Kevin Graman

Spokane police are investigating a criminal complaint that a Ferris High School teacher engaged in a sexual relationship with a student last school year, a police official said Wednesday. Deputy Chief Al Odenthal said police have not yet interviewed the teacher, Sayeed X, since learning of the allegations from Child Protective Services more than two weeks ago. He said that if the alleged victim has not yet been interviewed by detectives, she will be soon. "We have just begun a criminal investigation," Odenthal said.

Another group of Idaho Army National Guard soldiers will leave Boise today for training in Colorado before joining the 116th Brigade Combat Team serving in northern Iraq, the Guard's spokesman in Boise said. The 116th was deployed in December with some positions left unfilled, said Lt. Col. Tim Marsano. The 20 soldiers departing for Fort Carson, Colo., today will fill those positions. Soldiers in this group come from all over Idaho, including Coeur d'Alene and Lewiston.

U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris has been appointed assistant majority whip and received two Armed Forces Committee assignments of importance to Eastern Washington, the congresswoman's office announced Wednesday. As a member of the readiness subcommittee, which oversees military readiness, training and logistics, as well as military construction and installation, McMorris will be in a position to influence military base realignment critical to Fairchild Air Force Base.

A group of Washington state cattlemen has called on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to insist that the Canadian government meet animal health and food safety regulations before allowing the importation of live cattle into the United States. Specifically, the Cattle Producers of Washington want Canada to prove there are no animal parts in its ruminant feed. Feeding cattle back to cattle is considered the source of recent cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, known as mad cow disease. Two Canadian BSE cases have been discovered since the USDA announced last month that it intends to allow the resumption of cattle trade with Canada in March.

Okanogan County sheriff's deputies and Omak police took an assault suspect into custody Wednesday morning after spending a cold night locked in a standoff, the sheriff said. The Sheriff's Department had received a tip late Tuesday that a woman had been killed at a rural methamphetamine party just south of Okanogan, Sheriff Frank Rogers said Wednesday. Deputies arrived at about midnight to find the woman, Angel Brown, alive but roughed up and lying in a mobile home. Her alleged assailant, Donald R. Nissen, 42, who was armed, had locked himself in an outbuilding, Rogers said.

With temperatures expected to drop below zero today, homeless shelters and others who provide help to the region's poor are bracing for an increase in demand on services. The National Weather Service was expecting temperatures as low as 10 below zero tonight as the arctic air it has been keeping track of all week finally enters the region. With 10 to 15 mph winds on Friday, wind-chill readings could be 14 below to 24 below zero.

In a last-ditch effort to save nine more police and fire department jobs from the budget ax, the City Council is poised to raise the fees it collects from Spokane's cable television provider on Monday, an increase a Comcast executive said will be passed on to customers. "We would have to pass the tax on to our Spokane customers," Comcast's general manager in Spokane, Ken Watts, said Friday. "We could not absorb that cost."

The Sandpoint family of a U.S. Army soldier who has served in Iraq for the past 14 months is planning a welcome home ceremony for him today at the Long Bridge. Sgt. Justin Lamb of the 66th Military Intelligence Brigade attached to the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, will be entering Sandpoint via the bridge at 5:30 p.m., said his parents, Sheila and Jerry Lamb.

One thing worth celebrating this holiday season, says the woman who wrote the book on infidelity, are faithful husbands. "Those who have faithful spouses, particularly women, certainly have a lot to be thankful for," said Ruth Houston, author of "Is He Cheating on You? – 829 Telltale Signs." Citing "the latest statistics" that show three out of four husbands cheat on their wives, she said most women have no idea their husbands are having an affair despite the presence of numerous signs.

The thought of members of her son's Stryker Brigade platoon going without mail over the holiday season was just too much for Louise Keneally to bear. It is bad enough that Lt. Sean Keneally's soldiers have to endure the constant threat of attack in Mosul, one of Iraq's most dangerous cities. There is nothing his mother could do about that.