Drone flights force grounding of firefighting aircraft
BIG SKY, Mont. — Authorities say unauthorized drone flights over a Montana wildfire prevented firefighting aircraft from being used against the blaze burning in rugged terrain south of Big Sky.
Custer Gallatin National Forest officials said the fire in the drainage for Upper Taylor Fork creek grew to more than 70 acres by Wednesday.
Drones over the area forced officials to ground aircraft for safety twice since the fire was first reported Monday afternoon, forest spokesperson Marna Daley said.
The lack of air support meant crews on the ground had to take a less direct approach to suppressing the fire, which allowed it to grow.
About 40 personnel were working on the fire with more due to arrive.
Freedom Foundation challenge to mask mandate dismissed
PORTLAND, Ore. — The Oregon Court of Appeals on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit challenging Gov. Kate Brown’s initial mask mandate, saying the requirements have been revised so many times the issue is moot.
The conservative Freedom Foundation asked the Oregon Court of Appeals in July 2020 to temporarily invalidate masking rules as the court delved further into the legalities of the order.
The group alleged that Brown and the Oregon Health Authority didn’t follow legal procedures in mandating masks in all public indoor spaces and outdoors when 6 feet of physical distancing can’t be maintained.
The Oregon Health Authority maintained that mandate stemmed from an executive order by Brown and wasn’t subject to review as an administrative rule by the Oregon Court of Appeals.
While the appeals court didn’t necessarily buy that argument, it didn’t matter. The 2020 mask order has since been superseded.
“In other words, in more ways than one, we no longer inhabit the same world as we did at the time the OHA issued the guidance that petitioners have challenged,” the appeals court wrote. “That means this rule-review proceeding is moot under our case law.”
Student arrested at Frank Church High for bringing loaded weapon to school, police say
BOISE — A student at Frank Church High was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of bringing a loaded gun to school, according to the Boise Police Department.
A school security worker located a firearm in the 18-year-old’s backpack at the high school in Southwest Boise on Wednesday morning and notified school resource officers with Boise Police shortly after 10 a.m., according to a news release.
The Boise student was arrested and taken into custody soon afterward, when it was “discovered the firearm was loaded and had previously been reported stolen,” the release said.
The student was arrested on suspicion of felony grand theft of receiving, possessing or disposing of stolen property. A misdemeanor charge of possessing a weapon on school property is being routed to the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office, according to a spokesperson for BPD, Haley Williams.
Because the firearm was not in the student’s possession when the police resource officers arrived, that misdemeanor charge could not be filed on Wednesday, according to Williams.
The student was booked into the Ada County Jail on Wednesday on the felony charge.
According to a preliminary investigation, police said there is not an “associated threat” to the school or other individuals there.
Suspect jailed after Sunday stabbing at downtown housing facility
SPOKANE — The man suspected of stabbing another man after an argument at a downtown Spokane housing facility remains in jail.
Police responded to the Marilee housing facility, run by Catholic Charities, on Sunday after reports of a stabbing, according to court documents.
Officers found Marcus Lee sitting in a wheelchair and bleeding from his leg, according to court documents. An inch-long stab wound was visible on Lee’s leg and another wound was visible on his hand, according to court documents. Lee refused to provide any information other than his name and was taken to a local hospital, according to police.
Lee’s girlfriend told police that she was in the shower when she heard Lee arguing with Mitchel Ironcloud. When she came out of the bathroom, she saw Ironcloud attacking Lee with a knife, according to court documents. She intervened and the couple backed out of the room, according to court documents.
The suspect, Ironcloud, called 911 and said he stabbed Lee after Lee threw something at him, according to court documents.
When police arrested Ironcloud in the lobby of the building, he screamed “obscenities” at the officers, according to court documents.
Ironcloud was arrested on suspicion of first-degree assault. He remains in Spokane County Jail on a $10,000 bond.
