Logan Ramsey
Editor-in-Chief
Local: Three candidates are running for Pocatello City Council seat No. 2
Pocatello resident Claudia Ortega, Lance Kolbet, a former chairman of the county’s Republican party, and artist Colton Peterson are running for City Council seat No. 2. Kolbet said wages and benefits represent the city’s major expense, and he has the knowledge to implement plans to achieve personnel savings. Peterson said his major reason for running is to “bring the community together,” and he vows he would be a better listener than the council’s current members. Ortega is concerned about high local taxes, which she believes result from wasteful spending. Ortega orchestrated an effort to recall Bannock County Assessor Sheri Davies and all three of the county’s commissioners, but ultimately came up short in all four cases.
Courtesy of John O’Connell of the Idaho State Journal
https://bit.ly/2pUJLuN
Regional: Mystery surrounds a single-engine plane crash near American Falls
The cause of a deadly single-engine plane crash in a field near American Falls on Oct. 25 remains a mystery. The plane’s only occupants, the pilot and a dog, died in the crash, which was reported around 12:20 p.m. Friday in a field off Lamb Weston Road just west of American Falls. Robert Wheeler’s family confirmed he had taken off from California around 7:30 a.m. Friday with his dog aboard. Authorities haven’t yet said where Wheeler was flying to or identified exactly where in California he had taken off from. The American Falls and Pocatello airports are nearby but authorities haven’t yet said whether the plane was attempting to land at either one. The plane had apparently not issued any distress calls prior to crashing, deepening the mystery of what caused it to fall out of the sky.
Courtesy of Idaho State Journal staff and wire reports
https://bit.ly/2PokPq6
Statewide: A Nampa man accused of sex crimes took a plea deal for a reduced sentence and received no jail time
Nampa man Jerry Jensen, 48, initially charged with five sex crimes involving two children pleaded guilty to felony injury to child and will serve no time in prison, instead serving 10 years of probation. The sex crime charges were dismissed. Canyon County Deputy Prosecutor Anne Voss told the judge that she agreed to the deal because she was concerned there was not enough evidence, other than victim testimony, to convict Jensen at trial. That was why she agreed to the injury to child plea, because there was more evidence of physical, non-sexual, abuse of the children. Because the charge of injury to child is not a sex crime, Jensen will not be required to register as a sex offender. There will be a no contact order in place between Jensen and the victims for 10 years. The victims outlined in testimony graphic details of sexual abuse allegations and vivid memories from their childhood that continue to haunt them.
Courtesy of Ruth Brown of the Idaho Statesman
https://bit.ly/31TAh03
National: An unidentified person fired on a vigil for a victim of a Texas shooting the night before
Gunfire erupted during a vigil in Denver for a man who was killed in a shooting at a party in Greenville, Texas the night before. The vigil was held on Oct. 27 at a park in Dallas for 23-year-old Kevin Barry, named by his family as one of the two killed at the party, along with 12 who were injured. Some 750 people gathered at an event space for an unofficial Halloween and homecoming party when gunshots rang out shortly before midnight, causing hundreds of people to flee. Police said initial witness reports indicated that the shooter had targeted his first victim before turning his handgun on the crowd and firing at random. The gunman is believed to have fled in the resulting chaos. No injuries were reported from the vigil shooting. Police are still searching for the gunman, whose identity and motive remain unknown.
Courtesy of BBC News
https://bbc.in/2WrbBLl
International: Students among the wounded in Iraq anti-government protest
Thousands of students joined Iraq’s anti-government protests on Oct. 28, as clashes with security forces firing tear gas canisters killed at least three demonstrators and wounded more than 100. The students skipped classes at several universities and secondary schools in Baghdad and across Iraq’s majority-Shiite south to take part in the protests, despite the government ordering schools and universities to operate normally. One of those killed was a 22-year-old female medical student, the first woman to be killed since the protests began earlier this month. Seventeen students were among the wounded. Authorities later announced a curfew from midnight to 6 a.m. in the capital, as renewed protests there and across the south raged for a fourth day. A senior security official estimated that 25,000 protesters took part in the demonstration in the capital.
Courtesy of Qassim Abdul-Zahra of the Associated Press
https://bit.ly/2Wn85BI
