Idaho

(AP) --- A woman sentenced to life in an Idaho prison for murdering her two youngest children and another woman has pleaded not guilty to charges in Arizona of conspiring to kill her estranged husband and her niece’s ex-husband.

Lori Vallow Daybell, dressed in an orange jail uniform, stated her name and birthdate when a judge asked her to do so during a five-minute arraignment hearing Thursday in state court in Phoenix. Her trial is scheduled for April 4.

After the hearing, Keith Terry, Vallow Daybell’s attorney, declined a request to comment on his client’s behalf.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Attorneys for a man accused of stabbing four University of Idaho students to death late last year want cameras banned from the courtroom, contending that news coverage of the criminal proceedings has violated a judge’s orders and threatens his right to a fair trial.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The fatal stabbings of four students at the University of Idaho shook the college town of Moscow, a small community nestled in the rolling agricultural hills of the Palouse region that hadn’t seen a murder for five years.

The Nov. 13 slayings seemed to mystify police, adding to the tension in town as the weeks went by without a break in the case. Then on Friday a suspect was arrested more than 2,500 miles (4,000 kilometers) away in Pennsylvania.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho Gov. Brad Little on Tuesday called a special session of the Legislature beginning Sept. 1 to use the state’s projected $2 billion budget surplus for a record $500 million income tax rebate this year to help residents deal with increased food and gas prices due to inflation.

The Republican governor also proposed an ongoing tax cut of more than $150 million annually by creating a corporate and individual flat tax rate of 5.8% starting next year. The first $2,500 of income for individuals and $5,000 for those filing jointly would be exempt from taxes.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — U.S. officials are testing a new wildfire retardant after two decades of buying millions of gallons annually from one supplier, but watchdogs say the expensive strategy is overly fixated on aerial attacks at the expense of hiring more fire-line digging ground crews.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Republican Gov. Brad Little is fighting back a primary challenge on Tuesday from his lieutenant governor, Janice McGeachin, a Donald Trump-backed candidate who twice attempted a power grab last year when Little was out of state on business.

The intraparty contest between Little and McGeachin is an extreme example of the choice GOP voters face nationwide as Idaho’s ascendant far-right tries to take the state’s highest post and expand legislative gains.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Police say they exchanged gunfire with a suspect during a shooting at a shopping mall in Boise, Idaho, that killed two people and injured four -- including an officer.

Boise Police Chief Ryan Lee said at a news conference the shooting was reported about 1:50 p.m. on Monday — as well as a report that one person was “shot and down” at that time.

When the officers arrived, they spotted someone who matched the description of the suspect.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — In another ominous sign about the spread of the delta variant, Idaho public health leaders on Thursday expanded health care rationing statewide and individual hospital systems in Alaska and Montana have enacted similar crisis standards amid a spike in the number of unvaccinated COVID-19 patients requiring hospitalization.

The decisions marked an escalation of the pandemic in several Western states struggling to convince skeptical people to get vaccinated.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The intensive care rooms at St. Luke’s Boise Medical Center are full, each a blinking jungle of tubes, wires and mechanical breathing machines. The patients nestled inside are a lot alike: All unvaccinated, mostly middle-aged, paralyzed and sedated, reliant on life support and locked in a silent struggle against COVID-19.

But watch for a moment, and glimpses of who they were before the coronavirus become clear.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A sixth-grade girl brought a gun to her Idaho middle school, shot and wounded two students and a custodian and then was disarmed by a teacher Thursday, authorities said.

The three victims were shot in their limbs and expected to survive, officials said at a news conference. Jefferson County Sheriff Steve Anderson says the girl pulled a handgun from her backpack and fired multiple rounds inside and outside Rigby Middle School in the small city of Rigby, about 95 miles (145 kilometers) southwest of Yellowstone National Park.