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BOISE, Idaho (AP) — State officials say new unemployment claims dropped 8% last week to 3,631 when compared to the week before that. The Idaho Department of Labor also said Thursday that the number of people requesting a benefit payment with a continued claim dropped 23% to 36,764. That's the largest drop in six consecutive weeks of declines. The agency says it paid out a record $86 million in claims last week. Idaho's economy started shedding jobs in March when the coronavirus entered the state and Gov. Brad Little issued a stay-at-home order. Restrictions have been lifted gradually over the last six weeks as Little seeks to reopen the state during the pandemic.
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A California company wants to build and operate a compact fast nuclear reactor in Idaho. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Tuesday that it has accepted a license application submitted by Oklo Inc. to build a 1.5-megawatt reactor at the U.S. Department of Energy’s nuclear site in eastern Idaho that includes the Idaho National Laboratory. The Energy Department in recent years has been eyeing fast reactors that backers say have the potential to use spent nuclear fuel produced at conventional nuclear power plants. Spent fuel is a problem in the U.S. with no long-term storage solution. But critics say fast reactor developers are over-promising with unproven and unsafe designs.
PENDLETON, Ore. (AP) — The Umatilla County Board of Commissioners has unanimously adopted an order that expresses support for local police officers and says recent protests against police brutality and racial injustice “disregard and disrespect” members of law enforcement. The order adopted Wednesday references a “horrific” event in Minneapolis but does not mention George Floyd by name. Floyd died after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee on Floyd's neck for nearly eight minutes as Floyd pleaded for air. Commissioner John Shafer says there is “no way” any local police officers would behave the same way and they are being criticized for actions they didn't take.
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A federal magistrate judge has ordered two women from Pennsylvania to spend two days in jail for leaving a boardwalk and damaging a thermal area in Yellowstone National Park. U.S. District Magistrate Judge Mark Carman also ordered 31-year-old Tara Davoli and 30-year-old Sarah Piotrowski of Philadelphia to pay a $350 fine, about $107 each in restitution and banned them from the park for two years. Prosecutors say the women illegally left the boardwalk in the park’s Midway Geyser Basin on June 11. Prosecutors say they damaged orange bacterial mats at Opal Pool. Phone messages left for Davoli and Piotrowski were not immediately returned on Thursday.
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