Best of the Northwest (5/6/05)

Nicole Waggoner holds a sign during a athiests rally on the steps of the Statehours, Thursday in Boise. See Item Below IMHO-NW.

Forbes magazine’s May 9 edition ranks the Boise metro area No. 1 on its annual Best Places for Business and Careers list, report Joe Estrella and Nan Connolly /Statesman here .

1. Eric Devericks /Seattle Times on the never-ending Washington gubernatorial situation here .

2. The Inlander provides its summer movie preview here .

3. Scott Ritter , a former Marine and chief weapons inspector in Iraq, was interviewed during a Spokane visit by Cara Gardner/Inlander here .

4. Coldwater Creek Inc. is working to boost its operating margin by buying more of its women’s apparel from overseas garment makers directly, according to Richard Ripley /Spokane Journal of Business, here .

5. Are rattlesnakes growing legs in the Tri-Cities area to stay out of tumbleweed burn piles? The Tri-City Herald chronicles one biped snake that didn’t make it here .

6. IMHO-NW: Idaho Statesman ( Forbes’ kudos ), Tacoma News-Tribune ( Mayor West’s hypocrisy ), Danny Westneat /Seattle Times ( New gas tax ), Kay McFadden /Seattle Times ( “Elvis” ), and Joel Connelly /PI ( Spokane’s Dark Past ).

*The Idaho Statesman provides a story and a photo gallery about the nonconfrontation between Christians and atheists in Boise here .

*Washington ranks No. 13 and Idaho No. 32 in total taxes per capita, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, here (story) and here (table).

*Sea-Tac ranks No. 3 among the nation’s airports for claims involving theft and loss here .