In brief: Man gets 10 years for hit-man scheme

A Post Falls man who tried to have his ex-wife killed after he was accused of child molestation and gun charges was sentenced to 10 years in prison Tuesday.

Paul W. Driggers, 54, was convicted by a federal jury in February for offering to pay $10,000 to have the woman murdered. A jury had convicted him of the same crime in January, but the conviction was overturned after jurors inadvertently learned of Driggers’ criminal past during deliberations.

The 10-year sentence handed down by U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge was the maximum punishment Driggers faced. Lodge also ordered Driggers to pay $17,500 in fines and mandated three years supervised probation upon his release from prison.

A California man whom Driggers had contacted to kill his ex-wife went to authorities after traveling to Coeur d’Alene to meet with Driggers.

Washington

Payments left out for timber counties

A $5 billion plan to extend payments for five years to rural counties hurt by cutbacks in federal logging was left out of a spending bill agreed to by House and Senate negotiators.

It includes a proposal for one year only.

Democrats are preparing to send President Bush a $120 billion bill to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through September. It would not demand that troops leave Iraq by a certain date.

The bill – the subject of intense negotiations for weeks – includes $425 million for a one-year extension of the payments to more than 700 timber counties in 39 states, as well as other domestic spending not requested by the president.

But it does not include the Senate’s plan to spend about $2.8 billion to continue the county payments law through 2011 and direct another $1.9 billion to rural states as part of a program to reimburse state and local governments for federally owned property.

The failure of House and Senate leaders to include the longer-term solution drew fire from Oregon Sens. Ron Wyden and Gordon Smith, as well as Gov. Ted Kulongoski. Wyden and Kulongoski are Democrats, while Smith is a Republican.

“A one-year extension is a Band-Aid when we need a blood transfusion,” Smith said Wednesday.

“The House leadership dropped the ball on rural counties when they did not agree to the Senate’s long-term extension.”

Kulongoski said the standoff left “hundreds of counties across the nation in a state of uncertainty at best and crisis at worst.”

Coeur d’Alene

Gunshot killed man in burning house

The man found dead in a burning Coeur d’Alene home Tuesday died of a gunshot wound to the head, the Coeur d’Alene Police Department said Wednesday. Foul play is not suspected in his death, police added.

The man, whose identity has not been released pending family notification, was found in the basement of the home in the 3000 block of Westwood Court.

Fire investigators determined the fire started in the basement and was set intentionally with gasoline, police said. The fire spread up a wall into the attic, causing the ceiling to collapse, investigators said.

Investigators found two dead dogs in the home as well as several boxes of ammunition in the basement.

Boise

Voters approving community college

An unofficial count showed voters in Ada and Canyon counties narrowly backing a measure to create a new community college in the fast-growing region.

With all precincts reporting in Tuesday’s election, the combined support for the College of Western Idaho proposal was 68 percent, just above the 67 percent required to win passage for a tax-raising measure.

In Canyon County, the smaller of the two voting areas, the measure got a 62 percent yes vote, said Brad Jackson, director of operations for the county clerk’s office.

With all 125 precincts counted from the larger Ada County, the measure had a 71 percent yes vote, officials in Boise said.

Turnout was low, with only 19 percent of registered voters in Ada County going to the polls and fewer than 18 percent in Canyon County.

The college has been estimated to cost taxpayers an additional $4 million a year to operate.

The cost for individual property owners hasn’t been specified.

Gov. Butch Otter praised the vote. The 2007 Legislature agreed to contribute $5 million toward startup costs, if the measure passed.

“I’m grateful to everyone who stepped up to make this promise a reality for the Treasure Valley and Idaho,” Otter said in a statement. “Now we must prove the value of this vision while engaging all those with concerns about it in the important work of accountability.”

The new college is planned for a site now occupied by a satellite campus of Boise State University, which has also agreed to transfer its Selland College of Applied Technology to the new school.

Spokane County

Fisherman’s body found in lake

A body was found Wednesday in Long Lake and identified as that of a missing fisherman.

Joe Budik disappeared last week after going out fishing on Long Lake near Tum Tum. His damaged boat was found along the shore May 16.

Spokane County sheriff’s marine officers looked for Budik but gave up their search the night after his boat was discovered as lake conditions changed.

But the search continued again, and the body was found Wednesday afternoon.