Jason Hunt/Coeur d'Alene Press, AP Photo

Army 1st Sgt. Scott Dale receives a hug from his daughter, Jenna, 10, during a welcoming ceremony for the Company B, 321st Engineer Battalion (Combat) at the Army Reserve Center in Hayden Wednesday. See Item No. 2.

1. Austin Askens, a 19-year-old Central Valley High School graduate is back home in Liberty Lake from Boise, but memories of the day a stranger shot him and two other Northwest Lineman College students outside a party still haunt his dreams, and he faces multiple surgeries to fix damage to his tongue and teeth here.

2. A few hundred family, friends and well-wishers welcomed about 32 members of a U.S. Army Reserve unit back home from Iraq on Wednesday at a boisterous ceremony in Hayden here.

3. Online Poll: 76% of 843 respondents to an Idaho Statesman poll say they disagree with U.S. Sen. Larry Craig's decision to stay in the Senate for now here.

4. News Roundup: Craig's not quitting, yet/Spokesman-Review; "Dead" Moscow man struggles to get life back/Spokesman-Review; Otter: Craig successor should keep staff in place/Idaho Statesman; BSU player discusses baby named for him/KTVB; and Meridian teen admits to raping female classmate/KTVB.

5. Blogosphere: Bleeping men/A Family Runs Through It; Cold dead hands or cold dead culture/Free In Idaho; Holier than thou/Fort Boise; Calls made difference on health care vote/Red State Rebels; And don't let the door hit you .../Adam's Blog.

6. IMHO-Idaho: Larry Craig Airport Commode Quiz/Doug Clark (Spokesman-Review); Divorce got you done? Take your gun to court/Tom Henderson (Lewiston Tribune); "I will continue ..."/Randy Stapilus (Ridenbaugh Press); Send illegal aliens home now/Robert B. Murray II (Idaho Statesman); and How does Favre look in blue/Brian Murphy (Idaho Statesman).

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