The Times-News from Twin Falls, Idaho • A8

A8 Friday, december 7, 2018 Times-News 1 that require a college education. Many of these jobs are at the local hospital, or with the Weiser School District. Consequently, only 11 percent of adults hold a degree or higher, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The median household income, $31,343, is less than two-thirds the state average.

tough for families here to assume the kind of debt it takes to send their kids off to dis- trict Superintendent Wil Overgaard said. Nearly a third of 5,365 residents are Hispanic. Statewide, Hispanic college graduation rates remain well below lackluster overall numbers. Of course, some students do leave Weiser for college. Some go far, as evidenced by the row of felt college pennants that adorn a hallway at Weiser High School.

But these col- lege-bound students remain a mi- nority. By the count, about 40 percent of the 121 gradu- ates went straight to college in 2017. For some, college is part of their history. Principal Dave son grad- uated from Weiser High School in 2018; three months later, he began his freshman year at Harvard Uni- versity. Berke Walker, the son of two school district employees, will enroll in college in a couple of years, ma- joring in mechanical engineering.

First, he will serve a religious mis- sion. definitely an expectation to go to college, and to some extent to go on a he said. Other college-bound students are charting a new direction. Perez will be a first-generation college student. So was Lucia Carbajal, a 2013 Weiser graduate.

She left to get her undergraduate degree at Arizona State University. at the of Moscow campus, enrolled in medical school under the multistate WWAMI medical program. For parents a fa- ther who works in maintenance at the jail, a mother who works in the kitchen at the hospital the college application process was new and in- timidating. But she said her parents were willing to make sacrifices for their only child, and encouraged her to continue her education what- ever form that took for Carbajal says Weiser High School supported her, too. Her English teacher pushed her to apply to larger colleges.

She took Advanced Placement courses and dual-credit classes in English and psychology. She took all the science classes she could. But when she arrived at col- lege, she struggled to keep up in her first-semester chemistry course. feel like there were a lot of things I Dual credit can help a rural high school bridge the gap to a college campus. Weiser also tries to turn its small size to its advantage.

The high school handles all class registrations face-to-face a time-consuming process, even in a small school in order to provide a Davies said. Weiser also emphasizes the diverse opportunities a small town can offer, from dual-credit calculus to agriculture classes to band and choir. they do leave, pretty Davies said. But when graduates do leave, they often leave for good. Walker says Weiser means a lot to him, and he loves spending time outdoors.

But he plans to use his en- gineering degree to pursue a career in aviation, and plan to re- turn home. Senior Emma Burns will graduate in December. She also has thoughts about law school and dreams of pol- itics, perhaps running for mayor or governor. First, she plans to enlist in the military partly to help people, but partly to see the world. (Military service does not count toward Ida- 60 percent goal, which counts only college degrees or professional certificates.) Senior class president Mia Stender grew up in Weiser city lim- its, and describes herself as city girl who somehow emerged into the big ag She started raising beef cattle in eighth grade, despite her reservations, and plans to study agriculture education at the of I.

a career choice that she could pursue in Weiser, but she says looking at settling in Oregon or Wyoming. Carbajal say she plans to return to Weiser. But when she talks about what she wants, it sounds more than a little like Weiser. At Arizona State, she had the chance to meet students from across the world: Thailand, Mex- ico, England. She says it was a great part of the college experience, but when she graduates from medical school, she wants to practice in a small town.

Perhaps an area in need, a town that has no doctor who speaks Spanish. Perhaps a town in Idaho. know I want to stay in the she said. This story was produced with support from the Education Writers Association Reporting Fellowship program. Students From A1 Bedke held off challenger Brent Crane, R-Nampa, for the top House spot.

Crane previously served as the as- sistant majority leader in the House. In the Senate, President Pro Tem Brent Hill, R-Rex- burg, was unchallenged to retain his leadership posi- tion. No changes in leadership were proposed for the Dem- ocratic Senate and House positions this year, accord- ing to previous reporting from the Idaho Statesman. New legislator orientation and organizational sessions have been taking place at the Idaho Statehouse all week. Thursday, lawmakers will determine who will serve on each legislative committee.

Leadership From A1 IDAHOEDNEWS.ORG Weiser High School Principal dave davies MATT VOLZ Associated Press HELENA, Mont. An investigation into whether political operatives in North Carolina illegally collected and possibly stole absentee ballots in a still-undecided congressional race has drawn attention to a wide- spread but little-known political tool called ballot harvesting. a practice long used by special-interest groups and both major political parties that is viewed ei- ther as a voter service that boosts turnout or a nefar- ious activity that subjects voters to intimidation and makes elections vulnerable to fraud. The groups rely on data showing which voters re- quested absentee ballots but have not turned them in. They then go door-to-door and offer to collect and turn in those ballots for the vot- ers often dozens or hun- dreds at a time.

Some place ballot-collection boxes in high-concentration voter areas, such as college cam- puses, and take the ballots to election offices when the boxes are full. In North Carolina, elec- tion officials are investi- gating whether Repub- lican political operatives harvested ballots in parts of the 9th Congressional District with high numbers of Democratic voters and then did not turn them in to the local elections office. Ballot harvesting is illegal under state law, which al- lows only a family member or legal guardian to drop off absentee ballots for a voter. The investigation is fo- cusing on areas in the dis- trict where an unusually high number of absentee ballots were not returned. Republican Mark Harris leads Democrat Dan Mc- Cready by 905 votes, but the state elections board has refused to certify the results.

