Treasured Valley

Posts Tagged ‘Morning News’

Boise buys Hammer Flat, Silsby likely to be released, Eagle mayor and shaping Nampa’s future…

• Boise Aquires Hammer Flat. The Boise City Council agreed today to use $4.1 million in Foothills Levy funds to purchase the 701-acre Hammer Flat parcel on critical wildlife habitat on the outskirts of Boise. Since 2007, the parcel, which is in Ada County, has been slated for a 1,350 unit planned community called The Cliffs. Boise’s purchase of the property protects it from development.
• Boise Buys Hammer Flat. The City of Boise today announced the purchase of Hammer Flat.
• Boise family and Foothills levy turn 700-acre Hammer Flat into wildlife preserve. The city’s $4.1 million deal to secure Hammer Flat means The Cliffs, a proposed 707-acre development, will become a permanent winter home for pronghorn, elk and one of the largest mule deer herds in the state.
• Legal expert: Silsby likely to be released. With the release of Charisa Coulter on Monday, only Laura Silsby remains in Haitian custody. The Statesman contacted an expert in the Haitian legal system to interpret the recent events.
• Eagle considers making mayor job part time position. Tuesday night the Eagle City Council acknowledged and accepted Mayor Phil Bandy’s resignation. As he gets ready to leave office this week the council is tasked with finding a replacement and deciding whether the post should go back to a part time position.
• Hunter’s Point sales slow. Lots continue to sell slowly at Hunter’s Point golf and residential development in Nampa, but the high-end project has only two or three unoccupied homes.
• Nampans help shape city’s future. A diverse group of about 60 people gathered Tuesday afternoon at the Nampa Civic Center for a brainstorming session that will help city officials craft a new comprehensive plan.
• Questions arise about safety of merge lanes on I-84.

• Get ready for the Special Olympics Idaho State Winter Games. More than 300 athletes will compete in the games, which open at 7 p.m., Friday at Cascade Middle School in Cascade, and continue with competitions all day Saturday at venues in the area, including Brundage and Ponderosa State Park.
• A Slew of New Art Openings. New works up at the Visual Arts Center, Flying M, Thomas Hammer and the Basement Gallery.
• ‘Old Guys’ basketball game raises money for young people. Caldwell Mayor Garret Nancolas and his team of six other “old men” played a vigorous basketball game against Caldwell High School’s varsity boys basketball team on Tuesday.
• North End Organic Nursery. “If it’s mass-produced in China, we’re not going to carry it.” With a flick of a trowel, an unmoving mound of dirt became a writhing pile of earthworms. “We’re selling these guys for $25 a pound or $15 a half pound,” said North End Organic Nursery manager (and former BW owner) Bingo Barnes.
• Nampa settles ex-con dispute. A mutual settlement agreement has been reached between the city of Nampa and New Hope Community Health, a program that provides community-based safe and sober housing, after two years of litigation.
• Vallivue High School students back in school following bomb threat. Caldwell police evacuated Vallivue High School for about two hours Tuesday as a precaution while officers investigated a bomb threat.
• Homebuilder sees sales triple in February. Idaho homebuilder CBH Homes sold more than three times as many homes in February 2010 as it did in February 2009. After two busy weekends with 35 and 34 homes were sold, respectively, this year’s February total hit 134, up from 43 in 2009 and 53 in 2008.
• Freestyle Bogus. Will Boise develop another Speedy? With the 2010 Winter Olympic Games passed, hot dog ski kids and their parents are getting serious about 2014. More than 500 people have fanned “Bring freestyle/freeride skiing back to Bogus Basin” on Facebook.
• Boise State construction management students impress at regional competition. Construction management (CM) students in Boise State University’s College of Engineering received awards in four categories at the recent Associated Schools of Construction Inter-Scholastic Regional Competition and Conference.
• Heath re-trial begins. Jury selection is complete and the trial is set to begin in the re-trial of Shara Heath. She is the Gem County woman charged with taking money while she was employed as a deputy clerk in the Gem County district court clerk’s office.
• Idaho releases new guide for Internet safety. ProtecTeens is being updated after five years to cover new tactics used by online predators to snare teens.

