In brief: Idaho man sentenced to life for wife’s killing

MOSCOW – A northern Idaho man convicted of killing his estranged wife and covering up her murder has been sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Charles Capone was sentenced Monday in Latah County’s 2nd District Court. Both Capone and his defense attorney, Ray Barker, told Judge Carl Kerrick that they planned to appeal the ruling.

A jury found Capone guilty of first-degree murder last fall. Prosecutors said Capone killed 40-year-old Rachael Anderson, of Clarkston, in 2010. Capone’s co-defendant, David Stone, testified that he witnessed the killing and then helped dump Anderson’s body in the Snake River.

Capone also was sentenced to 20 years each on charges of failing to notify law enforcement of a death and conspiring to do so.

Capone has maintained he did not kill Anderson and throw her body in the river.

Idaho Senate OKs school broadband funds

BOISE – A proposal that would provide $3.6 million in emergency funding for Idaho’s faltering broadband program is headed to Gov. Butch Otter’s desk for his signature.

The Idaho Senate unanimously voted Monday to approve the stopgap proposal. The legislation would require school districts to negotiate their own broadband contracts for the rest of this school year.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Sherri Ybarra would distribute the money to school districts to reimburse them for their individual makeshift contracts.

The bill comes after a district judge voided Idaho’s $60 million broadband contract. This means that broadband access could soon be cut off to nearly 200 public high schools across the state.

The state’s broadband program helps facilitate students who take dual-credit classes with video teleconference equipment.

Inquiry requested into leaked emails

SALEM – A state agency has asked the Oregon State Police to investigate the disclosure of some of former Gov. John Kitzhaber’s personal emails to a reporter.

Two workers from the state data center, which handles a wide variety of technology functions for most state agencies, including the archival of emails, also have been placed on paid leave pending an internal investigation.

Michael Jordan, director of the Department of Administrative Services, requested the state police investigation last week after a story published in Willamette Week quoted from Kitzhaber’s private emails. They included emails between Kitzhaber and his fiancée, Cylvia Hayes, as well as between the then-governor and a lawyer representing him before the state ethics commission.

A spokesman for the agency, Matt Shelby, would not say why the two data center employees were placed on leave or whether it was related to the Willamette Week story.

Kitzhaber resigned last week following a series of reports about Hayes’ work for advocacy groups with an interest in Oregon public policy. He’s maintained the couple did nothing wrong.