Jesus on the wall of a trailer • Ski resorts go healthy • Hunter won't be given possession of cougar he killed • Small hydro power projects surfacing • Will Obama change U.S.-Cuba relations? • Remembering an Idaho inventor

Jesus on the wall of a trailer

An Idaho Falls woman claims she has a picture of Jesus on the wood paneling of a closet door in her mobile home.

Connie Covert was afraid to tell anyone fearing she would be called crazy. But she noticed the face when she moved in to the home 30 years ago.

After hearing numerous new stories over the years about Jesus' likeness appearing on everything from grilled cheese sandwiches to guitars, she decided to come forward.

"I guess he's looked over us for 30 years because nothing has happened," Covert told east Idaho ABC affiliate TV station LocalNews 8. "Trailer hasn't burned down or anything. Guess we are doing okay."

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Ski resorts go healthy

In its 2009 ski guide, the New York Times reports that "hockey puck burgers and mystery meat hot dogs" have long dominated menus at American ski lodges.

A new trend is finding ski resorts from Jackson Hole to Vail offering healthier food options made from all-natural, locally farmed ingredients.

Plus, "the slopeside meals are being prepared by chefs instead of unshaven ski bums in grease-stained aprons."

No Idaho resorts are mentioned, but the story says chefs at Jackson Hole's mountaintop restaurant Rendezvous are hand-carving Kurabuto pork from Snake River Farm in Boise.

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Hunter won't be given possession of cougar he killed

A hunter who killed a cougar with a shotgun in self-defense will not be allowed ownership of the cat's pelt, but will have the chance to purchase the hide at an auction set for next spring, the Times-News reports.

"At the center of this issue is a misunderstanding that while self-defense with the killing of an animal is legitimate, the legal possession of the animal cannot occur due to the method of take," Deputy Director of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game Virgil Moore wrote in a letter to John Stevens.

Stevens did the dirty work of cleaning and tagging the cougar he shot for F&G before they told him his kill was illegal.

The department is allowing Stevens a second cougar tag free of charge.

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Small hydro power projects surfacing

The Associated Press reports that in many locations across the country, including towns in New England and the Pacific Northwest, small hydroelectric projects are popping up in a bid for energy independence.

John Seebach, director of hydropower reform with the environmental group American Rivers, said some hydro projects can work, but he doesn't want to see regulations pulled back.

"A lot of these smaller, sort of mom-and-pop hydropower projects are most notorious at having serious compliance issues over the life of the license," he said. "If something breaks ... they don't have the money available to fix it."

A 2006 study by researchers at the Idaho National Laboratory found 130,000 stretches of stream around the country suitable for small hydro projects, defining small as those between 10 kilowatts and 30 megawatts.

The AP says if they were all developed, they could provide about 100,000 megawatts of power.

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Will Obama change U.S.-Cuba relations?

In a USA Today story about the future of U.S.-Cuba relations under president-elect Barack Obama, Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo says easing the embargo and travel restrictions on Americans is the best way to topple the Castros.

He says an infusion of Americans and dollars would hasten the Cuban people's desire for a change.

Obama has stated that he would like to revisit U.S.-Cuba policies. His proclamation has some viewing his administration as the first chance in decades to get rid of laws that restrict travel, investment, exports and cash mailings to Cuba.

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Remembering an Idaho inventor

If you didn't know that the idea for the television was developed by an inventor living in Idaho, read Voice of America's profile of TV inventor Philo Farnsworth.

Farnsworth came up with the idea for what would become the television when he was just 14 years old.

When Farnsworth's family moved to Idaho when he was just 12, he built an electric motor. Then he built the first electric washing machine for clothes that his family had ever owned.

The man widely considered one of the most important inventors of the twentieth century became a strong critic of television in his later years. He died in 1971.