Keith Allred, Democratic candidate for governor, will speak at Canyon County Democratic Central Committee’s meeting on Tuesday.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the first-floor meeting room of the Canyon County Courthouse, 1115 Albany St., Caldwell.

Other business will include completion of forms for precinct captains to file for the May 2010 election and discussion of bylaw revisions. Candidate recruitment is also a major concern for Democrats this month, chair Judy Ferro said.

U.S. Rep. Walt Minnick will judge the large tractor division Monday afternoon at the Antique Farm Tractor Show at Karcher Mall in Nampa. Minnick will also speak about agricultural issues.

Minnick, Idaho's lone Democrat in Congress, is scheduled to appear between 2:30 p.m. and 4 p.m.

Monday from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., Minnick will speak to "Think Nampa First," a business group, at the Flying M Coffee Garage, 1314 2nd Street South, Nampa.

Minnick's schedule for the Presidents Day recess also includes the following stops Tuesday in the Treasure Valley:

Burt Folsom, a professor, author on the free market system and a guest scholar at the Heritage Foundation will address Ada County's Lincoln Day banquet Thursday night.

Folsom's latest book is, "New Deal or Raw Deal? How FDR’s Economic Legacy Has Damaged America."

The annual banquet is expected to draw as many as 1,000 people to the Boise Centre. Tickets are $49 in advance and $60 at the door. Social hour is at 6 p.m., with dinner at 7.

Sen. Mike Crapo is back in Idaho for the congressional Presidents Day recess and plans 11 public events this week. Crapo also will be appearing at various local Republican Party events on the traditional “Lincoln Day” circuit.

Crapo, the senior member of the Idaho delegation, begins at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday at Mountain View High School in Meridian, where he will speak with more than 100 students at the school’s lecture hall, 2000 Millennium Way.

Sen. Mike Crapo, a longtime leader in combating dating violence among adolescents, will appear at Wednesday in Boise at a 2-hour forum.

The event is titled, "Idaho Policy Roundtable Discussion on the Prevention of Digital Dating Abuse and 'Sexting' in Adolescent Relationships." It helps mark National Teen Dating Violence Awareness & Prevention Month, an effort supported by Crapo, R-Idaho.

Sexting is sending a text message with an inappropriate, semi-nude or nude photograph.

As the Legislature approaches crunch time for setting budgets, Gov. Butch Otter is taking his "Capital for a Day" road show to Hazelton, a farm town represented by the co-chairs of the Legislature's budget committee and another chairman.

In announcing the selection for his Feb. 19 visit, Otter tipped his cowboy hat to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Dean Cameron of Rupert, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Maxine Bell of Jerome and House Resources and Conservation Committee Chairman Bert Stevenson of Rupert.

Sen. Chuck Winder, R-Boise, introduced legislation Friday that would extend limited conscience protections in regards to abortions and end-of-life care to licensed health care professionals.

“No health care professional shall be required to provide any health care service that violates his or her conscience,” the bill states.

Doctors and hospitals are already protected under Idaho law, but this would extend those protections to nurses, nurses assistants, pharmacists — “any person licensed, certified or registered by the state of Idaho to deliver health care,” the bill states.

In his latest blog post, Northwest Nazarene University economist Peter Crabb argues that the federal government's problems are delaying lending by Idaho banks, hindering business hiring and indirectly influencing Idaho political leaders' efforts to preserve funding for education.

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Tough economic times have not stopped Idahoans from drinking.

In 2009, the Idaho State Liquor Division had $135 million in sales and $46.2 million in net income — a 57% growth in sales over the last five years. The division anticipates a rise in sales and income in 2010 as well.

Of that $46.2 million, the division distributed $9.6 million to the General Fund, $8.2 million to other state programs and $27.4 million to cities and counties.