Schools step up sanitizing efforts

Coeur d’Alene school officials have ordered sanitizer hand misters for classrooms and lunchrooms and instructed teachers to wipe down student desks after more cases of a drug-resistant staph infection were reported.

Three new cases of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus were detected this week in students at Lakes Middle School, Lake City High School and Ramsey Elementary School, spokeswoman Janet Feiler said. That brings to six the number of Coeur d’Alene students apparently infected with the dangerous bacteria that have developed resistance to most front-line antibiotics.

Known as MRSA, the bacteria are common on the skin, but can cause infections that resemble spider bites, boils or minor burns. If left untreated, or if improperly treated, the infections can worsen. If the bacteria are able to enter the body or infect the lungs or bloodstream, MRSA can be deadly.

Most cases of MRSA skin infections heal with good hygiene and wound care, often without antibiotics, health officials said. MRSA is not required to be reported to local, state or federal health agencies. Most officials believe increased awareness, not an increase in cases, is behind recent reports of MRSA infections.

Coeur d’Alene school officials are taking greater precautions to sanitize surfaces and common areas where the bacteria, which are spread by touch, may gather. They’ve started mandatory hand-washing sessions with younger kids and increased cleaning efforts in all schools.

Truck tosses load, blocks U.S. 95

A logging truck dumped its load Tuesday and blocked U.S. Highway 95 near Interstate 90 for more than an hour.

The crash happened about 7:35 a.m. when a piece of equipment on the truck failed, said Idaho State Police Cpl. Kevin Murphy.

A part of the truck called the “reach” had a crack in it, Murphy explained. The reach is extended or retracted to accommodate different sizes of logs. Murphy said the reach was extended to its full length, exposing a crack, which broke near Appleway.

The truck then crashed and lost its load of logs.

No one was injured in the wreck, and the driver was not ticketed. Had it occurred on I-90, the consequences may have been more serious, Murphy said.

Hunger, homelessness focus of week

St. Vincent de Paul in Coeur d’Alene will draw attention to hunger and homelessness with a week of events starting Saturday. It’s part of National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, to promote education, action and awareness about the issues.

The Knights of Columbus will host a “dinner by donation” Saturday from 5 to 8 p.m., with proceeds going directly to St. Vincent programs that help people in need. The dinner will be at the St. Thomas Center, 10th and Indiana streets in Coeur d’Alene, and will feature spaghetti, information on St. Vincent programs, entertainment and gift basket raffles.

A candlelight vigil will be held Monday at 5:30 p.m. in front of the St. Vincent thrift store, 108 E. Walnut Ave., in Coeur d’Alene.

Tours of St. Vincent de Paul shelter services, beginning at the thrift store, will be held Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

An open house at St. Vincent’s Transitional Housing Center, 1425 N. First St., Coeur d’Alene, will be held Nov. 14 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

“Dare to Bare the Cold,” sponsored by Lake City High School’s Key Club, is scheduled for Nov. 15. Students who choose to participate will sleep outside to experience what it would be like to be homeless.

Also for the first two weeks in November, donation boxes will be placed in local area businesses to collect nonperishable food and personal care items for St. Vincent de Paul homeless shelters.

For more information, call (208) 664-3095.

PORTLANd

‘Healthy Kids’ cigarette tax rejected

After a campaign marked by record amounts of tobacco industry money pouring into TV advertising, a cigarette tax increase to pay for children’s health care was soundly defeated by Oregon voters in Tuesday’s special election.

With 67 percent of the expected vote counted, Measure 50 was being rejected by a margin of 60 percent to 40 percent. Among Oregon’s 36 counties, the cigarette tax passed only in populous Multnomah County, but was crushed in other places, particularly rural counties.

It was a stinging defeat for backers of the “Healthy Kids” plan. They had spent the campaign’s final days going door-to-door, pleading with voters to ignore the cigarette makers’ $12 million ad blitz and approve the increase to extend health coverage to 100,000 uninsured children.

Gov. Ted Kulongoski, a leading backer of the plan, said he still thinks most Oregonians support an expansion of children’s health care but were heavily influenced by the cigarette makers’ record-shattering advertising blitz.

“What happened was, the tobacco industry bought the election,” Kulongoski said Tuesday night.

The Democratic governor declared that “this fight isn’t over,” and said he and legislative leaders would be looking at other ways to get more children covered.

The tobacco industry’s ad campaign focused on what it called the ill-advised move of enshrining the tobacco tax in Oregon’s constitution, while other ads questioned whether all of the money would go to provide health care for children.

KELSO, Wash.

Pilot treated after copter crash

A helicopter working under contract for the Weyerhaeuser Co. crashed Tuesday near Merrill Lake near Cougar, but the pilot survived.

The Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office says the pilot was able to call for assistance on his radio and then crawl out of the demolished copter. The pilot was taken to Southwest Washington Medical Center in Vancouver, where he was treated and released.

The Sheriff’s Office says a witness who spoke to the pilot said the helicopter may have hooked a cable attached to a large bucket that was being used to spread fertilizer, throwing the copter out of rotation and onto its side.