Going hungry at Twin Falls County Jail • BLM land could be donated for S.V. airport • Idaho, INL make energy partnership official • Boise doctor sees disturbing trend • Record elk has some questioning trophy hunting

Going hungry at Twin Falls County Jail

The Times-News reports that inmates at the Twin Falls County Jail are on a food strike because they said they are losing weight from not getting fruit and adequate portions.

A jail spokeswoman said about one-eighth of 175 inmates refrained Thursday from meals and only men are on strike.

"We're being treated worse than animals," said inmate Skylar Gill, in jail on drug charges. "I've not once had fruit here."

Jail officials say inmates are receiving 300 more calories per day than is required by the Idaho Sheriff's Association standards.

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BLM land could be donated for S.V. airport

As much as 2,400 acres of Bureau of Land Management property in south Blaine County could be donated for a new Friedman airport.

Airport authority Vice Chairman Tom Bowman said the 1,000-plus-page omnibus spending bill scheduled to go before Congress includes a proposal to donate federal land in southern Idaho for an unspecified local project.

The airport authority board is asking the Idaho delegation to also insert the request for airport land in the legislation.

If approved, the land gift would accelerate development of the airport, which could be operating by 2017 or earlier.

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Idaho, INL make energy partnership official

The Post-Reigster reports that the state and the Idaho National Laboratory have signed an agreement outlining their roles in developing energy resources in Idaho and the region.

Idaho energy officials stressed the importance of formulating short-, mid- and long-term energy strategies in order to make energy independence a reality.

They also told the paper that developing domestic and local resources can keep money spent on energy in local economies, instead of exporting it to foreign countries.

The INL-Idaho agreement is scheduled to last five years.

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

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Boise doctor sees disturbing trend

A New York Times story about fewer paying patients at hospitals across the country quotes Boise doctor Ted Epperly, who also serves as president of the American Academy of Family Physicians.

For some patients, he said, it is a matter of choosing between such fundamental needs as food and gas and their medical care.

"They wait," he told the paper.

The paper says some hospitals are closing branches or cutting jobs in response to the trend.

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Record elk has some questioning trophy hunting

The pending world record elk, shot in Utah in September by Ammon hunter Denny Austad is raising some concern in hunting circles.

Austad invested nearly $170,000 in a Utah Governor's tag, which allowed him to hunt with any weapon in any open unit in the state.

He shot the spider bull in Utah's Monroe Mountain unit.

"The Spider Bull represents a troubling trend," said Andrew McKean, hunting editor for Outdoor Life magazine.

Austad had the help of a profit-minded outfitter and a heap of payrolled guides, he said, suggesting that the record books should make these distinctions.