Idaho House OKs Occupy eviction

BOISE – The Idaho House voted 54-16 Thursday in favor of HB 404, which would boot the now-legal Occupy Boise encampment off state-owned property across from the Capitol by banning camping in the area.

Among North Idaho representatives, GOP Reps. Phil Hart, R-Athol, and Tom Trail, R-Moscow, voted no, as did Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow; all other North Idaho lawmakers backed the bill.

Hart said, “I feel like we’re in extraordinary times right now, and we ought to be looking at what’s going on across the street in light of these extraordinary times.”

Ringo said, “I think it makes a statement about how we feel about protest.”

The bill now moves to a Senate committee; if it passes the Senate and Gov. Butch Otter signs it into law – which he’s vowed to do – it would evict the Occupy encampment immediately.

Spokane man guilty in Plummer stabbing

A Spokane man has been convicted of second-degree murder for a fatal stabbing in Plummer, Idaho, last year.

Jody Allen Miller, 40, entered an Alford plea Wednesday in Benewah County District Court for the April 17 murder of Antowyn D. “Tony” Swiney, 37, the St. Maries Gazette Record reports.

He faces 25 years in prison when he’s sentenced April 13. The plea means he does not admit guilt but acknowledges there was enough evidence to convict him.

Miller stabbed Swiney to death at Swiney’s girlfriend’s home after Swiney left a Spokane bar to avoid a confrontation.

Level 2 sex offender arrested near school

A sex offender was arrested in Spokane Valley Wednesday for allegedly possessing child pornography. 

Christopher Michael Ebner, 37, lives in the 1400 block of North Hodges, which is near the Central Valley Kindergarten Center and the school district bus garage.

Detectives discovered Ebner had a large amount of child pornography on his computer and that he was sharing the material online, according to the Spokane Police Department.

Ebner is a level 2 sex offender with convictions in 2005 for third-degree rape of a child and possession of child pornography.