In brief: Cigarette causes apartment fire

A fire that caused about $5,000 damage to an apartment Monday started in a flower box that tenants had been using as an ashtray, according to Northern Lake Fire Chief Marion Blackwell.

Blackwell said residents of an upstairs apartment at 91 W. Wyoming Ave. were putting out cigarettes in a planter box of dirt and flowers mounted beneath their apartment window. One of the cigarettes apparently started a fire that burned through the box and into the apartment wall, he said.

Nobody was injured in the fire, which was reported around 10:40 a.m. and quickly doused by firefighters.

– Taryn Brodwater

CALDWELL, Idaho

Governor honors former jockey

Gary Stevens, a Caldwell native who earned national fame as one of thoroughbred racing’s most successful jockeys, is being honored by Idaho Gov. Jim Risch with “Gary Stevens Week.” Stevens, the three-time Kentucky Derby winner who retired last year, joined Risch at the Statehouse for the announcement Monday.

Stevens was born in Caldwell in 1963. He won his first horse race in 1979 at Les Bois Park on Lil Star, a horse trained by his father, Ron Stevens.

His career spanned 27 years and more than 5,000 victories, including two wins in the Preakness Stakes, three in the Belmont Stakes and nine in the Santa Anita Derby. He was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame in 1997.

In 2003, Stevens played the role of George Woolf in the Academy Award-nominated movie “Seabiscuit.” In the same year, People magazine named him one of its 50 Most Beautiful People. The jockey has homes in Louisville, Ky., and Sierra Madre, Calif.

– Associated Press

post falls

One lane on Mullan for one more day

A Post Falls curb and gutter project on Mullan Avenue just east of Highway 41 is being extended through today.

Traffic is reduced to one lane, with flag crews directing traffic from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. The project had been scheduled to wrap up Monday.

– Amy Cannata