One missionary freed, more NCA, Iditarod, Idaho Lottery, Boise Fire Dept. and local musicians…

• Haiti frees Idaho missionary. One of two Baptist missionaries still held on kidnapping charges in Haiti was released and flew to Miami on Monday, but the U.S. group’s leader remained in custody.
• Coulter has ‘mixed emotions’ about her release from a Haiti jail. Charisa Coulter is in Miami, catching up on sleep and creature comforts after five weeks detained in a Haitian jail. She’s waiting for the release of the last of a Baptist volunteer group who said the went to the quake-ravaged country in January to help the country’s orphans.
• Charisa Coulter freed from Haiti jail, Silsby still held.

• Academy addresses parents. Nampa Classical Academy officials assured stakeholders that the charter is financially solvent and their curriculum is working at a meeting Monday night at the Nampa Civic Center.
• Idaho Looking To Attract Companies From Oregon & Washington. Idaho is better for businesses than our Northwest neighbors Oregon and Washington offering gentler corporate tax policies.
• Idaho environmental group sues over sage grouse ruling. Western Watersheds Project didn’t wait long to challenge the Obama administration’s decision that listing the sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act was “warranted but precluded.”
• MUSH !!!!! Idaho’s Trent Herbst is somewhere between Anchorage and Nome, Alaska. He’s one of 71 mushers competing in the 2010 Iditarod. Boise State Radio’s George Prentice talks with some of Herbst’s biggest fans.
• Idaho Lottery waits for $1 million winner to show. A $1 million Powerball ticket to realize their new found wealth.
• United Water rate settlement adopted. United Water Idaho customers will pay 9.9 percent more for water effective immediately with the adoption of a settlement in the utility’s six-month general rate case with the Idaho Public Utilities Commission. United Water Idaho, headquartered in Boise, serves about 84,000 residential and commercial customers in and around Boise.
• Boise Fire Dept. Wins Major Bragging Rights. Boise is one of the best, a top team to beat when it comes to our firefighters. Fifteen-hundred firefighters tackle stairs for charity in Washington.
• Boise cancer survivor becomes environmental crusader. A journey from cancer victim to environmental crusader came naturally
• Local Musicians, Go Listen Boise Needs You (Even You Drummers). Go Listen Boise, a non-profit, volunteer-run organization whose mission is to “foster a vibrant and diverse musical culture in the Boise area,” is in charge of booking local opening acts for the summertime Alive After Five concert series for the second season in a row.
• Seattle IT company plans Boise branch. A Seattle-based IT support company is opening up a branch in Boise and hopes to become a long-term player in Idaho’s technology economy.
• Abduction case ‘inactive’ due to lack of motive, suspects. Police are no longer actively investigating the alleged February abduction of a 12-year-old Nampa boy.
• Idaho Fish and Game investigating suspicious wolf kill. The kill was reported Dec. 28 in the Southern Idaho Zone, in a hunting unit that stretches from Rexburg down past Ririe, Ucon, Rigby and Roberts.
• Former Boise officer Stephen Young may have molested 13 children. Though Boise officer worked in schools, officials say Stephen Young knew his victims from outside his job.
• Central District nurses to wrap up school-based immunization clinics this week. The Central District Health Department will wrap up its school-based H1N1 vaccination campaign this week with a little “March Madness.” Teams of nurses will administer second doses of vaccine to children younger than 10 at 30 Meridian elementary schools on March 9 and 11.
• Four hospitalized following t-bone crash. Authorities say the driver of a Mazda was traveling on Purple Sage Road when it ran a stop sign and t-boned a pick up. Three people inside the pickup were all wearing seat belts.

Going smoke free, Nampa Rollerdrome, Macy’s, NCA, bring out the clubs and Neagle…

• Three Boise bars spend first weekend smoke free. The smoke may be out but a Boise bar owner says business was on fire this weekend.
• Still Open for Business. The Rollerdrome roller-skate rink is still open for business after 62 years. There were around 200 people there of all ages, Saturday. Every week it’s a party at the Nampa Rollerdrome.
• New development to keep Idahoans in Haiti, for now. The Haitian Justice Minister says the investigation into the new element, will dig deeper to see if Silsby and Coulter should stay in Haiti or be released.
• Painters take advantage of spring weather to capture local colors.

