Idaho energy efficiency getting better • Traffic accident could affect sugar beet harvest • Canadian man tried to do the right thing with his porn collection • University of Idaho to help out Pullman-Moscow airport • Digging up the FBI files on Evel Knievel

Idaho energy efficiency getting better

California, Connecticut and Oregon are at the top of a list of states improving energy efficiency to respond to high prices, energy security and global warming.

The Associated Press says a report released Monday rated Idaho as the most improved state in this category, moving from 25th two years ago to 13th.

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy rated the states on "a wide range of the proven effective and readily available efficiency strategies."

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Traffic accident could affect sugar beet harvest

Southeastern Idaho farmers are worried that damage to an I-86 exit near American Falls could impact the fall sugar beet harvest by forcing beet-laden trucks to take an inconvenient detour.

A truck carrying the base for a large wind turbine failed to exit the freeway, badly damaging the Exit 40 overchange bridge.

Repairs to the overchange won't be finished before the end of November.

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Canadian man tried to do the right thing with his porn collection

A Canadian man who admitted to possessing more than 22,000 images of child pornography in Boise should be found not guilty of criminal charges according to his lawyer because he made "genuine, repeated efforts" to make sure the prohibited materials never entered the country.

The lawyer said Monday David McDermid never intended to bring his collection of pornographic images and movies involving children to Canada when he moved back to Ottawa in April 2006.

The 31-year-old ordered an associate in Idaho to "nuke" the hard drives of his four computers before shipping them to Canada.

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University of Idaho to help out Pullman-Moscow airport

The University of Idaho will provide $12,500 to the Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport next year for the airport's 2009 operating expenses.

The university had previously announced its intention to cease funding for the airport and give up its seat on the airport's board of directors.

UI administrators alerted Airport Manager Robb Parish last month that being in an agreement with the airport and providing funding was a liability they couldn't risk.

Parish told the Moscow-Pullman Daily News he received a letter Friday from UI Vice President of Finance and Administration Lloyd Mues indicating otherwise.

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Digging up the FBI files on Evel Knievel

According to documents obtained by The Associated Press, the federal government came close to charging Evel Knievel in a 1970s FBI investigation into a string of beatings.

Knievel in turn threatened to sue the FBI for alleging he was connected to a crime syndicate. Neither followed through.

Knievel's most well-known run-in with the law was a 1977 baseball bat attack on movie studio executive Shelly Saltman.

Saltman promoted Knievel's infamous attempt to jump the Snake River Canyon and then wrote a book about the experience, portraying Knievel as "an alcoholic, a pill addict, an anti-Semite and an immoral person."