Ken Olsen

A local tribe's lawsuit challenging state ownership of Lake Coeur d'Alene doesn't hold water as a federal case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday. "The suit would diminish, even extinguish, the state's control over a vast reach of lands and waters long deemed by the state to be an integral part of its territory," the 5-4 opinion said of the Coeur d'Alene Tribe's lawsuit against the Idaho Land Board.

Oh, those curves 1. A 1931 Studebaker draws a crowd in downtown Coeur d'Alene at the annual Car d' Alene car show, the first big event of summer in the Lake City. Hundreds of restored vehicles of every size, shape and model were parked for display along Sherman Avenue and surrounding streets. Photo by Christopher Anderson/The Spokesman-Review 2. Spectators are reflected in the headlamps of this classic 1931 Studebaker.

Everett Weniger is a ghost. He earned that nickname by becoming one of only two smokejumpers to lose both his main and his reserve parachute - and live. Weniger didn't even suffer a sprain. The calamity unfolded during the summer of 1995. Weniger, training foreman at the U.S. Forest Service smokejumper base here, was leading rookies on their third training jump.

By leaps and bounds 1. Resembling astronauts defying gravity, these smokejumpers at the Aerial Fire Depot at Missoula perform a variation of the old stop, drop and roll as they brush up their landing skills. Photo by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review 2. One of 15 women smokejumpers, Sarah Doering, of Grangeville, Idaho, does pullups during a physical.

Armed with his flag and sign, Walt Horn joins about a dozen tax protesters at the Kootenai County Courthouse on Friday. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

An interim president could be named for North Idaho College as early as next week. The board of trustees huddled behind closed doors Thursday afternoon to begin interviewing the three finalists. That will continue today.

Longtime city personnel director Rob Beck will be laid off this fall as part of a deal approved by the City Council Tuesday night. Beck, 50, decided this spring it was time to change careers and proposed the city eliminate his position. His severance package allows him to work three days a week, at full salary, for all but three weeks between now and Sept. 30.

Floods, November's ice storm and a lack of maintenance money are to blame for the closing of a Forest Service bridge about six miles north of the Honeysuckle campground. The wooden bridge over Burnt Cabin Creek on Forest Service Road 411 is so weak it won't handle a 1-1/2 ton shop truck, said Craig Ely, road maintenance supervisor. Inspectors found the structure shaky last fall and the ice storm and two subsequent floods have damaged it beyond safe use. "The guard rail's not up to standards, the bridge deck is rotting and the high water is eroding the dirt around the abutment walls," he said. That portion of Forest Service Road 411, about 20 miles east of Coeur d'Alene on the Fernan Ranger District, is scheduled to be obliterated. The Forest Service wants to keep the road and bridge open until that time, but doesn't have the money to repair the bridge or maintain the road. In addition, the road sends sediment into Burnt Cabin Creek and Lone Cabin Creek, two streams that are important habitat for westslope cutthroat trout. Still, the top concern is safety, Ely said. And the bleak money picture means there will be more closures, he said. The Burnt Creek bridge is 40 years old, and "we've got a lot of bridges with the same birthdate," Ely said. "The message we are trying to send the public is there is going to be more of this action as a precaution. We can't afford to do business like we did 10 years ago."

A longtime North Idaho College employee says her questions about the integrity of the board of trustees fueled her resignation in the wake of President Bob Bennett's firing. "Until recently my employment with the college was the best of my career," Jo Teater wrote in her one-paragraph letter of resignation. "However, your recent action to dismiss Dr. Bennett has shattered my confidence in your ability to govern this college.

1. Thilo 2. Widmyer

Two Idaho wilderness areas are the favored place to revive endangered grizzly bear populations, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Thursday. The federal agency said it will release the long-awaited draft environmental study on grizzly bear recovery about July 1. It tags the Selway-Bitterroot and Frank Church wilderness areas as homes for experimental grizzly populations.

Many Idahoans and some Montanans support reintroducing grizzly bears in Idaho wilderness areas, a new poll suggests. A poll done for Defenders of Wildlife and the National Wildlife Federation indicates 46 percent of the people questioned support reintroduction of grizzly bears into the Selway-Bitterroot and Frank Church wilderness areas. About 35 percent of the people opposed bringing the grizzlies back to the 4 million-acre roadless area.

