Yes, I'm well aware that Disqus has knocked our popular “recent comments” feature sideways. But I'm determined to soldier on by front-paging good comments and snippets of comments. Sorry for the inconvenience. Now for today's Wild Card …

Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium staff biologist Kadie Burrone offers her head as a climbing toy for an endangered clouded leopard cub, Tien, during his afternoon feeding time in Tacoma, Wash., on Monday. The 4.6 pound cub, born May 1, can be viewed during feedings at daily in the zoo's Cub Den. (AP Photo/The News Tribune,Janet Jensen )

Facebook Friend Katrina Swaim posts: “I scratched my arm on the garage door yesterday, so I decided today was a good day to get my tetanus booster. Now I'm good for ten more years. Come at me, rusty nails!”

Question: When did you last have a tetanus shot?

• 5:27 p.m. Disabled white pickup is blocking lane of s/b H95/Prairie, Hayden.
• 5:22 p.m. Carbon monoxide alarm sounds in 2200 block of Shooting Star St/PF.
• 4:58 p.m. Female pushed, punched in face by father re: dispute over her boyfriend.
• 4:42 p.m. Juvenile Probation Dept wants officer to arrest wanted male.
• 4:21 p.m. Undisclosed type of hit-and-run @ 15th/East Sherman, CdA.
• 4:20 p.m. Vandalism to property — graffiti — reported @ 2115 E. Sherman Ave/CdA.
• 4:15 p.m. Coeur d'Alene Police Department activities report for June 17-18 here.
• 12 more items + AM Scanner Traffic link below

Chris Malloy spotted a man snooping around his property in Spokane Valley this morning morning, Malloy held the prospective thief at gunpoint until officers arrive. Story here. (SR photo: Dan Pelle)

• Army Corps: No broad study of coal trains planned/AP
• Idaho launches justice reform push/Betsy Russell, SR
• Gonzaga law student gets year in prison for hit-and-run/KXLY
• Idaho to auction off 3 bare Priest Lake plots/Betsy Russell, SR
• WSU scientist: Recluse spider doesn't live in Northwest/KXLY
• CdA police seeks female classic car lover who vandalized vehicle/Press
• Patty Duke featured in theatrical reading of 'The Giver'/Camille Troxel, KXLY

Time 2 vote …

A woman, left, reads a book as cyclists have a bath in a public fountain after riding naked trough Madrid, Saturday. Cyclists demonstrated against cars and to promote the use of bicycles and to highlight the danger due to lack of cycling lanes in the capital. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

Monday winner — DFO/with 11 likes: “DFO provides Cindy with a little treat for doing another swell job blog sitting during his recent vacay.” You can see Monday photo and read all cutlines here.

From position paper As the “mom and pop” rural folks and business owners who live and work upon our rural lands, NWPOA (Northwest Property Owners Alliance) would like our elected officials to understand that we are now organized and we are here to stay. We have to admit our own failure in not diligently participating, rather just trusting, those we elect to do the right thing. We invite our elected and appointed officials to make this right. And they should know this about rural folks, we know how to work. To that end, in the future we will be holding candidate forums, we will establish a candidate survey, and establish a candidate rating system with regards to rural property owner interests. We also intend to establish a PAC to financially support those candidates who value and strongly support our rural property rights. As we say in the county when we’ve built a fence down the wrong line, “just gotta pull em out, fill the holes and build it right the next time.” You can read comment by Jennifer Locke (pictured) and see entire NWPOA position paper on ULUC here.

Question: Are you beginning to believe, as I am, that the USS Unified Land Use Code is taking on a lot of water?

