Ken Olsen

Jessica Sherman could barely believe the question. "I get a raise?" said Sherman, a clerk at the Texaco Gas Mart on Government Way when asked about her Labor Day bonus. As of Monday, Sherman and about 52,000 other Idahoans are getting paid 40 cents more an hour, thanks to Congress and the Idaho Legislature raising minimum wage from $4.75 an hour to $5.15 an hour. Nearly 10 million people nationwide are on the receiving end of this good news.

Bob and Ellen Stamsos have a used sporting goods store on Fourth Street in Midtown, which is outside Coeur d'Alene's downtown rejuvenation area. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

A second budget workshop for Coeur d'Alene City Council members was canceled Thursday night for lack of a quorum. Summer vacations also sidelined a similar session, scheduled for Tuesday. So the City Council will embark upon next week's public hearing on the 1998 budget with little analysis. But many of the normal workshop questions may be handled at the public hearing, city officials said.

Nearly 90 percent of the Rathdrum Prairie grass fields have been burned, and growers won't light a match again until next Tuesday. Rathdrum Prairie farmers burned about 950 acres Wednesday, bringing them close to the end in the Coeur d'Alene area, said Linda Clovis of the Intermountain Grass Growers Association.

Claiming they have been forced to the wall by a corrupt political system and an unresponsive federal government, the Inland Empire Public Lands Council on Wednesday called for an end to commercial logging on national forests. "There is no technology to replace the services our national forests provide - clean water, wild fish, fresh air, abundant wildlife and the relief people need from the hectic pace of their daily lives," said Sara Folger of the Lands Council. "Future generations will not ask us why we called for an end to commercial logging on our national forests, they will ask us why we waited so long." Other environmental groups seem to be distancing themselves from the Lands Council announcement. "It's not something our organization is going to support at this point," said Larry McLaud of the Idaho Conservation League.

An exploding tire killed a 33-year-old Bonners Ferry man at the Crown Pacific lumber mill on Friday afternoon. Terry Lynn Davis was unloading a dump-truck wheel and tire from the back of a pickup. It slid from the tailgate, hit the ground and blew up, said Tony Leinweber, company vice president. The split-rim portion of the wheel slammed Davis in the chest and killed him.

CORRECTION Views misstated: John Hale, a high-tech executive who is considering running against U.S. Rep. Helen Chenoweth, R-Idaho, is a moderate Republican. A story in Tuesday's Idaho Spokesman-Review misstated his political philosophy.

The reaction of Idaho's Congressional delegation ran from strong to middle of the road following news that Ruby Ridge's standoff will be replayed in Boundary County. U.S. Rep. Helen Chenoweth is unhappy that Kevin Harris will again be tried, but believes FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi should face more severe charges from a siege at white separatist Randy Weaver's cabin that left a U.S. Marshal and Weaver's wife and son dead. Boundary County Prosecuting Attorney Denise Woodbury announced Thursday she was filing charges against Harris - who lived with the Weaver family - and FBI sniper Horiuchi.

Four Spokane juveniles were arrested by the Washington State Patrol Friday morning after a string of alleged car thefts and a high-speed chase. The youths allegedly stole a red 1988 Isuzu in Spokane, drove to Post Falls Mazda and stole three other cars, police said.

Rathdrum Prairie grass farmers torched fields Thursday, sending smoke billowing off more than 600 acres. The resulting haze elicited more than 70 complaint calls to the Idaho Division of Environmental Quality's field-burning hot line. Callers to The Spokesman-Review complained of a wall of smoke near the Silver Lake Mall.

Here's the scoop on the city's new pet ordinance. Dog owners now must clean up after dogs that do their business on public property. By a unanimous vote Tuesday evening, the Coeur d'Alene City Council mandated that people clean up after their dogs. Beginning next Wednesday, not picking up after Fido is punishable by a maximum $300 fine and six months in jail.

A sweeping proposal to change national forest management laws likely will be split into two bills and introduced in September. U.S. Sen. Larry Craig is tentatively planning to introduce his legislation in September and hold hearings through the fall, said Mark Rey, of the Senate Natural Resources Committee.

Perhaps this will go down in history as the low end of the work load. Rules regulating snakes and forcing people to, well, scoop up after their dogs are on the docket tonight at the City Council's regular meeting. Mayor Al Hassell is the force behind the reptile restrictions after hearing from more than two dozen people who fear a walk in the park might turn into something out of "The Jungle Book."

Some 2,100 acres of the Rathdrum Prairie's grass-seed fields went up in smoke Monday, the first major day of field burning in North Idaho. The surge in burning sparked telephone calls to the Idaho Division of Environmental Quality.

Before approving next year's budget, the Lake City decided to spend $45,000 for a Virginia-based economic consultant to tell Coeur d'Alene how to make the most of its downtown. The Coeur d'Alene City Council voted 3-1 in a special meeting Monday to hire Hyett-Palma of Alexandria, Va., to analyze ways to improve the downtown and how to best use what's there. Councilwoman Dixie Reid lobbied hard for the firm, telling the rest of the council it was like getting someone to show a person how to program a seemingly unfathomable VCR.

1. Closing roads may mean less sediment in streams. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review 2. This part of forest road 409, built in a flood plain, washed out last year and is a candidate for obliteration. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

An Idaho Department of Lands helicopter dumps a load of water on 2 acres at Tubbs Hill on Saturday. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

Secondhand saviors. A happy young girl carries away a bag of clothes Saturday at the First Presbyterian Church giveaway. The donations come from local businesses and church members who have scoured their closets and gathered clothing from the lost-and-found at schools. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

Public hearings and a neighborhood meeting will be held in the next several months over Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad plans for a locomotive refueling project near Hauser. The railroad apparently is considering buying more land in order to add the giant service station to its switching yard, located south of state Highway 53 about two miles south of Rathdrum. The land would have to be rezoned for an industrial development.

For the eighth year running, the average homeowner won't pay the city another dime in property taxes if the proposed 1998 budget is adopted by the Coeur d'Alene City Council. Water, sewer and street light rates also won't increase for the eighth year in a row, under the proposed budget.

Industrial park owner John Hern scored a $71,000 reduction in his property tax appraisals from the Kootenai County commissioners in mid-July, just a week before a judge erased a $495,000 environmental fine. Hern filed eight property tax appeals with the Kootenai County Commission and won reductions in three of the cases. He is appealing the others to the Idaho Board of Tax Appeals. This year's property tax rates have not been set. Based on last year's rates, Hern will save about $2,800 in property taxes on his various Kootenai County properties.

Twice as much land in North Idaho is being used to grow grass seed as 20 years ago. As the official grass-burning season begins Monday, a recent report shows the number of acres burned in the Panhandle has increased from 13,210 acres in 1976 to 27,501 acres last year.

Read their lips: No new taxes. At least that's the impression Coeur d'Alene officials are giving as they prepare to unveil the preliminary 1997-98 city budget. The City Council will receive the plan at its regular meeting next week.

A relatively wet summer is plaguing grass seed farmers, already hurt by too much winter and, in some cases, the inability to burn fields last season. It means field burning likely won't start until mid-August on the Rathdrum Prairie, although some farmers are having such poor crops they don't need to bother harvesting, said Linda Clovis of the Intermountain Grass Growers Association.