Julie Titone

Doug Gabel is director of the Kootenai County Food Bank. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

A train dangles at the famous S-shaped trestle near Mullan, Idaho, following a 1903 accident. This photo is in the Barnard-Stockbridge collection at the University of Idaho. Photo courtesy University of Idaho

Getting an edge. Certificate recipient Ahmed Saleh, a junior at Post Falls High School, works at Burger King. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

1. The town of Wallace allows snowmobiles on many streets as a marketing concession to those promoting the area as a hub for snowmobiling. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review 2. Guide Joe Tomich flies through the snow along the edge of Placer Creek Road near Wallace.

Counselor Eric Edmonds helps student Sarah Paulson look up financial aid information at Post Falls High School. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

Idaho students are getting better at reading, writing and 'rithmetic - and science and social studies - according to test scores announced Wednesday. Statewide scores on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills were up significantly over last year, said Department of Education testing coordinator Sally Tiel.

After Idaho's governor opposed it, the Coeur d'Alene Tribe dropped the idea Tuesday of bringing horse racing to Post Falls. But it was the possibility that the tribe also might bring in casino-style gambling "of questionable legality" that especially troubled Gov. Phil Batt. In a letter Monday to tribal Chairman Ernest Stensgar, Batt spoke out against even legal forms of gambling. He said they always promote crime, hurt families and have "a tendency to impoverish those willing to gamble before taking care of essential expenses. "In good conscience, I cannot accelerate this unwise trend," Batt wrote.

Historical archaeologist Priscilla Wegars has set out to disprove the myth that Polly was won in a poker game and married Charlie Bemis. Photo by Julie Titone/The Spokesman-Review

The Coeur d'Alene School District is going ahead with its plan to build a $1.5 million support services building, to be paid for with savings rather than a tax increase. The board of trustees voted 3 to 1 Monday night to seek a judge's OK for the plan. "It's pretty tough to argue against saving money," said board member Tim Olson in making the motion to proceed.

1. Special delivery. Students ride the school bus down Bottle Bay Road in Bonner County, the home of the fourth largest school bus operation in the state of Idaho. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The pokesman-Review 2. Betty Rosholt makes a fast trip around her bus Thursday, checking lights and sweeping off snow, before her afternoon run. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review 3. Brad Littlefield, transportation director for the Bonner County School District, shows the size of the area his buses must cover. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

Robert Farver died doing what he did every day: walking to the post office, to the grocery store. On Wednesday, the 75-year-old Post Falls man was a block and a half from home when he was hit by a black Jeep Cherokee. The driver, Richard E. Kriger, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter. The 39-year-old attorney has a record of traffic violations in Kootenai County. Kriger was heading from his Post Falls home to his office at the time of the accident at Seventh and Spokane streets.

To the dismay of some parents, Ramsey Elementary may lose its status as the Coeur d'Alene school to which the most children are bused. The state Department of Education won't pay for transportation of children who live within a mile and a half of school, except where walking is hazardous. Ramsey has had so-called "safety busing" because there have been few sidewalks in its north-side neighborhood.

Tearful with remorse, former Kellogg High School teacher Mark Holzer said at a Monday ethics hearing that he was wrong to have an affair with an 18-year-old student. A panel of three teachers, convened by the state Department of Education's Professional Standards Commission, will decide whether to revoke Holzer's teaching certificate. They could also suspend it for a year or two, as Holzer is asking them to do.

Third-graders at Moran Prairie Elementary use a "Cowosk" to learn about the dairy industry and famous cows in history. Photo by Colin Mulvany/The Spokesman-Review

Kids who go to school in Harrison haven't been, lately. Thanks to storm-related power outages and bad roads, combined with Thanksgiving break, they'll be out of school two weeks before returning to classrooms next Monday.

Jim Headley has come up with a game plan that guarantees some of his athletes will win, and some will lose.

The athletic director of North Idaho College is recommending that the school add a women's softball team, and drop both men's and women's track. That would be a difficult decision, Jim Headley told NIC's board of trustees Wednesday evening. But it would be the best way to provide equal opportunity for students of both genders. The college has struggled for a year with the question of making the athletic program fair, and making it legal under federal law. Currently, there are five men's sports and four women's sports.

Josh Gales, left, and his mother use everything but the kitchen sink to clear their windshield. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review

Like their peers throughout Idaho, school district employees here are trooping to police offices to be fingerprinted. But unlike workers in most other districts, they are paying $40 for their own background checks.

Rainbow trout, scale model houses and an upright piano. Those are all teaching devices that some of this year's 22 EXCEL Foundation award winners will use.

The jury at teacher Paul Mather's upcoming sex abuse trial can't be told that he once allegedly had sex with a 16-year-old, Judge Gary Haman ruled Monday. However, Haman reserved the right to change his mind.

1. Coeur d'Alene High student Brian See takes notes on a visit to the 640 acres lent to the school by Idaho Forest Industries. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review 2. The Coeur d'Alene High School forestry class is learning management techniques to formulate a plan for land that Idaho Forest Industries let them use. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

Hilma Volk reads and performs her poems at the Bookworm. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

Fresh snow complicated the search Saturday for a missing Idaho hunter who had been expected home Thursday evening. George Saunders, 54, had not been found by Saturday night, according to the Shoshone County Sheriff's Department.