Judge consolidates lawsuits over Bears Ears, Grand Staircase monument changes

Washington • A federal judge has consolidated into two cases the five lawsuits filed against President Donald Trump’s order to shrink two Utah national monuments: One case now will deal with the former Bears Ears monument and the other, the Grand Staircase-Escalante.The five suits, filed days after Trump trimmed the monuments by 2 million acres, all essentially argue that the president doesn’t have the authority to change the boundaries of a monument under the 1906 Antiquities A