Tuesday • February 7, 2012 www.magicvalley.com • 75¢
Some Medicaid Clients Sue Idaho over Budget Cuts • A3
CSI Notebook: P Factor Is Giving Fabyon Harris a Boost • S1
New Bill Would Produce Early Graduates
A proposal to help Idaho start on college. Program would save both the much as two years of college students, Thayn said. If a public school students On Monday, the House Edu- state and parents money when it credits under their belts, Thayn student received a D or an F speed through college is cation Committee unanimously comes to funding Idaho higher said — thus the program name, in the program, they advanced legislation to the education. which describes eight years of would have to pay for headed to a House House floor to establish the 8 in The legislation would allow education in six years of school. and pass the next course hearing. 6 Program, in which the state students to take up to one addi- Under the program, the state in order to continue on would cover most of the cost for tional credit per semester and would cover $225 of the cost of track. BY MELISSA DAVLIN extra courses junior high and two summer courses per year, each online class. That covers The program is differ- [email protected] high school students choose to starting in the seventh grade. most of the sum — Thayn cited ent than the dual-credit take online, during the summer, Students could start taking col- class prices of $300 each. provision in the Stu- BOISE • Ambitious Idaho pub- or on top of a full class load. Rep. lege credits during their junior The bill would create a dents Come First ed- lic school students may soon Steve Thayn, R-Emmett, intro- year. By the time they graduate statewide enrollment cap of 10 ucation reform passed have another way to get a head duced the bill, saying the 8 in 6 high school, they could have as percent of Idaho public school Please see BILL, A2
Serious Senior Project BLAINE Jerome High School senior Hayley Niehaus pauses for a photo COUNTY Monday at the school. Niehaus senior project is raising awareness SCHOOLS about inattentive driv- SEE SPIKE ing among teenagers. IN ENGLISH LEARNERS
Schools in an area most commonly associated with old American affluence are adjusting to the challenges of teaching an increasingly diverse student body. BY JULIE WOOTTON [email protected]
HAILEY • In some Blaine County classrooms, students learn in two different languages. Students enrolled in the school district s dual immersion program ASHLEY SMITH • TIMES-NEWS spend about half their school day us- ing English and the other half using Spanish. The program — started more than a decade ago — includes groups of Don t Touch That Phone students in kindergarten through eighth grade. Some students speak English as their native language, while others speak Spanish. A Jerome teen has paired Niehaus wouldn t give a second Niehaus said. “The dual immersion program has with a Jerome County judge thought about sending texts from “I drive with my brother to school Public Screening been really beneficial for our kids to in hopes to keep her peers her cellphone while she drove. Then every day,”she said. “And it hit me, acquire academic English,” said the Jerome High School senior I m in charge of his life and my “It Only Takes a Second: Kathleen Diepenbrock, an English as from reaching to their watched an episode of the ABC friends lives.” An Anatomy of a Vehicu- Please see ENGLISH, A2 cellphone keypads while show “Extreme Makeover: Home Niehaus, 18, has worked for sev- lar Manslaughter,” will be behind the wheel. Edition.” eral months on her senior project to shown in Jerome in April. The show was based around a raise awareness about the dangers When: 7 p.m. April 15 Limited English BY ALISON GENE SMITH home being built for a couple whose of texting while driving. She s Where: St. Jerome s [email protected] daughter died in a car accident as a teamed up with Jerome County 5th Catholic Church, 216 Sec- Proficient Students result of texting while driving. District Magistrate Judge Thomas ond Ave. E., Jerome Here s a list of the 10 south-central JEROME • Not long ago, Hayley Everything changed after that, Please see CELLPHONE, A3 Open to public, no charge Idaho school districts with the largest numbers of LEP students: Blaine County School District • 663 Jerome School District • 658 Cassia County School District • 637 Twin Falls School District • 466 Split Twin Falls Council Minidoka County School District • 430 Wendell School District • 235 Increases Recreation Fees Buhl School District • 207 Shoshone School District • 190 Gooding School District • 141 The council also people living outside of the city Glenns Ferry School District • 106 recommended Monday Also Monday limits. That s up from $15 for that a planned Snake city residents and $25 for those In other business, the from out of town. River Canyon zip line Twin Falls City Council: The council also threw its project proceed. • Voted 6-0 to award Peterson support behind a special-use Brothers Construction nearly permit for the proposed com- IF YOU DO ONE THING TODAY . . . BY KIMBERLEE KRUESI $130,500 for the Oregon Trail mercial zip line in the Snake Lecture me: D.G. Van Curen, presi- [email protected] Youth Complex Restroom River Canyon. project. Twin Falls lawyer John dent of Humanists of Idaho, presents TWIN FALLS • Three mem- • Voted 6-0 on a city code Lezamiz, who lives near the a lecture, “Being Humanist,” 6 p.m. bers of the Twin Falls City amendment to include an ap- canyon s edge, had appealed U.S. Closes at the College of Southern Idaho Council may be new, but that peal process in the Ware- the permit given to Magic Syrian Embassy Fine Arts Recital Hall in Twin Falls. hasn t exempted them from house Historic District guide- Valley Flight Simulation by Free. 420-7066. last year s headaches. lines. the city Planning and Zoning as Diplomacy At Monday night s meeting, Commission. Lezamiz argued THE FORECAST the council approved increas- that the company failed to Falls Apart ing recreation fees that fund the assumption that $15,000 of give proper notice to its city youth sports programs. the department s revenue neighbors and that the proj- Page A5. High 41° The decision wasn t an easy would come from fee increas- ect will cause dangerous traf- Low one, with several members es. However,that council failed fic conditions on Canyon 25° Sunny and Breezy. voicing opposition to the deci- to increase the fees before the Springs Road. Details on page S3. sion. However, the council ul- end of the year. Despite his concerns, the timately approved the higher The council approved the fee council supported the P&Z