Vandals' final scrimmage

The University of Idaho football team held its final scrimmage with good results.

You can link to my story here.

Latest: Dylan's Shooting Wasn't Accidental

An FBI firearms expert who extensively tested the murder weapon testified this morning that Joseph Duncan’s Browning 12-gauge shotgun could not fire accidentally, such as from being dropped, and that multiple tests showed that 5 pounds of pressure was required on the trigger to get the gun to fire. That suggests that Duncan’s first shot, which hit 9-year-old Dylan Groene in the stomach, was no accident, though that was what he led the boy’s sister to believe/Betsy Russell, Eye On Boise.

Joseph Duncan trial roundup:
*Expert: Dylan's stomach wound wasn't fatal

Loose Thread Wednesday

Champions aren't made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them -- a desire, a dream, a vision.
-- Muhammad Ali

What desires, dreams, visions motivate your life? Or anything else on your minds this morning. Blog lines are up and running.

Head-to-heads in the primary

This morning's newspaper focuses on primary races in which at least one candidate is going to be eliminated.

For reasons of space and time -- and the fact that two-person partisan primaries are little more than a warm up for November -- results for the head-to-head matchups weren't included.

But we've had some calls about a few key races, so click to see the latest numbers for state races like lands commissioner, and local races for Legislature and County Commission.

Duncan questions medical expert

Dr. Sharon Cooper, a renowned medical and child abuse expert and one of only 500 forensic pediatricians in the country, testified this morning that Dylan’s abdominal wound likely wasn’t immediately fatal. “No, not at all,” she said, calling such a wound, “a very potentially salvageable injury – we see this in soldiers on the battlefield rather often. They can live for several hours like that,” she said, and careful surgery can repair the damage. She described a range of possible injuries to a child from a gunshot to the abdomen, and said based on Shasta’s description, Dylan likely suffered an evisceration wound, the second-least damaging of five possible types of injuries she described. In that type of injury, internal organs protrude through the wound, but they can be put back in and the damage repaired, she said.

Duncan closely questioned Cooper, first asking if in her experience, traumatized children tend to exaggerate what they’ve seen, and if her testimony was “based primarily on a potential exaggeration from a traumatized child.” Cooper disagreed, and said a child would typically expect a gunshot victim to fall down dead instantly, as happens in movies. “They would not likely describe an evisceration if an evisceration hadn’t occurred,” she said. Duncan then suggested that food Dylan had eaten – ramen noodles – were actually all that protruded from the wound. Cooper said that’s very unlikely; ramen noodles that had been eaten would appear to have the consistency of grits, and the stomach itself would protrude along with its contents. The organs that protrude in an evisceration wound, she said, have a “snake-like appearance.”

Duncan’s cross-examination, in which he asked the medical expert five questions, marked his first real dispute of evidence or testimony offered by prosecutors in their bid to persuade jurors he should be executed.

Another popular canning recipe

Here's one more popular recipe that didn't make it into today's story on pickling.

There's just one more story left in our series on canning. Next week, we cover tomatoes and salsa. You can read all the stories here.

Pickled Three Bean Salad

1½ cups cut and blanched green or yellow beans (prepared as below)
1½ cups canned, drained, red kidney beans
1 cup canned, drained garbanzo beans
½ cup peeled and thinly sliced onion (about 1 medium onion)
½ cup trimmed and thinly sliced celery (1½ medium stalks)
½ cup sliced green peppers (or ½ medium pepper)
½ cup white vinegar (5 percent acidity)
¼ cup bottled lemon juice
¾ cup sugar
¼ cup oil
½ teaspoon canning or pickling salt
1¼ cups water

Wash and snap off ends of fresh beans. Cut or snap into 1- to 2-inch pieces. Blanch 3 minutes and cool immediately. Rinse kidney beans with tap water and drain again. Prepare and measure all other vegetables. Combine vinegar, lemon juice, sugar and water and bring to a boil.

Remove from heat. Add oil and salt and mix well. Add beans, onions, celery and green pepper to solution and bring to a simmer. Marinate 12 to 14 hours in refrigerator and then heat entire mixture to a boil.

Fill clean, hot jars with solids. Add hot liquid, leaving ½-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Wipe jar rims. Adjust lids. Process half-pints or pints for 15 minutes in a boiling water canner, adjusting for altitude.