• Macy’s in Downtown Boise closes doors for the last time. The walls were stripped Sunday. Fixtures and equipment moved out the door at deeply discounted prices. The only retail items left were rugs and furs.
• U.S. unemployment holds, Idaho report delayed. The U.S. unemployment rate held at 9.7 percent in February as employers shed 36,000 jobs, fewer than expected. The figures suggested the job market is slowly healing but that significant hiring has yet to occur.
• Embattled Nampa charter school to meet with parents. The Idaho Public Charter School Commission voted Thursday to begin the lengthy process of revoking the academy’s charter because the school failed to produce financial documents on time.
• Warm Weather Brings Out The Clubs. The Treasure Valley boasts to be a place where you can hit the links year-round.
• Testimony begins in Boise re-sentencing trial for convicted rapist and killer Darrell Payne. Testimony began Friday in the re-sentencing hearing for convicted killer and rapist Darrell Payne — the man who terrorized Boise in the summer of 2000 when he raped and murdered Boise State student Samantha Maher and sexually assaulted two teen girls on the Greenbelt.
• Neagle pleads guilty, tells of abuse. In dramatic court testimony Friday as he admitted fatally shooting his father, Zachary Neagle, 15, said Jason Neagle had sexually abused him since he was 8 or 9 years old and he feared for his younger brother and sister.
• Judge denies motion to release Zachary Neagle on reduced bond.
• Pair charged with looting historic Idaho mine. A man and woman accused by federal prosecutors of looting a historic Idaho mine are set to stand trial in Boise’s U.S. District Court this week.
• Fuel Boise lights way for young professionals. Area leads groups left John West with a bad feeling. “There are a lot of them around here,” he said. “You go to the meetings, there’s lots of people and they base the success of the group on the leads they get, not on what they give.”
• Last round of school vaccine clinics hits Meridian. Starting this week a team of nurses with Central District Health will hold a h1n1 vaccine clinic at 30 elementary schools in the Meridian School District.
• Woman crashes car into tree on ParkCenter Boulevard. The westbound lanes of ParkCenter Boulevard were briefly shut down Friday afternoon after a vehicle ran off the road and hit a tree near River Run Drive.
• Cultivating a preference for Idaho. In last week’s blog I suggested that the Tea Party movement take on the cause of wresting control of our nation’s food supply from the forces of Big Government farm policy and return us to a more balanced and sustainable agricultural model. While admittedly taking a somewhat tongue-in-cheek approach to what I consider a very serious subject, I’d like to continue that discussion with a story of how “small government” can be a part of the solution to the imbalances in our food supply. This is the story of Idaho Preferred.
• Local agencies take hit at pump. With the price of gas rising well above $4 a gallon and no end in sight, public agencies in Gem County have been hit hard. Since budgets are currently being written for the next fiscal year, officials are scrambling to cut costs and find the money for their fuel budgets while having to anticipate how high prices may rise.
• Nampa teen, passenger hospitalized after crash. A single-vehicle rollover crash on Interstate 84 near the Kimberly exit sent two people to the hospital early Sunday, including the driver from Nampa.
• New Ideas for Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention in Idaho. Prevention can be accomplished – and families and communities have the power to make it happen. It’s a new way of thinking about child abuse and neglect prevention that calls on looking at the issue as a public health concern.

Shutting down NCA, goodbye to Macy’s, WWII grenade, draining the fund and Vagabond Lane…

• Idaho Public Charter School Commission moves to cancel Nampa Classical’s charter. The Idaho Public Charter School Commission Thursday took the first formal step toward revoking Nampa Classical Academy’s Charter, the first time it has made such a move. School leaders say they are confident they can resolve the situation.
• Saying Goodbye to Macy’s. Macy’s is expected to close its doors any day now at its downtown Boise location. We hear from long-time shoppers as they reminisce and we talk to a developer, commercial property expert, economic developer, and elected official about the future of the soon-to-be-empty location.
• Bomb squad detonates live World War II grenade in Caldwell. The Nampa Bomb Squad was called to the 1300 block of Everett on Wednesday afternoon. Family members say they were cleaning out a deceased relative’s home for an estate sale when they recognized a possible grenade.
• Early filers drain Idaho tax refund account. The account that Idaho uses to pay tax refunds has been drained. Gov. Butch Otter is holding an emergency meeting at 2 p.m. today to replenish it with $30 million from the state general fund. Otherwise, taxpayers due money back from Idaho wouldn’t get a dime.
• Cash For Clunkers… For Appliances. We always hear how energy efficiency pays, but now it may actually put cash in your hand.
• I Wonder: How does our recycling get sorted?
• Help the Foothills: Volunteers needed to replant area burned last August. Idaho Fish and Game’s Volunteer Program will assist in the restoration of a section of the Foothills that burned on Ada County landfill property just north of Eagle and part of the Idaho Velodrome and Cycling Park last August.
• KBOI anchor Natalie Hurst stars in dance competition. “Dancing Through the Decades” features local Treasure Valley celebrities and raises funds for the Idaho Dance Theatre.
• Idaho Medicaid cuts left to administrators. Idaho’s Medicaid health insurance coverage will get a “premium” increase of 3.1 percent, but that won’t be enough to keep up with expected increases in the number of patients and the increasing cost of their care.
• No more juice for Idaho’s prisoners. Cutting costs: The Idaho Department of Correction wants to slice $1 million from its $8.2 million food budget by the end of 2011 – and replacing orange and apple juice with vitamin-enhanced sports drinks will save them some coin.
• Classroom still closed after mercury spill.

