Archive for April 2011
Britain's Prince William, left, and his wife, Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, walk down the aisle together at Westminster Abbey for the Royal Wedding in London on Friday. (AP Photo/APTN)
Question: What do you think of Kate's wedding dress — thumbs up or thumbs down?
In her new End Notes blog, SR colleague Rebecca Nappi posts: “At lunch Thursday with one of my favorite people, Dr. Elizabeth Welty, who was a doctor in Spokane when women doctors were quite rare here, told me the 'secret' to an active life at 96. 'Keep busy. Plan tomorrow.' And, I noted, she drank real coffee — black.” (2007 SR file photo of Dr. Welty)
Question: What would say would be the secret to a long life?
Hats off to Kate Middleton. The new Duchess of Cambridge has sparked a trend in hat accessories called fascinators, say industry observers and entrepreneurs who specialize in the niche. Fascinators are decorative 
trappings made of fanciful materials such as feathers, flowers, lace or beads. They're typically attached to hats or worn in one's hair in lieu of a hat, along with formal attire. Some American hat retailers say the accouterments have been selling strong ever since photos of Ms. Middleton wearing them began to surface a few months ago. Customers are mostly brides and fans of the Kentucky Derby, the annual race that's populated by attendees donning frivolous, oversized hats/Sarah E. Needleman, Wall Street Journal. More here. (AP photo/Martin Meissner: Britain's Princess Beatrice, left, and Britain's Princess Eugenie leave after the wedding service in Westminster Abbey at the Royal Wedding in London Friday)
Question: What do you think of the hats worn by women to the royal wedding?
Pope John Paul II will move one step closer to sainthood when he is beatified during an elaborate Vatican 
ceremony on Sunday. While the Roman Catholic Church has held up heroes, patrons, intercessors and spiritual companions for centuries, the path to sainthood is never easy or quick. “The lives of the saints show us that God makes holiness out of all sorts of different materials,” said the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and author of My Life with the Saints. While many religious traditions honor people who are considered especially holy, the Catholic Church has a uniquely complex system for declaring someone a saint. The multi-step canonization process has evolved since the 13th century/Kim Lawton, USA Today. More here. (AP file photo of Pope John Paul II in Los Angeles in September 1987)
Question: Is Pope John Paul II the right type of a person who should be made a saint?
Nez Perce County Commission Chairman Mike Grow, pictured, showed up for work last week after he was charged with a 
violent felony. Like every other criminal defendant, Grow is presumed innocent — repeat, innocent — until proved guilty. But Grow's constitutional rights as an individual do not parallel — nor do they outweigh — his obligation to serve the public interest. Valley County deputies arrested Grow April 14 at his Brammer Building office. The next day, he appeared before Magistrate Henry R. Boomer on a charge of sexually assaulting a woman April 3 inside a residence at Tamarack Resort near Donnelly. A preliminary hearing is set for May 10. Released on $15,000 bail, Grow attended the April 18 commissioners' meeting. So far, he has declined to talk about his case, except to say he intends to remain in office/Marty Trillhaase, Lewiston Tribune. More here.
Question: Should an elected official, like Nez Perce County Commissioner Mike Grow, continue in his job when he's charged with sexual assault or any other violent crime?
Nick Anderson/Houston Chronicle
It's been a busy day so far, beginning with the online interview with U.S. Sen. Jim Risch this morning — and continuing at Hucks Central with my weekly writing of the Huckleberries print column. I haven't even had time to indulge in a guilty pleasure: watching highlights of the royal wedding. I've had the Brit bug since watching “The King's Speech” and “Queen.” I also dig those accents. Now to replay the Wild Card …
Kate Middleton and Prince William hold hands during their wedding ceremony earlier today at Westminster Abbey, conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson, Pool)
Steve Carell’s last episode of The Office was the top-rated scripted show of the night boosting NBC to a 
second place tie with CBS in the 18-49 demographic behind Fox and American Idol. On a night when the broadcast networks faced stiff competition from the first round of the NFL draft on ESPN and the NBA playoffs on TNT, Fox averaged a 4.2 rating in the 18-49 demographic with 14.4 million viewers overall while NBC and CBS averaged a 2.5 rating each, with NBC pulling in 5.2 million viewers compared to CBS’ 10.9 million/The Hollywood Reporter. More here. (AP file photo)
Question: Do the people in Steve Carell's “The Office” resemble the ones you work with in any way?
Washington State sophomore Shawn Swartz practices the high jump at Mooberry Track Tuesday afternoon in Pullman. Swartz recently returned to the track after being diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. John Blanchette SR story here. (Special to the SR: Kevin Quinn)
Britain's Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall watch as Britain's Prince William kisses his wife Kate, Duchess of Cambridge on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after the Royal Wedding in London earlier this morning. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
Top Cutlines:
A Facebook Friend writes: “Hmmm … Just stopped by the house and was shocked to have a couple Jehovah Witnesses drive down my long driveway to come preach to me when I am in a rush. Maybe a gate IS a good idea … If you are offended … sorry … I'll send a couple Catholics to get you!
Question: How do you handle religious missionaries at your doorstep?
After finding a 1989 Polk Directory for $1 at St. Vinny's, OrangeTV/Get Out! North Idaho got
nostalgic: “Remember the fun midnight madness sales that downtown merchants used to make happen on warm summer nights? The pre-Art on the Green/Mega-Street Fair-era sidewalk sales which only the actual shops participated in? I do really enjoy what downtown Cd'A has to offer in the current tense (art galleries, art galleries, pricey ladies clothing boutiques, art galleries and art galleries), but it seems to me there was just a more interesting variety of shopping and dining options back then (where did all the bookstores go?). A handful of places from back then are still in existence, but a fond RIP to the rest of these long-forgotten names. More here. (Get Out! North Idaho photo: Sherman Avenue looking east 1986)
Hucks Online numbers (for Thursday, April 28): 8607/5088
Question: What do you remember most about the mid- to late-80s in the Coeur d'Alene area?
Young basketball players from all over the country will show off their free throw talent at the National Elks 
“Hoop Shoot” Finals in Springfield, MA on April 29th and May 1st. Dylan Bengtson, a fourth grade student at Dalton Elementary, has earned his spot in the national event after winning the local, district, state and regional qualifying rounds. At the regional contest in Portland, Dylan made 22 out of 25 free throw shots to secure his spot at nationals. Boys and girls from ages 8 to 13 will compete in the 39th annual event on Saturday that originated in Corvallis, Oregon when an Elks member noticed younger grade school kids being left out of basketball play at a local gymnasium/KHQ. More here.
Question: Were you a very good free throw shooter as an amateur basketball player?
Jacob Lewis, 8, left, sister Hope, 3, second from left, brother Caleb, 1, and their mother, Joy Lewis, right, and grandfather, Ed Blankenship, second from right, all of Stafford, Va., walk past the Rocket Garden while leaving a launch viewing area, after the space shuttle Endeavour launch was scrubbed, at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Friday. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
To call what the Hyde family has been through a “parent's worst nightmare” sounds like a horrible cliche. But, it's hard to imagine what else you could call it. Their two-year-old son Cash was diagnosed last year with a stage 4 brain tumor; he nearly died more times than they can count. He was miserable from the chemotherapy coursing through his body until his dad made a controversial decision to give cannabis to his young son.June 21, 2008 is a day Mike and Kalli Hyde will never forget. It was the day they brought their second son into the world. Mike describes the little boy they call Cashy as a healthy baby boy, born in Missoula. Never could they have imagined the journey little Cashy's life would take/Melissa Luck, KXLY. More here.
Question: Would you have done the same thing if you'd been in Mike Hyde's shoes?
What kind of low-down louse would steal copper pipe from a house plumbing system? Agent Deborah Leigh 
Saunders of Coldwell Banker is asking herself that after a burglar swiped copper pipe from a vacant house at 27142 Clagstone Road/Athol, between April 18 and Wednesday, when the theft was noticed. The thief took the copper pipe from a closet in the basement containing the hot water heater. The thief took three pieces of 1-inch pipe — in lengths of 48, 40, and 12 inches. The sheriff's report says the cut ends of the copper pipe remaining were crimped incidating they had been cut with a bolt cutter. The house has been vacant for a year.
In the “Stupid Drunks Do Stupid Things” Department, two 21YO men were cited for open containers @ 2nd & Lakeside early Saturday morning. No big deal, right? Here's the back story. The pair were walking home after 
being with a 25YO buddy who'd been arrested 13 minutes earlier for DUI. Seems they were in their buddies vehicle in the 500 block of Lakeside when cops popped their friend who blew a .148. The buddy admitted to drinking but told officers he'd started the vehicle to warm up. Beer was found in the vehicle. Afterward, the two sidekicks confessed they were drinking as they walked home. All this happened between 1:37 and 1:50 a.m. And this post means that another Coeur d'Alene Downtown Bar Report has arrived in Huckleberries e-mailbox.
On his Facebook wall, Henry Johnston writes that he got more than he asked for when he asked the Daily Grind in Moscow today for “The biggest Mocha you have, double shots” He'd seen the biggest cup on display as a 20 oz thought that'd be fine. Instead, he got a 36oz mega tub with 12 shots in it. Quoth Henry: “Wowza! I'm wired!”
Question: What size and type of drink do you order at your favorite coffee shop?
The talented photography department at The Spokesman-Review compiled this slideshow of the royal wedding this morning …
A Romenesko reader notes that the Associated Press story on Donald Trump‘s Las Vegas speech reports the real estate mogul “unleashed a tirade of profanity,” but doesn’t give any examples. (The AP described Trump’s profanities as “curse-bombs” while Reuters said he used the “F word.”) “Fortunately Reuters filled in the blanks this morning,” writes the reader, who sent both services’ dispatches for comparison/Jim Romenesko, Poynter. More here.
Question: How should the media describe the language of a speaker, like Trump, in this instance, who salts who talk with curse words? Should they media ever use the exact language uttered?
The Lucky Friday Mine is back in operation, Hecla Mining Co. officials said today. The underground silver mine near Mullan was closed for nearly two weeks following a fatal accident at the mine. Larry “Pete” Marek, 53, was killed in a roof fall at the mine. The accident is under investigation by the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration/Becky Kramer, SR.
Question: Have you ever been in a mine? And/or: Could you go back underground after the tragedy at the Lucky Friday Mine earlier this month?
Item: Two-thirds 'very concerned' about rising gasoline prices/Rochester Business Journal
More Info: New York last week joined the growing list of states where the average price of self-serve regular gasoline has topped $4 a gallon. The national average has reached $3.86 a gallon—up 32 cents over the past five weeks. Two-thirds of respondents to this week’s RBJ Daily Report Snap Poll said they were very concerned about the impact of rising gasoline prices on their businesses, and 27 percent more chose “somewhat concerned” as their answer.
Question: In my interview with U.S. Sen. Jim Risch this morning, he said gas prices are an Achilles heel for President Barack Obama. And that the president is tone deaf to the outcry of concerned consumers. Do you think the president is doing enough to address this emergency?
Britain's Prince William drives his wife Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, away from Buckingham Palace in a vintage Aston Martin Volante convertible after their wedding at London's Westminster Abbey, Friday. (AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)
Question: An estimated 2 billion people watched the royal wedding this morning. Can you guesstimate how many people witnessed your wedding?
He tossed his head and his shaggy blond bangs shrouded his blue eyes. “How’s this?” he asked as he 
flashed an oversized grin. “The girls call this my Joker smile.” I sighed and squirmed, trying to get comfortable on the beige plastic chair at the Department of Licensing. “I like it. It’s cute,” I replied to my son. “Gosh, Mom! It’s supposed to be scary – horrifying, even!” Zachary and I were at the DOL to get his learner’s permit. In a few months’ time I’ll have three children who are licensed to drive. Don’t say I didn’t warn you/Cindy Hval, Front Porch. SR. More here.
Question: Are you happy with the photo on your driver's license?
Jurors this morning saw emails Edgar Steele sent to a 25-year-old European woman with whom prosecutors 
say he was seeking an intimate relationship. The messages were among more than 14,000 Steele sent through a Ukrainian online dating website in the months before his arrest last June. Steele told Tatyana Loginova he was looking for “his second half, a girl he couldn't live without,” and that he was not in love with his wife. Edgar Steele told her he had “produced the greatest children in the world, but I deserve more. I will never have another American woman, never again,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Traci Whelan said/Meghann Cuniff, Sirens & Gavels. More here.
Question (for men): What has Steele got that you ain't got?
Idaho State Police Capt. Lonnie Richardson told a hearing officer at the Highway 12 megaloads 
contested-case hearing today that ISP has received “intel” about “people who may want to interfere with the loads.” He said, “There are organizations who would like to disrupt the movement of the load either by means of personnel or more severe.” Richardson declined to provide more information, saying the intelligence was “confidential information.” He said, “There have been threats,” and said, “Everybody has got a different definition of terrorism”/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here. (AP file photo)
Question: Do you think there's a legitimate domestic terrorism threat to megaload shipments … in Idaho?
Linda Miller sister-in-law of Larry”Pete” Marek hugs an attendee of Marek's memorial service at Kellogg High School on Thursday in Kellogg. Marek died April 15 after a roof collaps at the Lucky Friday Mine in Mullan. (SR photo: Kathy Plonka)
From the University of Minnesota comes this snippet of curious — although not particularly useful — political 
trivia. By year’s end, Idaho may be the only state in the union to never hold a special election to fill a U.S. House vacancy, Idaho has shared this distinction with Nevada. But later this year, Nevada will hold a special election to succeed Republican Rep. Dean Heller, who was appointed this week to succeed John Ensign in the U.S. Senate. Part of this is a matter of happenstance. Idaho has never had a House member resign mid-term, and only one Idaho House member has died while in office/Kevin Richert, Idaho Statesman. More here.
Question: In what other ways do you consider Idaho politics unique?
Then, this week, Michael Hop came rushing to his brother’s defense. He claimed – in a long story the S-R published on its website, and a shorter version that appeared in the paper – that his brother is merely proud of 
his white heritage, and there’s nothing wrong with that. The reason he picketed taco trucks in Coeur d’Alene – an activity that is deeply offensive to both heart and stomach – is because the Hop brothers, being from California and all, truly understand what will happen if we let tacos and the people who make them proliferate. In his interview with the S-R, Michael Hop tried to whitewash these things the way bigots always do – it’s not that they hate anybody; it’s just that they’re proud of their race, see? Nothing wrong with that/Shawn Vestal, SR. More here.
Question: Are people who picket Mexican food stands in Coeur d'Alene misguided? Hateful? Or merely individuals with a pride in the white culture?
General Bob Brooke, United States Army retired, gives U.S. Sen. Jim Risch a mug for speaking at the North Idaho Pachyderm Club breakfast this morning.
Huckleberries: What do you consider the top 2 or 3 issues today?
U.S. Sen. Jim Risch: By far and away there is really only one issue today. And that's the precarious issue of our finances. The federal government will spend $3.8 trillion this year which doesn't mean anything to anyone because of the size of that number. But when I tell you that they will borrow 40% of it, between $4 and $5 billion every day (twice the annual budget of the entire state of Idaho), it will help put it into perspective.
Rescuers in the tornado-ravaged South searched through debris for survivors and bodies on Friday ahead of a visit by President Barack Obama to the state worst hit by the disaster that killed 310 people. Obama will view the destruction in Alabama, the hardest hit of seven states that were blasted this week by twisters and violent storms that flattened whole neighborhoods in the worst U.S. natural catastrophe since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. In Alabama alone, 210 people lost their lives. Obama and his family were due to visit the university town of Tuscaloosa, which was savaged by a monster tornado on WednesdayVerna Gates, Reuters. More here.
Question: Do you have friends or relatives who were in the path of the twisters?
Item: Post Falls, Kootenai County decidedly union-free/Brian Walker & Alecia Warren, Press
More Info: Kootenai County has never looked at using a union, as far as Commissioner Todd Tondee knows. “Why should we?” Tondee said. “Everything's working OK.” The county sets wages for its 792 employees through a system developed by a consultant years ago, Tondee said, which is based on the pay scales of similar entities.
Question: Would you prefer that your city and/or county permit public employee unions? Or not?
A longtime Coeur d'Alene cocaine dealer who laundered money through a bar and restaurant has been 
sentenced to 15 years in prison. James Roy “Slim” O'Neill, 49, was the kingpin of a cocaine distribution ring that supplied the drug in North Idaho for at least a decade and operated partly out of Chiller's bar on Sherman Avenue. According to court documents, O'Neill also grew marijuana near Mineral Ridge, a popular hiking area that gives a spectacular view of Lake Coeur d'Alene/Meghann Cuniff, Sirens & Gavels. More here.
Question: Do cases like this unsettle you a little re: how much crime is happening all around us in North Idaho?
