Amy Cannata

POST FALLS – While many historical Post Falls buildings have gone the way of the wrecking ball in the name of progress, one of the city's remaining older buildings will be preserved as the home of the Post Falls Historical Society's new museum. The brick Chapin Building on the northeast corner of Spokane Street and Fourth Avenue has been the site of an early Post Falls drugstore, a Laundromat, the Post Falls Police Department and now the Post Falls Parks and Recreation Department. But when the new City Hall opens later this spring, the Post Falls Historical Society will move inside.

POST FALLS – Post Falls new City Hall will most likely be furnished by local manufacturer Kimball Office even though the company did not offer the lowest price to provide all the desks, cubicles, chairs and other furniture. The city received only two bids for the job – one from Kimball Office/Contract Resource Group and another from Boise-based Intermountain Design.

Lakeland School District voters will decide next month whether to approve a $3.9 million, two-year levy to fund basic educational expenses at local schools. The Lakeland School District Board of Trustees approved the levy request earlier this month as a way to keep pace with rising costs of paying for staff salaries, utilities and supplies. Stagnant district enrollment has limited the amount of money coming from the state, said Lakeland District Business Manager Tom Taggart.

POST FALLS – Post Falls elementary school children will only attend different schools next year if their parents choose to send them there. Although the Post Falls School District board unanimously approved new elementary boundaries to incorporate a new school into the mix, they also approved a plan that will allow all current returning students and their siblings to be "grandfathered" into the current school's attendance boundary.

RATHDRUM – Rathdrum must keep pace with population growth by upgrading its infrastructure even as city officials focus on keeping the city's small-town feel, said Rathdrum Mayor Vic Holmes last week in his first state of the city address. That push for the future balanced with a desire to respect the city's past dominated Holmes' speech to more than 100 members of the Rathdrum Chamber of Commerce at the Route 53 Diner.

A challenge to the recent political takeover of a North Idaho town by a group of 20-somethings appears to be intensifying. The Kootenai County Clerk's Office ruled Monday that Huetter Mayor Brad Keene and City Councilwoman Jennifer Brown are, indeed, residents, as are two others whose voter registrations were challenged by former Mayor Jackie Meeks. But the ruling by County Clerk Dan English may not be enough.

Call it Emil Torp's lucky penny. Out of habit Torp was searching through a jar of change looking for a numismatic find. That's when a penny caught the coin collector's eye.

More residents mean more crime, but they don't necessarily mean a lot more money in city coffers. After years of growth, the once-sleepy town of Hayden is wide awake and looking to start its own police force, but to do so city officials must find the funds to hire the officers they need.

Coeur d'Alene voters will decide a $31 million school levy in May that would rebuild one middle school, build a new elementary school and provide money for property and technology. The Coeur d'Alene School District Board of Trustees unanimously approved a recommendation to put the $31 million levy on the May 20 ballot.

POST FALLS – Kathy Pierce has never been to Herborn, Germany, but her vision of Post Falls' sister city, culled from photographs of the picturesque town, will be the dominant feature decorating the centerpiece atrium of the new Post Falls City Hall. Pierce has been commissioned to design and create an 8 1/2-by-12-foot stained glass window depicting the city.

Veterans in North Idaho will no longer have to travel to Spokane for routine appointments when a new U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs clinic opens Tuesday in Coeur d'Alene. "It's going to save a lot of driving," said Dusty Rhoads, president of the Panhandle chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America. "We've been pushing for this for years."

POST FALLS – Calls for police service have grown by more than 50 percent over the past five years, but budget constraints have left the Post Falls Police Department unable to hire enough officers to keep pace with the city's population growth. The low-staffing situation became harshly apparent during a Jan. 18 officer-involved shooting outside Real Life Ministries church. That incident, in which a man had earlier fired shots outside the Spokane Valley Hooters restaurant, did not end with any serious injuries but it tied up all of the Post Falls officers who were on duty at the time, said police Lt. Greg McLean.

Groups of Post Falls School District parents unhappy with how the district has redrawn elementary school attendance boundaries have crafted their own proposals for reallocating students when a new elementary school opens this fall. District officials are listening, but making no commitments about changing their plan.

The lone pine tree stands sentinel over rolling farmland and drivers cruising along U.S. Highway 95 on their way to visit friends in Worley or gamble at the Coeur d'Alene Casino, just down the road. "A few years back someone set fire to the tree," said neighbor Domnick Curley. "The whole town of Worley was in an uproar."

Sooner or later it will all melt. Another round of snow hit the area earlier this week, but warmer temperatures are expected for the weekend, the National Weather Service is forecasting that highs could top 40 degrees Saturday and that it may rain.

Residents' persistence paid off and the U.S. Postal Service is once again delivering mail along Triangle 7 Road, overlooking Hayden Lake. Resident Homer Davis is again receiving copies of "The Smithsonian" and "Budget Travel" along with bills and other mail at the end of his driveway. Stew Colpitts' first piece of mail on Jan. 24 was addressed to "Occupant."

Bayview building heights would be limited to 30 feet and developers would be required to provide more parking if a group of community residents wins approval for special zoning regulations for the unincorporated area on the southern end of Lake Pend Oreille. The community of about 600 year-round residents and 1,500 people in the summer has experienced a growth boom of late, with developers buying up key properties and converting longtime mobile home parks to other uses.