PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti  — The new lawyer for 10 American Baptists charged with child kidnapping said Monday he believes they had paperwork to take 33 children out of the country after Haiti's devastating earthquake.

Attorney Aviol Fleurant's remarks came as investigators questioned the Baptist group's leader, Laura Silsby, who insisted she is innocent of any wrongdoing.

"I am trusting in God to reveal all truths and that we will be released and exonerated of charges," Silsby, of Meridian, Idaho, told reporters as she left a courthouse in Port-au-Prince. "We are just waiting for the Haitian legal process to be completed."

The rest of the group's members will be questioned this week over allegations they tried to take the children to the neighboring Dominican Republic without proper documents. The Americans said they were on a humanitarian mission to rescue orphans after Haiti's catastrophic Jan. 12 quake.

Their Dominican lawyer, Jorge Puello, said at a news conference that the Haitian court was going to drop all charges against his clients Wednesday. Puello would not say where that information came from. Last week, he claimed nine of the 10 were about to be released.

"The judge will rule on Wednesday on whether or not to take the case or free them, and we already have assurances that they will drop the case," Puello told The Associated Press.

At least 20 of the 33 children had living parents. Some of those parents told The Associated Press they gave the kids to the group because the missionaries promised to educate them at an orphanage in the Dominican Republic and said they would allow parents to visit.

"Many of the parents who had the opportunity to speak out declared, in good faith, to have given their children to the Americans," Fleurant said.

"I also believe, really believe— and I don't want to break the gag order from the court — that the Americans have a document, from somebody, an authorization to take the children with them."

It wasn't immediately clear who could have given the authorization.

Puello, retained by relatives of the 10 missionaries after their Feb. 1 arrest, said over the weekend that he fired their first Haitian lawyer — Edwin Coq — after Coq allegedly tried to bribe the missionaries out of jail. He had hired Coq to represent the detainees at Haitian legal proceedings.

Coq denied the allegation. He said the $60,000 he requested from the Americans' families was his fee.

Bernard Saint-Vil, the investigating magistrate, is in charge of finding out what happened in late January, in the days leading up to the arrest of Silsby and the others at the Dominican border.

The Dominican consul in Haiti, Carlos Castillo, has said he warned Silsby that she lacked the required papers and risked being arrested at the border for child trafficking.

The case has tapped into fears in Haiti that traffickers would take advantage of the chaos immediately after the quake to abduct children.

Amid those fears — and before the Baptists were detained — Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive announced that all foreign adoptions would need his personal approval.

At the same time, Bellerive has rushed to approve legal foreign adoptions that were already in the pipeline, said Jeanne Bernard Pierre, an adoptions official at the Haitian Ministry of Social Affairs.

Pierre did not have exact statistics. In terms of the United States, more than 650 orphans have gone to live there since the quake — compared to 330 for all of 2009 and 302 in 2008, U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Elizabeth E. Detmeister said.

Until Bellerive speeded up the process, it could take up to two years to complete all the formalities necessary for a foreign adoption, Pierre said.

Every day, prospective parents crowd outside the U.S. Embassy, waiting to apply for visas for the children they want to adopt.

Until last year, France was the country that adopted the most Haitian children, Pierre said. She said French parents adopted nearly half of the 1,000 children taken in by foreigners in 2008. It was the last official figure Pierre could remember; most records are buried in the rubble of government buildings in Port-au-Prince.

Thousands more Haitian children, orphaned and not, leave the country illicitly each year, according to the U.N. Children's Fund. They are forced into domestic or agricultural labor, used as sex slaves, or sold on the clandestine market for adoption.

NAMPA -- One person is in jail and another being sought by Nampa Police for questioning after a fight broke out at a home in the 2300 block of S. Florence around midnight.

Officers responded to a battery report and found that a fight had occurred.  One of the persons involved received non-life threatening injuries that required medical attention.

Ami Lough, 33, was arrested and charged with aggravated battery.  She is being held in the Canyon County Jail without bond pending arraignment. 

Nampa Police are looking for William Terry, 32, who is wanted for questioning about this incident. 

Anyone with information on Terry’s whereabouts is urged to call Crime Stoppers at 343-COPS or Nampa Police at 465-2257.

VANCOUVER, B.C.  -- It's Monday in Vancouver and that means four days until opening ceremonies! The Olympics is the ONLY thing the people around here are talking about and not all of it is positive.

Protesters and their anti-Olympic message are very active so the next couple of weeks are going to be very interesting.

