In brief: UI spends $1.8 million on ads farther south

The University of Idaho board of directors has approved an additional $500,000 for a marketing campaign that will include efforts to reach potential students in southwest Idaho.

The $1.8 million total budget is for print, radio and television ads, as well as printed materials and recruitment over the Internet, said Tania Thompson, UI director of media relations.

Thompson said that the school, if it spent triple that amount, could reach audiences in Seattle and Portland. Meanwhile, she said, the school is going after specific students, notably in the backyard of Boise State University, the largest school in the state with about 19,000 students.

UI plans to wrap two Boise city buses with advertisements, and begin running three 30-second television ads that will be ready by the time Idaho plays Boise State in football on Nov. 17.

FREELAND, Wash.

Whidbey Island shipbuilder closes

A shipbuilder that is one of Whidbey Island’s largest private employers has closed its doors and laid off 250 workers, citing financial problems and a pending lawsuit.

Nichols Bros. Boat Builders Inc., with facilities in Freeland and Langley, had operated on Whidbey Island since 1964.

“NBBBI has faced significant financial challenges in recent years and has sought additional capital to assist in restructuring the company,” officials said in a news release. “Those efforts have been unsuccessful, due in part to pending litigation and cash-flow challenges ultimately forced NBBBI to make the difficult decision to close its doors.”

Company chief executive Matt Nichols declined comment about closing the business he’s led since 1972.

Nichols specialized in building ferries for communities and private companies and won a Navy contract to build an experimental high-speed vessel.

The shipbuilder in July joined in a partnership brokered by Gov. Chris Gregoire to share the work in a $348 million contract building four vessels for Washington State Ferries.

Earlier this year, Florida-based Expoships LLLP filed a breach of contract complaint against Nichols Brothers for allegedly failing to deliver a 600-passenger sailing vessel on time, according to court documents.

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, Mont.

Standoff over eviction ends in assault arrest

A man who had been in a standoff with law enforcement since receiving an eviction notice on Thursday morning was arrested early Saturday, Meagher County Sheriff Rick Seidlitz said.

Randy Budell, 48, was arrested at 6 a.m. He was taken to the hospital for a checkup before being jailed on a charge of assault with a weapon.

Authorities shut off his power and plugged up the chimney of a wood stove Friday in an effort to smoke him out of the storage shed-turned-dwelling.

It appeared he had been preparing for the standoff for quite some time, Seidlitz said. His family told authorities he had a stockpile of weapons and possibly explosives. He had also built a 6-inch-thick fence around the dwelling that “will stop a rifle round,” Seidlitz said.

The metal shed also had alarms and surveillance cameras.

Authorities were cautious because of Budell’s history. About five years ago, Budell rigged a house in Cascade County so that shotguns would fire if a door was opened. When law enforcement arrived to evict him, a gun trained on the door they opened was not loaded. Another one was, Seidlitz said.

Charges against Budell were dropped in Cascade County and he was taken to the Montana State Hospital at Warm Springs, Seidlitz said.

POLSON, Mont.

25-year-old charged with homicide in crash

A St. Ignatius man faces two counts of vehicular homicide after authorities said he was driving a car that plunged into an icy pond in February, killing two women.

Antoine Lachance, 25, made an appearance in Justice Court, where he was ordered held on $20,000 bail.

Leona Acevedo, 22, of St. Ignatius, and Michael-Marie Cottet, 20, of Charlo, died in the crash on Feb. 24.

Court records said Lachance told investigators he drank alcohol, smoked marijuana and snorted methamphetamine on the night of the wreck. He also had an expired driver’s license.

Lachance and a 14-year-old passenger escaped the upside-down, submerged car and sought help at two nearby residences.

Lachance, the 14-year-old and three others who were rescued from the vehicle were treated for hypothermia.