at 10. Accurate. Objective. Fair. This is Idaho 2 News, 10 at 10. All the day's news
and weather in the first 10 minutes at 10 o'clock.
But the fact is, we've increased education funding every year I've been governor. That
one line in Governor Dirk Kempthorne's latest political ad is sparking controversy. His
democratic opponent accuses the governor of misleading voters. Good evening everyone,
I'm Linda O'Malley. And I'm Jeff Ray. The governor claims education funding has gone
up every year he's been in office. But his democratic challenger, Jerry Brady, says Kempthorne
has actually cut education. We're live at the state house. Paul Fredericks joins us
to break down the numbers. Paul? Jeff, first we should say Jerry Brady has never seen the
governor's ad, but there were education cuts last year. Kempthorne's camp still claims
more is being spent on Idaho's schools than ever before. Kempthorne touts himself Idaho's
education governor, but some say the governor is misleading voters with this statement.
The fact is, we've increased education funding every year I've been governor. I thought
it was laughable, ridiculous. How can he be the education governor if he cut education?
The candidate for governor, Jerry Brady, claims Kempthorne has cut education. You decide.
In the 2001-2002 school year, lawmakers allocated $933 million in the general fund for K through
12. Facing a budget crunch, Kempthorne called for all state agencies to cut 4% from their
budgets. That cost Idaho schools $23 million. For this school year, $920 million has been
set aside for education. I think it's pretty simple math. You can check with the state
board of education. Kempthorne's campaign manager, Jason LaHosett, says there's much
more to education funding than the general fund. The governor is also including money
from the reserve fund, federal mining fees, tobacco and lottery income taxes, and more.
That totals $985 million this school year. You know, the canceled checks are in the state
controller's office. This is how much money the Department of Education spent. It's a
fraud. It's a fraud. He supported education while it was easy. When the going got tough,
he didn't support education. Brady says it's also ironic Kempthorne filmed his ad in a
Boise Elementary. That's because state funding for the Boise School District is down 12.5%
this year, and state funding makes up half of the school district's budget. Live in Boise,
Paul Fredericks, Idaho 2 News. No, tonight Governor Kempthorne reveals the people who
will serve on his blue-ribbon budget panel. There are 47 names, more than the state senate.
Republican Chuck Winder and retiring Democratic state comptroller, J.D. Williams, will serve
as chairman. They'll be looking for ways to make state government more efficient and determine
if the state's tax structure needs changes. Still no agreement tonight, but the senate
will start debating a resolution authorizing the president to use force against Iraq. And
those discussions could begin next week. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle says the latest
White House proposal on the wording of the resolution is unacceptable. Senate Majority
Leader Trent Lutz says any more erosion of the proposal is going to be, quote, a problem.
130,000 National Guard and Reserve troops have been called up since the September 11th
attacks. It's the largest deployment since Desert Storm and the longest since Vietnam.
With talk of war in Iraq, many families are wondering when their loved ones will come
home. Idaho 2 News reporter Tammy Doty talked with the family today. She joins us live from
Gallon Field with their story. Tammy?
Well, the life of a reservist or National Guard member is very different from someone
who serves full-time with the armed forces. Typically, they have full-time jobs, which
they attend all year round. That is, of course, until they are called in to active duty. That's
when their life drastically changes.
You think this looks like tough work? Casey Ulray is used to loading weapons on an A-10
gun system or missiles. He's an eight-year veteran of the Idaho Air National Guard, and
it's just as much his life as running this glass store.
I've been overseas on three different deployments. And Kuwait was the most recent.
Casey admits preparing to leave is tough for his wife, Tracy, but he has another family
who needs him, too.
We all re-enlist because it's a family out there, and it's just something that we feel
we should do.
If the U.S. does go to war with Iraq, officials say calling in more guardsmen is certain.
It is the call Tracy hopes will never come, yet one she's chosen to embrace.
That's one of the reasons why I married him is because he's never been one to run away
from things. He confronts it head on, and he says, get in there and do the job, and
whatever it takes.