Outdoor concerts can proceed at The Blues Garden at Tubs Cafe, a City Council committee ruled Monday evening. The General Services Committee found no evidence that the Coeur d'Alene Lake Drive bistro, bar and beer garden had violated its outdoor concert permit. In fact, City Councilman Kevin Packard last week pointed out that the cafe owners, Kelly and Tom Sullivan, had not had an opportunity to use the permit.

Groundwater pollution is prompting the city to shut down its most productive well, although a hot summer could force it back on line. Spring tests showed an upsurge in trichloroethylene (TCE) in the Hanley Avenue well from 2 parts per billion to 7 parts per billion. A subsequent test by the Panhandle Health District turned up TCE at 8.26 parts per billion. This is the third successive year that TCE levels have spiked in the spring.

Anne Schmitt takes a picture of Andrew Britt and a fish that he caught Saturday at Ponderosa Springs Golf Course. The group, including Jordan Swanson and David Britt, had been out for two hours with no luck when a Fish and Game worker gave them a tip - fish deeper. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

1. Reed Sullivan helps his brother clean up around the property of the Tubs Cafe. The coffee house's decision to hold outdoor concerts has come under fire from nearby motel owners. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review 2. Cedar Motel owner Karla Gibson is opposed to a permit that allows Tubs Cafe to hold outdoor concerts. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

Commercial logging in the Idaho Panhandle National Forests would occur on between 5 percent and 9 percent of the land during the next decade, under a new Forest Service proposal released today. Commercial harvest on most of the Colville National Forest would happen on a maximum of 5 percent of the ground.

Is it the Idaho Panhandle National Poster Child? The Sierra Club is using the Idaho Panhandle National Forests as one of 12 examples of egregious management in its renewed campaign to stop logging on federal lands. The Panhandle was cited in a report, "Stewardship or Stumps," that the group released Wednesday, the 100th anniversary of the Organic Act.

For years, illegal parking has been the inexpensive way to anchor a truck and boat trailer in downtown Coeur d'Alene on a summer day. People pull into town and drop their boats in Lake Coeur d'Alene. If the city parking lot on Third Street is full, they leave their trucks and boat trailers at the curb in one of downtown Coeur d'Alene's two-hour parking zones.

If two counties constitute a movement, official English is on a roll in Idaho. Adams County commissioners have passed a resolution nearly identical to one Kootenai County Commissioner Ron Rankin initially pitched here. The only significant difference: The Adams County measure claims having official English "keeps taxes at a reasonable level."

Ray Boone of Norm's Utility Contracting rolls out the roadbed between 16th and 17th streets Friday. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

More than 11,000 acres of National Forest land southeast of Bonners Ferry could see salvage logging over the next six years. The Idaho Panhandle National Forest is proposing thinning several dense stands of trees around Katka Peak as part of the proposed Kit Katkee salvage project. Dead and down timber also would be removed. "We are going into stands really crowded with small trees," said Maridel Merritt of the Bonners Ferry Ranger District. "We are removing the smaller trees to give the bigger trees more light and nutrients." The project aims to take primarily Douglas fir, she said. Most of the trees slated for removal are between 4 inches and 14 inches in diameter, depending upon the location. No new roads will be built for the project and no roads will be reconstructed. Any closed roads that are reopened for the logging will be closed after the logging is done, Merritt said. The number of sales and the number of board feet to be logged has not yet been determined, the Forest Service said. There will be several harvest methods, including horse logging and more traditional methods. There is no helicopter logging planned. The Forest Service plans to sell the timber next summer. It is seeking public comment on the project. "To be most helpful, comments on the project should be as site-specific and project-specific as possible and relate only to the Kit Katkee Salvage Project," said District Ranger Elaine Zieroth.

1. Managing our forests. Sen. Larry Craig speaks at a timber industry picnic in Coeur d'Alene after a workshop on his forest management reforms. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review 2. Jack Ward Thomas testifies. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

With the beat of the Tubbs Hill logging helicopter reverberating through the hotel wall behind her, Teddy Roosevelt's granddaughter chastised Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig on Monday for plans to rewrite federal forest management laws. "Almost 100 years ago, a very wise and farsighted president set aside 17 million acres of public land, which means it belongs to you and to me," Edith Williams said of her grandfather, who was president from 1901 to 1909. "He set up the proper agencies to protect these lands."