Northwest briefs

Man charged with murder in toddler's death

MOUNTAIN HOME, Idaho - A Mountain Home airman was charged Thursday with first-degree murder in connection with the beating death of his 22-month-old stepson.

Richard Ryan Laubach, 20, has not yet entered a plea and was being held in the Elmore County Jail without bond. The boy, Joseph Wayne Graham, died Wednesday at St. Luke's Regional Medical Center in Boise from what Ada County Coroner Erwin Sonnenberg said was an abusive head injury.

Elmore County prosecutors say the child had a broken leg, skull fractures, bruises and swelling of the brain.

According to court records, Laubach was charged in September with misdemeanor domestic battery and injury to a child. Police said the victim in that case was the same child that Laubach is now charged with killing.

Mountain Home City Prosecutor Phillip Miller in December dropped the charges from the earlier case after Laubach agreed to complete an anger management program, a parenting program, a family safety seminar and two sessions of marital counseling.

It was not clear whether Laubach had completed the requirements.

Panel hears bill to protect online privacy

HELENA, Mont. - A House committee is considering a measure that would prohibit employers from requesting job applicants' and employees' social media usernames and passwords.

Democratic Sen. Anders Blewett of Great Falls presented the Senate Bill 195 Thursday to the House Business and Labor Committee.

He said nothing in Montana law prevents employers from requesting the "keys to someone's personal information" on social media websites such as Facebook.

Mark Baker, representing the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce, said the measure would hinder a business' ability to conduct investigations of fraud and harassment.

Blewett dismissed that argument, saying employers want to do the jobs of the law enforcement officers in cases of criminal activity.

The measure has passed the Senate and needs the committee's endorsement to move to the full House.

House panel OKs religious student groups bill

BOISE - Leaders of student religious groups at Idaho's public universities may soon have the right to restrict leadership positions to those committed to their faith.

The legislation was approved by the House Education Committee on a party-line vote Thursday.

The bill bars universities from denying official recognition to faith-based organizations that want to require a statement of faith from its leaders.

Boise Republican Sen. Curt McKenzie said the legislation protects religious clubs with national chapters that mandate such oaths.

Boise State University sophomore Nate Jansen - a member of a campus Christian group - said the policy change would enable him to continue practicing his faith without restrictions.

But Idaho ACLU Executive Director Monica Hopkins said the measure creates an unfair exception for religious groups that are funded with student fees.

Delay in lynx recovery plan spurs federal lawsuit

BILLINGS, Mont. - Wildlife advocates have asked a federal court to force the government to come up with a recovery plan for Canada lynx 13 years after the snow-loving wild cats were declared a threatened species.

A lawsuit filed Thursday alleges the long delay by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service violates federal law.

Four environmental groups want the U.S. District Court in Montana to set a date for the agency to adopt a "road map" that would detail what's needed for lynx to recover.

A Fish and Wildlife spokesman declined comment on the lawsuit.

It's unknown how many lynx survive in the U.S. They are rarely seen across a 14-state range.

from wire service reports

that includes portions of the Northeast, the Rocky Mountains, the western Great Lakes and the Cascade Range of Washington and Oregon.

Senators: Cut funding to Singapore company

HELENA, Mont. - Montana's U.S. senators are proposing to block a Singapore technology company's funding until the FBI has seen all the evidence in the death of one of its U.S. employees.

Democratic Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester introduced legislation Thursday that says no U.S. contracts, grants or loans are to go to the Institute of Microelectronics.

The funding would be blocked until the FBI has certified it had access to all records and evidence in Shane Todd's death.

Todd's body was found hanging in his Singapore apartment last June.

His parents say data from Todd's computer files lead them to believe he may have been killed over his research for IME into semiconductor materials with civilian and military applications.

Baucus says IME received nearly $500,000 in 2010 in Defense Department sub-grants.

