We found this fascinating in this morning's S-R:

Crosses will be removed from badges worn by Spokane Police chaplains under terms of an out-of-court settlement between the city and a former Lutheran pastor-turned-atheist who sued over the government agency’s use of the insignias and Christian prayers.

Additionally, lawyers from the Center for Justice who represented former pastor Ray Ideus will get $1,000.

“It’s a milestone,” said Ideus, who volunteers eight hours a week with the police department. “It’s very important that they’ll have to take that cross off. It’s not a Christian police department. The chaplains have to minister to all faiths – and non-faiths,” Ideus said.

Read Karen Dorn Steele's story.

Question: Does the removal of the cross make sense to you or offend you?

Well, that was quick.

We're going to be shutting things down here at The Falls. After an exodus of reporting strength from the newsroom, my bosses have assigned me back to my old beat – colleges and universities.

I can't argue with the decision. In fact, I volunteered to do it a while back, feeling that an experiment like this one felt like a luxury we couldn't afford, as people were laid off and quitting, and our ability to perform basic, fundamental journalism was damaged.

So, while I'm going to miss this and wish we could have given it more time to grow, I feel good about returning to the primary task here at the S-R – reporting the news.

I'm not sure how this will come to an end. I'm going to write a couple more mini-columns for the paper, and may be posting items here in the next couple of days, but it will be slowing down at the very least. (This is the newspaper industry, after all. Motto: It's better to fade away than to burn out.)

Anyway, so that's that. I've enjoyed this while it lasted, and appreciate those of you who've read and posted comments. Thanks a lot.

Call it the Fred Russell Index.

Men's Health magazine ranks America's drunkest cities. The magazine compiled and compared a range of statistics, from binge drinking to DUI arrests to fatal accidents involving intoxication.

The result? Spokane is the country's 11th most dangerously drunk city, behind Lushvilles like Denver, Omaha, Fargo and Lubbock. (This came to our attention thanks to bent, a reader at The Falls).

Men's Health didn't show its work and so we can't say for sure which category put us over the top. The scoring is somewhat counterintuitive, with the most dangerously drunk city (Denver) ranked 100th, and the rankings descending from there. Spokane, at 89, is one of 13 cities that earned an F.

Seattle, at 79, is among 25 cities that earned D's.

Some other cities in our region made the list: Portland (80); Boise (78); Billings (70);

Least dangerously drunk? Durham, N.C.

We're a little suspicious of these rankings. For one thing, we've been to Billings, and maybe it was just us, but it seemed a lot drunker there than it does here.

To view the whole list, go here.

Here's another holiday-special mashup, courtesy of Ken: Charlie Brown's Christmas Special with the formerly ubiquitous “Hey, Yeah.” We forgot how catchy this song is, since we got so incredibly sick of it before.

Read D.F. Oliveria's Huckleberries Online here.

Ingrid Barrentine/Spokesman-Review
Rachel Bakamus, 18, peers outside her tent at the rainy weather on the Gonzaga University campus in Spokane, Wash., Monday. Bakamus, a Gonzaga freshman, has been camping out with fellow students since last week to ensure they have tickets for Wednesday's college basketball game against Washington State. Story here.

Spotlight: Idaho Values Alliance director to announce organization's fate here.

1. This morning at the state's Temple of Justice in Olympia, Gov. Chris Gregoire said she's appointing appeals court judge Debra L. Stephens to replace retiring justice Bobbe Bridge. Stephens is the first native Eastern Washington female lawyer to serve on the high court/Spokesman-Review. Click here.

2. Christian crosses will be removed from badges worn by Spokane Police chaplains under terms of an out-of-court settlement between the city and a former Lutheran pastor turned atheist who sued over the government agency’s use of the religious insignia and Christian prayers/Spokesman-Review. Click here.

3. Joseph Duncan's decision to plead guilty to capital crimes without an agreement to avoid a death sentence is unusual but not unprecedented, said attorneys familiar with death penalty cases/Spokesman-Review. Click here.

4. News Roundup: Knievel funeral to be in Butte Monday/Associated Press; Human smuggling spiking in northeast Washington/Spokesman-Review; Idaho grizzly cubs sent to San Diego zoo/KTVB; Idaho unveils wolf plan/Twin Falls Times-News; and North Idaho sawmill worker pleads guilty to benefits fraud/Spokesman-Review.

5. Blogosphere: Please do unto others/Slight Detour; Sali enters immigration mine field/Randy Stapilus; Go Otters Go/Kevin Richert; Texas' yellow gives way to fluorescent bulb/Dogwalk Musings; and Providence and politics/Adam's Blog.