Executive Tony Berns of LCDC responds to comments made by Councilman Dan Gookin earlier this month:

At the City’s June 6, 2013, strategic planning session, Councilman Gookin shared that a key strategy of his to address the City’s budgeting challenges would be to terminate the LCDC, thus resulting in more revenue to the City (link to his comments:  http://youtu.be/h-oOmNDmq0).  As you know Wendy, LCDC has two redevelopment districts; the Lake District which sunsets in 2021, and the River District which sunsets in 2027.  Councilman Gookin shared that via his analysis, it would take about 3 years to “unwind the debt” of the LCDC, which he shared would then result in an additional $3 million/year of revenue for the City. There will not be $3 million in revenue per year to the City of CDA in three years by terminating the LCDC in 2014.  The City will not experience a windfall of new revenue if the LCDC is terminated.  Here is why: More here.

Question: Would it be foolish/wise to terminate LCDC in 2014?

Here's another photo by Duane Rasmussen of the annual Car d'Lane show in downtown Coeur d'Alene during the last weekend.

• Homeschoolers awake/Fort Boise
• The talking phase/From A Simple Mind
• Drama in the Idaho GOP/Randy Stapilus
• On a dark & stormy morning/Slight Detour
• Who loves short shorts?/Writing North Idaho
• Second life for Nampa raffle fund-raiser/The EDge
• Congress: If you vote for it, you ought to have to live with it/Dogwalk Musings
• Hawkins: Idaho the home of state-sponsored crony capitalism/Rocky Barker

HucksOnline numbers (for Monday, June 17): 7035 page-views/4086 unique views

Idaho has some of the nation’s lowest crime rates, but its prison population is growing quickly at a time when most states are seeing declines.  So now all three branches of state government in Idaho – from the governor to the Supreme Court to the Legislature – are coming together to launch an intensive new effort to find out what’s going wrong and fix it, with the help of grant funding and aid from the Pew Charitable Trusts, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance, and the Council of State Governments’ Justice Center/Betsy Russell, Eye on Boise. More here.

Question: Talk about re-packaging at old idea. In the 1990s, then Gov. Phil Batt proposed to greatly reduce criminal justice funding by not imprisoning low-risk individuals caught for small offenses like low-level drug crimes, bad-check writing or driving with expired license or without insurance. Do you suppose something substantive will get done under Otter?

In less than a decade, Idaho will likely join the ranks of states with more than one area code. That’s right, Idaho’s 208 area code is quickly becoming an endangered species. This isn’t a new story. Back in 2007, the Idaho Public Utilities Commission said the state would run out of 208 phone numbers within five years. That’s when number conservation and consolidation kicked in. The amount of phone numbers available expanded when the state changed the way it assigns them. According to the North American Numbering Plan, Idaho has approximately 820,000 208 telephone numbers available. Today, there are about 3.4 million 208 numbers assigned to Idaho/Emily Ritter Saunders, StateImpact. More here.

Question: Would you be willing to give up your 208 Idaho area code without a fight?

Chuck Gamache’s wisdom tooth was impacted, growing sideways in his jaw. It had to come out. This was terrifying, considering Gamache’s dental history: the pain of a childhood in-line skating accident that broke his front teeth, a young adulthood marked by soda pop and neglect that made him self-conscious. “When I got to the dentist, regardless of the situation, it would get to where I was almost hyperventilating, going into shock,” said Gamache, 31, of Spokane Valley. “I mean, I was freaking myself out.” Before getting his wisdom tooth out, he asked his dentist, Dr. James Hood, about “conscious sedation” – the use of drugs to ease anxiety before and during dental procedures. They settled on a three-pill plan, two to be taken the night before his procedure and one in the morning/Adrian Rogers, SR. More here. (SR photo: Sedation has eased dental procedures for Danyel Swenson, wearing an “elephant nose” delivering nitrous oxide and accompanied by her doll Grace at KiDDS Dental in Liberty Lake)

Question: How nervous are you before a dental appointment?

In this Duane Rasmussen photo, a cat emerges from tall grass somewhere northeast of Post Falls last weekend. Duane informs Huckleberries that he can't touch a cat without an allergic reaction, like red eyes. How about you?

