Library celebrates family reading
Crafts, snacks and one giant monkey will be at the Hayden public library Saturday. Curious George will be at the library 1-3 pm. to help celebrate Idaho Family Reading Week.
Children of all ages are welcome to drop in for games, food, prizes, face painting and a picture with Curious George. The event is free and open to all.
The library is at 8385 N. Government Way. Call (208) 772-5612.
Latah County
Suspect a no-show in Latah court
Authorities are looking for a man who didn’t show in court in Latah County on Thursday, less than a day after he was accused of molesting a child in Post Falls.
Vincent Patrick Aschinger, 35, of Moscow, Idaho, was set to appear in court on charges of aggravated battery by strangulation, according to the Latah County Sheriff’s Office. Aschinger had been released from jail after posting $10,000 bond on Nov. 2 and reportedly went to Post Falls to visit his parents.
Post Falls police Lt. Greg McLean said his office received a complaint Wednesday that Aschinger had tried to put his hands down the pants of a 12-year-old Post Falls girl. McLean said Aschinger allegedly fled when the girl and her friend called the girl’s mother to report what had happened.
Aschinger was last seen in Post Falls around 2 p.m. Wednesday, driving a silver Chrysler Cirrus with Idaho license plate number K245512, McLean said. Aschinger may have been headed to Palouse, Wash., McLean said.
A $100,000 warrant has been issued for Aschinger’s arrest for his failure to appear in court.
Aschinger is 6 feet tall, weighs 250 pounds, has blue eyes and is either bald or has blond hair, according to the Latah County Sheriff’s Office.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call local authorities or the Sheriff’s Office at (208) 882-2216.
IDAHO FALLS
Workers start cleanup at INL
Workers at the Idaho National Laboratory are about to start a cleanup aimed at keeping radioactive contaminants from reaching the Eastern Snake River Plain Aquifer.
Contaminated waste leaked into the soil from 1954 to 1986 because of flaws in piping and valves at the federal nuclear research area in eastern Idaho. About 18,600 gallons leaked in 1972 in one mishap. INL officials said those problems have since been fixed.
INL workers, from 1952 to 1986, also pumped more than 12 billion gallons of wastewater into an injection well, which created a 1.5-mile underground plume of strontium 465.
Strontium, which can cause cancer in high doses, exceeds Idaho water-quality standards. Soil contaminated with cesium can also be a health risk.
The work is part of the Idaho Cleanup Project, a $2.9 billion effort to clean up facilities and reactors no longer in use at the 890-square-mile reservation.