Briefs

| June 16, 2015 9:00 PM

Wildlife program planned at Coeur d'Alene library

The Coeur d'Alene Public Library will offer an Idaho Wildlife Program from 2-3 p.m. Tuesday, June 23, as part of its Summer Reading events.

Wildlife educator Beth Paragamian, from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, will talk about the animals that inhabit North Idaho. Participants will get a close look at animals she will bring to the library Community Room.

For more information call 208-769-2315 Ext. 438 or email Susan Thorpe, Youth Services Supervisor, at [email protected].

Planting boxes ready at Rathdrum school

RATHDRUM - Planting boxes are ready to rent at the John Brown Elementary Community Garden.

The school has 20 4-by-8 boxes filled with compost. The cost to rent the boxes is $20. You can also make a donation of $20 and have a student plant in it for the food bank or the school's use.

Call Fonda Stewart at 661-8703 to reserve a garden box.

The school garden, Cougar Patch, is across Washington Street in front of the school and faces Main Street in Rathdrum. The school is at 15574 N. Washington St. The fee will help pay for the school's power and irrigation for the season.

Groundbreaking for NIC facility Wednesday

RATHDRUM - There will be a groundbreaking ceremony for North Idaho College's $15 million, 100,000-square-foot career and technical education facility on Wednesday from 4 to 5:30 p.m.

The site is at 7064 W. Lancaster Road in Rathdrum on the west side of the Kootenai Technical Education Campus. The public is invited to the ceremony.

The facility will be built on 40 acres owned by NIC. It is slated to open in the summer of 2016. The cost of the building will not raise taxes.

Programs to be located at the site include automotive technology, collision repair, computer-aided design technology, diesel technology, industrial mechanics, machining and welding technology.

Refreshments will be provided. For more information, call 769-3316.

Otter appoints new DEQ director

BOISE - Gov. Butch Otter has appointed Sen. John Tippets as the new director of the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.

Otter announced Monday that Tippets will begin his new job July 6.

The Republican lawmaker from Montpelier succeeds Curt Fransen, who retired in May.

Tippets has agreed to recuse himself from any agency involvement with his former employer, Agrium, which manufactures fertilizer in southeastern Idaho.