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Security
10:00 am
Wed April 17, 2013

Robie Creek To Amp Up Security After Boston Marathon Bombing

Credit Sadie Babits / Boise State Public Radio
Almost 2,500 runners will compete at the Race to Robie Creek this weekend.

The Idaho running community will celebrate the 36th annual Race to Robie Creek this Saturday. But the half marathon has taken on new meaning for racers since two bombs went off near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

Brian Rencher has helped plan this weekend's race. He says organizers have been talking with the Boise Police Department and the Boise County Sheriff’s office about Monday’s bombing. 

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Rivers
8:31 am
Wed April 17, 2013

Conservation Groups Lists Rivers in Southern Oregon, Idaho As Most Endangered

Credit Idaho Tourism
The Kootenai River in northern Idaho.

American Rivers has named three Northwest streams among the most endangered in the United States this year. Two are remote creeks in Southwest Oregon. The conservation group says exploration for nickel could harm the creeks.

Rough and Ready Creek and Baldface creek flow through the Rogue River Siskiyou National Forest.

River guide Zach Collier knows both creeks well. He says they are unusually clear and clean. And they flow through a part of Oregon known for its rare native plants.

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LGBT Rights
7:54 am
Wed April 17, 2013

Pocatello Latest Idaho City To Take Up Gay Rights In Absence Of State Action

Credit Jessica Robinson / Northwest News Network
More than 50 people spoke in favor of an anti-discrimination ordinance before the Pocatello City Council on April 4.

Thursday, the city council in Pocatello is expected to vote on whether to make it illegal to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. It’s one of several cities in Idaho that have taken up the cause of gay rights – an issue the Idaho Legislature has so far resisted. But even some gay rights supporters wonder if the local ordinance would change anything.

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Boston Marathon
7:51 am
Tue April 16, 2013

Moscow Area Runners Hold Boston Marathon Vigil

Credit Glenn Mosley

A group of runners and their friends got together in Moscow Monday night to show solidarity with their fellow runners and those impacted by events at the Boston Marathon.

They came to Friendship Square in their running shoes and their running gear, feeling they had to do something following the explosions in Boston, and so they gathered, they said, as amateur athletes and as human beings. Jim Ekins is a member of the University of Idaho Extension faculty.

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Lucky Friday Mine
7:47 am
Tue April 16, 2013

Idaho Mining Family Sues Company For Deadly Cave-In

Credit Hayley Marek

The family of a silver miner killed in north Idaho has filed a lawsuit against the Hecla Mining Company. The suit claims the mine managers’ attempt to extract more silver caused the cave-in that killed Larry Marek  exactly two years ago Monday.

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Construction Zones
6:00 am
Tue April 16, 2013

Officials Urge Caution Around Road Construction Sites

Credit pberry / Flickr

Spring is a time when road construction projects kick off in earnest.  The Idaho Transportation Department is asking Idaho drivers to slow down and use caution around highway construction zones. 

This is National Work Zone Awareness Week, a time set aside to draw attention to safety around construction zones.   

Nationwide in 2010, 576 people died in work zone crashes.   

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Boston Marathon
4:53 pm
Mon April 15, 2013

Idaho Runner Recounts Boston Marathon Explosions

Credit Rachael Bickerton
Here's a view from the Westin Copely Square Hotel in Boston. Bickerton says police cars and ambulances line the deserted streets.

At least 90 Idaho runners were signed up for today’s Boston Marathon, a race that ended with two deadly explosions.

Boise State University director of trademark licensing Rachael Bickerton finished the race about 40 minutes before the explosions occurred. She is safe, along with another Boise State employee, Casey Jones. Bickerton says she's contacted about a dozen fellow Idaho marathon runners, who are all safe. 

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Boston Marathon
2:55 pm
Mon April 15, 2013

At Least 90 Idahoans Signed Up To Run Boston Marathon

Updated at 9:15 p.m.

According to the Boston Athletic Association's website 90 Idahoans were signed up to run today's Boston Marathon.

Two apparent explosions went off near the marathon's finish line. The number of people injured continues to climb, three are dead.

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Wolves
8:10 am
Mon April 15, 2013

Wolf Count: Numbers Up in Oregon, Washington; Down In Idaho

Credit Washington Fish and Game

There are fewer wolves overall in the West, but Oregon and Washington's wolf populations continue to grow. That's according to the federal government's annual gray wolf tally, released Friday. The count has also revealed the initial effect of a controversial wolf hunting season in Idaho.

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Nampa Financial Crisis
1:36 am
Mon April 15, 2013

Budget Crisis Strains Relationships In Nampa School District

Credit Adam Cotterell / Boise State Public Radio
Mandy Simpson teaches high school math and coaches golf in Nampa. She's also president of the Nampa Education Association.

It’s been a tough year in the Nampa School District after a $5.1 million budget shortfall surfaced last August. That has led to deep cuts including a near elimination of money for substitute teachers. Now tension between the district and the teacher’s union is growing.

Mandy Simpson teaches math and coaches golf in Nampa. She's also the president of the Nampa Education Association. She’s been in the district almost ten years.

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Women In Leadership
4:05 pm
Fri April 12, 2013

Women Leaders Gather To Inspire Others In Boise

Credit Courtesy of Tabby Biddle
Tabby Biddle gives the opening speech at the Go Lead Idaho conference in Boise Saturday.

