Man critical after truck speeds into river

A Portland man was seriously injured when his vehicle crashed into the Coeur d’Alene River north of Kingston on Sunday evening.

Bystanders told the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Department that the driver, Israel Seth Mudder, 26, was speeding down Old River Road and shouting at people on kayaks and inner tubes in the river.

“He was hanging out the window, yelling at the floaters and screaming at the girls,” Sheriff Chuck Reynalds said.

Mudder’s truck hit the side of the roadway and then traveled across the road into the river. The vehicle dislodged several boulders into the water and narrowly missed several floaters, the sheriff’s department said.

Mudder was airlifted to Kootenai Medical Center, where he was listed in good condition Monday.

Charges are pending the results of Mudder’s blood alcohol tests, Reynalds said.

– Melissa Pamer

Kootenai County

Black Rock expansion hearing on Thursday

The Kootenai County Commission is having a public hearing Thursday on a proposal to expand the Black Rock luxury golf retreat by 1,100 acres, including a second golf course and clubhouse.

Developer Marshall Chesrown is seeking approval for a subdivision that would include 206 homes and 325 condo units overlooking Lake Coeur d’Alene near Rockford Bay. It’s just north of the Club at Black Rock, the area’s first exclusive waterfront golf retreat.

A county hearing examiner in June recommended approval of the project after the state changed the development’s water permit to irrigate the entire property.

Chesrown requested to change Black Rock’s permit designation to municipal use from the current irrigation classification. He never asked for more water, just a change in where it’s used.

Coalition for Positive Rural Impact at Rockford Bay and Loffs Bay protested Chesrown’s water request, arguing that Black Rock hasn’t been a good steward of water.

The 6 p.m. hearing is at the Kootenai Administration Building, 451 Government Way. For more information, call (208) 446-1070.

– Erica Curless

Boise

Caswell confirmed as BLM director

The U.S. Senate has confirmed Idaho resident James Caswell as director of the federal Bureau of Land Management.

President Bush nominated Caswell – who currently heads Idaho’s Office of Species Conservation – to replace Kathleen Clarke in running the agency which manages about one-eighth of the land in the United States. Clarke resigned in February.

But late last month, Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar blocked Caswell’s confirmation to draw attention to his state’s conflict with the Department of Interior over natural gas drilling on the scenic Roan Plateau. After that action, Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne promised he would respond to Salazar in a letter.

The Senate’s approval of Caswell came late Friday, Idaho Sens. Larry Craig and Mike Crapo said Monday.

Before taking his current job, Caswell spent 33 years in various positions with the BLM, Bonneville Power Administration and the U.S. Forest Service.

– Associated Press