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IDAHO-TREASURER OFFICE
Suit to force treasurer from Statehouse office can continue
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A judge says a lawsuit brought by Idaho legislative leaders seeking to force the state treasurer out of her first-floor office in the Statehouse can move forward. The judge didn't rule on the merits of the case Friday but says the leaders have standing to sue. Legislative leaders sued in June after the Idaho treasurer refused to move out. A 2007 law allows the Legislature to decide what is done with the first, third and fourth floors of the building. Legislative leaders want to use the space for offices for House members.
NATIONAL LABORATORY SUPERCOMPUTER
Federal national laboratory in Idaho gets supercomputer
IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (AP) — Idaho National Laboratory officials say the third supercomputer has arrived in their facility to enable researchers to faster simulate new fuels and reactor designs. The Post Register reported Wednesday that the $19.2 million supercomputer includes about 100,000 processors and is named Sawtooth after the Idaho mountain range. Facility officials say the system is expected to calculate mathematical equations at about six times the speed of the current systems. Officials say the supercomputer is expected to be available to users early next year and provide computer access to researchers in Idaho and other national laboratories, universities and private industry.
INMATES CAPTURED
2 female inmates captured after escaping
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Two Idaho Department of Corrections inmates who walked away from the South Boise Women’s Correctional Center early Wednesday evening are back in custody. KBOI reports Kesha Kandler and Whitney Wickwire went missing just after 5:30 p.m. The Ada County Sheriff's Office found the women at about 9 p.m.
BRITISH COLUMBIA LOGGING-RIVER
British Columbia will no longer log in key Skagit headwaters
SEATTLE (AP) — British Columbia's government has announced it will no longer allow timber sales in the Skagit River's headwaters. The Seattle Times reports the decision could intensify pressure over a Canadian company's pending permit to start exploratory mining in the area, which conservationists see as a bigger threat to the river's ecology. Loggers last year built roads and clear-cut several large swaths of forest in the headwaters, which drain into the Skagit River and eventually flow through Washington state to Puget Sound. Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan wrote to B.C. officials with “grave concern” about water quality and environmental degradation.
ADMINISTRATIVE RULES
Idaho governor: Idaho is least-regulated state in US
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho Gov. Brad Little says he's cut or simplified 75% of Idaho's administrative rules and made Idaho the least-regulated state in the U.S. Little said Wednesday that he's eliminated more than 30,000 restrictions and some 1,800 pages of regulations this year. State officials say they base the state's least-regulated status on information collected by George Mason University. The Republican governor had sweeping authority this year to eliminate thousands of rules after state lawmakers fought over the administrative rules process and failed to renew them before adjourning in April. Little says the cuts to regulations won't make Idahoans less safe.
ERPELDING RESIGNS
Idaho House minority leader resigns, takes new job
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The Democratic minority leader in the Idaho House announced that he is resigning and joining the Boise Metro Chamber of Commerce as vice president of government relations. Lawmaker Mat Erpelding was an articulate spokesman for his party and found areas where he could work with Republicans. However, he did not shy from confrontations. Democrats will offer three possible replacements for Republican Gov. Brad Little to choose from to serve the rest of Erpelding's term in the next legislative session that begins in January. He is resigning effective Friday,
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