Best of the Northwest (4/7/05)

Stephen Jordan (above, right), EWU prez for the past 7 years, has announced his resignation to become prez at Metropolitan State College of Denver, Colo., here . Recently, Jordan found himself in the middle of a controversy when he disinvited wacky Colorado prof Ward Churchill to speak on campus. He lost that battle. Also, Toadman comes through for HBO readers by providing the text of Jordan’s resignation letter here .

1. David Horsey /PI re: the mixed legacy of Pope John Paul II here ; meanwhile, you can see the package of cartoons that won Horsey the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for political cartooning (as well as what Horsey looks like) here .

2. Mike Weland /Kootenai Valley Press discusses Jerry Higgs, a former Hayden man who was posting signs in the Bonners Ferry area denigrating Californians here .

3. Former U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton yesterday joined the call for a criminal investigation of King County’s handling of the November election, even as county officials acknowledged a breakdown in the process for accounting for absentee ballots, according to the Seattle Times, here .

4. An Alaskan once banished to an Alaskan island as part of tribal justice is in trouble again after pressing a gun to the head of a sleeping teen here .

5. Idaho lawmakers wrapped up the 2005 session and headed for home after passing historic bills to protect Idaho’s water rights and fix highways here .

6. IMHO-NW: Tim Woodward /Idaho Statesman ( A mission of honor ), Idaho Statesman ( Kempthorne scores with Legislature ), Larry Stone /Seattle Times ( Hitless Jeremy Reed ), Joel Connelly /PI ( NW Catholics want listening pope ), and Stefan Sharkansky /Sound Politics ( Bogus King County absentee report ).

*WSU senior punter Kyle Basler is the subject of a Daily Evergreen feature here .

*The Idaho Statesman tells the story of fallen war hero Sgt. Kelly S. Morris here .

*RuralNorthwest.com provides Bonner County police logs (April 1-6) here .