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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

MONDAY, MAY 23, 2016

Parting Shot -- 5.23.16

Eight-Year-old Aspyn Keller, right, kicks high while she and her sister Harmony Keller, 5, watch the Spokane Lilac Festival Armed Forces Torchlight Parade on Saturday. You can see a news story re: the report and the set of photos taken by Kathy Plonka/SR.

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Quotable Quote 

"It’s easy to think such paranoia is the inevitable result of combining too much Fox News and apocalyptic fiction, but doomsayers have been a part of society since the invention of religion. What’s actually disturbing, however, is the thought such sentiments might have real influence on (North Idaho) politics" -- Daily News re: Redoubt Movement.

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Wild Card/Monday -- 5.23.16 22 

Now that the primaries are behind us, we must decide what to do with the summer ahead. Trump and Clinton will keep things interesting on the national level. But the local political furor will die down somewhat. The Tea Party/Redoubt partisans will continue to plot re: taking over Idaho. But they'll have a much more difficult time sneaking up on us.

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Cutline Contest -- 5.23.16 

The Cutline Contest today features volunteers, many of whom were undergraduate archaeology students, who pulled ropes in an attempt to move a one-ton block strapped to a neolithic-style wooden sledge. Weekend Winner: JohnA.

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Idahoans want Medicaid expansion 

Most Idahoans agree with their GOP-controlled Legislature on allowing any adult to carry a concealed gun, but a significant majority didn’t like that lawmakers adjourned last month without passing a Medicaid expansion bill, a new Idaho Politics Weekly poll finds.

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Ex-teacher gets 15 yrs for sex abuse

A former high school teacher in Coeur d’Alene was sentenced Monday to 15 years in prison for molesting a 5-year-old relative. Daniel Abram Taylor was sentenced by 1st District Judge Fred Gibler to five years plus up to 10 years more. He was handcuffed and taken into custody after the hearing.

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They love to use the word 'RINO' 

The Idahoans for Liberty Web site tossed around the word "establishment" and "RINO" a lot in a post lamenting the losses that piled up for its fringe ideology during the Idaho GOP primary last Tuesday. The group is so far to the right that it even considers state Rep. Eric Redman, R-Athol, to be "establishment." Seriously.

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Blogos -- 5.23.16 

Cathyanne Nonini snapped this photo moments ago as a rescuer worker prepares to help her sister and her from a stuck elevator in the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn. Cathyanne was responding to a text from Huckleberries when she happened to mention that she...

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Post Falls driver leads river races 

The 2016 World Jet Boat championships started Saturday, with two days of racing on the St. Joe River. The boats will race on the Coeur d'Alene River on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then head south to the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley. A show-and-shine will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the Clearwater River Casino.

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2nd fired worker fingers Crane 

A second employee of Idaho State Treasurer Ron Crane’s office is corroborating the charges in a whistleblower claim against the state, in which another employee, who was fired after 10 years with the office, said his firing was in retaliation for objecting to waste of taxpayer money for Crane’s own political gain.

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Simpson loses 68 pounds in 18 months 

Rep. Mike Simpson is trimming down. The 65-year-old Idaho Republican tells the Idaho Statemsan (http://goo.gl/ekNksh ) he's lost 68 pounds in 18 months. He's down to 207, and says he feels healthier and energized. He uses a Fitbit on his wrist to measure his steps, and he walks an average of 5 miles a day.

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Hearn sets fundraiser Thursday

Democrat Tom Hearn, a trustee on the Coeur d'Alene School Board, has scheduled a fundraiser from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday at Coeur d'Alene Cellars. In a press release, Hearn said he knows he will face a tough campaign against Republican nominee Paul Amador for the seat now held by state Rep. Kathy Sims, R-Coeur d'Alene.

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Kootenai County Sheriff Captain Lee Richardson stands in the stairwell of the men's work release center on Friday. (Jake Parrish/Coeur d'Alene Press)

Female inmates want equal treatment 12 

Women inmates participating in the work release program at the Kootenai County jail say their rights are being violated because they are being treated differently than their male counterparts. Two inmates, Sandra Fredrickson and Katrina Brammer, sent a letter to The Press detailing their claim.

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NIdaho gets 2 new magistrates

Mayli Walsh, an attorney with the Kootenai County Public Defender’s office, has been named a magistrate judge to fill a vacancy created by Judge Scott Wayman's appointment to Shoshone County District judge. Also, Boise attorney Barbara Duggan will fill the vacancy in Shoshone County created by Judge Daniel McGee's retirement.

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Clark: Take political nausea quiz

The primaries aren't over in this region. Doug Clark comments: "Tuesday 8 p.m. is the final moment to effectively participate in Washington’s primary election although I’d rather eat a bowl of live spiders rather than cast my ballot." Clark is sitting out the primary election. And he has a quiz for all who are just as sick of politics as he is.

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Edit: Did pastor play role in win? 

In his Saturday editorial, Lee Rozen of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News Editorial Board wonders if support from controversial Christ Church Pastor Doug Wilson of Moscow played a role in GOP upset win by Carl Berglund. Berglund defeated better known Bill Goesling and now will face state Rep. Paulette Jordan in the general election.

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U.S. President Barack Obama, right, walks past Vietnam's President Tran Dai Quang after a joint press conference at the International Convention Center in Hanoi, Vietnam, today. (Luong Thai Linh/Pool Photo via AP)

President Obama visits Vietnam 

President Obama lifted a decades-long American arms embargo on Vietnam on Monday and touted a new friendship with the United States' former enemy. "Just a generation ago, we were adversaries and now we are friends," Obama said during a news conference in Hanoi with Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang 41 years after the Vietnam War ended.

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Idahoan gets 15 years in killing

A North Idaho man was sentenced to at least 15 years in prison Friday after previously pleading guilty to killing a Spokane woman and dumping her body near Hauser Lake in June. Patrick Neil McGhee, 47, entered an Alford plea on charges of voluntary manslaughter and destruction of evidence.

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In this photo from GOP primary election night, state Rep. Luke Malek, R-Coeur d'Alene, and newcomer Paul Amador enjoy the early returns at the Fort Ground Grill in the historic Fort Grounds area.

Huckleberries interviews Paul Amador 11 

Huckleberries interviewed newcomer Paul Amador re: his recent victory over three-term state Rep Kathy Sims, R-Coeur d'Alene, in the GOP primary last Tuesday. In the interview, I asked Amador about the newsletter sent out by state Sen. Mary Souza from his district, saying that he was too young for the position.

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Poll: Amador was biggest winner 

In the weekend poll, Hucks Nation said newcomer Paul Amador was the biggest winner among several choices among North Idaho choices in the Idaho GOP Tuesday. Today's Poll: Is the Citylink bus system important enough that local governments should budget money to support it?

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Fugitive NIdaho drug doc caught 

Fugitive North Idaho doctor Rafael L.W. Beier has been arrested, the FBI confirmed Monday. Beier, 62 was convicted of 66 federal drug charges last week. He sold prescriptions, including the opioid painkillers oxycodone and hydrocodone, to people who were not his patients and faces up to 20 years in prison.

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Malloy: Otter PAC left its mark 

In his Idaho Politics Weekly column, Chuck Malloy comments that Gov. Butch Otter and First Lady Lori Otter aren't acting like short-timers as they near the halfway mark of the governor's third term. In fact, Malloy says, their Otter PAC had an impact on the just concluded Idaho GOPrimary contests.

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Huckleberries Online

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.