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As was the case with Katrina three years ago - almost to the day - we know that there are people in the community who have friends and family down on the Gulf Coast who may be affected by Gustav.

Here’s a list of a number of different resources available both on KXLY.com and around the ‘net where you can see the latest information on what’s going on down on the Gulf Coast.

Monday morning updated list of resources:

If you have any other sites or blogs you’re using to track Gustav please feel free to add them in the Comments section below and I’ll add them to our list.

One thing’s for sure … this time around emergency responders are doing more of “a heck of a job” than last time.

It is a BEAUTIFUL Labor Day weekend in the Inland Northwest.  I’m sitting here in the sun, on my back deck.  As I track Hurricane Gustav (and check football scores) from my laptop in a lawnchair, I am very happy to be 2-thousand miles from the Gulf Coast.  The predictions are grim for folks in the western and central Gulf Coast region, as hurricane Gustav is now a major hurricane, and its projected path still takes it right over New Orleans.  If you’re interested in hurricane tracking too,  I’ve found the very best source of information on hurricanes is the National Hurricane Center.  Here, you can find the very latest advisories, forecasts, and lots of information about hurricanes.   Let’s all hope for the best as Gustav makes landfall later this holiday weekend.

The selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as John McCain’s running mate has shaken up the 2008 campaign for president.

It obviously stunned the Obama campaign. A spokesman issued the following statement within moments of the announcement on Friday:

“Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency.”

Obviously this political hack didn’t mention that Palin is a well-respected governor, but consider that being mayor of a town of 9,000 is decidedly more actual governing experience than Barack Obama brings to the table.

Then there was the following observation from New York Senator Chuck Schumer:

“After the great success of the Democratic convention, the choice of Sarah Palin is surely a Hail Mary pass. It is a real role of the dice and shows how John McCain, Karl Rove et al realize what a strong position the Obama-Biden team and Democrats in general are in…in this election.”

Schumer railed on:

“Certainly the choice of Palin puts to rest any argument about inexperience on the Democratic team and while Palin is a fine person, her lack of experience makes the thought of her assuming the presidency troubling.”

Schumer, of course, finds no problems with his party’s presidential candidate’s qualifications, even though his resume is clearly thinner by far.

No matter how Democrats try to dismiss the choice of Sarah Palin, John McCain did what Barack Obama failed to do. He offered the millions of women voters in America, recognition that they matter, and a choice they would not otherwise have had in November.

We’re only a day away from the College football season kicking off locally. Tomorrow the Cougars take on Oklahoma State, the Vandals take on Arizona, and the Eagles take on Texas Tech. Throw in the Huskies at Oregon and it makes for a long day of watching football. So with about 24 hours to go I figure I would give my two cents on what I think might happen. This way it’s on paper so to speak, and come Sunday we can all have a laugh at how much of an idiot I am. After all if predictions were easy, Vegas would be out of business. That being said, my biggest prediction, whether I get the scores right or not, is that it will be a long, sad day as I figure all four of our teams will go down.

OKLAHOMA STATE - WSU

The Cougars begin the Paul Wulff era tomorrow and I think it will look a lot like the Bill Doba era did, at least on the scoreboard. I hope I’m wrong here as I’m a big fan of Wulff, but this is going to take a while to get going in Pullman. I predict that the Cougs will look great in the first quarter as they run the first 20 scripted plays nearly to perfection and the Cougar faithful will be booking tickets to Pasadena as they can’t see anything getting in the way of a Rose Bowl. I think it will still be close at the half, maybe even through the third quarter. But in the end I see Oklahoma State pulling away and winning. I hope this game will be a competitive game, and the longer the Cougs can hang around, the more confidence they will get and they might be able to pull it out. But I just don’t think that will happen. I expect this Cougar team to get better as the season goes on, but they will almost certainly make mistakes tomorrow as they take the field for the first time under a new coach with a new offense. On a side note, I think Brandon Gibson is one of the best receivers in the country and I expect a monster year out of him.

Oklahoma State -31

Washington State -17

 WASHINGTON - #21 OREGON

Can Jake Locker really walk on water? We’re going to find out this year. If he can, then his head coach might not get fired, and the Huskies might threaten to win 6 games. If he can’t, expect another disappointing year out of the Dawgs. I guess if you’re a Cougar fan a bad year out of the Huskies wouldn’t really be “disappointing.” I do think the Huskies have a chance in this game. Oregon is going with a back-up quarterback, and it’s the first game of the year, and that’s always a toss-up. The Huskies will need Oregon to play a little sloppy and overcome a big home field advantage in this one.

