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

FRIDAY, FEB. 5, 2016

Super Bowl Weekend Wild Card 

On Sunday, Mrs. O & I will host our first Super Bowl party in quite awhile. Usually, we're the invitee rather than the invited. Two of the guests are recent transplants from Colorado -- my niece Hannah and her husband, John, who moved to Sandpoint in December. So, as a good host, I'll probably root for Peyton Manning and the Broncos.

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Parting Shot -- 2.5.16 

Security personnel watch as Denver Broncos players perform a drill on the field during an NFL football practice in Stanford, Calif., Friday. (DFO: Dunno what side you're rooting for. I'm rooting for no incidents from crackpots that would mar Super Bowl 50.)

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Constitutional Convention? Maybe 29 

Idaho may soon join the states that are petitioning for a convention to consider adding a balanced budget amendment to the US Constitution. Rep. Christy Perry, R-Nampa is sponsoring the concurrent resolution. The balanced budget amendment would require Congress to stay within projected revenues when appropriating money each fiscal year.

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Natural Resources Conservation Service snow surveyors Dave Kreft, left, and Wes Durheim take a sample near the Mount Spokane Nordic Center Thursday. (Dan Pelle/Spokesman-Review)

'Average' snow year welcome after drought 

Dave Kreft spent the last week of January on snowmobiles and snowshoes, visiting remote mountain sites in northeast Washington to measure snow depth and water content. The surveys revealed a midwinter snowpack that’s near normal. Kreft said: “It’s shaping up to be an average year, and average is good, particularly compared to last year.”

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Stallings rips Statesman edit page 

In a response to an Idaho Statesman editorial taking Idaho Democrats to task for not fielding congressional candidates, former Democratic congressman Richard Stallings returns fire in an op-ed by saying the Statesman Opinion Page lacks a backbone.

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Blogos: On a snowy walk

The daily roundup of links for Huckleberries Online blog roll includes: New Hampshire/Bay Views, Disturbances & quiet/Fort Boise, Odd college basketball season/Grip, First Take: Maniacs/Randy Stapilus, No more mining writing/David Bond, Do you observe Super Bowl Sunday?/Slice, USFS seeks summer campground hosts/Outdoors ...

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The Codification of a slur 

Tara A. Rowe of The Political Game blog offers a thoughtful post re: codifying slurs, like the attempt by a north-central Idaho legislator to gain approval for a vanity plate for the mascot of Orofino High: Maniacs.

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Naghmeh Abedini, holds a necklace with a photograph of her husband, Saeed Abedini, on Capitol Hill June 2, 2015, during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing with four people whose family members were being held in Iran. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP field photo)

Mrs. Abedini faces abandonment 

Naghmeh Abedini, who rose to religious freedom superstardom in Christian circles in recent years, may now be abandoned by many who once championed her cause. Abedini is a Boise resident who toured the country relentlessly, advocating for release of her husband, Saeed Abedini, an Iranian American pastor imprisoned in an Iranian jail cell.

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CdA doctor, 6 others arrested 

KHQ: Seven people, including a 61-year-old Coeur d'Alene gastroenterologist Dr, Stanley Toelle were arrested on Thursday for conspiracy to distribute substances, distribution of controlled substances, and conspiracy to engage in money laundering. Moments ago, Kootenai Health issued a statement about Dr. Toelle.

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So long, mini-van, hello, life 

Recently, SR columnist Jill Barville reached a parenting milestone when she sold her mini-van after 15 years and 5 months of driving it. She thought she'd be nostalgic. But she wasn't. Instead, she threw her hands in the air and cheered.

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Free skiing for Toyota drivers 

This may be the only day of the year when Toyotas outnumber Dave Smith Motor GMs, according to Huckleberries Online commenter JohnA. Anyone who drives a Toyota to Silver Mountain today gets to ski free. Dunno what kind of vehicle JohnA was driving to Kellogg today. But I suspect he's skiing as I'm typing this.

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IFF proposes Ottercare alternative 45 

Instead of Ottercare or the hated Obamacare, Wayne Hoffman of Idaho Freedom Foundation is proposing that the state help low-income people by letting them put money in a special medical savings account that could be matched as much as 10-to-1 by non-profit organizations. The state could even pitch in up to $300 per year. Thoughts?

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Washington boozers line Idaho coffers 11 

Idaho’s state Liquor Division reports that its sales continue to see a big boost thanks to Washington having privatized liquor in 2012, driving up prices there and prompting more near-border customers to buy their booze across the state line in Idaho.

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AM Headlines -- 2.5.16

AM Headlines making the news today includes: Midwinter snow pack is near normal/SR, Editorial: Senate bills ID wrong victims/SR, Sandpoint's xCraft moves to Lake City/Press, Post Falls school projects advance/CdA Press, Idaho awards N-cleanup to Texas company/AP, Cedar Motel & RV Park owner responds/Press + more ...

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Poll: Base bathroom use on biology 

A near supermajority of Hucks Nation disagree with a Washington Human Right Commission regulation that bases use of public restroom on gender identity rather than biology (genitalia). 148 of 230 respondents (64.35%) opposed the change. Today's Poll: Do you support Medicaid expansion in Idaho?

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DFO: Hagadone purchase important 10 

My 2 Cents: Duane Hagadone's purchase of the rundown RV park will launch the long overdue upgrade of that stretch of Coeur d'Alene Lake Drive -- and the eastern entrance to Coeur d'Alene. I remember the impact that the new Spokesman-Review building on Northwest Boulevard had on the western entrance to Coeur d'Alene.

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Clinton, Sanders go head-to-head 24 

Thursday's Democratic presidential debate on MSNBC offered the clearest, rawest and most specific examination of two fundamentally different philosophies about the character and future of the Democratic Party voters have seen yet. (Anyone watch the debate? Who won?)

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Labrador on prez overreach panel 13 

Rep. Raúl Labrador, R-Idaho, has been named to the House Judiciary Committee’s Task Force on Executive Overreach. The task force will study increased presidential and executive branch power and the impact it has on congressional oversight, lack of transparency in government and the constitutional requirement that the President execute the law.

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SWAT team arrests Post Falls fugitive

A multi-agency SWAT team arrested Brandon Kremer, 22, Post Falls, at a home in Coeur d'Alene following a standoff Thursday afternoon. Kremer was barricaded inside a home on Best Avenue and Fifth Street for more than an hour Thursday. The suspect, who had a felony fugitive warrant, was arrested without incident, according to Coeur d'Alene Police.

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In this Jan. 9, 2016, Associated Press file photo, LaVoy Finicum, a rancher from Arizona, speaks to the media after members of an armed group along with several other organizations arrive at the at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Ore.

Finicum's funeral to draw crowd 

The funeral for the man killed by law enforcement during the armed takeover of an Oregon wildlife refuge is expected to draw supporters from around the West to a small Utah town. Robert “Lavoy” Finicum, 54, was shot during a Jan. 26 traffic stop after authorities say he reached for a gun in his jacket pocket.

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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.