Idaho

Harmon Killebrew, a Hall of Fame slugger who became one of baseball's premier home-run hitters with the Minnesota Twins, has died. He was 74. Killebrew died Tuesday of cancer at his home in Scottsdale, Ariz., the Twins announced. He said in December that he was undergoing treatment for esophageal cancer and last week said he had entered hospice care. He hit 573 home runs during 22 seasons with the Washington Senators, Twins and Kansas City Royals, including eight seasons in which he hit at least 40 home runs.

Five people died in a northern Idaho town early Saturday when a fire destroyed their home. “It appears they were taken by the smoke as they slept,” Orofino Fire Chief Mike Lee said. Firefighters found the bodies of two adults and three teenagers in the aftermath of the blaze. The fire began at 1:38 a.m. and was traced to an overloaded extension cord, Lee said. The older, two-story home sat in the middle of the small city of 3,200, about 250 miles north of Boise. Investigators said the home didn't appear to have smoke detectors.

In southeast Idaho, the Blue Heron Inn offers stunning views of the Snake River and a gourmet breakfast. Innkeepers Dave and Claudia Klingler can suggest many nearby activities. Seven rooms, from $109. Blue Heron Inn, 706 N. Yellowstone Highway, Rigby; (208) 745-9922, http://www.idahoblueheron.com Judi Hills Valencia

Authorities in a rural Idaho county are working to determine who is behind a plague of dead dogs that has struck the area, many of them apparently killed deliberately. Since November, about 30 dogs have gone missing from the Twin Falls and Jerome County region, about 125 miles southeast of Boise. This week, four dogs that had been beaten and shot in the head were found dumped off the side of a roadway south of Twin Falls, officials with the Twin Falls County Sheriff's Office told Reuters . “We didn't know until today how they had died: poisoned or shot or what,” Deputy Gary Trostel said about the four German shepherd mixes.

So, Idaho has brought suit against the Department of Interior for its plan to place 25 grizzly bears in government-owned but uncontrolled land in east-central Idaho and western Montana (Jan. 22). Perhaps the people of Idaho, like me, are a bit old-fashioned. I am opposed to any increase in the number of rattlesnakes, mosquitoes, skunks, house flies and grizzly bears in my environment, even though their species may be dwindling in number. LAWRENCE U. GRAY La Verne

Walt Minnick, the new Democratic congressman from Idaho, doesn't think much of President Obama's economic recovery plan. "I think it's a horrible idea to try to appropriate large sums of taxpayer dollars to programs that have never been debated or authorized," Minnick wrote recently. Obama staked his presidency on the sprawling legislative package, and the administration fought hard for its passage. But if anyone at the White House was unhappy with Minnick for his opposition, they never let on.

Idaho running back Joel Thomas will sit out the entire season because of a dislocated right knee which occurred during Saturday's 14-10 loss to Air Force.

Idaho doesn't have skateboards? Not the typical errancy one would expect from The Times. Idaho has skateboards! So many in fact, a Coeur D'Alene city ordinance prohibits skateboarding on downtown sidewalks. Next time Lamb visits Duane Hagadones' office, I suggest that he turn his chair around and look out the western window. There, three seasons out of the year, he would see kids in the park skateboarding. GLENN HAP FEHRMANN Coeur D'Alene, Idaho

With four gray wolves having been killed in Idaho since Sept. 1, a federal judge has cleared the way for legal hunting of the once-endangered predators to proceed. U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy in Montana found that there would be no irreparable harm if the limited hunt in that state and Idaho were allowed to go forward. But the judge also wrote that the Fish and Wildlife Service, in continuing to list Wyoming wolves under the Endangered Species Act while delisting them in the two neighboring states, "has distinguished a natural population of wolves based on a political line, not the best available science."

Idaho fired football Coach Robb Akey with the team 1-7 and coming off a blowout loss. The school announced the move Sunday and promoted offensive coordinator Jason Gesser to interim coach. Gesser, a former Washington State quarterback, has been on the Idaho staff for two seasons. Akey was 20-50 at Idaho since taking over in 2007. He had one winning season with the Vandals, going 8-5 in 2009 and beating Bowling Green, 43-42, in the Humanitarian Bowl. Idaho lost, 70-28, to Louisiana Tech on Saturday and gave up 839 yards.