Processing time must be lengthened when canning at elevations higher than 1,000 feet above sea level.

For elevations between 1,000 and 3,000 feet, add five minutes of processing time to those given in the recipes. For elevations between 3,000 and 6,000 feet, add 10 minutes. At 6,000 to 8,000 feet, add 15 minutes.

Yield: 5 to 6 half-pints

Have you canned anything this summer? I'm thinking of tackling pickles for the first time after writing today's story. What about you?

Picture of the Day -- August 20, 2008

In this morning's Picture of the Day a bull moose, affectionately called “Bullwinkle” slowly makes his way across the river near Nine Mile Falls, Washington. Neighbors report that the moose frequents the area, occasionally sleeping in back yards and other nearby properties. Picture Courtesy of Gale Allen, Value Logic Appraisers, Spokane Valley.

Dave

Meanwhile, on the Palouse...

In the sprawling 9th District, which covers the rolling wheat fields of the Palouse, scrubland farm- and ranch territory to the south and even part of southern Spokane county, Rep. Steve Hailey drew 64 percent of the vote to Democratic challenger Kenneth Caylor's 36 percent. They'll face off again on the November ballot.

In the district's second House seat, incumbent Republican Rep. Joe Schmick got a solid to 62 percent to Democratic challenger Tyana Kelley's 32 percent and 6 percent for the Green Party's Christopher Winter. Kelley and Schmick will be on the ballot in November.

Smells like green beans...smells like cash...

I smell like a big green bean.

...this is not an educational article. I just thought I may be able to help someone in the throes of college-planning somewhere...

I learned how to 'can' today - and let me tell you, I have never seen so many green beans in my life. I thought it would be easy, throw the veggies in the jar and BAM! - you got an instant can of...well...food.

That got me thinking..."What if this was the only way to save money on groceries?" THAT lead to me being thankful for still being a simple child and not having to worry about the whole 'groceries-and-providing-for-myself' thing. I don't have to, but you college-bound studs do. (room mates...shared showers...freshmen 15...)

According to College Stories.com you've got a lil' more to worry about than just groceries.

This site just has some college horror stories and a guide to college slang. know what a 'beer scooter' is?...i do now.

Get some REAL college tips

Got any good school stories? Slang that needs to be explained??

Potter makes diving tortuous

Home from camping, we are kickin' it on the couch watching men's diving. Out Australian Matthew Mitcham will be competing later in the week and I'm wondering now if I'll be able to take watching his 10-meter platform performance. I think I'll have to make the mute button my friend.

Cynthia Potter, one of the diving commentators for NBC, is driving me bananas. She rarely has anything kind to say about the athletes and to us fans, she explains things like how the springboard works as if we are dunces.

The only reason to keep the sound up would be to hear Potter's color man talk about Mitcham. I'm curious if he would mention anything about the young diver coming out and the subsequent international attention for the one of only 10 openly gay athletes in these Olympic Games.

Good paper, good coffee

This is the new campaign for North Idaho coffeeshops, because for every hot cup of coffee there's a warm crisp Spokesman-Review waiting to be read.

Eight movies opening: Go and see one!

Friday is set to be a big movie day in Spokane. Counting “The Rocker,” which opens Wednesday, eight new movies will be playing on the day heading into the weekend.

Besides the mainstream offerings – “The Rocker,” “Death Race,” “The House Bunny” and “The Longshots” – four films play to more exclusive audiences.

“Hamlet 2” is an edgy comedy that stars Steve Coogan as a wannabe actor who, having taken a job teaching drama at an Arizona high school, responds to the school principal’s threats to cancel the program by writing and directing a stage production that features a time machine and pairs Hamlet with – uh, Jesus.

The other three films are AMC Select choices. “American Teen” is a documentary focusing on teens attending an Indiana high school. “Henry Poole Is Here” stars Luke Wilson as an alcoholic man whose life changes when a stain on the side of his house takes on the appearance of … Jesus?

Does anyone detect a theme here?

The final film, “Bottle Shock,” isn’t a documentary, but it is based on real events involving the 1976 wine tasting that brought international fame to the California wine industry. The film’s editor, Dan O’Brien, is a 1988 graduate of Coeur d’Alene High School.

