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MISSOULA MEGALOAD PROTEST
3 Missoula women arrested during megaload protest
MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) — Protesters say they stopped the movement of a large load of oilfield equipment for about 20 minutes in Missoula early Friday.
Police arrested Carol Marsh, Debbie Florence and Gail Gilman on suspicion of disorderly conduct for sitting in the road to block the megaload's progress.
Northern Rockies Rising Tide said its members along with members of Indian Peoples Action and the Blue Skies Campaign protested the load as it traveled through Missoula. The load was able to finish its route and stop at Bonner.
The load weighs about 750,000 pounds. It has traveled through Oregon, southern Idaho and will travel through northwestern Montana before continuing on to Alberta, Canada.
It is the last of three loads that Omega Morgan was hauling from the Port of Umatilla, Ore., to Canada.
COURTHOUSE THEFT
Custodian charged with stealing courthouse TV
(Information in the following story is from: Lewiston Tribune, http://www.lmtribune.com)
LEWISTON, Idaho (AP) — A contract custodian police say stole a plasma television from the Nez Perce County courthouse where he cleaned has been charged with felony burglary.
The Lewiston Tribune reports that 29-year-old Wyatt T. Swanson was charged Thursday.
Court documents say a bailiff saw Swanson's pickup backed up to the courthouse on a Saturday morning earlier this month.
Courthouse employees shortly after noticed the television from a downstairs courtroom missing.
Nez Perce County deputies say they found the $580, 42-inch television at a pawn shop by matching the identification numbers.
Records at the pawn shop showed Swanson pawned the television on the same day his pickup was seen at the courthouse.
Swanson is the owner of Vanguard Cleaning Systems, and has a contract with the county to clean office buildings.
SCHOOL BUS CRASH
Police: 1 child hurt in Idaho school bus crash
COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho (AP) — State police say one child was injured in a school bus crash around the Idaho County town of Riggins.
The one-vehicle crash occurred around 5:30 p.m. Thursday on a road in the area, located about 125 miles south of Coeur d'Alene.
Police say 66-year-old driver Larry C. Barnard was carrying seven children on his bus when he was distracted by one of them.
The vehicle drifted left and as the driver corrected to the right, tires went off the road and the bus eventually rolled on its right side.
The state police dispatch office says one child was hospitalized with injuries, but declined to provide any further information.
Barnard and the six other children on the bus were uninjured. The office says the Riggins man was cited for inattentive driving.
HOME INVASION-GAS DOUSING
Police: Home invasion victim doused with gas
(Information in the following story is from: Bonner County (Idaho) Daily Bee, http://www.bonnercountydailybee.com)
SANDPOINT, Idaho (AP) — Authorities say a 57-year-old Elmira resident shot in the face during a home invasion was also doused with gasoline.
Court documents obtained by the Bonner County Daily Bee say the man sustained a superficial wound on his cheek from a bullet and the gas wasn't ignited during Monday's attack.
Three men are in custody on a variety of charges.
Twenty-two-year-old Joseph Vencil Kluck Jr., a transient from Renton, Wash., is charged with attempted murder, armed robbery, second-degree kidnapping and resisting arrest. He is being held in the Bonner County Jail on $150,000 bail.
Eighteen-year-old Joseph Eugene Cleveland of Sandpoint is charged with second-degree kidnapping, robbery and resisting arrest.
Twenty-two-year-old Jonathan Lee Comstock of Sandpoint is also charged with robbery and resisting arrest.
Cleveland and Comstock are being held in the Bonner County Jail on $50,000 bail.
ELECTED OFFICIAL RAISES
Funding approved for elected officials' pay raise
The funding for a bill to increase elected officials' pay squeaked through the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee Friday.
The 10-9 vote allocates $22,200 in general fund money to hand raises to Idaho's top officials.
That includes an ongoing yearly raise of 2.5 percent for the governor, secretary of state, treasurer, controller and superintendent of schools.
That didn't sit will with some lawmakers, who opposed officials getting bigger pay jumps than state employees.
Dover Republican Rep. George Eskridge was among those who said it's unfair to the state's other workers, who get no such guarantee going forward.
Pocatello Democrat Sen. Roy Lacey argued officials' wages needed to go up to attract the "best and brightest" to serve Idaho.
The measure passed the Senate Thursday, and will now be heard in the House.
GRAIN ELEVATOR DEMOLITION
E. Idaho grain elevator to be demolished
(Information in the following story is from: Post Register, http://www.postregister.com)
SUGAR CITY, Idaho (AP) — Officials in Sugar City in eastern Idaho have decided to demolish a grain elevator.
The Post Register reports in a story on Friday that the city bought the grain elevator in 1999.
Sugar City Mayor Glenn Dalling says the grain elevator has been dormant about 34 years.
Dalling says some area residents consider the grain elevator a historical landmark, but others say it should be demolished.
A date for the demolition hasn't been set.
BOISE-LAWSUIT
Boise's urban renewal district faces lawsuit
(Information in the following story is from: Idaho Statesman, http://www.idahostatesman.com)
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A woman who says she slipped on ice and broke an ankle while walking on the Grove Plaza in downtown Boise plans to sue the city's urban renewal agency.
The Idaho Statesman reports Friday that Sheryl Lambert filed a tort claim seeking at least $100,000.
A tort claim is a precursor to a lawsuit and a first step in suing a public entity.
Capital City Development Corporation is the city's urban renewal district that owns the Grove Plaza. The agency declined to comment about the claim.
Lambert says she was walking toward Downtown Boise's New Year's festivities when she slipped on ice and had to be taken to a hospital in an ambulance.
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