Huckleberries Best of the INorthwest — 10/19/05

Breaking: Suspected serial killer Joseph Edward Duncan III (shown above with Shasta Groene shortly before a few hours before his capture) used his young captives to produce graphic child porn videos, authorities acknowledged for the first time today/Taryn Brodwater, Spokesman-Review, here .

2. Supreme Court nominee Hariet Miers is on the mind of cartoonist David Horsey/PI here .

3. Two days after a nightclub brawl that hospitalized Seattle Seahawks free safety Ken Hamlin with a blood clot on his brain, police have this to work with: a victim who has no memory of the attack, a violent felon found slain four hours after the fight and the brother of the dead man, himself a convicted felon, trying to connect the incidents, according to the Seattle Times, here .

4. A dead coyote in a mailbox, a bowel-relieving burglar and a naked man soliciting roadside sex in Spokane County have reinforced the belief that weird things happen during a full moon, according to Thomas Clouse/Spokesman-Revie, here .

5. Students in Washington and Idaho both did better than the national average in math and reading, according to the National Assessment of Educational Project results released today, here and here . respectively.

6. IMHO-NW: Bruce Ramsey /Seattle Times ( Rossi: Learning from losing ), Rebecca Nappi /Spokesman-Review ( Shelter work not for everyone ), Chuck Winder /Idaho Statesman ( Highway fatalities: An epidemic ), Art Thiel /PI ( Seahawk Hamlin shoulda walked away ), Dan Popkey /Idaho Statesman ( Coroner can restore public confidence ).

Coeur d’Alene Press Poll: Respondents almost equally worried about increases in property tax (34%), gas prices (33%) and heating fuel (26%).

*Three Idaho businesses will be on Inc. Magazine’s 24th annual Inc. 500 when the list of the nation’s fastest-growing privately owned companies is released today here .

*A retired couple from Polson, Mont., is turning old Burlington Northern Santa Fe cabooses into rentals here .

*Green buildings are catching on in Idaho here .

Orbusmax provides the rest of the Northwest here .