• Girl for Boys Lacrosse. From Cheerleader to Boys Lacrosse; one Boise girl is fighting to play with the guys. The lacrosse coach said although the boys and girls teams are both called Lacrosse, they are very different.
• Anti-gang program uses fake cons. More than 100 students at Jefferson Middle School in Caldwell sat on gymnasium benches in rapt attention Thursday morning as they listened to the stories of two gang members turned convicts.
• Local Nurse Lobbying for Tougher Child Abuse Laws. A Canyon County nurse is speaking about child abuse atrocities, she’s witnessed at several local hospitals.
• Vagabond Lane. Will Schmeckpepper is a local film writer, director and producer. He talks to Boise State Radio’s George Prentice about his latest effort, “Vagabond Lane,” which debuts at the Egyptian Theatre in Boise. Vagabond LaneWill Schmeckpepper is a local film writer, director and producer. He talks to Boise State Radio’s George Prentice about his latest effort, “Vagabond Lane,” which debuts at the Egyptian Theatre in Boise.
• Meridian fire chief to retire April 30. Meridian Fire Chief Ron Anderson will retire next month, ending a 33-year career as a Treasure Valley firefighter.
• Three accused of neglecting dogs in Garden City. Garden City police found one dog dead, another starving last November.

Honoring a fallen vet, Egyptian Theatre, poop, Bandy, bag thefts, mercury and tax scams…

• Marines converge to honor fallen vet. A group of former Marines from across the country will gather in Nampa this week to honor the memory of a young local veteran who served alongside them in Iraq.
• Organ Sounds Once Again Fill Boise’s Egyptian Theatre. An organ rich in history. Idaho history that is. On Thursday night, it will be filling the Egyptian Theatre with sound once again.
• The dog poop count continues in Boise Foothills. For the past three years, city officials have flagged dog poop at three Foothills trailheads in February.
• Why Did Eagle’s Mayor Quit? The city of Eagle received a shock this week when they learned they would have to start shopping for new leadership. Boise State Radio’s Adam Cotterell has the story.
• Detained Idaho missionary: ‘I’d come back to Haiti’. Laura Silsby told The Associated Press from her jail cell Wednesday that she and nanny Charisa Coulter expect to be released soon, but would both readily come back despite their troubles here.
• Kuna school district defends $130,000 in salary raises: State’s numbers deeply flawed. The Kuna school district is defending about $130,000 in raises that were given to 41 teachers and six administrators this school year.
• Police arrest 2 suspects in bag thefts. Police have arrested two suspects while investigating the theft of a cargo trailer filled with several dozen custom-made bags valued at $41,000.
• Beware Tax Preparation Scams. We’re in the middle of tax season and scammers are already hard at work to get your refund.
• Mercury spill forces evacuation at Borah High. Several hundred students had to be evacuated at Borah High School Wednesday after something as simple as a girl’s bracelet turned dangerous.
• Nampa chamber hosts roundtable. The Nampa Chamber of Commerce invites local business owners to “find the bacon in your business” at a free roundtable open to the public next Thursday.
• The Farmstead corn maze is moving from Kuna to Meridian. The Farmstead, Idaho’s Original Corn MAiZE, is returning to its roots, according to an exclusive story in this week’s Kuna Melba News.
• Teen Moms Worry About School Closing. As the Joint Finance Committee takes a red pen to the education budgets and slashing millions from school budgets one Boise high school fears it’ll mean they will have to close their doors forever.
• Tour Diaries on BW.com. We miss our local musicians when they’re out on the road, so we’re going to set up a place where they can check in. Finn Riggins’ Eric Gilbert sent a communique to Boise Weekly the other day asking/suggesting/encouraging that we make a spot on the bright and shiny boiseweekly.com for tour diaries.
• Peace Corps Turns 49; know your Idaho numbers. Peace Corps week continues until March 7. It’s a good time to note the organization’s nearly five decades of work, and its connections to many Idahoans.
• Flex-spending has few safeguards. The collapse Monday of a Boise company that administered flexible-spending accounts for about 100 companies drives home a vital point for employees who choose the tax-free programs to help defray medical and child-care bills: There is no guarantee your money is secure.
• From overweight to beauty queen, Nampa woman tells her story to Dr. Oz.

