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IDAHO WINES
Official: Idaho wines getting national attention
(Information in the following story is from: Lewiston Tribune, http://www.lmtribune.com)
LEWISTON, Idaho (AP) — The executive director of the Idaho Wine Commission says the state is getting national attention for its wines.
Moya Dolsby credits a $400,000 annual budget funded through the state liquor tax and wine industry assessment as well as enthusiastic supporters.
Dolsby tells the Lewiston Tribune that she no longer has to beg restaurants and retailers to try Idaho wines.
The state's wine industry has grown from a single commercial winery in 1976 to 50 today.
The industry contributes more than $73 million to the state's economy and provides nearly 700 full-time jobs.
PULLMAN-MOSCOW AIRPORT
Pullman-Moscow airport looks at improvements
(Information in the following story is from: The Moscow-Pullman Daily News, http://www.dnews.com)
MOSCOW, Idaho (AP) — Officials say the Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport needs improvements to keep up with more demand and bigger aircraft.
Airport Executive Director Tony Bean says the airport has fallen behind the times because aircraft are increasing in size.
Bean says there isn't the space and capacity to land current-size aircraft safely, and as the trend doesn't seem likely to change, the problem will only worsen.
The Moscow-Pullman Daily News reports that the concerns are the driving force behind a $66 million project to realign and extend the runway and move the terminal at the airport.
The project would be funded through a grant from the Federal Aviation Administration, of which the region will be liable for 10 percent.
RINGTAIL RESEARCH
Radio-collared ringtail is first for Idaho science
(Information in the following story is from: The Times-News, http://www.magicvalley.com)
TWIN FALLS, Idaho (AP) — Idaho biologists are getting new insight into the presence of the elusive ringtail in the state.
Biologists are tracking a female ringtail that was captured on the south side of Twin Falls on March 21 and then fitted with a radio collar.
State Department of Fish and Game biologist Ross Winton tells The Twin Falls Times-News that biologists have no idea what the ringtail population is in southern Idaho.
This tiny carnivore with big ears, pointed nose, long tail and striking facial markings is a member of the raccoon family. It eats rodents, birds, berries and insects and inhabits mostly the rocky deserts of the Southwest and Mexico.
Biologists plan to start a ringtail DNA database to determine whether Idaho's ringtails are connected with populations in Utah or Nevada.
FILER SHOOTING
S. Idaho man wants preliminary hearing
(Information in the following story is from: The Times-News, http://www.magicvalley.com)
TWIN FALLS, Idaho (AP) — A 23-year-old Twin Falls man charged with first-degree murder says he didn't receive adequate legal advice before waiving his right to a preliminary hearing.
Bradly Frank James filed an affidavit in 5th District Court on Wednesday seeking to set aside the waiver of the preliminary hearing.
James on Feb. 4 waived the hearing and was bound over to district court where he pleaded not guilty to the Dec. 12 fatal shooting and stabbing of 58-year-old Larry Ray Miller.
The Times-News reports that James changed attorneys on March 17, and the next day filed a motion seeking to set aside the waiver.
MORMON CONFERENCE
Mormon president urges members to love others
(Information in the following story is from: The Salt Lake Tribune, http://www.sltrib.com)
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Mormon church President Thomas Monson urged members to follow Jesus Christ's example by showing love toward others.
The Salt Lake Tribune reports that Monson also stressed the importance of forgiveness during a talk Sunday in Salt Lake City during the faith's biannual general conference.
The conference, which ended Sunday, brought more than 100,000 Latter-day Saints to Salt Lake City to find out church news and soak up words of guidance and inspiration from the faith's top leaders. Millions more watched worldwide.
Elder L. Tom Perry, second in line for the Mormon presidency, urged members to avoid life's pitfalls by practicing obedience.
BLM BUDGET-WILD HORSES
BLM budget focuses on wild horses, sage grouse
RENO, Nev. (AP) — Wild-horse fertility control and sage-grouse habitat conservation are among top priorities in the proposed $1.1 billion budget for the federal Bureau of Land Management.
President Barack Obama's request for the 2015 fiscal year calls for an increase of $2.8 million in funding for the agency's wild horse and burro program, and would allow it to continue studies to develop more effective contraceptive drugs and techniques.
The BLM has pledged to step up the use of fertility control as an alternative to controversial roundups of what it calls overpopulated mustang herds on U.S. rangelands in the West.
Agency officials say that if approved by Congress, the request would further the BLM's implementation of recommendations made by an independent panel of the National Academy of Sciences in 2013.
In a report highly critical of the BLM, the panel says the agency should invest in widespread fertility control of the mustangs instead of spending millions to house them.
It concludes the BLM's removal of nearly 100,000 horses from the Western range over the past decade is probably having the opposite effect of its intention to ease ecological damage and reduce overpopulated herds.
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