So … lots to see. My suggestion: Go and see something.

Below: Alan Rickman, shown here at the 2006 Berlin Film Festival with Sigourney Weaver, stars in the film “Bottle Shock.”

Photo by Associated Press

Back-to-school shopping

Some of you indicated that school is high on your list of important parenting topics, so here’s another education-related blog post…

A recent story on ABC news indicated that the average family is expected to spend up to $600 this year on back-to-school supplies and clothes. The report offers some ways to save a little money. Some of those suggestions include:
- Leave the kids at home while you shop;
- Buy in bulk with other families;
- Shop online for used books;
- Get hand-me-downs, swap gently-used clothing or check out second-hand stores for clothing.

A website called “Counting the Cost,” which focuses on “creative frugality,” also has some ideas on how to save for back-to-school shopping.

As far as school supplies are concerned, Spokane Public Schools and other districts provide a list of what students need throughout the year. First-graders in Spokane need washable markers, scissors, glue, #2 pencils, crayons, glue, a box of tissue and a pair of tennis shoes for Fitness and Health. As they get older, the list grows and includes notebook paper, binders, rulers, calculators and a padlock for the school locker.

Many families often can’t afford the basics so several organizations in the area sponsor back-to-school drives. Sarah Bain, a frequent contributor to the Parents’ Council blog, also is making an effort to help these families. For more information, please check out “Backpacks for Grace” on her blog.

What's back-to-school shopping like for your family? What are some of the items on your shopping list? Any money/time-saving tips?

Wordle makes tag clouds easy

"Tag cloud" mean anything to you?

It's a display of the tags or keywords found on a Web page, showing the relative frequency of words by size. Here you'll see a quick cloud based on the top 5 items on the SRTXT blog.

It's easily done by using the (free) tool at Wordle.net.

Whitley can rebuild torched warehouse

Whitley Fuel may rebuild a warehouse at its central Spokane depot that an arson fire destroyed last year, Spokane's hearing examiner ruled today.

The decision overturns a determination by the city's planning director, who had blocked construction of a new building because he deemed it a "high impact use" under the city's zoning rules. The warehouse, at 2733 N. Pittsburg St., which would be used to store lubricants that are "not flammable products," would be less than 300 feet from the nearest homes, according to the decision.

Under city ordinances, high-impact uses must be 600 feet from residential areas. But Hearing Examiner Greg Smith decided that while large fuel tanks located on the south end of the property across a parking lot - where they were not destroyed in the fire - are high-impact, the warehouse is not.

Whitley Fuel co-owner Brian Whitley said the company has not decided how large to make the new warehouse, which it hopes to construct before winter. He estimated the old building measured about 6,000-square-feet.

"It may be a little larger," he said. "It just depends on the best fit for the property.”

Read the breaking story here.

The return of Tabloid Tuesday

Tabloid Tuesday is back. Our weekly look at the bold, often whacky tabloid newspaper covers found few similarities in photo or story choices this time around.

Those of us who are Chicago Bears fans especially liked the cover of Red Eye, the daily tab published by the Chicago Tribune.

Wilco's John Stirratt: Past, present and future

I caught up with Wilco’s bassist John Stirratt while the alt-country band was taking some downtime between shows.

Wilco’s albums have an unpredictable quality. Where one album could take a more esoteric, experimental approach, another, such as last year’s "Sky Blue Sky," could play more to traditional roots.

Stirratt, the only original member of Wilco besides chief songwriter Jeff Tweedy, said a new album is in the works, but just in the infancy stages of writing and there’s no telling which direction it will take.

Here’s some excerpts from a brief interview I had with Stirratt by telephone.

IJ: How’s the new album coming along? Has the songwriting process changed much over time?

JS: “We’re collecting songs but nothing has really taken shape yet. We have a lot of raw material and basic forms. The process hasn’t changed so far. For me personally, there is a lot of talk, more sort of post-production overdubbing touches. We might make it more dancey, or less linear and achieve that in other ways. There is so much talent in this band, we can analyze songs so much that that approach is different than just playing in a room. We take our time and see what happens, keeping in mind everything is totally hypothetical at this point.”