Washington - 27

Oregon - 35

IDAHO - ARIZONA

Bone-head easy prediction of the day - Robb Akey will be excited. Second bone head-easy prediction of the day - Arizona will throw the ball a lot. That’s the whole key to this game, can the Vandals slow down the Wildcats? My guess is no, but my hope is yes. I think that the Vandals will be able to move the ball on offense but the question is, can they finish drives with touchdowns instead of field goals? Idaho moved the ball really well last year against USC early on, but they couldn’t punch it in. If the Vandals can put up 6’s, and slow down Arizona’s pass offense, they have a punchers chance against the Wildcats. There is a reason for hope here if you are a Vandals fan. Last year Idaho faced one of the top 3 passing offenses in the country in Hawaii and Colt Brennan, and they picked him off 5 times. The downside is, they immediately turned the ball back over to Hawaii, two times for touchdowns. There are two key players in this game, quarterback Nathan Enderle who has to play smart and can’t turn it over, and safety Shiloh Keo who has to make plays on defense, and in the return game.

Idaho - 13

Arizona - 35

EASTERN WASHINGTON - #12 TEXAS TECH

(Touchdown Red Raiders) The Eagles have a lot of expectations this year, but beating Texas Tech isn’t one of them. (Touchdown Red Raiders) Texas Tech averaged 41 points a game last year and is ranked 12th in the country. (Touchdown Red Raiders) They have a heisman trophy candidate in Graham Harrell who passed for 5700 yards and 48 touchdowns last year. (Touchdown Red Raiders) This team put up 43 in a loss to Texas last year, they beat 4th ranked Oklahoma, and won a bowl game. (Touchdown Red Raiders) Eastern will do just fine when they play 1AA teams, but asking them to compete in this game is a little unrealistic. (Touchdown Red Raiders).

Eastern Washington - 20

Texas Tech - 63

Happy College Football weekend everybody.

Well after several weeks of bleak headlines from the North Idaho Bureau, some good news for a change.

And there’s the key word right there: Change.

For months now I’ve been hearing two words over and over and over again. One is Hope. The other is Change.

Today, John McCain took one of Barack Obama’s favorite buzzwords to heart when he selected first-term governor Sarah Palin for his running mate. She’s the first Alaskan on a National Ticket, and the first woman from the GOP to be tapped for the VP slot as well.

Not to mention she’s also the first Idaho Vandal to appear on the ticket as well.

Of course, the headlines on local websites -ours included - are already touting the news with a decidedly Inland Northwest spin.

Spokesman-Review: McCain picks Alaska governor, a Sandpoint native and UI grad

KHQ.com: McCain announces U of I grad Palin as his running mate

KREM.com: McCain picks U of I grad as running mate

Down in Moscow the University of Idaho has had a page touting Governor Palin’s roots in Moscow up on it site for a while now and issued a statement today shortly after McCain’s announcement:

“The University of Idaho is proud of its legacy of leaders, which includes Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, named on Friday by Sen. John McCain as his running mate. University of Idaho alumni are sizable in number, but remain a close-knit community. A large number of university alumni, such as Sarah, have gone on to distinguish themselves in public service.”

Idaho Governor Butch Otter was also quick to praise Senator McCain’s selection.

“I believe that Governor Palin is a great fit for the ticket. I think she brings a lot of balance. I know that everyone knows and understands that she is a westerner. She was born in Sandpoint. She was educated at the University of Idaho. That certainly helps. But in the short time that I have known Governor Palin…she has been very involved in the Western Governor’s Conference, in the National Governor’s Association on primarily education matters, criminal justice, natural resources, and transportation and she has always provided a lot of leadership and a lot of input to the other Governors that I don’t believe that understand as much of the western problems that we have. So I think she is a great fit for the McCain ticket and is going to bring the balance that we need.”

Over the more than 10 years that my husband Jerry and I have called Spokane home, we’ve become big fans of the WSU Cougars. How could we help it? Those Cougs are almost impossible not to love. Luckily, the Cougars don’t face off very often against our own college teams. Jerry went to Michigan, but I am an Oklahoma State Cowboy (actually,  CowGIRL).  I’m having a hard time deciding who to root for on Saturday, when the Cougs and Cowboys battle in Seattle. Adding to conundrum: I have kin on the Cowboy team. My cousin’s boy, Zach, is the deep snapper for OSU.    Maybe  I’ll just cheer for good weather at game time, and consider it a win/win, no matter who emerges victorious.   Right now, it looks like showers.  CLICK HERE for your Seattle forecast.

