Charges planned against Jill Stein in Dakota Access Pipeline protests

---GREEN PARTY CANDIDATE FACES CHARGES IN GRAFFITI PROTEST--- (9:52 a.m. Sept. 7):

Authorities say they will charge Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein who is accused of spray-painting construction equipment during a protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota.

Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said Tuesday that Stein will face trespassing and vandalism charges.

A spokeswoman for Stein says activists invited her to leave a message at the protest site Tuesday. Stein sprayed "I approve this message" in red paint on the blade of a bulldozer.

As of late Tuesday, Stein was not arrested or charged in the incident.

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is trying to stop construction of a section of the pipeline that tribal leaders say would violate sacred and culturally sensitive grounds. Angry protesters faced off with construction workers at the site on Saturday.

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---LAW ENFORCEMENT PULLING BACK FROM PIPELINE PROTESTERS--- (6:20 p.m. Sept. 6):

6:20 p.m.

Authorities say law enforcement officers responding to protesters at a Dakota Access Pipeline construction area on private property in North Dakota pulled back because they determined it wasn't safe to respond.

Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier says the primary goal is public safety, including for law enforcement. Authorities also are looking into a report of a drone flying overhead.

Authorities say a group of between 150 and 200 protesters, including some carrying hatchets and knives, gathered at the construction area Tuesday morning. Officials say two protesters were secured to heavy equipment.

No pipeline workers were at the site, and no arrests have been made.

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5:40 p.m.

The chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe says a federal judge's decision to temporarily stop work on some, but not all, of a portion of the Dakota Access Pipeline puts his people's sacred places "at further risk of ruin and desecration."

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said Tuesday that work will temporarily stop between State Highway 1806 and 20 miles east of Lake Oahe, but that work will continue west of the highway.

Chairman Dave Archambault II said in a statement that the tribe is disappointed that the judge's decision doesn't stop the destruction of sacred sites while the tribe waits for a different ruling.

Boasberg said he'll issue a decision by the end of Friday on the tribe's broader push that challenges federal regulators' decision to grant permits.

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---CORPS WON'T OPPOSE TRIBE'S REQUEST TO STOP PIPELINE WORK--- (8:59 a.m. Sept. 6):

The Army Corps of Engineers won't oppose the Standing Rock Sioux tribe's request for a temporary work stoppage on part of the Dakota Access Pipeline.

The tribe has requested a halt to the construction of a 2-mile stretch of the pipeline near Lake Oahe, North Dakota, to prevent the destruction of sacred and culturally significant sites.

A hearing is scheduled Tuesday in Washington, D.C.

A protest of the $3.8 billion oil pipeline from North Dakota to Illinois turned violent on Saturday. Court documents filed Monday say the Corps "acknowledges that the public interest would be served by preserving peace near Lake Oahe."

The pipeline company hasn't responded to the tribe's motion.

The judge will also consider the tribe's challenge to permits for the pipeline granted by the Corps. A decision is expected by Friday.

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---TRIBAL LEADER: AVOID NORTH DAKOTA TOWNS--- (7:34 p.m. Sept. 4):

A South Dakota tribal chairman is urging members to avoid Bismarck and Mandan in North Dakota after a clash between private security guards and people protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline, saying he fears for his people's safety.

Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Chairman Harold Frazier said Sunday his members were among protesters pepper-sprayed by security officers and attacked by dogs at the pipeline construction site Saturday on private land north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. He urged tribal members to avoid traveling to or doing business in the area.

Hundreds of people have joined the Standing Rock Sioux to protest the pipeline. Tribal leaders say crews have destroyed American Indian burial and cultural sites.

The Bismarck Tribune reports North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple's office Sunday urged protesters "to participate only in peaceful and lawful activities."

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---PIPELINE PROTEST TURNS VIOLENT--- (10:21 p.m. Sept. 3):

A protest of a four-state oil pipeline turned violent after tribal officials say construction crews destroyed American Indian burial and cultural sites on private land in southern North Dakota.

Morton County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Donnell Preskey says four security guards and two guard dogs were injured after several hundred protesters confronted construction crews Saturday afternoon at the site just outside the Standing Rock Sioux reservation.

Tribe spokesman Steve Sitting Bear says protesters reported that six people had been bitten by security dogs, and at least 30 people were pepper-sprayed.

Preskey says there were no law enforcement personnel at the site when the incident occurred. She says the crowd disbursed when officers arrived and no one was arrested.

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---TRIBAL LEADER SAYS 'OUR CAUSE IS JUST' IN PIPELINE PROTEST--- (10:46 a.m. Sept. 3):

The leader of an American Indian tribe in North Dakota that is protesting a $3.8 billion four-state oil pipeline says the "cause is just."

Standing Rock Sioux Chairman Dave Archambault II is among some 30 people that have been arrested in recent weeks for interfering with the construction of the Dakota Access pipeline in southern North Dakota.

His contemporaries say he's the right person at the right time to lead the fight. Native Americans from reservations hundreds of miles away have joined the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's growing protest against the oil pipeline, which they say could disturb sacred sites and impact drinking water for 8,000 tribal members and millions further downstream.