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Erica Curless

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News >  Spokane

Bloomsday Away gives troops in Kyrgyzstan a taste of home

Jeremiah Camp never thought he would win Bloomsday, especially while stationed at an Air Force base in the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, where the course is flat with not a pine tree in sight. But his time of 49 minutes, 8 seconds clinched the title in the Bloomsday Away race, which gave about 60 military people stationed in the Central Asian country a chance to run – and, just as importantly, get an official Bloomsday T-shirt.
News >  Idaho

Bike to Work Week has cycle of personal benefits

Each morning Bob Bennett hops on his red cruiser and pedals to the front door of his North Idaho College office – a weekday commute that leaves him fit, invigorated and with a little more jingle in his pocket from the saved gas money. "I actually feel better when I ride," Bennett said. "It's 25 minutes that I don't have to think about anything. I'm a kid."
News >  Idaho

Official backs golf community’s expansion

A Kootenai County hearing examiner recommended approval Thursday of Black Rock North, the expansion of the area's original luxurious golf community. Owner Marshall Chesrown wants to create a whole lifestyle experience with a 1,100-acre extension that would allow for 325 more homes, a new 18-hole golf course and an equestrian facility.
News >  Idaho

CdA City Council to meet with tribe

Looking for partnership, the Coeur d'Alene City Council will travel to the reservation next week to meet with the Coeur d'Alene Tribal Council. The May 9 summit is the first in recent memory but something both councils want to make a lasting tradition.
News >  Idaho

Momentum for impact fees building

Kootenai County and the four local highway districts are working together to explore whether impact fees would help the area's unprecedented growth pay for itself. The idea of impact fees – charges assessed on residential and commercial building permits – is echoing across the county.
News >  Idaho

Idaho Supreme Court wants more details on Sanders Beach case

The Idaho Supreme Court wants more information about whether Coeur d'Alene's shoreline laws that ban fences on Sanders Beach take value and use away from property owners. In a rare move Thursday, the high court sent a case about two chain-link fences constructed in 1997 by Sanders Beach property owner Jack Simpson back to the 1st District Court for more extensive arguments. Simpson allegedly built the fences to keep the public off his beach, which now has new owners.
News >  Idaho

Idaho development opposition growing

Neighborhood groups across Kootenai County, from Harrison to Athol, are organizing to battle a new trend to put gigantic housing developments in the county's most rural areas. Many residents think the timing is perfect because the county is starting to revamp its comprehensive plan, which is the foundation of all land-use decisions and dictates what areas will remain rural. Two county commission seats also are up for grabs, and some people think this type of countywide organization could influence the election outcome.
News >  Idaho

Building limits will get more study

Nobody seemed too happy Wednesday night with Coeur d'Alene's proposed rules to limit the height and girth of downtown buildings, causing the city's Planning Commission to declare more work is needed. "This is the most important piece of legislation we've worked on," Chairman John Brunning said.
News >  Idaho

Sheriff gets 911 oversight duties

The Kootenai County sheriff now has the ability to hire and fire the director of the county's 911 center, a position that has been vacant since November. The change comes as the county prepares to interview candidates for the job, which includes managing about 20 employees in the center where emergency 911 calls are handled.
News >  Idaho

Development spurs debate

Building on its initial success, Black Rock Development is proposing a second luxury golf community that would put another golf course and multimillion-dollar homes and townhouses on 1,000 acres next door to the company's first project. The prospect has fired up some property owners in the Rockford Bay area south of Coeur d'Alene, whose worries range from putting 325 new homes in the rural area to drawing public water from Lake Coeur d'Alene for the irrigation of a second private golf course. A Kootenai County hearing examiner is holding a public hearing on the proposal Thursday.
News >  Idaho

Hayden to seek voter approval for sewer loan

Hayden is asking voters for permission to borrow $3.96 million to expand and upgrade the regional sewer plant. Yet current sewer users wouldn't see an increase in their $19.60 monthly bill. Instead the city would pay off the bond with capitalization fees – the money charged for a new connection to the system.
News >  Idaho

Good-bye, ‘Big Jim’

All the working men, poor men and self-described red necks couldn't mend Big Jim's broken heart. So one year and 17 days after his beloved wife Syd died, Jimmy Baker is gone. Died in his sleep, leaving an empty bar stool in his Pastime Club—a tavern that's a living room for the tiny highway town of Athol.
News >  Idaho

Building height limits left up in air

After months of workshops and sit-downs with downtown Coeur d'Alene property owners, there's no change in a controversial proposal to limit building heights and girth in the city's core. Instead the steering committee is leaving any modification up to the Planning Commission and City Council.
News >  Idaho

