On environmental friendliness, Idaho ski areas get an F • Nurses still wanted • Chronic Wasting Disease threatens Idaho deer and elk • Plant life debate almost over in Bonner County • Click it or get a more expensive ticket?

On environmental friendliness, Idaho ski areas get an F

A group that grades the environmental friendliness of ski areas in the West says seven of the 83 resorts it reviewed this year – including three in Idaho – received failing grades.

There's silver lining to the cloud, however: Bogus Basin ranked in the top ten, receiving 74.8 percent (an A).

On another positive note, the report says 53 of 83 resorts raised their scores from last year.

"The scorecard is weighted heavily against ski area and village development and doesn't credit resorts' sustainability initiatives or community involvement," Copper Mountain spokeswoman Lauren Pelletreau said.

Copper received the lowest score with a 31.9 percent (an F) while Aspen received the highest with 85.7 percent (an A).

Sun Valley is second-to-last with 34.3 percent, Tamarack got 35.6 percent and Brundage got 41.8 percent.

See the report here.

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Nurses still wanted

The Times-News says despite the shaky economy and tough national job market, nursing stands out as a career where opportunities still exist for college graduates.

Health care was predicted to be Idaho's fastest-growing and highest-paying field between 2006 and 2016.

Students at a recent career fair in Twin Falls were optimistic.

"It's pretty much guaranteed that you'll have a job no matter where you go," said Heather Callen, a CSI nursing student from Twin Falls.

However, several recruiters did cancel their plans to attend the career fair, probably, the paper says, because of the economy.

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Chronic Wasting Disease threatens Idaho deer and elk

The Mtn. Express says the elk found last month over the border in Western Wyoming with chronic wasting disease has given big game officials a scare.

It was previously thought that the disease, which affects the brain, causing weight loss, abnormal behavior and eventually death in deer and elk, was only farther east of the Continental Divide in Wyoming.

Its discovery near the town of Bedford means the moose was no more than 10 to 15 miles from the Idaho border.

So far, the 1,000 samples the Idaho Department of Fish and Game takes from big game herds each year have failed to detect the disease.

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Plant life debate almost over in Bonner County

Under a new rule in Northern Idaho's Bonner County, owners of new property developments will be encouraged, but not required, to retain native vegetation.

The Bonner County Daily Bee says waterfront landowners and the public are each getting something out the new rule.

Some hailed the rule as a progressive way of controlling the amount of nutrient runoff to preserve water quality of a public resource.

Landowners now have several options in regards to native vegetation; they can either replace it completely or come up with a hybrid that borrows from either of those two choices.

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Click it or get a more expensive ticket?

Idaho has the lowest seat belt fines for adults in the country at $10, but the State Department of Transportation wants to change that.

The DOT says the use of seat belts in Idaho has declined 3 percent since 2006, and nearly a quarter of the state's motorists drive without buckling up.

The proposal for increased fines would qualify the state Transportation Department for an additional $250,000 in federal funding to pay for seat belt and child passenger safety programs.

The states of Washington, where the fine is $124, and Oregon, where it's $97, report that more than 90 percent of motorists wear seat belts while driving.