Huckleberries Best of the INorthwest — 4/14/06

Chuck Thrap, an employee of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, holds up one of about 2,500 rainbow trout released into Deer Lake this week/Jed Conklin, Spokesman-Review

1. David Horsey /Seattle PI offers one possible out for Northwest ratepayers who were Enron’d here .

2. Cold Case: A 16-year-old victim of serial killer Wayne Nance whose body was found near Missoula, Mont., now has a name and her parents have peace here .

3. A teenage boy testified today that his friend showed him a knife and told him “that he was going to kill somebody” shortly before a playmate was beaten and stabbed to death. Pale and trembling on the witness stand, Jake Eakin told jurors that Evan Savoie hit 13-year-old Craig Sorger on the back of the head with a rock the size of basketball and then struck him repeatedly on Feb. 15, 2003 here .

4. The Intermountain Forest Association is thrilled that Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne has been nominated as the next Secretary of the Interior but others aren’t, here .

5. A 26-year-old Moses Lake man drove off with a Spokane Valley Fire Department medic vehicle Thursday evening during an emergency call and led police on a 52-mile pursuit in which a Whitman County deputy sheriff’s car was smashed here .

6. IMHO-NW: Ted S. McGregor Jr. /Inlander ( Willful ignorance ), Randy Stapilus /Ridenbaugh Press ( Who owns the west, and why ), Scitz /River Journal ( The Cocalalla 500 ), Marty Fortier /Coeur d’Alene Press ( Inter Seasonal Stress Syndrome ), and Garrett Andrews /WSU Daily Evergreen ( Dealing with WSU student sex offender ).

Online Poll: 78.1% of 1564 respondents to a Seattle PI poll say they are done with their income taxes.

*Veep Dick Cheney is headed to Spokane for a Mike McGavick fund-raiser Monday here .

*A Boise Fire Department fire team rescued a woman from the Boise River this morning here .

*As part of a wave of demonstrations that has swept the country this month, more than 200 people in Spokane hit the streets to stand up for the rights of immigrants here .

Orbusmax Special: Eastern Washington defendants got off the hook if they donated to charity here .