Huckleberries Blog

Local law enforcement agencies kicked off the "Click It or Ticket" seat belt emphasis campaign on Monday and will continue the program through June 2. Local motorists should be prepared for the stepped up program activities that will take place around the clock. If law enforcement finds a driver or passenger on the road unbuckled anytime or anywhere, you can expect to get a ticket, not a warning.

Question: Do you wear your seatbelt 100 percent of the time? When don't you?

... That Mary Souza of OpenCDA.com was told by the Coeur d'Alene School District to remove the district logo from her recent newsletter castigating Balance North Idaho for -- and I quote Mary -- sending out an emailing "filled with twisted, manipulative information that amounts to nothing but campaign trickery." At the top of her newsletter, entitled "Dirty Tricks vs. Honest Integrity," Souza posted three images, including one encouraging readers to vote in today's election and the School District emblem. A check of the newsletter post on OpenCDA.com today shows only the image encouraging school patrons to vote remains today. Seems the district considers use of school property (and that's why it considers unauthorized use of its logo) to be a no-no.

Thoughts?

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont. left, accompanied by the committee's ranking Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, questions ousted IRS Chief Steve Miller, former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman, and J. Russell George, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, on Capitol Hill, in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Top lawmakers on the Senate Finance Committee are broadening their probe of the Internal Revenue Service’s practice of targeting conservative groups, asking the agency to turn over an extensive batch of communications detailing who was involved in the program. In a letter sent Monday to acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller, Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and ranking member Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) sought details on how the agency reviewed applications for wide range of tax exemptions — not just the requests for 501(c)(4) status at the center of the current scandal/Lauren French, Politico. More here.

Question: On its online edition, the Lewiston Tribune asks which of the political scandals now plaguing the Obama administration will haunt it most: 1. IRS targets Tea Partiers, Associated Press phone tapping, fallout from Behghazi attack, or uncertainty surrounding the Affordable Care Act?

• 11:18 a.m. Possible animal abuse reported on College Drive, near NIC.
• 11:17 a.m. Horses are loose in trailer of flatbed pickup pulling trailer @ w/b I-90/Spokane Street.
• 11:11 a.m. Injury accident reported in head-on collision @ H57/MP 2 (near CdA casino).
• 10:58 a.m. 38YO female on Cloverleaf/Hauser Lake complains of severe chest pain.
• 10:47 a.m. Undisclosed medical emergency reported in 5300 block of Royal Drive/PF.
• 10:44 a.m. Female driver of gray Chevy possibly DUI, driving 52 mph on I-90/MP 7 (H41).
• 9:59 a.m. Owner tells KCSD that fired employee won't leave business premises.
• 8:44 a.m. CPD Blues seek silver 2003 Honda Civic w/chrome wheels & crack across windshield.
• 8:19 a.m. Caller from 400 block of N4th Street reports receiving suspicious package.
• 8:11 a.m. Some sort of crash involving truck & fatality reported (may be mock disaster near LCHS).
• 8:09 a.m. Reckless driver of Toyota Corolla from Spokane County now @ e/b I-90/MP 3.
• 8:05 p.m. Female who dropped child off at CdA school smelled of alcohol, has 2nd child in car.

• Monday Poll: Hucks Nation says Dr. Neil Nemec and incumbent Niese Razzeto will win the four-way race for two seats on the Kootenai Hospital Board today. Incumbent Razzeto received 94 of 225 votes (41.78%) from the Huckleberries Online crowd. Dr. Nemec received the second most votes with 75 (33.33%), followed by Jim Pierce with 47 (20.89%) and Donna Montgomery with 9 (4%).
• Today's Poll: Which of the following scandals that plague the Obama administration will haunt it most: IRS targets Tea Party, Associated Press phone tapping, fallout from Benghazi attack, or uncertainty surrounding the Affordable Care Act?