6. IMHO: No TV for most for Gonzaga/WSU game/John Blanchette, Spokesman-Review; Encounters with Knievel leave last impression/Doug Clark, Spokesman-Review; Climate change battle cry: Bali or bust/U.S. Sen. Larry Craig, New West; Without a cause/T.J. Tranchell, UIdaho Argonaut; and Cabela's reacts to land sales debate/Bill Schneider, New West.

Orbusmax Special: Was story about Cantwell aide sex scandal hushed up for Hillary here?

Get your hotel reservations now. From the AP:

A son of Evel Knievel says the former motorcycle daredevil will be remembered Monday in a Butte Civic Center funeral officiated by the Rev. Robert Schuller of California’s Crystal Cathedral.

Knievel, who died Friday in Florida at 69, was baptized by Schuller last April at the cathedral. Knievel grew up in Butte and maintained ties with the city.

Kelly Knievel says a fireworks show is planned in Butte on Sunday night. Knievel says that on the day of the funeral, his father’s body will be taken for a final journey along Evel Knievel Way, a five-mile loop in Butte.

The funeral will be open to the public. Burial will be private.

If you'd like to see the video of the day that Knievel took his "Leap of Faith" at Schuler's church -- home of the "Hour of Power" -- it's here.

Question: What would be the best way to memorialize Evel Knievel? Risking your life in some way? Going on a bender in Butte? Donning a red, white and blue jumpsuit? Or all of the above?

Hip-hop hasn't been a typical subject here at The Falls. But if you're like us, you love the Wu-Tang Clan. And you don't need us to tell you that today is the day the new Ghostface Killah album comes out.

To mark the occasion, check out this awesome Monday mix tape by Som Jordan at Soundwave. One of the clips from the mix tape is posted above for your listening pleasure.

The Ghost is back.

Question: Any other Wu-Tang fans out there?

We love this idea, highlighted at metro(spokane):

Making the neighborhoods we inhabit more comfortable places can often be accomplished in the simplest of ways. One guy in Chicago's Logan Square took a very creative approach to increasing the comfort and connectivity of his neighborhood. Taking one of the ubiquitous newspaper boxes found all over, he gutted it, repainted it and placed it on a prominent street corner in his neighborhood. The revamped box reads, "Logan Square Community Book Exchange," and usually has a steady supply of surplus books available for anyone who is interested.

Full post.

Question: Could we make this work in Spokane? Or would vandals and jerks make it impossible?

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the most obnoxious of them all?

Lifestyle editors at newspapers around the country were polled on that question, and they chose Donald Trump. The Most Pretentious Poll was conducted by a wine maker who we won't mention, and it produced a list of the top 10, including Bill O'Reilly and Hillary Clinton.

1 – Donald Trump
2 – Paris Hilton
3 -- Bill O’Reilly
4 -- Rosie O’Donnell
5 -- Tom Cruise
6 -- Hillary Clinton
7 -- Victoria Beckham
8 -- Tyra Banks
9 -- Kanye West
10 -- Britney Spears

Question: Who's missing from the list?

This comes via Toadman, and it's the perfect holiday video for those of use who love both Martin Scorcese and the animated holiday specials. Warning: There's a little crude language and cartoonish violence.

Question: What's your favorite holiday special? What's your favorite Scorcese movie?

We're a little under the weather today, and so will be off -- if not for the whole day, at least for much of it. You can talk among yourselves here if you like, and we'll try to post a few things later in the day...

Tent City II is being shut down, and it's unclear whether there will be a Tent City III.

But what if there were? And what if the next one weren't essentially a rogue operation? What if Spokane got all San Francisco on the homeless and created its own official tent city?

This is what you might call an extremely hypothetical situation.

But it seems to us that it might be a simple, minor gesture from those of us who are staying nice and warm right now, to those who – for whatever reason – are not. A place to pitch a tent.

We asked readers at The Falls where such a city might go. The consensus among a few people seemed to be the fairgrounds or Playfair.

Here are a few other possibilities:

-- Joe Albi Stadium

-- The Kendall Yards lot

-- Campgrounds at Riverside State Park

-- the old University City mall in the valley

-- The purple level of the Riverpark Square parking garage

Question: Anywhere we forgot?

AP photo

The West Side's getting hit hard. Here's today's Seattle Times story about the storms:

Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire declared a state of emergency today and mobilized the National Guard as heavy rain, high winds and massive flooding have cut off coastal communities, killed at least two people, closed roads and schools, and flooded homes and businesses all over Western Washington.

So far, the worst of the weather has focused on Grays Harbor and Pacific counties, which have reported tens of thousands of customers without electricity, and most major roads in and out closed or blocked, including U.S. Highways 12 and 101. At one point early Monday nearly every road into Aberdeen was closed or blocked.

Full post.

