BOISE - U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo had reigned as Idaho's senior legislative emissary to Washington, D.C., a man whose peerless career stretching from Harvard Law School to the Capitol was presumably beyond reproach. Until lately.

First, the three-term Republican pleaded guilty Jan. 4 following a pre-Christmas drunken driving arrest. Lonely nights in Washington, D.C. away from family, coupled with the stress of the job, had turned a Mormon teetotaler into a closet drinker who, according to his admission, made the ill-advised decision to slide behind the wheel of his car for a head-clearing nocturnal drive to Virginia.

Then in May, the member of the Senate's Banking and Finance committees announced that a former campaign staffer in 2008 had invested $250,000 in campaign donors' contributions in a company called, of all things, Blueberry Guru, which in turn blew the cash in a Las Vegas get-rich-quick real estate scheme. The money was stolen, Crapo said. Only this year, he said, did he report the matter to the Federal Election Commission after acknowledging he was likely never to get it back.

Crapo acknowledged not keeping a close enough eye on his re-election organization's financial house. The damage was done, though Crapo now insists holes in his campaign's system of due diligence have been filled in, including with the addition of a new treasurer.

"Every time somebody makes a move within the campaign today, it's noted by the treasurer - just like it should have been back then," said Lindsay Nothern, Crapo's spokesman in Boise.

Here are some other stories that qualify as lowlights in Idaho news during 2013:

SHE'S FIRED, HE STAYS HIRED: Pocatello High School girls basketball coach Laraine Cook was fired over a photograph posted on her Facebook page that showed another district employee, her fiance, touching her bikini-clad chest. The guy doing the touching was Pocatello High head football coach Tom Harrison, an Idaho High School Football Hall of Fame coach. He wasn't removed from his coaching role for appearing in the photo, though he has said he was reprimanded by school officials. The matter isn't over: Just last week, a grievance panel concluded Cook should get her job back. District 25 administrators could still appeal the decision.

WATCH OUT BELOW: First, there were undisclosed circumstances surrounding the Boise State University football team's dismissal of starting quarterback Joe Southwick ahead of the Hawaii Bowl. Then, Southwick went on the offensive, saying at least three of his teammates lied that he'd urinated off a hotel-room balcony - and that coaches barely gave him a chance to defend himself during a cursory 20-minute meeting that preceded the decision to send him packing. Seeking to clear his name, Southwick says he passed a lie detector test and has hired a lawyer. Meanwhile, the school - still recovering from the upheaval surrounding the departure of head coach Chris Petersen - said it's sticking by its decision to jettison Southwick, who was just recovering from a broken ankle.

CONTRACT CALAMITY: The state's Your Health Idaho insurance exchange was a political hot potato before executive director Amy Dowd in October awarded a contract worth up to $375,000 to exchange board member Frank Chan - without advertising it first or allowing others to compete for the $180 per hour work. Dowd initially insisted the contract was appropriate, but it was eventually canceled. Meanwhile, the exchange board acknowledged judgment lapses, trimmed Dowd's contracting authority - and then hired an attorney to advise it on how to avoid such situations in the future. The lawyer's $15,000 report was kept secret, however, with exchange chairman Stephen Weeg citing attorney-client privilege and personnel exemptions.

WHAT'S THAT IN MY YOGURT? Chobani, the New York-based Greek yogurt maker whose big manufacturing facility was lured to Twin Falls last year, found itself on its heels as it tried to clear up a pesky tainted yogurt problem. At least 89 people reported getting sick after eating Chobani Greek yogurt manufactured in Twin Falls, the Food and Drug Administration reported, with some complaining of nausea and cramps. Chobani was forced to tell grocery stores to destroy 35 varieties of yogurt reported contaminated by a substance associated with dairy products, though the company has said it's since identified the problem and taken steps to remedy it.

JEFFERSON COUNTY FRACAS: First, Lawrence Blackburn, 50, a former Rigby city councilman, was ordered to spend 150 days in jail and 10 years on probation for taking money from the estate of a deceased business client two years ago. Blackburn also must pay $30,000 in restitution and serve 100 hours of community service for his conviction on insurance fraud. Then, the Jefferson County prosecutor, Robin Dunn, was asked to repay nearly $18,000 in legal fees to the county related to a federal lawsuit, on grounds that he'd been paid inappropriately. Now, the Idaho Falls Post Register is suing the Jefferson County Commission, contending that its members met illegally about an agreement with Dunn in secret session. That case is still pending.

HISTORY REVISITED: Republican Rep. Brent Crane of Nampa angered some at the Idaho Capitol when he objected to giving the Nez Perce Indian Tribe a special liquor license for its planned convention center, on claims it would exacerbate what he said were the group's historic struggles with alcoholism.

Later in the session, Crane, the House assistant majority leader, bashed the proposed state insurance exchange during debate in which he erroneously used civil rights heroine Rosa Parks to blast the U.S. government. "One little lady got tired of the federal government telling her what to do," Crane said, urging lawmakers to follow Parks' example by rejecting the exchange. Only Parks wasn't fighting the federal government in 1955 when she refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Ala., bus; she was defying a municipal code.

- TAMARACK SUITOR SENTENCED: Money manager Matthew Hutcheson emerged suddenly in 2010, proclaiming himself the savior of struggling Tamarack Resort. Out of his $40 million offer to buy the Donnelly vacation getaway came nothing, however. Worse, prosecutors said he raided $5 million from pension funds he helped oversee to enrich himself, buy luxury cars and further his bid for the resort. This summer, a federal judge sentenced him to 17 years in prison after he was convicted of 17 counts of wire fraud. "You're too devious," U.S. District Judge W. Fremming Nielsen told Hutcheson, before rejecting his request to be allowed to report to prison sometime in the future.

- LAWMAKER'S WIFE: A federal judge ruled that a state senator's wife overstepped her role as a legal assistant and had an "inappropriate" relationship with a convicted murderer suing the Idaho Department of Correction for sexual harassment. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill wrote Renee McKenzie, wife of Republican Sen. Curt McKenzie of Nampa, had become a "side show" and was taking up too much of the court's time and resources. The exact relationship between Renee McKenzie and convicted killer Lance Wood wasn't clear from the judge's order, but prison staff who monitored their phone calls said McKenzie told Wood she loved him and wanted to spend her life with him.

- AMID RAPE-CASE REVELATION, LAWMAKER QUITS: Republican Rep. Mark Patterson resigned from the Idaho Legislature effective Jan. 5 after party colleagues from his Boise district urged him to quit amid revelations that he'd pleaded guilty in 1974 to assault with intent to commit forcible rape. Members of the GOP precinct committee in District 15, which Patterson represents, voted unanimously for him to step down. The 39-year-old case in Florida came to light in early November when Ada County Sheriff Gary Raney revoked Patterson's concealed weapons permit - on grounds that he didn't disclose the criminal case on his application. Patterson maintained his innocence - and contends that Raney was retaliating against him because, among other things, the sheriff didn't like legislation he'd sponsored during the 2013 session.