U.S. Sen. Jim Risch is going to swing by Huckleberries HQ tomorrow morning for a quick 5-question Q-and-A w/your Huckleberry Hound. Should be interesting. Dunno what I'll ask him. Pretty hard to get too deep in 5 questions. But I won't worry about the questions today. I'll post this Wild Card instead and go in search of more fodder …
Auburn Quarterback Cam Newton, right, holds up a jersey with NFL commission Roger Goodell after he was selected as the No. 1 overall pick by the Carolina Panthers in the first round of the NFL football draft at Radio City Music Hall Thursday in New York. (AP Photo/Stephen Chernin)
Superman is no longer an American. In Action Comics’ new record-breaking 900th issue, the iconic super 
hero renounces his U.S citizenship following a clash with the federal government. The Man of Steel, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in 1938, has always been recognized as a devoted American warrior who constantly fought evil, but as of Thursday, he is no longer the country's own to claim. “I intend to speak before the United Nations tomorrow and inform them that I am renouncing my U.S. citizenship,” he says in a cell in the issue. “I'm tired of having my actions construed as instruments of U.S. policy”/Holly McKay, Fox News. More here. (AP photo/DC Comics)
Question: Does it matter to you whether or not Superman is an American?
Outside the THC Pharmacy pot dispensary, marijuana activists chant “DEA, go away!” in protest on Perry St. in Spokane today. The DEA raided the dispensary while most dispensary owners and pot activists were at a meeting about how to handle DEA raids. SR story by Chelsea Bannach and Thomas Clouse here. (SR photo: Jesse Tinsley)
Canadian skater Meagan Duhamel hits Eric Radford with her elbow as they perform their pair's short program at the ISU Figure skating World championships in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)
Top Cutlines:
The Spike TV sitcom pilot, “Thunderballs,” will start filming in Spokane next week and the casting call speaks
volumes about the show. For one thing, they are seeking someone to play the “Olympia Beer Bikini Girl.” The show is about a group of 30-something guys on a bowling team and, like every show on Spike, it is aimed at the male market. Or should we say, the dude market. Here are a few of the fictional bowling teams being cast locally through Big Fish NW Talent: The Mullets (plus a Mullet Mom and Mullet Baby). The Super Vixens. Ballbarians/Jim Kershner, Spotlight. More here. (Wikipedia photo of a mullet)
Question: Do you now or have you ever worn a mullet? C'mon, fess up.
“Kiddo” is Spencer, an 8 year old, first grader at North Star School. “Kiddo” has autism. In many ways Spencer is like any first grader, he loves the trampoline, he loves Sponge Bob and he loves the water. But in many ways he is not like most kids. Diagnosed at age 5, he requires intensive therapy and constant attention. Thom George is using his camera and writing skills to tell “Kiddo's” story. Click here.
Hucks Online numbers (for Wednesday, April 27): 8877/5252
Question: Is there any history of autism in your family?
Idaho Statesman has posted a sweet database on its Web site that enables you to check how your name or your child's name (or any other name for that matter) rated among the top Idaho names for 2009. David ranked No. 19 (with 68 babies being named that in 2009). Logan, Jacob, and Ethan ranked 1-2-3 among boys' names. Olivia, Emma, and Isabella were 1-2-3 among girls' names. None of the other family members in the Coeur d'Alene Olive foursome made either list. Find database here.
Question: How did your name or one of your kids' names rank?
For some (in the Birther movement), it’s an emotional thing. They’ve put themselves too far out on the limb to come back and sheepishly say I was wrong. Anytime, there’s a conspiracy theory that people become 
obsessed with, some become too emotionally invested to admit there was no conspiracy. Therefore, people believe the Warren Commission was a fraud, and that two Independent Counsel reports from offices overseen by Republican IG sconcluding that Vince Foster committed suicide, are merely covering up. For others, there are more practical reasons to keep the conspiracy alive/Adam Graham, Adam's Blog. More here.
Question: Are you nursing a conspiracy theory that you're willing to share?
John Martin, vice president for community relations and marketing at NIC, said the policy was created for 
safety reasons and to allow students to get to their classes. “The policy is to keep the campus safe and undisrupted when demonstrations are taking place. When Westboro Baptist Church visited us this last year we did not have a policy in place to say ‘OK, you’re welcome on our campus and we believe in the First Amendment right to free speech.’ However, we don’t believe groups that are demonstrating or exercising their right to free speech have the right to impede traffic or to disrupt classes or things of that nature”/Mitch Coffman, Idaho Reporter. More here.
Question: Was the NIC trustee decision to create a free-speech zone a reasonable response to the visit by Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church in 2010 reasonable or overkill?
… The Seattle Mariners beat host Detroit again today to sweep their three-game series with the Tigers, scoring 24 runs in the process to improve their record to 11-15. Here, rookie M's pitcher Michael Pineda delivers against the Detroit Tigers in the first inning of the baseball game. Story here. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
A 69-year-old Sandpoint woman has died as a result of injuries she suffered when a deer hit by another vehicle crashed through her window near western city limits of Sandpoint Monday morning. Judith Linker died at Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane Wednesday afternoon. Linker was westbound in her 2009 Toyota Scion when a deer emerging from a ditch was hit by eastbound Keith Nicholas, 37, of Libby, Mont. Linker's vehicle swerved off the road after deer crashed through the window, sheered off a power pole, and came to a stop on the other side of a creek. Linker was airlifted to Sacred Heart.
Mike Perry of KHQ has just tweeted that part of Hayden Lake Road has washed out from all the recent rains. (KHQ photo courtesy of Mike Perry)
Parents who let their kids drink when supervised – because they think it's safer than an outright ban on underage drinking – may want to rethink their approach due to a new study in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. Co-authored by University of Washington professor Richard Catalano, the study (PDF) found that teens who drank with adult supervision had more drinking-related problems than teens raised with a zero-tolerance attitude/Vanessa Ho, Seattle P-I. More here. (AP file illustration)
Question: What approach do/did you take with your children re: drinking?
High water levels have Kootenai County officials asking for help in protecting the dam on the southwest portion of Hayden Lake. Concerned about water lapping at the earthen dam, county officials have contacted the Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps is planning to take some protective measures that might involve reinforcing the structure to ensure its integrity. Officials have closed the top of the dam to public access, and commissioners will pass a resolution that creates a temporary no-wake zone in the area of Honeysuckle Bay near the dam/KREM. More here.
Idaho State Police Trooper Jess Spike has notified families of about two dozen deaths in his career. Never 
has he seen a reaction as stoic as that of Edgar Steele at his Sagle-area home last June when Spike told him his wife, Cyndi Steele, had died in a car crash after being run off the road near Portland, Ore., Spike testified today. “It was flat, paused, almost contrived. It was as if he was trying to retrieve something in an archive and come up with what the answer was. It wasn't natural,” Spike said. “He kind of choked up. It appeared as though he was trying to develop tears, and no tears developed”/Meghann Cuniff, Sirens & Gavels. More here.
Work continues Wednesday at the Coeur d'Alene Casino Resort Hotel in Worley. The company says the expansion will result in at least 250 new jobs. Tom Sowa SR story here. (SR photo: Kathy Plonka)
Question: When did you last visit the Coeur d'Alene Casino … and for what reason?
Santa Fe: Why is the leader of this country and wife on Oprah in the first place? Didn’t he state yesterday regarding him producing the long form of his birth certificate that “there are more important things that need to be done”? Guess the appearance on Oprah is important????
Question: If you wanted to get your message out to the country and win some poll points, can you think of a better outlet than Oprah Winfrey's show?
Bras on Dudes is for a good cause … Coeur d'Alene Relay for Life. It runs from 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday, May 7 at Fedora. Tickets are $25 for single and $40 for a couple. More here.
Question (for guys): Would you wear a bra or cross dress for a worthy cause?
The Kootenai County Reagan Republicans are targeting school board races now, as they plan a “Super Saturday” door-to-door campaign to support conservative Republicans in trustee elections in Coeur d'Alene and Post Falls. The RRepublicans will meet at 10 a.m. Saturday at Post Falls Super 1 to walk the streets for Post Falls trustee candidates Bonnie Beaulieu and Rob Moser. Another group of RR Elephants will meet at 10 a.m. at 9638 Ptarmigan/Hayden to walk streets for Coeur d'Alene candidates Terri Seymour & Tom Hamilton.
Question: What do you make of local Republicans trying to take over, even in nonpartisan races?
A construction workers guides a beam while a crane lowers it into place on the east end of the Kibbie Dome at the University of Idaho in Moscow on Tuesday. The work is part of a project to replace the wooden east wall of the building with translucent plastic panels that are not flammable. (AP Photo/Moscow-Pullman Daily News, Geoff Crimmins)
If
all goes according to plan, I’m 8 weeks from delivering my son. It’s my second, so I shouldn’t be surprised at the weird things people say to pregnant women. I was starting to think it was just me, so I checked around with some of my pregnant friends. I found out, it’s universal; people say really weird things to you as soon as another human being starts growing in your stomach. Maybe people just don’t know what they should say, so, on behalf of pregnant women everywhere, I am here to be your guide/Melissa Luck, KXLY. More here.
Question: Do you have anything to add to Melissa's list re: what not to say to a pregnant woman?
Seems Andie Tessler, a staff writer for the Shoshone News-Press two weeks out of journalism school, is “embarrassed” at the way the media has conducted themselves during coverage of the Lucky Friday Mine 
tragedy. In a News-Press column today, she said: “I have watched them walk the streets of Mullan without seeing them, speak to people in genuine distress without hearing them, and attend a heartfelt and moving vigil without actually being there. I am sickened. Being an objective journalist does not mean it is acceptable to sell your soul for a story; there must be a level of compassion and connection to the people around you or the integrity of your words is lost.” I'd say young Tessler has lost her objectivity in an attempt to ingratiate herself to individuals that she will be covering in the Silver Valley. I'd also say that she certainly wasn't describing professional SR staffers Becky Kramer, Alison Boggs, and Kathy Plonka who have been covering the tragedy. She should name names and specific examples rather than slime a whole profession that knows a whole lot more than her how to deal with breaking news. You can read more of Tessler's column here. (AP file photo)
Reaction?
Mike Lanza, chairman of Idahoans for Responsible Education Reform, says paid signature gatherers have joined volunteers to gather signatures to force a referendum on the three reform laws authored by 
Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna. Lanza said he doesn't know how many are working for the company hired for the job with money from the National Education Association on behalf of the Idaho Education Association. “The IEA took this step, and I endorse it, because we are serious about succeeding in this petition drive,” Lanza said in an email. “Having paid signature gatherers is not unusual, as you know. They've been hired as insurance. We expect to collect at least 60,000 signatures just through volunteers”/Dan Popkey, Idaho Statesman. More here. (AP file photo)
Question: Do you agree with the move by Idahoans for Responsible Education Reform to pay signature gatherers for referendum and recall drives against Superintendent Tom Luna's reforms?
The hyped-up wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton is a diversion. The histrionics over President Obama’s place of birth is a distraction. Oather-mania is harmless, and yeah, kind of charming. Birther-blather 
is malevolent. Cynical. Corrosive. The hubbub about the royal wedding is rooted not just in romance, but in an affinity for history. The huffing and puffing about Obama the “foreigner” reflects the worst of the politics of the present. So, if my oather friends wake up Friday when the clock strikes Ungodly, to watch a wedding seven times zones away, so what? It’s no skin off of the nose I haughtily hold aloft. You celebrate the event in your way. I’ll shrug it off in my way. Just let me sleep in, and all is right with the world. But, ah, the birthers. Can’t fathom them, either. So I’ve tried to ignore them, much as I’m trying to tune out the oathers this week/Kevin Richert, Idaho Statesman. More here.
Question: Would you rather deal with a 'Birther' of an 'Oather'?
Item: Idaho in line for union battle STATE of the UNION: Bill would prevent all public workers from collective bargaining, strikes/Tom Hasslinger, Coeur d'Alene Press
More Info: The bill is SB 1124 and its purpose is to eliminate collective bargaining for all Idaho public employees. Its author, Meridian Republican Sen. Shirley McKague, had it printed this year with the understanding it wouldn't come up for discussion during the 2011 Legislative session, but would give Idaho lawmakers time to read it and prepare for its possible formal introduction in 2012. Idaho might join the political war that polarized the Midwest this year.
Question: Do you want to see the state of Idaho eliminate collective bargaining for all stat public employees?
We Americans just can’t get enough about the impending matrimonial union of Prince William and Kate Middleton. So to help feed your upper crust cravings, I have prepared a quiz designed to test your royal knowledge. Answer the following questions. We’ll do the scoring at the end of the exam.
The Queen of England is …
A. Britain’s symbolic figurehead. (1 crown jewel.)Question: How much do you know about the British royal family?
Whoa, it's Harry Potter and the End of Our Childhood. Seriously, I challenge you to watch the new trailer for 
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” and not get chills. Go on, I dare you. The franchise, which has played out in theaters over the course of a solid decade, will finally come to an end this summer when “Deathly Hallows: Part 2” opens on July 15. This is the moment that the last 10 years of stalking Fandango for tickets and getting in line (in costume!) at 4 p.m. for the midnight showing were all leading up to/Hollywood Crush. More here. (AP file photo)
Question: Remember when many of us were talking about Muggles, Hogwarts, & Voldemort? Are you still into the Harry Potter book/movie series?
Joe Heller/Hellertoons
We need Marmitetoasty to check in today or tomorrow, to provide a Brit's perspective of the royal wedding. I'm sure some of you (65% according to polls) aren't as thrilled as you should be re: the scheduled nuptials of Prince William and Kate Middleton. I'm casually interested because I just saw “The King's Speech” again. Marmie, are you out there? I'll play the Wild Card while we're waiting to hear from her …
Here's the top Associated Press photos compiled in a slideshow by the photography department of The Spokesman-Review. Hold your cursor over the photo to see the cutline.
Item: San Francisco male circumcision ban has enough signatures for ballot, backers say/San Francisco Examiner.
More Info: The measure has gained nationwide attention since it was first reported six months ago, and is the latest much-talked about ban proposal to come out of San Francisco — since the Board of Supervisors banned toys in McDonald’s Happy Meals backed in November. The measure has also thrust the debate on circumcision into the spotlight. It has drawn sharp criticism from religious groups who say it violates religious freedom, and been ridiculed on “ The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.”
Question: Do you consider the circumcision of a male baby to be harmful or cruel?
Sara Lindberg, right, of Bremerton tries to entice her son Cooper,1, with a cookie from one of the vendors at the Silverdale Farmer's Market which is open on Tuesdays from 11-4 p.m. in the parking lot between Silverdale Waterfront Park and the boat dock. (AP Photo/Kitsap Sun, Larry Steagall)
A bookmaker touts for trade on the pavement near to Westminster Abbey in London earlier today. Royal enthusiasts are camping out outside the Abbey where Prince William and Kate Middleton are due to get married on Friday. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Top Cutlines:
On her Idaho Scenic Images Facebook wall, photographer Linda Lantzy writes of this shot from the Skagit Valley (Wash.) Tulip Festival: “My back is still feeling the aftermath of the acrobatics required for a shot like this.”
HBO numbers (for Tuesday, April 26): 7942/4803
I haven't been pulled over by a traffic cop in years. I remember being pulled over in the Spokane Valley some years back, for speeding slightly. I rarely go faster than 5 mph over the limit. I was given a warning. I was also pulled over in Uniontown, Wash., returning home from my son's JV Coeur d'Alene High Viks football game in Orofino. Again, I was let off with a warning. I received my only speeding ticket when I was 18. All of which brings me to the female driver who went hysterical when she was ticketed by a Post Falls officer around 2:25 p.m. today. Such was the woman's reaction that the patrol cop decided to stay parked behind her until she regained her composure.
Question: How do you react when an officer pulls you over for a traffic offense?
President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama are pictured with Oprah Winfrey during a taping of The Oprah Winfrey Show at Harpo Studios in Chicago earlier today. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Question: I must confess that I've never watch an Oprah Winfrey show, from beginning to end. But please don't think I'm a bad person. How about you? How often do you watch Oprah? Why?
The Kootenai Humane Society is soliciting funds from the public to replace expensive medicine that was ruined recently when the refrigerator door to the veterinarian room was found open. “We believe that the seal 
for the door didn’t stay secured (old fridge), so while the Vet and Vet Tech’s were gone for 2 days the door was open,” said executive director Rondi Renaldo. Among the medicines lost were: Cat vaccines FVRCP, Dog Vaccines DA2PPV and Bordetella, Rabies Vaccines, SNAP test kits – which test for Parvo and these are very expensive, and Blood test panels – slides for our machine. “We have around 80 dogs and 120 cats so we can’t wait to replace the medicine,” said Renaldo. The Humane Society doesn't get money from local governments. All donations are tax deductible. /Kootenai Humane Society news release (208-699-4844).
The Idaho Education Association filed a lawsuit in 4th District Court in Ada County today challenging the 
constitutionality of SB 1108, the bill to remove most collective bargaining rights from Idaho teachers, and related “trailer” bills including one adding an emergency clause to that measure. “Because the Legislature, Gov. Otter and State Superintendent Luna failed to listen to the voices of Idaho citizens and, in the case of SB 1108 and the trailer bills, overstepped their legal bounds, the IEA supports citizen efforts to place referenda on the ballot challenging the Luna laws,” said Sherri Wood, IEA president/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Many people moan about our royals, but you wait come Friday and you will see the utter outpouring of pride and love and that comaradery that this country shows upon such events…. like during the war years or the 
world cup…. buntings galore will start appearing tomorrow (I do know there are tackie souvenirs in the shops of maties tell me) and many hundreds of thousands of normal everyday people prepare for the street parties… special licenses have been obtains to have roads closed for such events…. I myself will be going to a street party up me fellow woodelfs road, which is a culdisac…. tables will be laid in the middle of the street with buntings and all the houses will come together for a huge party… its mainly for the kids, ok thats a lie LOL/Marmitetoasty. More here.