Kootenai planning director steps down

Kootenai County Planning and Building Director Rand Wichman resigned Thursday, saying the demands of one of the most high-profile jobs in the county have taken a toll on him and it's time for a new career. Wichman's resignation, which won't take effect until after the county finds a replacement, came as a surprise to the county commission.
News >  Idaho

CdA Democrats name new Goedde challenger

Coeur d'Alene Democrats have found a new candidate to challenge Republican Sen. John Goedde. Steven Foxx was nominated Wednesday by District 4 Democrats. Foxx, who unsuccessfully ran for the Coeur d'Alene City Council in 2005, will replace candidate Jerry Lee on the November ballot.
News >  Idaho

Husband of beating victim arrested near Seattle

A man who allegedly beat, burned and attempted to strangle his wife in Cougar Gulch was arrested Monday in the Seattle area after nearly a year on the run. The U.S. Marshals Service arrested James Vincent Gitto, 33, after receiving information that he was in the area south of Seattle. Marshal Eric Robertson, of the Seattle office, said he couldn't comment Thursday on where the Pacific Northwest Fugitive Apprehension Task Force, which comprises federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, received the tip about Gitto's location.
News >  Idaho

Park destruction costing Post Falls

Several Post Falls parks have been transformed this spring into a mud bogger's paradise where trucks and motorcycles are spinning brodies on the lawn, ripping up irrigation pipes and crashing into signs and bike racks. The vandalism is costing the city thousands of dollars in staff time and repairs and delaying other projects, such as setting up new playground equipment in Beck Park and prepping ball fields for the upcoming season.
News >  Idaho

Ballot deadline looms

All Chuck Cline can think of is 47,881 – the exact number of valid signatures Idahoans must gather to land a tax-limiting initiative on the statewide ballot. "I have nightmares at night about that one," said Cline, a former Nez Perce County commissioner who has been working 18 months on the measure that would cap property tax increases at 1 percent per year. "And the closer it gets the less I sleep."
News >  Idaho

Developer plans to donate beach to city

Coeur d'Alene will have a new, sandy beach along the Spokane River, perhaps ready for boaters, swimmers and picnickers by late summer. The 1,000 feet of waterfront is part of the new Mill River development off Seltice Way on the former Crown Pacific mill site. Developers Tom Johnson and Cliff Mort, of Neighborhood Inc., plan to start construction this spring – already having done some initial earth-moving work – and then donate the beach to the city when it's completed. The city will become responsible for its maintenance and operation.
News >  Idaho

Hayden puts developments on hold

Hayden has called a timeout on growth, deferring the approval of any new requests to expand the city limits until it has time to complete sewer and transportation plans. That has put seven annexation requests, which could add 1,300 acres and 8,500 residents, on hold until at least November.
News >  Idaho

CdA won’t hook up tower

Coeur d'Alene is unwilling to give Fernan Village additional residential sewer hookups, which will likely kill a proposal for a 30-story tower on Coeur d'Alene Lake Drive. Deputy City Administrator Jon Ingalls said the City Council made the decision in a March 7 closed-door meeting, ruling that Coeur d'Alene doesn't want to provide any more sewer hookups to any area outside the city limits, including Fernan.
News >  Idaho

Democrats blue in red county

Kootenai County government has lost its donkey mojo. Only two Democrats filed for the six county offices on the ballot this year.
News >  Idaho

Director hopes site will go to waste

Kootenai County Solid Waste Director Roger Saterfiel isn't expecting much stink over plans to put a garbage transfer station in an industrial area near Hauser. Instead of homes, the $12 million transfer station would become neighbors with an asphalt plant and aluminum recycler.
News >  Idaho

East Side Highway District will seek override levy

The East Side Highway District will ask voters in May to approve a $400,000 property tax increase so it can keep up with routine road repairs such as paving. This is the first time in Idaho's history that a highway district has floated an override levy: asking voters to increase permanently the amount of property tax collected each year.
News >  Idaho

Court backs closed meetings

The Idaho Constitution allows the Legislature to close committee meetings to the public, the Idaho Supreme Court ruled Monday, rejecting arguments by the media that lawmakers should conduct business in the open. The 3-2 decision is a blow to the Idaho Press Club, which sued the Legislature for closing seven committee meetings in 2003 and 2004. The press club, which was joined by the American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho, Idaho Conservation League and Idaho League of Women Voters, argued that the Legislature violated the state constitution and that founders intended the meetings to remain open because that's where the majority of legislative work is done. Committees also are the only place where the public can affect legislation by testifying and giving instruction to elected officials.