In brief: Teen accused of stabbing mother

Spokane police have arrested a 16-year-old boy accused of stabbing his mother in the head multiple times.

KHQ-TV reports that the woman was taken to a hospital Tuesday evening with serious but non-life-threatening injuries. Police said most of the wounds were on her skull.

Police said a 13-year-old boy called 911 to report that his brother was stabbing his mother.

The 16-year-old was booked for investigation of first-degree assault.

Dog owner faces charges over collar

The owner of an injured dog recently found with an embedded collar has been charged with animal cruelty.

Richard L. Lafountain, 66, faces second-degree animal cruelty and confinement in an unsafe manner, according to Nancy Hill, director of the Spokane County Regional Animal Protective Services.

The 1-year-old husky mix, named Nanook, was found Friday with a wound around his neck consistent with a collar or cable becoming embedded over a long period of time, Hill said. Lafountain has since released the dog to SCRAPS.

Nanook had surgery to treat his wounds. He is expected to make a full recovery, but will need follow-up care. His care is being paid for through the SCRAPS Hope Foundation and private donations.

Numerous people have come forward to adopt the dog, but Nanook has already found a new home and an owner who can work with his special medical needs.

Idaho school bus slides into tree

A school bus with 14 teenagers aboard crashed into a tree north of Hayden after sliding sideways out of control on compact snow and ice, authorities said.

No serious injuries were reported, but two of the Lakeland School District students complained of soreness, according to the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office. The bus driver, 58-year-old Debbie Page of Otis Orchards, told deputies she was traveling barely 5 mph along the snowy stretch of Rimrock Road when the bus began slipping as she tried steering into a curve.

The back of the bus smashed against a tree. The sheriff’s office said no citations were issued but that the cause of the crash remained under investigation.

Idaho seeing fewer out-of-state hunters

BOISE – A drop-off in revenue from out-of-state residents coming to Idaho to hunt and fish is crimping Idaho’s Department of Fish and Game.

Non-resident deer and elk tags from Idaho Fish & Game used to sell out, but not anymore, Idaho Fish and Game Director Virgil Moore told lawmakers Tuesday. As of the end of 2012, Moore said, unsold non-resident deer and elk tags have added up to $9.3 million.

Non-resident hunters are just 6 percent of Idaho’s license buyers, but they provide 37 percent of the license revenue because their fees are higher. Idaho’s Fish and Game Department receives no general state tax funds, instead operating solely on license and tag fees and federal grant funds.

“We’ve learned that our non-residents are price-sensitive when the economy is soft,” Moore said. “A portion of our hunters are affected hugely by the economy.”

Teacher contract bill wins panel’s OK

BOISE – Legislation to reinstate more provisions from the voter-rejected Students Come First laws was introduced in the Idaho House Education Committee Tuesday on a party-line vote.

The panel’s three Democrats objected, but majority Republicans supported the bill, proposed by the Idaho School Boards Association. It would require that teacher contract negotiations be conducted in public and allow school districts to unilaterally impose contract terms if an agreement isn’t reached in negotiations with local teachers unions by a June 10 deadline.

Idaho voters in November rejected Proposition 1 by 57.1 percent; it sought to roll back Idaho teachers’ collective bargaining rights through an array of law changes. On Monday, four more bills were introduced in a Senate committee, also reinstating portions of Proposition 1.

Actor Jim Nabors marries in Seattle

HONOLULU – The actor best known for playing the TV character Gomer Pyle in the 1960s has married his partner of 38 years.

Hawaii News Now reports Jim Nabors and his partner Stan Cadwallader traveled from their Honolulu home to Seattle to be married Jan. 15.

Nabors played Gomer Pyle in “The Andy Griffith Show” and “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.” television shows.