Ken Olsen

Adults need to hook children's attention to build connections with them, Michelle Karns says. That means they need to engage children at an emotional level. They need to give children dialogue, discussion, relationship.

Back-country roads across North Idaho are treacherous as heavy rains and high creeks undermine roadbeds and mudslides close byways. Idaho Panhandle and Clearwater national forest officials are asking people - including Christmas-tree cutters - to stay off the roads until the problems subside. The Forest Service fears people will trigger landslides with their vehicles, getting stuck in the muck or getting trapped between slides, said Kerry Arneson, spokeswoman for the Panhandle.

Massive mudslides triggered by heavy rains are tearing apart heavily logged watersheds all over the Clearwater National Forest. One slide is damming the Lochsa River, causing it to flow over U.S. Highway 12, which the Idaho Department of Transportation closed Thursday.

Lance Cpl. Zachary Mayo, now safe in Karachi, Pakistan, recounts his ordeal in the Arabian Sea. Photo by Associated Press

The last time there were resignations from the Coeur d'Alene City Council, 22 people applied for the open seats. Only five have formally applied to replace Dan English, who left the council to take the Kootenai County clerk's job. Candidates include two attorneys, a convenience store owner, a homemaker and a retired Forest Service employee.

1. Lance Cpl. Zachary R. Mayo was rescued by Pakistani fishermen after his plunge from the USS America. Mayo family photo 2. Cindy Mayo of Osburn, Idaho, spends the afternoon on the phone with the media interested in her son's brush with death in the Arabian Sea. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

By spring, Coeur d'Alene will become only the third area in Idaho offering rural commuters the chance to abandon their cars for a van pool. There appears to be ample interest in hitching a ride from Kellogg or Bonners Ferry to Coeur d'Alene each work day, North Idaho Community Express officials say. It should begin by March or April.

The city has not been able to shut off its solvent-tainted well for the winter as planned because water demand is too high. The aim was to quit using the Hanley Avenue well, hoping trichloroethylene (TCE) pollution would drift away from Coeur d'Alene's newest and strongest water source. The city was only able to keep the well off-line for about a week.

Osburn woke up one morning last month to discover that a revered piece of the town's backdrop soon would be logged. It shocked many in this Silver Valley town because the man who owned the land for generations swore it never would happen. Dar Dunkle welcomed Osburn residents to play, hike and picnic in Shields Gulch for decades. But he died in the 1960s and this year his daughter sold it to a Kellogg logger, ready to harvest.

1. Profile: Ron Edinger. CdA City Councilman Ron Edinger mops the gym floor at Sorensen Elementary School, where he works as a custodian. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review 2. Edinger has been on the council 26 years. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

A city soccer field is expected to finally comply with city ordinances following tonight's City Council meeting. The council will hold a public hearing on the Jenny Stokes Field at Ramsey Road and Kathleen Avenue. Then council members are expected to change the zoning on the four acres from light manufacturing to limited commercial and industrial. Current zoning doesn't allow for the field.

There are two major proposals in Congress for turning federal land over to the states or private corporations and individuals. Senate Bill 1151: A national commission selects federal lands to sell or give to states.

1. The east side of Priest Lake shows that states can manage land well. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review 2. Ray Green of the Department of Lands and Forest industry advocate Ken Kohli examine land near Priest Lake. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

Silverwood Theme Park is pledging $500,000 to bring the reincarnation of Spokane's Walk in the Wild zoo to Kootenai County. The Silverwood Theme Park will pay for the design of the new operation, all of the construction labor and some of the construction materials, said Frances Drake, executive director of the Inland Northwest Zoological Society.

Helen Chenoweth

Fatal car-train collision ISP Cpl. Tom Felton takes notes Wednesday at the scene of a fatal collision at the Beck Road railroad corssing. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

Logging contractors were caught illegally harvesting trees near salvage sales on the Kootenai National Forest nine different times between 1992 and 1994, the Inland Empire Public Lands Council charged Monday. Although it happened several times, the Forest Service failed to levy substantial penalties that would have stopped the practice, said Jeff Juel of the Lands Council's Forest Watch Program. About 20,000 board feet of timber was illegally cut, the Lands Council said.

People who long to bring hydroplane racing back to Lake Coeur d'Alene better dig out their wallets. It takes big money and substantial organization to handle a weekend with the fastest boats in the world.

Chris Copstead will be the newest member of the Coeur d'Alene City Council. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

1. Quiet on the lake. The Appian Renegade is towed back to Coeur d'Alene after breaking down during a demonstration on the lake Tuesday. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review 2. Coeur d'Alene residents watch as a racing boat is lowered into the lake for a demonstration which was cut short by engine trouble Tuesday. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

A pair of sizable salvage timber sales will push a fragile population of Kootenai National Forest grizzlies to the brink and harm other big-game animals, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Missoula. The sales - one on the North Fork of Big Creek and the other on the South Fork of the Yaak River - will add large clearcuts and too many roads in the process of taking 54 million board feet of timber, said Bill Haskins, executive director of the Ecology Center. The Ecology Center, Inland Empire Public Lands Council, Alliance for the Wild Rockies and Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund are behind the suit, which targets the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The Forest Service said it hasn't seen the suit and refused to even confirm the size of the sales.

Nowhere to turn: Increased traffic on U.S. Highway 95 likely will lead to the closure of the median strip at some intersections. Photo by Jesse Tinsley/The Spokesman-Review

The days of city trucks hauling away your leaves for free might end in the next few years. The city hasn't been able to incorporate leaves into its Julia Street composting operation, said Sid Fredrickson, wastewater superintendent. So, the leaves are stored in large mounds until they decompose; then they're spread around the 14-acre compost facility.

It took students to stump the candidates at a forum Wednesday night for the city races in Hayden, Post Falls and Coeur d'Alene. "Read it again?" was Coeur d'Alene Councilman Ron Edinger's initial response to one of the toughest questions of the evening as laughter rippled through the room at the bold questioning.