Idaho News

Boise, ID – This weekend the Wood River Valley holds its annual Trailing of the Sheep festival. The event comes at the time when sheep leave their high pastures for the winter. Organizer Mary Austin-Crofts told Adam Cotterell the festival culminates with the trailing parade through downtown Ketchum when 1500 sheep stroll down Main Street.

BOISE, Id – One of Boise’s finest officially retired Thursday.

Patricia Braddock “This is a bittersweet day here at the Boise Police Department.”

That’s Deputy Chief Patricia Braddock.

Patricia Braddock “Today we retire and honor one of the most if not the best accomplished police service dog in the history of the Boise Police Department.”

Braddock’s talking about Blek, a ten year old black and tan German Shepherd.  Blek’s handler is Officer Mike Nance.  He says when Blek isn’t chasing down suspects, he sniffs out illegal drugs.

Boise, ID - A Boise State University professor can take some of the credit for American Amanda Knox going free from an Italian jail Monday. Knox was studying in Italy four years ago when she and her boyfriend were convicted of murdering her roommate Meredith Kercher. Greg Hampikian  first became familiar with the Knox case when he was researching a new DNA technique being used by the Italian police.

Boise, ID – A group of health industry insiders met in Boise last week to talk about the future of Idaho’s health care system.

Insurance provider Regence Blue Shield assembled the panel of health care experts. The most interesting job title in the group was futurist.

Ian Morrison “I always say my definition of a futurist is an economist who couldn’t handle the calculus. Basically I’m in the sweeping generalization business.”

Idaho saw 30 large scale fires burning in the state this year.  Eighteen of those are still active, but the season is quickly drawing to a close. Don Smurthwaite, with the National Interagency Fire Center, says part of the reason for that is becasue of a storm front that’s expected to bring precipitation and even snow at higher elevations to the state int eh next few days.   “Given those factors,” says Snmurthwaite, “it’s safe to say we can bring the current down on the Idaho fire season before much longer.”

Boise, ID – This week researchers at the American Dietetic Association’s Food and Nutrition Conference in San Diego showed that potatoes could be a cheap source of a nutrient most American diets are lacking.  As Emily Schwing reports, this comes at a time when the potato has drawn some bad press.

A team of researchers at the University of Washington combined data from two USDA databases to show that Idaho’s famous tuber may be one of the least expensive natural sources of potassium.

If you’ve eaten a nicely marbled porterhouse or a tender filet mignon lately, you probably reveled in its delicacy.  But, did you know those cuts of meat don’t naturally come tenderized or marbled?

Producers work hard to select for the genes to yield those top-end cuts.

It’s a beef industry practice that’s on the agenda at the “Applied Reproductive Strategies for Beef Cattle” conference in Boise.

BOISE, ID. – A District Court judge ruled today that one of the “Students Come First” laws is constitutional.  TheIdaho Education Association brought the lawsuit.

BOISE, ID. – The U.S. Department of Agriculture gave five Idaho producers of advanced biofuels nearly $220,000 this week.  One of those companies received about $25,000 for turning cow manure into electricity.

Big Sky West Dairy near Gooding isn’t a typical dairy farm.  At least it doesn’t smell like one.  Bob Joblin, one of the project’s owners, says that’s what happens when gas from cow manure gets captured and turned into electricity.

BOISE, Id – A group of lawmakers got together Thursday to consider what would happen if Idaho set up a health insurance exchange.  The Federal Health Care act requires states to implement some sort of exchange program by 2014.

The definition of a health insurance exchange was first up for the House Health and Welfare Committee.  Matthew Ellsworth looks at it this way.