It's warm here! Mildest winter in 81 years making for some headaches at Cypress Mountain, site of the Freestyle skiing and snowboard events. They are having to truck in snow and are using buried pipes packed with dry ice to keep what little snow they have from melting.

We are working out of the new convention building next to the bay in downtown Vancouver. There are over 20 NBC affiliated television stations working here.

All of us share space with NBC networks. Our space is down the hallway from the set that Bob Costas and the other NBC hosts will use to anchor nightly coverage. In the photo you can see the 100-inch HD TV they have on the set. Wow!

Looking forward to our live coverage which begins Tuesday at 10 p.m.

We are meeting today with U.S. Trials Moguls champ Patrick Deneen.  He was on the Silver Mountain Ski Team in Kellogg as a teenager and gives much of the credit for his success to the skiing terrain in Idaho that he grew up on.

Much more tomorrow!

BOISE -- A local brother and sister are splitting a $100,000 lottery prize!

Donald Howell, of Meridian, and Donna Baker, of Boise, got the winning ticket from their mother in Burley as a birthday gift.

The brother and sister duo were in the Idaho Lottery Headquarters in Boise Monday morning to claim and split the Crazy Wild 10’s Scratch Game top prize fifty-fifty – literally, as both won $50,000.

According to the pair, their mother scratched the ticket, saw it was the big winner and sent it to them for early birthday presents this year.

Howell, a teacher in the Meridian School District, plans to use some of his winnings to take his family on vacation later this spring to Hawaii.

Baker, who works for trucking line, plans to use some of her winnings to get a new roof for her house.
 

MERIDIAN -- Support for the detained Idaho missionairies held in Haiti is now showing up on Facebook and Twitter.

The pastor of Central Valley Baptist Church, Clint Henry, who has been speaking on behalf of the families, says he is now going to take a step back from acting as a spokesperson.

He told us today the families are now trying to determine how best to move forward in responding to what's happening in Haiti.

Henry says the families have hoped everyday that there would be a resolution, and everyday they've been let down. And today, still no resolution.

Five of the missionaries were captured on video being brought back to jail after their court appearance Monday.

Paul Thompson from Twin Falls was questioned by the media as he was led out of the police van.

"Did Laura (Silsby) ever tell you she didn't have all the paperwork for the children?" asked the reporter. 

"2 Corinthians 4'7-18," replied Thompson. 

"Did Laura tell you she had the proper paperwork?" the reporter inquired again. "Do you feel tricked by her?"

We looked up 2 Corinthians 4' 7-18.

Verses 8 and 9 read, "We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed."

Meanwhile, there's a new Facebook page called "Bring Paul and Silas Thompson home."

People from as far away as Colorado are logging on and showing their support.

The page also encourages those who log on to write to the State Department to "let them know what wonderful people they are."

We called Kim Barton, Laura Silsby's sister and were not able to reach her.

Another family member, Sean Lankford, also did not have time today for an interview.

KUNA -- A man wanted in California is in the Ada County Jail today after a chase through a Kuna neighborhood.

The sheriff's office says 41-year-old John Hoverson of Meridian did not stop when a deputy tried to pull him over for speeding just before 11 p.m. Sunday on Ten Mile Road.

The deputy fired a Taser into Hoverson's back near the intersection of Sego Prairie and Ten Mile Road after he hit a stop sign and tried to run away.

Hoverson is now charged with DUI, eluding officers and resisting and obstructing officers.

He's also wanted in California for a felony probation violation.
 

It has been 26 days since a powerful earthquake left Haiti in rubble and shambles.

People from Idaho continue to help that country rebuild, sending relief while wondering if eight of its own will ever be released.

Those missionaries remain in a Haitian Sunday night.

It has been more than 72 hours since they learned they weren't coming home as soon as they had hoped.

But there have been significant twists since then.

Their Haitian lawyer is no longer representing them.

Also, the majority of jailed missionaries appear to have turned on their leader, Laura Silsby, accusing her of lying.

That is spelled out in a letter written from them and handed to an NBC news team.

Silsby and four other inmates attend Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian where Sunday, another announcement was made.

Considering the significance of the note, it was thought church leaders and family members would react at an afternoon news conference.

But during the 3-minute conference, they didn’t discuss the note at all, nor did they take any questions.

Central Valley Baptist churchgoers greeted each other, and filed in with their families wearing some of their Sunday best. It appeared as any other Sunday. However, there was an obvious difference. Pastor Clint Henry addressed the detainee situation from the podium, not the pulpit.

"Being able to come together for prayer and fellowship has been a means for helping our church cope with the current situation," Henry said.

