In brief: Idaho senator to run for commissioner seat

BOISE – Idaho Sen. Joyce Broadsword, R-Sagle, has announced that rather than seek a fifth term in the Senate, she’ll run for Bonner County commissioner.

“After talking to my family and at the urging of many constituents, I have decided it is time for me to focus my efforts on directly improving things here in Bonner County,” she said.

Broadsword, who owns a log home company, has served six years on the budget-setting Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee and is vice chair of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee.

Earlier, she had announced she’d retire from the Senate rather than run against Sen. Shawn Keough, R-Sandpoint, when a redistricting plan put both North Idaho senators in the same district; that changed with the newest plan, which put Broadsword in the new District 7, stretching from Bonner County south to Idaho County. Her move leaves Sen. Sheryl Nuxoll, R-Cottonwood, as the only incumbent senator seeking re-election in that district.

Event to offer free ice fishing lessons

 A free event to introduce people to ice fishing is set for Saturday at Cocolalla Lake south of Sandpoint.

Sponsored by the Idaho Fish and Game Department, everything about the event is free, including bait and the fishing equipment available to borrow. Free hot dogs and hot chocolate will be served. No fishing license is required during the hours of the event, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Idaho Fish and Game is sponsoring this Take Me Fishing event two weeks after a big crowd flocked to the first ice fishing event at Hauser Lake. The trailer and barbecue will be at the boat launch/campground on the north end of the lake.  Follow the “Sportsman Access” signs on the west side of U.S. 95 just north of the Westmond store. 

Driver allegedly bragged about crash

A driver involved in a one-car crash that engulfed his vehicle in flames allegedly bragged to a nurse about the incident, police say.

William C. Calamanco, 25, “was in a boisterous state and explained to the nurse that he was ‘driving really, really, really fast,’ ” Officer Aaron Kirby said in court documents filed Wednesday. Kirby said he overheard Calamanco talking to the nurse after a blood draw at Deaconess Hospital.

Kirby already suspected Calamanco of vehicular assault. He’d contacted him in the 2800 block of West Summit Boulevard in West Central about 10:05 p.m. Sunday after a car crashed into a tree and burst into flames. Calamanco and his passenger, his brother Eric Calamanco, suffered minor injuries.

Calamanco denied driving but then said he’d hit his head on the steering wheel, according to court documents. Police said he smelled of alcohol and burned beer cans were found in the car after the fire was extinguished.

Calamanco remains in jail on felony charges of vehicular assault and making a false statement after appearing in Spokane County Superior Court on Wednesday.

Cost of tree removal estimated at $1.6 million

A Coeur d’Alene engineering firm is estimating that removing hundreds of trees along the city’s dike road as ordered by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers could cost around $1.6 million.

That estimate, compiled by Ruen-Yeager and Associates Inc., was presented last week to a committee created to explore options to save the trees.

It exceeds the roughly $50,000 to $100,000 the city had originally estimated it could spend after it learned of the federal order in March. The order was the result of the federal agency studying levee safety after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.