Erica Curless

Senate Education Committee Chairman John Goedde says he's ready to reach out to the state's teachers union, after he narrowly survived a challenge from a Democrat in Tuesday's election. Goedde's statement came after six Republican incumbents were defeated in the election, including two House committee chairs and a member of the House majority leadership.

Kootenai County's chief deputy prosecutor is under investigation for allegedly sexually harassing female colleagues. Rick Baughman, 45, declined to comment on the allegations, but prosecutor Bill Douglas confirmed Friday an independent investigation is under way. When Baughman was first asked about the sexual harassment allegations on Thursday, he said it was the first he had heard of them.

The Republican Party of Idaho won't disclose how much it will cost to bring Vice President Dick Cheney and Air Force Two to Coeur d'Alene today. Executive Director Jayson Ronk is adamant that it won't cost Idaho taxpayers a cent. But he declined to give a breakdown of potential expenses.

With only two months left in office, Kootenai County Commission Chairman Gus Johnson is in Charleston, S.C., this week for a conference on using a new computer system that keeps the county's property and tax records. Johnson and at least eight other county employees, mostly from the assessor's office, are attending the Pro Val International User Group conference at a price tag of $1,800 per person for the weeklong educational seminar in the historic coastal city.

A write-in candidate for the District 3 Bonner County commissioner's seat has raised more money than any of the other commission candidates who had filed campaign finance reports as of Tuesday. Current Bonner County Commissioner Karl Dye has a war chest of more than $27,738 – $7,387 of which he's raised in the last three weeks.

Free tickets are still available for U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's visit to Coeur d'Alene on Thursday for an "Idaho Victory Rally." It's unknown exactly how many of the estimated 2,000 vouchers remain, but GOP officials expect to have some on hand today at the Republican Party Headquarters in Coeur d'Alene, 1113 Sherman Ave.

Independent Kootenai County commission candidate Tom Macy wants to put a temporary stop on growth until the commission can "unscramble the mess" and get back into compliance with land-use laws. Macy, who also ran in 2002 as a Libertarian, knows that moratorium is a dirty word and frightening to many – especially the developers, builders and real estate brokers profiting from the boom. Yet he said it's the only way the county can regain control and stop the "free-for-all."

Libertarian John Gessner is running for Kootenai County assessor not because he has any qualms with the incumbent or any big ideas for change. He just doesn't like any candidate to run unopposed, so he is challenging Republican Assessor Mike McDowell, elected in 2002 after serving as chief deputy for nearly two decades.

David Larsen is making his second attempt to win a local seat in the state House of Representatives. And again he's going up against Bob Nonini, who was elected in 2004 to represent Seat A in District 5, which covers Post Falls and rural Kootenai County. Larsen, a Democrat, is a retired high school math teacher who now teaches part time at North Idaho College.

Democrat Lyndon Harriman's message hasn't changed in years: More education funding, better health care and increased wages for Idaho workers. This year, his third shot at the Idaho House, Harriman, 53, thinks these issues are finally at the forefront and voters are ready to put some balance in the Legislature.

The two candidates running for the open Idaho Senate seat in Post Falls have little in common – except for the desire to get elected. Republican Jim Hammond, 56, touts his experience as Post Falls mayor and city administrator and has aligned himself closely, including by sharing billboards along Seltice Way, with two Republican House members from the same District 5 area.

Property taxes are the buzz in the Coeur d'Alene race for the Idaho House. Rep. George Sayler, the only elected Democrat from Kootenai County in the Idaho Legislature, is steadfast that raising the sales tax wasn't the best way to get property tax relief.

They both have served one term in the Idaho House, and they both want to do it again. So it's up to voters Nov. 7 to decide whether former Rep. Bonnie Douglas, a Democrat, gets the job to represent Coeur d'Alene in District 4, House seat A, or if it's incumbent Republican Rep. Marge Chadderdon.

Sen. John Goedde, R-Coeur d'Alene, has competition coming at him from nearly every angle in his campaign to win a fourth term in the Idaho Senate. Three candidates are vying to oust the chairman of the Senate Education Committee in the Nov. 7 election.

It's a planning marathon in Post Falls next week as the city takes seven days to hash out a growth plan for the ever-expanding town between the Rathdrum Prairie and the Spokane River. And Post Falls needs everybody's help to make the workshop, known in planning lingo as a "charrette," work. It's a concept used across the country but fairly rare in the Northwest. Senior Planner Collin Coles calls it a "big step."

The human skull and bones found on a mountainside northeast of Sandpoint on Wednesday have likely been there five years and are being investigated as a possible homicide, Bonner County sheriff's officials said Friday. An investigation also is active on a separate skeleton found two weeks ago in Sandpoint during an archaeological dig along Sand Creek – a dig that's required before the state can construct the U.S. Highway 95 byway.

Post Falls police arrested a 20-year-old Rathdrum man Tuesday night in connection with a recent series of drive-by shootings. Nicholas D. Leggett was taken into custody at his residence following an anonymous tip to police. Detectives confiscated the scoped, small-caliber rifle they think Leggett used to shoot at occupied houses, businesses and cars on the evening of Oct. 2. No one was injured in the shooting spree.

Kootenai County Prosecutor Bill Douglas will likely decide within two weeks whether to file crimal charges against the mother of a 13-month-old girl who died in a July house fire. It's doubtful the mother, Megan Longoria Pahl, will agree to another interview, so Douglas said that means he must rely on the information he already has on the case. He's also waiting for additional scientific results both from the fire scene where Kylla Pahl suffered fatal burns and from the baby's body. The baby was on the couch, alone, when an unattended candle ignited a dried floral arrangement.

Even though property values in Bonner County are woefully out of whack, many property owners are rejoicing because their taxes likely are going down – at least for 2006. That's good news for property owners who have withstood a mind-boggling whirl of confusion surrounding their valuations.