Huckleberries Best of the Northwest — 7/14/05
Marianne Dahle, 26, of Caldwell, Idaho, accused of scalping a 15-year-old girl in January, changed her plea to guilty of aggravated battery this week here/APhoto.
The Washington state Supreme Court meets en banc – as a group – today to consider a request for a quick review of the recall petition for Mayor Jim West. The nine-member court is in summer recess, and such meetings are in closed session/Jim Camden, Spokesman-Review, here.
Related: As a state senator, West was quick to call for firing when ex-guv Mike Lowry was involved in sex scandal here.
1. The Seattle cartoonists aren't producing of late, so let's turn to Chuck Asay/Colorado Springs Gazette for a look at all the advice Dubya's getting re: his Supreme Court nominee here.
2. *Art Fletcher, a civil rights giant and former Pasco councilman, has died at age 80 here (free subscription required).
3. Duce, a 4-year-old Belgian Malinois, has been kicked off the Ada County (Boise) Sheriff's Dept. force after attacking a Meridian boy June 29 here.
4. Convicted sex offender Joseph Edward Duncan III, formerly from Tacoma, set quiet Wednesday as prosecutors read the charges against him in the Groene murder/kidnapping case here. Meanwhile, expressions of support for 8-year-old survivor Shasta Groene are pouring in from all over the nation here
5. The Montana Highway Patrol is expected to drop its controversial guideline of requiring officers to make one traffic stop per hour here.
6. IMHO-NW: Gary Crooks/Spokesman-Review (Spokane council should investigate West), Idaho Statesman (Meridian deserves place on "best" list), Robert Herold/Inlander (Defending Morning Star Boys Ranch), Bill Witherup/PI (Dreaming of nuclear nightmare), and G. George Ostrom/Bigfork (Mont.) Eagle (An unlikely grizzly story).
*In a wimpy response to a national advocacy group, WSU prez V. Lane Rawlins stood by the PC gang of 40 that disrupted an "intentionally offensive" student play this spring here.
*Ex-Gonzaga star Ronny Turiaf signed a two-year $1M contract with the L.A. Lakers here.
*WSU told to fix racial harassment policies here.
*Whitefish, Mont., is considering a six-month moratorium on new growth here.
Orbusmax provides the rest of the Northwest here.