The current situation is that five of his faithful who used to sit in Central Valley’s pews are now sitting in Haitian jail cells.

The cover of the church program asked members to "remember the Lord's people who are in jail and be concerned for them."

In the lobby there were prayer boxes for the detainees and the church pastors.

Paper, pens, even crayons were provided for words of support.

"Although I have not spoken to all of the family members of those that are being held, I can tell you that the ones I have been sharing these last days with are full of hope," Henry said.

Hope, even after a note from the jailed Baptists to NBC, indicated a divide between group leader Laura Silsby and the nine others.

The note surfaced just a few days after the world learned all ten were charged with kidnapping and criminal association.

Henry did not address the note or its implications in Sunday’s statement.

"Though we do not know exactly what transpired down in Haiti, we know that we care for those that find themselves in this hour of need,” Henry said. “We're going to continue to pray around the clock not only for the safety for our people but for a quick resolution.”

Saturday night, NBC spoke with Laura Silsby's sister, Kim Barton, about the note. She told them she did not know what to say. 

Stay with KTVB and KTVB.COM for updates on the situation.
  
 

BOISE -- For Idaho students who think school lasts forever, two lawmakers want to pay them to speed up their education.

Reps. Steve Thayn, a Republican from Emmett, and Branden Durst, a Boise Democrat, say Idaho taxpayers now fund districts to the tune of about $4,593 annually for each of their public school students.

Their plan, called the Master Advancement Pilot Project, would pay about a third of that, or about $1,531, to students for each year they graduate early as a scholarship at one of Idaho's publicly funded colleges and universities.

Idaho would then split the remaining $3,062 with districts, resulting in tens or even hundreds of thousands in savings to Idaho.

This plan, introduced Monday in the House Education Committee, would let 21 of the state's 115 school districts and three of 41 charter schools participate for six years, to see how it works.

It's due a full hearing in coming weeks.

BOISE -- Gowen Field at the Boise Airport is one of five possible training stations for the Air Force's latest strike aircraft, the F-35A.

Monday night, the Air Force wants to hear from locals and get a sense of community reaction and concern about the idea.

The F-35A is intended to give the U.S. the upper hand in just about any combat situation through the year 2040.

It has low visibility, speed, and advanced electronics.

Adding the F-35A to the mission at Gowen Field would have obvious economic impacts - a fact hammered home a news conference today.

"The current payroll of the National Guard is estimated to be about $60 million and that would easily double that in the years ahead for probably around 40 years," said Boise Mayor Dave Bieter.

Alex LeBeau, president of the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry, says bringing the F-35A to Idaho would mean 3,000 new jobs in the Gem State.

"Three-thousand new careers, not just good paying jobs but careers, and that's the kind of economic development we welcome into the state of Idaho," said LaBeau.

Tonight's hearing at Marsing High School is open to those who may not share the economic enthusiasm because they have environmental or other concerns about training the pilots and support staff in Idaho.

We'll be there and tell you what people have to say.  It's the first of five such meetings in southern Idaho.

On the Net' http'//idahof35.com/

BOISE - A small group of nurses and a pastor from Idaho left for Haiti early Monday morning to help with earthquake relief efforts.

Around 6'30 a.m. the faith based group called Open Hands Relief Ministry boarded a plane and are bound for Port-au-Prince.

Our photographer caught up with the group of doctors and nurses as they were leaving from the Boise Airport.

Pastor Tim McFarlane with the group says they already have a group working down there right now.

The group is expected to be there for two weeks.

McFarlane says they're working with the University of Miami and are rotating teams of doctors and nurses in Haiti.

With all the international news of 8 Idahoans being jailed in Haiti we asked if he was reluctant to go.

"You know we're a little bit apprehensive. But I'm feeling pretty good about it. We have a good team on the ground there now. Things are already set up. I've been told we have good security. There's food and water for the doctors and nurses. So I'm feeling pretty good about it." said McFarlane.

They expect to be put right to work when they land in Port-au-Prince on Tuesday.

The group will meet up with nurses from Colorado and another group from Columbus, Ohio.

The group previously went to New Orleans to help after Hurricane Katrina.

"They got down there about three weeks ago, and they've got their second team in there and we'll be their third team and then we have other teams lined up. As long as the need is there and as long as the money is available that we can send teams down and as long as I have people who are willing to go, it looks like we may have three or four or five teams that will be willing to go in there." said Tim McFarlane with the Open Hands Relief Ministry.

BOISE -- An Idaho legislator wants to get rid of words like "lunatic" and "retarded" from state laws, saying they're outdated and disrespectful.

