Huckleberries Best of the Northwest — 5/18/06

This undated image provided by the Oregon Zoo in Portland shows a Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit in their captive breeding program. According to a report Wednesday May 17, 2006, the last male purebred Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit has died, leaving just two females in a captive breeding breeding program created to try to save the endangered species from extinction here /AP photo from Oregon Zoo.

Stapilus: Keith Johnson campaign burnishes credentials by saying Idaho’s 3 “left-wing” bloggers support opponents but doesn’t name ‘em here .

1. Kitsap County authorities say two 14-year-old junior-high-school classmates who died in separate incidents in the past week may have been playing a choking game here .

2. A former Republican National Committee official was sentenced Wednesday to 10 months in prison for his role in hiring a Sandpoint, Idaho firm to jam New Hampshire Democrats’ telephones on Election Day 2002 here .

3. A Democratic candidate for Flathead County commissioner (Kalispell, Mont.) has another interesting facet to his life experience: A run-in with what he believes might have been a Sasquatch here .

4. A mudslide blew through a 24-unit condominium building on Schweitzer Mountain, near Sandpoint, Wednesday evening but the structure was unoccupied at the time and no one was hurt here .

5. A federal bankruptcy judge rejected a $45.7 million settlement offer between the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane and a group of 75 people who were sexually abused by priests here .

6. IMHO-NW: G. George Ostrom /Hungry Horse News ( Old maid maternity coverage ), Bigfork Eagle ( Ode to a Good Man ), Idaho Statesman ( Endorsements: Otter, Brady, LaRocco, Chigbrow ), Hindu /Sagebrush ( The DaVinci Turd ), and Robert Herold /Inlander ( Anyone But McMorris ).

Online Poll: A plurality of 31.1% of 1039 respondents to an Idaho Statesman poll said they don’t camp at all while another 28.5% say they camp once or twice per year.

*A Benewah County jury awarded $18 million in punitive damages Wednesday to the family of an 86-year-old St. Maries man it agreed was abused and medicated to death at a North Idaho nursing home here .

*Don’t look now, but Arena Football2 is expanding from Spokane and Everett to Boise here .

*Ronan, Mont., man faces 10th DUI here .

*Seattle drivers are rated among most courteous in the nation here .

Orbusmax Special: Unlikely allies fight King County all-mail voting here .