Storm’s arrival today could bring inch or more of snow

The National Weather Service has issued a high wind watch for tonight for extreme Eastern Washington and portions of North Idaho, including the Rathdrum Prairie and the Palouse hills south to Lewiston.

Southwest winds gusting from 50 to 60 mph are possible across the region, with sustained winds forecast at 25 to 40 mph. The strongest winds are expected along exposed plateaus and in narrow east-west valleys.

The potentially damaging winds are being carried by a strong winter storm that dropped out of the Bering Sea on Monday and raced toward the northwest coast of the United States on Tuesday.

The storm’s arrival today could bring as much as 1 inch of snow above 2,500 feet in elevation during daylight hours and an inch of snow during the evening across low-lying areas. Winds are expected to slam the region overnight. In addition, the weather service issued a winter storm warning for mountains of North Idaho for 5 to 11 inches of snow and high winds. The Cascades also should see heavy snow.

– Mike Prager

Drop in enrollment forcing NIC to cut back spending

Responding to a drop in student enrollment, North Idaho College will trim $605,000 in spending from its budget before June 30.

The cuts take effect immediately. No positions will be lost, but the college will delay hiring for some vacant positions to save money. Savings will also come from cuts in travel, new equipment purchases and staff development. Marketing programs will not be cut.

About 4,116 students attend NIC. Enrollment is down for the third semester in a row, a result of the strong job market, officials said. Fewer students are signing up for classes; more are taking part-time loads.

“There are so many good jobs out there that students are making money while they can,” said Kent Propst, NIC’s community relations director.

Community college enrollment typically has an inverse relationship to the local job market, Propst said. Since NIC’s enrollment had risen along with economic growth in recent years, however, the college was caught off-guard by lower numbers of students, he said.

To stem the shortfall in NIC’s $33.1 million budget, the cuts must be made before the fiscal year ends on June 30. The shortfall actually totals $615,000; about $10,000 will come out of NIC’s reserve funds.

College officials are already working on next year’s budget, which Propst described as conservative.

– Becky Kramer

Police say teenage boy filed false report of rape

Coeur d’Alene police are pursuing charges against a 17-year-old boy who allegedly filed a false rape report.

The teen told police he had been forced into a van by two males on four different occasions from last summer to March 1, according to the Coeur d’Alene Police Department. He said he was blindfolded, driven to Spokane and forced to perform sex acts with the men, the release said.

After detectives discovered inconsistencies in the teen’s story, he told them he made it up. He said other teens had threatened to beat him up and that he believed the police would give him 24-hour protection if he filed the rape and kidnapping reports, police said.

The department wants restitution for the time it spent investigating the case, police said. False reports take “investigators away from cases that have true victims,” according to a release from the department.

– Taryn Brodwater