Huckleberries Best of the INorthwest — 4/12/06
Idaho state Rep. Frances Field, R-Grand View, leads the Idaho House in singing "God Bless America" as the 2006 legislative session came to a close in Boise Tuesday. This year's session was the third longest in Idaho history. (AP Photo/Darin Oswald)
Eye On Boise: Gov. Kempthorne will sign increased homeowners exemption into law here.
1. David Horsey/Seattle PI sees the problem with illegal immigration as a matter of what-goes-around-comes-around here.
2. Dan Popkey/Idaho Statesman: Stage is set for meaningful property tax reform in 1977 here.
3. A 10-year-old Boise boy who died of cancer in January has won a national literature contest for a poem about his illness. Izeyah Yenter's poem, "I Wonder Why..." received the Outstanding Interpretation award for literature, the highest honor in the Parent Teacher Association Reflections, here.
4. Pierce County sheriff's deputies say they've foiled a plot by four students at Key Peninsula Middle School at Lakebay in the Peninsula School District to shoot staff members and students and, burn down the school here.
5. A trip to Iraq last weekend reinforced for Rep. Cathy McMorris her belief that the U.S. military is doing the right thing, at the right time, in the Middle East. But it also convinced her that the Iraqis need to step up to the challenge of protecting and running their own country here.
6. IMHO-NW: Rebecca Nappi/Spokesman-Review (Wishing the best for Katie Couric), Idaho Statesman (The system worked -- slowly), Coeur d'Alene Press (MySpace needs more than warning label), Joel Connelly/Seattle PI ("GOP welfare state"), and Bardia Mehrabian/WSU Daily Evergreen (Nation of immigrants fearful of immigration?).
Online Poll: 61.4% of 1006 respondents to an Idaho Statesman poll gave the 2006 Legislature grades of D or F.
*2 Idahoans sentenced to prison for killing grizzly bear cub here.
*A Rexburg, Idaho, man who apparently lived with the decomposed bodies of his wife and daughter was charged Tuesday with involuntary manslaughter here.
*BLM proposes birth control program to gain time while improving wild horse habitat here.
*Polling for Washington state quarter back online here. (BTW, you can vote for your favorite Montana quarter, too, here.)
Orbusmax Special: Idaho grocer fires workers for attending immigration rally without excuse here.
