Lewis-Clark State’s Ikaika Lester has been named the Region I Baseball Player of the Week for his performance in three games against Oregon Tech last weekend. The versatile senior from Hawaii, went 4-for-9 in the three games with two home runs, six RBI and four runs scored.

Lester provided the late-game heroics in the first game of a double header Saturday hitting a walk-off home run that gave the Warriors a 2-1 win. He then hit a grand-slam home run in the second game on his way to a 3 for 3 day at the plate with three runs scored and 5 RBI.

Lester is now eligible for NAIA National Player of the Week honors, which will be announced on Wednesday.

After winning tax concessions from the Idaho Legislature, French-owned energy services company Areva Inc. says it will build a $2 billion uranium enrichment facility near Idaho Falls.

The plant will be built on a site near the Idaho National Laboratory.

A late-session push in the Legislature to extend a sales tax exemption for production equipment that handles nuclear fuel and to cap property tax valuations at the plant to $400 million helped convince the company to select Idaho over sites in Washington, Ohio, Texas and New Mexico.

Areva plans to add the new plant by 2014 to help compensate for a U.S. nuclear fuel supply that could shrink, as a program in which Russia has been converting weapons-grade uranium to low-enriched uranium and selling it to an Areva rival expires in 2013.

Before the plant is built, Areva still must get approval from local, state and national agencies, including a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to construct and operate the facility.

The NRC took applications to build seven new commercial U.S. nuclear reactors last year, with 25 more licensing requests expected through 2009. As interest in nuclear power grows, there are two other uranium enrichment plants being built in the United States, one in southeastern New Mexico and another in Piketon, Ohio.

(AP)

Asotin County commissioners have approved hiring a part-time public defender to help ease the case load of the two current public attorneys.

Public defender Jane Richards, who also has a contract in district court, wrote a request for funds from the state Office of Public Defense to get the ball rolling on additional help for her and fellow public defender Gary Carpenter.

The position, expected to be advertised this month, will be funded with approximately $31,000 in state funds earmarked to expand public-defense services.

Former Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne has not complied with a 2-year-old directive from the state attorney general’s office to make his gubernatorial records public.

His attorney, Michael Bogert, says the records hadn’t been vetted because there hasn’t been enough time, given Kempthorne’s quick transition from Idaho’s chief executive to U.S. Interior Secretary in May 2006.

The dozens of boxes of documents from Kempthorne’s seven years in office are being held by the Department of Administration with access given only with Kempthorne’s approval.

Controversy over the records started shortly after Kempthorne resigned as governor. He tried to give the records to the University of Idaho, from which he graduated, and have them sealed for 25 years – he dropped that plan after the attorney general’s office told him it was illegal. Kempthorne, a Republican who served one term as a U.S. senator from Idaho, had his Senate records sealed for 25 years, as allowed by federal law.

A spokesperson with the Idaho Historical Society says the society has requested the records - Bogert says the society has not.

The AG’s office says the society must make a formal request for the attorney general’s office to sue to recover the records. The society’s executive director says there are no plans to sue to get the documents, but plans to talk to the Department of Administration about the documents.

(Idaho Statesman & AP)

The Nez Perce Tribe has started a bus service connecting Lewiston to Kooskia and other areas to help workers get to the Clearwater River Casino, the tribe’s headquarters in Lapwai, and jobs in Lewiston.

Officials say the so-called “Appaloosa Express” will serve both tribal and non-tribal members. They began running Monday from Lewiston to Lapwai, Orofino to Lapwai, and from Orofino to Kooskia.

A monthly pass to ride the bus costs $20. People 55 and older can get a discounted pass for $15 a month.

The tribe received $250,000 from a tribal transit program started by the Federal Transit Administration.

Two University of Idaho athletic teams have been forced to surrender several athletic scholarships after the NCAA found the programs to be in violation of meeting minimum academic progress requirements. Under the NCAA’s decision, the Vandal football team has lost eight scholarships for the 2008-2009 season because of the dismissal of seven players who were in violation of either university policy or state law. Another five football players left because of personal matters or academics; and one player decided not to return to the team because of a chronic injury. The men’s basketball team lost one scholarship, because a player transferred to another school when he was academically ineligible to play at the U of I. The NCAA rejected the university’s appeal on the scholarship losses. Idaho Athletic Director Rob Spear says the NCAA’s actions were not a surprise to the athletic department and that steps are being taken to ensure the academic success of student-athletes. Steps include: a closer working relationship between the registrar’s office and the athletic department for earlier identification of any potential academic challenges and to develop solutions for student-athletes; enhancing the academic support services staff; renovating and doubling the size of computer labs within the athletic department; and improving the lines of communication between the coaching staff, academic support staff and the registrar’s office.

A Lewiston girl has died from her injuries suffered in Monday night’s hit-and-run accident, and the suspect in the case has been arrested.

According to the Lewiston Police Department, Sydney Byrd, 8, and Gregory Engel, 54, were both hit by a white van that drove into their apartment complex driveway at a high rate of speed at around 7:40 p.m. The vehicle left the scene through an alleyway without stopping.

Byrd and Engel were both taken to St, Joseph Regional Medical Center with serious injuries – Byrd died of extensive head injuries.

Police located the van in Clarkston and identified the driver as James Schuetze, 45. He was arrested on charges of driving while intoxicated, driving on a suspended license, and felony leaving the scene of an accident.

The investigation has been referred to the Nez Perce County Prosecutor’s Office for review and more charges are possible.

Statistics compiled by AAA Idaho shows pump prices reached an average of $3.53 per gallon, a new state record for self-serve regular.

That’s up 22 cents in the last month and is 43 cents more than a year ago.

The Idaho record follows the setting of a new national benchmark last week, when the nationwide average reached $3.63 a gallon. Washington’s average price hit a record high last Friday of $3.74 a gallon.

Historically, gasoline prices peak around Memorial Day, considered the start of the summer driving season, then begin to fall off.

(AP)