Question: Is anyone out there planning to have house party to watch the royal wedding?
This handout image provided by the White House shows a short-form copy of President Barack Obama's birth certificate from Hawaii. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Dennis Mansfield writes: Mother's Race: Caucasion … Father's Race: African. Say what?
That's what Mr. Obama, Senior was listed as - African. And for the life of me, I do not remember “nationality” (African) being substituted with “race” in the 1960's. But, I may be in complete error. When I first wrote on this issue, I asked for folks to help me find out how blacks/negroes/African Americans were referred to, on official Hawaiian documents, during that period of time. My guess is, that IF the “birther” conspiracy continues, it will hinge on some key points, one of which is this “official term”. Another might be signatures and some minor point that pops out. More here.
Question: Why did the president wait so long to provide these birth certificates?
HMOffsuite: I surely don’t want to belabor the point, but Avista best get those gates open at the Post Falls dam and empty 
the lake some, or flooding will be severe this year. They were negligent a few years ago, imo, in not anticipating the runoff and flooding was major. With huge accumulations of snow in the mountains still occurring and virtually no melt, the recipe is for big time grief. The water in the lake is like money in the bank to them but I think their civic duty should prevail. If Avista Dan is around, I hope they get the message. This record rainfall will do nothing but make the potential problem more likely.
Question: Does anyone have any information on how Avista is anticipating the potential flooding and/or what they intend to do about it?
A Berry Picker who came thisclose to getting a ticket called to warn others here re: the proper way to cross Highway 95 intersections that don't have traffic lights. Do you know it's against the law to go halfway across the intersection, say, at Miles Avenue/Hayden, and wait there until it is safe to cross the other two lanes? The Berry Picker followed another car across, stopped at the opening between the four lanes, and got nabbed by an ISP officer when she completed a turn. Frankly, that's the only way I cross the intersection at those openings. It's too difficult to find a clearing at certain times of the day to go all the way across without stopping in the middle. Happily, the ISP officer didn't ticket the unaware driver.
Question: Do you stop at the certain section of H95 intersections without stoplights?
Agents soon told Steele his wife wasn't actually dead and that they knew he'd hired Fairfax to kill her. Steele stood up and an “odor of fecal matter” filled the air, Sotka said. The agents “feared that Mr. Steele had defecated himself,” Sotka said. But defense lawyer Robert McAllister emphasized that Steele never confessed to the murder plot during that ruse by the FBI/Meghann Cuniff, SR. More here.
Question: Have you ever figuratively had the poop scared out of you?
Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Haws, left, delivers his opening statements in the trial against Edgar Steele at U.S. District Court in Boise today. Steele, an attorney who is well known for his defense of white supremacist groups, is accused of hiring a hit man to kill his wife and mother-in-law. Meghann's latest story here. And more below. (AP Photo/Ward Hooper)
On his Facebook wall, Jimmy-Mac points out that today is Administrative Assistant Day. Then, Jimmy proclaims: “My assistant, she's the best (also on vacation right now). You are the best, Carol!” We don't have any administrative assistants in the Coeur d'Alene bureau of the Spokesman-Review. But that shouldn't sto9p you from giving a shoutout to administrative assistant near and dear to you …
Question: Do you know of an administrative assistant who deserves a shoutout?
As you may recall, Cindy's son, Zack, received a silver bullet and crayons from a girl who has a crush on him. Which surprised Cindy, who wrote on her Facebook wall “Remember these? Zack's experience with the bullet-giving girl reminded me that when I was in school, if I liked a guy, I just drew hearts on his Pee Chee (stationery folder for storing school papers). It worked for me.”
Question: Did you ever draw hearts on stationery (or carve hearts in wood) for someone you fell in puppy love with?
Facebook Friend Val Hughes writes of the death of former South Vietnamese First Lady Madame Nhu (shown
at press conference in 1963): “I met her. She came to San Francisco to speak to the Commonwealth Club when my father was its President. Since I spoke French, he took me with him to meet her at the airport. With her was her daughter, about my age (maybe the one who died in 1967), with whom I got to visit after the limo dropped us at her hotel. My faux pas: asking what kind of music and dances they liked in Vietnam — they were not allowed to dance.” AP news story here.
Question: Have you ever met an important foreign dignitary?
Although the snow shows no sign of letting up in the mountains of the Inland Northwest, there was some grass poking through the snow on Dec. 26, 2009, when Northwest Elite Photographer Chris Thompson snapped this photo on Silver Mountain. Chris reports to Facebook Friends that he hated “using polarizers on portraits, but I had to; just to get some color out of the sky.” You can see more of Chris's photography on his Facebook site and on Northwest Elite Photography.
Also: Visitors to OnTheSnow.com rated Lookout Pass ski area on the Idaho-Montana border as their “Favorite Family-Friendly Resort” in the Pacific Northwest. The data period for voting was January 2011 when a Nielsen audit showed 3.4 million unique browsers logged in to the world's most visited Web platform/Rich Landers, Outdoors blow. More here.
Question: When did you learn to ski or snowboard? And where?
A 16-year-old will become the youngest person on record to graduate from Washington State University this 
May. Kayla Heard of Union, Washington, could talk when she was 1, and read at 18 months. She started first grade at age 3, graduated from high school at 10, and began community college at 11. Kayla is home-schooled and is earning her social sciences degree though WSU online. “My parents felt it wouldn't be good to send me to a campus at such a young age,” she said. “I appreciate their decision, mainly because online studying has given me quite a bit of flexibility in my schedule”/Eric Wilkinson, KING5. More here.
Question: How old were you when you received your college degree?
Benewah County Prosecutor, Doug Payne, will not seek the death penalty in the murder of Antowyn D. Swiney, 
April 17. Mr. Payne filed first degree murder charges against four defendants involved in the murder, which may have been sparked by jealousy. “Based on what I know right now, I don’t believe it meets with the statutory criteria,” Mr. Payne said of his decision not to seek the death penalty. Jody Miller, Kelly Miller, Irael Kennedy and Stephen Milton drove from Spokane to Plummer the night of the murder. The four left a Spokane bar to make the trip to Plummer several hours after Jody Miller saw seeing Swiney with Miller’s former girlfriend/Dan Hammes, St. Maries Gazette-Record. More here. (Gazette photo/Mary Orr: Stephen Milton, 22, and Jody A. Miller, 41, were arraigned at Benewah County Courthouse last Wednesday)
Question: Do you agree with Prosecutor Payne's decision not to seek the death penalty in this murder case?
The long-running dispute between Benewah County and the Coeur d’Alene Tribe was partially resolved earlier 
this month. Sheriff Robert Kirts deputized five tribal police officers. The action came two months after an effort by the tribe to pass a state law that would give tribal officers authority over non-tribal members failed. Benewah County lobbied against the legislation, which generated considerable news coverage at the time. “I deputized five of their officers who I know are good officers and work well with our officers,” Sheriff Kirts said. Tribal officers were deputized by the county for several years before Sheriff Kirts cancelled the agreement when tribal officers refused to comply with his instructions/Dan Hammes, St. Maries Gazette-Record. More here.
Question: What do you make of this development?
Bloomsday elite athlete coordinator Jon Neill said out of the chute that the 35th edition of the 12-kilometer run will have to go far to top the world record-breaking performance in the 34th race. There’s plenty of reason, though, why Sunday’s race should make its own headlines. Lineth Chepkurui from Kenya will be seeking her fourth consecutive women’s title. More here. (SR file photo)
Rather than the evil effort to give more tax breaks to the wealthy while cutting services for the poor and elderly 
that opponents have portrayed it as, Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, says the Republican budget proposal is actually an attempt to save the country from bankruptcy. The “Path to Prosperity” proposal, also referred to as the Ryan plan after House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, would revamp the Medicare/Medicaid system and reduce federal spending by upwards of $4 trillion over the next decade. Speaking to about 100 people at a town hall meeting in Lewiston Tuesday evening, Labrador said the first thing people need to understand is the plan wouldn't affect Medicare benefits for anyone who's 55 or older/William L. Spence, Lewiston Tribune. More here. (Photo: Lewiston Tribune)
Question: Do you support Congressman Paul Ryan's 'Path to Prosperity' proposal?
Call it the great hot dog caper. Or maybe the greatly overblown hot dog caper would be more accurate. One day last December, Eastern Washington University student John Richardson got himself a German sausage 
at the self-serve counter at Mitchell’s IGA in Cheney. He ate it as he shopped for peanut butter (crunchy), jelly, bread and other items. When he left, he forgot to pay for the 99-cent dog – though he did pay for more than $28 in groceries. Store managers approached him once he left the store, refused his efforts to pay for it, and held him for the police to arrive when things got heated. Thirteen weeks later, Richardson was found not guilty by a baffled jury with a minimum of deliberation/Shawn Vestal, SR. More here. (SR photo: Chris Anderson/John Richardson stands across the street from Mitchell’s IGA in Cheney.)
Question: Have you ever walked out of a store after forgetting to pay for an item that you've eaten or that is in your possession?
Item: County considers bicycle helmet law: Panel to draft ordinance, plans public hearing/John Craig, SR
More Info: County commissioners agreed Tuesday to consider a bicycle helmet ordinance. Users of skateboards, roller skates and scooters also might be required to wear helmets in unincorporated portions of Spokane County. Commissioners plan to draft an ordinance and schedule a public hearing after receiving more information from the Spokane Regional Health District and the city of Spokane, which adopted a helmet law in 2004.
Question: Should bike helmets be required in Idaho, too?
President Obama released his original birth certificate Wednesday, saying the controversy surrounding the issue had become a “sideshow.” Obama's birth certificate. “We do not have time for this kind of silliness. We’ve got better stuff to do,” said Obama. The surprise release follows recent and sustained remarks by businessman Donald Trump, among others, that raised doubts as to whether the president was born in the United States/CNN. More here.
Question: Are we quite finished with this silly issue?
Members of North Idaho College's board of trustees are considering creating a “free speech zone” at the 
school's campus, limiting potentially disruptive picketing, leafleting and other free speech activities to the designated zone. NIC Vice President for Student Services Sheldon Nord says that if approved, the policy would place limits on the time, place and manner of free speech activities. He says similar restrictions have been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court/Associated Press. More here.
Question: What do you make of the proposed “free speech zone” at North Idaho College?
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords has boarded a jet in Houston to travel to Florida to see her husband's space shuttle launch. Giffords chief of staff Pia Carusone confirmed to The Associated Press that she and the congresswoman have boarded a plane in Houston. She declined to comment further, except to say she will be flying with Giffords and they will arrive in Cape Canaveral/Associated Press. More here.
Question: What do you make of this amazing development?
Nick Anderson/Houston Chronicle
For some reason, I woke up this morning thinking of those two wunnerful years in Lewiston (1982-84) weatherwise. It was the only time in my 34-year sojourn in the Northwest that I enjoyed nice weather in February. I still recall the shock I had after hearing the tink of metal bats hitting baseballs as the Lewis-Clark State College Warriors started early-season drills days after the groundhog made its appearance. Then, I think of the smell from the Potlatch plant that I endured for those two years — and snap out of it. Feel free to complain about the weather today or use this Wild Card for any other topic …
A petunia is seen through a raindrop falling off a leaf in a garden in Overland Park, Kan., Monday. Widespread rains were falling across much of the midwest causing flood warnings across several states. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
On her Facebook wall, Cindy tells of a one-sided conversation with her son, Zack, who stated after school: “Look what this girl at school gave me! A 22 caliber bullet! Isn't it shiny? She also gave me crayons— cuz I wanted crayons.” Comments Cindy: “Courtship rituals sure have changed since I was in high school.”
Question: Do you remember any of the courtship rituals of your high school years?
The royal wedding is almost upon us! After it is over, we will have another 3 months of critiques to listen to and 
watch. I confess, I am a sucker for this kind of stuff, I can hardly wait as I am looking forward to every detail and wardrobe malfunction that may occur. But mostly, I am looking forward to the red carpet hats, the flowers, the colors, who sits next to who, the horses and carriage, and all of the fanfare that comes with it! Seriously, who doesn’t like a wedding? And, this one is free, you don’t even have to pony up a gift/Stebbijo, Stebbijo's Place. More here.
Question: A recent poll showed 65% of Americans aren't interested in the royal wedding. Which means 35% are. Which side of the divide do you come down on re: the royals?
Jerome High School sophomore Nick Greenlea works on a program called PLATO courseware at the school in preparation for taking the Idaho Standards Achievement Test’s language portion in Jerome on Monday. A school that fails to meet Annual Yearly Progress requirements under the federal No Child Left Behind Act faces a variety of corrective actions that could culminate in school restructuring or forced administrative changes. (AP Photo/The Times-News, Ashley Smith)
A newly hatched baby Olive Ridley turtle wades to enter the sea, past a human footprint at the Rushikulya river mouth beach in Ganjam district, about 140 kilometers away from the eastern Indian city Bhubaneshwar, India, earlier today. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/Biswaranjan Rout)
Top Cutlines:
.” What Fred (Colby, co-owner of Laughing Dog Brewery of Sandpoint) was most excited about though was the 
expansion of the brewery that would be happening soon with the addition of five more fermenter’s. When I asked him if that had anything to do with the rumor I heard about them possibly adding canning equipment to the brewery, he replied “We are still looking at that, but nothing is set in stone”. What he did tell me is that the reason for the expansion is that they are going to become a internationally distributed craft beer with the addition of British Columbia and Alberta, Canada to their distribution area. (They are currently in 30+ states in the US)/Jamie Lynn Morgan, Brewing Some Fun. More here.
Hucks Online numbers (for Monday, April 25): 8132/4923
Question: Have you ever tasted a Laughing Dog Brewery beer?
Herb Huseland/Bay Views: The woman cited for “Inattentive driving,” for allowing a deer to hit the side of her car has been reprieved. A sergeant from ISP called me yesterday to announce the charge was in the process
of being dismissed. He did ask that I point out to motorists that when seeing a deer at the side of the road, slow way down. They sometimes panic jump just when you are about to pass. All’s well that ends well, except the damage to her car and the cost of retaining an attorney, which turned out to be unnecessary due to the public outcry of Injustice. The ISP definitely has egg on their faces for not supervising their troopers effectively. I’ll have more on this story on my blog, Bayviews.
Jim Callahan, 52, of Orlando, raises a sign during a town hall meeting held by Rep. Daniel Webster, R-Fla., in Orlando, Fla., earlier today. Congressional Republicans are getting mixed reviews as they pitch their budget plan to constituents back home. Webster faced heckling, boos and shouting matches between supporters and opponents during an hour-long meeting. Webster defended the budget blueprint authored by Ryan that would cut social safety-net programs such as food stamps and Medicaid. Daily Kos report here. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
Question: Have the GOP/Tea Party awakened the sleeping beast that favors social social net programs?
While others were living out their high school years attending prom and going to homecoming football games, 
Shannon Derby, pictured, was just struggling to fit in. Derby’s family moved a lot making high school a challenge for the teenager, who attended 10 different schools by the time she was a junior in high school. She was constantly starting over and trying to make friends while struggling to keep up on her school work and meet the requirements to advance grade levels. Midway through her junior year, when her parents announced they were planning to move again, Derby decided to drop out/Stacy Hudson, Press Room. More here.
Question: Did any of you drop out … only to get your GED and go to college? Can you describe that experience?
“This is April in North Idaho,” said Justin Fyfe, manager of Westwood Gardens in Rathdrum as he removed the snow from the greenhouses on Tuesday. (SR photo: Kathy Plonka)
On his Facebook wall, OrangeTV/Get Out! North Idaho reports this news: “Seasons of Coeur d'Alene” is the name of the new eatery & lounge opening in Cd'A in the remodeled former location of the Cd'A Brewpub. Opens in June. “Seasons of Coeur d'Alene”? They might as well just name it “Rain With a Chance of Snow.”
DFO: I believe Coeur d'Alene has 2 seasons — 6 months of winter and 6 months of construction/tourists.
Question: How many seasons can you count for North Idaho?
On her Facebook wall, former SR buddy Taryn Hecker-Thompson tells of seeing a Spokane news crew filming 
an “old codger” with a snow blower across the street. When I asked Taryn, with concern, how she defined “old codger,” she replied: “It is someone over 80 who wears golf shorts, drives a golf cart, vacuums — yes, vacuums — their yard, and complains frequently to golf course management about residents under 50 who have kids and kid-related debris in their yard, or stray pine cones, or plants that flower in the wrong color. That being said, you are clearly not an old codger. On the other hand, you could be an old fart.”
Question: How would you define “old codger”? Is an “old codger” and an “old fart” the same thing?
Imagine if LCDC actually covered ACDC songs with their own Coeur d’Alene twist. Here’s the first album with 12 tracks:
Back in Financial Black
You taxed me all night long
Dirty Deeds Done for Dirt but not Cheap
It’s a Long way to the Top of Parkside Tower
Whole Lotta Mary
Who taxed Who
Cover you in Snake Oil
Downpayment Blues
For those about to Kroc (We tax you).
