Idaho briefs January 28, 2013
Pipe bomb turned in to sheriff's office
MOSCOW - Authorities said a bomb squad responded to a report of an explosive that was turned in to the Latah County Sheriff's office.
Sheriff's Lt. Brannon Jordan said that a man found a 6-inch pipe capped at both ends with what looks like a fuse along Paradise Ridge Road Saturday afternoon.
He brought it to the station and authorities left it in his empty car until the Spokane County Bomb Squad could dispose of it.
KREM reported that the device was safely detonated around 9 p.m.
There were no reports of any injuries during the incident.
Capitol intrusion unnerves Idaho lawmakers
BOISE - A man with a handgun used a tour for Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts as cover to inspect legislators' desks and reach into a waste bin on the House floor.
The Jan. 10 incident became public Tuesday when Department of Administration Director Teresa Luna used a clip to demonstrate the need for rules prompted by last year's Occupy Boise encampment.
Now under review by lawmakers, the new rules don't deal with the inside of the Capitol. But the video of the man's actions shocked legislative leaders into exploring beefing up security. Guns of all kinds are allowed at the Capitol.
"Events like that should disturb all Idahoans," said House Speaker Scott Bedke, R-Oakley. "It certainly disturbed me."
Senate President Pro Tem Brent Hill said: "To think that somebody is bold enough to have followed these children around with a sidearm in plain sight - who is also bold enough to go through trash cans, take pictures of representatives' desks and shuffle their papers - all of that created a great deal of concern."
As a result, public access to the House and Senate chambers has been suspended on weekends and after 6 p.m. weekdays, though the Capitol remains open until 10 p.m. Until now, citizens have been allowed to visit the chambers whenever the Capitol was open, a point of pride.
Man had police encounters before crash
SANDPOINT - Police in North Idaho said a Sandpoint man appears to have been having a mental health crisis in the months leading up to a fatal crash in southwestern Montana.
The Montana Highway Patrol said 41-year-old Christopher M. Kepler was traveling westbound in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 90 shortly after noon on Jan. 8 when his sport utility vehicle struck a pickup truck just west of Garrison. The collision killed 57-year-old Patricia Graves and injured her husband.
Kepler is charged with negligent homicide and criminal endangerment, and is being held at the Powell County Jail with bail set at $500,000.
The Bonner County Daily Bee reported Kepler was taken into protective custody by authorities in North Idaho in early November when they determined he was having a mental health episode. He was later released.
High court rules against ex-ISU professor
POCATELLO - The Idaho Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Idaho State University, saying that a former professor wasn't wrongly denied unemployment benefits after he was fired.
The ruling Thursday found that Habib Sadid engaged in employment-related misconduct. Sadid was a tenured professor at ISU's School of Engineering but he was fired in 2009 after university officials said he ignored repeated warnings that he was violating the school's protocol for criticizing upper-level administrators.
Sadid said his speech was protected under the First Amendment and he should be entitled to unemployment benefits.
The court said Sidid was asked to behave in a collegial manner with colleagues, but instead destroyed professional relationships.
- The Associated Press