Like all other reservists and guardsmen, it takes leaving a family and daily routine,
not always knowing when they'll return. But many of their loved ones have learned living
without someone like Casey gets much easier once they've learned how to live with him.
If you get all worked up about rumors and events on TV, you could work yourself into
a frenzy and have a nervous breakdown, but you really just have to wait, and when the
time comes, you'll know it.
Now, here's a closer look at the numbers of the 130,000 reserve and National Guard troops
called in since September 11th.
About half are still on active duty. The reserves at 1.25 million troops make up half the nation's
total military force, and one-fourth of the 8,000 troops in Afghanistan are reservists.
Now, the Pentagon has recently cut the number of reserves who are serving, that is, however
officials say, demobilized reserves, I should say, but officials say part of that reason
is so they are available just in case we go to war with Iraq.
We're live at Gowen Field, Tammy Doty, Idaho 2 News.
The Ada County District Attorney's Office says it will not prosecute a security guard
who a woman says sexually assaulted her in an historic state building. Investigators
say the 25-year-old woman admits she'd been drinking heavily the night the guard allegedly
took her into the building, the old assay building, and sexually assaulted her. The
guard worked for Allied Security. He no longer patrols in the Yariyarana State House.
Two more arrest warrants are issued tonight in connection with that recent triple homicide
in Elmore County. Investigators now say they're searching for 35-year-old Simon Lopez Orozco
and his 40-year-old common law wife Maria Garcia. They're accused of helping Orozco's
brother Jorge leave the area just hours after he allegedly murdered his girlfriend and her
two young boys. Tonight investigators are looking into the cause of a deadly plane crash
in Valley County. It happened yesterday about five miles south of Yellow Pine. The pilot
was 41-year-old Alan Coffey of New Mexico. He told his family he was flying to Idaho
for a camping trip. The single-engine Piper Cherokee crashed on the Johnson Creek airfield
and burst into flames. Coffey's passenger and his dog died in the crash. The name of
the passenger is not being released yet. Well, a recent rash of backcountry plane crashes
has state officials concerned. State aviation officials believe part of the problem is because
those out-of-state pilots are flying here and they're just unfamiliar with some of the
backcountry conditions. Hey, you gotta pay attention here. This isn't Alaska. You're
not landing on a glacier in the bottom of V-shaped canyons where there's a lot of problems
with winds and temperature and you gotta be careful. The NTSB reports 33 crashes so far
this year in Idaho and that's almost double the average. No, tonight at 10 crews are finally
ready to go to work on the 8th Street extension. On Monday workers will start grading the road
and widening it in places. Then next month they'll perform a procedure called soil cementing.
The Ada County Highway District had wanted to pave the road, a proposal that sparked
a hot debate in the community. The Bonneville Power Administration has put together a plan
that could save Idaho Power customers money in the years to come. Tonight a public meeting
was held to talk about the new plan aimed at keeping energy plentiful and affordable
in the Northwest, but some conservation groups say the plan could endanger salmon. This
process, the process of allocating BPA power for as long as the next two decades will in
part determine the fate of endangered salmon and steelhead. The reason the future power
would come from dams on the Columbia and Snake Rivers, the migratory routes for salmon and
steelhead. Three men are behind bars tonight in connection with a bank robbery in Nebraska
that left five people dead. It happened in Norfolk at a U.S. bank branch this morning.
People say it's the nation's deadliest bank robbery in at least a decade. Police say the
three men shot and killed four bank employees and a customer. Then they took off on foot,
but were later found in a nearby town. All three have been charged with first degree
murder. Two people are in critical condition tonight. A gunman is dead after an office
shooting in Houston, Texas. Police say Wayne Horowitz was described as a disgruntled employee.
They also say he went into his state office this morning, shot and wounded two coworkers,
then turned the gun on himself. A Washington state foster mother is in a lot of trouble
tonight. Witnesses say they saw her driving with her five-year-old foster daughter hanging
on to the passenger side of the vehicle. The witnesses say the little girl was dragged
about 10 feet before she lost her grip. Tonight the woman is in jail. The child is back home
with her foster mother's partner. Ten to Ten continues with the latest forecast with meteorologist
Scott Noval. He joins us from Weather Center 2002. Good evening, Scott. Good evening, Jeff
and Melinda. We've got a little bit of a change going on in our forecast. Something new tonight.
