Chunk falls outof Dover bridge

Idaho Transportation Department workers hoped to complete emergency repairs this morning that restricted U.S. Highway 2 to one lane Monday afternoon at an aging bridge.

“With the way the weather is, it’s going to be difficult,” ITD spokeswoman Barbara Babic said. Snow was falling as a crew worked Monday night to shore up the broken bridge deck and fill a hole in the eastbound lane.

Babic didn’t know what caused the break, but Dover Mayor Randy Curless said it appeared that – once again – a vehicle had struck the metal-arch superstructure of the narrow, two-lane bridge.

Curless said the break occurred at the site of a pothole that had been getting steadily worse. He said a section of deck – approximately 30-by-30 inches – collapsed, leaving a V-shaped chunk dangling over railroad tracks shared by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Union Pacific railroads.

“You can see the railroad track through the cracks,” Curless said.

The bridge, built in the early 1930s, is scheduled for replacement, but not for five to 11 years. Babic said Monday’s collapse “will certainly be taken into consideration,” and the reconstruction date could be moved up. “So much depends on funding,” she said.

– John Craig

Moscow, Idaho

Fire in locker room destroys UI sauna

A sauna fire in a women’s locker room caused an estimated $100,000 in damage to the University of Idaho’s Physical Education Building over the weekend.

The fire was reported shortly after 8:30 a.m. Saturday, and firefighters quickly knocked it down, according to the Moscow Fire Department.

The wooden sauna was destroyed, and smoke and heat damaged the locker room. The rest of the building had only “light exposure” to the smoke, the department said in a news release.

The cause remains under investigation.

– Shawn Vestal

Coeur d’Alene

Man admits using anesthetic on girl

A registered sex offender accused of using an anesthetic to drug a girl pleaded guilty Monday.

In exchange for the guilty plea to felony injury to a child, the state dismissed a charge of sex abuse against Scott J. Bailey.

First District Judge Fred Gibler will sentence Bailey on March 12. He faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $50,000.

Bailey, 35, told investigators he obtained the chemical halothane while working in an ophthalmologist’s office several years ago. He used it sometime in May or June, according to court documents.

Bailey told police he waved a rag soaked with halothane in the girl’s face because “she wanted to know what it smelled like.” She fell to the floor and made “rasping, gurgling” sounds, according to court documents.

Bailey moved to Coeur d’Alene in 2005 from Minnesota but still spent brief stints in the Minneapolis area, including serving a two-month jail sentence for possessing child pornography.

In Idaho, he worked as a janitor and was under supervised probation by the state Department of Corrections.

– Erica Curless