Kulsum Tasnif’s kids might be too young to fast during Ramadan, but that doesn’t mean they’re off the hook for the month. The Mason, Ohio, resident has resolved to use the occasion – and its focus on helping those in need – as a way to encourage her three children, ages 4 to 8, to become more civic-minded.

"Girls of Riyadh" by Rajaa Alsanea (Penguin Press, 384 pages, $24.95)

The Plummer-Worley Joint School District is asking voters Tuesday to pass a $13.7 million bond levy to pay for a new high school and remodel existing school buildings so that all three schools can be on the same piece of land. The district wants to build a new high school, convert the present high school to a middle school and convert the current middle school to an elementary school.

Tuition, salaries and alcohol were big topics of discussion Wednesday night at the North Idaho College board meeting. Trustees passed a tuition schedule for the 2006-07 school year; heard the college president's response to faculty salary and benefit requests; and debated the possible merits and dangers of relaxing the college's alcohol policy.

Searchers may have located the body of Spokane real estate broker Gary Fox, who fell off his boat into Lake Coeur d'Alene on Friday. But after about three hours of sweeping the lake bed on Wednesday, divers were unable to make a recovery. Windy weather on the surface and poor visibility deep in the water made the search difficult, said Sgt. Matt Street of the Kootenai County Sheriff's Marine Division.

North Idaho College's staff is asking for a 5.7 percent raise in salary to keep up with the costs of living. That request is one of several in a proposal that will go to the board at its meeting 6 p.m. today. Others include more vacation time; closing the campus the entire week of Thanksgiving, instead of only the last three weekdays; and increasing the percentage of insurance premium the college pays.

North Idaho College will start talking tonight about relaxing its campus alcohol policy. Board members Christie Wood and Mic Armon brought up the topic last month and said community groups have asked them about revisiting the ban on alcohol, allowing for fundraisers that serve drinks, for example.