We'll give you the details in a moment. First of all, a bit of a change here. The pollen
count continues to 113. It is sage and it may be sticking around for at least a little
while. Here's our latest satellite picture. Look at this arc of the clouds right here.
A system that's not being picked up very well by our computer forecast model. So we've got
to look at these satellite pictures and see what we think is going to happen. And I tend
to think that this system is going to dig to the south and kind of stall a little bit
and there's going to be a chance for some of these showers to move down into the valley.
I think maybe just one or two, especially in the morning, then eventually some of that
drier weather to the west is going to head in our direction. So I do believe we will
dry out and get a little sunshine tomorrow, but it may not be until the afternoon and
it will get breezy and cooler as we move through that. A view onto the cloud shows the showers
primarily to the north and the west central mountains will see a couple of showers tomorrow.
Look at your temperatures right now or the highs at least. We did get into the 70s. Tomorrow
is going to be cooler only into the 60s. That's what I'm expecting. Go right to our forecast
and see that we've got breezy conditions forecast for the afternoon. The winds are going to
kick up and I'm a little concerned that we may not reach these high temperatures in the
60s or the mid 60s. It may be around 64 or 65. A lot of clouds around and a little bit
of sunshine in the afternoon. We'll give you the detailed forecast through the coming weekend.
Plus, we're going to wrap up Isidore to find out what's going on with her. All of that
coming up shortly. Jeff, Melinda?
It's really starting to sound like fall. Thanks, Pat.
It is, yeah.
That's 10 at 10.
Still to come on Idaho 2 News at 10, this week's Idaho Gym. Is this man a lottery winner,
a former soccer star, or a race car driver? The answer when we come back.
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Melinda O'Malley, Jeff Ray, meteorologist Scott Dorval's weather, Wayne Dazubat with
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sports and the Treasure Valley most award winning team of journalists. You're watching
Idaho 2 News.
It's time for this week's Idaho Jam, a man who is now living the American dream.
I have only one thing.
Dennis Milkovich is a Bosnian refugee. He enjoys the little things about life in America,
and appreciation gained as a result of surviving the horrors of war.
In that moment when I disappearing, town was city fight, street fighting, and you don't
know who is who, who fighting against who, and you don't know you will be next second
dead or just wounded.
What do you suppose makes Dennis an Idaho gem?
Is he an Idaho lottery winner, a former Bosnian soccer star, or a race car driver?
Here's one more clue.
It's in Dennis' garage.
It isn't a race car.
It's a Ford Mustang, a convertible.
Dennis won it a couple of years ago in the Idaho lottery's Mustang madness drawing.
That's my good luck in the U.S. and I don't like to sell that car, never.
I will keep that my car for next generation.
To Dennis, the car is such a treasure he seldom drives it.
Instead, he drives this, a Dodge Intrepid.
Dennis is a cab driver.
In this job, you are your own boss.
You get the break anytime anyone.
It's been a long, hard road for Dennis and his family.
They used to own a restaurant in Bosnia, but when Dennis got to the United States, he had
to start all over on the bottom rung as a cafeteria dishwasher.
Many people would resent having to do such menial labor, but not Dennis.
He was just happy to be here.
That's the perfect beginning, perfect for a start.
From dishwashing, Dennis got a job as an overnight security guard and then a job at Micron.
Along the way, he learned English and how to invest.
Last year, I made $35,000 only with Micron technology and the day trades.
I call myself minute trader.
I buying and selling in minutes.
Now Dennis doesn't just drive that cab.
He owns the cab company.
U.S. taxi.
His cars are painted red, white and blue to show his gratitude to the United States of
America.
I like to stay here.
I get my citizenship done.
I'm now American citizen and I am so proud to be American citizen.
Sometimes it takes the story of an immigrant to remind us all of just how much opportunity
our country has to offer.
Dennis got the Mustang.
Next text is here to follow.