NW briefs

Washington to extend some long-term jobless benefits

OLYMPIA - A worsening unemployment rate in Washington state is leading to extended unemployment benefits for some.

The state's Employment Security Department said Monday the state's three-month unemployment rate average has risen back to 7 percent. That means some additional federally funded emergency unemployment compensation will restart Sunday, extending benefits for nine weeks.

Jobless workers in Washington can currently claim up to 54 weeks of unemployment benefits. They had been able to get 63 weeks of benefits until last summer, when the three-month average unemployment rate fell below 7 percent.

Utility sues to limit wind power purchases

EUGENE, Ore. - Eugene's public power utility is awash in electricity and is suing to limit the amount of power it must buy from a Columbia River wind project.

The Eugene Water & Electric Board signed a contract a decade ago to buy power from the Stateline Wind Project, which operates hundreds of turbines in eastern Oregon and Washington. The contract runs through 2026.

The Register-Guard reported the utility filed suit last month in Lane County Circuit Court against a branch of J.P. Morgan that now owns the contract.

The utility has more energy than it needs to supply its 86,000 customers in a slack economy, so it sells excess power, sometimes at a loss.

Freezing weather ahead for Washington

SEATTLE - Forecasters say Washington is going into the deep freeze.

A cold front moving through the state Monday is expected to plunge low temperatures below freezing for the rest of the week.

The National Weather Service said the front is causing snow in parts of the western Washington lowlands Monday, but accumulations are expected to be 2 inches or less, mostly on hills away from water.

Forecasters predict high temperatures in western Washington this week will barely break the freezing mark and lows will range between15 and 25.

In eastern Washington, forecasters expect highs this week in the 20s with lows dropping into single digits.

Idaho Power gets OK for emission control at Wyoming coal plant

BOISE - Idaho Power Co. can spend tens of millions to clean up its Wyoming coal-fired power plant and expect ratepayers to cover the project's cost, but regulators want quarterly updates on whether these emission-control investments continue to make sense as federal environmental rules change.

Announced Monday by the Idaho Public Utilities Commission, the decision aims to ensure Idaho's biggest utility isn't locked into the estimated $130 million project if alternatives to coal emerge as better for ratepayers. Provided Idaho Power acts in good faith, PUC spokesman Gene Fadness said the utility would be allowed to recover costs from ratepayers, even if upgrades were abandoned.

Former Idaho aquarium chief gets prison time

KEY WEST, Fla. - The president of an Idaho aquarium convicted in the illegal shipping of protected sharks and rays from Florida has been sentenced to a year and a day in prison.

A federal judge in Key West on Monday imposed the sentence on 40-year-old Ammon Covino, president of Idaho Aquarium in Boise and co-founder of Portland Aquarium in Oregon. Covino is also barred during two years of probation from working in a wildlife exhibit. Court documents show Covino admitted involvement in illegally obtaining and shipping three spotted eagle rays and two lemon sharks for the Idaho Aquarium.

King County narrows limits

for holding immigrants in jail

SEATTLE - The King County council approved a measure that narrows the standards needed to hold immigrants in county jails at the request of federal immigration authorities.

The measure spearheaded by county councilmember Larry Gossett was approved on a 5-4 vote on Monday.

The so-called detainers are administrative holds on people who may be illegally in the country. The proposal says King County would honor a detainer if the person was in jail for a violent or serious crime, such as assaults, rape, robbery and other felonies.

Search continues for missing plane

BOISE - A search in the central Idaho backcountry for five people in a small plane that disappeared Sunday has been complicated by heavy snow and low visibility.

The Idaho Statesman said the state Transportation Department reported the search was halted Monday evening but was to resume at daybreak today.

Valley County sheriff's Lt. Dan Smith said earlier that about two dozen search and rescue personnel were combing a mountain ridge near the tiny town of Yellow Pine for a single-engine Beech Bonanza.

The plane carrying five family members was flying from Baker City, Ore., to Butte, Mont. The pilot had reported engine troubles.

Associated Press