On his Facebook wall, Ryan Collingwood, formerly of Coeur d'Alene and now reporting sports for the East Oregonian in Pendleton, Ore., posts: "Two bad things about Oregon: 1. The Ducks; 2. Getting gas. Everything else is dandy." I'm a default fan of the state or Oregon, after 17 years of my kids attending school/living in the Portland area. I enjoy the weird vibe of Portland -- and the beauty of the Oregon Coast. If I was to pick two things I didn't like about Oregon, I'd put gas attendants as one of them. I'd have to think about the other. Mebbe aggressive panhandlers in Portland.

Question: What don't you like about Oregon?

Nicole Seguin Olson: "I was out this morning in various places (15th, 7th, and 4th), and fielded a few questions about polling places. People were wondering if they can still vote at any school, which is not the case. Voters need to vote at their regular Kootenai County Elections polling location, unless the elections office sent you a notice of an alternate location (I believe only 2 polling places have alternate locations today.) BTW -- I saw Jennifer Locke out looking for a place to wave signs this a.m., and I truly appreciated her friendly smile - so glad to know we can disagree about a lot of things and still be friendly and polite."

DFO: Jennifer is one of the best things the archconservatives have going for them. Young mother/friendly smile. Some of the rest of Jennifer's allies appear to be in desperate need of prune juice.

Question: Will we be able to bury the hatchet once the school/hospital board elections are over? Or is this simply the preliminary for the battle royal that's coming this fall during the Coeur d'Alene mayor/City Council races?

From Get Out! North Idaho Facebook wall: "Sweet Moments Bakery just opened in the Silver Lake Mall, and it perhaps finally provides a reason to go to that mall (along with the new JoAnn Fabrics and Sports Authority stores). We could make some seriously short work out of that cheese Danish at the top of their facebook page. Uh...yum!"

Question: How often do you visit the Silver Lake Mall? Why do you go there?

Sydnie Shanley, front, and Hannah Silvaz participated in The Kroc Center's third grade swim program in Coeur d'Alene on Monday. The two are students at Ponderosa Elementary in Post Falls. About 700 area third graders are registered to participate in this year's program made possible in partnership with the Salvation Army Ray & Joan Kroc Center, area school districts and community grants. (SR photo: Kathy Plonka)

• Idaho Records/Sherry Adkins, SR
• Relay for Life raises $85,000/Press
• Seat belt emphasis runs through June 2/Press
• Spokane climbers challenge Everest/Rich Landers, Outdoors
• Feds delay decision on wolf de-listing/Rich Landers, Outdoors
• Project anchored by Cabela's changes hands/Brian Walker, Press
• BLM outlaws paintball guns, rock climbing in Birds of Prey area/AP
• US 95 traffic shift in Silverwood area planned for Thursday/CdA Press
• Coeur d'Alene Basin cleanup update set today/Paul Dillon, Down to Earth
• WSU criticizes UW for not recruiting for med school/Jody Lawrence-Turner, SR

Idaho remains stuck at the bottom of public education funding, ranking second to last of all states in per-student spending for a third straight year, the U.S. Census Bureau said today. Idaho spent $6,824 per student in the 2010-11 school year, above only Utah, according to the latest available figures. Neighboring Washington ranked 30th – up two spots from the previous year – with $9,483 spent per student. Both Idaho and Washington fall below the national average of $10,560 per student. And that is down 0.4 percent from 2010 – the first decrease in per-student spending since the Census Bureau began collecting data in 1977/Scott Maben, SR. More here.

Question: Am I the only one who thinks we owe neighboring Utah a debt of gratitude for spending less than Idaho -- and keeping us out of the cellar?

State Sen. Bob Nonini, R-Coeur d'Alene, poked his nose into the Post Falls School Board races at the last moment by authoring a letter in favor of two challengers to the incumbents. Predictably, Nonini favors the archconservative candidates in the race and doesn't even mention the incumbents who have given Post Falls years of public service. One paragraph, however, stands out as over-the-top, even for Nonini: "I have had many opportunities to meet with their opponents over the eyars and one thing has become apparent. Their only concern is the teacher's union and keeping the union members happy without any regard for the residents funding Post Falls public education." Seriously, that's the only concern that Dave Paul and Julie Hunt have had? Not the kids? Ever? This from an individual who, as a former House Education Committee chairman was rebuked at the polls when Idaho voters rejected Propositions 1-3, which he supported wholeheartedly. And which would have devastated Idaho education? Bad form, Bob. Bad form. Full Nonini letter here.

