For those of you keeping score at home, controversial Rep. Phil Hart, R-Athol, was appointed vice chairman of the House Transportation Committee and remains a member of the House Judiciary Committee. Vito Barbieri, the newby who replaced Jim Clark in House District 3, was appointed to the House Revenue & Taxation Committee, a panel from which Hart asked to be removed after a House Ethics Committee hearing on his income tax problems. Hart faces another hearing before the Ethics Committee as a result of a newspaper report that he illegally took timber from state endowment land to build his house. You can read the full account of committee assignments for the House by Betsy Russell here and for the Senate by Dustin Hurst here.

Question: Did Rep. Phil Hart get the right assignments?

KMPO is developing a region-wide Non-Motorized Transportation Plan and we’re asking for your input on it through a quick online survey. The plan will assist in the development of a bicycle and pedestrian network within the Kootenai region. It will identify policies, goals and projects, and opportunities to provide facilities like pathways, sidewalks, and bike parking. The survey asks a variety of questions, such as how often you walk or ride your bike, where you walk or ride to, and what would get you to walk or bicycle more often. Click here for the survey, then hit the link at the top of the KMPO home page/Kootenai MPO. More here.

DFO: HBO friend Jeff Selle is one of the key people involved in the Kootenai Metropolitan Planning Organization. Which has become a major player in the local transportation planning. Please take a moment to fill out the survey in the link above and send it to KMPO.