Boise Democrat Senator Les Bock says changing language in the state code will help educate the public -- and send a message Idaho doesn't tolerate insulting language.

He says person with mental issues should be referred to as "intellectually disabled," instead.

He introduced legislation Monday that amends every law he could find that currently uses words like "mentally deficient," "idiot," and "handicapped."

He told the Senate Judiciary and Rules committee he was reading a bill last year that included the words "mentally retarded."

He worked with advocacy groups for people with disabilities and state agencies over the summer to find and replace language they considered objectionable.

BOISE -- The Idaho House voted unanimously to temporarily waive sales taxes for homeless shelters. Boise Democrat Branden Durst's bill cleared the House Monday on a 70-0 vote.

The legislation, which now goes to the Senate, would save a handful of major shelters in the state some $15,000 a year until the tax break expires in 2012.

Durst told other lawmakers that shelters provide services to people who otherwise might be seeking taxpayer-funded assistance from the state of Idaho.

The fate of the bill is uncertain, due to concerns by some senators that Idaho during an economic crisis shouldn't be passing more legislation that takes tax revenue out of the general fund, even if it's for a good cause.

BOISE -- A three-decade-old provision that's allowed Idaho residents to chip in a buck of their taxes to their favorite political party is a step closer to falling victim to a tough economy.

The Idaho Senate Monday voted unanimously to dump the check-off box on Idaho tax forms. It's already passed the House, 64-1, so it now heads to Gov. Butch Otter's desk for signature.

Since it was enacted in 1976, this voluntary check-off has shifted $1.6 million from the state general fund to political parties, mostly to Republicans and Democrats.

Though that's only about $35,000 annually in recent years, lawmakers say every penny in tax revenue is necessary in a year when schools, the Department of Health and Welfare and public TV are facing millions combined in budget cuts.

Lawmakers also say they want to remove the state from helping finance partisan political activity.

CALDWELL -- Some bar owners in Caldwell are asking officials to lift a ban on selling liquor-by-the-drink on Sundays because they say they are losing customers to surrounding communities.

Dutch Goose owner Jay Lynch says all the bars are interested in making the change.

Caldwell City Council member Rob Oates says he's spoken with other council members and he'd be happy to consider the idea.

The neighboring city of Nampa last month lifted a ban that limited bars, restaurants and other establishments to serving only beer and wine on Sundays.

BILLINGS, Mont.  -- Researchers say small packs of gray wolves introduced to national parks and other sites across the country could curb oversized elk and deer herds that are eating up parklands.

Keeping the predators on target would be a tricky prospect' They breed prolifically, roam hundreds of square miles and easily pick up a taste for cows and sheep.

The proposed solution, outlined in a paper for the journal BioScience' Neuter the wolves, fence them in, fit them with shock collars and add a tracking device so they can be hunted and killed if they get too far afield.

Wolves were wiped out across most of the country last century, letting big game herds balloon from the Adirondacks to the Sierra Nevada. That led to overgrazing in many parks and protected areas.

The researchers, led by a National Park Service biologist in the Midwest, propose using wolves as park "stewards" that could the way back to ecological balance.

BOISE -- Idaho is among states watching to see if a new California animal cruelty law drives flocks of big egg farms there to fly the coop.

In 2008, California voters backed Proposition 2, to ban cramped cages for laying hens by 2015. Neither Idaho nor Nevada, where some officials are already courting the Golden State egg industry, have restrictions on "battery cages" that leave chickens little room to spread their wings.

Idaho Sen. Tim Corder has no desire to change that in his state -- industry should decide, Corder insists.

Still, the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee does want to revamp Idaho's rules governing where and how giant poultry farms are operated, in case henpecked California producers come calling.

He wants to skirt pitfalls that accompanied explosive growth of Idaho's dairy industry. Idaho went from 180,000 cows in 1990 to 530,000 in 2009, catching regulators flat-footed and prompting environmentalists to call foul.

BOISE -- The Idaho Human Rights Commission unanimously backed a new partnership between the state's discrimination watchdog and the Department of Labor.

Last month, Gov. Butch Otter proposed eliminating state funding for the 40-year-old agency over the next four years.

An uproar ensued among some who feared that could spell the commission's demise.

But that was before Pamela Parks, the commission's head, and Department of Labor Director Roger Madsen worked out a proposal to combine forces and tap Department of Labor-managed funds to cover about $600,000 that Otter wants phased out from the state general fund by 2014.

