New area code put off until 2012

Sun., Nov. 23, 2008

Officials say the creation of a new area code for the state has been delayed by a couple of years.

The state Utilities and Transportation Commission has announced that telecommunications companies have at least another three years to assign a new area code to users with a 360 area code, which covers most of the state’s western half.

Previous projections had called for a new area code in 2010. But now, state officials say a new area code won’t be needed until at least 2012.

Elsewhere, the state says it expects the 206 area code to last until 2020, and the 253 and 425 are codes to last until 2028.

The 360 area code went into effect in 1995.

TWIN FALLS, Idaho

Killer wants end to making payments

A former nurse convicted of killing her estranged husband’s former girlfriend with a lethal injection is asking a judge to be cleared of paying the victim’s funeral costs and benefits for the victim’s daughter.

Vicki Arlene Jensen, 39, of Gooding, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison in the 1999 slaying of Aleta Diane Ray, a case prosecutors and judges have called one of the most horrific murders in Twin Falls County.

Before the slaying, Jensen’s husband – Vern Jensen – was living with Ray and her daughter.

Jensen and two disguised accomplices fooled Ray into letting them into her home, where Jensen gave Ray, with a gun held to her head, a lethal injection of methamphetamine and insulin. The crime was witnessed by Ray’s 3-year-old daughter.

The Idaho Industrial Commission paid out $22,500 for Ray’s funeral and child benefits, and prosecutors say Jensen and her accomplices must pay that money back.

Jensen filed an objection after discovering the state was deducting money from per prison account, saying she’ll never be able to pay off the debt.

Prosecutor Grant Loebs says Jensen’s gripes are irrelevant.

“Pay as much as you can,” Loebs said Friday. “This is the type of debt that can never be repaid, obviously, in terms of money. And I find it kind of disturbing that someone would think they shouldn’t have to pay it.”

Jensen will get a chance to make a case in court after a judge’s ruling. The 5th District Court judge scheduled the Dec. 15 hearing because Jensen didn’t get proper notice from the state about the payments.

From wire reports

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