Michelle Obama told the Hispanic caucus to the Democratic National Convention yesterday that Hispanics should not have to live in fear of raids by immigration agents. She says if her husband is elected president, there will be an immigration policy that will bring 12 million people out of the shadows. Barack Obama wants to provide illegal immigrants with a path to citizenship.

Hispanic voters, especially in Western states, may play a key role in the November election. The Obama campaign has been courting them vigorously, but apparently the Democratic nominee hasn’t been watching the national polls, and wasn’t paying attention when this issue came up before Congress last year.

The American people don’t want to give 12-million illegal aliens a pathway to citizenship. They do not want to ignore the fact that these people violated U.S. law, and they don’t want to reward them for waiting it out, hoping we would forget their unlawful entry.

On this issue the candidates for president differ markedly. Whether his conversion came late or not, John McCain gets it now, and Barack Obama doesn’t. Maybe he’s too busy courting Hispanic votes to care about what the rest of the country thinks, even though he claims he genuinely shares our values. On this matter, he clearly he doesn’t.

I understand that deporting 12-million illegal aliens would be a difficult task, but if we make it unequivocally clear to them that they will never become citizens until or unless they leave this country and return under lawful circumstances, I think we can cut substantially into that number. If we do that after securing our borders, I believe we won’t continue to render this country’s immigration laws a joke.

Barack Obama won’t do that. Neither will Harry Reed or Nancy Pelosi. John McCain will.

I know many of you will be enjoying your 3-day Labor weekend and may not be home Monday morning but if you are, tune into Good Morning Northwest between 5-7 am.  We’ll be doing live reports every half hour from the North side Oz Fitness location to officially kick off my “30 in 30″ challenge.  I’ll be wearing my yellow “30 in 30″ t-shirt. 

I’ll be doing 30 triathlons in 30 days starting September 1st.  Most every morning in September I’ll be doing an indoor triathlon at Oz Fitness (3 possible locations) to raise awareness and money for Cancer Patient Care.  My goal is to raise $30,000! Members and non-members are welcome to join me.  Call Oz Fitness at 467-1500 to find out how.

I say ‘most’ every morning because I’m signed up for a Half Ironman triathlon in Grand Coulee on September 13th.  I’m also heading down to Pullman on the Washington State University campus to do a triathlon with a group of students who are taking the triathlon challenge with me.

For the non-triathlete, I’m challenging people to commit to 30 minutes of exercise a day for 30 days; or close to it.  Similar to a walk-a-thon, people can ask others to sponsor their efforts with all money going to Cancer Patient Care.   Details on how you can donate and learn more about why I’m doing this, click on this link.

Plus I’ll be posting daily fitness and nutrition tip right here on the News at 5 blog, courtesy of Natalie Litzell from Sandpoint, Idaho.

Survivorship A-Z  provides practical information to thrive in the “new normal” that exists after a life-changing diagnosis. The information is modified when appropriate to specific conditions such as Cancer or HIV/AIDS. It can also be tailored for your life and situation through an Individual Action Plan.  Follow this link to learn more.

Former President Clinton says that the presidential campaign has been “endlessly fascinating,” and he predicts that it still has a few twists and turns ahead. Today he will follow his wife to the podium at the Democratic convention, expected to have high praise for Barack Obama who bested Senator Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. Democrats were on edge as Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered her prime-time speech on party unity last night.

They wanted her to put out the fires of discontent that are smoldering within her party, and while she was dutiful in her remarks she did nothing really to extinguish the fires of dissent while many of her faithful continue to provoke confrontations with Obama supporters.

Now it’s Bill’s turn, and while he has been told what the Obama convention wants from him, he is under no obligation to deliver exactly what they hope for, and indeed he may be ready to present one of those twists he spoke about.

Bill Clinton owes the Obama crowd nothing. He has party stature, (though given his past, I am still fascinated that Democrats love him so much), and he has his own agenda … or should I say Hillary’s agenda … to advance. Bill Clinton is the loose cannon on the deck of the good ship DNC Obama, and there’s no predicting what mischief he might get into tonight.

The Clintons have a reputation to protect. Party is really not their top priority. I think Bill and Hillary Clinton have already launched campaign 2012. I think they will say one thing and do another. When have they not even when they have been caught? I think they want Barack Obama to lose in November. They will be careful that their fingerprints are not found at the crime scene, but they have the power to derail Barack Obama’s quest to be president. If they don’t, and he wins, Hillary Clinton will never have another shot at becoming president.

For her to truly support Obama, she must literally fall on her sword. Nah … that isn’t going to happen.