Meridian Deputy Police Chief Tracy Basterrechea says police responded to a home on South Pelican Way at 8'30 p.m. for a suicidal man.

Officers were told the man made suicidal and homicidal statements to his 19-year-old wife, from whom he was separated.

Officers first tried to call the man and knocked on his door.  When they got no answer they went inside.

That's when they found the man's body and that of his baby boy.

Ada County Coroner Erwin Sonnenberg identified the deceased as 20-year-old Nicholas Bacon and 9-month-old Bekm Bacon of
Meridian.
 
Police are investigating it as a murder-suicide.

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.

Officers responded to a battery report and found that a fight had occurred.  One of the persons involved received non-life threatening injuries after being struck several times with a hatchet and 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. 

Later, William Terry, 32, turned himself in to Nampa Police around 11 a.m. Monday and was subsequently arrested for aggravated battery.

We got lost at Whistler!

The combination Whistler/Blackcomb is a gigantic ski resort. So big that when we asked the worker at the rental shop which lift to take to the top of the Olympic Men's downhill course, we were pointed in the direction of a gondola. With only 15 minutes left before the lifts closed, we rushed out not knowing we had hopped on the wrong lift.
 
So, after discovering our mistake  half way up the moutain we decided we still had a story to cover.

Off the gondola we go, camera, backpack and all the other stuff it takes to be a skiing camera crew. We proceed down the hill, skiing ,shooting, stopping to interview a few people and skiing more.
 
You're not going to believe what happened next. We thought we were about to ski right to the rental shop, no luck! We were no where near the bottom of the ski hill, we were no where near anything, except what was right in front of us, a dry, bare to the bones road!
 
So, what's a TV News team to do? We had to take off our skis, sling them over our shoulders, fill our arms with the rest of the gear and start walking!

We did just that in our ski boots, down the road looking for landmarks. We didn't find any, but we did finally come upon a man who happened to just be our lucky charm (finally).  He gave us one option, which didn't sound like fun after a 12-hour working day. He said we could get back to our final destination if we side-stepped back up the hill and tried to find a path that would traverse the mountain and bring us back down to the rental shop.
 
Gary and I looked at each other thinking okay what else can we do, when this man gave us our second lucky break since meeting him. He pointed to a road marker just yards from us and with much relief he told us a shuttle bus would be coming every 7 minutes! We jumped at that idea and jumped right onto that beautiful bus when it arrived.
 
We're home now, at least where we are staying until the Olympics wrap up. We're sore too, walking in ski boots is so much tougher than skiing in them. But, the promising part of this whole get lost on the mountain story, is that we didnt' lose the story, we got it. You'll get to see it soon as we report live (not lost) from the Olympics in Vancouver.

And as some of the Americans get sick, Idahoans wonder if there is anything being done to help them.

"They are sleeping on the floor, there's no ventilation, and you can feel the steam coming out of there. This is a health concern because if these other people are sick they're gonna get sick, and in any minute they're getting fevers. We don't know what can happen," attorney for the detainees Jorge Puello said.

What can happen, has happened.

Last week, 24-year-old Charisa Coulter fell ill.

On Monday, Carla Thompson was being treated for swollen, infected legs.

The detainees have been in the same clothes for more than a week.

Concern is mounting that the American government is apathetic.

A viewer e-mailed and said she is alarmed that more is not being done to help the Americans.

We spoke with U.S. Sen. Jim Risch over the phone.

“I want to assure you that this is not something the government is just looking the other way," said Risch. "We have very limited abilities because this is a foreign government and this is a foreign judicial system and there our abilities are very, very limited."

Risch said the U.S. can not inject itself into the Haitian legal process because it could backfire or be counter-productive.

But the issue of prisoner welfare is different than a foreign country's justice system.

“If it's a medical condition or it's a safety condition or it's a welfare condition, the American government does not hesitate to press the host government to take specific action," Risch said.

He would not say if the U.S. had made that request to Haiti but added this' 

"The Haitian government would of course not want to have something happen on their watch that the world be unhappy with," said Risch.

Earlier, NBC's Kerry Sanders spoke with KTVB from Haiti about his observations in the Haitian jail cell.

"It smells and imagine the smells that we're talking about. There is a lot of hygiene problems, although they are allowed to leave to go to the bathroom, it is just not an ideal condition. And there are bugs," said Sanders.

Risch says state department teams in the U.S. monitor situations involving Americans caught up in foreign courts, and there is a team staying on top of what's happening in Haiti.

There is also a team in Haiti that has met with the 10 Americans several times, and asked questions about their safety and their health.

"The government is not apathetic at all about this," Risch said.

He also says there is an American military hospital in Port-au-Prince and it is close to where the detainees are being held.

The officer, who did not want to be identified for fear of reprisals, said he stopped the 10 missionaries, including group leader Laura Silsby, on January 26 as they allegedly tried to transport 40 children on a bus from Haiti to the Dominican Republic.