• Chillin’ at Bogus. With no athletic facilities of its own, Black Canyon High School offers alternative physical education experiences through its Lifetime Sports program. In the winter, students take to the slopes at Bogus Basin with funding from the Gem County Juvenile Probation Office.
• Northwest at risk of megaquake like one in Chile. Just 50 miles off the Pacific Northwest coast is an earthquake hotspot that threatens to unleash on Seattle, Portland and Vancouver the kind of damage that has shattered Chile.
• Forums to provide tips, resources for Idaho rural economies. Six rural forums will be held around Idaho to provide tips and resources for stabilizing and growing those communities’ economies.
• State seeks civil penalties and return of investor funds. The Idaho Department of Finance has filed a civil complaint in Fourth District Court in Boise against Idaho insurance agent Jerry Ward and his business, Med-Life, which operates from various locations in the state, including southwestern and northern Idaho.
• Renewable energy experts coming to Idaho for renewable rendezvous. POWER Engineers Inc. a leading consulting engineering firm in the design of renewable energy projects worldwide, will host the Renewable Rendezvous Conference, March 23-24, at the Grove Hotel in Boise, Idaho.

Idahoans still not released, Artisans4Hope, urban renewal, a place to call home and USPS…

• Haiti judge not ready to release two Idaho missionaries. Judge Bernard Saint-Vil tells The Associated Press he is consulting with prosecutors on the charges against Laura Silsby and Charisa Coulter. Saint-Vil had said earlier he would probably order their release after Tuesday’s hearing. He declined to explain the delay.
• Artisans4Hope helps refugees living in Idaho acquire skills, livelihoods in a tough economy. A group of local volunteers are using their expertise in business, art, marketing and language, to help refugees from Bhutan, Congo, and other countries become self-sufficient in the Treasure Valley through making, and selling handmade items.
• Meridian’s Plan for Urban Renewal – Destination: Downtown! It’s a simple idea. Bring in businesses and hopefully they will feed off each other. It’s all part of the draft master plan in Meridian to grow business
• Fliers in a clearer sky. Recent events have made the Boise State University Cultural Center and its coordinator, Ro Parker, the center of a controversy.
• A place to call home. Sitting in her cozy apartment with her 4-year-old son Zekial in Caldwell, Melanie Lay said the pair would probably still be homeless without C.A.T.C.H. of Canyon County.
• Lawmaker praises highway agency for quick discipline. The 21 Idaho Transportation Department workers disciplined this week were sent home without pay or terminated for “improper use of equipment,” said House Transportation Committee Chairwoman JoAn Wood, R-Rigby.
• U.S. postmaster wants to end Saturday delivery. Locally, people who talked with KBOI-TV 2News said they could get by without Saturday mail delivery, given the postal service’s precarious financial situation. In the era of e-mail, the postal service is hurting.
• Boise looking to adopt new emissions testing system. Adam Park, city spokesperson, tells KBOI 2 News if approved, the new company SysTech International would also set up stations across Boise.
• Ada County Emission Vendors Speak Out. It was a packed out house in the Boise city council meeting on Tuesday night. Emission testing vendors from Ada County sat on edge wondering if they would lose their jobs…
• Boisean goes from shelter to big bucks. For Anthony Castro of Boise, his road to Idaho was difficult. But his move to the state paid off through a major lottery win.
• Idaho Olympian Sara Studebaker happy to be home.

