UAS program two years ago with the purchase of consumer drones such as the DJI Phantom 4. The phantom cannot carry a payload, but is equipped with a camera that transmits a live video feed to the operator while simulta- neously recording the video on a memory card.

According to Sgt. Aaron Dick, who supervises the search and rescue department which con- sists of just two sworn officers and about 130 volunteers the office receives around 360 calls a year for search and rescue. deputies can resolve two-thirds of the calls, which leaves an average of about 100 missions a year carried out by search and Dick said. year, we did 121 missions and to date this year we have done 70. put in about 17,000 hours a year between missions, training and maintain- ing equipment.

The age range of our volunteers is from 18 to 83, which means that we have a lot of diverse life experiences in the group. We have everything from college kids to retired profes- Currently the primary role of the UAS is to search for missing people. The UAS can be deployed to efficiently search open meadows and stretches of desert, saving boots on the ground and enabling search and rescue supervisors to better use volunteers searching places that are not ideal for the drones, such Drones add new layer to search and rescue JaKE BaCON, ARIZONA DAILY SUN Deputy Paul Clifton flies one of the Coconino County unmanned aerial systems during a training mission Thursday morning on A-1 Mountain. There are currently four people qualified to fly the aircraft for use in search and rescue operations. Navajo utility proposes project KATIE DEVEREAUX Sun Staff Reporter The Coconino County Board of Supervisors declared a State of Emergency in a special session on Friday following the major flooding in the Timber- line area.

On Wednesday, the area, which was the site of the 2010 Schultz Fire flood, received be- tween 5.35 to 5.94 inches in less than two hours. According to a county release, multiple private properties were flooded and received debris such as boulders, trees and mud. County roadways and forest floodwater conveyance channels along the roadways were also damaged in storm. Todd Whitney, director of Co- conino County Emergency Man- agement, said a State of Emer- gency is declared in situations that are beyond what the county can handle within their normal operations. Because the county is still in monsoon season, Whitney said additional rain and potential future flooding could exceed the monetary capabilities and the already designated con- tingency funds that are dedicated to emergencies in the budget.

State of emergency declared JaKE BaCON, ARIZONA DAILY SUN Rain continued to fall Thursday afternoon at the intersection of Brandis Way and Glen Drive after a flash flood ripped through the area Wednesday afternoon. DNA testing producing uncertainty on occasion MALCOLM RITTER Associated Press NEW YORK Last year, Katie Burns got a phone call that shows what can happen in medicine when information runs ahead of knowledge. Burns learned that a genetic test of her fetus had turned up an abnormality. It appeared in a gene that, when it fails to work properly, causes heart defects, mental disability and other problems. But nobody knew whether the specific abnormality detected by the test would cause trouble.

was pretty says Burns, a photographer in Char- lotte, North Carolina. had a baby who was kicking. I could feel him moving inside of me. But at the same time I had this ache in my chest. What was his life going to be for It took two months to get more reliable information, and Burns says she really sure of the answer until after she gave birth in October to a healthy boy.

Her experience is a glimpse into a surprising paradox of modern-day genetics: Scientists BraNdIS Way FlOOdING County order comes after Timberline area damage New solar plant would be built near Cameron Please see drONES, Page A6 Please see PrOJECt, Page A6 Please see tEStING, Page A6Please see EMErGENCy, Page A6 Come join the winners of the BEST OF FLAGSTAFF 2017 in 3 Categories! CULINARIANS NEEDED! 1899 Bar Grill is currently hiring culinary professionals. If interested, apply online at SODEXOUSA.JOBS search positions in Flagstaff, AZ choose posting for Cook II 1899 Bar Grill NAU CAMPUS DINING IS ALSO HIRING CULINARY AND CUSTOMER SERVICE POSITIONS. CHECK US OUT AT THE JOB FAIR! A IR LY 3 1 9 a -3 Northern Arizona University in the University Union, 2nd Floor of Union Point.