Question: Are you allergic to cats? Or afraid of black cats?

… What color would it be? (Please explain color choice)

A company based in Dalton Gardens have created “Jihawg” ammunition. The concept is to defend against Islamic extremists and create “Peace Through Pork”. According to Islamic law pork is unclean. Anyone who is considered unclean must go through a cleansing ritual. No unclean person will be accepted in to paradise after death. Jihawg claims to get to the root of extreme Islam & Jihad by putting the idea of paradise in doubt of extremists/Dylan Wohlenhaus, KHQ. More here. (KHQ photo)

• More about Jihawg Ammo here.

Thoughts about 'Jihawg' ammo?

From Post Falls Police Department Facebook: “Registered Sex Offender Awareness – According to our local sex offender database that is maintained by the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department, there are 358 Registered Sex Offenders (RSOs) in Kootenai County with 77 of those residing in Post Falls (see attached map). The information in the sex offender registry is provided only for the purpose of protecting the public. It is not to be used for the purpose of harassing or intimidating anyone.” More here.

Question: Do you feel safe?

When it comes to preparing teachers for the classroom, Idaho colleges and universities get a “D” grade, according to a Washington, D.C.-based group. The new National Council on Teacher Quality report found Idaho teacher education programs lacking in several areas. Among the findings:

• Idaho isn’t selective enough. Only 22 percent of the state’s teacher education programs restrict admissions to the top half of college-bound students. Nationally, the average is 28 percent.
• Reading programs fail to measure up. Only a quarter of the state’s elementary instruction programs teach what the report calls “effective, scientifically based reading instruction.” The national average is 29 percent.
• Idaho’s special education teaching certificate, covering kindergarten through 12^th grade, fails to note differences between working with elementary and secondary students.

Not all the news is bad, however/Kevin Richert, IdahoED News. More here.

Question: Do you have a teacher in your family?

The previously scheduled Planning Commission Unified Land Use Code (ULUC) hearing and deliberation scheduled for June 18, 19, 20, 24, 25, 26 and 27, 2013 has been temporarily “postponed”.  In order to better accommodate interested attendees and to encourage ongoing participation in the ULUC review process, the Planning Commission is looking into locating more accommodating facilities for continuing the public hearing forums.  It is the Planning Commission’s intent to promptly move forward with the process in order to ensure the public, agencies, affected political subdivisions, and cities all have timely opportunity to participate and provide input for Planning Commission consideration prior to formulating their recommendation to the Board of Commissioners. Once locations and dates have been identified, public notice will be provided with a 28-day notice in local newspapers, posted to the project website, and e-mail blasted out to the ULUC e-mail blast list/Sandi Gilbertson, Kootenai County planning news release.

The Don’t Fail Idaho media blitz asks us to rethink education for Idaho because results from the NAEP 2011 tests prove that about 60 percent of Idaho’s fourth- and eighth-grade students were not proficient in reading and mathematics. Not proficient in the sense that 60 percent of our students are not making the grade, are falling further behind and will never catch up. Not to panic, though! The Don’t Fail Idaho campaign’s message about student achievement is based on an incorrect understanding and analysis of NAEP achievement levels. One thing for sure, misreporting student achievement data is not going to help anyone make informed decisions about K-12 education in Idaho/Bert Stoneberg, IdahoED News. More here.

Thoughts?

Mary Souza campaigns in downtown Coeur d'Alene during the recent Car d'Lane event.   She paused to visit briefly with NRA board member, Dwight Van Horn. Photographer Duane Rasmussen noticed she had political campaign buttons that she was giving to some people.  I don't know if Van Horn got one or not. 

Question: Just getting back to speed after a week's vacay. Dunno if anyone else has announced for mayor or City Council, besides Mary and Jim Brannon. But I did hear that former chamber manager Pat McGaughey has been mentioned as a mayoral prospect. Any other good rumors re: fall municipal elections this year?