IJ: “Sky Blue Sky” was regarded as a sellout album by some critics. Did that surprise you?

JS: “It seems like there will always be someone who is disappointed with every record we make. Luckily more people were entertained than disappointed. But if that’s a sellout album then we must be morons; it’s a pretty lame sellout attempt. The record is moody. This kind of thing doesn’t really explode in the public eye. Maybe if we had got Timbaland to produce it or something…”

IJ: Some critics call Wilco “the American Radiohead” because of the artistic autonomy you all seem to possess. What do you think of that?

JS: “There are a number of bands who work in complete freedom at the indie level. The bigger you are, the harder it is to do that. I’m glad people think we have that autonomy and I’m happy that we can do that, but I wouldn’t make that comparison musically. The main thing is that we’ve had an audience for a long time. Names are bigger than labels. The Radiohead brand name is bigger than every label. It’s proven that if you have the people’s ear that’s bigger than the industry.”

IJ: What is the Autumn Defense project like for you compared to Wilco?

JS: “Autumn Defense is something I started with Patrick (Sansone) from Wilco. That’s how he ended up in Wilco. There are more similarities than differences. There is still some compromise, it’s very collaborative. I still write songs but I see them from point A to B, whereas in Wilco I contribute parts here and there.”

IJ: How about Laurie and John (the project with your twin sister)?

JS: "We’ve both been in bands forever but we’ve never been able to record together. One winter we had nothing to do so we said, ‘Let’s make a record.’ Autumn Defense played on that record."

IJ: I was listening to some of Wilco's live show streams recently and it seems like Glenn (Kotche) is going just nuts on the drums. What's up with the live show these days?

JS: “We’ve been together for a while. We have a lot of control over the dynamics indoors. Patrick is adding a lot of Mellotron for atmosphere. Glenn has his outbursts here and there, that’s for sure."

IJ: Since you’re the only original member besides Tweedy, can you talk about how you’ve seen the Wilco evolve?

JS: "There have been so many episodes but the one constant is Jeff’s songs and voice and guitar. We did these shows in Chicago where we played the band’s entire catalog over five nights and it was funny to go back and visit every part of the band’s history – all the different colors and personalities that came through. Some of the sessions for those records had a lot of stuff that was really well orchestrated. The last record was based around a lot of riffs and free associations. Some of that stuff could be re-arranged, that would be kind of fun. But I also like working from scratch and Jeff’s got so much material."

IJ: What’s in your iPod?

JS: "The Bonzo Dog Band. And Fleet Foxes. That guy has that great husky falsetto."

Wilco appears Thursday at the INB Performing Arts Center with Seattle’s Fleet Foxes. Tickets are $29 through TicketsWest.

Chapter 29

Around noon, we finally came to the mouth of the canyon, exiting by way of a deep wash much like the one on the other side of the mountains. Walking out onto the alkali flats of another little saline valley, we saw that it was a little like Death Valley, but not nearly so deep or desolate or long. In this little desert basin Lewis hoped to locate the Jayhawkers’ beaten trail before the winds and blowing sand obscured it altogether.

Stick that in your lexicon and ...

I took the Vocabpower word quiz in the Today section, um, today, and had no idea what the final word meant.

The Fluoride Gap....

If you read reporter John Stucke's story on fluoride Sunday, you know it's still a very divided issue in Spokane...you're either for it, or against it. There doesn't seem to be much of a middle ground.

Anti-fluoride activists show up at Regional Health District meetings, and claim fluoride is "a sisnister chemical additive."

Then you have those people who feel we need as much fluoride in our water as we can get. Proponents of adding fluoride to our water say "the lack of fluoridation in Spokane and Coeur d' Alene discriminates against the poor...especially children whose parents don't encourage good dental hygiene."

And here's something to chew on, the number of children throughout the county with dental decay rose from 49 percent to 62 percent between 2000 and 2005, according to the Spokane health district.

So, are you for or against fluoridation? We can start that conversation here...or continue it "On the Record with Rebecca Mack" Monday morning at 11a.m. Call us with your opinion at 232-0790.

-dan

Opportunity for Unity

The new, expanded Unity in the Community event in Riverfront Park drew thousands of people to the Cultural Village and performance stage. There was a spirit of friendship in the air as Pacific Islanders, Turkish people and African Americans shared dances with each other and laughed at each other's foibles.

