Hot Potatoes — 3/5/07

The Gonazga team celebrates after beating Loyola Marymount, 64-47, to win the West Coast Conference women’s championship basketball game in Portland, Ore., Sunday/Don Ryan, AP Photo.

* Empire exec paid $690,000: Board credits Nelson with turnaround, making ailing hospitals saleable / Jonel Aleccia and John Stucke , Spokesman-Review — I’m at the wrong job in the wrong business.

* Gonzaga women claim first NCAA berth / Steve Bergum , Spokesman-Review — While our attention has been diverted to the woes of Josh Heytvelt/Theo Davis and the struggle for Gonzaga to win an NCAA tournament bid, the Zag women have been doing just fine. No matter what happens today at the Chiles Center in Portland, we still can say, “Go, Zags,” this spring.

* Street racing crash victim improving /KREM2 — There’s not a lick of difference between the clowns involved in the Spokane race that resulted in six cars being damaged — and the one on Kathleen Avenue in Coeur d’Alene that killed a young teen-ager last year. The Spokane County prosecutor should throw the book at the idiots involved.

* UI center under investigation: Workers prompt Kootenai prosecutor to seek review for criminal conduct /Associated Press — Another center, another scandal? Legal woes haunt UI at both ends of the state — University Place in Boise and now this.