On Monday, the nine-member commission endorsed the plan, saying it would ensure the agency has enough money to continue investigating discrimination complaints, which last year totaled 512.

Parks called the plan "a win-win for the state, and the right thing to do."

TWIN FALLS, Idaho -- Police in the south-central Idaho city of Twin Falls say they have no suspects in a rash of daytime home burglaries and they're concerned.

Officer Luke Allen says at least six of the nine home burglaries reported in Twin Falls since Feb. 1 have taken place during the day.

He tells The Times-News that the burglaries have occurred throughout the city, and that daytime burglaries involve a more daring element.

Allen says residents should immediately report any activity that is suspicious or unfamiliar in their neighborhood.

BOISE -- Idaho lawmakers hope a proposed sales tax rebate up for debate in the House will prompt an aircraft maintenance company to expand.

A bill being pushed by Reps. Mike Moyle, a Republican, and John Rusche, a Democrat, would allow owners of big corporate jets to claim a tax rebate on parts installed in Idaho.

Western Aircraft, an aircraft service company in Boise, says it could add up to 10 employees, if such a rebate were offered. Other states offer similar breaks and Western Aircraft says that gives them a competitive advantage.

Just how much this rebate would reduce state tax revenue isn't clear.

In 2009, Idaho collected $192,753 in taxes on parts installed on out-of-state jets.

But since many corporate jet owners live in states with higher taxes than Idaho, Rusche says it's unlikely they'd claim the Idaho rebate because then they'd have to pay more to their own governments.

MOSCOW, Idaho -- University of Idaho officials say they hope to start offering third-year law classes this fall in Boise without state financial support.

Officials say they are raising money and a student fee increase will help pay for the school.

College of Law Dean Donald Burnett says the school first has to through a process that ensures the expanded program in Boise won't harm the school's Moscow programs.

Burnett says the American Bar Association has to approve the process, called "acquiescence."

The school had previously hoped to open a full three-year law school branch in Boise but the State Board of Education rejected it as too expensive.

Concordia University in Portland, Ore., says it expects to start offering law school classes in Boise starting in 2011.

Police are still searching for a gunman who shot two people, killing the female driver, in a drive-by shooting in Tacoma.

The shooting happened late around 10 p.m. Sunday at the intersection of Portland Avenue East and East 56th Street. 

Camille Love, 20, and her brother had left a family gathering when a man in a white Chrysler minivan pulled up next to them and shot them.  Camille was killed; her brother was shot in the arm and is expected to recover.

Tacoma police say the shooting appears random. There was no confrontation or words exchanged. Police believe it might have been a bizarre road rage incident. The only motive they can find is perhaps the shooter didn't like the way the young woman was driving, so he killed her.

Helene Bell, Camille's aunt, says the whole family is in shock.

"Right now we're trying to pick up the pieces," she said. "We're mourning. This is going to be a long ride for us."

Bell says Camille was a young woman with a bright future.

"She was a young, vibrant 21-year-old. She was getting ready to go to college," said Helene Bell, victim's aunt. "Actually, today was the day she was getting ready to sign up for college. It's kind of hard right now - she was a good kid."

Police still haven't found the shooter. There were few witnesses, and the only description police have of the suspect is that he was wearing a white hooded sweatshirt.

The van was found abandoned and running about a mile from the scene. Police say it was reported stolen out of Auburn.

Police say they are very concerned the gunman has not yet been caught.  They say if you saw any suspicious activity near East 56th Street and Portland Avenue East in Tacoma, please give them a call.
 

LINCOLN CITY, Ore. -- After getting reports of a shooting, police pulled over an SUV in Lincoln City Sunday night and found two people inside with gunshot wounds - one of them dead.

Police said the shooting happened at The Ridge Apartments, located just off of High School Drive in Lincoln City. Investigators quickly learned that an SUV had left the scene of the shooting, so officers started searching for it.

They spotted the SUV travel ling North on Hwy 101 near SE 9th and stopped it.

"Three Hispanic males were in the SUV. Two of the occupants had apparently been hit by gun fire. One was deceased in the vehicle and the other was immediately transported to Samaritan North Lincoln Hospital for treatment," said Lt. Jerry Palmer with the Lincoln City Police Department. "The third subject was cooperating with investigators."

Monday morning, Lincoln City police told KGW that three suspects had been arrested but their identities were not yet released. They said two of the suspects were captured around midnight and the third was arrested at 6 a.m.

The names of the victims were withheld, pending notifications for family members.

Anyone with information that could help in the investigation was urged to call Lincoln City detectives at 541-994-3636.