Idaho briefs April 1, 2012
2 lottery tickets worth $250,000 sold in Idaho
BOISE - Idaho Lottery officials said two Mega Millions tickets sold in Idaho matched all five of the first numbers but not the Mega Ball and are worth $250,000 each.
Idaho Lottery Director Jeff Anderson on Saturday said one ticket from Friday's drawing was sold in Canyon County in southwestern Idaho and the other in Oneida County in southeastern Idaho.
The winners have 180 days to claim their prizes.
Lottery officials said winners should sign the back of the tickets before presenting them for payment.
Highway reopens after avalanche danger lessens
BOISE - The Idaho Department of Transportation says a 12-mile stretch of State Highway 21 between Grandjean Junction and Banner Summit reopened Saturday morning after being closed since Thursday due to avalanche danger.
Officials said that the road has been closed a total of 22 days since Nov. 1. Fifty slides have been counted.
The highway in that section of central Idaho passes beneath 60 avalanche chutes.
Men in custody after pharmacist calls police
TWIN FALLS - Three south-central Idaho men who police said tried to obtain additional painkillers by altering a doctor's prescription have been taken into custody.
Ahmet Hopovac and Rado Kulasevic, both 22, and Nicholas Schenk were arrested Thursday when a pharmacist alerted authorities.
Police said the pharmacist noticed the numeral six had been placed in front of a five, altering the number of hydrocodone painkillers from five to 65.
Police were waiting when the three men returned to the drive-up window. Police say they found paper scraps with the numbers six written on them that appear to be practice attempts.
Hopovac and Kulasevic were arraigned Friday in 5th District Court. Schenk's status is unclear.
Simpson urges caution criticizing Obama on loans
BOISE - Idaho Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson said members of his party should be mindful of the role politics might play in their own decision-making process when pointing out what might be its use in the Obama administration.
Simpson issued the statement after comparing his lobbying for French nuclear power company Areva to the Obama administration and the bankrupt Solyndra.
"I was trying to make a very simple point, that while we look at the role politics might play in the administration's decision-making, perhaps we should also be looking at the role it plays in our own decision-making," Simpson said.
At a budget hearing for the U.S. Department of Energy on Wednesday, Simpson noted his meetings with DOE officials to get loan guarantees for Areva's proposed $3.2 billion plant in eastern Idaho.
"Did I put undue influence on the administration?" Simpson said. "Maybe."
The company in December announced it was suspending its Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility despite having a $2 billion conditional loan guarantee and license issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
- The Associated Press