Tony Berns Big Balls
Increment Financing to thrill
Highway to McEuen Hell
Joker
A wolverine is shown in the Wallowa Mountains of northeastern Oregon, captured on film April 13 by an automatic trail camera set out by researcher Audrey Magoun. Numbering only about 300 in the U.S., the wolverine is protected in Oregon as a state threatened species. Oregonian story here. And: Rich Landers' Outdoors blog post here. (AP Photo/ Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife/Audrey Magoun)
Kate Middleton, who shares the same name with the future bride of Prince William, poses with her bicycle outside Boston in Concord, Mass., earlier today. Recently, Facebook accused the Boston Middleton of being an impostor and deleted her account. Various media reporters also keep showing up at ATA Cycle, a Concord, Massachusetts bicycling shop where she works, and asking her to speak in a British accent. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Question: Have you ever been mistaken for a famous person?
I've received 2 emails this morning from concerned sources that the Dike Road on Hayden Lake might be in danger. One writes: “I have heard, on fairly reliable authority, that the Corps of Engineers has said that the dike next to Honeysuckle Beach is super saturated and could give way at anytime with eight feet of water.” And the other: “Have you heard anything about an 'imminent' failure of the Hayden Lake dam?” We're checking into this with city of Hayden and Army Corps of Engineers.
“I mailed about a dozen postcards from the post box outside the Royal Academy of the Arts in downtown London on April 7,” posts Kerri Thoreson on her Facebook wall. “Just heard that one arrived here in Post Falls today. 19 days to make it across the pond!”
Question: Is the mail getting slower?
To say that the theory that President Obama was not born in Hawaii is a conspiracy theory is an insult to 
conspiracy theorists. The JFK assassination theorists at least have some probable explanation to cover most of their bases. People who challenged whether the death of Vince Foster was a suicide had some serious forensics questions about the matter. Now, most of the people asking the questions may have been amateurs, but there was at least some rhyme and reason to the questions. A good conspiracy theorist has got a story to tell that is endowed with some, at least, superficial plausibility. What we’re presented with the questions about the President’s birth certificate doesn’t even rise to the level of hypothesis/Adam Graham, Adam's Blog. More here.
It was 1974. My heart had been broken for the first time at age 19, and I sometimes babysat my niece, Nichole, 
and I'd put on Phoebe Snow's new self-titled album with its sad and haunting single “Poetry Man” and pace the living room of my sister's house holding Nichole and crying. It was my first real experience with that grief unique to first heartbreak, and I didn't know how I would ever be happy again. Snow, pictured, sang my despair. The singer died today from a brain hemorrhage, according to a Los Angeles Times story/Rebecca Nappi, End Notes. More here.
Question: Which song or songwriter spoke most to you during your teen years?
Item: In a first, women surpass men in advanced degrees/Hope Yen, Associated Press
More Info: Census figures show women outnumber men for the first time when it comes to finishing college and holding advanced degrees. The findings released Tuesday come amid record shares of women in the workplace and a steady decline in stay-at-home mothers. Among adults 25 and older, 10.6 million in the U.S. who earned a master's degree or higher were women, compared to 10.5 million men. Women, however, still lag men in subcategories such as business, science and engineering.
Question: Who holds more undergraduate and advanced degrees in your family, the males or the females?
KISS has been booked into the Spokane Arena for a June 24 show. Tickets will be $47.50, $67.50 and $97.50, on sale Friday at 10 a.m. through TicketsWest outlets. They played a sold-out show at the Arena in 1996/Jim Kershner, Spotlight.
Question (from Spotlight): The Arena called this “the most BADASS rock show that we've had in over a decade.” Do you agree?
The University of Idaho women's 4x400m relay group of Karlene Hurrel, Keli Hall, Lauren Schaffer and Liga Velvere established a WSU Cougar Invitational meet-record time of 3:45.10 in a winning effort recently. You can read about the success of the men's and women's Vandal track teams here. (Courtesy photo: Idaho Athletic Media Relations)
Question: Did you participate in track as a prepster or college student? Which event? How did you do?
Samoa Girl Scout Cookie ice cream is my methadone for Easter candy withdrawals/Anja, UI Argonaut. More Off The Cuff column here.
Question: What is your “methadone” for Easter candy withdrawals?
As I reached the security checkpoint, I was having a hard time finding my drivers license in my wallet. Stepping up to the counter, I smiled and chuckled to the agent behind the desk, “It shouldn't be this hard to find - it's not 
like there's any money blocking my access!” No response, not even a smile or acknowledgment that I was there other than a hand held out to collect my boarding pass and ID. I found it, he checked it and then I was simply pointed to the next stop in the cattle run that is airport security. After nearly stripping to my skivvies at the metal detector, I was led through one of those newfangled body scanners. Trying to lighten the mood a bit, I made a comment to the agent somewhere along the lines of “I hope the person on the other end likes what they see!” That comment got me escorted off to the side where I was subjected to a rather rigorous and almost date-worthy groping/Henry Johnston, Moscow-Pullman Daily News. More here.
Question: Did you find airport personnel friendly/unfriendly last time that you flew?
Ah, remember those innocent good old days? You know, a couple years ago when everybody wanted to tar 
and feather President Bush after gasoline hit the $3-a-gallon mark. Then along came Obama who promised us all change. Too bad we didn’t realize that he was talking about gas changing to four bucks a gallon. I tell you, the gas woes are so bad that even the criminals are suffering. Take what happened Easter Sunday on Lake Coeur d’Alene. A couple of bozos supposedly stole a 19-foot fishing boat from a slip. Their joy cruise was short-lived. Kootenai County sheriff’s deputies found the fools bobbing in the water like a dead carp. You guessed it – outta gas!/Doug Clark, SR. More here.
Question: What role should President Obama play in trying to bring down high gas prices?
A lot of tax money is diverted to urban renewal districts, Mary Souza has noticed. The problem, she said, is that 
few grasp what that means. “A lot of people are hearing this urban renewal word and LCDC, and don't really understand what it is,” Souza said. Folks need to be enlightened, the business owner and community activist said. Souza and other community members have organized a town hall meeting tonight aimed at bringing folks up to speed on how urban renewal districts work, as well as their current status in Idaho/Alecia Warren, Coeur d'Alene Press. More here.
Question: Mary Souza & Co. have pounded on urban renewal for 4-5 years — and even helped elect a representative (Kathy Sims) who tried unsuccessfully to overhaul urban renewal laws in the Idaho Legislature. Do people not really understand urban renewal, as Souza claims? Or do they understand and support the concept?
Linda Lantzy of Idaho Scenic Images recently snapped this photo at the Skagit Valley, Wash., Tulip Festival, which she entitles, “Reds at Sunrise.” The photo is a lot more viewtiful than the current overcast and possibility of snow that's outside my office windows on the second floor now.
Brent Andrews: I am tripping on these Taliban breaking 480 people out of the Kandahar prison — the story running on Yahoo now, I just gasp. A 1,000-foot tunnel. Really? Did they watch a Clint Eastwood movie or 
what? That is the kind of enterprise that gives me a run-and-hide feeling. Are they tunneling under my house even now? From which sewer pipe will one of these guys emerge to bomb our men and women? We will never, ever in a million years eliminate the Taliban. We have only stirred a bees nest that will come home to haunt us in our quaint hometowns. I wonder how they treated these people in that prison — if they treated them like some of the horror scenes we have seen. If so America has some new hardcore enemies on the loose. “The War in Afghanistan: Brought to you by the makers of the War on Drugs.” Great job on these wars, fellaz, really shining example of what not to do for your country. (AP photo: A prisoner looks out of his cell window at the main prison in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Monday.)
Question: Should we still be occupying Afghanistan?
Escapee: I ran Bloomsday from 1989 thru 1999. I had to stop running after that. My last training run was on 
April 4th, 2000. It just hurt too much to run anymore. In 2002, I entered Bloomsday at the last minute, walking most of it, trying to run some of it. And afterwards, I had waay too much pain. I couldn’t walk for almost a week. When I was in shape for running, Bloomsday was almost like a big Runners’ Party. But in the 2002 Bloomsday, my gout flared way up, I was totally out of shape, and hadn’t trained for it, so my advice is, if you’re gonna enter it, and you’re not in shape for it, don’t decide to run it at the last minute.
Question: Why do you enjoy running Bloomsday? And/or: Why do you avoid Bloomsday?
Detroit Dude: I feel it is commendable that PETA is willing to stand up for animals, because animals can’t really stand up for themselves. That being said, some of their ideas are way off in my opinion. There’s nothing 
wrong with promoting conservation, but to say that we should all stop eating meat totally is pushing it a little too far. After all, we humans, are omnivores. And seriously, I’m not going to start eating tofu and beans every day just so I can save some cows and chickens from being slaughtered. Also, I do stand by my previous statement that if they can perform medical research on animals before they start testing it on humans I’m all for that. Medical research that is, not testing women’s cosmetics or whatever other things they do from time to time.
Question: Were you ever a vegetarian? Or considered being one?
Michael Ramirez/Investor's Business Daily
A Coeur d’Alene woman and her mother were ordered imprisoned today for their roles in the neglecting of twin 2-year-old girls. Elisabeth Crossley and her 55-year-old mother, Ruth Cassidy, each will spend up to five years in prison, with no less than two years/Jody Lawrence-Turner, SR. More here.
Wasn't it a little harder showing up for work today, after that nice weekend when the temperature finally poke through the 60-degree barrier after 6 months of cold? I was able to get 1 1/2 of my two apple trees pruned — and even planted 8 lettuce seedlings, just to get dirt under my fingernails. It was wunnerful. Now for your Wild Card …
Chef Guy Fieri, the host of several food and reality TV shows (including “Diners, Drive-ins, & Dives, which recently featured Capone's in Coeur d'Alene's Midtown), discusses a Senate resolution he is promoting calling on parents take time to to cook with their children, during a visit to the California state Capitol in Sacramento today. Adopted by the state Senate 39-0, the initiative follows a resolution Fieri helped draft in 2008, labeling the second Saturday in May as “Cook With Your Kids Day.” (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
Question: Do you cook with your kids?
You can wash your hands until your skin peels, tank up on vitamin C, avoid closed spaces with other infected 
human beings and, to the best of your ability, live an antiseptic life. But no matter how hard you try, if there is a cold germ in the vicinity with your name on it, you're going to get sick. I caught mine in church, which is an indication that even God himself is not going to protect you from a cold germ. I was minding my own business, praying to the Lord for goodness and world peace and stuff like that when I noticed out of the corner of my eye a little girl in the row next to me who kept sniffling and snuffling and wiping her runny nose with her hands and then wiping her hands on the sides of her dress/Kathy Hedberg, Lewiston Tribune. More here.
Question: I caught a bad cold as the season was kicking in gear last fall. Then, I received a flu shot at Fred Meyer. And didn't catch a cold or the flu afterward. How about you? How many times were you sick this flu season?
“Good sports photography is mostly about anticipation and timing,” post SR photographer Colin Mulvany/Snaps & Frames. “My Nikon D3s digital SLR camera allows me to shoot a burst at nine frames per second. That sounds like a lot, but it really isn’t when trying to capture a peak action sporting moment like these to high school soccer players.” More here.
Twins Summer, left, and Autumn Adams, right, both 4, look on with sister Franchesca, 5, at the field as they all wear bunny ears in celebration of Easter before a major league baseball game between the Seattle Mariners and Oakland Athletics, Sunday, in Seattle. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Top Cutlines:
“If you don't have anything nice to say you're probably a weather forecaster in Spokane” — Kris Crocker, KXLY chief meteorologist via her Twitter page.
“Sláinte!” Literally, it translates to “health”, but somewhat ironically it's the word heard most commonly heard in 
the air back in olde Eire when friends and strangers gather together at the corner public house and start guzzling robust pints of ale. Your liver may disagree with that idea, but O'Shay's Irish Pub & Eatery in Coeur d'Alene is a great place to get totally sláinted. Located directly on the last leg of the eastbound stretch of the Centennial Trail, over time O'Shay's has proved itself as one of few reasons to travel further east on Sherman Ave. than the old IGA for a maple bar and a juicy Chester Fried Chicken breast/OrangeTV, Get Out! North Idaho. More here.
Question: I take my Toyota 4Runner to Dealer's Alternative (old Robideaux building) on 15th for regular servicing. Do you frequent O'Shay's Irish Pub or any other businesses on the east end of Sherman/Lake Coeur d'Alene Drive?
“Before noon on April 24, Easter Sunday, we finally saw temperatures above the 60 degree mark!” exclaims Kerri Thoreson/More Main Street. “2011 has been record-setting in the latest day in April that the temperature cracked 60”
Hucks Online numbers (for week of April 17-23): 45,019 page-views/28,275 unique views
In this Priest Lake Photos wall photo by Ray van der Heijden, Pecky Cox of As The Lake Churns posts: “ … And she said: 'Pecky … if a butterfly picked ME … I must be pretty special right?' . .. She is.”
DeePee (re: Feds pledge mine cave-in probe): Oh boy, just what we need: a bunch of coal-mining types, who don’t understand a thing about hard-rock mining, “investigating” what happened here. MSHA inspectors have standing orders to sweat 
western hard-rock mining companies here for every violation they can, no matter how trivial and irrelevant to safety, in order to keep funding the agency. That they will attempt to capitalize on the tragedy of one mining family (and community) is simply egregious. MSHA ran a full inspection of the Lucky Friday not very long ago and found nothing of import wanting, and Pete’s is the mine’s first fatality in a quarter of a century. MSHA should clean its own house, including the rule that no rescue efforts can begin until their people show up from all over the country, when there are people “on the ground” and ready to roll right away.
Question: Can any mine ever be safe enough to prevent a cave-in?
A Sandpoint woman was badly injured this morning when a deer struck by another vehicle went through her 
windshield, causing her to swerve out of control and sever a power pole on Highway 2, near the western city limits of Sandpoint. Judith H. Linker, 69, was airlifted to Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane after the crash, which occurred at 11:14 at M/P 25. Keith E. Nicholas, 37, of Libby, Mont., kept his eastbound 1986 Ford Mercury under control after hitting a deer that emerged from a ditch along the road. However, after the deer hit her westbound 2009 Toyota Scion, Linker swerved across Highway 2, severed a power poll, traveled through a creek, coming to rest on the opposite side.
Major Ben Wolfinger's weekly warrants roundup for missing felons is offering a Ladies Day of sorts this week, with 4 local females leading the notorious honor roll. Carey Rose Bradshaw, 30, of Post Falls (far left, top) is wanted on a probation violation charge in a case originally involving obtaining controlled substance by fraud. (Bail bond for her is set at $75,000). Mindy Renee Dixon, of Coeur d'Alene (middle, top), who celebrated her 30th birthday last Wednesday on the run, 
is wanted on a charge of criminal possession of a financial transaction card, grand theft. (Bail is set for her at $35,000.) Chrisanna Marie Gagne, 20, of Athol (bottom), is charged with probation violation for grand theft. (No bond is set.) and Andrea Rebecca Roll, 28, of Coeur d'Alene (far right), is wanted for failure to appear in court on a charge of possession of controlled substance, possesion of paraphernalia, and pettit theft. (Bond is set for her at $50,000.) You can read all of this week's felony warrant roundup here.
Question: Have you ever spotted someone on Major Ben's “honor roll” that you know?
Jan Kirk, who has run 41 marathons, will be running this year's Bloomsday on Sunday. (SR photo: Colin Mulvany)'
Question: Are you planning to participate in Bloomsday 2011 in any way — as a runner, a volunteer, or a race watcher? And/or: How many Bloomsdays have you participated in?
On her Facebook wall, Taryn Hecker-Thompson writes of a recent “Doh!” moment: “I had a hankering for an Orange Cream Slush and while I was waiting at the drive thru window saw a garbage can along the curb and decided to gather up my trash. (Anyone who knows me knows I NEVER clean the trash 
out of my car) I put the garbage in a McDonald's bag, but apparently tossed my wallet on top of the bag when I was done paying, and threw it away with the trash. It wasn't until the next day when I realized my wallet was gone, remembered that the trash seemed heavy and it all clicked I was most worried about losing my fishing license, but I called Fish and Game and found out I can get a replacement — and that will be lots easier than replacing my driver's license and social security card.”
Question: When did you last suffer a “Doh!” moment, as we all do?
In its publication last week, the Inlander wrote that “it's hard to celebrate Earth Day on a patch of concrete. You 
need a bit of dirt underfoot and the smell of pine needles in your nose. But to get out in nature, it usually takes an extended ride in an exhaust-belching car. Which feels a little strange.” The Inlander then picked out 5 spots in Spokane where you can feel as though you're away from it all. Now, driving to Spokane, would take a ride of around 35 miles — and you still would be hard-pressed to match what you would find in North Idaho/Inlander. More here. (SR file photo of hikers and dog on Tubbs Hill)
Question: Where do you go in the Coeur d'Alene/North Idaho area to get away from it all (beyond Tubbs Hill, which is an obvious choice)?
