Bowl full of laughs: Sue Radobenko, right, and Michelle Bowen wore football jerseys while serving lunch at Borah Elementary in Coeur d’Alene on Friday. Faculty and students were encouraged to wear team jerseys in preparation for the Super Bowl on Sunday.

BOISE – On a 5-4 vote, an Idaho Senate committee Thursday killed legislation to allow big trucks to drive 75 mph on the state’s freeways, just like cars. Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Jim Hammond, R-Coeur d’Alene, sponsored the bill. “The primary issue that brought this forth was safety,” Hammond said. “Throughout my service on this committee, I have heard how safety is always enhanced when you’ve got all traffic flowing at a common speed.”

BOISE – Idaho’s three community colleges strongly oppose legislation that would expand their boards of directors and impose new residency rules on the additional members. After hearing from representatives of the colleges Thursday, the House Education Committee killed the bill on an 11-6 vote.

BOISE – Sen. Jim Hammond won’t seek a fourth term in the Idaho state Senate and instead will apply for the upcoming opening for president at North Idaho College, along with looking at other options that will keep him closer to home and family. “I never intended to set a record here,” Hammond, R-Coeur d’Alene, said Thursday. “It’s an opportunity for someone else.”

Long before most Americans knew about global warming, Julian Powers was sounding the alarm.   In lectures on college campuses, at Earth Day fairs and through letters to the editor, the retired engineer sought to educate Spokane residents about the atmospheric buildup of greenhouse gases and why they should be concerned about warmer winters, scantier snowpacks and melting polar ice. Friends called him “Mr. Global Warming.” He attacked inaction by politicians and used science to draw people into discussions.

On a 5-4 vote, an Idaho Senate committee has killed legislation to allow big trucks to drive 75 mph on the state's freeways, just like cars.

Sen. Jim Hammond won't seek a fourth term in the state Senate, and instead will apply for the upcoming opening for president at North Idaho College, along with looking at other options that will keep him closer to home and family.

All three of Idaho's community colleges strongly opposed legislation designed to expand their boards and impose new residency rules on the additional members, and after hearing from them Thursday, the House Education Committee killed the bill.

An air stagnation advisory was posted today for a wide area of Washington east of the Cascades, but the Spokane and Coeur d'Alene areas are not included in the advisory.

The Idaho House has voted unanimously, 68-0, in favor of HB 405, to ban the sale of nicotine-containing e-cigarettes to minors, but only after much debate and strong opposition from Rep. Dick Harwood, R-St. Maries. Harwood cast the only "no" vote, but then, at the last minute, changed his vote to "yes."

North Idaho Sen. Steve Vick wants Idaho to enact a constitutional amendment to require two-thirds votes in both the House and Senate to pass any tax or fee increase.

POST FALLS — Dozens of inhabitants of a mobile home park in Post Falls are facing eviction because the new owners have deemed the property and its infrastructure unsuitable.

BOISE – Idaho Rep. Frank Henderson, who at 89 is the oldest member of the Idaho Legislature, is pushing legislation this year he says will directly create dozens of jobs statewide; on Wednesday, his bill unanimously passed the House. Henderson meant it a year ago when he decided to give up his coveted seat on the Legislature’s budget committee to focus more on economic development.

As moderate rain falls across Spokane and Coeur d'Alene today, weather conditions are distinctly more winterlike to the north.

A key Idaho Senate committee has voted to amend the bill to evict the Occupy Boise encampment from state-owned property across from the Idaho Capitol, with likely amendments including removing an emergency clause and amending a portion allowing property left at the site to be disposed of as "litter."

For 02-01-2012

BOISE – Republican Gov. Butch Otter has enlisted a former Democratic political operative to help develop his strategy for fighting to preserve new education laws that weaken teacher negotiating power ...

Members of the public will have an additional 60 days to comment on a controversial plan to designate 375,000 acres in the Selkirk Mountains as critical habitat for endangered caribou. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed to extend the comment deadline after requests from Idaho Gov. Butch Otter and Boundary County’s board of commissioners.

The first call came from snowmobilers near the old mining town of Murray, Idaho. Dusk had set in, and the caller was worried about a man who had gotten separated from his group. Shortly afterward, the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Department got another call about a lost snowmobiler. This one had failed to meet a friend near Wallace.

A jury today convicted a North Idaho man of second-degree murder for fatally running over a woman during a 2006 road rage incident with her husband and two daughters.