Thoughts?

Ray Manzarek, a founding member of the 1960s rock group The Doors whose versatile and often haunting keyboards complemented Jim Morrison’s gloomy baritone and helped set the mood for some of rock’s most enduring songs, has died. He was 74. Manzarek died Monday in Rosenheim, Germany, surrounded by his family, said publicist Heidi Robinson-Fitzgerald. She said the musician’s manager, Tom Vitorino, confirmed Manzarek died after being stricken with bile duct cancer. The Doors’ original lineup, which also included drummer John Densmore and guitarist Robbie Krieger, was only together for a few years and they only made six studio albums. But the band has retained a large and obsessive following decades after Morrison’s death, in 1971. The Doors have sold more than 100 million records and songs such as “Light My Fire” and “Riders On the Storm” are still “classic” rock favorites/Associated Press. More here. (AP file photo: The Doors, from left, John Densmore, Robbie Krieger, Ray Manzarek and Jim Morrison, pose for a portrait)

Question: How did anyone from The Doors live to be 74?

Rescuers dug through the debris of destroyed homes, schools and businesses Tuesday in a desperate search for survivors of the murderous tornado that blasted through this Tornado Alley town, killing at least 24 people and injuring scores more. There was a strand of good news Tuesday: Authorities dramatically reduced the confirmed death toll after earlier reporting that at least 51 people had died Monday. Amy Elliot, spokeswoman for the state medical examiner's office, said she believes some victims were counted twice in the early chaos after the storm cut a path more than a mile wide through this Oklahoma City suburb of 41,000 people. She said nine of the dead were children, and that the death toll could climb/USA Today. More here. (AP file photo)

Question: Do you know individuals in the Oklahoma City area, affected by the tornado?

A funny thing happened to Coeur d'Alene High School Vice Principal Troy Schueller this morning. Seems graduating seniors at the high school targeted his pickup for their annual Student Prank. Huckleberries is told that the lugnuts for the pickup tires will be returned to Schueller throughout the day, so he'll be able to drive home this afternoon.

Question: Were you or your kids involved in a Senior Prank at high school?

On its Facebook page, the Coeur d'Alene Police Department announces: "Hanley Avenue and part of Courcelles Parkway will be closed from 0700-1100 as we, along with several agencies, work together to present a mock DUI crash to the students / faculty of Lake City High School. This mock crash will include Fire agencies, ISP, KCSO, and Air 1. We will try to post some photos later on."

Question: Have you ever participated in a mock disaster?

Item: Lake Coeur d'Alene Drive delay: Coeur d'Alene City Council in no hurry over ITD road offer/Tom Hasslinger, Coeur d'Alene Press

More Info: The decision to take over East Coeur d'Alene Lake Drive will have to wait another day. Following a two-hour workshop on the road offer the Idaho Transportation Department pitched to the city of Coeur d'Alene, an answer might not come for two more weeks yet. Until June 4, likely. That's when the issue that was pitched last year will go before the City Council.

Question: Do you want the city of Coeur d'Alene to own Lake Coeur d'Alene Drive?

Polls for today's Kootenai County taxing district election will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. There are school board races in the Coeur d'Alene, Post Falls and Lakeland districts. There is also a countywide Kootenai Hospital District trustee election, a Plummer-Worley school supplemental levy and a seat on the Alpine Meadows Water and Sewer District Board north of Hayden up for grabs. Information, including where voters should vote and sample ballots, is available at http://www.kcgov.us/elections/ or by calling county elections at 446-1030. A sample ballot and all of the polling sites also ran in the Legals section on Page C6 in Thursday's Press. On school board races, voters must live in the particular zone of the race to vote on it. A photo ID is required to vote. If a photo ID can't be shown, the voter will be given the option to sign a personal identity affidavit/Coeur d'Alene Press. More here.

Question: When do you plan to vote today?

Nick Anderson/Houston Chronicle