News Digest:
Thursday, October 9, 2008 10:59 AM PDT
GOOD AFTERNOON
IDAHO
Marijuana bust in C. Idaho nets drugs, cash
HAILEY (AP) — A marijuana sting in Blaine County netted 32 pounds of drugs, numerous weapons, three suspects and $144,000 in cash in what local law enforcement officials said was one of the region’s largest drug busts.
Blaine County Sheriff’s Department officers arrested Noe Castillo Jr., 31, and Holly Lyn Koyle, 21, both of Hailey, and Augusto Martinez-Lazo, 37.
Idaho’s Mexican consulate to open this year
BOISE (AP) — The Mexican government has appointed diplomat Ricardo Pineda to open a consulate in Boise and serve a growing Hispanic population in Idaho and Montana. Pineda, former deputy consul general for the Mexican consulate in San Diego, opened a temporary office in Boise last month. The office, which now has five employees, will eventually be staffed with up to 11 workers, he said.
OREGON
Oregon schools get poor marks in report cards
PORTLAND (AP) — The 10th round of annual state report cards for Oregon schools gave out some poor marks. Nearly 200 schools rated exceptional or strong by the state last year saw their ratings drop a notch this year because student achievement hit a plateau or dropped.
Sluggish reading and math scores meant that two-thirds of the state’s largest high schools earned a satisfactory or low rating, the state’s equivalent of C and D grades.
Agency to detail effects of boost in Ore. logging
PORTLAND (AP) — The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is ready to release an environmental impact statement on its plans to step up logging in Western Oregon.
The plan is known as the Whopper because of its abbreviation: WOPR, or Western Oregon Plan Revisions. The plan is intended to settle a lawsuit by the timber industry and timber-dependent counties that want more logging on federal land in the Coast Range and Klamath Mountains.
Environmentalists say it would bring back clear-cuts and nearly triple planned timber production at the expense of fish and wildlife habitat.
The environmental statement is due to be released Thursday morning. The agency says it will affect 2.6 million acres.
