Stories from Friday, February 3, 2017

A long-time city councilman took over as Mountain Home's public works director with the council welcoming a new board member and selecting its next president during a meeting Jan. 23. Councilman Richard Urquidi volunteered to step down as a councilman to take over the position, citing an immediate need to fill the vacancy left by retiring public works director Wayne Shepherd...

With the Idaho State Tax Commission starting to process individual income tax returns for people in Idaho, the organization outlined ways that taxpayers can make the refund process faster. People should wait until they receive all of their W-2s and other required information before filing, the tax commission said...

Homeowners who qualify have until mid-April to apply for two different programs that can help with their property taxes. To qualify for the 2017 Property Tax Reduction Program, homeowners must be widowed, disabled or 65 years of age or older (as of Jan. 1, 2017)...

Wet weather conditions in October left lakes, streams and reservoirs across southern Idaho in good shape at the start of the new year with some areas seeing nearly twice the normal amounts of rain and snow, according to a report released last week by the Natural Resources Conservation Service...

Guadalupe "Lupe" Garza, our matriarch, beloved mother, grandmother, great grandmother and friend to all she met, passed on Jan. 29, 2017. A private service was held Feb. 3, 2017, at Rost Funeral Home, McMurtrey Chapel. Lupe was born in Nayarit, Mexico, on June 14, 1943. She ventured to the United States at a young age. She met her husband, Alejandro Garza, and were married on June 23, 1960, and started their lives as migrant workers...