Soldiers awarded Purple Hearts

Five Idaho National Guard soldiers were among 12 members of the 116th Brigade Combat Team who have been awarded the Purple Heart Medal for injuries received in combat in Iraq, according to information provided on Friday by the brigade.

The soldiers were decorated by Brig. Gen. Alan Gayhart, commander of the 116th Brigade, at Forward Operating Base McHenry in the western portion of Kirkuk province. The brigade is composed of National Guard units from Idaho, Oregon, Montana, Utah, North Dakota, Maryland and New Jersey. The hometowns of the Idaho soldiers and one Idaho National Guard soldier from Washington were provided by the Idaho Guard’s headquarters in Boise.

They are Spc. Jonathon Pemp, of Mountain Home, Sgt. Richard Kivett, of Olympia and Staff Sgt. Daman Hall, Moscow, all of C Company, 116th Engineer Battalion; and Spc. Nathaniel Loomis, Mountain Home, and Spc. Adam Bagley, Rexburg, both of Headquarters Company, 1-163rd Infantry.

Other Purple Heart recipients were Sgt. Tim Swander, Headquarters Company, 1-163rd Infantry; Sgt. Kelly Nieskens, Spc. John Middlemas, Staff Sgt. Allen Hunt and Spc. Chet Hoerner, all of C Co., TF 1-163rd Infantry; and Staff Sgt. Christopher Grudzinski and Spc. Mark Cruz, B Company, TF 1-163rd Infantry.

The Department of Defense does not release details of combat injuries.

Test results for West Nile Virus inconclusive

Test results on the first probable case of West Nile Virus in Washington state, reported last week by the Spokane Regional Health District, came back inconclusive Friday from the Department of Health in Olympia.

The health district plans to request an additional sample from a north Spokane woman whose initial test at a local hospital was positive for the mosquito-borne virus.

Potlatch school superintendent resigns

The superintendent of the Potlatch School District has resigned.

According to a press release from the district, Charles Stefani resigned July 5 “citing personal reasons.” The board is advertising for an interim superintendent.

Chinook fish season OK’d on upper Salmon

Stanley, Idaho For the first time in 27 years, the Idaho Fish and Game Commission on Friday voted to approve a fishing season on the upper Salmon River.

Fishing season begins Saturday, from the mouth of the Pahsimeroi River downstream about 20 miles to the Iron Creek Bridge. The sport-fishing harvest will be limited to between 150 and 450 chinook salmon. Fish managers will decide when to close the season.

This year’s salmon run has been smaller than expected, but anadromous fish manager Sharon Kiefer said the Pahsimeroi hatchery is expected to have a surplus of hatchery salmon.

Bridge work can fly now that birds have

Tacoma The fledgling peregrine falcons of Murray Morgan Bridge have taken flight, so state Department of Transportation workers expect to lower the raised span and open the bridge to traffic again this weekend.

The 84-year-old bridge has been up since June 30, when it was raised to allow high-masted vessels from the Tall Ships Festival to come and go from the city’s Thea Foss Waterway.

The rickety lift bridge got stuck in the “up” position, and repair crews couldn’t fix it because they didn’t want to disturb the birds until they could fly.

Suit seeks to halt phosphate mine project

Pocatello, Idaho Two environmental groups have filed suit in federal court to block J.R. Simplot Co. from exploring phosphate deposits in a southeastern Idaho roadless area that includes streams used by the rare Yellowstone cutthroat trout for spawning.

The complaint was filed by the Greater Yellowstone Coalition and the Idaho Conservation League June 30 in U.S. District Court in Boise. It seeks to prevent the Caribou-Targhee National Forest and the Bureau of Land Management from issuing a permit to the company to drill 25 exploratory holes in the Sage Creek Roadless Area 13 miles northeast of Georgetown.

Last month, the Forest Service found that the fertilizer company’s plan was in compliance with all federal laws. The agency rejected an appeal from environmentalists to withhold the exploration permit for the Manning Creek project, which would include building nearly 15,000 feet of temporary road.

Oliveria runner-up for column award

Associate Editor D.F. Oliveria of The Spokesman-Review won his second runner-up award in three years in the national Herb Caen Memorial Notes/Items Contest for his Monday Huckleberries column.

Oliveria, who also writes editorials and blogs for an online version of Huckleberries weekdays, has won the contest once, in 1999, finished second twice, placed third twice, and received an honorable mention. The contest is named after the late Herb Caen of the San Francisco Chronicle, who mimicked the three-dot column style made famous by the late Walter Winchell for decades after World War I.

Smiley Anders of the Baton Rouge (La.) Advocate won the Caen contest for the second year in a row, Dan Gross of the Philadelphia Daily News finished third, and Catherine Bigelow of the San Francisco Chronicle received an honorable mention.

The National Society of Newspaper Columnists announced the awards this month at its national convention in Grapevine, Texas.