News Digest:
Monday, October 13, 2008 10:21 AM PDT
Good Afternoon
Idaho
State may crack down on invasive species
SANDPOINT (AP) — The state Department of Agriculture is considering strict rules to ward off invasive species, such as freshwater mussels from eastern Europe and certain types of crayfish.
The rules would prohibit possessing, importing, or releasing a long list of invasive species in Idaho. The list includes fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals and insects.
Susan Drumheller with the Idaho Conservation League says the rules will prove cost effective in preventing damage to the environment. But Idaho congressman Eric Anderson, R-Priest Lake, says he would like to see more aggressive action.
N. Idaho towns to get $3.5 million in grants
BOISE (AP) — Officials with the federal Department of Agriculture’s rural development program plan to award nearly $3.5 million in grants in northern Idaho.
The delegation will be in the small town of Ferdinand on Tuesday to deliver a $213,053 grant. The money will go toward a new computer center as part of a plan to bring high-speed Internet to the region.
The group also plans to award a $726,000 grant to officials in Nezperce to improve the city’s water system.
The largest of the grants — $2.5 million — will go to the Riverside Independent Water and Sewer District in Orofino to carry out improvements on a water distribution system.
OREGON
Reward offered in case of Ore. burning death
MEDFORD (AP) — A relative of a man feared dead in the burning of a mountain cabin last month has offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. Jackson County Sheriff Mike Winters says he welcomes the offer from the sister of 46-year-old David Lewis.
Authorities are trying to identify a body badly burned as two cabins burned in the mountains east of Ashland on Sept. 4. Winters says DNA results aren’t back yet, and investigators haven’t been able to find dental records. Winters has refused to say what the autopsy revealed about a cause of death.
The 46-year-old Lewis had lived in the cabin for more than two decades.
