Finally, at long last, the first set of numbers from Kootenai County: In District 2, Sen. Steve Vick is leading former Sen. Mike Jorgenson, 59.4%-40.6%; Rep. Vito Barbieri, R-Dalton Gardens, is leading challenger Mark Fisher, 53.1-46.9; and Rep. Phil Hart, R-Athol, is trailing challenger Ed Morse. Morse has 38.1%, Hart 31.1%, Ron Vieselmeyr 17.9% and Fritz Wiedenhoff 13%. Meanwhile, in the District 3A race, Jeff Tyler leads Ron Mendive, 55.5-44.5; in 3B, Rep. Frank Henderson is holding off challenger Jack Schroeder 57.9-42.1; and for House 4A, Luke Malek leads Jeff Ames, 61-39. Continue reading →
by Steve Myers Published May 24, 2012 9:41 am A memo from Times-Picayune publisher Ashton Phelps confirms that the newspaper will cease daily publication, moving to three days a week: Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. The memo also confirms staff cuts, though it doesn’t say how large they will be. Press reports have necessitated our giving you this news now. We realize it will make people anxious, but we do not know enough today to be able to announce how the changes will affect individual employees. We will move as quickly as possible in the coming weeks to make that determination and to inform each of you personally. The memo from Phelps: To all employees: We wanted to make you aware of a news story that ... Continue reading →
This small community in the forested, western foothills of the Rocky Mountains was created as a company town to house workers for the nation's largest white pine sawmill, and its tidy homes and straight, tree-lined streets are a testament to its planners.But the town has slumbered since the Potlatch Lumber Co. mill closed in 1981, and was searching for an economic future when an ammunition maker decided last year to move its operations from the liberal Seattle area to this more conservative region.The move by PNW Arms was like a signal flare to business and political leaders in the town of 800 people, who were in the process of trying to determine what industry would be best to pursue."We were in the middle of doing ... Continue reading →
Boise police say they have recovered six of 14 professional racing bicycles stolen from a locked trailer outside the Holiday Inn on the 2900 block of West Elder Street overnight. The bikes were found locked together near the Boise State campus.The bikes, which belong to a team of riders participating in the women's Exergy Tour, are valued at around $70,000 and are marked with Tibco team logos, Boise police said. The custom racing bikes are made from a specialized carbon fiber, police say. The bikes were to be used in Thursday's prologue and Saturday's time trial stage."It's a major theft," Tibco-To The Top team owner Linda Jackson said. "This is not some small crime. This is a huge theft."Team members told police it appears someone ... Continue reading →
The AP was joined in the lawsuit by the Idaho Press Club, Idahoans for Openness in Government, the Idaho Statesman, The Times-News, Lewiston Tribune, Moscow-Pullman Daily News and The Spokesman-Review.Also joining was Pioneer Newspapers, which owns several newspapers including the Idaho Press-Tribune, the Idaho State Journal, the Rexburg Standard Journal and others.Idaho, like most states with lethal injection, bars witnesses from watching as a condemned inmate is brought into the execution chamber, strapped to the table and has IVs inserted into his or her arms. The news organizations say reporters must be able to view executions from start to finish so they can accurately report the events — and any complications that may emerge — to the public.Some death row inmates have challenged the constitutionality ... Continue reading →
Finally, at long last, the first set of numbers from Kootenai County: In District 2, Sen. Steve Vick is leading former Sen. Mike Jorgenson, 59.4%-40.6%; Rep. Vito Barbieri, R-Dalton Gardens, is leading challenger Mark Fisher, 53.1-46.9; and Rep. Phil Hart, R-Athol, is trailing challenger Ed Morse. Morse has 38.1%, Hart 31.1%, Ron Vieselmeyr 17.9% and Fritz Wiedenhoff 13%. Meanwhile, in the District 3A race, Jeff Tyler leads Ron Mendive, 55.5-44.5; in 3B, Rep. Frank Henderson is holding off challenger Jack Schroeder 57.9-42.1; and for House 4A, Luke Malek leads Jeff Ames, 61-39. Continue reading →
Idaho's corrections chief says the agency is switching to a one-drug lethal injection for future executions of death row inmates.Idaho Department of Corrections Director Brent Reinke said Friday execution teams will administer a single, lethal dose of the surgical sedative pentobarbital.That's a change from the execution carried out by the agency last fall, when the condemned inmate was injected with three-drug mixture, which included pentobarbital.Reinke says the change was driven by difficulties in obtaining the other two chemicals used to kill Paul Ezra Rhoades in November.The decision makes Idaho the latest death penalty state to switch to using only pentobarbital in its lethal injection.Reinke says the one-drug protocol will be used in the June 12 execution of convicted murderer Richard Leavitt. Continue reading →
