Take out your T-shirts and shorts. The season’s first surge of 80-degree weather is set to spread across the Inland Northwest starting Friday and sticking around through this weekend. High temperatures are projected to reach 81 degrees in Spokane by Saturday and into the upper 80s in places such as Yakima, Wenatchee and Lewiston-Clarkston. The Tri-Cities may hit 90. What’s more, Mother’s Day on Sunday is expected to bear gifts of equally warm temperatures, along with ample sunshine. The beginning of this week was marked with showers, wind gusts and...

“Your conduct would be the Webster’s definition of a predator,” the judge said. Man 'purposely' trying to spread HIV through sex with men and teenage boys sentenced to 30 years A 34-year-old Idaho man has been imprisoned for at least 30 years after "purposely" trying to spread HIV through sexual contact with both men and teenage boys, prosecutors say. This investigation began in August 2023 as a child enticement case, according to the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office in Idaho, when Alexander Louie initially began an online sexual conversation with who...

Prosecutors said the now convicted 34-year-old had sexual contact with men and teen boys in hopes to transfer HIV to them. Alexander Louie, 34, was sentenced for a felony charge of transferring body fluids containing the HIV virus and felony sexual battery with a minor and child enticement. He will be eligible for parole after 16 years. The Honorable Ada County District Judge Derrick O’Neill sentenced Mr. Louie last week, according to the Ada County Prosecutor’s office. “Your conduct would be the Webster’s definition of a predator,” said Judge O’Neill...

Prosecutors in Idaho have declined to bring charges against an 18-year-old high school student who confessed to yelling a racial slur at members of the University of Utah women’s basketball team earlier this year. Authorities found “insufficient evidence to establish probable cause” that Anthony Myers had specifically intended to harass the Utes, they said in a charging document dated May 3. “[O]n the contrary,” they continued, “the sum of the evidence supports that Mr. Myers’ intent was to be funny.” The incident occurred during the team’s stay at an Idaho...

A 72-year-old Nampa man who was charged with felony battery of a police officer dodged court after being arrested alongside far-right activist Ammon Bundy three years ago. After being convicted in 2022 and finally being sentenced in 2024, Casey Baker can go back to avoiding the Ada County Courthouse — a judge gave him time served, with no fines, restitution or court costs. Baker’s charges dated to March 2021, when he was arrested outside the courthouse and charged with felony battery on a law enforcement officer, which carries a maximum...

A 50-year-old man has been charged with several felonies — including involuntary manslaughter — after the Boise Police Department said he provided a woman with drugs, and she overdosed. In February, Boise officers responded to the 6700 block of West Fairview Avenue to assist first responders with a call regarding two people who were found unresponsive in the West Boise home, according to a police news release. There was evidence of drug use, including “drug paraphernalia and baggies of suspected narcotics,” police said. The woman died at the home from...

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho — More than a month after members of the University of Utah women's basketball team were subjected to racial epithets shouted their way en route to a team dinner, Coeur d'Alene prosecutors have declined to charge an 18-year-old high school student who confessed to the incident. Prosecutors for the city said the Post Falls High student admitted to police after a three-week investigation that he shouted the N-word and a specific sex act toward members of the team and traveling party who are Black. The student told...

BOISE, Idaho — Prosecutors in Idaho say they won't bring charges against a man who was accused of shouting a racial slur at players on the University of Utah women's basketball team. The incident outside the team's hotel during the NCAA women's basketball tournament in March drew national headlines as it also occurred in a region long associated with white supremacist groups. The harassment first surfaced during a tournament press conference where University of Utah Women's Head Coach Lynne Rogers said men in pickups revving their engines shouted the N-word...

POCATELLO, Idaho — A man charged with rape, kidnapping and production of child porn has reached a plea agreement. Kadyn Leo Swainston, 18, pleaded guilty to rape at a hearing Monday, court records show. In exchange, one felony for second-degree kidnapping and three felonies for producing child pornography were dismissed. As part of the plea deal, the prosecutor has agreed to recommend the judge suspend a prison sentence in favor of sentencing Swainston to probation, documents show. The agreement is binding, meaning the judge can choose to reject the agreement...

Coeur d’Alene city attorneys have declined to charge an 18-year-old suspected of yelling intimidating racial slurs at the University of Utah women’s basketball team that marred their experience playing in March Madness in Spokane. Prosecutors said the suspect, a high-school student, admitted he yelled racial and sexual epithets at the players with the desire to be “funny,” according to a written decision released Monday afternoon by Chief Deputy City Attorney Ryan Hunter.