The shooting range at Farragut State Park in North Idaho will reopen Saturday morning after a prolonged legal fight; the 70-year-old range has been closed since 2006 after neighboring homeowners sued over noise and errant bullets. This morning, 1^st District Judge John Mitchell issued a court order permitting Fish & Game to operate the range, though it will allow only 500 shooter visits per year initially. Mitchell scheduled a court hearing for Sept. 30 to consider allowing more use beyond that; S-R reporter Scott Maben has a full report here.

The injunction shutting down the range was ordered until noise and safety improvements could be made; the state spent $260,000 on improvements, but Mitchell ruled some rounds still could fly out of the range. The Idaho Supreme Court overturned his ruling in November, while leaving it to Mitchell to rule on whether it'd be safe to exceed 500 shooter visits per year.