News

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.

Zoo Boise announced it will soon receive two female patas monkeys. After the death of one primate, the zoo wanted to find companions for the lone remaining male. The new animals will come from a zoo in Syracuse, NY.  

Zoo Director Steve Burns says the arrival of the new monkeys is greatly anticipated.  

“This is a good day at Zoo Boise," Burns says. "We’ve had some rough days here lately, but this is a good day."

A task force in Idaho issued a first draft Monday of recommendations that could include the shipment of spent nuclear waste into the state.

Idaho’s Leadership in Nuclear Energy Commission offered 60 preliminary recommendations. The goal is to strengthen the role of nuclear energy in Idaho and establish a future for one of the state’s largest employers, the Idaho National Lab.

Shaun Winkler’s beliefs are no secret in north Idaho. The 34-year-old was a protégé of Richard Butler, the former leader of the Aryan Nations, once headquartered here. More recently, Winkler has picketed Mexican restaurants and a Martin Luther King Day event in Coeur d’Alene.

So when Winkler announced he was running for county sheriff, photojournalist Matt McKnight asked to meet with him.

“I met him there at his property … It was pretty obvious to me that what he’s after is building a compound, having that compound for people to live on," McKnight says.

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) — Idaho just finished a bruising debate over reforming public education, with voters rejecting public schools chief Tom Luna's overhaul.

Come 2013, the Legislature is likely to discuss an education policy change not in that package but potentially as contentious: whether Idaho should offer tax credits to those who donate to scholarship programs meant to help students attend private or parochial schools.

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.

An Idaho school district is asking for more money in an ongoing court battle with a contractor.

The Blaine County School district and Seattle based McKinstry have sued each other over several million dollars’ worth of upgrades the company performed on district buildings. McKinstry says it’s owed money, and the district claims the company did unauthorized work.

One of Blue Cross of Idaho’s new television commercials opens with a chirpy jingle.  “You’re protected in the sun, you’re protected when it rains,” the song begins.  The pitch is clear: this is the insurer for you, no matter your lifestyle.

Tomorrow is World AIDS Day.  In response, Southwest District Health will offer free HIV tests today in Caldwell.

The seven Idaho Health districts report more than 1,300 people in Idaho are currently living with HIV or AIDS.  Those are the people who know they have the infection.  Health officials want to reach people who haven’t been tested, and may be infected. 

A decade on the lam has ended for a suspect in a string of eco-sabotage attacks across the American West. The alleged Earth Liberation Front fugitive turned herself in at the Canadian border.

FBI agents were waiting when 39-year-old Rebecca Rubin drove up to the U.S. border at Blaine, Washington. The Canadian fugitive was arrested there for conspiracy to commit around 20 arsons spanning five Western states. The Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front took credit for the arson spree, which ended in 2001.

Twelve years ago, Boise writer Mike Medberry took off with friends to hike in Craters of the Moon National Monument in eastern Idaho. 

They camped that night, staying up to recite poetry. Medberry – a longtime advocate of conservation – tells Sadie Babits the next morning he tried to tell more poetry but couldn’t find the words.  He stumbled a bit but didn’t think anything of it as the group began their hike through the lava. Medberry says what happened that day is the basis for his new book “On the Dark Side of The Moon.”

The Northern Spotted Owl is getting a new level of protection across hundreds of miles of its range. The new Critical Habitat map for the controversial threatened bird is drawing praise from environmentalists and condemnation from the timber industry.

Protections for the spotted owl are one reason logging has declined in the Northwest. The threatened bird has inspired new forest plans, countless lawsuits, research papers, and even an investigation into the political manipulation of federal science.

A federal judge has granted a preliminary injunction halting 11 timber sales in Oregon’s state forests. The state is being sued by three conservation groups who say the logging projects imperil a federally protected seabird.

US District Judge Ann Aiken granted the injunction Monday. It halts 11 timber sales in the Tillamook, Clatsop and Elliott State Forests that are home to the threatened Marbled Murrelet.

Sawmills in the Northwest have significantly ramped up production in response to the rebound in construction nationally.  That's according to a market survey by an industry consultant based near Seattle. 

Wood Resources International president Hakan Ekstrom  says the region's sawmills are returning to profitability thanks to a happy coincidence of rising domestic and foreign demand.

Writer and journalist Timothy Egan spent 18 years telling stories about the West for The New York Times.

The Spokane, Washington native now writes opinion pieces for the paper.  Egan speaks tonight, Wednesday, in Boise about the state of American politics.  

He's a guest of the Andrus Center For Public Policy.  Egan says President Obama's re-election reflects what he calls “huge and unalterable” shifts in American demographics.

Click 'Listen' to hear our interview. 

The Idaho Suicide Prevention Hotline began taking calls this week. The hotline is the first of its kind in Idaho since 2006, when state funding for the previous hotline ran out.

Up until Monday’s launch, Idahoans in crisis were routed to a call center in other western states. But executive director John Reusser says it’s important for people who are contemplating suicide to have an empathetic ear on the other end – someone who understands Idaho’s unique rural culture.