AP-US-GRIZZLIES-NORTH-CASCADES

Conservation groups upset by North Cascades grizzly decision

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — The forested mountains in and around North Cascades National Park have long been considered prime habitat for threatened grizzly bears, so environmental groups are criticizing the Trump administration’s decision to scrap plans to reintroduce the apex predators there. U.S. Secretary of the Interior David L. Bernhardt on Tuesday announced his agency will not conduct the environmental impact statement needed to move forward with the plan. That drew swift rebukes from conservation groups, who have worked for decades to grow the tiny population of about 10 grizzlies in the vast North Cascades ecosystem. They called it a political decision that ignored science.

IDAHO PLANE CRASH

Final body recovered from Idaho airplane collision over lake

COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho (AP) — Authorities say they have recovered the final body of eight people killed when two airplanes collided over a scenic mountain lake in northern Idaho on July 5. The last body was found inside one of the wrecked aircraft on the bottom of Lake Coeur d’Alene and recovered Thursday. The body was turned over to the Kootenai County Coroner’s Office. One of the aircraft with six people aboard was a float plane operated by Brooks Seaplane of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, which conducts charter flights for tourists over the lake. The second airplane was a Cessna 206 carrying two people and was registered in Lewiston, Idaho.

PROPERTY TAX RELIEF

Idaho prosecutors question governor’s plan for federal funds

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (AP) — Prosecutors from more than half of Idaho’s counties questioned whether Gov. Brad Little’s plan to use $200 million in federal aid for property tax relief is legal under the federal coronavirus aid package. The Times-News reported Friday that prosecutors in 16 counties signed a letter that asks Little’s office to request a legal opinion from the U.S. Treasury Department and the Idaho attorney general’s office. The letter asserts that the governor’s plan “does not appear to meet legal requirements” of the federal rescue package.

REDFISH-STANLEY TRAIL

U.S. drops injunction request in dispute over trail project

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice has dropped its request asking a federal judge to prohibit an Idaho man from flying his helicopter near work crews building a public trail on an easement crossing private land. The department says it has accepted Michael Boren’s statements that he won’t again fly near the work crew that’s building a trail connecting the popular tourist destinations of Redfish Lake and Stanley in central Idaho. The trail is at the center of a federal lawsuit seeking to have the project stopped. The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the June 20 incident.

WOLVES-SOUTH CASCADES

Search finds zero wolves in South Cascades

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — A scientist says a two-year search for wolves in Washington’s South Cascades has found none. The Capital Press reports researchers tested the DNA of thousands of scat piles sniffed out by dogs. University of Washington’s Center for Conservation Biology director Samuel Wasser says many piles looked like wolf droppings, but all turned out to be from dogs. He says if wolves are in the South Cascades, they are lone wolves. State lawmakers funded the study in part to learn how far west and south wolves have wolves have advanced in Washington. The state’s wolf plan says recovery won’t be complete until at least four packs are producing pups in the South Cascades.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-IDAHO-SCHOOLS

Idaho schools get OK to open to students this fall

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Gov. Brad Little says Idaho’s 300,000 schoolkids in grades K-12 can return to schools this fall but with flexible learning strategies to protect them and their communities during the coronavirus pandemic. The plan released Thursday says schools must be prepared to teach students with traditional face-to-face methods in the classroom, distance learning online, or a hybrid combination of the two. The State Board of Education unanimously approved the plan a few hours before Little’s announcement. The release of the plan coincides with surging infections in the state and some half-dozen cities making face coverings mandatory, including the state’s largest city, Boise.