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OFFICER INVOLVED SHOOTING-CALDWELL
Man who opened fire at Idaho officers dies of gunshot wounds
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The Ada County Coroner says an Idaho man who was shot by police last Saturday has died of his injuries. The Idaho Press reports Shane Farwell died Wednesday evening at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center. Farwell had been listed in critical condition with multiple gunshot wounds since the shooting. The investigation into the shooting is still underway, but the Caldwell Police Department says it happened after officers responded to reports of gunfire and were told a man shot at his wife and a passing vehicle and held neighbors at gunpoint. Police say Farwell shot at officers, who returned fire. The officers were not injured.
AP-US-VIRUS-OUTBREAK-NUCLEAR-WASTE
Cleanup of US nuclear waste takes back seat as virus spreads
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The U.S. government’s efforts to clean up Cold War-era waste from nuclear research and bomb making at federal sites around the country has lumbered along for decades, often at a pace that watchdogs and other critics say threatens public health and the environment. Now, fallout from the global coronavirus pandemic is resulting in more challenges as the nation’s only underground repository for nuclear waste finished ramping down operations Wednesday to keep workers safe. Shipments to the desert outpost will be limited for the foreseeable future while national laboratories and defense sites around the country have shifted to only those operations considered “mission critical.”
VIRUS OUTBREAK-IDAHO
Idaho economy sheds jobs at record rate due to coronavirus
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Nearly 33,000 Idaho residents filed for unemployment benefits last week as the Idaho economy continues shedding jobs at a record rate because of the coronavirus. The Idaho Department of Labor on Thursday reported that the total number of people filing for claims between March 15 and Saturday is more than 46,500. The agency says workers of all age groups are being affected, but people under age 25 represent a disproportionate share of the total. The agency says its working with the federal government to put in place provisions of the $2.2 trillion rescue package approved by Congress last week that should help self-employed or gig-economy workers.
VIRUS OUTBREAK-IDAHO GRAZING
Group: U.S. pushing through Idaho grazing plans
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — An environmental group says U.S. officials are using the coronavirus pandemic to force through a long-delayed Idaho livestock grazing allotment decision in critical sage grouse habitat for a powerful agribusiness. Wildlands Defense is asking the Bureau of Land Management to delay its March 20 proposed decision approving Idaho-based J.R. Simplot Co.'s permit on about 94 square miles in southwestern Idaho for at least 10,500 cattle until the virus abates. The bureau has refused. Wildlands defense says the bureau's appeals process requiring in-person trips to post offices puts dozens of people at risk and violates Gov. Brad Little's stay-at-home order.
MISSING CHILD-TEXAS SUSPECT-ARREST
U.S. Marshals track, arrest Texas man in Coeur d'Alene
COEUR D' ALENE, Idaho (AP) — Authorities in Idaho have arrested a 47-year-old Texas man on charges of interference with a child custody order after he was accused of taking his 6-year-son on an 1,800-mile trip during a scheduled visitation. The Coeur d'Alene Press reported that Ronald Whitted of Fort Worth, Texas, was accused of not returning the boy to his mother last week. Texas authorities believed the child was in danger and enlisted the help of U.S. Marshals. Federal officials tracked Whitted and his son to Coeur d'Alene. Whitted's attorney Anne Taylor did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Whitted is being held without bond in Idaho until he can be extradited to Texas.
IDAHO EARTHQUAKE
Idaho authorities say no major damage after 6.5 earthquake
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The day after a magnitude 6.5 earthquake rattled Idaho, authorities near the epicenter say there have been no reports of significant damage or injuries. Kathy Rodgers, a dispatcher with the Custer County Sheriff's Office, says calls poured in following the earthquake just after 6 p.m. on Tuesday but all appears to be well in the sparsely populated central Idaho county. More than 2 million live in the region that could feel the initial Idaho quake, according to the US Geological Survey. At least 47 aftershocks had been recorded by the USGS by mid-morning, with the largest one measured at a magnitude 4.6.
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