Original Santa Claus and Rudolph puppets from the TV special "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer," are seen on display at the Time and Space Toys booth during the Mid-Ohio-Con comic book convention in Columbus, Ohio, on Sunday. Kevin Kriess, owner of the Pittsburgh, Penn., store found the puppets and had them restored after they were used as toys. (AP Photo/Paul Vernon)

The Seattle Times investigated predatory lending and found that some subprime lenders are doing more than offering young people with poor credit a chance at home ownership – as industry reps often claim.

More than one in three borrowers in King County who got loans from the same lender that foreclosed on (96-year-old Frances) Taylor were 50 or older, and one in seven was 60 or older, according to a Seattle Times analysis of more than 4,000 loans by Ameriquest Mortgage. Not only that, nearly all of those borrowers already owned their houses.

As lawmakers consider remedies to ease the damage from risky home loans, mortgage-industry representatives are urging them to temper any increased regulation. After all, they say, such loans have given millions with poor credit an opportunity to buy into the American dream of homeownership.

But subprime lenders have done more than market to homebuyers; they have targeted homeowners. Some loans were more predatory than subprime, with features so onerous that borrowers refinanced their way out of the American dream, losing their houses — and substantial equity — to mortgages they never stood a chance of repaying.

Lenders persuaded one borrower, a 79-year-old janitor, to obtain 10 subprime refinances over nine years.

Things will be quiet for much of the rest of the day here. We're headed out to talk to a class at GU, and may be able to touch bases briefly in the afternoon. In the meantime, consider this a loose thread if you want one...

Read Huckleberries Online here

Dan Pelle/Spokesman-Review
Fresh cut trees are tractored from the fields for customers at Huckaba's Greenbluff Christmas Tree Farm Saturday.

1. Joseph Edward Duncan III, charged with kidnapping two north Idaho children in 2005 and killing one of them, pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to 10 felonies/Idaho Statesman. Click here. Related: Eye On Boise lists charges against Duncan here. Federal indictment against Duncan (graphic content) here.

2. Mountain Goat: This side of Larry Craig finally admitting he's gay, it's hard to get worked up about new revelations of men having sex with him. Click here.

3. UCLA is firing football coach Karl Dorrell, and wants to come after Boise State coach Chris Petersen, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday night. Petersen is said to be the first choice of athletic director Dan Guerrero/KTVB. Click here. Related: Boise State to play East Carolina in Hawaii Bowl.

4. News Roundup: Workers evacuated from Idaho capital building after substance found/Idaho Statesman; Escaped wolf shot by authorities/Idaho Statesman; Sali fought mining reform/Spokesman-Review; Pact extends Idaho gas tax to reservations/Associated Press; and Searchers go high-tech to find old plane wreck/KTVB.

5. Blogosphere: Holiday picks to click for your favorite blogger/Blogspotter; Does character no longer matter?/Dogwalk Musings; Reporter leaves town, news breaks/Eye On Boise; Still more Craig/Randy Stapilus; and Thank GOP establishment for Huckabee/Adam's Blog.

6. IMHO: Remembering Evel, Twin Falls' 15 minutes of fame/Kevin Richert; Somebody needs to get a grip/David Horsey, Seattle PI; What would Teddy do?/Frank Mieli/Kalispell Daily Inter Lake; Some House members still talk to enemy/Jim Fisher, Lewiston Tribune; and Disorder in the court/Spokesman-Review.

Orbusmax Special: WSU prez becomes a blogger here.

Booth Gardner finds himself in the middle of a new campaign: pushing for a “death with dignity” measure in Washington that would allow people who are terminally ill or suffering to take their own lives.

Gardner was profiled in Sunday's New York Times Magazine. One of the interesting twists arising from his current cause is the opposition of his son, Doug.

The piece opens like this:

"This will be my last campaign,” Booth Gardner said. “This will be the biggest fight of my career.” He walked along the lane between the beach of driftwood and his compound of houses. The driftwood clotted the shore; it was the end of summer now, and the cove was still, but in winter massive branches and trunks churn up out of the water of Puget Sound. Bone-white roots clawed at the air on this late afternoon; Gardner’s grandchildren climbed across them. His walk was a vigorous lurch. One foot twisted inward, one knee buckled. His torso keeled slightly with each step. He has Parkinson’s. He was governor of Washington State for two terms in the 1980s and ’90s. He is 71, and his last campaign is driven by his desire to kill himself. “I can’t see where anybody benefits by my hanging around,” he told me, while his blond grandchildren, sticks prodding, explored the water’s edge.

Mallory Fogt of Columbus, Ohio, has a seat in a cardboard box as she checks her text messages following a cheerleading competition in Indianapolis on Sunday. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Write your own cutline...