The officer says he stopped the group and ordered the children to get off the bus. He then directed Silsby to the Dominican embassy.

The 10 missionaries, including Silsby, were charged Thursday with kidnapping children and criminal association for attempting to take 33 children out of Haiti last week.

The group had authorization from neighboring Dominican Republic to bring the kids across the border, a lawyer for the group said Monday.

Jorge Puello, a Dominican attorney who said he was hired to represent the group, showed reporters a manila folder he said contained documents that prove the Americans had authorization to bring the children into the Dominican Republic. Dominican authorities previously said the Americans did not have permission to bring the children into the country, and Puello did not say whether the group had the authorization of Haitian officials.

The missionaries were scheduled to face hearings Monday and Tuesday in Port-au-Prince, the earthquake-ravaged capital of Haiti.

The Americans said they were just trying to help the children get to a safe place after January 12's magnitude-7.0 earthquake, which has left more than 200,000 dead.

Arriving outside the Haitian attorney general's office Monday, Puello said he was hired by a church that counts some of the jailed Americans among its members. He did not identify the congregation.

One of their attorneys, Edwin Coq, announced over the weekend that he had resigned. Puello said Monday that Coq was fired, but gave no details.

Some of the jailed Americans have said they thought they were helping orphans, but their interpreters said last week that some of the children had parents. The interpreters said they were present when the parents spoke with the Americans.

Some parents in a village outside Port-au-Prince said they had willingly given their children to the Americans, who promised them a better life, and who said the parents could see their children whenever they wanted.

The Dominican consul general has said he spoke with the Silsby before the group attempted to take the children to theDominican Republic, and that he warned her she didn't have the proper documents to cross the border.

"This woman knew what she was trying to do was not legal," the consul general, Carlos Castillo, said last week.

Silsby and four other Americans arrived for an appearance before an examining judge Monday morning. One of the Americans, Paul Thomson, referred reporters to a passage in the New Testament book of 1 Corinthians, in which the apostle Paul tells early Christians, "It seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena."

"To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless," the passage continues. "We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly."

The crime was first reported to police in September of last year and Boise Police originally arrested 24-year-old Jennifer Maul back in December on two counts of sexual exploitation of a vulnerable adult.

Evidence indicates the suspect committed lewd conduct with the three vulnerable female adults, under her care, at a home in Boise.

Since that time, a third count was added and resulted in an additional felony warrant, Maul was arrested Monday night on that warrant.

SPARTANBURG, SC -- Americans were pleasantly surprised last year when Denny's, home of the original real breakfast, announced during the Super Bowl that it was offering a free Original Grand Slam for one day at its restaurants nationwide.

After feeding two million grateful Americans who took advantage of the offer, Denny's is doing it again. That's today-- Tuesday, February 9th from 6 a.m. through 2 p.m. at participating restaurants.

We already checked in with a Denny's restaurant in Spokane Valley and it was jam-packed! Our reporter spoke with several college-aged kids who told her they're "broke" and this free meal is something they definitely wanted to take advantage of Tuesday.

The CEO and president of Denny's says times are still tough and a free hot breakfast helps a lot of folks and their families. He says they heard from thousands last year who thanked them for the breakfast. This year Denny's plans to go beyond just one day of free meals by offering a number of everyday affordable programs all year.

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.
 

Monday night, the Air Force heard from locals to 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 Monday.

"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.

"If they make it based upon the acceptance in the environment and the ops they have available to them Idaho is the place," said Gov. Butch Otter. 

But the Air Force has to be convinced that Idaho is the perfect  home to train and store the jet it touts as the premier strike aircraft needed to defeat 21st Century threats. 

The final decision is still at least a year away.

In the meantime, public meetings like one held in Marsing Monday night are being held to get information out and citizen feedback.

"I think it's important to support what the Air Force is going so I wanted to come out and make my opinion known," said Wendy Stansele.

The people we talked to shared the same focus we heard from government leaders earlier - jobs.

"The more I found out about it I think it would be very good for our state economically and employmentwise it would be great," said Vicky Downing.

"It would bring a lot of jobs and we could certainly use them right now," says George Lont.  

The big decision about the future of the F-35 is expected to be made some time in spring of 2011.

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

The measure introduced Tuesday is similar to a plan broached a year ago, but House Majority Leader Mike Moyle, the sponsor, says it includes additions favored by Secretary of State Ben Ysursa and county clerks.

There are lingering hurdles, however.

For instance, Moyle says no compromise was reached on how to handle absentee or mail-in voters who don't show up at the polls. He says there could be a second bill.

Under this measure, voters would have to present a valid photo ID, such as a driver's license or passport.

Those who no longer have valid licenses or other photo identification, such as elderly people, would merely have to sign an affidavit saying they are who they say they are, Moyle said.

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.

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!

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.