CdA district forgoes school building levy

Voters will not be asked to approve another levy to pay for Coeur d’Alene school buildings this year after the school board accepted Monday a recommendation from the district’s long-range planning committee.

Instead, the district will concentrate on promoting a supplemental levy that voters will be asked to approve in May. Supplemental levies typically are presented to voters every two years.

The $40 million building levy that the district pitched in March was rejected overwhelming, and the district’s long-range planning committee – made up of parents, teachers and district officials – decided last week it is too soon to present voters with another.

School board members agreed, voting unanimously to accept the committee’s recommendation.

The district has not announced the amount of the supplemental levy or what the money would be used for.

– Meghann M. Cuniff

Fruitland, Idaho

Businesses struggling to find workers

Several industries are struggling to find workers, local officials say.

Barry Carlman, American Staffing manager in Fruitland, said that even with the recent closure of the Amalgamated Sugar factory in nearby Nyssa, Ore., and Jon Lin Foods in Weiser, Idaho, his office has been searching for employees to fill more than 80 spots a week for the last month.

“I don’t know of a major employer in the area that is not looking for people,” Carlman said. “I’ve been here for 12 years. It’s harder this year than I’ve ever seen it.”

Area employers have been raising pay rates in a bid to entice more potential workers, Carlman said.

Just across the state border in Ontario, Ore., Heinz Frozen Foods also is struggling to find employees, said Doug Hamman, human resource manager.

“From an ad in the newspaper, we got 24 applications,” he said. “In the past, we probably would have gotten 40 to 50.”

– Associated Press

Idaho Falls

Natural gas explosion likely caused fatal fire

A natural gas explosion was the likely cause of a house fire that killed a family of three in nearby Lyman, officials said.

Madison County Sheriff Roy Klingler said the fire still is under investigation but evidence is pointing to a likely natural gas explosion.

The blaze early Saturday killed Marc Jason Bell and his wife, Amanda Neville Bell, both 27, and their 3-year-old son, Dylan.

– Associated Press

Salmon, Idaho

Ex-firefighter pleads guilty to arson charge

A former Bureau of Land Management firefighter has pleaded guilty in 7th District Court to solicitation of arson for financial gain.

Levi Miller, 22, admitted Friday that he had offered to pay a teen to start a fire so he could make more money. Miller faces a maximum 12½ years in prison and a $25,000 fine when he is sentenced in November.

Prosecutors said they had taped phone calls in which Miller told the teen to take a match or lighter to start a fire near a Salmon subdivision.

The Aug. 13 blaze burned a half-acre of grass and brush before crews extinguished it.

– Associated Press