A draft of our lead editorial for Wednesday.

Every year, it seems, lawmakers from around the state convene at the Statehouse and take an annual run at dismantling urban renewal.

Perhaps these naysayers should take a side trip sometime this winter and take a good look at Boise’s 30th Street neighborhood.

UPDATED, 5:41 p.m., with comments from the Idaho Health Exchange Alliance, which supports the exchange.

Gov. Butch Otter says he will pursue a state-run health insurance exchange — setting up, potentially, a battle with legislative conservatives.

A draft of our second editorial for Wednesday.

Today, Idaho is shy one of its true characters — an original with a biography to match.

A Boise High School baseball pitcher who struck out a fellow Idaho native son destined for better days on the diamond: future Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew.

A political aspirant who lost three runs for office — then landed, for more than a decade, on the state’s Supreme Court.

A student of his state’s heritage, who dedicated time and energy to preserving the history of his adopted home of Idaho City.

Politico.com has released a list of five congressional Republicans who "matter" on immigration.

Heading the Beltway insider website's list: 1st Congressional District Rep. Raul Labrador.

"This freshman with rock-solid conservative credentials is high on the list of likely partners for Democrats on any immigration overhaul," writes Politico's Seung Min Kim.

Here's a draft of our Tuesday editorial.

Question: Where are public comments not suitable for public viewing?

Answer: In that alternative governing reality known as the Ada County Courthouse.

The Statesman has filed a public records request for 150 written comments on the controversial Dynamis waste-to-energy plant proposal. We haven’t received the comments: just a letter saying it will cost $110 to provide them.

Why? The county wants its lawyers to sift through the comments and black out any “protected information.”

Former Gov. Phil Batt — the architect of a 1995 nuclear waste cleanup agreement with the federal government — is urging Idaho to leave the agreement alone.

The deal, upheld by voters in 1996, sets deadlines for Idaho National Laboratory cleanup, and blocks additional shipments of nuclear waste after 2035.

UPDATED, 2:53 p.m., to clarify Otter's remarks on the 1995 agreement.

A 1995 nuclear waste cleanup agreement with the federal government protects Idaho's "health, security and future economic well-being," as should be left alone.

So says former Gov. Cecil Andrus, who spent much of his four terms in the Statehouse pushing the feds to clean up wastes at the Idaho National Laboratory.

A draft of our Sunday editorial.

Let’s restate what should be the obvious: Idaho’s schools are hardly flush with ­money.

Idaho’s per-pupil spending remains mired at next to the last in the nation, exceeding only Utah.

The state’s K-12 budget is still struggling to make up ground lost during the Great Recession. The 2012-13 general fund budget for K-12 is $1.28 billion, or $11.8 million less than 2007-08.

Here's a sneak preview of our Friday lead editorial.

One month ago Thursday, Idaho voters emphatically rejected the Tom Luna K-12 overhaul, rejecting both the content and the secretive, top-down method in which it was presented.

But that, evidently, was just so November.

In his final two days as Idaho House speaker, Lawrence Denney offered an odd motivational speech to newbie legislators.

Speaking at an orientation meeting Tuesday, the Midvale Republican welcomed the rookies to "the goldfish bowl," cautioned them not to do anything to embarrass themselves or the institution, and made them an offer.

"If you drink too much, I'm going to give each one of you my cell phone number and I will come and take you home, because I don't want to read about it in the newspaper because everything that we do reflects on every one of us.