Idaho nuke prospects dim • Nuttiest House seat in country just got a lot tamer • Tobacco settlement up in smoke • Expect less traffic over Thanksgiving • Counties band together for Forest Service advisory committee

Idaho nuke prospects dim

The Spokesman-Review reports a nuclear industry expert says a new commercial nuclear power plant in Idaho is at least 15 years away.

A nuclear plant proposal for the Payette area was shot down earlier this year, and the idea of a plant along the Snake River in Elmore County has "made little progress."

Ralph Bennett, director of international and regional partnerships for the Idaho National Laboratory, told the Idaho Environmental Forum Monday that nuclear power in Idaho would come after several proposed plants in the southeastern United States.

Boise State's annual University Public Policy Survey found 70 percent of Idahoans would oppose a nuclear plant in their county that provided electricity for other states, but if the plant were to serve Idahoans' energy needs, the numbers shifted to 43 percent opposed and 45 percent in favor.

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Nuttiest House seat in country just got a lot tamer

The Slate's "Notes from the Political Sidelines" focuses on the sea change in Idaho's 1st Congressional District.

"After a glorious, nearly uninterrupted three-decade run, Idaho's 1st Congressional District has lost its claim as the nuttiest House seat in the country."

The article describes former Rep. Bill Sali's behavior in office as "disappointingly unexceptional."

Walt Minnick got 50.6 percent of the vote and became just the second Democrat to win the seat formerly occupied by Sali in the last 40 years.

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Tobacco settlement up in smoke

Idaho this year will collect $82 million from the 1998 tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, but will spend less than 4 percent of it on tobacco prevention.

Ten years after the settlement, Idaho ranks 34th in the nation in funding programs to protect children from tobacco, according to a national report released yesterday by a coalition of public health organizations.

The report states that Idaho currently spends $2.6 million a year on tobacco prevention programs, which is 15.4 percent of the $16.9 million recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Another interesting find of the report is that tobacco companies will spend $57 million a year on marketing in Idaho.

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Expect less traffic over Thanksgiving

Good news if you are heading out of town for Thanksgiving: AAA is predicting the first decline in Thanksgiving travel this year since 2002.

The travel organization said it expects 41 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more from home this holiday weekend, that's down 1.2 percent from a year ago.

AAA Idaho estimates that 144,300 Idahoans will be passengers or drivers in motor vehicles traveling 50 miles or more this holiday period, down about 7,000 from a year ago.

What's to blame for the decline? Higher airfares, higher car rental fees and new fees for checked baggage on airlines.

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Counties band together for Forest Service advisory committee

Blaine, Camas, Cassia and Twin Falls counties are forming a 15-member committee to advise the U.S. Forest Service on local projects.

The Mtn. Express reports that the council is part of a mandate from the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act.

The group will make yearly recommendations to the Forest Service to implement projects in and around national forest lands in southern Idaho.

Half of the funding must go toward road and trail maintenance while the other half can be used for anything forest-related, such as noxious weed control or thinning of overstocked forest.

Members of the committee must be either resource users such as livestock owners and miners, conservation and environmental activists and lastly, government entities including local and state officials. There is also one public at-large seat.