Armoral Tuttle Public Library

• TMP dancer Chanel DaSilva shows off Matthew Grover's "Highwheeler."

First, thank you, Boise, for showing up, hanging out and ultimately helping us net record proceeds at last night's eighth annual Cover Art Auction.

After the cash was tallied from auction bids as well as the money we raised on beer and wine, the auction grossed more than $15,000. Once we've paid the bill for framing every piece, we expect to put more than $12,000 into Boise Weekly's private art grant, for which any local artist or organization is eligible to apply. That's roughly $800 more than we've ever put back into the art community. The grant process opens in January, so get your ideas ready.

Since 2002, when Boise Weekly held its first auction, we've raised $92,838 for the arts community. That first year, we netted a mere $3,196, which was donated to children's arts programs through the YMCA.

Fun facts about the auction:
• 350 people attended this year, a record to date.
• Also a record to date: the number of bidders at 94.
• This year's highest bid $1,200. The record bid is $1,900, which was in 2007.
• Beer and wine sales raised about $400, which bought you a keg of beer, three cases of wine and 18 bottles of beer.
• In 2007, BW employees spent $3,520 collectively on covers. In 2008, we spent $1,160 and this year, we threw down a meager $160. But we're only slightly puzzled by those numbers: 2007 was back in the day before we all had kids and mortgages. Take it from someone who didn't buy a darn thing—it wasn't because I didn't love a few pieces enough to look at them everyday.

• Two auction attendees look for the meaning of life in a cover.

Thanks to Smoky Mountain Pizza for providing the grinds, to Big Tree Arts for the hilarious intro, to Trey McIntyre Project for so gracefully showcasing each piece, to Boise Rock School for the pint-sized "TNT," to Sockeye Brewing for the keg, to Rick Jackson at Blue Dog Frame Gallery for framing every piece and to Idaho State Historical Museum for hosting the whole shebang.

Now that we've sold all of our art, the walls in BW's offices are back to bare grey. Get paintin/drawing/scupltin/shootin so that we have something to look at.

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Afghan President Hamid Karzai pledged Thursday to prosecute corrupt officials, and said the country would control it own security within five years. Karzai's comments came in an inauguration speech that kicked off his second term of office amid a growing Taliban insurgency and a cloud of corruption allegations.

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Defense Secretary Robert Gates named former Army Secretary Togo West and former chief of naval operations Adm. Vernon Clark to review a broad range of Pentagon programs. The review will try to find gaps in procedures for identifying service members who could pose threats to others, he said.

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A computer glitch at the Federal Aviation Administration caused widespread flight cancellations and delays, causing air travelers across the nation to revise their plans. The glitch was reminiscent of a software malfunction that delayed flights around the country last year. Matthew Wald, a reporter for The New York Times, says there have been intermittent systemic disruptions for years.

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The Senate needs 60 votes to bring its health care bill to the floor. To round up those votes, the bill unveiled Wednesday costs less than the House version, and delays the effective date for many provisions to 2014. Republicans are denouncing the cost cuts as mere gimmicks. Will those measures be enough to persuade wavering Democrats to vote at least to bring the bill up?

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Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner defended Thursday the administration's handling of the financial crisis, as he again urged Congress to pass a regulatory overhaul that has been months in the making. Geithner faced tough questioning on the bailout of insurance giant AIG and Wall Street bonuses. Republican Congressman Kevin Brady even demanded Geithner's resignation.

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Studies show that testing women in their 40s could save a small percentage of lives. But to some public health officials, it isn't worth the possible harm the excess testing causes. Cancer survivors and advocacy groups say the screening tool isn't perfect, but it's worth the risk.

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St. Bernard Parish is attracting more minorities to the largely white parish. Longtime residents want to bar low-income housing, saying it will destroy the neighborhood and discourage former residents from returning. Now a federal judge has weighed in.

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With news of the appointment of a new ITD director this morning, we were reading up on the fate of Pam Lowe's wrongful termination lawsuit, which The Spokesman-Review has been following. Former Idaho Transportation Department Chief Lowe, who threatened a lawsuit in August, filed suit last week and added six more counts to her complaint this week.

She alleges sex discrimination on the ITD Board, for which she tells the Spokesman's Betsy Russell, she has proof that will emerge at trial. But she also alleges cronyism, corruption and political favors all the way up to the Governor's Office that thwarted her efforts to do her job, as Russell reports:

Lowe contends that she was fired because she insisted on cutting back a $50 million contract with a politically well-connected contractor to manage a string of bond-funded highway projects, with Otter’s then-chief of staff, Jeff Malmen, and Transportation Board Chairman Darrell Manning directly pressuring her to keep the big contract intact. Malmen hasn’t responded to requests for comment; Manning has disputed Lowe’s charges.

You can read the lawsuit, courtesy of the Spokesman-Review. The state will respond in a few weeks.

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• ITD
• ITD Director Brian Ness

The Idaho Transportation Board has selected Brian Ness, a regional engineer in the Michigan Department of Transportation's northern region, to head up the Idaho Transportation Department, according to an announcement this morning. Ness has a master's degree in public administration and worked with MDOT—a $3 billion agency, compared to Idaho's $500 million budget—for 30 years.

"Ness possesses the professional background, leadership skills, and energy to make an immediate impact on transportation in Idaho," stated Idaho Transportation Board Chairman Darrell V. Manning in the ITD press release. "We know that his degree in public administration coupled with his transportation background will serve him well in effectively leading the transportation department."

