No love for the Idaho quarter • Bringing fish into the classroom • Fish & Game reports wolves killing more animals in 2008 • Gassy cows could cost farmers • All for the love of Twilight

No love for the Idaho quarter

In an unscientific poll, the Web site WalletPop.com named the Idaho quarter the least liked of all the state quarter designs.

The coin, released in June 2007, is part of the 50 state quarters collection, an idea liked by coin collectors as well as regular folks.

The most liked coin was the recently minted Alaska quarter, which features a grizzly bear with a salmon in its mouth walking in a river.

**

Bringing fish into the classroom

Lewiston TV station KLEW says some Idaho teachers are trying to bring the values that go along with fishing into the classroom.

Idaho Fish and Game in Lewiston is introducing teachers to a Trout in the Classroom curriculum, which allows students to raise trout "from egg to fry" in a classroom aquarium.

Officials said the hands-on learning opportunity for youth raises awareness about Idaho's aquatic life.

**

Fish & Game reports wolves killing more animals in 2008

While the battle over delisting wolves continues, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game reports that wolves have killed more cattle, sheep and dogs in 2008 than they did in 2007.

According to numbers provided by F&G and reported by the Times-News, wolves were confirmed to have killed 325 cattle, sheep and dogs between the start of 2008 and Nov. 24. That's 47 more confirmed kills than in all of 2007.

The totals have steadily increased since at least 2003, a reflection of how both the wolf population and territory has expanded, said Steve Nadeau, Fish and Game's large carnivore coordinator.

However, Fish and Game will wrap up its annual wolf count over the next month and a half, and officials expect to see a slightly lower population increase than the past couple of years, Nadeau said.

**

Gassy cows could cost farmers

The Environmental Protection Agency angered the agriculture industry last week for suggesting that flatulent livestock could be regulated under the Clean Air Act.

The Montana Farm Bureau Federation suggested that applying the nation's pre-eminent smog law to flatulent livestock, which generate methane, would cost cattle ranchers $87.50 a head in permitting fees. Pig farmers would face a fee of more than $20 a hog.

Regulating the livestock under the Clean Air Act was a suggestion that the EPA had to make as a result of a lawsuit filed against the agency for not using the act to enforce automobile emissions, according to the Billing Gazette.

The loss meant that the EPA had to consider using the Clean Air Act to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from all sources, not just automobiles.

**

All for the love of Twilight

Police in Rexburg say a teenager staged his own kidnapping to make up for the fact that he missed a family gathering to catch a movie.

The young man placed a 911 cell phone call Monday, saying he had been kidnapped and then locked in the trunk of his car. The teenager said he had been hit on the head before he was put into the trunk.

The boy told police that he initially didn't know where he was, but after officers told him how to manipulate the trunk latch from the inside, the boy was able to get out and let them know his location behind the Rexburg Kmart store.

"What we found was that he had left a family home evening and went to a vampire movie without permission," Police Capt. Randy Lewis said, "This fabrication of being kidnapped tied up six officers, the dispatcher and a number of medical personnel who had other duties to fulfill."