In Brief: Kelso strike continues, schools closed for second day

KELSO, Wash. – The Kelso teacher strike that started Wednesday will continue today after teachers and the Kelso School District failed to reach a contract agreement after all-day negotiations.

Schools in Kelso will be closed again today.

The Kelso Education Association authorized the strike after talks with district officials over pay and other issues failed. Kelso teachers have been working without a contract since June 30.

Kelso School District Superintendent Glenn Gelrich said it has offered a proposal that would bring pay in line with what teachers receive in nearby Longview.

Wild horse sanctuary planned in Idaho

BOISE – A 150-square-mile area in southwestern Idaho will become home for several hundred nonreproducing wild horses from around the West that have failed to be adopted, federal officials say.

“It would sort of act as a sanctuary area,” said Heidi Whitlach of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

The agency on Monday announced the release of its approved Resource Management Plan for the Jarbidge Field Office.

The herd of wild horses in the Saylor Creek Herd Management Area will be sterilized either chemically or physically and kept to between 50 and 200 horses, said Whitlach, the plan’s project manager. Officials said that process is likely years away, though, as details are worked out.

The herd will be replenished with wild horses from Idaho and other states, she said.

Currently, the Bureau of Land Management has about 47,000 wild horses and burros that are being held and fed in corrals and pastures.

The 72-page Range Management Plan guides management of everything from wild horses to cattle grazing to recreation to sage-grouse habitat restoration on the 2,200-square-mile Jarbidge Field Office that contains desert canyons and remote rangelands.

Oregon police seeking wolves’ killer

PORTLAND – Oregon State Police are seeking the public’s help regarding the deaths of a wolf pair in Wallowa County.

Lt. Bill Fugate said investigators suspect a person or people killed the two wolves.