JoNel Aleccia

Despite a principal's request, the Kootenai County Sheriff's Department won't seek charges against an Athol Elementary School fourth-grader who brought a pellet gun onto the playground Tuesday. The 10-year-old boy told the principal that he had brought the weapon to school to scare children who were "being mean to him and teasing him," according to a Sheriff's Department report.

Sixteen people at Coeur d'Alene High School posted positive reactions to a second campuswide tuberculosis test conducted last week, a Panhandle Health District official said Wednesday. That brings to more than 30 the number of students, faculty and staff who indicated possible TB exposure, perhaps through a student who spent more than two months in a local hospital after being diagnosed with an active case of the bacterial disease. But health officials said that number is far less than would be indicated in a widespread outbreak, and they're cautiously optimistic the worst of the scare is over.

Eastern Washington and North Idaho health officials aren't sure what share they'll get of nearly $3 million in just-announced federal funds to prepare for a possible influenza pandemic. But they say more resources are needed to raise public awareness of a potential crisis. "I think people in general have an idea that there's a remote possibility of a pandemic," said Julie Graham, spokeswoman for the Spokane Regional Health District. "There's a general awareness, but not a high level of concern."