I know what you’re thinking. Nearly-naked women? Animal-print body paint? Soap bubbles. Why wouldn’t that 
get people’s attention? Playboy models pose in a bathtub to highlight the UK's water consumption during PETA World Water Day in March. PETA isn’t a stranger to the streets of Seattle. Last year, the animal-rights group staged at least two nearly-naked protests to decry the mistreatment of animals. Both involved young women wearing underwear, body paint and smiles. So, what’s the deal?/Amy Rolph, Seattle P-I Big Blog. More here. (AP file photo)
Question: Poster Amy Rolph goes on to wonder whether PETA's nearly naked protests work in bringing proper attention to the animal activists' cause? What do you think?
My wife just earned her certified public accountant’s accreditation, plus it’s her birthday next week. So I’m on 
the hook for presents big-time. Trouble is, I’m out of ideas. Not just short of gifting notions, mind you, but bereft. Back when we were courting my go-to plan was always a book of poetry. But we’ve run through Byron, Shelley, Keats, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Emily Dickinson, Yeats and a whole lot of Shakespeare. Matter of fact, I think we’re down to Rudyard Kipling; shoot, I almost gave Victoria a copy of Charge of the Light Brigade on our anniversary last year. … So the sad, sad truth, the dirty lowdown, is that I’m gonna have to resort to gift cards/Steve Crump, Twin Falls Times-News. More here.
Question (for men): Do special days in which your wife is expecting a gift cause you to panic?
An unidentified man walks toward the covered staircase leading to the second level at the Lucky Friday Mine in Mullan, Idaho, on Sunday. Larry Marek's body was recovered Sunday after more than a week of rescue efforts. The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration has promised to thoroughly investigate the cause of the roof collapse. Click here. (SR photo: J. Bart Rayniak)
A Kootenai County fellow named Lonnie became the latest victim of a vehicle burglar who swiped his CDs.
Dunno what Lonnie's musical tastes are. But if a vehicle burglar broke into my Toyota 4Runner to steal my CDs, s/he'd better be a Broadway musical fan. The burglar would find the scores to “Les Miserables,” “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Rent,” “Evita,” and many more.
Question: What kind of CD music would a burglar find if s/he broke into your vehicle to steal tunes?
On her Facebook wall, Cindy posted a photo of her 18YO urchin crashed on her couch. Cindy writes: “Do you think if moms start wearing their pants like this, the whole trend would vanish overnight?
Question: What fashion trend of your teen days bugged your parents most?
On his Get Out! North Idaho Facebook wall, Orange TV writes of a video maker who has proclaimed Coeur d'Alene's Silver Lake Mall to be at least an “almost dead mall.” Continues OTV: “I was there for the first time in ages the other day and nearly shed a tear when I saw Orange Julius was gone forever.”
Question: How often do you visit the Silver Lake Mall? What is the main attraction for you?
Publisher Harlan Beagley of the Hagadone Newspaper-owned Columbia Basin Herald of Moses Lake, Wash., issued this ap-hollow-gy for running an op-ed piece by a reporter critical of the community's 
education system: “The Columbia Basin Herald apologizes for negative comments made in the “My Turn” column about an experience at Moses Lake High School. “This newspaper does not agree with or support (reporter) Lynne Lynch's opinions about our public school system,” said Publisher Harlan Beagley. “We find it offensive and in no way do we endorse it.” Lynch wrote her opinion about why she was choosing private school over public education in the Moses Lake School District in the weekly “My Turn” column. She included personal observations of a teacher's wardrobe, a staff member's hygiene, two students swearing in a parking lot and the annual salary for a teacher. Lynch said she was trying to illustrate a few areas she perceived as problems.” More here.
Question: Was the paper right in throwing reporter Lynne Lynch under the bus for her guest opinion about the Moses Lake school system?
You can see the impact that megaloads from the Port of Lewiston to a refinery in Billings, Mont., are having on the trees along Highway 12 in the Idaho Rivers United photo above.
House Minority Leader John Rusche, D-Lewiston, a pediatrician, is praising GOP Gov. Butch Otter's veto of HB 298, the grandson-of-nullification bill on health care reform, saying, “Gov. Otter prevented legal mayhem - for that he is to be thanked.” He has concerns, however, about the executive order Otter signed the same day he vetoed the bill, echoing many of the bill's provisions but allowing waivers with his personal signoff; click below to read Rusche's full op-ed piece/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Question: Was Otter's veto further evidence re: how reckless the 2012 Legislature was?
Item: Opponents rally against McEuen Field project/Nick Rotunno, CdA Press
More Info: Mordantly amusing, the big signpost greeted visitors at McEuen Field on Saturday afternoon, its colorful arrows pointing every which way. “Fancy Marina - $1.3M,” read one arrow, aimed at Lake Coeur d'Alene. “Ritzy Ice Skating - $1.1M,” read another. At the very top, just below a large dollar sign, an arrow painted with the words “$14.7M - Parking Palace” speared toward downtown. Created by opponents of the extensive - and expensive - McEuen Field project, the signpost warned of probable construction costs - at last estimate, between $23 and $39 million altogether.
Question: What impact are opponents of proposed McEuen Field renovations having?
So Eddie Ray Hall – Spokane’s notorious methperado – is off to federal prison for 16 years. Today we mark 
this judicial development with the last installment in my trilogy of Eddie Ray tunes. I give you “Goodbye Eddie Ray Hall,” a makeover of Elton John’s 1973 smash, “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.” Nobody can say Eddie Ray didn’t earn the attention. He’s played the system for a fool since the mid-1970s, racking up at least 16 felony convictions, scores of dope and burglary-related arrests, and at least eight trips to prison, not to mention the bail jumping and escape. But the big hammer came down Thursday in a Spokane courtroom/Doug Clark, SR. More here.
The communities of Coeur d'Alene and Post Falls have been on the lookout for a blue van that is wanted in several reported attempted child abductions. Unfortunately, for the owners of blue vans, they're under suspicion almost everywhere they go. The owner of this blue van, for example, probably was stopped at least once by police who were looking for a blue van — and doesn't appreciate the unwanted attention. I spotted this sign painted on the side of his van Saturday morning while it was parked at his home near Borah Elementary.
Question: In view of the suspicion surrounding blue vans in the Coeur d'Alene area, would you try to get rid of your blue van if you owned one?
Howard Martinson: Contrary to what’s been written above, Washington boaters do pay to boat on Lake CdA. How? For starters they pay to launch and use the ramp and park their tow rigs & trailers. Many purchase their
boat gas, on the trailer, from local Idaho gas stations (Idaho gas is considerably cheaper than Washington gas. Many purchase Idaho fishing licenses. Most Washington boaters register their vessels in Idaho and pay Idaho sales tax on their vessels. (Considerably cheaper than Washington registration and sales tax.) More below.
Question: Do you agree with Howard that Washington boaters pay their fair share to use Lake Coeur d'Alene?
As I was feeding canceled checks, 1993 tax returns and 1975 newspaper clippings into the shredder, the 
Dumpster and the fireplace, I was filled with the kind of satisfaction that comes only with a thorough spring cleaning. I was ridding my life of decades of accumulated paperwork. I was liberating myself from encumbrances. I was freeing myself from the dead past. I felt very Zen, assuming a person can feel Zen while staring at an old 1040-A form and muttering, “Geez, how broke were we?” But then, the horrifying thought occurred to me: Was I shredding my life?/Jim Kershner, SR. More here.
Question: How much paperwork of your past life do you hang onto?
Gaby Rodriguez would worry whenever anyone asked to touch her baby bump. It wasn’t because she felt shy 
or embarrassed. It was because the bulge – fashioned from wire mesh and cotton quilt batting – didn’t actually contain a baby. For the past 6 1/2 months – the bulk of her senior year at Toppenish High School – the 17-year-old A-student faked her own pregnancy. Only a handful of people – her mother, boyfriend and principal among them – knew Gaby was pretending to be pregnant for her senior project, a culminating assignment required for graduation. Her teachers and fellow students, except for her best friend, didn’t realize they were part of a social experiment/Yakima Herald-Republic. More here.
Question: Is there a lesson in Gaby Rodriguez's experiment that we can all take to heart?
Hoping to rekindle excitement among younger voters, President Barack Obama spoke at a town hall-style 
meeting hosted by Facebook on Wednesday and asked for help in beating back “radical” Republican budget proposals. He sat on a stage next to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who served as moderator and funneled largely friendly questions to a president who makes extensive use of social media in reaching out to voters. Zuckerberg confessed to being nervous, but the two bantered easily. Obama made a light reference to the 26-year-old’s billionaire status. In describing his tax plan, Obama said that he and “frankly, you, Mark,” can afford to pay “a little more in taxes”/Associated Press. More here. (AP photo: Mark Zuckerberg & President Barack Obama)
Question: Which politicians do you follow on Facebook? Why do you follow them?
Michael Ramirez/Investor's Business Daily
The body of Lucky Friday miner Larry Marek was recovered this afternoon after he was killed in a mine collapse on April 15, Hecla Mining Co. announced today. The Coeur d’Alene company had had crews working 24 hours a day since that collapse trying to reach Marek in hopes he survived the cave-in and was trapped behind a massive rock pile. However, the company issued a news release at 7 p.m. saying that the 53-year-old’s body was recovered and that his family had been notified. “Words cannot express the deep sorrow we feel at the tragic loss of our friend, colleague and 30-year veteran of the mining industry. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, loved ones and friends,” the release said/Spokesman-Review. More here.
The Kootenai County Sheriff's Dept. was dispatched to a residence on Coeur d'Alene Lake Drive west of Higgins Point for the theft of a boat Sunday morning. As units were responding to the area they were advised that the owner of the boat just saw two males take his 19ft fishing boat out of his slip and start heading west on Lake Coeur d'Alene. Kootenai County Deputies along with Idaho State Police and Coeur d'Alene Police arrived in the area. The boat was spotted about 1,000 yards south of Silver Beach Marina and it appeared that the boat was no longer under power. The Kootenai County Recreation and Safety Section responded to the area in a boat. The two males on the stolen boat were detained until the owner could identify the boat/Kootenai County Sheriff's Department. More here.
I've posted a few things for you below to jump-start your cyber weekend. But I won't be upset if you go out an enjoy the sunshine this Easter weekend. There's a good chance that we'll find temperatures at or above 60 degrees, to break the record cold spell that we've experienced this winter and spring. I have my fingers crossed. Now for your Wild Card …
Boaters in North Idaho hope to make a wake at Coeur d' Alene City Hall by rallying to keep the 3rd Street boat launch open.The City of Coeur d' Alene Parks department along with a team of local designers propose closing 
the boat launch as part of an multi-million dollar renovation to nearby McEuen Field.On Saturday, dozens of boaters and concerned citizens rallied at McEuen Field to encourage city council members to preserve the McEuen field and keep the launch open. “We all agree that we could use a little sprucing up, we could use really nice restrooms and some more paths and benches and nice playground, nice restroom facilities but we don't need $39 million spent in this end of town,” said Rita Sims-Snyder, with Friends of McEuen, a non-profit created to save the area/Annie Bishop, KXLY. More here.
Question: Do you want to see the boat launch remain at its current downtown Coeur d'Alene location?
In this April 20, 2011 photo, microfilm reveals the Aug. 14, 1961, birth announcement in the Honolulu Star Bulletin that a son was born to Mr. and Mrs. Barack H. Obama on Aug. 4, 1961, at the Hawaii State Library in Honolulu. Lost in the renewed scrutiny into President Obama's birth records is the fact that anyone can walk into a Hawaii vital records office, wait in line behind couples getting marriage licenses and open a baby-blue government binder containing basic information about his birth. Highlighted in yellow on page 1,218 of the thick binder is the computer-generated listing for a boy named Barack Hussein Obama II born in Hawaii, surrounded by the alphabetized last names of all other children born in-state between 1960 and 1964. This is the only government birth information, called “index data,” available to the public. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia) (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)
On her Facebook wall, Cindy writes: “A well-dressed woman knows how to accessorize. That's why today, I'm going with the melted cheese. It adds a bright spot of color when dripped over a V-necked black T-shirt.
Question: When did you last drop food or drink on your clothes?
Opinion: Who will ‘win’ in redistricting? Do the math/Kevin Richert, Idaho Statesman
More Info: Idaho Republicans don’t need to game the system to do well in redistricting. In fact, I can guarantee that the GOP will come out of this process with a map that gives its legislative candidates a decade’s worth of competitive advantage. Take it to the bank. How can I make that guarantee? Even when the state’s redistricting commission — a panel of three Republicans and three Democrats — is structured to give both parties equal footing? It’s all about the numbers. And the numbers are on the Republicans’ side.
Question: Will Idaho Democrats lose even more seats as a result of redistricting?
Fishing is a profession that attracts a different breed of men from those who grow up aspiring to careers as 
accountants, lawyers or physicians. The men who make their living on crab boats have more in common with U.S. Army Rangers, Marines and Navy SEALs than they do with college professors. I was not always the suave, sophisticated, erudite man of letters who stands before you today. I came into this world descended from a long line of hard-rock miners who clawed out a living by busting rocks deep beneath the Earth's surface or in Arizona's open-pit copper mines. They were all hard men. And although early on in my life I decided that I did not wish to follow generations of Costellos into the mine shafts, it never occurred to me that my life would be as anything other than a hard man. The hard man works hard and relaxes hard. Hard men often live lives that are cut short by the intensity of the lives they lead/Michael Costello, Lewiston Tribune. More here. (AP file photo from 'Deadliest Catch' TV show)
Question: Are you a rugged man?
Item: Driver cited after collision with deer: Petition started over woman's 'inattentive driving' citation/David Cole, Coeur d'Alene Press
More Info: Newcombe declined to comment Friday, other than to say a petition has been started to support dismissal of the charge. The petition said the deer ran into her car. An affidavit filed in court in Kootenai County by an ISP trooper said visibility and road conditions were good at the time of the accident. To help drivers avoid collisions with wildlife, areas on both sides of the road had been “deforested” to improve motorists' visibility, the document said.
Question: Should a driver be cited for inattention driver for hitting a deer, whether or not the deer ran into the vehicle or vice versa?
Item: Another extension announced between Northwest Broadcasting and DirecTV/Office Hours
More Info: The good news in the prolonged dispute between the guys who run the Spokane Fox affiliate (KAYU-TV) and DirecTV is the apparent desire to keep going until the matter is resolved. Again on Friday we learned the two side have set another extension; it seems like the 32nd time but it's more like the sixth or seventh, in fact. The two sides are contesting over the Retransmision Fee, the amount DirecTV pays to Northwest Broadcasting, for carrying the Fox signals into the homes of subscribers here in Eastern Washington. Northwest Broadcasting is also bargaining for a number of other Fox stations, in Yakima, Tri-Cities, Medford and in New York state.
Question: Do you stay with a cable or satellite company for long? Or do you switch every couple of years, depending on the deals offered by other companies?
Clay Bennett/Chattanooga Times Free Press
I can't believe I brushed snow off my satellite dish four times last night, including once during the final 5 minutes of “Bones” when they were about to show who dunnit. The weather probably doesn't bother me as much as most during the week because I'm stuck inside at Hucks Central. But we need to get things moving toward 60 by this weekend or I'm afraid Mrs. O is going to leave me and head for warmer climes. Now, for your Wild Card …
In this AP file photo from Sunday, New York Knicks' Ronny Turiaf defends Boston Celtics' Paul Pierce during the first-round of the NBA basketball playoff series in Boston on Sunday. Turiaf, the former Gonzaga basketball star, will be in Spokane for the 3-on-3 annual Hoopfest this year. In teaming up with Hoopfest, Turiaf is going to refurbish a local outdoor basketball court, host “A Night with Ronny Turiaf” at the Lincoln Center to raise money for his Heart to Heart Foundation, and judge the slam dunk contest, among other activities. More here.
Two Bryan Elementary students possibly digging for “leprechaun gold” in the northwest corner of the 
playground (near the old oak tree) found broken, asbestos-laden tiles instead. Huckleberries has received a copy of a letter sent out by Bryan Elementary Principal Joel Palmer this afternoon assures parents that the type of asbestos found in the tiles, according to a lab report, doesn't “contain the type of asbestos that becomes airborne when disturbed and causes serious health dangers.” The Coeur d'Alene school, which is located on Harrison between 7th & 10th streets, took the following measures to ensure student safety today: The area was covered with a plastic tarp, filled with soil, covered with sod and then fenced off.” Huckleberries has learned from Bryan sources that younger students believe that a leprechaun lives in the old oak tree and has buried gold somewhere nearby. That's why some of them dig in the area. You can read Principal Palmer's letter to parents here. (SR file photo for illustrative purposes)
Question: Is the school taking the right steps to handle the problem?
On her Facebook wall, Kerri Thoreson posts this photo of a new friend checking out things around her Post Falls place.
Face masks of Britain's Prince William and his fiancee Kate Middleton are loaded into boxes for shipping at a production plant in Southam, central England earlier today. Over 120,000 of the masks have been sold worldwide with Mask-arade company staff working around the clock to complete orders before the Royal Wedding. Britain's Prince William will marry Kate Middleton in London's Westminster Abbey on Friday, April 29. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/Martin Cleaver)
Top Cutlines:
“Kootenai County's Chief Deputy Assessor Rich Houser (left) was shorn for a friend on Tuesday morning,” posts Kerri Thoreson, More Main Street. “Longtime county appraiser Gary Logsdon has taken an early retirement for health reasons and Rich inspired county staffers to contribute to a going away fund for Logsdon, to the tune of over $1,000!” More here.
