Other News

Boise’s community ombudsman is reviewing the Boise Police Department’s methods for dealing with suicidal people.

This announcement comes after ombudsman Pierce Murphy cleared a BPD officer from any wrong-doing in the May shooting death of Troy Epperley, a Boise man who was reported as suicidal.  

Murphy was appointed in 1999 to review the Boise Police Department after complaints of the use of force. He has reviewed 18 incidents during his tenure, and says that more than half of these involved calls from people experiencing a mental health or emotional crisis.

The Clackamas County Sheriff's department has identified victims of Tuesday's shooting at Clackamas Town Center mall. 

The victims who died were 54-year old Cindy Yuille, a registered nurse, and 43-year-old Steven Forsyth from West Linn, who owned a business in the mall. There's no information about how or when their deaths occurred. Police also didn't have specifics about whether the shooter killed himself before or after police saw him. 

Police say three people are dead, including the gunman, after a shooting at a shopping mall in suburban Portland, Oregon.

Clackamas County sheriff's Lt. James Rhodes says the gunman fatally shot two people, and wounded at least one other person at the Clackamas Town Center mall Tuesday afternoon. Rhodes confirms the gunman is dead but he did not say how he died.

The first payouts from a historic class-action suit against the federal government will be sent to American Indians within the week. The settlement will be split by 500,000 American Indians, including many in the Northwest.

Lead plaintiff Elouise Cobell sued the federal government 16 years ago. As treasurer of the Blackfoot Tribe in Montana, she discovered the government had mismanaged individual Indian land held in trust. A settlement was reached in 2009, but a two-year appeals process held up disbursements. Cobell died during that time.

Sunday we learned that former Idaho Supreme Court Justice Byron Johnson passed away after a battle with cancer.

He was a lawyer and a political mover and shaker.  But in his heart, Byron Johnson was a poet.  “I think that poetry is a vehicle that I have used to deal with feelings I have that are hard to resolve,” he once said.

The University of Idaho has announced that Paul Petrino will be its new head football coach.

The university said Monday that Petrino has produced some of the most prolific offenses in the nation as an assistant coach at several other schools.

Petrino replaces interim coach Jason Gesser, who guided the Vandals during the final four games after Robb Akey was fired.

Petrino spoke Monday of recruiting young men of good character for the Vandals. “We're going to make sure that we go out and get the very best character we can,” he explained.

Boise will open a homeless day shelter for young children and their parents today.  Officials say the shelter will be a warm, safe place to go when families run out of other options this winter.

This is the fourth year in a row Boise Parks and Recreation will operate a temporary day-shelter for homeless families.  Parents with children can visit the Pioneer Neighborhood Community Center seven days a week.   

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Zoo Boise has taken some additional security measures after a break-in that led to the beating death of a monkey.

The city's Parks and Recreation Department confirmed to KTVB-TV that Zoo Boise added razor wire to some parts of the fence around the attraction.