Doug Nadvornick Videos

This week, school teachers in Spokane are meeting with parents to talk about students' fall grades. What's different this year, for grades four through six anyway, is that the traditional letter grades are gone. They've been replaced by a more comprehensive system of measuring student progress.

The state of Washington is now offering mental health care for patients in its General Assistance Unemployable or GAU program. That's for adults who are physically or mentally unable to hold jobs. Correspondent Doug Nadvornick reports the state hopes that by adding that care, it can hold down its health costs in the long run.

A field in the mountains of North Idaho has become a crossroad for two historic forces mining and the legacy of Catholic missionaries. Federal stimulus money is accelerating projects to remove the toxic remnants of North Idaho's mining history. That contaminated dirt is going to a new dump that's near a building important to both Native Americans and Jesuits. Inland Northwest Correspondent Doug Nadvornick takes us to the East Mission Flats Repository.

Every five years, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service counts how many Americans hunt. That number has fallen steadily since the 1970s, even in the rural West. Some of the decline is due to demographics; more people live in cities and they're less likely to hunt. But while the number is going down, the hunting tradition remains strong in rural states like Idaho. Recently, Inland Northwest Correspondent Doug Nadvornick spent a day in the field with a fourth generation Idaho hunter.

Some jobs require special endurance. Some jobs are just plain creepy. In this week before Halloween, our correspondents have been finding the spookiest jobs in the Northwest. Today, we go deep underground, for a job only a few can do.

This summer, the country was riveted by images of wildfires burning the southern California hills. Though modern wildfires are strong, none compare to the 1910 blaze known as the Big Burn. It charred three million acres of forest in Idaho and Montana and killed 86 people. It also sparked the legend of Ed Pulaski. He's one of the main characters in author Tim Egan's new book about the fire. The book and the fire's 100th anniversary are bringing new attention to the Pulaski story.

Coeur d'Alene tribal members are finishing the harvest of traditional foods that their ancestors relied on to stay alive. In the fall, they dig up small tubers known as water potatoes. The tribe uses the harvest as a way to pass along its traditions to its children.

The federal government is giving low income parents an incentive to pick up more fruits and vegetables for their children. It is revising the menu for its low income nutrition program to cut fat and add fiber. Some parents and dietitians in the Northwest are excited about the change.

Washington state officials say a culture change is needed at Eastern State Hospital. That's their assessment after investigating how a potentially dangerous patient walked away from a Spokane fair last month. A review makes it clear hospital officials made mistakes.

Washington's largest metropolis has a close link to a remote part of the state. Seattle's city utility and a northeastern Washington county are at odds. The conflict is over a hydroelectric dam that provides the Emerald City with more than 40 percent of its power. For more than four decades, Seattle City Light has paid Pend Oreille County for the right to operate the Boundary Dam. Now the county is asking for a lot more money and the utility is balking.