Ness begins Jan. 11, 2010, replacing Acting Director Scott Stokes, who took over when former Director Pam Lowe was terminated in August. Lowe recently filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against Manning and the rest of the Board. Stokes will resume his former position as deputy director.

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A Juarez cop fled to Texas after drug cartels attacked him. Will a by Todd Bensman, GlobalPost AUSTIN, Texas — One day in April of last year, four-year police veteran Jose Alarcon and his partner, Capt. Felipe Galindo, detained two armed drug dealers after making a traffic stop in Juarez, Mexico. It didn't take long for the Juarez Cartel to learn about the bust. The cartel had a network of street spies, and it had so thoroughly infiltrated the department that thugs routinely used the radio dispatch system to issue commands. On Alarcon and Galindo's squad car…

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Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai promised Thursday to prosecute corrupt government officials and end a culture of impunity, speaking during an inauguration closely watched by the international community for signs that his administration is moving beyond the cronyism and graft of the past five years.

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Colum McCann's Let the Great World Spin, a novel about daring, luck and mortality in 1970s New York, won the fiction prize Wednesday night at the 60th annual National Book Awards. T.J. Stiles' biography of Cornelius Vanderbilt, The First Tycoon, was the nonfiction winner.

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With violence breaking out in Marseilles (France), Egypt and Algeria prior to the last and decisive match to secure the last World Cup spot in Africa, it was Algerians who spent the night chanting and celebrating as they downed the two-time African champion Egypt, with a thunderous and most impressive goal of the week, worldwide.

Man, who would see that coming? Watching the game on a wide screen television with friends, divided and discussing the facts ... a second later there was a moment of shock and silence as we watched Antar Yahia score his side's winning goal in the 39th minute of the match. No one, including myself, would think of Algeria qualifying after watching them going down 2-0 to the Pharaoh on Saturday in Egypt.

Maybe we should just never predict a game until the final whistle. Shout out to all Algeria and congratulations for joining South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory coast and Cameroon as teams to represent our lovely Continent of Africa.

In Europe Portugal repeated the same 1-0 effort of last weekend to down Bosnia Herzegovina and clinch their ticket to South Africa. Greece forced Ukraine out of their way with a 1-0 win, while Guss Heddink could not come in with his genius ideas to save Russia from missing out on the world's number one party, as Russia lost 1-0 to Slovenia. But the night and attention shifted to France as they were getting inches away from losing their ticket to Ireland, with the Irish slotting a goal in the 32nd minute from Robin Keane.

With France winning the first leg with the same margin at the Stade of France on Saturday, the game was a draw, therefore they had to play two additional 15 minute halves extra time to find the winner and the last European guest to South Africa next year. Thierry Henry, the player I idolize, stood up with a what ever it takes attitude and controlled the ball twice with his hand, which the ref did not notice and superbly passed the ball to William Gallas to slot the winner for the French. Now France, Portugal, Greece and Slovakia join Denmark, England, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain and Switzerland as European representation in 2010.

New Zealand has qualified after beating Bahrain 1-0 and will be there together with Australia, Japan, Korea Rep and Korea PRR.

Uruguay was the last to grasp their ticket after drawing with Costa Rica to win the playoff by 2-1 on aggregate and join United States, Paraguay, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Honduras and Chile as the American and Caribbean representatives. As people are celebrating victories in qualified countries tonight, many are already thinking about who they will want to play 204 days from now in South Africa.

And as that decision lies in the mother city of Cape Town South Africa, and the entire world is waiting to hear their 2010 FIFA World Cup group on December 4. To those in the United States with a basic cable television, ESPN2 will broadcast this event to you live at 12 pm Eastern time while it will be at 7 pm in Cape Town Internationale Convention Center. According to fifa.com, celebrities and sport stars and world leaders will be seated in the audience, eager to hear the draw.

Now, who do you think will win the big trophy next year? That’s the million dollar question right there, but according to an ESPN poll, the favorites are Brazil, Italy, Germany, England, Argentina, Spain. Netherlands and the Ivory Coast.

What is your first choice? Let us know.

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Flood victims argued the widening of a navigation channel maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers and subsequent loss of protective wetlands turned the channel into a speedway for the hurricane's storm surge. A federal judge in New Orleans agreed and awarded damages of about $720,000 to four people and a business.

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The State Ethics Commission said probable cause exists on several allegations tied to a three-month investigation into Mark Sanford's travel and campaign finances. Details of the charges — which should include whether the accusations involve civil or criminal allegations — were expected to be released next week.

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The professed Sept. 11 mastermind's North Carolina college years are recalled by a chemistry professor and a former classmate. The CIA claims those college years helped propel Mohammed on a path to terrorism. Though described as jovial, he also maintained a self-imposed isolation.

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Hershey, hoping to expand its overseas presence, has lined up a potential partner, Italian candymaker Ferrero International SA, in a possible bidding war for British candy maker Cadbury PLC. The combination could have the financial firepower to top a $16.4 billion hostile bid by Kraft Foods Inc.

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Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to try the alleged Sept. 11 conspirators in federal courts has elicited sharply divided responses from Capitol Hill, the American public and victims' families. Holder says his decision is driven by evidence, not politics.

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Setting up a historic year-end debate, the Senate Democratic leader introduced long-awaited legislation to reshape the nation's health care system. The measure aims to cover 31 million uninsured Americans over 10 years.

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