Democrat offers to sub for Otter
Republican Dan Adamson and Democrat Jerry Brady, both of whom are running for governor, held a joint news conference Tuesday in front of a Meridian, Idaho, chicken coop, to announce that Brady is willing to step in for fellow candidate Republican Congressman Butch Otter and debate Adamson on Thursday.
“Idaho voters deserve a real debate on the important issues facing the state. If Butch Otter is too afraid to face Adamson, I’m happy to step in,” Brady said. “Idaho middle-class families need a champion, not a chicken.”
Adamson said, “The citizens of Idaho deserve to hear the candidates’ positions. Mr. Otter’s arrogance in first agreeing to debate and then withdrawing should not deny voters the right to know.”
Otter, who is giving up his seat in Congress to run for governor, backed out of the live televised debate sponsored by the League of Women Voters, Idaho Press Club and Idaho Public Television on Friday, citing conflicts with votes in Congress. Idaho Public TV scrambled and offered three alternative dates for the GOP primary debate, but Otter’s campaign rejected all three, saying he was booked.
Coeur d’Alene
About 3,000 briefly lose power
About 3,000 Kootenai Electric Cooperative members lost power Tuesday afternoon. The malfunction was in the Avista Appleway Substation, the company said.
Power went out in the area including Fourth Street east to Ramsey Road and from Dalton Avenue south to Neider Avenue. The outage began about 1 p.m. Power was restored by 2 p.m.
Carrousel will close for motor work
Spokane’s Carrousel in Riverfront Park will be closed Thursday to install a new main electric drive motor and will reopen on Friday.
The 1909 carousel has been operating on its original belt drive system after problems were encountered with an earlier motor at the start of the season this year.
The hand-carved carousel by Charles Looff has been named in the top five on the list of best carousels in America by the National Carousel Association and is listed on the National Historic Register.
Aberdeen, Wash.
Tom and Katie attend premiere
More than a thousand cheering fans who turned out Tuesday night to greet movie star Tom Cruise were delighted by a bonus – he brought fiancee Katie Holmes.
Cruise, in town for a makeshift premiere of “Mission: Impossible III,” signed autographs and briefly played a snare drum as a high school marching band played the theme from his new movie.
Cruise and Holmes, who gave birth last month to the couple’s first child, a daughter named Suri, arrived fashionably late – about a half hour after the star had been expected.
A few weeks ago, Kevin McCoy, who works in the photo department at Wal-Mart, entered an e-mail contest sponsored by Paramount Pictures and Yahoo. He was randomly selected for the special movie screening with the star after answering five questions about Cruise.
Compiled from staff
and wire reports