• Flex-spending firm in Boise closes after bouncing checks. XpressFlex has left Treasure Valley workers unsure of the status of their money.
• Bike Crossing: Eagle bike park hopes to extend trails for racing. Organizers of an Ada County bicycle park want permission to use it to its full potential. The Idaho Velodrome and Cycling Park sits on roughly 6,000 square feet, just off Highway 55 in the city of Eagle. But due to its sheer size, its property is shared by different owners with different interests.
• Defense looks to hit hard with Kwiatkowski. Shortly following the departure of former defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox, defensive line coach Pete Kwiatkowski was promoted to the newly vacated defensive coordinator position.
• Chile to Boise – Earthquake Science. While Chile shook, sensors in Boise sprung to life, recording the quake and its many aftershocks.
• Puffy Mondaes 2010 Fiber Arts Retreat. Sleep in, let someone else cook, take a class, knit, take a nap. If the following schedule sounds like something you could seriously get behind, then join a crew of crocheting connoisseurs and weaving whizzes at the Pilgrim Cove Camp in McCall for the Puffy Mondaes 2010 Fiber Arts Retreat.
• Nampa gang member convicted in stabbing of rival gang members. A Nampa gang member has been found guilty of stabbing two men outside of the Winco Foods Store in Nampa last March.
• Man caught with 25 grams of meth in Boise. Christopher M. Thomas is being held in the Ada County Jail on felony charges of delivery and possession of methamphetamine after Boise police say he was caught with the drug during a traffic stop last week in Meridian.
• Funds could be cut today for shcool for teen moms in Boise. The brick complex was founded in 1921 and has received a state appropriation since 1964. Rep. Maxine Bell, R-Jerome, budget committee co-chairwoman, said the Boise School District could tap other funding sources to keep Pritchett open.

Problems at ITD, CWI expects more growth, tight on benefits and BSU seismograph records quake…

• Transportation Department disciplines 21 employees. After what was apparently a widespread investigation, the Idaho Transportation Department employees were either sent home without pay for some time or terminated for violating department policy.
• CWI expects more growth. After exceeding enrollment expectations since opening in 2009, an official with the College of Western Idaho thinks the school could potentially see 6,000 students enrolled in fall 2010 credit courses.
• Survey: Idaho employers tight on health benefits. Idaho employers continued reining in access to health care coverage between 2007 and 2009 as the state’s economy moved from creating more jobs than any other state to shedding more than 8 percent of its jobs.
• Boise wants to follow Canyon emissions plan. Boise Mayor David Bieter will seek an analysis to explore the feasibility of the city joining the State Department of Environmental Quality’s emission inspection and maintenance program set for implementation in Canyon County.
• BSU seismograph records Chile quake. BSU earthquake expert Kasper Van Wijk says Saturday’s almost-nine magnitude quake generated 500 times more energy than the earthquake in Haiti.
• Black tar heroin business booms across U.S., but not in Boise. The black-tar heroin business is booming – but not in Boise, where law enforcement efforts caught it early.
• The Steelheads make a boy’s wish come true.

• Local airports say Austin crash would be difficult to prevent. Directors of Nampa’s and Caldwell’s airports say little could be done at their facilities to prevent a tragedy like the one that took place last month in Austin, Texas.
• Negative equity soars in Boise metro area. In the Boise metro area, 34 percent of homes are now worth less than what is owed on the mortgage. Homes in this category are referred to as “underwater” or “upside down” properties, and their ranks have been growing as home values have declined.
• New regional forester discusses agency challenges. The new forester for the U.S. Forest Service’s northern region says the agency is facing several challenges, including beetle-killed pine trees and snow-free watersheds.
• Boise couple talks about living through the Chile earthquake. Boise couple lived through one of largest quakes of the past century.
• Did suspected Idaho airplane thief strike again? Notorious teen burglar Colton Harris-Moore has apparently eluded the long arm of the law once again after a Sunday morning break-in at a hardware store on Orcas Island.
• Meridian insurance agent could go to prison. Meridian insurance agent Michael J. Hymas will plead guilty to one count of wire fraud Thursday under a plea agreement that could send him to prison for up to 33 months.
• Canyon County Habitat for Humanity plans fundraiser. Canyon County Habitat for Humanity will hold its annual Spaghetti Dinner and Bingo night Thursday to raise funds for the organization and kick off the 2010 building season.
• Some good news found in state employment picture. The recently released Idaho Employment newsletter for February, produced by the Idaho Department of Labor, opens with a not-so-positive recap of job and wage losses during the year ended June 30 of ‘09, but some positive news can be found.
• Boise police: Transient arrested after pointing toy machine gun at cars on Fairview Avenue. Troy D. Parrish is being held in the Ada County Jail on a charge of felony aggravated assault after Boise police say he was pointing a toy machine gun at cars driving past him late Saturday night on Fairview Avenue.

