UI official on leave, not resigning

The University of Idaho clarified Wednesday that the school’s vice president for finance and administration, Nancy Dunn, was on sick leave because of cancer and had not permanently stepped down from the job.

But officials said they could not speculate on what would happen after Dunn’s sick leave and annual leave runs out, likely sometime in the next couple of weeks.

“It’s unclear because Nancy’s status is unclear,” said university spokeswoman Wendy Shattuck. “We can’t speak to anything other than her current status, and it’s an unknown on many levels.”

Meanwhile, Dunn is still getting her regular salary of about $182,000 a year, making her one of the highest-paid employees in the state.

BOISE

Body identified as missing woman’s

Idaho State Police say the remains found on a remote Boise County road last weekend were those of Crystal Nelson, a 47-year-old Boise woman who was last seen nearly two years ago.

Two hunters found Nelson’s partially buried body Saturday on a rural road between Horseshoe Bend and Idaho City, and investigators used dental records to identify her. Though they have not yet determined the cause of death, police are calling the death “suspicious.”

Nelson is survived by her husband, John Nelson, KTVB reported. Though she was reportedly last seen on July 1, 2004, her husband did not file a missing person report until Oct. 12, 2004, the television station reported.

Crystal Nelson’s son, John Schmeichel, was shot to death in March 2005, though the deaths are not believed to be related, KTVB said.

Fund likely to pay group’s legal fees

Idaho will likely tap a multipurpose legal fund Gov. Dirk Kempthorne once used to fight grizzly bear reintroduction to pay Planned Parenthood of Idaho’s $380,000 legal bill from its successful fight against the state’s parental consent abortion law.

On Friday, a panel of the Idaho governor, Senate President Pro Tem Robert Geddes, House Speaker Bruce Newcomb and Attorney General Lawrence Wasden will consider using half of the $762,000 left in the state’s so-called “Constitutional Defense Council” fund to pay what the state owes the family planning agency.

U.S. District Judge Mikel Williams ruled in April that Idaho must pay Planned Parenthood’s legal fees. That’s after Williams decided Idaho’s law requiring minor girls to get their parents’ consent to have an abortion violated the young women’s constitutional rights.

The fund, originally $1 million, was set up in 1995 to help pay some of state government’s legal fees.

OLYMPIA

Liquor law ruling to be appealed

The Washington State Liquor Control Board announced Wednesday that it will appeal a decision that a long list of state liquor control laws are illegal antitrust violations.

The state will seek a stay of U.S. District Judge Marsha J. Pechman’s decision pending review by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

In a case brought by Costco Wholesale Corp., Pechman, of Seattle, ruled last month that the state’s mandatory price markups and other rules unfairly prevent large retailers from exploiting competitive advantages, such as discounts for buying in bulk.

Pechman also said the regulations couldn’t be justified as a means to keep consumer prices higher and alcohol consumption down or to maintain a more “orderly” market for the state.

The state still could drive up beer and wine prices and raise money by levying excise taxes, she wrote.