Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, debates against SB 1184, the school reform bill, in the Senate on Thursday. She asked, "If teachers are laid off to buy laptops, which is what this bill does, who will be in the classroom with them?" BOISE - The Idaho…
My how time flies. Seems like it was only last month DFO was vacationing with Junior in Florida. Wait! It was last month. Oh well, blog-wrangling can take a lot out of a fella. Here's to four-day weekends whenever you can get 'em. Yesterday, my…
LaFawn Sutton, 12, bagged this record-book whitetail buck in velvet during the September early bowhunting season near her Mount Spokane area home. HUNTING — Idaho is joining the bandwagon of states allowing potential new hunters accompanied by a mentor to try the sport before they…
Brian Ang is interviewed by Toni Seidel at the Spokane Christian Singles Speed Dating at Cafe Donna in Spokane. There's no upside to setting people up. At best, you're stuck writing a speech for a wedding; at worst, you find out your friends cry during…
A former Kootenai County deputy clerk accused of embezzling $139,000 from her employer over a 10-year period has pleaded not guilty to a grand theft charge. Sandy Martinson, 62, entered the plea Monday in 1st District Court. Her attorney, Frederick Loats, estimated in court documents…
SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. -- After months of debate the Spokane Valley City Council made changes to the city's chicken regulations.Those changes make it possible for people who live with in the city limits to own chickens on small residential pieces of property. Craig Goodwin has…
It's not that Ian Burford hates children. But the founder of the Facebook page "Airlines should have kid-free flights!" would prefer not to have a wailing tot nearby when he flies. "I'm 6-4, so seating is always an issue," says Burford, who launched his page…
Rep. Dick Harwood, R-St. Maries, is presenting his pro-megaloads bill, HB 193a, to the Senate Transportation Committee, and he's getting lots of questions; the bill would require a huge cash bond before anyone could file a lawsuit to block a transportation project on Idaho highways.…
On a recent afternoon, members of Pattison Inline Racing team prepared for an upcoming competition. Clad in snazzy red and black uniforms, they hit the hardwood at Pattison’s North, and skated by in a blur. As they picked up speed and leaned low in the…
Steve Matott, head coffee roaster at Cravens Coffee Co., empties a batch of Italian roast coffee beans into the cooling tray at offices in Spokane. Spokane coffee roasters are losing sleep, and it’s not the caffeine. Supplies of high-quality Arabica beans are tight. Prices have…
DURHAM, N.C. — When Chad Holtz lost his old belief in hell, he also lost his job. The pastor of a rural United Methodist church in North Carolina wrote a note on his Facebook page supporting a new book by Rob Bell, a prominent young…
BOISE - The Idaho Senate has voted along party lines to approve a budget for the state’s colleges and universities for next year that includes further state funding cuts, pushing the schools to rely more on student tuition and fees. The budget bill, SB 1181,…
POST FALLS - If gas prices haven't topped off yet, AAA expects them to before hitting $4 a gallon. While prices continue to climb about a dime a week - they averaged $3.43 a gallon in Coeur d'Alene on Wednesday and a nickel more in…
Newly wedded couple Sergiy, left, and Irina kiss as they cross the Bridge of Love in Kiev, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 21, 2011. When you look at the couch and the stomach-scratching blob lying there, do you occasionally wish you’d committed to sharing your life with…
The House Education Committee has voted to send SB 1111, the bill to permit advertising on school buses, to the House's amending order with a series of amendments attached, designed to address concerns raised by opponents in an earlier House debate. The concerns were so…
Bill and Jay Warren recently celebrated their 61st anniversary. They met on a blind date in college, soon after Bill returned from Germany at the end of World War II. They’ve dedicated their busy lives to serving others. In the early 1960s, Bill was recruited…
In the 165 weight class, North Idaho College's Jake Mason (in back) beat Lincoln's Rick Goerke in the NJCAA Wrestling Championship first round. Who can cross a busy road better, a varsity wrestler or a psychology major? That question, which seems to beg for a…
COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho -- Born addicted to crack and raised in a meth house, a North Idaho teen faced an uncertain future. But today, Samantha Jernstrom is proving that despite the odds she has what it takes to succeed. "It's definitely been a tough road.…
"A week or so ago," emails HMOffsuite, "I got a call from Patty Duke’s husband, Mike, regarding a car they wanted to sell. They have a fully restored 1940 Chrysler they have owned for some time. It's a 4-door restored by Glenn Vaughn, in Post…
Kellie Aronson, a low-income renter at the Valley 206 apartment complex in Spokane Valley, smokes a cigarette on her back porch Tuesday. Spokane Housing Authority will now ban smoking in apartment units and public spaces. The Spokane Housing Authority, one of the Spokane area’s biggest…
WASHINGTON – Wednesday marked the anniversary of the health care law that its advocates said would change so much. In one very real sense, they were right. The political landscape one year later is radically altered, strewn with the fallen congressional careers of many of…
Coeur d'Alene police officers gather in the halls of Woodland Middle School in Coeur d'Alene on Friday, March 11, 2011, after a stabbing incIdent . The student who allegedly stabbed another at Woodland Middle School two weeks ago is no longer enrolled in the Coeur…
This home is one of many that got caught in the flooding in Cataldo, Idaho, on Jan. 18. At peak flow on that day, water samples taken at Harrison had the highest lead reading since February 1996. An estimated 352,000 pounds of lead washed into…
D.F. Oliveria started Huckleberries Online on Feb. 16, 2004. Oliveria's Sunday print Huckleberries is a past winner of the national Herb Caen Memorial Column contest.