In brief: Jury will decide rapist’s condition

CLARKSTON – An Asotin County jury will decide whether a three-time convicted rapist should be released from confinement.

Monte C. Hoisington was sentenced to life in prison in 1991 for raping a woman in Clarkston. In 2000, a judge upheld a plea bargain limiting his sentence to 10 years.

Hoisington, 59, has been at the Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island since a jury voted to civilly commit him in 2001. The complex houses sexually violent predators until they are deemed safe for release to a less-restrictive facility.

Hoisington also served more than 10 years in the Idaho State Penitentiary after being convicted of two rapes in Lewiston in 1977.

In a trial tentatively set for March 28, jurors will decide whether Hoisington still meets the statutory definition of a sexually violent predator, as has been the conclusion of his last three annual reviews.

Hoisington’s attorney filed a motion last year saying he suffered an illness similar to a stroke and no longer meets that definition.

Rehberg says he’ll challenge Tester

HELENA – U.S. Rep. Denny Rehberg told excited Republicans that backlash in Montana to “liberal know-it-alls” running the nation was a big reason he has decided to challenge Sen. Jon Tester in 2012.

Rehberg announced his candidacy at a Saturday night event with tea party activist and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann.

Rehberg says he gives the Republicans a chance to take back the Senate. Tester played an instrumental role with his 2006 win in giving Democrats control of the chamber amid voter dissatisfaction with former President George W. Bush.

Rehberg says Republicans have learned from their past mistakes and will stay true to fiscal conservative principles if given a chance to lead again.

Tester, a veterans’ advocate, criticized Rehberg for announcing his candidacy with Bachmann, who calls for less spending for veterans.

Parents deny harming daughter

GRANGEVILLE, Idaho – Two north-central Idaho parents who police say severely neglected the health of their 16-year-old daughter have pleaded not guilty to felony injury to a child.

Duane and Deborah Wadsworth, of Harpster, made the pleas Friday in 2nd District Court. A jury trial is scheduled for May 31.

Authorities filed charges last month after the Wadsworths brought their daughter to St. Mary’s Hospital in Cottonwood.

Doctors and nurses who testified at a previous hearing described the girl as severely malnourished and covered by bed sores with signs of gangrene on her fingers and toes.

Officials said the girl was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis four years ago. The parents opted for herbal and homeopathic treatments.

The girl is now being treated at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane.

Cow carcass washes ashore

SEATTLE – Authorities in Seattle say bovine met the shoreline when beachfront residents found the body of a 400-pound cow washed up by the surf.

Animal control officers received a report Thursday that the carcass of an adult cow had beached in West Seattle, said Ann Graves, enforcement supervisor for Seattle Animal Shelter.

The tide later moved it in front of a home.

A Seattle Police Department Harbor Patrol vessel towed the cow to a boat ramp Saturday, where it was loaded onto a rendering truck.

It’s not clear how it got in the water.