Bringing home the bacon in hog-calling contest • Other states ponder Idaho bike law • The DRAM downturn and Micron • Heavy metal working in Idaho Falls • Post Falls has grown too fast

Bringing home the bacon in hog-calling contest

A northern Idaho woman named Jolee Bacon won first place at the Nez Perce County Fair hog-calling contest over the weekend.

Bacon is from Lapwai, and says that she calls pigs every morning and night with her 9-year-old daughter, Jacey.

She won the crown by starting her hog call with a few loud snorts and a long, drawn-out "sooey."

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Other states ponder Idaho bike law

The Chicago Sun-Times reports on the Idaho law that allows bicyclists to yield instead of stop at red lights and stop signs.

In asking whether the law would be right for Illinois, the paper says that Minnesota introduced a similar bill in its Legislature in May, but Oregon shot down a similar proposal.

The story quotes Boisean Dwight Tovey who thinks the Idaho law creates in motorists the perception that bicyclists aren't following the rules.

"The negatives outweigh the positives," said Tovey, who's an instructor with the League of American Bicyclists. "It sets the bicyclists apart, and it's not that big an advantage."

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The DRAM downturn and Micron

People who want to upgrade the DRAM in their PCs can find better prices than normal during DRAM gluts. And since the price of DRAM has dropped nearly 18 percent in two weeks to reach new record lows, now's a good time to buy.

What does this mean for Micron, whose DRAM business is its bread and butter?

PC World Magazine says a few analysts, including Uche Orji at investment bank UBS, believe Micron may be in talks to acquire Germany's Qimonda.

Neither Micron nor Qimonda would comment on the possibility of a sale.

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Heavy metal working in Idaho Falls

The Post-Register profiles Idaho Falls metal worker Nute Scott who travels the country six months a year, selling suits of armor at renaissance fairs.

Scott's suits sell for between $2,000 and $5,000, but he only sells them at renaissance fairs.

People buy the suits for three reasons, he said: costumes, combat armor for re-enactments and display pieces for homes and businesses.

Scott was a re-enactor himself when he got involved with the local kingdom of the Society for Creative Anachronism. That's how he got into working with armor.

Read more about Scott at the Post-Register's Web site. (Subscription required)

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Post Falls has grown too fast

The city of Post Falls is looking to the future as it tries to keep up with "significant growth."

"...Post Falls has befallen the same fate as many fast-growing communities, and that is that we have become nearsighted and have not focused as much time and effort on our future as we should have," city administrator Eric Keck said.

City Council members are going to start knocking their heads together in October to discuss maintaining levels of service, public-private partnerships, street maintenance and annexation requests among other things.