The blog will be off this week.

I'm on vacation until July 6.

Have a good week and a happy Fourth of July.

Here's a follow to my Thursday blog post about attempts to increase congressional staff budgets.

I've compiled some data about staff sizes and payrolls for the Idaho congressional delegation. Here are the thumbnails:

Sen. Mike Crapo: Has 35 full-time equivalent employees on staff. The office has averaged 35 FTEs since he joined the Senate in 1999.

Idaho’s congressional delegation is split on bills that would give lawmakers significantly more money to run their offices.

But in the nothing-is-as-it-seems world of Congress, the congressional
office budgets aren't standalone items. They are stuffed in with other budgets, which conveniently complicates the issue. Just one more reason we can all be frustrated with the ways of Congress.

To simplify things, here's a condensed version.

I'm a huge fan of "Forensic Files," the cable show that condenses complicated criminal investigations into a 30-minute program.

I also understand that real-life casework move much more slowly.

Heath Druzin, a former Statesman state government reporter, has been barred from reporting with a U.S. Army unit attempting to secure the city of Mosul, Iraq.

Druzin left the Statesman in August to work for Stars and Stripes. The Army has rejected his request to work as an embedded reporter, covering the 1st Cavalry Division in Mosul.

The Treasure Valley made another one of those national lists, falling somewhere between 61 and 80. Idaho leaders and local boosters aren't going to boast about this ranking.

The Washington, D.C.-based Brookings Institution tracked the recession and recovery in 100 metropolitan areas. The Valley landed in group No. 4, the second-weakest group of 20 cities.

The Treasure Valley numbers are generally grim:

Interesting silver lining news of the day. With materials costs down — and contractors vying for work — the costs of Idaho highway projects are down significantly.

“That’s a sign of the competitive times,” Mark Dunham, executive director of the Idaho Association of General Contractors, told the Idaho Business Review. “These companies are doing whatever they can to keep their people employed. Construction has one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation.”

UPDATE: Thanks for the heads up, Sharon.

Looks like Bozeman has reversed this policy, according to this broadcast report.

Updated resume? Check.

Glowing reference from high school chemistry teacher? Check.

Twitter password? WTH?

At City Hall in Bozeman, Mont., that's all part of the job screening process. Unbelievable.

No surprise here.

The University of Idaho has put Marie Bulgin on paid administrative leave while investigating comments made by the controversial head of the U of I's Caine Veterinary Teaching Center.

Bulgin — a past president of the Idaho Wool Growers Association — has said that there is no evidence that wild bighorn sheep can contract disease from domestic sheep. This is a controversial claim in wildlife circles, and Bulgin has made that assertion in federal court and in legislative hearings, even though the Caine center has had evidence to the contrary since 1994.

A bunch of reading for a Wednesday:

• If you drive a car or ride a bike, you ought to check out this morning's article on how motorists and cyclists can coexist. I was especially glad to see gold medalist Kristin Armstrong addressing a cycling pet peeve of me. Drivers, please don't honk. Even if it's a friendly head's up. It's really more distracting than it is helpful.