Photography by Jesse Tinsley

Charities tap into online shopping

By Amy
Imagine a shopping mall contributing a portion of every sale to a charitable cause. When it comes to shopping online, it’s not as far-fetched as you might think.

Charitable shopping-mall sites are cropping up all over the Internet, bringing nonprofit organizations and philanthropic supporters together through Web consumerism.

Charity shopping malls encourage buyers to purchase items from selected retailers through their sites, reserving a percentage of the item’s cost for the mall site while passing on a portion of that percentage to a charity of the shopper’s choice.

Duncan continues to focus on odd details

Duncan has asked several questions of witnesses today, but, in keeping with his bizarre questions Thursday, he's focused on seemingly minute details.

He asked Loren Mercer, a computer forensic specialist with the FBI, if he was sure the video of he and the children eating watermelon was found in the "for Shasta folder" and not in the deleted items.

"Could you check that and make sure that's correct?" Duncan asks.

Mercer explained that the video was basically present in both (his explanation was a bit more complicated) and Duncan said OK, that explained it fine.

Duncan then asked why the images had create dates of 7/1 at a certain time, but in later copies the time was different.

"I want to hear an answer from you why that is," Duncan said.

Mercer said he'd need more time to find out, but Duncan said he was pretty sure he knew the answer.

"Am I allowed to offer an explanation?" Duncan said. Judge Lodge said no, he could only ask questions, and Duncan ended his questioning.

During Fargo, North Dakota KMart employee Susan Dahl's testimony, Duncan asked to see the the tripod she'd identified as the one he'd purchased at the store.

"I don't need to see it up close," he said. He just wanted to look at it "because there were two tripods."

Duncan saw the tripod and said he had no more questions.

Later, Duncan tried to object to a return receipt from Best Buy being entered to evidence, saying "it's not relevant."

But Lodge overruled.

Out to Lunch: Kay's Teriyaki Plus

Kay's Teriyaki Plus, one of the long-time staples of the North Side teriyaki scene, reopened earlier this summer after finishing repairs to its fire-damaged location on East Francis Avenue (for more on East Francis restaurants, check out this week's column on the blossoming International Row).

To the delight of the at-capacity midday crowd, Kay's lunch buffet is back and churning out the chow mein and chicken.

Tom Bowers/The Spokesman-Review

Though everything is decent buffet fare, a few dishes stand out above the rest.

The Coconut Chicken, served fried in almond chicken-style but with a sweet, creamy coconut sauce, offered surprisingly good flavor, as did the Spicy Chicken, tossed with mixed veggies.

The standard Teriyaki Sauce is fine - a bit on the salty side - but I'd recommend skipping it and going for the bright red, peppery Spicy Sauce (it stands out at 3 o'clock on the pictured plate).

And if they have Bulgogi on the line when you go, make sure to give it a whirl. Kay's version of the salty-sweet Korean beef dish definitely is worth a try. And possibly a return trip or two.

Reader asks: Where are your copy editors?

My apologies if this is the wrong direction for my question; I couldn't find a way to email the reporter direct, and actually my purpose isn't to criticize her.

My serious question: do newspapers no longer have copy editors? As the media for conveyance changes more to electronic, will proofing be left entirely to spell checkers?

Is there a way to guard against sad blunders like this one in Ms. Cunniff's story:
“'He and I sat out there and balled for a half an hour,” she said. “I told him he’d win, but he said, ‘No, there’s no winning.’”

Florine Dooley

You are one of several readers who've called or emailed about our unfortunate mistake this morning in the story about the death of former Hayden Lake police chief Jason Felton. We're very embarrassed by this mistake. There's simply no excuse for it. It's offensive to the family and to readers. And it makes us look stupid.

We do have copy editors on duty every night. Those editors read every story we publish. They improve many stories with their careful editing and they prevent many mistakes from getting in the paper. Obviously, we missed this one. The word we should have used was "bawled."

Kids at camp preserve dying art

Penmanship, letter writing – talk about old school. Does anybody still practice these ancient art forms?

Besides those folks in the county jail or the convalescent center, I have only been able to come up with one small sliver of society that persists in this archaic form of communication: kids at summer camp.