NW briefs

Twin Falls County, others

file redistricting lawsuit

BOISE - Twin Falls County and other local governments have filed a lawsuit seeking to dump Idaho's new legislative redistricting plan, arguing its division of 11 counties is unconstitutional.

The Spokesman-Review reported Wednesday that Twin Falls, Kootenai, Owyhee and Teton counties, as well as several cities, signed onto the case in Idaho Supreme Court.

Twin Falls County argues a map that splits it into three separate districts puts voters at an unconstitutional disadvantage.

Meanwhile, Kootenai County opposes a district lumping 5,000 of its residents in with voters who live far to the south, in distant Idaho County.

Idaho convened two redistricting commissions this year.

Now the map that resulted must pass muster with the state's high court justices before voters learn whether these legislative boundaries will remain come May's primary elections.

Spokane man sentenced

for Coeur d'Alene robbery

COEUR d'ALENE - A 40-year-old Spokane man has been sentenced to five years in prison for robbing a Coeur d'Alene bank in January 2010.

The U.S. attorney's office said Michael Richard Kent was sentenced Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge. Kent also was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $3,175 in restitution.

Prosecutors alleged Kent robbed Washington Trust Bank by handing a teller a note demanding bundled cash. The note contained a reference to a gun.

Video footage of the robbery assisted investigators in identifying Kent as the robber. A search of his residence turned up clothing matching items worn by the bank robber.

Kent's most recent sentence will be served while he's also serving a nearly 11-year sentence for two Spokane bank robberies in December 2009.

Grand jury indicts man

for hunting accident

SALEM, Ore. - A Marion County grand jury indicted a bear hunter Monday on a criminally negligent homicide charge in the shooting death of a hiker near Silver Creek Falls State Park.

If convicted, 67-year-old Eugene Irvin Collier of Turner could be sentenced to 10 years in prison.

KVAL reported Collier was hunting with his 12-year-old grandson on Oct. 25 when Collier mistook the hiker for a bear and shot Christopher Ochoa. The 20-year-old from French Camp, Calif., was a Marine reservist who was due to report for active duty later the same day.

Montana man busted with

23 pounds of pot in Idaho

AMERICAN FALLS, Idaho - The Idaho State Police said a 29-year-old Montana man is charged with trafficking marijuana after being stopped in Idaho with 23 pounds of the drug with a street value estimated at $115,000.

ISP officials said Philip E. Grossi of Bozeman was pulled over for a traffic violation on Interstate 86 near American Falls shortly before 11 a.m. Tuesday. The trooper found the marijuana and $1,000 in cash while searching Grossi's sport utility vehicle.

Lt. Ismael Gonzales said Grossi told the officer he had been to California and was returning to Montana.

Grossi also is charged with felony possession of marijuana and possession of paraphernalia and jailed in Power County. He was expected to make an initial court appearance Wednesday.

U.S. attorney: Only flagrant pot shops targeted in western Washington

SEATTLE - Following the biggest raid on pot dispensaries since voters approved the state's medical marijuana law in 1998, Seattle U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan said Wednesday her office doesn't have the ability or inclination to shut down every dispensary in western Washington - but authorities won't turn a blind eye to flagrant violations, either.

"Some people have said the law's confusing," Durkan said. "There's nothing confusing about the illegal conduct they were doing. Everyone knows you can't sell pounds of marijuana out the back door to someone who's not sick. You can't sell Oxycontin pills."

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration raided 10 storefront dispensaries Tuesday, including several in Seattle, where law enforcement officials have taken a lenient view of medical marijuana grows and dispensaries. Search warrant affidavits suggested the shops were fronts for illicit drug dealing and revealed that agents were looking for evidence of drug conspiracies, money laundering and guns.

The DEA also helped coordinate raids by the Thurston and Pierce county sheriffs' offices on nine other dispensaries in their counties. Seventeen people were arrested in Thurston County and booked for investigation of marijuana possession with intent to distribute.

Some marijuana activists rallied at the federal building in downtown Seattle to protest the raids, but others found them - especially the federal ones - hard to argue. Seattle medical marijuana attorney Douglas Hiatt said that while he advocates legalization and believes the raids were a waste of resources, some dispensaries have flouted the rules.

From wire service reports