Huckleberries Best of the INorthwest — 11/7/07

Dan Pelle/Spokesman-Review

Mary Verner celebrates with Mickey Thompson after hearing election results broadcast on TV at the Red Lion River Inn in Spokane here . News Is A Conversation: Hession shot credibility by withholding information here .

1. Residents of Hailey, Idaho, voted Tuesday to legalize medical marijuana, make enforcing pot laws the lowest police priority and decriminalize industrial hemp. But they rejected a companion measure that foresaw the city regulating and taxing legal pot sales here /Idaho Statesman.

2. Defense attorneys for Joseph Duncan, the convicted murderer who’s facing a January federal trial here on capital charges involving the kidnapping and molesting of young Dylan and Shasta Groene of Coeur d’Alene and the killing of 9-year-old Dylan, now say Duncan’s federal indictment should be thrown out here /Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise.

3. Online Poll: 57 percent of 469 respondents to a Lewiston Tribune poll say that it’s time that Idaho switch to vote-by-mail.

4. News Roundup: Grizzly killed by photos (the photos)/ Mixed results for Washington initiatives, referendums /KHQ; One vote carries Star, Idaho, councilman to win /Idaho Statesman; Schools step up sanitizing efforts /Coeur d’Alene Press; Still bogus after all these years /Boise Weekly; and Amtrak train searched /Bonner County Bee.

5. Blogosphere: Super Wednesday! /TUBOB; Reaction to Ron Paul’s November the 5th /Adam’s Blog; Bill Sali, “Mr. No” /Morialekafa; Rehearsal dinner; Darjeeling Limited /Kellogg Bloggin’; Blogging the Boise area elections (w/Statesman results) /Red State Rebels.

6. IMHO-NW: Idaho needs an ethics law change /Idaho Statesman; Beyond Neanderthal /David Horsey, Seattle PI; Dunn deserves more than a drink in the face /Tom Henderson, Lewiston Tribune; What it pays to be paranoid about Idaho water /Rocky Barker, Idaho Statesman; Spokane’s low-income housing crisis still exists /Spokesman-Review; and Statesman’s endorsement scorecard /Kevin Richert, Idaho Statesman.

Orbusmax Special: Photos, blog posts from UW student held in Italian murder here .