Risch inauguration today at noon

Gov. Jim Risch planned a low-key public inauguration ceremony at noon today on the Idaho Statehouse steps, where the 63-year-old rancher and lawyer will mark his ascension to Idaho’s top executive post following Dirk Kempthorne’s appointment as U.S. interior secretary.

Later this afternoon, about 1,000 people who secured free tickets were to be driven in vans from a church parking lot in the Foothills in north Boise to tour the new governor’s mansion, the hilltop home donated in December 2004 by potato magnate and billionaire J.R. Simplot.

Risch, a Republican from Boise, has been lieutenant governor since 2003, and was a longtime fixture in the Idaho Senate, where he served more than 20 years starting in 1974. He was sworn in as governor during a private ceremony last week when Kempthorne took the federal job.

SEATAC, Wash.

Patrols beefed up at SeaTac garage

Port of Seattle police have stepped up security in the garage at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport after a sudden jump in the number of possible car prowls last weekend.

Beginning Monday, officers began finding an unusual number of cars with damage indicating they might have been broken into.

Airport spokesman Bob Parker says 54 such cars were found, and notices were left on them to notify the owners. So far, 17 of those people have contacted airport officials to confirm their vehicles were prowled.

Parker said the vehicles involved have been almost exclusively Ford Expeditions and F-150s.

He said security has been stepped up with both plainclothes and uniformed officers. He said investigators have identified one possible suspect and are trying to contact that person.

Coeur d’alene

Rock, gem show this weekend

Rockhounds, jewelry artists and others captivated by minerals will have plenty of jade, jasper, quartz, fossils and other specimens to pick through this weekend at the North Idaho Mineral Club’s Rock & Gem Show in Coeur d’Alene.

The event, in Building 1 at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds, is set for 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Admission is $2.

As many as 500 people are expected to attend the show, where dealers will sell everything from rough rock to fine, high-end jewelry.

Proceeds will go to support the Boy Scouts of America.

Contact Diane Rose at (208) 667-8591.

POCATELLO, Idaho

Sticker draws rock through car window

A Pocatello woman says somebody threw a rock through the rear window of her automobile in what she says was an attempt to scare her into removing a bumper sticker touting the virtues of heterosexual marriage.

Idaho will be a battleground for the issue this summer, in the run-up to the November elections where voters will decide on a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriages.

State law already defines marriage here as between a man and a woman, but proponents of the marriage amendment say it’s necessary to discourage judges who might eventually seek to overturn the law.

Ronda Dowdy said in addition to the vandalism to her car, somebody left behind two notes criticizing her “Marriage is between a man and a woman” bumper sticker.

“As we were waiting for the police to show up, I saw a crumpled up note laying in the gutter,” said Dowdy, who moved to Pocatello from the Houston area last year.

“It said basically, ‘We will not stop until you remove the bumper sticker.’ “

– Compiled from staff

and wire reports