SEATTLE - A federal judge has struck down an Idaho law prohibiting abortions after 20 weeks, ruling that the so-called fetal pain law violates U.S. Supreme Court prohibitions against unduly impeding a woman's ability to seek an abortion before her fetus is able to live outside the womb. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill in Boise declared the 2011 law -- similar to limits adopted in at least seven other states -- to be unconstitutional in a ruling that took the Idaho Legislature to task for acting against the advice of its own attorney general.

Row Adventures based in Idaho offers an early season discount on Snake River trips that zip through Hells Canyon, North America's deepest river gorge. Whitewater rapids and luxury camping are the calling cards for four- to six-day trips that are on sale for adults and children until Monday. The deal: The sale applies to trips of at least four days on selected Snake River trips this spring and summer. Adults take $200 off the price; children 16 and younger take $200 off four-day trips and $300 off five- and six-day trips.

The Supreme Court refused this week to review the murder conviction of an Idaho man who was prevented by state law from offering an insanity defense. The court's abdication of its responsibility encourages other states to dismantle a central principle of Anglo-American law: that a defendant should not be held criminally responsible when mental illness makes it impossible for him to tell right from wrong. Contrary to what viewers of television courtroom dramas may believe, a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity is seldom asserted and usually unsuccessful.

Idaho fired football Coach Robb Akey with the team 1-7 and coming off a blowout loss. The school announced the move Sunday and promoted offensive coordinator Jason Gesser to interim coach. Gesser, a former Washington State quarterback, has been on the Idaho staff for two seasons. Akey was 20-50 at Idaho since taking over in 2007. He had one winning season with the Vandals, going 8-5 in 2009 and beating Bowling Green, 43-42, in the Humanitarian Bowl. Idaho lost, 70-28, to Louisiana Tech on Saturday and gave up 839 yards.

Idaho State football Coach Mike Kramer is being investigated by police and the university for allegedly shoving a player to the ground two weeks ago in an incident caught on video. The university and the Pocatello Police Department on Wednesday separately confirmed investigations. ESPN first reported the incident. Senior wide receiver Derek Graves lodged a complaint with police on Sunday that he was pushed by Kramer during an Oct. 3 practice. Don Jackson , Graves' attorney in Montgomery, Ala., said Graves has suffered from neck and back spasms since the incident.

The death toll from an outbreak of a rare form of fungal meningitis has risen to 14, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. Further, the first Western state has reported a case. In a posting on its website, the CDC said 170 cases -- including 14 deaths -- have now been reported across the  country. The agency said 11 states now have cases and that Idaho, the first Western state, has been added to the list. Other states that have reported cases are Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia.

When President Bush signed the omnibus spending bill, he granted a reprieve to some contested hunting and fishing lodges on Idaho's Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness. A U.S. District Court in Montana had ruled four years ago that the U.S. Forest Service should shutter the privately run Stub Creek, Arctic Creek and Smith Gulch lodges on a stretch of the Salmon River designated "wild" in 1980.

The nation's largest neo-Nazi skinhead group, Hammerskin Nation, has released posters in Idaho announcing a major white power music festival next month near Boise -- prompting statements of alarm in a state that has long fought its image as a magnet for white supremacists. At least half a dozen phone calls and emails from concerned citizens have come in to the Boise mayor's office, spokesman Adam Park said, but so far city administrators have no official details about the event, billed as Hammerfest 2012.

at Air Force 49, Idaho State 21: Cody Getz ran for 218 yards and three touchdowns, Connor Dietz rushed for 74 and a score and had 142 yards passing, and the Falcons tuned up for next week's matchup against Michigan by cruising past the Bengals. Jon Lee and Mike DeWitt also had touchdown runs for the Falcons, who ran for 490 yards and had 628 yards of total offense. Kevin Yost was 41 of 52 for 355 yards passing and two touchdowns, and Josh Hill had 55 yards receiving and two scores for the Bengals.