2021 One year ago

After decades of working in academia and distance learning programming in colleges and universities around the world, Ken Udas is taking his skills to the University of Idaho as its new vice provost for digital learning initiatives. In the newly created position, Udas will lead the UI’s expansion and development of academically centered distance learning programming that is integrated into the same governance structure as its core campus. ... Participants were treated to sunshine, free hamburgers, bags of groceries and even school supplies at a celebration of the 31st anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act, hosted by local nonprofit Disability Action Center Northwest in Moscow’s Mountain View Park. Disability Action Center Executive Director Mark Leeper said in the years since its passage, the ADA and other efforts have come a long way in making meaningful changes to create an equitable landscape for people with disabilities, but that work is far from done.

2017 Five years ago

Times have changed since Halloween of 1891, the day the Rev. John Paddock, first Bishop of the Washington Territory, gave his consent for the formation of an Episcopalian mission in Pullman. For one, the building originally erected after that date was called St. Katherine’s Mission. Today, it would sit approximately 20 feet in the air above Davis Way in line with State Street where a hill once was. Now, St. James’ Episcopal Church sits just down the road from the Washington State University campus on Stadium Way, and at its head is a lesbian rector from Ohio. ... Children used emergency, construction and farm trucks as their playgrounds as they climbed in and explored the interior of the vehicles that lined the Pullman Christian School parking lot for the first Touch-a-Truck event the school has hosted. Cheryl Mitchell, director of marketing at PCS and an organizer of the event, said she wanted to give children an opportunity to explore and touch the vehicles, speak with the people who drive them and find out what it is like to have that job or run that piece of equipment.

2012 10 years ago

The chain saw rumbled to life as Les Schorzman stepped up for his turn in the stock saw competition. Angling the chain saw so the tip was turned down, Schorzman sliced through a log of ponderosa pine in 5.53 seconds as if it were nothing more than a hunk of cheese. Despite the fact that Schorzman, 75, was significantly older than all of his opponents, he still took second place in the stock saw competition and third in ax-throwing during the 38th Annual Potlatch Community Days celebration Saturday in Scenic Six Park. ... When people see the Sound of Idaho Marching Band, they see sousaphone players running around in skirts and building pyramids. They see band members spell out “Vandals” in cursive and then fall down like dominoes. For the last 14 years, Torrey Lawrence has been the director of and the creative force behind the band. He led the band to the Humanitarian Bowl in Boise in 1998 and 2009, three different performances for Seattle Seahawks games and dozens of other trips — from Hawaii to Montana. After more than a decade of directing the large ensemble, Lawrence announced in the spring he would not be returning for the 2012 marching band season. Instead, Lawrence will be the new associate director at the University of Idaho Lionel Hampton School of Music.