Andrea Vogt

A skier relaxes at Schweitzer Mountain Resort, which is staying under the supervision of a court-appointed receiver. File/The Spokesman-Review

Framer Sean Krajeski prepares to put siding on a new condo at Schweitzer, where construction continues despite the resort's uncertain future. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

Mire

Immaculate construction. A snow-draped statue of Christ stands by while workers lift the first of four modular units into place with a crane Monday for the Immaculate Conception Academy in Post Falls. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

Accusing him of building hysteria with a "phantom" merger concept, North Idaho College supporters vowed Wednesday to hold state Sen. Gordon Crow's feet to the public fire. The Hayden Republican has begun discussions about giving up NIC's local administrative control to the University of Idaho. Such a move would take more than $5 million a year off Kootenai County's property tax rolls.

1. Eagle-eyed. Merlin Olenslager points out an eagle to his granddaughter, Eden Olenslager, and Kelli Duncan from their vantage aboard the Spirit of Coeur d'Alene on Wednesday. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review 2. An eagle soars above Wolf Lodge Bay to the joy of Hayden Lake fifth-graders.

1. Convicted murder Stephen Cherry walks into court on Tuesday. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review 2. Family members of Stephen Cherry pray with a minister, right, before Cherry was sentenced to life in prison without parole on Tuesday for killing his ex-girlfriend in Hauser Lake in 1996. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

A local legislator is pursuing a merger that would give control of North Idaho College to the University of Idaho. Sen. Gordon Crow, R-Hayden, said UI management of Coeur d'Alene's community college would help attract big business and lower property taxes collected to support NIC.

1. Breakfast of community champions. Hauser Lake Fire Department volunteers prepare breakfast on Sunday at the Hauser Lake Fire Station. This year's proceeds will help Michele, right, in her battle against leukemia. Photo by Tom Davenport/The Spokesman-Review 2. Pat and John Mondonca load up their plates at the Hauser Lake pancake feast.

When principal Larry Hill announced students would no longer be asked to sell candy bars to raise money, donations started to pour in. One ecstatic Lakes Middle School family sent $150 and word of thanks for not being burdened with boxes of candy. At Back-to-School night, several hundred parents cheered booster club president Lana Campbell when she asked parents to send $10 donations instead of fretting over student chocolate sales.

Four University of Idaho researchers have received a $748,000 government grant to study soil contaminants. It is the university's second major U.S. Department of Energy grant aimed at studying the role living organisms play in reducing heavy metal pollutants in soil. The three-year study will likely have application in the cleanup of mining waste in the Silver Valley.

The coyote has left its mark on the University of Idaho's trees. Eau de urine - a scent so pungent that its rancid odor lingers for weeks once inside the cozy confines of a home, apartment or dorm room. UI landscape crews treated all evergreens of Christmas-tree size on the Moscow campus with the potent natural repellent last week to prevent them from being cut during the holidays.

Lake City seniors Tony Russo and Christina Jordan both had perfect scores in math, but Jordan aced the verbal part of her SAT as well. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

Treasure hunt. Tree hunters Dean and Jacque Olson, hidden by the tree, and their daughter Sara Gullingsrud, left, haul their prize down the hill. Photo by Tom Davenport/The Spokesman-Review

With sheriff's deputies on hand to keep the peace, county employees began removing junk from Alden Arveson's Garwood property Thursday. The man's run-down cars, scrap metal and broken-down trailers met their fate in a large steel crushing machine. From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., county planning and solid waste employees worked at the site, hauling truckloads of old tires away and loading scrap metal into the crushers' jaws.

Kootenai County commissioners cut one position and gave two county employees raises in a restructuring that saves taxpayers $35,000 a year. Commissioners announced Tuesday they would eliminate the 911 director's position formerly held by Kent Hall, who resigned under pressure a month ago. The center's responsibility now falls under the ballooning administrative umbrella of Bill Schwartz, Kootenai County director of Emergency Services.

A North Idaho College student is pursuing battery charges against an instructor she says swatted her with a yardstick. According to Coeur d'Alene police reports, 26-year-old Tracy Brownsville turned to another student for help during class Nov. 21 after the professor refused to acknowledge her raised hand. Angry at the disruption, the enraged instructor then approached Brownsville, asked her to leave class and began swinging a yardstick back and forth at her, striking her shin while other classmates watched. College officials, who are withholding the professor's name, say they are looking into the matter. Police also did not release the instructor's name.

Voters in the Kootenai School District will decide Tuesday whether to build a new high school. It's the district's second attempt to pass a $3.5 million bond for a new four-year high school.

Investors worldwide panicked when the stock market plunged last month, but the University of Idaho's student-led Davis Investment Group laughed all the way to the bank. The students have invested about $512,000. In early October, three weeks before a major correction in the stock market, they decided to sell off $351,000 of vulnerable stocks.

It's every neighborhood for itself. A cross-town feud is brewing over the two boundary options on the discussion agenda at the Coeur d'Alene School District's public forum tonight. The complex boundaries have been carved up two different ways - Options A and B.

Jones

1. Vincent Lemus, chairman of the Spokane Human Rights Commission, participates in a panel discussion at Gonzaga University on Monday. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review 2. Gonzaga students listen to the discussion at the Crosby Student Center. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

Second of two parts The state of Idaho is giving school districts a test that's difficult to pass. Idaho is one of only 10 states that provide no money for school construction. It is one of three nationwide that requires construction bond issues to pass by a supermajority - two-thirds of voters.

1. Wooden boardwalks keep Bonners Ferry Junior High students out of the mud as they move among portable classrooms. Part of the old school, in the background, was condemned. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review 2. Valley View students in Bonners Ferry eat lunch inside a temporary structure.