• Hey! Look, sun!

• Idahoans look back on games. Even with news of a United States loss to Canada in overtime Sunday for the gold medal in hockey, Idaho Junior Steelheads players said they’d enjoyed watching the 2010 Olympic Games in nearby Vancouver, British Columbia.
• Idaho father gets e-mail from missing teenage son in Chile. The father of a teenager from Boise doing volunteer work at a hospital in Chile says he heard from his son at about noon on Sunday after a long day and a half of silence following the magnitude-8.8 earthquake there.
• Native Bosiean describes Chilean earthquake first hand. A Boise man teaching English in Santiago, Chile describes living through one of the biggest earthquakes ever recorded as his parents in Boise say they’re relieved their son is alright and able to help volunteer in the clean-up.
• Boise woman in Hawaii describes evacuation. A local woman stationed with her husband in Oahu, Hawaii says she fears for her home after an early morning evacuation, but is thankful to be safe at higher elevation.
• Volunteer gardeners needed for Treasure Valley garden project. Last year, Trinity Lutheran Community Gardens fed thousands with home-grown and gleaned produce. This year, their goals are even more ambitious.
• Guns ‘N’ Hoses On Ice. They protect, they serve, and it turns out they skate pretty well.
• Aiming high: Boiseans hoping to break flight endurance record have much loftier goals. Would you want to stay in a four-seater airplane for two months without landing? That’s what Boiseans Matt and Chet Pipkin plan to do – to set a record and raise money for charity.
• Report: Energy Efficiency Could Earn ID Families $300. A new analysis of research on what federal energy efficiency standards would cost families state-by-state – and how much they would save on utility bills – shows the net gain would be more than $300 for the average Idahoan. Comments from report author Mark Cooper, research director for the Consumer Federation of America.
• Idaho Artistry in Wood. It was a wood worker’s paradise this weekend as artists from around the valley joined together to showcase their talents.
• Students’ Voices Silenced. In an unprecedented move, ASBSU Vice President Joe Bunt asked a student to let the meeting proceed without further discussion during gallery comments Thursday. “I was basically told to sit down and shut up,” Counseling Education Graduate Student Lucia Venegas said. “I felt disrespected.”
• An all-Idaho flower. Six years of work pays off for local dahlia grower. Boisean Tim Garland spent years developing a new variety of white dahlia. He’s talking about the process at Edwards Greenhouse.
• Smoking ban in bars sparks controversy. With three of most popular clubs banning smoking as of March 5, how will this affect the nightlife scene? China Blue, Dirty Little Roddy’s and Main Street Bistro will now require smokers to step outside if they wish to light up.
• Temporary office closures cost cutting measure. Budget reductions announced last week has the the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare expanding its office hour closures.
• Gunstream employees dropped from suit. Third District Judge Juneal Kerrick has dismissed the second of two counts against two former employees of Jerry Gunstream in an embezzlement lawsuit.
• Teaching Teachers. Teaching future teachers in a difficult economy. Boise State Radio’s Samantha Wright reports.
• Letter to the Editor: Hate is not a Bronco value. The pictures in Ro parker’s Facebook could certainly be questionable, shocking and no doubt raise curiosity. It is very important not to jump to a hasty conclusion when we come across new information that we really don’t know much about until we have researched to know the details.
• Are penalties for DUI offenders tough enough? Police say the arrest happened at 8th and Bannock, in downtown Boise, early Friday morning. They’re charging Nicholas Sparks with a felony DUI, a man who’s already been arrested for two DUI’s.
• No charges in Boise pipe bomb incident; feds investigating. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives got involved after police shut down a Boise Bench neighborhood Friday afternoon and destroyed a small pipe bomb found in an apartment on the 1600 block of Taggart Street.
• Off the Trail: Be a Master Naturalist. Our series Off the Trail is all about deepening your understanding of the natural world. Today on Off the Trail, Boise State Radio’s Adam Cotterell brings us the story of a program with the same goal.