Hucks Online numbers (for Thursday, April 21): 8555/5147
Question: Are you balding?
I've been spoiled. Having recently visited cities such as New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Austin, 
Louisville and Las Vegas, I've indulged in some mighty-fine nightlife. Hell, some of the finest the good ol' U.S. of A has to offer. But each of these aforementioned trips has left me with a certain void upon return - a void I've yet to fill in Coeur d'Alene. You see, I'm a live music fanatic. I love cheap drink specials. I'm a sucker for a good brew. And I love interacting with like-minded individuals. Combine all of these things and I'm one happy camper. The problem is, I typically have to venture far away from our little “Lake City” to achieve this/Mike McCall, North Idaho Sentinel. More here.
Question: Was a town's night life important to you as a young adult?
The young Congressman from our district, Rep. Raul Labrador, ran on a very idealistic platform that essentially boiled down to “America was a much better place in the 19th century, and we should return to that” 
— basically, straight Tea Party doctrine. (My posts from the campaign are here, here, and here.) As the underdog, Rep. Labrador apparently felt he needed to tap into Tea Party anger to get the Republican nomination, so he was the only major candidate to fill out the Tea Party Boise questionnaire. This document asked the candidates to “commit” or “pledge” to do several things, many of which were clearly delusional. Among the things that Candidate Labrador pledged to do was to “Vote “NO” on any bill that has not been read and understood by you and published on the web for at least 7 days prior to the vote”/Bubblehead, The Stupid Shall Be Punished. More here.
Question: Does Labrador have some 'splainin' to do to Tea Party minions?
Angel Smith of Sorensen Elementary created this picture to win the annual Coeur d'Alene Parks Department Arbor Day Poster contest for local fifth-graders. Hailey Turner of Skyway Elementary was second, and Emily Palus of Ramsey Elementary was third. This year's theme for the posters was, “What trees mean to me.” The Parks Department received 90 entries.
Question: Are you as good at drawing and art as a fifth-grader?
In the “How Have the Mighty Fallen” Dept., Lewiston Tribune sportswriter Ryan Collingwood, Class of ’02 at 
the defunct Falls Christian Academy in Post Falls, Facebooks that he bought an unused Adam Morrison rookie (Charlotte Bobcats) jersey for $2 at a thrift store. Ryan figures it would have cost $100 new back in the day before the acclaimed rookie from Gonzaga became a bust with two world championship rings with the L.A. Lakers. Such has been the downward trajectory of A-Mo that Ryan wonders: “Should I have just gotten a Slurpee instead?”
Question: Would you rather buy an Adam Morrison Charlotte Bobcats' rookie jersey in mint condition for $2 or a Slurpee?
In an essay for New West, writer Clarence Worly says that carp (golden bonefish. GBs. Renegades. Mud suckers. Wronguns) have gotten a bad rap: “Whatever moniker you prefer to hang on these persecuted bottom 
feeders, they occupy every major tributary in Idaho south of Lewiston and they are here to stay.” Worly goes on to give a history of carp in Idaho. He concludes by singing the praises of carp tacos, which were offered to him unexpectedly by a friend: “To my relief, all I could taste was the eye-watering hot pepper sauce Ernesto had slathered all over the tortilla. There was no unpleasant taste from the fish and no bones. I was so impressed I ate four more.” More here. (Wikipedia photo of a common carp)
Question: Have you ever eaten carp? Would you consider doing so?
According to Tom Von Alten of Fort Boise, the Ada County blogosphere lost one of its respected voices recently when well-known criminal justice instructor Michael Blankenship died unexpectedly on campus Thursday. 
Blankenship was the blogger of The Justice Gambit. Apparently, he'd recently had surgery. Of his death, President Bob Kustra of Boise State told the Idaho Statesman: ““Mike was highly respected by his students, who were engaged by his lively debates; by his colleagues, who appreciated his passion for teaching and reforming the criminal justice system; and by the Treasure Valley community, who were touched by his outreach and advocacy.” You can read more of the Statesman story here and see Blankenship's blog here.
Last week, Stickman made a reasonable plea that we should have one post a week in which you Merry Hucksters tell the rest of us what you're reading. Rather than simply list a number of titles and authors that you're currently reading or planning to read, I'd like to amend Stickman's request to ask you to give a brief review of your book and grade it on a scale of 1-10 in terms of recommending it to others. Moi? I'm reading Arthur Pink's “Exposition on the Sermon on the Mount”).
Question: Who ae you reading?
Gail Pennestri gives instruction during a riding lessonat Equine TLC in Post Falls recently. Equine TLC offers therapy to people with disabilities. Lisa Leinberger SR story here. (SR photo: Kathy Plonka)
Trig Trutherism, the surprisingly resilient conspiracy theory that Sarah Palin is not actually the mother of 
3-year-old Trig Palin, is experiencing a boomlet thanks to a new academic paper that endorses the concept. Long pursued by the blogger Andrew Sullivan and a significant segment of the Palin-hating left, Trig Trutherism holds that Trig's real mother is either Bristol Palin or some third party, and that Sarah Palin herself faked the pregnancy to avoid embarrassment for her daughter or for political gain or some combination of reasons/Justin Elliott, Salon War Room. More here. (AP file photo of Sarah Palin and son Trig at a 2009 book signing in Minnesota)
Question: Should people who believe in Trig Trutherism or that George Bush had something to do with 9/11 make fun of Obama birthers? And vice versa? Or should we make fun of them all?
Paris archbishop Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois carries a cross during a Good Friday procession in Paris, Friday, earlier today. In the background the Sacre Coeur basilica at Montmartre. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Question: How often do you attend church?
Since its creation last fall, a conservative student group at Washington State University has set up a chain-link fence on campus to protest illegal immigration, launched a controversial newspaper, and rallied in favor of 
“Straight Pride.” Those public events have brought attention to the local chapter and its parent organization, Youth for Western Civilization. The goal of the seven-member chapter is to revive Western civilization and make it the dominant culture in the U.S., according to Phil Tignino, the student coordinator for the WSU chapter. “I don't think the U.S. should be known as the country that is home to every culture, language and belief system in the world,” said Tignino, a 22-year-old political science major from Los Angeles/Andrea Castillo, WSU Murrow News Service. More here. H/T: Obusmax
Question: The Southern Poverty Law Center says Youth for Western Civilization is promoting white nationalism at Washington State. Do you agree? Or do you consider this group relatively harmless?
I'm 26 years old, and don't look particularly old for my age. I despise the inconvenience but I *should* be 
carded every time I go into a bar unless the employees already know me. I do need to give a shoutout to The Torch here, because I've been going there for years, and they all know me there, but still card just to be on the safe side. I have a friend who has been going there even longer than I have, and he forgot his ID when he walked down one night. Even though everybody from the dancers to the managers knew him and I'd already paid his cover before he arrived, they wouldn't let him in. There are two bars in town where I've never been carded/Anonymous Downtown Bar Patron. More here. And: You can find the latest Downtown Coeur d'Alene Bar Report, for April 2-18, here.
Question: Should Coeur d'Alene police do more to rein in downtown Coeur d'Alene bar scene?
Participants in the Take Back the Night march move through the University of Idaho campus on Thursday in Moscow. The march was held in observance of April’s national Sexual Assault Awareness Month. The University of Idaho hosted its annual awareness-raising “Take Back The Night” event, giving members of the campus and local community the chance to take an active stand against incidents of sexual abuse, domestic violence, and sexual assault. You can read more about the march here. (Moscow-Pullman Daily News photo: Dean Hare)
Question: Have you ever participated in a Take Back the Night march?
Former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn recently made their second trip to Cuba. Carter also 
went in 2002. Both trips, undertaken as a private citizen (but no former president is really a private citizen), were designed to try and move U.S – Cuba relations in a more positive direction. Predictably, Carter was immediately denounced as a “shill for Castro” and an apologist for the Cuba government. Such criticism seems to roll of the former president’s back like water off a duck and Carter’s report on the visit, posted at the Carter Center website, paints a much different picture of what he did and said in Havana/Marc Johnson, The Johnson Report. More here. (AP file photo of Jimmy Carter & Fidel Castro this spring)
Question: If we can restore relations with Vietnam, isn't it time that we did the same with Cuba?
Little talk of repealing “Obamacare” or of modifying objectionable provisions of healthcare legislation took place at Stout’s “Patriots Unite” event, held March 26. The impending possibility of a government shutdown 
due to an impasse over the budget was hardly mentioned. Nary a word was spoken about bailouts or taxes. Instead, speakers at this Tea Party event gave the crowd a heavy dose of racist “birther” attacks on President Obama, discussions of the conspiracy behind the problem facing America (complete with anti-Semitic illustration), Christian nationalism, anti-environmentalism, and serious calls for legislation promoting states’ rights and “nullification.” Stout, the Idaho state coordinator for Tea Party Patriots attracted around seventy Tea Party activists from Idaho, Montana, and Washington to the Coeur D’Alene Inn for the conference/Devin Burghart, Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights. More here. (Photo/Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights: North Idaho Tea Party leader Pam Stout of Bonners Ferry)
Reaction?
Who doesn't like television? Some love it more than others, but for the most part, we are a TV-grazed society. 
Nearly everyone will admit to watching too much TV, and most of us understand that sitting in front of the tube for hours on end does a lot of negative things to the waistline and little else to our brains. So trying to cut an hour or two out of our daily schedule is a worthy thing to do, but it can be challenging. To turn it off completely for an entire week takes a lot of self-restraint and a lot of planning/Sandra Kelly, Moscow-Pullman Daily News. More here. (AP file photo)
Question: Do you watch too much TV?
Just when I was starting to grumble more about the weather than the Idaho Legislature, I received a two-page 
letter from my state senator, John Goedde. In it, Goedde underline a couple of things, including the statement: “Total General Fund appropriations for Public Education (K-12) saw a modest increase of about 1% from the previous year.” Also, the chairman of the Senate Education Committee, mentions the, ahem, “measureable impact” that educators, administrators, and other interested persons had on proposals to reform education. (And you thought that the legislators didn't listen at all? Tsk. Tsk.) You have to read pretty hard between the lines to sense any of the devastation to public education wrought by the 2011 Legislature that looms ahead like Titantic's iceberg. You can read the letter to “dear neighbor” here.
Question: What do you think of Goedde's letter?
Jeff Owens, owner of Owens Auction Gallery, and friends are moving into a new site at 17th Avenue and Ray Street on the South Hill. Owens sits with Ula, Mae, Burger Momma and Scuba Steve during a break Thursday in the move from the Valley. (SR photo: Christopher Anderson)
Item: Many Dieters Eating Wrong Foods Due To Misleading Labeling/Medical News Today
More Info: Dieters are more drawn to such words in labels as healthy than non-dieters, which would be OK if all labels were super honest, unfortunately a considerable number are misleading and dieters often end up eating the complete opposite - unhealthy foods, according to an article published in The Journal of Consumer Research.
Question: Are you currently on a diet? If so … are you sure what you're eating is good for you?
The Idaho football team was deep into its final practice before Saturday’s spring game when Robb Akey felt a tap 
on his shoulder. It was former Vandals star lineman Mike Iupati, now of the San Francisco 49ers, who decided to spring a surprise visit on his old coach and teammates. “I turn around and there’s a mountain standing there,” Akey said after Thursday’s workout. “I jumped up and gave him a hug and I started crying.” Akey put a sudden stop to practice and rounded up his players so that Iupati, who helped guide Idaho to a Humanitarian Bowl triumph in 2009, could give an impromptu address to the team. San Francisco’s first-round pick from a year ago didn’t disappoint/Josh Wright, SR. More here. (In this 2009 Idaho Press Tribune file photo by Greg Kreller, Mike Iupati embraces Coach Robb Akey in closing moments of UI's Humanitarian Bowl win over Bowling Green.)
Question: When did you last return to your alma mater to attend and event or guest lecture to inspire those following in your footsteps?
Holy Week this year has a surprising twist. The international observance of Earth Day and the Christian church’s 
celebration of Good Friday converge on April 22. To many in the church this will come as an unwelcome intrusion. I’ve learned in my years as a pastor not to schedule anything that would compete with the rhythms of Holy Week. I’m still reminded occasionally by the keepers of the church calendar about the year I agreed to do a wedding on the Saturday before Easter. I won’t do that again. For others, the threat of this coincidence goes much deeper than potential scheduling conflicts. They will see this as a sacred-secular fault line in an ongoing cultural struggle between two opposing ideologies/Craig Goodwin, pastor of Millwood Presbyterian Church of Spokane, special to CNN. More here. (SR file photo: Pastor Craig Goodwin's book, “Year of Plenty,” chronicles the year he and his family consumed only things that were homemade, home grown, used or local.)
Question: Which observance will you participate in today — Good Friday or Earth Day? Or both?
Item: High court asked to reinstate FCC indecency policy against nudity, cursing on television/Mark Sherman, AP
More Info: The Obama administration asked the Supreme Court Thursday to reinstate a policy that allows federal regulators to fine broadcasters for showing nudity and airing curse words when young children may be watching television. The administration is seeking the high court's review of appeals court rulings that threw out the Federal Communications Commission's rules against the isolated use of expletives as well as fines against broadcasters who showed a woman's nude buttocks on a 2003 episode of ABC's “NYPD Blue.”
Question: Do you think there's too much cursing on television during hours that children are watching?
Do you ever think of how people pass in and out of your life over the course of time, by and large enriching you before they move on? An old friend contacted me this week after seeing me in a building recently. We attended church together in the 1980s. We both moved on to other churches and lost touch with each other. But I know I benefitted from knowing his wife and him back then. I'm thankful for that. How about you? Do you ever think of those who enriched you but no longer are part of your life? Now for your Wild Card …
Dean Huggins, of Newman Lake, snapped this photo in the Hauser Lake area. Dean tells Huckleberries: “A local hobbyist rebuilds old wagons on his property in his spare time. He was generous with information about the names and dates of the wagons he had on site. I did not know for instance that Studebaker made wagons before they made cars. Also John Deere made wagons but they were not painted the John Deere color back then. Now the wagon colors are 'old wood' and 'moss.'” You can read how Dean set up this shot in drop-down box. (You can view more of Dean's photos of his Facebook wall here.)
The Environmental Protection Agency has become, for some of libertarian or Tea Party convictions, something 
of an embodiment of government run amok. Environmentalists see the agency, at its best, as the defender of people’s health and the environment’s welfare. It is instructive to see what happens when these two worldviews are superimposed on the construction of one single-family home that is either in (from the E.P.A’s point of view) or near (from the property owners’ perspective) wetlands in the woods of the Idaho panhandle/Felicity Barringer, New York Times Green Blog. More here.
Question: How do you view the Environmental Protection Agency?
“It feels really squishy and slimy,” said 2nd grader Tori Yonkers, as she held an octopus during class at Dalton Elementary in Galton Gardens earlier today. The hands on study was a result from a $500 Excel grant the teachers received to purchase the octopi, squid and other supplies. (SR photo: Kathy Plonka)
Boys of the Paloc minority, dressed in their traditional clothing, pour buckets of water on a girl in the village of Holloko, 100 kilometers (62 miles) north-east of Budapest, Hungary, Friday, during a practice performance of this typical Hungarian Easter tradition. You write the cutline. (AP file photo/Bela Szandelszky)
Today's Top Cutlines:
“Longtime Kootenai County Sheriff Rocky Watson is a legendary prankster so retiring Undersheriff Tad Leach planned a payback for his last day,” posts Kerri Thoreson of More Main Street. “Tad (on right) arranged to have a forklift place Rocky's Durango on top of two ammo bunkers in the Sheriff's Dept. yard on Wednesday afternoon.” More here.
Top Blog Post: The opening of Ugly Fish Asian Bistro was first reported in the CDA Press a few months ago, but apparently
we were having a vodka holiday that week and somehow missed the news. I haven't driven by the newly-constructed Riverstone location (1927 W. Riverstone Drive) to see if construction of this place is indeed an actual reality but I'm assuming it's happening since they already have a presence in the various listings and maps on Google and the online yellow pages (the internet never lies)/OrangeTV, Get Out! North Idaho. More here.
Hucks Online numbers (for Wednesday, April 20): 8350/5225
Question: Anyone know whether Ugly Fish Asian Bistro has opened in Riverstone?
Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint (re: Luna seeks a few good techies): I believe this is the task force that is set out in SB 1184 with a membership 
list in the bill which is now law. What is interesting, if I understand this post correctly, is that applications & nominations are being accepted which is a different approach than asking each of the groups delinated in that list to pick the people that will represent them. For example, wouldn’t the School Board Association decide amongst themselves who will sit on the Task Force? Does this announcement mean that if you are a member of the School Board Association you can submit your application directly to the Supt. who will choose the person to sit on the Task Force? Again, if this is the Task Force set out in the bill, it also has a prescribed list of duties too. See page 21 beginning on line 8.
