Scott Maben

Candidates backed by a group of Republican activists were defeated Tuesday night in unusually lively races for the nonpartisan Coeur d’Alene School Board and Kootenai Hospital District board.

Idaho remains stuck at the bottom of public education funding, ranking second to last of all states in per-student spending for a third straight year, the U.S. Census Bureau said today.

Idaho’s education chief made the case Thursday for moving forward with higher academic standards for public schools, saying the state must better prepare students for college, trade schools and the job market. Idaho has a good education system but needs a great one, state Superintendent Tom Luna said at a meeting of the Kootenai County Reagan Republicans. “Good is no longer good enough,” he said.

Organizers of a jet boat race later this month on the St. Joe River near St. Maries are scrambling to keep from canceling it after the U.S. Coast Guard denied a permit on environmental grounds. “Race the Joe,” scheduled for May 17-19, is suspended for now, spokesperson Kyla Sawyer said.

Higher rates in Washington helped Avista Corp. recover from a down year and report a more profitable first quarter. Net income for the quarter was $42.3 million, or 71 cents per share, the Spokane-based utility said Wednesday. And that primarily is a result of general rate increases in Washington, Avista said.

Idaho schools will switch this fall to Common Core State Standards designed to raise student achievement, and the Coeur d’Alene School Board will take a closer look Monday at what that means for local schools. The board workshop was prompted by questions and concerns raised by constituents, including some who see the new English and math standards as a step toward a federal takeover of local education.

Now is the time to build an event center in Coeur d’Alene for sports, trade shows and community gatherings, North Idaho College officials told the city’s urban renewal agency Thursday. NIC, which would own and operate the building, anticipates asking for $10 million in urban renewal financing for the project, President Joe Dunlap said.

Coeur d’Alene soon may join a growing number of Idaho cities to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation – a reaction to the Legislature’s steadfast refusal to add such protections to state law. City Councilman Mike Kennedy is drafting an ordinance modeled after one adopted in Boise last year. It would protect gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people from discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations.

A human rights organization in Benewah County has received this year’s Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations Civil Rights Award. The Benewah Human Rights Coalition was presented the award Monday night at the annual human rights banquet hosted by the task force in Coeur d’Alene.

The Idaho Attorney General’s office has filed a lawsuit alleging that a former Coeur d’Alene coin store, its owner and its operator broke state consumer protection laws by failing to deliver gold and silver to customers who paid thousands of dollars in advance. The suit seeks $664,326 in restitution for 18 consumers who complained they were ripped off by CoiNuts Inc., its owner, Kevin E. Mitchell, of Hayden, and his stepdaughter and the store’s operator, Sarah M. Mitchell, of Hayden. The suit, filed Tuesday in Kootenai County District Court, also seeks $90,000 in civil penalties.

The family of a miner killed in a tunnel collapse two years ago has sued Hecla Mining Co. Larry “Pete” Marek, 53, was crushed to death in a cave-in more than a mile deep inside the Lucky Friday Mine on April 15, 2011. It took rescue workers nine days to dig out his body in the silver mine near Mullan, Idaho.

Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp. will move its global headquarters to Chicago this year, leaving no company presence in Idaho, where it incorporated in 1928. Coeur has 65 employees in the building it owns in downtown Coeur d’Alene, and about 20 of them have opted to move to Illinois and remain with the company, spokeswoman Stefany Bales said Wednesday. The rest may stay on until Sept. 30, she said.

Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp. announced today it will move its headquarters to Chicago this year.