Here is the latest Idaho news from The Associated Press at 9:40 p.m. MST


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BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Documents show the U.S. Forest Service allowing a Canadian company to write a key environmental report on its proposed open-pit gold mines in central Idaho after the Trump administration became involved. The documents obtained by conservation group Earthworks show British Columbia-based Midas Gold's lobbying efforts after initial rebuffs from the Forest Service. The report involves the potential effect on salmon protected under the Endangered Species Act. The report could sink the project if it results in restoration work making the mines economically unfeasible. Midas Gold says it's normal for a company to write such a report and makes the process more inclusive and transparent.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The Idaho Press Club and four Boise-area journalists have won a lawsuit they filed against Ada County officials under Idaho Public Records Act. In Friday's ruling, 4th District Judge Deborah Bail said the county's approach to the public records requests it had received from the journalists was so far removed from the requirements of the state law that it was as though the county were doing the opposite of what the Idaho Public Records Act required. She ordered the county to turn over the documents and pay the reporters' attorneys fees.

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The presidents of Idaho's four-year state universities and college have announced a tuition freeze for in-state students during the upcoming school year. It's the first statewide tuition freeze in 43 years. The move means the University of Idaho, Boise State University, Idaho State University and Lewis-Clark State College are all giving up potential revenue at a time when they are also being asked to cut budgets. Idaho State Board of Education President Debbie Critchfield says the freeze will help preserve access and affordability for Idaho students.

SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAINS, Calif. (AP) — Climate change and decades of lax land management practices have put the U.S. West on a collision course with out-of-control wildfires. Now authorities are rushing to limit the potential damage. Among the most important tools against fires is to thin trees and brush to reduce the amount of vegetation that would become fuel in a fire, and using controlled burns to keep undergrowth and shrub lands in check. Those efforts can be undercut if private landowners don’t cooperate. Wildfires killed 149 people and destroyed almost 25,000 homes across California in the past three years.

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