James Hagengruber

The latest census data paints a picture of two very different North Idahos. From 2000 to 2004, Kootenai and Bonner counties surged forward with double-digit population growth rates, while communities in neighboring Shoshone County posted some of Idaho's deepest declines. Analysts say there's a huge asterisk behind the numbers – they may actually understate North Idaho's recent growth. The figures don't count the region's burgeoning number of part-time residents. And even though the data is the freshest available, much of the growth has happened since 2004.

Kootenai County leaders are demanding a meeting with railroad and state leaders to discuss changes made at BNSF Railway Co.'s refueling depot on the Rathdrum Prairie. But Gus Johnson, County Commission chairman – who vowed Monday to fight for a permanent closure of the facility – tempered his remarks Thursday when flanked by his fellow elected commissioners, and he retreated from an earlier request for a full-blown public hearing on leaks at the depot.

Locomotive fueling has resumed at BNSF Railway's depot near Hauser, Idaho, despite protests from Kootenai County Commission Chairman Gus Johnson.The railroad expressed frustration over Johnson's criticisms, which were levied Monday, hours after the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality agreed the facility was safe to reopen. "We're disappointed in Mr. Johnson's position," said BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas. "The county has indicated before that if DEQ was satisfied with repairs, that the county would not object" to the facility reopening.

For the first time in hundreds, if not thousands of years, children of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe no longer know the excitement of fishing a heavy spring spawning run of westslope cutthroat trout.Even into the early 1980s, thousands of fat cutthroats swam up the lake's many feeder creeks each year to spawn. But real estate development, the Post Falls dam and even a massive fuel spill have all taken a toll on the native fish. Tribal members are terrified the species that once sustained them could be on the brink of vanishing. "These streams had tens of thousands. Now we're excited when we see 300," said Robert Matt, the tribe's lake manager, who still has vivid memories of fishing the creeks that flow into the southern end of the lake. "Those trout were fabulous – a fly fisherman's dream."

For railroads, speed equals profit. Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Co. says a Coeur d'Alene judge's decision that has kept its Idaho refueling depot closed for the past two months has cost nearly $19 million in lost shipments and repair costs.

The Doomsday Hill vulture wears shinguards. Bill Robinson, the man behind the creepy mask, added the protective gear in 1988, a year after he began standing at the top of the hill. Runners, even tired runners, can be mean.

Although several small leaks remain at BNSF Railway's fuel depot near Hauser, Idaho, major improvements have been made and the facility is ready to resume operations, according to testimony Thursday by railroad executives and experts hired by BNSF. In the two months since a judge ordered the depot closed because of repeated problems, BNSF has installed an electronic detection system for fuel leaks and has conducted a massive overhaul of the bathtub-like fuel protection barriers beneath the depot, said Steve Millsap, a BNSF assistant vice president.

LIVINGSTON, Mont. – As a boy, all Warren McGee wanted to do was photograph the steam locomotives chugging through his hometown of Livingston and eventually follow in his father's path of working for the railroad. Times were tough when he graduated from high school in 1933. The railroad wasn't hiring. He washed dishes and worked odd jobs, including as a laborer in nearby Yellowstone National Park. Three years later he got his break.

Organizers of a public meeting focused on BNSF Railway's recent contamination of the Rathdrum Prairie/Spokane Valley Aquifer were pleased with the turnout of the Wednesday night forum in Coeur d'Alene. But many attendees expressed anger over who did not show up – namely representatives from the railroad or elected officials with authority over the depot. "If they are good corporate citizens, why aren't they here tonight?" asked Coeur d'Alene resident Jack Clay.

A proposal to tunnel a mine under a northwest Montana wilderness area may have been dealt a mortal blow by a recent court decision, according to opponents of the mine. The federal government was wrong in saying the Rock Creek Mine would pose "no jeopardy" to protected Cabinet Mountain grizzly bears and bull trout populations, according to the ruling issued Monday by U.S. District Judge Donald Malloy, of Missoula.

Fresh concrete is hardening, new sealants are drying and the steel rails soon will be ready to once again guide transcontinental locomotives to a fuel stop at Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway's depot near Hauser, Idaho. The company expects repairs to be completed by Monday, a week in advance of an April 5 court hearing in Coeur d'Alene, where future operations of the facility will be determined. Fuel leaks and design flaws have plagued the depot since it opened six months ago.

MOUNT SPOKANE – The lack of mountain snow has already broken nearly every record since the first official government measurements were taken at the beginning of the 20th century. Experts are now having difficulty putting this strange winter in any sort of historical perspective. "You can't really compare it to anything," said Scott Pattee, water supply specialist for the Washington office of the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service.

CHEWELAH, Wash. – The governor didn't have to tell Ken Hafer his farm might be short of water this year. After 60 years of working the land, Hafer knew something wasn't right when he missed out on one of his favorite winter pastimes this winter: sledding. The thought of a snow-free winter in northern Washington is almost unimaginable, he said.