Dear Annie: My handsome son is causing me great heartache. "Payton" is a 17-year-old senior, a good student and terrific athlete, and he's been having sex with a 22-year-old divorcee and will not listen to reason.

This woman lives in our neighborhood and Payton promised he would not see her again, but I followed him twice going to her house and then he lied to me about it. My husband is no help. He talked to Payton about the dangers of getting involved so deeply with this woman, but basically, he accepts Payton's situation and says it's more important to talk to him about safe sex.

I am at my wits' end. Payton lies to me but admits his affair to my husband. I was going to get the school counselor to talk to him, but my husband forbids it. This is going to ruin my son's life, and I don't know what to do. Any suggestions? – Frantic Mom in Delaware

The Falls: Let's see here. A 17-year-old boy. Having relations with a 22-year-old woman. A “divorcee.” A man-eater. Who lives nearby. With an open-door policy. Yes, indeed, this is a job for the school counselor. Or maybe you should follow him some more. And extract some more promises. And if you just keep repeating, in a voice that approaches ever-nearer to a shriek, how he's going to ruin his life and break his poor mother's heart, he should eventually see the light and do what you say.

Real answer here.

Joseph Duncan, a man who could make the most ardent opponents of the death penalty change their minds, is expected to plead guilty this morning in federal court to charges stemming from the kidnapping and abuse of Shasta Groene, and Dylan Groene's death:

A court document filed late Friday does not detail exactly which charges Duncan will plead to. But the penalty phase of his case now is due to begin Jan. 28, the document noted.

There was no indication the government will take the death penalty off the table. A gag order prevents the attorneys involved from speaking with reporters.

Duncan has been charged with kidnapping, kidnapping resulting in death and sexual abuse of a minor, and related charges in the abduction of young Shasta and Dylan Groene from their Coeur d’ Alene-area home and Dylan’s subsequent death in Montana.

Full story.

Question: Does Duncan's guilty plea change your opinion on whether he ought to be put to death? Why or why not?

Here's the thing about knowing everything. You don't have to know a thing to do it.

A good example of this is last week's assessment of Newsletter-Gate by A Guy From Ohio. A Guy From Ohio says that when Spokane Public Schools omitted Christmas from a list of winter events, it couldn't have been a simple accident. A Guy From Ohio knows better: It's just one more part of the effort to wipe Christmas – and Jesus Christ – out of U.S. culture.

Because you've all noticed how small an imprint Christianity has on the culture.

Here's Charles Rowe's final broadcast for KREM-2, which includes some highlights from his career. We liked Nadine Woodward's hair from the old segments. Rowe's hair has remained essentially the same.

It’s Monday, Dec. 3, 2007. Wearing a good pair of waterproof snowboots is one of the positive things about weather like this. Here's a story about the “pineapple express.”

TV goodbye: If you've been wondering what happened to Richard Brown on KXLY, this morning's column by Pia Hansen helps explain. He says he saw the writing on the wall when management brought in a new anchor, and he also went through some personal difficulties such as an arrest on DUI charges. Read the story here.

And one was in an airport bathroom: Four more men have come forward to say that Idaho Hall of Famer Larry Craig had sex with or propositioned them, according to an Idaho Statesman story in Sunday's S-R. The men said they wanted to counter Craig's already-unbelievable denials that he wasn't gay. The story is here.

What if the car ahead of me starts sliding back downhill? Amy Cannata's Getting There column includes some very specific winter-driving advice that goes beyond the typical, including what to do when the roads are very slushy. Read it here.

Still a ways to go: The Christmas Fund has raised more than $43,000. The goal is $485,000, to help 10,000 families. Read more here.

Weather: It's supposed to be warmer and wetter, and the snow's all melting away. Here's the five-day forecast.

Today in History: Forty years ago, the first heart transplant operation occurred in South Africa. A 53-year-old grocer, Lewis Washkansky, received the heart of a 25-year-old woman who died after a car crash, Denise Darvall. From history.com

The morning drive: Check the traffic and the most recent gas prices.

In passing: Barbara Emlyn Pelk, 95. “Barbara had many happy memories of her childhood on the family's Montana ranch and loved riding horses with her two younger brothers. She graduated from Stevensville High School in 1929. The family moved to Spokane, WA where Barbara attended the Kinman Business University. She worked in the Spokane legal field for several years prior to her marriage to Harry J. Pelk in 1943. They traveled extensively throughout Harry's Air Force career and later retired in Spokane.” For more of this and other obituaries, go here.

1) When the weather gets all slushy like this, doesn't it make you yearn for the snow?

2) Is there anyone out there who used to believe Larry Craig's denials, but no longer do because four additional men came forward bearing allegations?

3) Do you miss Richard Brown on the news?

4) Who knew South Africa was the home of the heart transplant?