There’s been a lot of attention lately on women in leadership roles especially since the release of Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg's book Lean In. Saturday, more than 150 women will gather in Boise for the annual Go Lead Idaho Conference. It's meant to help engage women in leadership and civic participation.  

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Ballet Idaho
1:32 pm
Fri April 12, 2013

Good Vs. Evil Plays Out In Ballet Idaho's Premiere Of Swan Lake

Credit Steve Smith Photography
Ballet Idaho will perform the full-length Swan Lake tonight and tomorrow. Swan Lake is considered one of the greatest classical ballets of all times.

Ballet Idaho premieres Swan Lake tonight. Here’s what you need to know about this classic ballet. There’s Prince Siegfried. He falls in love with a beautiful woman named Odette, who’s actually trapped in the body of a swan.

Phyllis Rothwell Affrunti dances the part of Odette. The lead dancer calls her character “fragile,” a beautiful creature that has been imprisoned as a swan by the evil wizard Von Rothbart. “She’s waiting for true love to come to save her,” explains Affrunti. “It’s the only thing that can.”

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Wolves
11:45 am
Fri April 12, 2013

Idaho, Montana, Wyoming See Sharp Drop In Wolves

Credit Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks

Aggressive gray wolf hunting took a toll in much of the Northern Rockies last year as the predator's population saw its most significant decline since being reintroduced in the region.

Numbers released by state wildlife agencies show Wyoming's wolf population down 16 percent from 2011, Montana's down 4 percent and Idaho's down 8 percent.

That was partially offset by population gains in eastern portions of Washington and Oregon.

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LGBT
7:31 am
Fri April 12, 2013

Rosauers Supermarket In Idaho Bans Trans Woman From Store

Credit Courtesy photo.
Ally Robledo, born Alberto Robledo, identifies as a woman.

A supermarket in north Idaho has banned a transgendered woman from the store after she used the women's restroom. Police issued Ally Robledo a trespass notice that will make it a misdemeanor for her to enter the store for one year.

Managers at the Rosauers in Lewiston told police they received complaints from women about Robledo using the restroom. Robledo was born male as Alberto, but identifies and dresses like a woman and is the process of transitioning physically.

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Collegiate Athletics
4:40 am
Fri April 12, 2013

Football Partnership Continues To Blossom For Boise State, Japanese School

Credit Scott Graf / Boise State Public Radio
Boise State Head Coach Chris Petersen talks with Hosei University Head Coach Hitoshi Aoki, team academic advisor Takashi Yaekura, and wide receiver Eiichi Rokukawa.

Boise State’s football team will hold its annual spring scrimmage on its famous blue turf Saturday. Nearly 7,000 miles away in Japan, the Hosei University football team will also play a spring game.  But the schools have more in common than just that.  The Broncos and the Tomahawks have an unusual football relationship that’s rooted in the two  schools’ academic partnership.

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Bomb Threat
5:04 pm
Thu April 11, 2013

Boise Police Investigate Apparent Bomb Threat Hoax

Credit Frankie Barnhill / Boise State Public Radio
Boise Police use a bomb-sniffing dog to search backpacks of students after the school was evacuated. No explosives or weapons were found.

Five schools in southeast Idaho received violent threats this morning, disrupting classes, as police searched the schools. Boise High, Skyview High School in Nampa, Kuna High, and the Twin Falls Christian Academy all were evacuated after bomb threats were called in. Caldwell High School received a threat about a shooter.

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Sequester
4:15 pm
Thu April 11, 2013

Sequester Grounds One Mountain Home AFB Fighter Squadron

Credit Official U.S. Air Force

More than 70 airmen and 30 planes will remain on the ground through the fall at Mountain Home Air Force Base.  That's because of federal budget cuts, known as the sequester.  

Colonel Chris Short commands the 366th Fighter Wing.  His wing includes the 391st Squadron, known as the Bold Tigers.  They’re a flying combat unit.  “Typically they fly every day during a work week, we give them a certain number of hours during a month, to maintain their combat readiness, and what we’ve done is by standing them down, they will not fly at all.” 

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Columbia River
2:31 pm
Thu April 11, 2013

Columbia River Treaty Public Meetings Begin in Spokane

Credit Travis S. / Flickr
Columbia River

A decades-long treaty between the United States and Canada will soon be up for renewal. It governs power management and flood control in the Columbia River Basin. Next year is the first time in 50 years either country can end or revise the treaty.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Bonneville Power Administration kicked off a series of public meetings in Spokane Wednesday. The agencies are gathering public input about the treaty’s future.

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Higher Education
1:41 pm
Thu April 11, 2013

Panel Formed To Find The Next University Of Idaho President

MOSCOW, Idaho (AP) — The Idaho State Board of Education has announced the formation of a 16-member search committee to select a new president for the University of Idaho.

The board announced the selection Wednesday and that University of Idaho Regent Emma Atchley will lead the panel.

The board is tasked with finding a successor to Duane Nellis, who is leaving to become president of Texas Tech University.

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Bomb Threat
12:09 pm
Thu April 11, 2013

All-Clear Given At Boise, Kuna High Schools After Bomb Threats

Credit Frankie Barnhill / Boise State Public Radio
Boise High School security manager Leonard Murray, pictured in the red jacket, directs the evacuation.

Updated 1:00 p.m.: Students at Boise High have been allowed back in after a bomb threat was received earlier this morning. Classes will resume this afternoon after police used bomb sniffing dogs to check student bags.

The all-clear has been given to Kuna High School students, where classes have resumed.

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