In brief: Mayors back local-option tax bill

Mayors from around Idaho joined transportation advocates Thursday to speak out for local-option tax legislation for improvements to roads, transit and more, which they say top lawmakers are blocking.

Some in the House GOP leadership are insisting on a constitutional amendment instead, the mayors said, even though that would require an unlikely two-thirds vote of both houses plus a vote at the next general election, which would hold up the whole process at least a year.

The mayors said there’s no constitutional issue with their bill.

“If you delay it by one year … think what one year’s inflation cost is going to mean to communities around the state,” said Twin Falls Mayor Lance Clow.

Caldwell Mayor Garret Nancolas said, “This is all about taking this back to the citizens, letting them have a choice. Right now we can’t even give ‘em a choice.”

The measure, backed by the statewide coalition Moving Idaho Forward, would require a two-thirds vote to impose a local tax to pay for local transportation needs.

Senators quiz education chairman

Idaho State Board of Education Chairman Milford Terrell came up for a re-appointment hearing before the Senate Education Committee on Thursday, and senators grilled him hard.

Finally, the committee passed a motion – made by Sen. Mike Jorgenson, R-Hayden Lake, and seconded by Sen. Gary Schroeder, R-Moscow – to haul the entire Board of Education before the committee to explain how it spent an unauthorized $1.4 million on a student testing program. Jorgenson reminded Terrell that the Senate has subpoena power.

After the hearing, Schroeder said of Terrell, “He did a good job – explained everything, said he had changed some things and would change some things.”

SEATTLE

Discovery Park coyote wins reprieve

A coyote in Seattle’s Discovery Park has won a reprieve.

Federal wildlife and city park officials have decided to leave it alone, for now.

A wildlife official with the Agriculture Department, Ken Gruver, met Wednesday with Seattle Parks Superintendent Tim Gallagher to discuss options, but there are no immediate plans to remove the coyote.

The Navy wanted it shot because it had attacked a cat and chased a dog near military housing. But some neighbors and the city oppose shooting or trapping the coyote in the park.

The parks department is planning a neighborhood meeting on Thursday to talk about living with wildlife in the city.

BILLINGS

New Cabela’s store on ice for now

Outdoor retailer Cabela’s has put plans for a store here on hold because of a “challenging consumer environment,” the company said.

The company is reducing from five to two the number of stores it plans to open this year. In November, the company said it planned to open a store in Billings in the summer of 2008.

Company spokesman Joe Arterburn said there will be little activity in Billings until the company decides how much it wants to expand.

Linda Beck, the director of business outreach and recruitment for the Big Sky Economic Development Authority, said she’s been told the company still plans to open a store in Billings, but at a later date.

The company said it is going to slow its retail expansion and focus on improving the profitability of its existing stores.

BELGRADE, Mont.

Pilot error likely cause of fatal crash

Pilot error was the likely cause of a medical airplane crash near here last year that killed all three people aboard, the National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday.

The NTSB report said the pilot of the Mercy Flight plane failed to maintain an adequate altitude and descent rate during a night visual approach to Gallatin Field Airport. The report said darkness and mountainous terrain were also factors.

“The airport is located in a large valley and is surrounded by rising mountainous terrain,” the report said. “At night, clouds and terrain are difficult for pilots to see, and a gradual loss of visual cues can occur as flight is continued toward darker terrain.”

The Great Falls-based Beech 200 crashed into a mountain about 80 feet below the peak of a ridge that rose to an elevation of approximately 5,700 feet, the report said.

“The ridge was the highest obstruction between the accident location and the destination airport,” the report said.

The Feb. 6, 2007, crash killed 59-year-old pilot Vince Kirol, 33-year-old paramedic Paul Erickson and 27-year-old flight nurse Darcy Dengel.

The NTSB has already said there did not appear to be any mechanical or structural problems and that the pilot didn’t have any substances in his system that could have contributed to the crash.

OLYMPIA

No gypsy moth spraying this year

The state Agriculture Department has concluded there are no reproducing populations of gypsy moths in Washington, so no spraying will be required this year.

The last year no eradication treatment was needed was 2003.

Jim Marra, a department entomologist, said inspectors will put out 25,000 cardboard traps next summer to check for the tree-eating pests.

They’ll concentrate where a few of the insects were collected last summer – at Wauna in Pierce County, Birch Bay in Whatcom County and Kent in King County.