NEW THIS MORNING: Wednesday, Oct. 16

1. Coeur d'Alene schools may standardize student threat response

A proposed school district policy would formalize protocols for dealing with student threats.

The policy would require the district to develop a Student Threat Assessment Team, which would be tasked with evaluating the seriousness of student threats.

If a threat is warranted, interviews would be conducted with witnesses, parents, staff and the student who made the threat.

"This could be something uttered on the playground, something that’s typed into a Chromebook, something that is said to another student," Thomas Gandy, safety and security coordinator for the district, said Tuesday.  

2. Post Falls considers future of impact fees

Post Falls officials are considering how impact fees currently operate within the city and whether to potentially implement a city center fee zone in the future. 

During the City Council meeting Tuesday night, councilors learned that approximately 7,800 non-residents work in Post Falls. One of the questions in the analysis is who is using “multimodal” facilities such as trails, bike lanes, etc.    

Community development director Bob Seale said he was originally very hopeful that the city might be able to see reduced fees in the downtown area. 

There’s still potential for that outcome, but as the city and Welsh Comer move through Phase One of the study, that has become a less likely recommendation that the study could make. 

“My hopes are kind of subsiding a little bit as we go through this,” Seale said. 

3. Kootenai County proclaims support for veteran caregivers

Kootenai County commissioners issued a proclamation Tuesday recognizing the hidden heroes who provide caregiving for veterans. 

The county collaborated on the proclamation with Idaho's Daughters of the American Revolution, part of a national women’s service organization whose members are directly descended from patriots of the American revolution. 

“The series of wars and conflicts in which our nation has been engaged over time, since World War II, has resulted in 5.5 million military and veteran caregivers who are parents, spouses, siblings and friends, caring for those wounded, ill or injured who have served our nation,” the proclamation said. 

The daily tasks of these caregivers can include bathing, feeding and dressing, administering medicine and tending to injuries, providing emotional support and working outside the home to earn essential income. 

4. Minor library card policy on agenda for Thursday meeting in Pinehurst

Actions may be taken on policies regarding library cards for minors and adult-only access areas when Community Library Network trustees meet from 2 to 5 p.m. Thursday at the Pinehurst Library.

The Library Cards for Minors Policy was last approved March 16, 2023. At the top of the current policy, it states parents and legal guardians can authorize their children under the age of 18 to have their own library cards. The extent to which a minor child has access to the library's collection is the responsibility of the parent or legal guardian and not dependent on the minor child's age.

The policy offers three options for children to access the library collection: only the children's section, geared to ages 1-12; the children and teen collections, for 0-15; and open access to the entire collection, including to the collections of the Cooperative Information Network. The CIN allows library card holders to borrow titles from libraries outside the Community Library Network, such as the Clarkia District Library in rural Clarkia or the Coeur d'Alene Public Library in downtown Coeur d'Alene.