Fourteen structures burnt in Lind, in east of state, as forecasters in California warn ‘sleeping giant’ McKinney fire could grow further
A small town in Washington state was evacuated due to a fast-moving fire that burned a half-dozen homes, as crews in California made progress against the state’s deadliest and largest wildfire of the year.
In Washington, the Adams county sheriff’s office warned residents of Lind on Thursday afternoon to flee due to the encroaching flames.
Continue reading...Lawsuit is DoJ’s first piece of litigation aimed at protecting abortion access since the supreme court overturned Roe v Wade
The Biden administration’s Department of Justice is suing Idaho over the state’s near-total abortion ban, set to take effect on 25 August.
The lawsuit is the justice department’s first piece of litigation aimed at protecting abortion access since the US supreme court in June overturned the landmark Roe v Wade decision that established federal abortion rights nearly 50 years earlier.
Continue reading...The entire park, spanning parts of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, will remain closed to visitors as officials assess damage to roads and bridges
Record flooding and rockslides following a burst of heavy rains prompted the rare closure on Monday of all five entrances to Yellowstone national park at the start of the summer tourist season, the park superintendent said.
The entire park, spanning parts of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, will remain closed to visitors, including those with lodging and camping reservations, at least through Wednesday, as officials assess damage to roads, bridges and other facilities.
Continue reading...Joe Biden will welcome the prime minister of Sweden, Magdalena Andersson, and the president of Finland Sauli Niinistö to Washington tomorrow.
It will be a very visual symbol of US support for those two European, Russia-adjacent nations joining the US-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato).
Continue reading...Bill aims to make gender-affirming care a felony and punishable by life in prison for anyone who helps a child travel out of state
Idaho’s house of representatives has passed a bill that would criminalize gender-affirming medical procedures for transgender youth and make it a felony punishable by life imprisonment for anyone who helps a child travel across state lines to gender-affirming healthcare.
The bill, approved on Tuesday, targets medical measures that include vasectomy, hysterectomy, mastectomy, puberty-blocking medication and supraphysiological doses of testosterone or estrogen.
Continue reading...In Oklahoma, Idaho, Wyoming and California, the next generation of GOP extremists are passing laws, picking their own voters … and preparing for power
The website of the Oklahoma Republican party has a running countdown to the 2024 presidential election measured in “Maga days”, “Maga hours”, “Maga minutes” and “Maga seconds” – Maga being shorthand for Donald Trump’s timeworn slogan, “Make America great again”.
The state party chairman, John Bennett, a veteran of three combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, has described Islam as a “cancer in our nation that needs to be cut out” and posted a yellow Star of David on Facebook to liken coronavirus vaccine mandates to the persecution of Jewish people in Nazi Germany.
Continue reading...Christ Church leaders and aligned companies received millions of dollars in coronavirus bailouts amid campaign against mandates
The controversial rightwing Christ Church – and its pastor, Douglas Wilson – have led an uncompromising campaign of opposition to coronavirus public health measures in Idaho, revealing the church’s powerful influence in its home city of Moscow and beyond.
The campaign has included in-person protests, misinformation and encouragement of civil disobedience across media channels owned by the church, which, as the Guardian has reported, is seeking to increase its power and influence in the town as part of an aim of creating a theocracy in America.
Continue reading...Four injured in shooting at Boise’s largest mall, where police say officers exchanged gunfire with suspect
A suspect is in custody after two people were killed and four injured, including a police officer, during a shooting at a shopping mall on Monday in Boise, Idaho.
At a news conference, authorities said officers had exchanged gunfire with the suspect. The majority of the mall has been cleared but police were still looking for any additional victims.
Continue reading...Caldor fire explodes in size as Pacific Gas & Electric begins shutting off power to 51,000 customers
Critically dangerous fire weather was forecast across northern California from Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday evening, threatening to intensify several large blazes and increasing the risk of new ones, as a small rural town in the Sierra Nevada was ravaged by a fire that grew with devastating speed.
The Caldor fire, which erupted over the weekend, exploded in size on Tuesday and ran through the town of Grizzly Flats, destroying many buildings and forcing residents to leave. Two were injured. Officials estimated that the blaze had blown through 30,000 acres – up from 6,500 acres reported by the California department of forestry and fire protection (Cal Fire) earlier that day.
Continue reading...Thousands have been forced to evacuate from Alaska to Wyoming amid soaring temperatures and a drought
Nearly 60 wildfires were burning across 10 states in the parched American west on Tuesday, with the largest, in Oregon, consuming an area nearly twice the size of Portland.
The fires have torched homes and forced thousands to evacuate from Alaska to Wyoming, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Arizona, Idaho and Montana accounted for more than half of the large active fires.
Continue reading...Krista Gneiting said she was trying to help one of the students who had been shot when she saw the girl holding the gun
When a student opened fire at an Idaho middle school, teacher Krista Gneiting directed children to safety, rushed to help a wounded victim and then calmly disarmed the sixth-grade shooter, hugging and consoling the girl until police arrived.
Parents credited the math teacher’s display of compassion with saving lives. While two students and the school custodian were shot in the incident on 6 May, all three survived, and the gunfire was over within minutes.
Continue reading...A sixth-grade girl shot two students and a custodian at a middle school in Rigby, Idaho, on Thursday before being disarmed by a teacher, local authorities said. The Jefferson county sheriff, Steve Anderson, said the girl had fired multiple rounds inside and outside the school. The three victims were shot in their extremities and are expected to survive
Continue reading...Victims expected to survive attack, which ended when teacher disarmed student, authorities say
A sixth-grade girl shot two students and a custodian at an Idaho middle school on Thursday before being disarmed by a teacher, authorities said.
The Jefferson county sheriff, Steve Anderson, said the girl had fired multiple rounds inside and outside Rigby middle school in the small city of Rigby, about 95 miles south-west of Yellowstone national park.
Continue reading...Two commuters in southern Idaho are lucky to be alive after their pickup truck plunged off a bridge - saved only by the quick work of emergency crews, and a set of 'safety chains' attaching the Ford F50 to the 30ft camper trailer it was carrying, which miraculously held firm.
Continue reading...Safety chains attaching pickup truck to camper trailer prevented it from falling
Authorities say a set of camper trailer safety chains and quick, careful work by emergency crews saved two people after their pickup truck plunged off a bridge, leaving them dangling above a deep gorge in southern Idaho.
Idaho state police responded to the accident at about 2.45pm on Monday, said Lynn Hightower, a police spokesperson. A trooper found a man and a woman inside the pickup truck that was dangling, nose-down, off the side of the bridge spanning the Malad Gorge.
Continue reading...A least 100 people gathered in front of the Idaho state capitol on Saturday to burn masks, in a protest against measures to limit infections and deaths caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Continue reading...As US states faced a deadline to place orders for a coronavirus vaccine, California went back into lockdown and federal authorities advised the wearing of masks indoors, new infections reached a record 227,885 on Friday.
Related: 'Ridiculous double standard': LA residents condemn maze of Covid restrictions
Continue reading...Bernie Sanders, second in the race, campaigns in Michigan hoping to win the state with the most delegates
Joe Biden is hoping to cement his position as frontrunner for the Democratic nomination for president on Tuesday, as millions of voters in six states have their say in the next round of primary election contests.
For Bernie Sanders – the second of two major remaining candidates in the race – the six primaries in Michigan, Washington, Missouri, Mississippi, Idaho and North Dakota will be a crucial test of whether he can reverse the momentum the former vice-president enjoys coming out of his victories in the Super Tuesday states last week, and prevent him from extending his delegate count lead.
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