Craig Welch

Kootenai County commissioners are contemplating surgery to remove the county's paramedic squad from the payroll. But the threat of the budget knife has paramedics and other health officials wondering who will suffer in the end.

The city has begun routing traffic around a dangerous intersection where a teenage girl was killed last spring. Tuesday, city workers blocked southbound traffic from Lincoln Way onto Northwest Boulevard - the first step in a monthlong project to eliminate such turns permanently.

One bullet lodged in a mattress where a couple slept, and another hit an empty couch when nearly two dozen gun shots were fired at a duplex here Friday morning. No one was injured during the 3:30 a.m. drive-by shooting on 15th Street in Coeur d'Alene. Authorities Friday made no arrests, but were "looking into several possibilities," said Coeur d'Alene Police Capt. Carl Bergh.

Six people were arrested and unknown quantities of drugs were seized Friday when authorities raided a series of homes they suspect are linked to methamphetamine production and distribution. At a house in Dalton Gardens, state and local authorities carted away dozens of containers filled with toxic chemicals often used to make the drug. Members of a hazardous materials unit dressed in safety gear also unloaded laboratory equipment there.

CdA Police Capt. Carl Bergh looks over a storage unit Thursday where he found missing items from his nearby storage unit. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

Mike Helppie had given up. The man charged with finding $8,000 Idaho lottery winner Tamra Hiebert had tried everything. No luck.

After just four months on the beat, Post Falls police officer and former Kootenai County Commissioner Mike Anderson is packing up and leaving town. Anderson, 40, resigned from the force last week, effective Aug. 21. The one-time police captain turned patrolman plans to move to Southern California to live with his sister.

Jack Finney and his brother plan to develop 13 lots on Lake Coeur d'Alen. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

Kootenai County will wrap up nearly two months of property assessment appeals today. Commissioners will hear the last of nearly 950 appeals - 20 times as many as last year - at 4:30 p.m. The state tax commission had set today as the deadline.

Brent Beidler, 14, jumps the curb with his skateboard in the parking lot east of Independence Point in Coeur d'Alene. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

Richard Waller ranted for years that his 911 service was a rip-off. Nobody listened. So he finally did what most scam victims do: He called the cops.

This location at Green Ferry Road and Highway 41 could be the site of the next gravel pit on the Rathdrum Prairie. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

Unpublished correction: The name of Higgens Point is misspelled in this story. This information is from the Idaho Department of Parks & Recreation. Megan Lee climbs back on her bike after walking it up the hill at Atlas Road where the Centennial Trail temporarily ends. The portion of the trail from Atlas Road west to State Highway 41 is set to be completed in the fall. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

The University of Idaho's 2,300 employees will go two weeks without pay next spring when administrators change the way wages are doled out.

1. Nicholas Leonard, 12, prepares to launch his airplane. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review 2. Gil Coughlin and Ralph "Bud" Tenny try to spot Bud's plane. Photo by Shawn Jacobson/The Spokesman-Review

Supporters see her as something of an anti-politician. Not quite.

1. Helen Chenoweth 2. Joe Morano and his wife, Carrol, greet U.S. Rep. Helen Chenoweth during her recent visit to Bonners Ferry. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review 3. Chenoweth speaks to constituents in Bonners Ferry. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

Appraiser Louise Weed gets a earful during an appeal hearing. Photo by Sandra Bancroft-Billings/The Spokesman-Review

Alan Deyo doesn't understand. "Why do we need to spend money to bring grizzly bears here?" the Idaho logger asked Wednesday. "Our country is broke, worse than broke, and we're wasting money on this?"

The City Council won't consider a proposal for a 220-site recreational vehicle park on Blackwell Island until August. A hearing that began last week before 30 angry opponents of the project will resume Aug. 15.

Heatstroke The bright orange color of the trees shows they are dead or dying. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review

The concept isn't new, but this year alone, it could cost Kootenai County nearly $500,000 in lost tax revenue. It's called "economic obsolescence," a much-debated term that refers to equipment or materials that no longer are valuable because of changing technology. It's used when figuring property values for tax purposes.

Judge Paul McCabe didn't bother sustaining or overruling - he's not even sure he understood the objections. For the second day in a row Friday, a defendant objected to being on trial and refused to recognize the court's or McCabe's "jurisdiction."

Ormesher