Route of Hiawatha to reopen today

The Route of the Hiawatha Trail will reopen today. The popular rails-to-trails bicycle path on the Montana-Idaho border was temporarily closed after a rockslide was discovered last weekend in one of the tunnels. No one was in the tunnel when the rocks fell. U.S. Forest Service officials said they don’t know what caused the slide. Engineers from Coeur d’Alene and Missoula inspected the tunnel and issued an “all clear” on Thursday, according to information from Lookout Pass Ski and Recreation Area, which manages the route.

The Route of the Hiawatha will close for the season after Oct. 2.

Businessman seeks City Council seat

Businessman Joe Doellefeld said Thursday he’s running for Post Falls City Council because he wants to bring something that’s lacking: interaction among council members and with the public.

“I care about the city; I served in the past,” Doellefeld said. “And I think it’s time to have different representation on the council.”

Doellefeld served for four years until the 1997 election, when Joe Bodman was voted in.

Now, Doellefeld is vying for seat 4, which Bodman currently holds. Jackie McAvoy, another former council member, announced earlier this week that she would also run for that seat.

During his council tenure, the city was experiencing a growth spurt, Doellefeld said, much like what’s happening now. The growth needs to be well planned, he added, in a way that’s consistent with the existing infrastructure.

Doellefeld, 57 and a Seattle-area native, owns the Stateline Speedway race track. He is involved with numerous Post Falls organizations, including the chamber of commerce, community volunteers and the historical society, and is a member of the Kootenai County Fire and Rescue Board of Commissioners.

The election is Nov. 8.

Mother, infant found; several face charges

A 14-year-old Deer Park mother and her 1-month-old baby who both disappeared Wednesday were found Thursday. Several people will face charges in connection with helping the girl avoid a pending custody hearing.

The girl and baby were found at a residence in the 12100 block of East Cataldo. The baby, who has a medical condition that requires she have special food, was checked by paramedics and appeared to be fine, Spokane County Sheriff’s spokesman Cpl. Dave Reagan said.

Child Protective Services then took the infant to a local hospital for further tests, Reagan said.

The girl, Jessica Poindexter, was living in Deer Park with the infant in the home of a foster parent who had custody of the baby girl. CPS had recently sent them a letter informing them of an upcoming custody hearing, Reagan said.

Detectives Dave Bentley and Kevin Bechtold and Deputy Dave Morris were able to develop leads that led them to the home in Spokane Valley.

Poindexter’s mother, Shannon M. Jackson, a 35-year-old transient, and family friend, Glo A. Mitchell, 43, of 1913 E. Empire, provided transportation for both Poindexter and the baby’s 15-year-old father, Jonathan D. Fisette, Reagan said.

Fisette was taken into custody on other juvenile warrants but is expected to be charged in connection with this case, Reagan said. Jackson, Mitchell and Poindexter all were arrested on the same charge, custodial interference, Regan said. The family in Spokane Valley apparently didn’t know that Poindexter had been listed as missing, and they weren’t charged in connection with the case, Reagan said.

I-90 delays expected Saturday in Valley

Eastbound Interstate 90 will be reduced to one lane Saturday between the Argonne and Pines exits from 6 a.m. until midafternoon.

Drivers should expect delays.

In addition, the westbound Pines on-ramp will be closed Saturday from 6 a.m. until midafternoon.

With the westbound Evergreen on-ramp also closed, westbound drivers will need to use the ramps at Sullivan or Argonne.

252,000 statewide lack insurance

Boise Nearly 13 percent of people in Ada County lack health insurance, even though half of that group have jobs, a Boise State University study found.

The study – part of the three-year federally funded Healthy Community Access Program – found that the lack of insurance among those residents leads to unnecessary emergency room visits and drives up health care costs for all Idaho residents.

Statewide, about 252,000 people are uninsured.

The university’s Family Medicine Residency of Idaho, a medical clinic for low-income and uninsured patients, sought the study to see just how well local clinics are serving the poor.