Rep flubs Rosa Parks reference in exchange debate

BOISE - House Assistant Majority Leader Brent Crane erroneously singled out the U.S. government for criticism by employing a segregation-era hero to help him bash the state-based insurance exchange.

The Idaho Statesman reports the Nampa Republican Wednesday said Rosa Parks' refusal to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Ala., bus came after "one little lady got tired of the federal government telling her what to do."

But Parks wasn't defying the federal government.

She was defying a municipal code.

A day later, Crane acknowledged he might have erred.

Crane, the No. 3 House leader, was active in Wednesday's debate.

He was also admonished by House Speaker Scott Bedke for inappropriate comments to Minority Leader John Rusche of Lewiston jabbing at Democrats' minority status in the Legislature.

Former charter school principal sues

NAMPA, Idaho - The former principal of a southwestern Idaho charter school is suing the school and its board chairman for wrongful dismissal because she says she was fired after reporting that the school was violating attendance lottery rules.

The Idaho Press-Tribune reports former Legacy Charter School principal Monika Gangwer filed the lawsuit earlier this month in Canyon County's 3rd District Court.

Gangwer contends that Rebecca Stallcop, the creator of the Harbor School Method used by the charter school, told her to jump a student ahead on a post-lottery waiting list, so she complained to Legacy Charter Board Chairman Bart McKnight.

She names Stallcop, McKnight and the school in the lawsuit and is asking for past, present and future wages and other damages.

Train kills man who had lain on tracks

TIGARD, Ore. - Tigard police say a commuter train hit a man who is believed to have intentionally lain on the tracks Thursday morning.

Police say the man was 20. His name was not immediately made public.

Police say the WES commuter train had just left the Tigard Transit Center and traveled about two blocks. It happened about 5:40 a.m.

The train service was suspended for the morning.

Man gets life sentences for killing 2 in Portland

PORTLAND - A 40-year-old man who was a transient and registered sex offender has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing a California teenager and a Portland woman who befriended him.

KGW-TV reports that Mark Beebout pleaded guilty last month to aggravated murder and was sentenced Thursday.

One of his victims was 32-year-old Nikayly Powell, found dead in July. She met him through her volunteer work for a homeless shelter and allowed him to move into her apartment before she was killed - sexually abused and strangled with a shoelace.

The other victim was 15-year-old Sophia Cruz Rodriguez of San Diego, who had visited relatives in Vancouver. Her body was found in Washington Park in June but not identified until she was reported as a runaway months later.

Fishing ponds drained to fight invasive species

WHITE CITY, Ore. - Biologists say they're making a last-ditch, experimental attempt to rid two popular Jackson County fishing ponds of invasive snails and plants that likely were dumped by aquarium owners.

The worry is that the species will get into a nearby wildlife area or into the Rogue River. One state worker says the plants can clog fishing waters so badly that it's impossible to cast.

The ponds are at Jackson County Sports Park at White City.

The Medford Mail Tribune reports (http://bit.ly/YbMSYb ) the plan is to drain the ponds, try to pluck the Brazilian elodea plants by hand, and let the Chinese mystery snails dry out and die this summer.

In 2011, the ponds were poisoned with copper sulfate, but invasive species rebounded.

Bipartisan 'dark money' bill reaches Mont. panel

HELENA, Mont. - Bipartisan foes of the so-called dark money behind many political attack ads ran into some opposition Thursday as they try to shepherd a lengthy reform proposal though the Legislature.

Republican state Sen. Jim Peterson and Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock are teaming up on the measure that aims to force more disclosure about third-party money in politics. Their bill had its first hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

State Sen. Art Wittich, of Bozeman, a key GOP Senate leader, used the hearing to criticize the measure as complex and confusing.

Other Republican leaders have derisively referred to the measure as political theatre.

The reform effort comes after some Republicans were attacked in primaries last year as too liberal by anonymous conservative groups.

Others Republicans benefited from the outside money, and the division has spilled over into contentious GOP legislative leadership elections.