If you haven’t been to Coeur d’Alene in a while, the transformation is remarkable: the mixed-use Riverstone development, the popular Kroc Community Center, a handsome new library, an array of higher education projects under way near North Idaho College and the Prairie Trail bicycle path. Downtown and Midtown boast many other improvements. The city has all the signs of a community with a plan, and the leadership to see it through. Next up is a redesigned and upgraded McEuen Park, which would give the city another enviable waterfront park. But what isn’t readily apparent to visitors is a political undertow that hopes to drag down progress by recalling Mayor Sandi Bloem (pictured) and three members of the City Council: Woody McEvers, Deanna Goodlander and Mike Kennedy. Their crimes? There isn’t one/Spokesman-Review Editorial Board. More here.

Quotable Quote: State Rep. Kathy Sims, R-Coeur d’Alene, a longtime foe of urban renewal, once called the development of the Kroc Center a “criminal conspiracy.” She seethes at a recreational and arts facility that any community would love to have, because the city donated and prepared a former gravel pit as the site of this gleaming gift from philanthropist Joan Kroc.

Thoughts?

A whopping 92 people attended the open government seminar in Coeur d'Alene last night, sponsored by IDOG, Idahoans for Openness in Government, and co-sponsored by the Spokesman-Review and the Coeur d'Alene Press. Press Managing Editor Mike Patrick told the crowd it was the first time he could remember the two competing newspapers co-sponsoring an event. Among those attending were numerous local government officials and staffers, reporters for a variety of news media, political activists, several former state legislators and lots of interested citizens. Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden singled out an audience member, former state Rep. Gary Ingram (left in photo, huddling with Wasden), for special recognition: Ingram is the author of much of the Idaho Open Meeting Law/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise. More here.

Question: What other types of events would you like to see the Coeur d'Alene Press and Spokesman-Review jointly involved in?

Former Spokesman-Review photographer Holly Pickett was on the scene today in Libya when rebels killed long-time dictator Moammar Gadhafi. She saw Gadhafi's body. And has been documenting what happened to the fallen leader via Twitter. Latest two tweets: “Not sure where #Gaddafi's body went. It must have been to a very secure location. I think Misratans may have torn him to shreds.” And: “I meant Misratans would tear him to shreds if the body wasn't closely guarded.” You can follow her Twitter here (latest tweet on top).

Question: Can you imagine how courageous Holly is?

Cowles Company, which owns The Spokesman-Review, KHQ-TV, The Journal of Business and other businesses, announced Thursday that it will freeze the company’s pension plan effective Sept.  1. At the same time, Cowles will open its 401(k) match to all employees affected by the change. The transition affects about 473 employees, or 56 percent of the company’s eligible work force who were not included in a partial freeze three years ago. Their accrued pension benefit will be capped at present levels. “Revenue and profit predictability has diminished dramatically across all of our businesses in the last decade,” Cowles Company President Stacey Cowles said in a prepared statement/Tom Sowa, Office Hours. More here.

On Thursday afternoon, after 42 years of newspapering for the Chronicle and The Spokesman- Review, I’m off to sample the pastures of retirement. Never one to recognize a good chance to shut up, I’m tempted here to retrace every miraculous technological twist along the road from hot-metal type to Twitter. I heard something like that once from my father, except it was about horse-drawn buggies and jet airliners. Every generation marvels at its own journey, I guess. ’Nuff said. The change that I find most striking, and scary, is not the technological advancement of the past four decades but the way it’s being used to poison the public conversation that sustains democracy/Doug Floyd, SR. More here.

Question: Are you a regular reader of newspaper editorial pages?

Under this year’s version of the proposed legislation, tribal cops would not be accountable to the sheriff n or any other elected official. Which is why the Spokane newspaper’s endorsement of this proposal is so mind-boggling. One would think the people who write editorials at the region’s dominant newspaper would understand better than anyone how critical it is that cops be accountable to voters. Cops and their misdeeds (perceived or real) have been the dominant story of the last five years in Spokane County/Dan Hammes, St. Maries Gazette Record. More here.

Question: What do you think of the point made by Publisher Dan Hammes of the St. Maries newspaper that tribal police must be accountable to someone under a cross-deputization program?