Edgar Steele’s defense won’t be able to call two expert witnesses it lined up to question the authenticity of FBI tapes of Steele talking with Larry Fairfax about an alleged murder-for-hire plot against Steele’s wife, Cyndi, a 
federal judge in Boise ruled Thursday. The testimony and expertise from one proposed expert was unreliable, U.S. District Judge Lynn Winmill found, and the qualifications and testimony of the second were irrelevant, at least at this point. Steele, a self-described “attorney for the damned” who’s represented clients including the Aryan Nations, goes to trial on Tuesday on four felony charges related to an alleged murder-for-hire plot to kill his wife and mother-in-law; he faces up to 30 years in prison/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Organizers of the Luna recall/education 'reform' referendum have announced that they'll be gathering petition signatures in more than 35 places throughout Idaho this weekend, includin these 4 North Idaho venues:
Today, Holy Thursday, we observe the Last Supper, the meal Jesus shared with his friends. He broke the
bread and shared it. Scripture reminds us that we will “find Him in the breaking of the bread.” My most profound experience of the risen Christ in the breaking of the bread happened not at church, but at Tampa International Airport. My father was dying and I was escorting him on his journey home. On a sunny Sunday morning, a limousine took us on dad's last ride to an airport. The driver, not knowing dad's health status, asked if he could say a prayer before we left the driveway. He likes to do that, he told us. Of course/Catherine Johnston, EndNotes. More here.
Question: Does the Passion Week have special meaning to you?
On his Facebook wall, Rocky Castaneda writes of this spectacular recent sunset: “”Its springtime, and its been raining and snowing. Luckily, we had a chance to stroll by Higgens Point, CDA, and on our way home stopped by Coeur D' Alene Lake Drive and took this shot. The Illusive Sunset always hiding behind gloomy clouds.”
The Food and Drug Administration is worried about what it calls an “important potential public health issue.” It 
could be in your latte or your child’s bowl of breakfast cereal. It could be in your refrigerator or freezer. At the very least, the FDA wants to make certain that it’s not in any of the 8 million milk-producing cattle in the United States or the 500,000 dairy cows in Idaho. When test results released last year by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service showed extremely high levels of drugs and antibiotics in cattle from dairies across the nation, including in Idaho, the federal agency announced it would launch a series of tests to address a potential problem/George Prentice, Inlander. More here.
Question: Do you worry about drugs or antibiotics in your store-bought milk?
Spokane, Washington. Ah, yes. There are so many reasons not to go there – the considerable excess of Wal-Marts, the tweaked-out, drug-addled zombie people, and for every Smartcar modestly obeying traffic in Seattle, there are two over sized, gas-guzzling pick-up trucks in Spokane running over flowers and babies. Yet here I am, making up a list of reasons why you should drive there on Friday. Well, it’s all about the love – G. Love, that is/Gwendolyn Elliott, Seattle Weekly. More here.
Question: Can you list 3-4 good reasons to go to Spokane?
Herb Huseland: I just read on AOL news that two guys in New York City hailed a cab and said, “take us to Los Angeles.” The cabbie did just that. A $5000 fare compared to about $1000 by air didn’t deter these guys. They claimed they were sick and tired of being strip searched in airports, sitting in crowded aircraft where even peanuts aren’t free anymore. I remember a similar situation where another driver (when I was a cda cabbie) had a woman hire him to take her from Coeur d’Alene to Seattle.
Question: When did you last ride in a cab? How fare? What was the fare?
Idaho Deputy Chief of Prisons Josh Tewalt tours the medium security Idaho State Correctional Institution recently in his second week on the job in Kuna. Tewalt has bounced back from three DUI arrests of his own between 2002 and 2006, which forced him out of state government work. Statesman story here. Also: Dan Popkey wonders if the Corrections Department blocked access to his story comments here. (AP Photo/Statesman, Joe Jaszewski)
Question: Is a guy with 3 DUI arrests in his past the right guy to pick for deputy chief of Idaho Corrections Department?
KootenaiCounty’s payables are now posted on its website www.kcgov.us, under the Clerk’s division and the 
Auditor tab. “This project has been supported by all the County’s elected officials,” said County Clerk Cliff Hayes. “Getting specific descriptions for each expense entered in plain language has been a team effort by numerous County employees who process invoices for payment.” The most recent payables report is online now; new reports will be posted weekly/Kootenai County clerk news release. More here.
Reaction?
OrangeTV (re: incident claiming to involve downtown bouncer): I was actually at work at Mik’s at the time of this
supposed bouncer making-out-and-getting-punched incident and I call BS. We have two bouncers and they’re both extremely hetero (not that there’s anything wrong with that), not to mention one is also female. People tell the police completely crazy things all the time to form a cover story for their various drunken carryings-on and drama moments outside our bar. This one smells really fishy to me like that.
Question: Have you ever worked as a bouncer? Or in a bar, for that matter?
A District Court Judge in Helena has ruled in favor of the State in a motion to dismiss the same-sex marriage 
issue in Montana. The ACLU asked the First Judicial Court in January to recognize same-sex couples as domestic partnerships in Montana to guarantee protection of their rights. In Judge Sherlock's ruling, which was filed April 19th, it states, “…in spite of this Court's sympathy for the plight of the Plaintiffs this court finds that the state's motion to dismiss should be granted.” It further states, “This court finds that to be an inappropriate exercise of this Court's power. Primarily it would violate the separation of powers contained in the Montana Constitution”/Melissa Anderson, KRTV. More here.
Reaction?
Cars move through a furious snow shower during the morning commute today in Post Falls. (SR photo: Jesse Tinsley)
Question: Do you have a comment about today's snow that you'd like to add to the list?
Mike Perry/KHQ tweet: Otter hasn't contacted miner's family yet, and doesn't plan on visiting mine. Doesn't want his presence to impose on the rescue effort.
Gov. Butch Otter has issued this statement: “In light of the recent accident and continuing rescue efforts under way at the Lucky Friday mine, out of respect for the community and in consultation with the City of Mullan and Hecla Mining Co., the Governor is postponing his scheduled April 27th Capital for a Day in Mullan. We hope to reschedule it in May at a date to be determined”/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise.
Question: Should Butch Otter visit mine to see the rescue effort firsthand?
Codywiench: I’m from Moscow … so coming to the bars in Coeur d’Alene may as well be going to the bars in the Jersey Shore to me — many of them are full of tools. Moscow is more laid back … we don’t have anyone to impress. Latest Downtown Coeur d'Alene Bar Report.
Question: Has the bar scene in downtown Coeur d'Alene gotten rough again? Or has it stayed rough, and we're lucky to have had no more gun play since late December 2009?
On her Facebook wall, Kerri Thoreson posts a photo of her mother, Alice Rankin, on her recent 80th birthday. Alice formerly wrote a gardening column for Huckleberries Online. Her late husband, Ron, of course, was well known for his fight against property taxes and two-term stint as a Kootenai County commissioner. The Rankins and I go way back. During my 9 years as a reporter, Ron provided several tips that led to major stories for me. I've been here so long, in fact, that I remember the fellow whom Ron replaced as head of the Kootenai County Property Owners Association: Rex Morehouse (who lived in Spirit Lake at the time).
Question: Feel free to give a shoutout to an oldtimer who has enriched your life?
Justin Vinge, Josephine Davis and Mariah Hottell have a lot in common. They’re bright, articulate and 
successful college students. They’ve also been called disposable, unwanted and told they’d never succeed. These Spokane Falls Community College students are former foster youth who are proving their detractors wrong. Recently, the three shared their stories at a College Success Foundation storytelling workshop in Issaquah, Wash. The foundation funds and administrates several scholarship programs like Passport to College Promise, which makes it possible for foster care youth to attend college/Cindy Hval, SR. More here. (SR photo by Colin Mulvany)
Question: Have you or any family members been involved with the foster care system?
Sisyphus: This is usually where I pull out my Mayberry analogy. I still view most of Idaho as Mayberry. And I 
prefer to react as Andy Griffith, not Barney Fife. I grew up with guns. I know how to use them. Family members own guns. I insisted my kids learned how to use them safely. But I don’t see the need to have one handy. I acknowledge that may change. Ironically there are campgrounds I just won’t go to because of the prevalence of alcohol and guns used in concert. I’ve rarely had a need for a gun to protect myself from large predators. But I’ve definitely been scared of my fellow man a time or two. (Wikipedia photo of Don Knotts as Mayberry character Barney Fife)
Question: Do you view Idaho as Mayberry, as Sisyphus does?
The archbishop who will marry Prince William and Kate Middleton has made a short film about his role in the 
royal wedding, and urged people to support the royal couple in the weeks, months and years to come. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, who will preside over the couple's April 29 ceremony at Westminster Abbey, says he feels honored to be leading the historic nuptials. Williams emphasizes how the couple's wedding will send a positive message to the world. He also praises William and Kate for keeping the wedding true to themselves as a couple, saying that they are “deeply unpretentious people,” sensible and realistic/Associated Press. More here. (AP file photo)
Question: Are you paying much attention to the Royal wedding?
Motorcylcle club members and other supporters gather on the steps of the Capitol in Olympia, Wash., Wednesday, after they attended a bill signing with Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire as she signed a bill prohibiting law enforcement officials from profiling motorcyclists for sporting club colors or logos. The group, which wasn't screened or invited by the Governor's office, included Robert Christopher, sixth from left, a biker who was convicted of killing Portland, Ore., police officer David Crowther during a drug raid in 1979, but was soon released from prison due to police misconduct in his case. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
Question: Did Washington tie the hands of police officers by passing a law that prevents them from profiling motorcyclists who sport club colors or logos?
Earlier this month, Coeur d'Alene police responded to the Icon bar, where an unwanted male was trying to kick 
in the back door after he'd been kicked out of the bar. Seems the bar fly thought that the Icon was his house. And who are we to say that the man doesn't feel more at home at the Icon than anywhere else? All of this can be found in the latest Downtown Coeur d'Alene Bar Report (which I posted late Wednesday afternoon, but I didn't want you to miss it). You can also read about the bouncer who got punched in the face by another man but didn't want to press charges because the two had been making out earlier. For the latest bar report, click here.
Question: Izzit it just me, or does the Icon seem to have more than its share of Downtown Bar Report calls?
The State Department of Education is now accepting applications and nominations for anyone interested in 
serving on the Students Come First Technology Task Force, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna announced today. Under Senate Bill 1184, the Superintendent of Public Instruction is required to convene a task force to help in implementing the technology components of the Students Come First law. Specifically, the task force will study and develop plans for the one-to-one ratio of mobile computing devices in high schools/Superintendent Tom Luna news release. More here.
Question: Are you interested in being part of Tom Luna's Students Come First Technology Task Force?
No docks will be built on Sanders Beach. That’s part of the resolution of six lawsuits dating back to 1998 
between the city of Coeur d’Alene and the owners of eight homes on a Lake Coeur d’Alene beach that also offers public access. “For the first time, there’s some certainty among the homeowners and the public about public access on Sanders Beach,” said Mike Haman, an attorney for the city. “That’s important because summer is coming and the public will know what they can and can’t do.” Litigation regarding public access to Sanders Beach versus private property rights has dragged on for decades/Alison Boggs, SR. More here. (SR photo: Kathy Plonka)
Question: Rather than litigate and settle, should the city have obtained Sanders Beach through eminent domain — and preserved it for future generations of Coeur d'Alene residents?
Item: Lake City board should have $11.7 million pot: Many public projects seeking agency funding/Alison Boggs, SR
More Info: The city of Coeur d’Alene’s urban renewal agency should have $11.7 million over the next 10 years to invest in public projects within its Lake District, according to a financial consultant’s report Wednesday. That means the board of the Lake City Development Corp. could have some tough decisions to make in coming weeks because the value of projects looking to the urban renewal agency for funding dwarfs that sum by many millions.
Question: Should most of the available LCDC money be invested in McEuen Field upgrades?
Here's hoping the April deep freeze that we've experienced that last several days in the Inland Northwest is a thing of the past. I bought some lettuce seedlings to plant last weekend. And I'd like to put them and some seeds in the ground ASAP. My impulse to garden is late in taking hold this year. But it finally has. Let's break ground. Now for your Wild Card …
“Concert promoters allowed me only one song from the orchestra pit to photograph singer Sir Elton John as he performed in Spokane recently,” posts Colin Mulvany/Snaps & Frames. “Concert photography has it own special challenges. The stage lighting changes rapidly and the freedom to move around is constrained–especially since you have to hug the rim of the stage as people, who paid big bucks for the privilege of a front row seat, bitch at you for being in their line of sight.” More here.
Two days later, he titled his post “North Idaho five weeks and going …” and said he was working to bring “the mexican taco cart foothold to the attention of the locals here in couer d’alene/Hayden.”
The FBI has arrested a Whitman County man on federal drug charges. Jeremiah Daniel “J.D.” Hop, who 
describes himself as an anti-race mixing activist on the racist website Vanguard News Network, is accused of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Investigators are searching Hop’s home near Pullman right now, as well as another property in Whitman County associated with the suspect, said Don Robinson, supervisor for the FBI’s Coeur d’Alene office. Hop, who was arrested this morning, is not a member of the Aryan Nations but is involved in racist circles, Robinson said. Hop, 29, is to appear before a federal magistrate in Spokane Thursday morning/Meghann Cuniff, SR. More here.
In the “Nothing Says Happy Anniversary Like A Trashed Motel Room” Dept. … a Washington couple decided to celebrate their anniversary by renting a motel room in the 600 block of Sherman Avenue. So good, so far. 
Later, the two were drinking at the Icon when the husband “became aggressive,” according to the latest Downtown Coeur d'Alene Bar Report, because his Bride + A Few Years was talking to another man. Upon returning to the motel room, Mr. Hot Head became abusive toward his wife and trashed the room, “knocking over the microwave, cracking the toilet and other damage.” Mr. Hot Head, 34, was then arrested by Coeur d'Alene's finest for domestic battery. All of this is my way of saying that the latest Downtown Coeur d'Alene Bar Report (April 2-18) is fresh off the presses here.
Question: Which item in the Downtown Coeur d'Alene Bar Report for April 2-18?
“They hire us to do odd jobs,” said Sean Curran, caddy for The Coeur d'Alene Resort as he raked a private beach just East of the public access to Sanders Beach on Wednesday. No docks will be built on Sanders Beach. That's part of the resolution of six lawsuits dating back to 1998 between the city of Coeur d'Alene and the owners of eight homes on the beach. Alison Boggs' story here. (SR photo: Kathy Plonka)
185 skydivers from 24 nations fly in the Phoenix formation above DeLand, Fla., on Sunday. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/World Team, Andrey Veselov)
Top Cutlines:
Getty photographer Chris Hondros walks the ruins of a building Aug. 21, 2006 in southern Beirut, Lebanon. Hondros, 41, died earlier today after being seriously wounded while on assignment in Misrata, Libya, according to Getty's director of photography, Pancho Bernasconi. 'Restrepo' director Tim Hetherington was also killed in Libya today. Story here. (AP Photo/Getty Images)
On his Facebook wall, Nic of Rants, Raves, & Random Things posts this photograph of the lunch menu for The Lunch Box caterers, creative spelling and all for the loaded soup of potatoes and “cawliflower.”
Hucks Online numbers (for Tuesday, April 19): 8153 page-views/5016 unique views
Question: What's your favorite soup?
A quarter won’t buy you much nowadays, Glacier National Park Superintendent Chas Cartwright says — a 
pencil, maybe a gum ball. “But having something you can look at, something that evokes a feeling of place, is priceless,” he said. Cartwright was busy handing out a piece of pricelessness to West Glacier and Canyon elementary school children last week during a ceremony commemorating the newest America the Beautiful quarter. The coin features a scene of a mountain goat standing on a rock overlooking Mount Reynolds, near Logan Pass in Glacier Park/Chris Peterson, Hungry Horse News. More here. (AP file photo: Supt. Chas Cartwright of Glacier National Park, hands out new quarters to students of Canyon Elementary School during a ceremony held at Columbia Falls (Mont.) High School.
Question: Do you collect quarters from the U.S. Mint series for the states and now national parks?
… that Coeur d'Alene High principal Randy Russell is going to be named officially as superintendent of the Freeman School District in Washington soon. The following announcement by Board Chair Brent Fetsch is 
currently on the Web page of the Freeman School District: “Our community was fortunate to have a quality pool of candidates interested in our superintendent position. We interviewed four great finalists. We are grateful for the participation and involvement of staff, students, and community. Everyone’s input was very helpful. The Board is pleased to announce that we have offered Randy Russell, currently principal of Coeur d'Alene High School, a contract for the position of Superintendent of Freeman School District. Randy will join us at next Thursday’s board meeting. Everyone is welcome to come and be introduced.” A Berry Picker believes that a special meeting for teachers aftere school today will address Russell's move to the Freeman School District.
Question: How would you rate the job that Randy Russell did as Coeur d'Alene High principal?
Claudia Holland 71, posted this sign outside her Hudson, Texas, home on Monday. Holland was unharmed earlier this month when someone kicked in her front door. She thinks her barking dogs scared off the late-night intruder. (AP Photo/Lufkin Daily News, Jessica Cooley)
Question: Would you shoot someone who broke into your home?
