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LEGISLATURE ADJOURNS
Idaho Legislature ends session after 74 days
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The Idaho Legislature has wrapped up for the year after appropriating $2.9 billion.
The session lasted only 74 days — that's two weeks fewer than last year's session and only five days longer than the record shortest session in 2004.
Senate Majority Leader Bart Davis commended his fellow lawmakers as their final day on the floor drew to a close.
Senators also regaled the gallery with the state song and "God Bless America" before adjourning for the last time.
This year the Senate has helped advance the public school budget, a tax incentive bill to draw businesses to Idaho, the agriculture security bill and many others.
ELECTED OFFICIAL RAISE
Legislators back trimmed elected official raises
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Lawmakers got behind a plan to scale back pay raises for Idaho's top elected officials Thursday.
The Senate's 35-0 vote means the governor and other top officials will likely see their salaries rise 1.5 percent next year — and each year after that.
That's less than the 2.5 percent raises the bill's sponsors originally asked for.
But some lawmakers argued it's still unfair to guarantee higher yearly raises for Idaho's politicians that what state employees will receive.
The secretary of state, the lieutenant governor, the state treasurer and the superintendent of public instruction will also get the ongoing raise.
The attorney general's pay will jump to match that of district judges, but remain fixed for the next four years.
The bill passed the House earlier Thursday with a 44-25 vote.
DAYCARE-MARIJUANA
Boise daycare provider faces marijuana charge
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A 28-year-old Boise woman police say kept marijuana in the house where she operated a daycare has turned herself in after authorities issued an arrest warrant.
Korrine Jones turned herself in Tuesday to police on suspicion of delivery of a controlled substance.
Boise police contacted Jones on Dec. 17 following a tip. Police say a search of her home turned up 4 grams of marijuana and some drug paraphernalia.
Police say three children ages 6 months to 3 years occupied the home. One lived there and police turned the two others over to their parents.
The city of Boise suspended Jones' daycare license on Dec. 20.
ROMNEY-IDAHO
Romney stumps for GOP candidates
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is campaigning in Boise on behalf of Republican Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter, U.S. Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, and U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho.
Romney said Thursday that he is endorsing the three because they are good conservatives, and because they were early endorsers of his presidential campaign.
Romney also says Idaho as a state is a good example of how conservative principles can lead to economic prosperity.
He also says he does not plan to run for president again.
Romney lost to President Barack Obama in the 2012 election.
TEN COMMANDMENTS-FARMIN PARK
N. Idaho city considers Ten Commandments monument
SANDPOINT, Idaho (AP) — A conservative advocacy group says it will represent the city of Sandpoint for free in a potential lawsuit over a Ten Commandments monument in a public park.
The Bonner County Daily Bee reports that Hiram Sasser of the Plano, Texas-based Liberty Institute made the offer at a public hearing concerning the monument on Wednesday.
City officials have said they're investigating alternative locations for the monument in Farmin Park after receiving a letter in November from the Freedom From Religion Foundation asking the monument be removed.
City Attorney Scot Campbell says the monument's location opens the city to potential litigation.
The Fraternal Order of Eagles gave the monument to the city in 1972.
City officials didn't make a decision at the meeting.
FORMER TEACHER-CHILD PORN
Former teacher guilty of possessing child porn
LEWISTON, Idaho (AP) — A judge has ruled that a former agricultural education instructor at a northern Idaho high school is guilty of 10 felony counts of possessing child pornography.
The Lewiston Tribune reports that 2nd District Judge Jeff M. Brudie made the ruling Wednesday after two days of testimony in the case involving 28-year-old Tyler Mink.
Police say they began investigating in January 2013 when detectives discovered 54 suspicious files shared at Mink's residence in Lewiston. Police obtained a search warrant and reported finding hundreds of files with child pornography.
Mink resigned from Culdesac High School that month.
Sentencing is set for June 4. Mink faces up to 10 years in prison on each felony count.
The newspaper reports that Mink is out of jail pending sentencing.
LAPWAI KILLING
N. Idaho man charged with first-degree murder
LEWISTON, Idaho (AP) — A federal grand jury in northern Idaho has indicted a 37-year-old Lapwai man on one count of first-degree murder.
Raymond Scott Jr. is accused of killing 42-year-old William G. Reich with a hammer or other weapon in July.
Prosecutors say that Scott left Reich for dead in Reich's home in Lapwai after the attack.
The Lewiston Tribune reports in a story on Thursday that the federal indictment says Reich's injuries included a fractured skull and a laceration to the brain.
The FBI investigated because Scott and Reich are members of the Nez Perce Tribe and the death occurred on the Nez Perce Reservation.
Under federal law, Scott faces up to life in prison.
PHONE ALERT SERVICE
Ada County looking for new phone alert company
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Officials in highly populated Ada County in southwest Idaho are looking for a new phone alert company.
The Ada County Sheriff's Office tells the Idaho Statesman in a story on Thursday that the system hasn't been working as promised by My State USA.
Spokeswoman Andrea Dearden says that two out of three alerts have failed this year.
On Jan. 28 an alert went out on landlines in some neighborhoods in Boise about a missing teenager but the alert contained no message.
Then on Feb. 6, police wanted to alert residents about a mountain lion being tracked but technical problems prevented the message.
Dearden says the failures didn't involve major events, but county officials don't want to take chances in emergencies such as floods or wildfires.
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