Shortfall will delay Health and Welfare Medicaid payments

TWIN FALLS - Senior centers across Idaho are being notified that their Medicaid payments for home meal delivery will be suspended for the last three weeks in June, and resume again when the new fiscal year begins in July.

The Department of Health and Welfare has also notified physicians, hospitals and nursing homes that their Medicaid payments will be delayed because of a $20 million shortfall in state funding this fiscal year.

The Twin Falls Senior Center delivers seven meals each week to 22 homebound people with the help of $5.23 per meal in Medicaid funding, The Times-News reported.

Phillip Kottraba is director of the Twin Falls Senior Center. He said Medicaid's payments amount to $115 each day. He said the center will continue with meal deliveries and will just have to find another way to pay.

Boeing delivers 108 jetliners

in first quarter of 2010

SEATTLE - Boeing Co. said it delivered 108 commercial jets in the first quarter of 2010.

The number announced Thursday is down from 121 jets in the first quarter of 2009 and 122 for the fourth quarter of last year.

Boeing Commercial Airplanes spokesman Jim Proulx said that's due to normal variation and customer needs. He also pointed out that Boeing stopped delivering 747s late last year, as it starts building the new and larger 747-8. The 747-8 is undergoing flight tests, with the first to be delivered to Cargolux late this year.

Chicago-based Boeing said it expects to deliver 460 to 465 commercial jets this year, compared with 481 in 2009.

Several airlines add more flights

from Idaho Falls airport

IDAHO FALLS - Allegiant Air, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines have announced additional service to Idaho Falls International Airport.

Allegiant announced Wednesday it will be offering two nonstop flights per week from Idaho Falls to Los Angeles International Airport, beginning June 3. The flights will operate Thursdays and Sundays.

On Tuesday, Delta Air Lines added a fifth flight from Idaho Falls to Salt Lake City. The flight is scheduled to depart from Idaho Falls Regional Airport at 6:10 p.m. every day but Tuesday and Saturday. Delta plans a sixth, seasonal evening flight from Idaho Falls to Salt Lake City, beginning on June 10.

United Airlines plans to add a third flight to Denver on May 2.

Would-be burglars are busted

when homeowner calls police

IDAHO FALLS - Idaho Falls police caught three would-be burglars in the act after the owner of the home they broke into called 911 from the basement closet where she was hiding.

Sgt. Phil Grimes said 18-year-old Paul Navarrete and 19-year-old Henry Villegas, both of Idaho Falls, and 22-year-old Tieler Jay of Rigby were arrested and face a burglary charge.

Police said the woman heard someone forcing open the back door of her house, hid in a basement closet and called police at about 12:15 a.m. Wednesday.

Suspect in Rexburg bank robbery waives extradition

REXBURG, Idaho - The suspect in the January robbery of Zions First National Bank in Rexburg is back in Idaho after waiving extradition from Montana.

Rexburg police said 32-year-old John Holland Green of Livingston, Mont., was escorted to Rexburg on Wednesday by two city officers. His bail was set at $200,000 and he was expected to make his first court appearance Thursday.

Police said evidence from the bank robbery that was seized in Montana was also brought back to Rexburg.

Green is also a suspect in the January robbery of a credit union in Belgrade, Mont., and an apparent attempt to rob a bank in Bozeman, Mont., on March 15. He was arrested in Bozeman on March 26.

Kennewick man is convicted

of raping disabled girl

KENNEWICK - A 57-year-old Kennewick man was convicted of having sex with a teenage girl with developmental disabilities, which give her a mental age of 6 or 7.

The Tri-City Herald reported the Benton County Superior Court jury returned the verdict on the second-degree rape charge Wednesday against Roosevelt Miller. Sentencing is set for April 29.

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