In brief: Batt endorses rights protections

BOISE – A former Idaho Republican governor says it’s time the Legislature updated the state Human Rights Act to include housing and job discrimination protections for gays, lesbians and transgender individuals.

Former Gov. Phil Batt made the comments this week when he was honored with the Idaho Human Rights Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by the Human Rights Commission in Caldwell.

At the ceremony Tuesday, Batt said it makes no sense not to extend protections to gays and lesbians.

The Idaho Legislature has repeatedly rejected adding protections.

Burglary suspect arrested in Valley

A suspected burglar was caught Thursday by a resident of the Spokane Valley home he broke into to steal cigarettes, according to the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office.

Around 9:20 p.m. on the 12900 block of East Cataldo Avenue, the resident was watching TV when he caught a glimpse of someone wearing blue running out the rear sliding door of the home, he told deputies. He chased two people until they tried to hide under a truck. The burglary victim detained one of the suspects until deputies arrived, but the other escaped, according to a Sheriff’s Office news release.

The detained suspect, 19-year-old Preston Fitzgerald-Butcher, told deputies he entered the back door of the home trying to steal cigarettes, the release said. Fitzgerald-Butcher faces a charge of felony residential burglary.

Idaho professor’s research honored

A University of Idaho professor has been honored for his research on sage grouse and sharp-tailed grouse.

Kerry Paul Reese, a professor in the College of Natural Resources, was recently named as a fellow at the Wildlife Society’s annual conference in Milwaukee.

Reese’s work on grouse has had implications for wildlife managers and has guided habitat conservation efforts in four states.

“I have enjoyed a full career of working for the betterment of birds,” he said in a statement.

The Wildlife Society is a nonprofit scientific and educational association of more than 10,000 biologists and wildlife managers.