CdA school board reverses course, puts books back on shelves • Idaho to get part of Mattel settlement • Tapping the obscure USDA home loan • Murderer ordered to pay restitution • Note to Idahoans: don't seek emergency care

CdA school board reverses course, puts books back on shelves

The Coeur d'Alene School Board on Monday unanimously approved the Aldous Huxley classic "Brave New World" as required reading for seniors, along with 25 total other novels for grades 6 through 12.

The decision reversed a previous split vote by the board when considering books to approve or deny for the curriculum.

"It's gratifying. They did the right thing," Eric Louis, a Coeur d'Alene High School English teacher told the Spokemsn-Review. "We're a district that understands ... honoring academic freedom. It's a good day for the district."

Several novels remain to be considered, a process the S-R says is likely to occur within the next two months.

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Idaho to get part of Mattel settlement

Idaho is among the states toy maker Mattel Inc. will pay to settle an investigation over Chinese-made lead-tainted toys shipped to the U.S. in 2007.

Mattel, which is splitting $12 million between 39 states, had to pull two million toys off the shelves in the U.S. just before Christmas last year.

The agreement allows the states to use the money for consumer education, litigation or as a reimbursement of expenses.

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Tapping the obscure USDA home loan

The Wall Street Journal reports that buyers and lenders are turning to an obscure home-loan program offered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to get people into homes in tightening real estate markets.

Among the companies mentioned is Boise-based Kastera Homes. WSJ says Kastera is offering to pay closing costs for buyers who use a USDA loan.

The loan program was created in 1991 as a way to boost homeownership in rural areas.

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Murderer ordered to pay restitution

A former nurse sentenced to life in prison for a murder in Twin Falls County was ordered on Monday to pay back the state of Idaho for her victims' expenses.

Vicki Arlene Jensen and two accomplices killed Aleta Diane Ray on Sept. 9, 1999 by holding a gun to her head and administering a deadly injection of insulin and meth in front of Ray's three-year-old daughter.

Jensen has tried to get out of paying $22,500 back to the state for Ray's funeral expenses along with restitution to her daughter, claiming paying back the restitution for her victims is an impingement on her rights.

Jensen says she'll never be able to pay off her debt while making only 20 cents per hour working in prison.

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Note to Idahoans: don't seek emergency care

A national report ranks Idaho among the worst states in the nation for its support of emergency patients.

The National Report Card on the State of Emergency Medicine gave Idaho a D and ranked it 46th on the list of states in emergency care.

Idaho Hospital Association President Steve Millard jumped to Idaho's defense, saying the state's rural population makes it difficult for it to score well on the report card.

"It's a mountain environment, rural with scarce population," Millard told The Times-News. "We're not going to have the things that the big cities have."