ARIZONA : 2 Ex-Biosphere 2 Members Win Suit

A jury in Florence, Ariz., awarded nearly $520,000 in lost wages to two former crew members who broke open Biosphere 2 and sued the project’s operators for breach of contract after they were fired. Abigail Alling and Mark Van Thillo received the back pay they claimed following their arrest for breaking seals and opening doors to the glass-and-steel domed complex on April 4, 1994. The break-in happened three days after a court-ordered management shake-up, in which project managers suspended Alling and Van Thillo. Biosphere 2, financed by Texas billionaire Edward Bass, was built as an environmental mini-world near Oracle, 30 miles northwest of Tucson.