Idaho

ARLINGTON, Va. - "It's the most dire situation we've seen in over 20 years," laments Raymond C. Scheppach, executive director of the National Governors Association. He's talking about the deficit faced by many states. The Washington Post reported Jan. 19 that many Republican governors are proposing tax increases to close the gap and abide by their state constitutions, which require balanced budgets. Many, including Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, say they've cut expenses as much as they can and will now have to raise taxes.

Mary Maxine "Sally" Reed, 93, whose challenge to Idaho's law favoring men over women as estate administrators prompted the U.S. Supreme Court's first decision extending equal protection to women, died Sept. 26 at a Boise, Idaho, care home. After her 16-year-old son committed suicide in 1967, Ms. Reed and her ex-husband applied to administer his estate - a clarinet and several hundred dollars. Mr. Reed was chosen under an Idaho law giving preference to males as administrators over equally qualified females.

BOISE, Idaho -- As Gary Williams and the Maryland Terrapins were scrambling to catch a plane to Southern California, there was little time to reflect on a victorious opening weekend in the NCAA tournament. The Terps are back where they want to be -- in the Sweet 16, with a shot at their first trip to the Final Four. Maryland will spend the next few days buried in preparation for Georgetown, a school the Terps have not faced in more than seven years. These opponents, a short drive apart, will meet some 2,500 miles away from home on Thursday at 7:55 p.m. in the West Regional semifinals at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim.

BOISE, Idaho - Hampton guard Marseilles Brown had been here before, so he knew what would happen if his team was in position to win late in the game. "The crowd is going to be on your side," said Brown, who helped Richmond upset third-seeded South Carolina in the 1998 NCAA tournament. "Being the underdog, they are going to cheer for you." And the crowd did. So, the Pirates, in their first NCAA tournament game, gave the fans that filled BSU Pavilion last night what they wanted - a thrilling 58-57 upset of second-seeded Iowa State.

COLLEGE PARK - The Maryland Terrapins still have much work to do, but they completed one phase of a remarkable turnaround yesterday by earning their eighth consecutive NCAA tournament bid. Less than four weeks after com-pleting a 1-5 slump by losing to the last-place team in the Atlantic Coast Conference, No. 11 Maryland is headed west once again to begin its quest for the first national championship in school history. And as the third seed in the West Regional, Maryland will start by facing a familiar opponent in an unfamiliar place.

RIGBY, Idaho - Mashed, baked, steamed, french-fried - Idaho's finest turn up in countless guises on America's dinner plates. But fermented and distilled? It was perhaps inevitable that someone would eye the vast potato fields cut by pristine rivers in this part of the country and realize what those two resources could produce: vodka. "This is a strategic location," says Gray Ottley, a manager at Silver Creek Distillers. "This is potato country." Silver Creek is the nation's only producer of vodka made from potatoes, once the classic base ingredient for the spirit that now is usually made from grains.

BOISE, IDAHO - Before fleeing their home in the belief it was killing them, before the lawyers, the expert witnesses, the dead dog and the bankruptcy, Bill and Laurie Enger had just one question: Why is this happening? Laurie Enger's numbed brain offered no help. Nor could anyone else explain why, in those spring days in 1994, her pounding skull forbade sleep or why her lungs pumped out fluids. Or why, when she walked down her hallway, she careened off the walls as if she were a drunk on a rolling ship.

Joseph Palczynski's latest standoff with police has been his longest, but it's not his first. In 1992, Palczynski surfaced in Gooding, Idaho, after escaping from Spring Grove State Hospital in Baltimore County. Then Gooding police received a warrant from Maryland for his arrest. "That's all he was to us, an escapee from the state of Maryland," said Police Chief Paul Brown, one of a dozen law enforcement officers who became involved in trying to coax Palczynski from an apartment and surrender.

Idaho (8-3) vs.Southern Mississippi (7-4)When: Today, 3 p.m.Where: Boise, IdahoTV: ESPN2Line: Southern Mississippi by 16 1/2Series record: Idaho leads 1-0Outlook: The Vandals, in their third season in Division I-A, use a West Coast offense featuring freshman QB John Welsh and senior RB Joel Thomas (1,229 yards rushing, 16 TDs). The unit ranks 19th in the nation in total offense (444 ypg). Southern Mississippi lost to national powers Penn State, Texas A&M and Alabama, along with unbeaten Tulane.

BaseballDodgers: Named Ed Creech assistant to GM; he had been director of scouting for Cardinals.Royals: Agreed to two-year contract with Single-A Charleston (W.Va.).Basketball Basketball Hall of Fame: Selected Bulls assistant Tex Winter, whose 51 years is tops among active college and pro coaches, to receive John Bunn Award.Idaho (CBA): Signed G Spud Webb.CollegeACC: Named North Carolina's Laurie Schwoy (McDonogh) women's college soccer Player of the Week.Centennial Conference: Named Western Maryland setter Jessica Rouse volleyball Player of the Week.