In brief: Idaho panel suggests $10 hike on tab fees

BOISE – An Idaho lawmaker panel recommended boosting vehicle registration fees by $10 to cover money the Idaho State Police was set to lose in a bid to shift more money to highway maintenance.

The hike, if it passes, would raise $15.3 million annually, enough to cover some 200 troopers’ jobs.

After a 2009 session-ending compromise between Gov. Butch Otter and the Legislature, ISP was set to lose its share of gas tax revenue.

Otter and lawmakers gave this panel the job of replacing the money, and this plan is what they came up with.

Even so, hiking fees on cars at a time when studies show heavy trucks aren’t paying their fair share could be controversial.

Tuesday’s panel also recommended not raiding $4.3 million from off-highway vehicle users’ gas taxes to benefit highways.

Single apple moth found in Oregon

PORTLAND – The light-brown apple moth has been detected for the first time in Oregon, but state agriculture officials say there is no sign of a breeding population.

The Oregon Department of Agriculture said the moth most likely arrived with imported nursery stock. The lone moth was found in a trap last summer at a Polk County nursery.

Last year, the state placed 1,000 traps for the apple moth across the state, but no other moths were caught.

The screening and identification of exotic moths from traps can take months, and the specimen from Polk County has just been confirmed. The moth is native to Australia and was first detected in California in 2007.

Lengthy cab ride ends in rider’s arrest

BREMERTON – A 21-year old transient woman from the Bremerton area was arrested Friday for refusing to pay a $500 cab fare to a driver who took her from Seattle to Bremerton via Olympia.

The cab driver, a 64-year-old Mountlake Terrace man, told Bremerton police officers that the woman got in his cab at about 1 a.m. at a pub in Seattle. The woman indicated she was going to Tacoma, but she refused to give him an address.

They drove as far as Olympia. The woman fell asleep, then woke up and told the driver to turn around.

Once back in Tacoma, the driver called Tacoma police. The woman assured them she would pay the fare, and the driver agreed to take her farther.

They drove to Federal Way before turning around and eventually driving to Bremerton.

After stopping at two Bremerton homes were people refused to pay the fare, they next drove to Safeway on Callow Avenue, at the woman’s request. By that time, the fare was more than $500, and the woman appeared to have no intention of paying it. The cab driver called police from the grocery store parking lot.

Officers found the woman inside the store loading a cart with items. The woman told police “she didn’t know what (the driver’s) problem was.” She was “appalled” that he was charging her $500 “for a $50 fare.”

The woman was arrested and booked into Kitsap County jail on suspicion of theft of services. Bail was set at $1,000.