Meridian couple inspired by Sarah Palin • Utah horse thieves collared, stolen horses found in Idaho • Gem State on board in Shell’s fight against youth smoking • LDS church members stump for California marriage amendment • Exploring the Snake River Canyon • Polish scientist back at U of I

Meridian couple inspired by Sarah Palin

Meridian couple Tyler and Crystal Hurst are so impressed with vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin they decided to name their newborn after her.

Palin Brinli Hurst was born on Oct. 5.

The Associated Press says Tyler Hurst decided to name his little girl Palin after watching Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin give her speech at the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis.

"He called his wife from the convention and pitched his proposed domestic policy, and she agreed."

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Utah horse thieves collared, stolen horses found in Idaho

Nine horses stolen from a ranch in Duchesne County, Utah, have been recovered in Salt Lake County and Idaho.

The Deseret News calls the story "like a case out of the old West."

The horse rustlers tried giving away a horse to a young female, selling at least two of the horses on the Internet and going door to door to ask people if they'd take the horses they claimed were abandoned.

Salt Lake County Sheriff's investigators checked out the Bluffdale, Utah, address of the people selling the horses online and found two of the horses. Five more were found in Salt Lake County and the other two were found in Idaho.

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Gem State on board in Shell's fight against youth smoking

Idaho is among 46 states and the District of Columbia that secured a pledge from Shell Oil to reduce underage cigarette sales at the oil company's service stations.

Shell and Motiva Enterprises, its partner in a gas station venture, have joined 10 other retailers who signed similar agreements to reduce the sale of tobacco to kids.

According to the Associated Press, studies show most adult smokers begin smoking before the age of 18.

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LDS church members stump for California marriage amendment

Members of the Church of Latter Day Saints in Rexburg are getting involved in the California same-sex marriage debate.

Proposition 8 calls for an amendment to the California state constitution that would only recognize marriage between a man and a woman.

LDS church members from California currently living in eastern Idaho (some are BYU-Idaho students) are sending out letters and making phone calls to people in California encouraging them to research the issue.

The Mormon church is one of several religious and community groups that are members of the Protect Marriage Coalition - an organization with the goal of keeping marriage between one man and one woman.

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Exploring the Snake River Canyon

The Times-News has a cool interactive map and series exploring 57 miles of the Snake River Canyon from Milner to Upper Salmon Falls.

The canyon is "at once a familiar part of our landscape and yet the region's greatest mystery."

Starting in July, a team of the paper's journalists set out to explore the canyon from east to west.

Here's the result.

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Polish scientist back at U of I

Katarzyna Dziewanowska, a Polish scientist who has studied possible ways to counter bioterrorism, has returned to her position as a researcher at the University of Idaho after facing deportation from federal immigration officials.

The Spokesman-Review reports that she returned to her position in the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry on Thursday, a year after a tangled immigration case left her unemployed and facing deportation.

Her husband, Witold, is also a UI researcher studying treatment of retroviruses, and the denial of Katarzyna's application had limited his ability to receive grants, and blocked her son from applying for a scholarship program to attend college.