Jessica Simpson, 6, tries to catch snowflakes on her tongue during the lighting of the Statehouse Christmas tree Thursday in Boise.(AP Photo/The Idaho Statesman, Katherine Jones)

SR: Spokane Sensitivity: Minor League baseball team, tribe showed mutual respect here.

1. Serial killer Robert Yates Jr., a Spokane factory worker and former military helicopter pilot, wants the high court to toss out his 2002 conviction in Pierce County. A jury there found him guilty of killing Mercer and another woman and sentenced him to death here.

2. The famed Sun Valley resort received low marks on a report card grading ski areas for their impact on the environment, while rustic Bogus Basin near Boise ranked in the top 10 nationally here.

3. A 90-year-old Thurston County (Olympia, Wash.) woman found dead in front of her home Thursday by her hospice care worker is believed to have died of hypothermia after she stepped outside Wednesday night and was accidentally locked out here.

4. Wal-Mart again has been listed as having more workers on Medicaid and Washington's Basic Health Plan than any other private employer in the state here.

5. Four Clark Fork (Idaho) High School students will be charged with felonies after vandalizing school buses and causing two-hour delays for about 50 students Thursday morning here.

6. IMHO-NW: Palousitics (Educated but not smart), KTVB.com (BSU: "Vanilla Ice" of BCS?), Idaho Statesman (Craig's 11th-hour wilderness conditions unfair), Frank McGovern/UI Argonaut (Men of rainbow-colored cloth), Leaning Straight Up (Demos taking same-o direction), John Blanchette/Spokesman-Review (A December for Zags to remember)

Online Poll: By 32% to 20%, 1202 respondents to an Idaho Statesman poll believe "Seinfeld" (over "The Simpsons") had the best catchphrases as TV Land prepares to air the 100 best TV catchphrases of all time.

*Ex-UMontana cage MVP charged with assault here.

*Wyoming prison guards treated after pepper spray incident here.

*Ex-North Idaho forest official Jane Kollmeyer to direct Sawtooth National Forest here.

*Major damage has been found in a chairlift tower at the Silver Mountain ski resort here.

Orbusmax Special: CNET editor James Kim, family missing during Pacific NW trip here.

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