At the Spokane’s Top Model competition, things are a little different. Red Eye Promotions, the organizers of the 
event, didn’t uphold the rigid weight, height and age standards that other competitions institute. They wanted to be inclusive. “We wanted the event to be open to everyone, to show that Spokane’s fashion scene is diverse,” says event manager Taylor Fyhrie. More pageant than fashion show, Fyhrie says the event was created to celebrate Spokane’s growing fashion scene. “The event is about bringing new opportunities to Spokane,” he says. “Spokane is working to get caught up as far as Seattle and other more fashionably-forward communities”/Jordy Byrd, Inlander. More here. (Inlander illustration: Jim Campbell)
Question: Do you have what it takes to be a runway model?
A top a bowl of Bubble Yum and Whopperflavored frozen yogurt, my 5-year-old son loaded gum drops, crushed Oreos, M&M’s, fresh kiwi and rainbow sprinkles — plus a squirt of marshmallow cream. He was in kid 
heaven. “That’s the beauty. You can make your own masterpiece,” says Froyo Earth owner Steve Kraft. Kraft opened his downtown self-serve frozen yogurt store last summer — and already plans to open northside, Valley and South Hill locations by the end of June. At Froyo Earth, customers choose from 10 different flavors of frozen yogurt and sorbets and more than 50 toppings. “You take and pay for no more than you want,” says Kraft/Kirsten Harrington, Inlander. More here.
Question: Frozen yogurt or ice cream?
I love eggs, especially hard-boiled eggs. And most especially those hard-boiled eggs that have been made 
into deviled eggs. In my humble opinion, God was really on his game the day he came up with chickens that lay eggs. With Easter approaching, I’ve found myself craving fish and eggs, not necessarily in that order. But while you can get a fish sandwich from nearly every place in town, it’s hard to find anyone who offers deviled eggs as a regular part of the menu. I’d advise against buying the ones offered at Albertsons. Their deli does a lot of things right, but deviled eggs aren’t one of them. The ones I’ve had there feature overly mustardy yolks surrounded by a rubbery layer of white/Susan Engle, Postcards from the Edge, Lewiston Tribune. More here.
Question: I simply can't resist a deviled egg. Whoever's hosting various holiday get-togethers in my extended North Idaho family knows that deviled eggs must be on the menu. How about you?
Don Capparelli speaks about Larry Marek at his home in Page on Monday. Capparelli, now retired, was Marek's supervisor while the two worked at the Sunshine Mine in the late 1990s. The effort to reach Marek, a 30-year mining veteran, had stretched into a third day after he was trapped in the collapse about 5:30 p.m. Friday in the Lucky Friday mine while his brother, another mine worker, escaped. A tiny camera lowered behind the rock collapse has shown no signs of life. Story here. (AP Photo/The Spokesman-Review, Kathy Plonka)
Red rover, red rover, send the New York State Department of Health right over. And back and forth the state agency is going, wobbling between regulating classic outdoor games such as Red Rover and pulling all 
regulations on those games. To appease a 2009 law (set to hit the books this year) aimed at regulating summer and day camp programs , the agency formed a list of “non-passive recreational activities with significant risk of injury” that if a program took part in would then classify the program as a camp, requiring additional—and costly—staffing for medical purposes and record keeping. The list … surprised more than a few people with the inclusion of wiffleball, red rover, dodgeball, kickball, tag, capture the flag, tetherball and so many more/Tim Newcomb, Time. More here. (2007 SR file photo, of Coeur d'Alene police officer playing dodgeball at Lakes Middle School.)
Question: Did you ever play Red Rover, dodgeball, or any of the “dangerous” playground games listed above?
A Rathdrum man was hit and killed by a train near the intersection of Timberline Street and Heritage Street late Tuesday night.Around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday officers responded to a report of a pedestrian having been struck by a passing train at Timberline and Heritage. The officers found the man lying on the south side of the train tracks.Subsequent interviews with train personnel revealed they had seen the man walking toward the train tracks and that once he got to the tracks the man either sat or lay down on the tracks/KXLY. More here.
A Monopoly Property Trading Game is shown recently in Portland, Ore. Hasbro reports that its first-quarter profit tumbled 71 percent as weakness persisted in games, puzzles and several other product categories and the company spent money to develop new products and staff its joint-venture TV station. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Question: Which board game is your favorite?
A tiny camera inserted into open space behind tons of collapsed rock and debris has so far found no sign of a 
missing silver miner in Idaho, a spokeswoman for the mining company said Wednesday. The camera is designed to work in plumbing pipes and is not capable of immediately giving a large-scale view of the open space, said Melanie Hennessey of Hecla Mining Co. “It will take a bit of time to get an understanding of the area,”’ she said. The camera, inserted through a 180-foot-long bore hole completed on Tuesday, provides images from such a small area at a time that rescuers are not sure how large the open space is, she said/Nichola K. Geranios, Associated Press. More here.
Question: Are you as amazed as I am re: the tremendous effort to find missing miner Larry Marek?
I admit that I've quit collecting record albums, after my collection soared to the 1000-plus range a couple of 
years ago. In fact, I've given away at least half of that collection to local thrift stores — and have plans to keep only a few hundred of my favorites. Part of my problem is finding Pandora online. I can listen to whatever music strikes my fancy without digging into my pile of albums for an oldie but goodie. A Facebook Friend writes of this phenomenon: “Does the availability of music online take the fun out of being a music geek for those of us old enough to have spent endless hours going from record shop to record shop looking for a hard-to-find album or single?
Question: Do you have a collection of old record albums (vinyls for you kids out there)? What era/type?
Don’t blame the Boise School District. Place the blame squarely where it belongs — with the 2011 Legislature 
and Gov. Butch Otter. Because the state chose to finance public schools on the cheap, cutting K-12 budgets for the third consecutive year, the Boise district will have to grovel to voters. On Aug. 30, the district will ask voters to pass a property tax levy — aimed at keeping teachers on the job and preventing increases in class size. District officials don’t know exactly how much they’ll seek. They’ll figure that out in July, after they have a better sense of the state’s revenue picture/Kevin Richert, Idaho Statesman. More here.
Question: Did any of you really think that there wouldn't be tax hikes to pay for public education when the 2011 Legislature and Gov. Butch Otter embraced Tom Luna's “reform” plan to fund education on the cheap?
“(Tuesday's) mix of sun and snow continued into the evening but the wind died down and made for a nice walk along the lake,” posts Linda Lantzy of Idaho Scenic Images on her Facebook wall. “This is the Silver Beach Marina.”
Question: Do you have a favorite water-side spot for your strolls?
A new study ranks Idaho as the nation’s fifth highest state in the number of households relying only on cellular 
telephones. A report by the Centers for Disease Control issued today shows 31.7 percent of Idaho households are wireless only, compared to a 27.5 percent national average. The survey shows the wireless-only trend is growing, up 10 percent compared from 2007 when nearly 20 percent of Idaho homes lacked a land line. Idaho trails Arizona, with 35 percent of homes with wireless phones only, followed by Mississippi, Texas and North Dakota/Spokesman-Review. More here. (AP file illustration)
Question: Do you rely only on cellphones in your home?
Feeling a bit betrayed by what now appears to be a web of lies that formed the basis of Greg Mortenson's 
bestselling “Three Cups of Tea” and the massive charity that grew from it? Join the club. In 2001, five years before Mortenson's story turned into a book that would rocket off the bestseller charts, he sold the same tale to me. And I bought it. In my own feeble defense, Mortenson came to me with some automatic mountain-cred: an introduction by Seattle's Tom Hornbein, the legendary Mount Everest climber who then served as a member of the board of the Central Asia Institute, Mortenson's charity to build schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The reputation of Hornbein, the longtime head of the University of Washington's anesthesiology department, is rock-solid/Ron Judd, Seattle Times. More here. (2009 AP file photo: Greg Mortenson and U.S. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen)
Question: Have you read Greg Mortenson's 'Three Cups of Tea'?
In a guest opinion in the Bonner County Bee on Sunday, Sandpoint Mayor Gretchen Hellar , pictured, said Dover Mayor Randy Curless earned $45,000 per year. Which was news to Mayor Curless and his daughter, former 
SReporter Erica Curless. Mayor Curless earns $2400 per year. In a mea culpa on Tuesday, Mayor Hellar writes in the Bee: “In my rush to get my guest editorial published I committed a stupid error. I did not check the information I got from the Internet. I tried to call Dover City Hall and Randy Curless, mayor of Dover, before I submitted it. I could not reach them. I should have waited until I could confirm the data. The Dover mayor does make $45,000, but that is the salary of the mayor of Dover, Md. I sincerely apologize to Randy and the citizens of Dover for the problem I caused.”
Question: Have you ever been embarrassed by information from the Internet that you used in a public way?
Holly Pickett, a Butte native and former Spokesman-Review photographer, has been covering events throughout the Middle East, including the revolution in Tunis, Tunisia. SR columnist Shawn Vestal writes about his amazing former colleague today here. You can see how dangerous her assignments were by this news today that two top-notch photojournalist have been killed in Libya here. (Photo: Niels Hougaard)
Two legislators in the Idaho House have confirmed that Gov. Butch Otter will pull out his veto stamp and use it 
on a bill that would prevent Idaho from enacting optional provisions of the 2010 federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), commonly referred to as Obamacare. This will be the first measure axed by Otter in 2011. The death of the measure will be short-lived, however. Republican House Reps. Vito Barbieri of Dalton Gardens and Judy Boyle of Midvale confirmed toIdahoReporter.com Tuesday that the governor will replace the anti-health reform bill with an executive order that contains what could be considered stronger language/Dustin Hurst, Idaho Reporter. More here.
Question: Do you support Gov. Butch Otter's veto of the anti-health-care reform bill, for the reasons given?
Item: Is Donald Trump the first Google trends candidate?/Catalina Camia, OnTrends
More Info: Donald Trump is many things: a real estate mogul, a celebrity with a hit reality TV show and, possibly, a Republican presidential candidate. In a media world driven by clicks and search engines, is Trump also the first presidential hopeful egged on by Google trends? The answer: Maybe.
Question: What role will the social media play in the 2012 presidential election?
Item: Amazon to launch library lending for Kindle books/Nancy Blair, USA Today
More Info: The world of Kindle reading soon will get bigger: Amazon today said that later this year it will launch library lending for Kindle books, from over 11,000 libraries in the U.S. The Kindle Library Lending feature will be available for all Kindles and Kindle apps, Amazon said. The company did not give a more specific time frame for launch of the service.
Question: Would you be tempted to buy a Kindle, if you could use it to check out library books?
Item: Deepwater Horizon victims' families mark first anniversary of oil spill: Relatives of the 11 workers killed when BP's rig burst into flames overfly the site by helicopter while oil still washes up on beaches/Associated Press
More Info: Relatives of some of the 11 men who died aboard the Deepwater Horizon oil rig are to fly over the Gulf of Mexico to mark the first anniversary of the worst offshore oil spill in US history. On land, vigils were scheduled in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida to mark the moment on the night of 20 April last year when the rig, owned by Transocean Ltd, burst into flames while drilling a well for BP.
Question: Did the Gulf Oil spill one year ago today change your view of deep-water drilling off our coasts?
Was that frost on the tulips again this morning when I awoke? On April 19. Oh well, we're thisclose to a record for sub-60-degree days this winter and spring, we might as well set it. But I doubt that I'll be getting up in the cold for Easter sunrise services on Sunday. Then, as a night owl, I never do anyway. But I always get there early for Easter Sunday services to beat out the twice-a-year visitors decked out in their Sunday best. Now, for your Wild Card …
Eric Neet prepares to catch a flying ring as the sun goes down at Kincaid Park in Anchorage, Alaska. (AP Photo/Dan Joling)
The City of Coeur d'Alene and the owners of eight homes along East Lakeshore have reached an amicable 
conclusion to six lawsuits arising from disputes regarding Sanders Beach. Orders dismissing the lawsuits, some of which date back to 1998, have been signed and entered. In addition to settling the six lawsuits, the city acquired the homeowners’ rights to build docks and also acquired over sixty feet of beach frontage. In exchange, the city paid a total of $278,500.00 to purchase the property and acquire the dock rights, and also amended the Shoreline Ordinance to allow fences between public and private property at 12th and 15th streets/Victoria Bruno, Coeur d'Alene Today. More here. (SR file photo)
Question: Are you happy with the way the long-running Sanders Beach dispute finally ended?
Kaela Graziano, 2, of Beaverton, runs through tulips at the Wooden Shoe Tulip farm during the Woodburn Tulip Festival today in Woodburn, Ore. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Two of four White Tiger cubs play with a photographer's camera at the Safari-Park Stukenbrock in Schloss Holte-Stukenbrock, Germany, earlier today. The rare cubs were born on Valentine's day. You write the cutline. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
Top Cutlines:
Steve Vick, the ultraconservative freshman state senator from District 3 was one of four Idaho senators 
statewide who scored a perfect 100% on Adam Graham's annual conservative scorecard. Vick voted as Adam deemed appropriate on 16 different issues during the Idaho Legislature. John Goedde of Coeur d'Alene and Jim Hammond of Post Falls agreed agreed with Adam 14 of 16 times to score 88% in the annual ratings for North Idaho senators. Bringing up the rear were Shawn Keough of Sandpoint, 63%, and Joyce Broadsword of Sagle, 40%. You can see all the rankings here.
Question: Are you surprised by any of the conservative rankings of the 5 North Idaho senators?
A supporter of Donald Trump wears buttons at the South Florida Tea Party's third annual tax day rally Saturday at Sanborn Square in Boca Raton, Fla. (AP Photo/Palm Beach Post, Gary Coronado)
Question: Why is Donald Trump hanging around the Tea Party?
Based on documents obtained by IdahoReporter.com, it appears that two teachers at Rocky Mountain High School in the Meridian Joint School District have been using taxpayer-funded resources – school e-mail 
accounts – to organize efforts to repeal three controversial education reform laws passed by the Idaho Legislature earlier this year. One of the teachers even offered to distribute hard copies of referendum petitions through the district’s physical mailing system. According to e-mails turned over to IdahoReporter.com by a source within the district, Eric Thies and Rebekah Marquez, teachers at Rocky Mountain High School in Meridian, used their public e-mail addresses to organize and promote the referendum effort/Dustin Hurst, Idaho Reporter. More here.
Reaction?
When new state Tax Commission Chairman Bob Geddes was appointed, he was in Boise serving as a 
ninth-term state senator; two years earlier, he'd sold his house in Soda Springs and bought a home in Meridian, but he was still renting a home in Soda Springs. Under state policies, Geddes was entitled to reimbursement for his moving expenses for the job, including one-way transport of two vehicles. But since he was in Boise, he had to go back to Soda Springs in eastern Idaho each time he packed up and moved household items from there to Boise; as a result, the $1,861.66 in moving expenses he submitted violated the state's rules for two reasons/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.
Question: Mountain? Or mole hill?
… seen on 4th Street a half hour ago: “Save Idaho: Hunt a Californian.” (Good thing brain trust behind that bumpersnicker didn't see “former Californian.” Half the residents in North Idaho would be targets, including probably the driver.)
On the DayInCda Twitter page, Kim Brown asks: “How many of you long-time Coeur d'Alene-ians (what ARE we called anyway?) have been to the Museum of N. Id.? Opens today!”
Question: Occasionally, I call Coeur d'Alene residents “Coeur d'Loonians,” depending on the community sanity at the moment. But I really don't know what we're called. Do you?
Rebekah Morash,right, steadies her daughter Tatym, 3, as she goes on her first bike ride on the new track at Lions Park in East Bremerton, Wash. on Mondayh. (AP Photo/Kitsap Sun, Larry Steagall)
Question: Tell us about the first time you ever rode a bike?
I've read the term “only in Idaho” twice today. My friend Kerri Thoreson/More Main Street used the term to describe the strange weather we've been having this spring in the Inland Northwest: “In the course of an hour 
on Monday, there was snow, hail, thunder, and lightning. Then the sun came out and within minutes the accumulation on the roof melted, sending a stream of rainwater down from the gutters to the rain chain. Only in Idaho.” A southeastern Idaho reporter used the same expression to describe a lost goat that wandered into a music store. I often wonder when I hear the “Only in Idaho” expression whether such events truly can be found only in the Gem State. Montana, for example, has more weird weather than Idaho, according to my experience in both states. It's possible for a goat or worse to wander into a store in other rural states.
Question: Can you think of something that you truly can find “only in Idaho”?
Scientists from Keele University found that letting forth a volley of foul language can have a powerful painkilling 
effect, especially for people who do not normally use expletives. To test the theory, student volunteers placed their hands in a bucket of ice cold water while swearing repeatedly. They then repeated the exercise but, instead of swearing, used a harmless phrase instead. Researchers found that the students were able to keep their hands submerged in the icy water for longer when repeating the swear word - establishing a link between swearing and an increase in pain tolerance/The Telegraph. More here. (AP file illustration)
Question: Do you swear much?
RE: Idaho media uses Capitol space rent free/Dustin Hurst, Idaho Reporter
Dustin, the space is not ours; it belongs to Legislative Services, which chooses to make it available to us 
during the session. The Legislature long has done this as a matter of public interest; it's in the public's interest that the business of the legislative session gets reported to the public. Lobbyists, who are here to represent their own interests and clients,
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