The head of the state Republican Party said Thursday that he would be open to holding a new elec- tion if there is evidence of fraud. Supporters of ballot harvesting say they worry the North Carolina elec- tion may give an important campaign tool an unneces- sary black eye. These groups see their mission as helping voters who are busy with work or caring for children, and empowering those who are sick, elderly and poor. Collecting ballots to turn in at a centralized voting hub also has been an im- portant tool for decades on expansive and remote Na- tive American reservations. we think of voting as this really straightforward process and we often forget that all voters, but for new voters in particular, a lot of confusion when voting about when they actually have to vote by, where they have to take their ballot said Rachel Huff-Doria, ex- ecutive director of the voter advocacy group Forward Montana.

Several states have tried to limit ballot harvesting by restricting who can turn in another ballot. In Arizona, a video that showed a volunteer drop- ping off hundreds of ballots at a polling place prompted a debate that led to an an- ti-ballot harvesting law in 2016. think at any level, Re- publican, Democrat or any- thing, wrong. a ter- rible said former Arizona Republican Party chairman Robert Graham, who backed the law. ple should be responsible for their own The Arizona law making it a felony in most cases to collect an early ballot was challenged in federal court before the 2016 election, and blocked by an appeals court.

The U.S. Supreme Court stepped in and al- lowed the law to be en- forced. Further challenges have so far been unsuccessful, most recently just before the midterm election. Montana was the latest state to pass an anti-ballot harvesting law when voters approved a referendum last month. Al Olszewski, a Re- publican state senator, said he proposed the ban after two of his constituents in northwestern Montana complained of pushy ballot collectors coming to their homes.

a woman in her 70s maybe frail and lives alone and feels intimidated, at least now they can say please and have con- fidence that the law is be- hind them, he said. Voting-rights advo- cates are dismayed that such laws are being passed without evidence of actual ballot fraud happening, at least before questions were raised about the activities in the North Carolina con- gressional race. They say restricting who can collect ballots punishes certain voters without doing any- thing to actually detect, de- ter or punish fraud. you have an honest person who is trying to help voters, then who they are matter as long as they return (the said Myrna Perez, the dep- uty director of the Brennan Center for democ- racy program. N.C.

race shines light on JACQUELYN MARTIN, ASSOCIATED PRESS rep. Jeff denham, left, speaks next to rep. david Valadao, during a news conference may 9 on capitol Hill in Washington. The republican incumbents were swept out of office this year after a tally of late-arriving ballots. SAN DIEGO (AP) A Honduran woman affiliated with a caravan of Central American migrants gave birth on U.S.

soil shortly after entering the coun- try illegally amid growing frustration about a bot- tleneck to claim asylum at official border crossings. Border Patrol agents arrested the woman Nov. 26 after she entered the country illegally near Im- perial Beach, California, across the border from Tijuana, Mexico, Customs and Border Protection said Wednesday. She was ar- rested with her 20-year- old husband and 2-year- old son. The woman, who was eight months pregnant, was taken to a hospital after complaining about abdom- inal plan the day after her arrest, Customs and Border Protection said.

The family was released from custody on Sunday, pending the outcomes of their immigration cases. Univision reported that the family is seeking asylum and hoped to join family in Columbus, Ohio, while their cases are pending. Maryury Serrano Her- nandez, 19, told the net- work giving birth in the U.S. was a for the grueling jour- ney. U.S.

inspectors at the main border crossing in San Diego are processing up to about 100 asylum claims day, leaving thousands of migrants waiting in Ti- juana. Some are crossing illegally and avoiding the wait. President Donald Trump said in October that he could end birthright cit- izenship with a swipe of his pen. Most scholars on the left and right share the view that it would take a constitutional amendment to deny automatic citizen- ship to children born in the U.S. to parents who are in the country illegally.

Of the more than 6,100 migrants staying in a tem- porary shelter run by the city of Tijuana last week, 3,936 were men, 1,147 were women, and 1,068 were children. Scores of pregnant women traveled with the caravan through Mexico before reaching the U.S. border. In Pijijiapan in the southern state of Chiapas, Dr. Jesus Miravete, who volunteered his services in the plaza, said he treated a few dozen preg- nant women, including 16 for dehydration after being on the road for weeks.

In October, a Guatema- lan woman gave birth to the first known caravan baby at a hospital in Juchi- tan. governmen- tal National Human Rights Commission said it had arranged for medical at- tention for the woman, who was 38 weeks pregnant, and the girl was healthy. Honduran in migrant caravan gives birth in US NEWS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7th thRU thURSDAY, DECEMBER 13th Nightly: 7:20, 9:30 Matinees Sat: 2:00, 4:10 Matinees Sun: 4:00 Only WRECKITRALPH2PG AFun Family Adventure Nightly: 7:20, 9:40 Matinees Sat: 2:00, 4:20 Matinees Sun: 4:00 ONLY CREED2PG-13 ASports Dramawith Sylvester Stallone Nightly: 7:10, 9:40 Matinees Sat: 2:00, 4:30 Matinees Sun: 4:00 ONLY FANTASTICBEASTS PG-13 The Crimes of Grindelwald A Fantasy Adventure Nightly: 7:25, 9:40 Matinees Sat: 2:00, 4:15 Matinees Sun: 4:00 ONLY INSTANTFAMILY PG-13 AFun Family ComedywithMarkWahlberg Nightly: 7:15, 9:15 Matinees Sat: 2:00, 4:00 Matinees Sun: 4:00 ONLY THEGRINCH PG Fun Family CenturyStadium5VIP Friday thru Sunday: CREED2 Monday thruThursday: CREED2 Adult Seats $10.25 Seniors $8.25 Matinees All Seats $8.25 Showtimes are the same as listed above for each BurleyTheatre SHOWS FRIDAYTHRUTUESDAY EACHWEEK Fri. throughTues: 7:30, 9:30 THE HOUSEWITH A CLOCK IN ITSWALLSPG AFun Family Fantasy.