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BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Members of Idaho's Public Defense Commission say that without more authority, there's not much reason to keep working on statewide recommendations. Lawmakers created the commission in 2014, asking members to come up with quality standards to improve Idaho's problematic public defense system. A 2010 report found that many indigent defendants weren't getting a fair run in the courts because their public defenders were overworked, undertrained and underpaid.
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho is reconsidering its land lease policies after years of denying requests from groups looking to set up publicly inaccessible hunting operations. The Spokesman-Review reports Idaho Department of Lands officials are concerned with balancing public use with the state's mandate to get a maximum return on endowment land, which largely supports Idaho schools. Gov. Butch Otter has asked Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden to look at liability issues.
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Authorities say it could take up to several weeks to clean up a mercury spill at a home near downtown Boise. Boise Fire officials say the family living in the home -- three adults and four children -- is staying in a hotel while crews are at work. Fire officials say they don't know why the homeowners had the mercury but do not suspect criminal activity.
TWIN FALLS, Idaho (AP) — A man has been hospitalized with a leg injury after BASE jumping off the Hansen Bridge. The Times-News reports that a spokesman with the Jerome County Sheriff's Office says 43-year-old Servesh Dhadwal had landed on a rock island near the bottom of the bridge Sunday afternoon. A helicopter arrived at the scene shortly after and transported the man to the hospital.
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