Idaho Briefs April 19, 2013

Education board elects new leadership team

MOSCOW - Members of the board that governs Idaho public schools and universities elected a new leadership team.

Trustee Don Soltman of Twin Lakes was picked as the new president Thursday at the board's meeting at the University of Idaho.

Soltman was first appointed to the board in 2009 by Gov. Butch Otter and had held the position of vice president. He previously served in the U.S. Air Force and at various health care facilities across the United States and Europe.

He recently retired from his position at Kootenai Medical Center in Coeur d'Alene.

Soltman replaces Ken Edmunds, a businessman from Twin Falls.

Trustees also voted to elect Emma Atchley, a businesswoman from Ashton, as the new vice president. Rod Lewis, of Boise, was selected board secretary.

Teen charged with phoning in bomb threat

HAILEY - A 16-year-old boy was charged with a felony after a bomb threat called into a south-central Idaho school was traced to his cellphone.

The Times-News reported the bomb threat Thursday morning led to the evacuation of Wood River High School in Hailey.

Hailey Police Chief Jeff Gunter said the boy was in the school when the threat was made just before 10 a.m. Gunter says the caller said the bomb would go off at noon.

Law enforcement officers searched the school as a precaution, but no explosives were found.

The boy is charged with a felony for making a bomb threat. He was booked into the juvenile area of the Blaine County jail.

Yellowstone West Entrance opens as scheduled

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. - Yellowstone National Park's West Entrance opened to vehicles as originally planned Friday before budget cuts threatened to push back the date a week.

People now can drive from West Yellowstone, Mont., to Old Faithful or north to Mammoth Hot Springs.

The park's East and South entrances remain closed but plowing funded in part by the towns of Cody and Jackson and area businesses is making progress.

Those entrances also are on track to open on time, or May 3 for the East Entrance and May 10 for the South Entrance.

Ketchum man sentenced for visa fraud

BOISE - A Romanian national who had been living in south-central Idaho will be deported for obtaining a visa by through a fraudulent marriage.

U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill sentenced 32-year-old Stefan Csaba Csep on Wednesday. Csep, who had been living in Ketchum, also was placed on probation for two years and fined $500.

Federal prosecutors say Csep entered into a fraudulent marriage with a U.S. citizen in 2005 to evade immigration laws. He pleaded guilty to the crime in January.

The U.S. Attorney's Office says Csep is prohibited from entering the United States in the future.

- The Associated Press