Allred is an unconventional Democrat. He had no evident partisan affiliation before entering the gubernatorial contest, and when he did, he made it clear to party leaders that his alignment with them would be on his terms, not theirs. He has a doctorate in conflict resolution – not a bad calling in the world of politics – and taught it at Columbia University and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. As the founder and president of Common Interest, a public-issue citizen group, Allred understands the value of engaging the public in problem-solving and consensus-building efforts. Such an approach, which he has regularly practiced in Common Interest, won’t work magic, but it has a good chance to build badly needed public trust/Spokesman-Review Editorial Board. More here.

• Kevin Richert/Statesman provides a roundup of endorsements in governor’s race
  

Question: Do you agree/disagree with this endorsement?

I finally got my hands on a photo of Maricopa County, Ariz., Sheriff Joe Arpaio eyeballing a copy of The Spokesman-Review the Oct. 5 morning after his speech to the Woman in Red banquet, sponsored by the Kootenai County Republican Women’s Federation. A Labrador supporter questioned my report later that week that Arpaio had given his candidate a lukewarm endorsement, stating at the breakfast: “I endorsed him?” I talked to two earwitnesses who heard the comment. Later, Arpaio pronounced himself solidly in Labrador’s camp on a radio talk show.

Question: OK, a couple of you have commented re: “Sheriff Joe” Arpaio’s obvious comb-over (which incidentally is a better topic than politics). Have you ever seen someone pull off a comb-over? What would you do if you were in the same circumstances re: thinning hair?

In the Year of the Tea Party, U.S. Rep. Walt Minnick represents the type of middle-course pragmatist who is supposed to be road kill in November. Plus, he’s a Democrat in Idaho. So why is he doing so well in his race for re-election? For starters, he is running on a conservative fiscal record at a time when the debt and deficit have become increasingly menacing. And when we say “conservative,” we mean the type who wants to balance budgets, not cling to blinkered notions of never raising taxes. Minnick represents the type of old-school fiscal sanity that can steer the nation out of a mess/Spokesman-Review Editorial Board. More here.

Question: Agree? Disagree?

Hart has battled both state and federal governments over his personal belief that income taxes are unconstitutional. Like uncounted tax protesters before him, he lost those skirmishes – and relied on his legislative privilege to prolong the time he had to appeal beyond the deadline set by law. He was not being harassed by the crown, or the governor, to interfere with his ability to do his legislative duty. While Hart’s tax clashes continue, the ethical questions surrounding his conduct are appropriately before the Ethics Committee. That bipartisan panel’s task is to defend the Legislature’s integrity and sustain the public’s confidence/Spokesman-Review Editorial Board. More here.

Question: What will the recommention by the House Ethics Committee say about the Idaho Legislature?

After years of losing circulation and treading water, The Spokesman-Review has rebounded somewhat to land among the top 5 newspaper audience gainers (print and online circulation), according to the Growing Audience blog. In fact, the SR is No. 4 w/a 10.4% growth from March 31, 2009 through March 31 of this year. The Deseret News of Salt Lake City leads the pack with 22.25% growth. This, according to an analysis of the most recently released ABC FAS-FAX data by the Newspaper Association of America (which) identified the 25 newspapers with the largest increases in combined print and online readership. … To make the list requires some success in both print and online. A closer look at the numbers generally reveals that almost all of these newspapers had at least modest gains in daily and Sunday print readership and substanital increases in online readership. You can read the Growing Circulation report here.

Question: And you were about to shovel dirt over us?

Brent Andrews: Call me a curmudgeon if you will, but I’d go a step further and say Hucks should not be free, either. To me “free” means dead, for the old newspaper. If the S-R has made any real profits off its Web enterprise - now, what, a decade or more old? - I’d be shocked. Think of all the money that has gone into this, that could have been spent on writers and a thicker print product that everyone has to have. That does not even address the cost to corporations of the new FB addiction raging in everyone from gradeschoolers to grandmas but seemingly more widespread among young adults who are ditching work and family to check and post. We were addicted enough to the Internet already, before FB came along as the new AOL.

Question: Do you waste time looking at Facebook and corresponding w/Facebook friends while at work? C’mon. Be truthful.

So, I’m wondering what kind of gift the SR will be giving DFO for his 25 years of faithful service.

• A sliver pocket watch
• A goat
• A year’s subscription to the CDA Press

Care to venture a guess?