Board of Education chief retiring

Boise Gary Stivers, the executive director of the State Board of Education, is retiring next month.

Stivers has led the board for four years. The eight-member board oversees public higher education and some aspects of public schooling for grades kindergarten through 12.

The Board also oversees six public agencies that report to it: the Idaho Historical Society, State Library, Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, School for the Deaf and Blind, Professional Technical Education, and Idaho Public Television.

Stivers, 58, is a former Boise teacher who has worked in state government for 35 years. His resignation is effective Oct. 1.

Luci Willits, a spokeswoman for the State Board, said an interim director would be appointed while a national search was under way.

Gates give Evergreen State College $1 million

Olympia The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has given Evergreen State College $1 million as seed money for a major fund-raising campaign, the college president said.

“It’s an extraordinary level of support for the college and the work we do,” said Evergreen President Les Purce. “We will use it very wisely and make sure that it comes back to us.”

College officials said they expect to spend the next two years setting fund-raising goals and strategies and reaching out to potential donors.

Purce said he expected the campaign would go toward financial aid, raising the quality of teaching at Evergreen and strengthening the school’s ties to American Indian tribes.

He said the cost of a college education puts it out of reach for many potential students.

“We want them to be able to come to Evergreen if they want to, and we want to make sure the experience that they have here is a great one,” he said.

Evergreen, which opened its doors in 1971, gives out as much as $350,000 in scholarships generated through private donations each year.

Carbon monoxide suspected in death of two

Crater Lake, Ore. A married couple camping at Crater Lake National Park were found dead in their tent this weekend, and carbon monoxide poisoning is the suspected cause, the authorities said.

The bodies of Tory Christensen, 27, and Aleathia Christensen, 25, of The Dalles, were found by a Mazama Campground employee Saturday afternoon, said Dave Brennan, chief ranger at the park.

A cause of death has not been determined, but the couple’s tent was tightly closed and a propane camping lantern had been burning inside, Brennan said.

There were no signs of violence, and the ranger said it did not appear that the couple committed suicide.

Brennan said the couple had likely been dead for a couple of days. Autopsies are to be performed this week and the investigation remains active.