Some local law enforcement predict little change for immigration enforcement
Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels says he doubts much will change in terms of local immigration enforcement after Donald Trump is sworn in as president. Trump has vowed to aggressively go after people who are in the country illegally.
Nowels told SPR News Washington law enforcement agencies are subject to a law that forbids officers from inquiring about a person’s immigration status if there is no crime involved. If the person is suspected of a crime, officers can ask. He said they then have the choice of providing the information to federal authorities.
“What I will be curious to see is if a Trump administration comes in and asks for local law enforcement to help in enforcing federal civil statute,” Nowels said. “I’ll be honest that I don’t know that we have the capacity to take part in any of those things. I think there are some different things that would have to happen. We don’t have the authority to enforce federal civil violations.”
The Coeur d’Alene Police Department said its policy is also unlikely to change. That policy allows officers to hold someone suspected of a crime long enough to check with federal authorities about their immigration status. But someone suspected of violating federal civil immigration laws could not legally be detained.
Certification brings Washington’s 2024 election to a close
Wednesday in Olympia, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee performed one of the final official tasks in his term of office: with Secretary of State Steve Hobbs looking on, he signed documents that confirm the victors of November’s election.
The final certification was anticlimactic. The results had already been tabulated, so the signing event was mostly ceremonial. For about 10 minutes, Inslee and Hobbs sat at a table in the governor’s conference room and signed the certificates that are sent to the winning candidates.
The task jogged Inslee’s memory. As he signed, he mentioned that he’s starting to go through his stacks of public papers.
“I had a collection of Lewis and Clark maps, and all of my certificates of election were in them. Glad I found them,” the governor quipped.
“Since I’ve got the archives, if you’ve got extra stuff, you can give them to us,” Hobbs replied.
Almost four million of the state’s five million registered voters – about 79 percent – cast ballots. That’s a high turnout but far from a record. In 2008, the state’s turnout was about 84.5 percent. That was one of five elections in the last 40 years in which turnout topped 80 percent.
Report examines state of Idaho mining operations
There are fourteen fully permitted mining operations in Idaho. A little more than half of them are currently operating.
But more are on the way. Four are awaiting permits, and about ten sites are being explored for potential mines.
Environmental advocates at the Idaho Conservation League know they can't stop mining, but they want companies to do it the right way.
In November, ICL published its first report in about 20 years on the current state of mining in Idaho. Josh Johnson is the league’s central Idaho director.
“Things haven't necessarily gotten better or worse,” he told Boise State Public Radio. “It's just different.”
Johnson acknowledged advancements have made mining more efficient and potentially less error prone, but he said many industry promises of “better mining” have yet to play out in the real world. And the same technological advancements have opened the door to mining where it might not have been possible before.
“What we really want to do is be working on projects on a case-by-case basis. It depends on what is being mined, how it's being mined, the geology of the rocks there, the surrounding communities and things like that,” he said.
Johnson said better and earlier communication by mining companies with stakeholders like tribal communities and environmental advocates is a key way to improve outcomes, but not every company engages. The report recommends mining companies could get less pushback by going above and beyond minimum regulatory requirements.
Budget concerns force NIC to end golf program
Acknowledging that its athletics budget is unsustainable, North Idaho College on Wednesday announced it would end its men’s and women’s golf teams after the spring 2025 semester.
“Golf is a sport that has relatively high costs per student. Also, due to Title IX, there has to be gender equity when eliminating a sport and Golf has both men’s and women’s teams,” NIC Interim Provost Lloyd Duman said in a statement. “This was an extremely difficult decision – it does not reflect on the quality of the program or people involved in any way.”
Cancelling the golf program affects 11 students, but will save the community college about $600,000, the school said.
NIC President Nick Swayne called the curtailment “extremely unfortunate” and said the college had run out of options.
In the current fiscal year, NIC said it spent about $4 million more on its athletics programs than it did the previous year. The college said the increase was partly because of costs incurred when the previous board majority voted to move the school to a new collegiate athletic conference. The board majority also decided the school should foot the bill for full tuition for international and out-of-state students, room, board, books, and a flight home. The NIC athletics budget soared from $2.2 million to $6.2 million.
There are no immediate plans to eliminate any other student athletic programs, Duman said, but noted “other cost-cutting measures will be necessary in the future” to make NIC’s athletics budget sustainable.
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Reporting was contributed by Doug Nadvornick, Troy Oppie and Brandon Hollingsworth.