Briefly

Wildfire 90 percent contained

Boise Fire crews have contained 90 percent of the North Star Butte fire, burning 1,030 acres about 17 miles northwest of New Meadows, and were expected to achieve full containment Sunday.

Costs to battle the fire, sparked by lightning Aug. 13, have topped $2.5 million.

Eleven crews with three helicopters, two engines, one water tender, three camp crews and 141 overhead staff fought the fire.

Nearly 400 personnel, including some from the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Affairs, the National Weather Service and state and private contractors managed the teams.

Only one structure was threatened by the blaze.

Four-hour chase ends in arrest

Boise A Canyon County man wanted in two counties led more than 30 officers on a four-hour pursuit and fired a gun twice at an Ada County sheriff’s deputy, officers said.

The deputy spotted a pickup truck reported stolen from Garden City just outside Boise Sunday afternoon.

“Apparently the driver of the vehicle recognized there was a police car following him, so he sped up and a chase ensued,” Undersheriff Gary Raney said. “As the chase progressed, the driver did stick the gun out the window and fired twice at the deputy.”

The shots missed the deputy’s vehicle.

Raney said the vehicle chase ended when the truck went through one fence and then crashed into another fence in a horse pasture.

A woman passenger was arrested, but the driver fled on foot to a nearby neighborhood.

Juan Miguel Delgado, 24, was arrested without incident in the basement of an unoccupied house. He was unarmed, but officers later found a handgun near the stolen vehicle.

Authorities said Delgado was wanted for aggravated assault in Ada and Canyon counties.

Deliquent-juror crackdown pays off

Idaho Falls Earlier this year, about 70 percent of the people called to jury duty in Bonneville County appeared, one of the worst records in the state.

Now, about 95 percent of people show up for the job.

Ranae Johnson, the Bonneville County jury commissioner, said the rise in attendance rates comes from 7th District Judge Jerry Myers, who switched the penalty for no-shows from a $100 fine to jail time.

“The fines weren’t working,” Meyers said.

Those who ditched duty paid the fine and could end up ahead because they were not missing work. Idaho jurors get paid $10 dollars a day.

So far, about 35 people have been sentenced to serve jail time for failing to appear for jury duty, and with media attention, citizens started to get the message that jury duty is not optional.

Meyers said delinquent jurors are sentenced for civil contempt of court to avoid a criminal history.

Idaho law allows judges to jail delinquent jurors for three days.

Group Health workers go on strike

Seattle A five-day strike by nurses and other health care workers was expected to begin today against Group Health Cooperative.

“We’re just waiting, hoping for some movement, but it’s looking as though this strike is inevitable,” said Lee Tucker Therriault, a spokeswoman for Group Health.

No new talks were held Sunday and none were scheduled.

The sticky question of who pays for health benefits has stalemated talks between the Seattle-based cooperative and workers represented by Service Employees International Union Local 1199.

Union officials were not available for comment Sunday.

About 1,700 nurses, medical assistants, social workers, therapists and other health care workers from Western Washington clinics and hospitals were expected to participate in the strike, which is set to end Friday at midnight.

The union said earlier that its members would continue working at Eastside Hospital in Redmond, east of Seattle, and at clinics in Spokane and North Idaho.

Group Health wants employees to pay more for their health benefits. Workers covered by the union contract now get benefits with no premiums or deductibles, and $5 copays for office visits and prescriptions.