Best of the Northwest (5/12/05)

Gov-for-now Christine Gregoire isn’t doing well in the polls. See Item No. 2.

Regina Mourning deserved the Mother of the Year honors from the St. Maries Rotary Club. Regina? She’s a 23-year-old who took on the responsibility of mothering three little girls when she married 6 years ago. “While many of her peers debated college paths, she attended parent teacher meetings at the elementary school and deliberated over the how-tos of child raising, housekeeping and answering the big questions often posed by the very little,” writes Ralph Bartholdt of the St. Maries Gazette. Want you heart warmed? Click here .

1. Eric Devericks /Seattle Times looks at the threatened filibuster of judicial candidates by US Senate Democrats here .

2. A Survey USA poll shows that Washington’s Christine Gregoire is the third most unpopular governor in the country with a 34% approval rating here .

3. The Inlander looks at “The Story Behind the Story” re: our decision to use a computer forensic expert in pursuing our story about Spokane Mayor Jim West’s alleged sex abuse here .

4. As people snap up land in Bonner and Kootenai counties, others are looking at the outlying areas, driving up prices in the St. Maries and Benewah County areas, too, according to the St. Maries Gazette, here .

5. Freshman Ekatarina Burduli , a five-language psychology major from Tel Aviv, made quite a splash on the tennis courts and became only the third WSU player to be selected to the U.S. singles championship here .

6. Opinion Fix: Inlander ( Why West should go ), Tim Woodward /Idaho Statesman ( Idaho inventor extraordinaire Harold Hannebaum ), Michael Listman /Kootenai Valley Press ( Boundary County school crisis ), Larry Stone /Seattle Times ( Losses mount for M’s ), and The Easterner ( West’s sexuality should be ignored ).

*You can find the second part of KTVB’s investigative report on a polygamy cult’s move into Boundary County here . ( Hat Tip to Mike K for sending the link. )

*An Eastern Washington student who planted a pipe bomb outside a hall in November may face 16 years in prison as a result here .

*Washington climber first American to scale 14 highest mountains here .

*A Washington topless dancer argues to let her murder conviction stand here .