Sagle News

Idaho is saving tens of millions of dollars because its big federal stimulus-funded highway projects - including the Dover Bridge in North Idaho - are coming in far under budget.

Jeff Stratten, spokesman for the Idaho Transportation Department, said the low bids on five of the eight projects received so far total $40.9 million less than original estimates.

Panco Construction Inc., of Spokane, has been awarded a nearly $5 million contract to expand two elementary schools near Sandpoint, Idaho, for the Lake Pend Oreille School District.

When the big Garwood-to-Sagle freeway project on Highway 95 in North Idaho is completed, it may have a two-mile, two-lane bottleneck at its southern end before it reaches an existing four-lane highway at Hayden.

The Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation announced last Friday that Robert Meinen will step down as IDPR Director, effective June 15, 2009, for health reasons.

Authorities have identified a body found in the Pend Oreille River in northern Idaho.

Members of Lazarus are, from left, Dillon Deitz, Keith Anderson, Derek Deitz, Jacob Craner and Stephen Fredericks.

The Senate, after a rather long delay, has voted in favor of two amendments to HB 286: One from Sens.

It wouldn't be the Idaho Legislature's final day without a few shenanigans, and 2009's hijinks revolved around the "Connecting Idaho" highway bonding program.

In an e-mail survey, Spokesman-Review adult readers were asked how their reading habits as children changed or expanded the rest of their lives.

The Senate has voted 30-5 to pass SB 1184, the redistricting legislation sponsored by Senate President Pro-Tem Bob Geddes, R-Soda Springs.

The Idaho House has voted 39-29 in favor of an $82 million highway bonding program, sending the measure to Gov.

At the urging of Sen. Jim Hammond, R-Post Falls, the Idaho Senate on Tuesday approved an $82 million highway bonding plan for next year that largely funds major freeway projects in the Boise area.

A three-mile stretch at the south end of the Garwood-to-Sagle project on U.S. Highway 95 in North Idaho would be eligible to be added to the bond-funded project, under legislation introduced by the House Ways & Means Committee today at the request of Rep.

North Idaho lawmakers successfully pushed approval of a highway bonding program through the joint budget committee this morning, a move welcomed by Gov.

Two female state senators from North Idaho led a successful move today to zero-fund the Idaho Women's Commission next year, and also eliminate its sole part-time employee.

The Patio Floating Restaurant at Boileau's Marina in Bayview was heavily damaged in a fire late Friday night.

A major renovation of Seiter Hall at North Idaho College won support from the Legislature's joint budget committee on Tuesday, which made it one of just three specific projects to be funded in the state's capital budget for next year.

A bill to keep kids from becoming "loose cannonballs" in cars by requiring they stay in their safety restraints is going nowhere.

Monica Walters, executive director of the YWCA Spokane since 1996, has stepped down.