Despite uncertain economic times, it appears that one state revenue source in Idaho is clipping along just fine: People still are buying lottery tickets. “For us here, we have maintained the kind of sales levels that we’ve forecasted,” said Idaho Lottery Director Jeff Anderson. “We’ll end up the current fiscal year somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 to 5 percent over last year.”

The annual announcement of the “dividend” – the amount of lottery proceeds raised for Idaho schools and a state building fund – is scheduled for Monday, and it sounds like it’ll be rosy news. Asked what the correlation is between lottery ticket sales and the economy, Anderson said it varies from state to state. “Some jurisdictions are doing better than that, others are not, and typically the ones that are not doing as well are in states where citizens have other options for gaming entertainment, whether it be tribal casinos, riverboat, slot machines, card rooms, that kind of stuff. So in Idaho we’re kind of isolated in the sense that we don’t have a lot of casino action going on, and people who enjoy the type of entertainment that we provide, it’s the only game in town.”

He added, “For the state, every play pays, whether you’re a winner or a non-winner.” Since it started in 1989, the state lottery has raised $367.5 million for public schools and state buildings; last year’s dividend was a record $34 million. Lottery players in Idaho also have benefited from something of a stroke of luck in the past year, with 15 “Match 5” jackpot winners in the multistate Powerball game, when Idaho’s share of the game statistically should have yielded only seven winners. Said Anderson, “It’s just how statistics work – it’s the luck of the draw, if you will.”

Though Idaho’s overall unemployment rates still are low, the latest numbers show some troubling economic news, according to the state Department of Labor. For the fourth straight month, seasonally adjusted unemployment rates rose in June, from 3.6 percent to 3.8 percent – when June usually brings rates unchanged from May – and there were 11,000-plus fewer Idahoans working in June than a year earlier in June of 2007. Nationally, unemployment is at 5.5 percent, but didn’t rise from May to June. Idaho’s increase was the “largest May-to-June increase on record,” the department reported. Overall, “Employment has not decreased this significantly since 1980.” Labor officials also said, “The number of Idaho workers without jobs increased 1,900 to 28,800, the highest number of unemployed since April 2005.” Below is the department’s full press release.

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In a case involving a challenge to a North Idaho timber sale, the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has issued a ruling declaring that judges shouldn’t be attempting to act as scientists and tell the Forest Service how to protect wildlife – and distancing itself from past rulings that might have suggested they could. Here’s a link to the July 2 decision in the case, Lands Council vs. McNair. “In essence, Lands Council asks this court to act as a panel of scientists that instructs the Forest Service how to validate its hypotheses regarding wildlife viability, chooses among scientific studies in determining whether the Forest Service has complied with the underlying Forest Plan, and orders the agency to explain every possible scientific uncertainty,” Circuit Judge Milan D. Smith Jr. wrote for the court, in a ruling upholding an earlier decision by U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge. “… This is not a proper role for a federal appellate court. But Lands Council’s arguments illustrate how, in recent years, our environmental jurisprudence has, at times, shifted away from the appropriate standard of review and could be read to suggest that this court should play such a role.”

The Cook Political Report, published by Charles E. Cook Jr., is one of the most credible non-partisan trackers of congressional races (The New York Times called it “a newsletter that both parties regard as authoritative,” while Bob Schieffer of CBS News once called it the “bible of the political community”). Now the report has Idaho on its latest list of changing races, moving freshman 1st District GOP Congressman Bill Sali’s re-election race from “solid Republican” to “likely Republican.” “While it’s not likely that a majority of the races moved from "Solid" to "Likely" Republican will become competitive by November, the poor national climate for the GOP and the DCCC's unprecedented financial edge makes even very difficult districts for Democrats worth keeping tabs on,” wrote David Wasserman, the report’s editor. The Idaho race was one of 21 House races that the Cook report moved from “solid” to “likely” Republican today. Three races were changed from “likely Republican” to “lean Republican,” two from “toss-up” to “lean Democratic,” and one in Pennsylvania was moved the other direction, from “likely Democratic” to “lean Democratic.”

Longtime Idaho tax auditor Stan Howland, whose whistleblower report charged that the Idaho Tax Commission is cutting secret deals with multistate corporations to excuse them from state taxes they owe, said today, “I would say that I 100 percent totally stand by my report.” He said analyses by the tax commissioners and by Senate Tax Chairman Brent Hill of the cases he cited were “inaccurate,” and said, “I still am requesting an independent, third-party investigation.”

You can read my full story here at spokesmanreview.com.

Some news reports in the past week suggested that Senate Tax Chairman Brent Hill was dismissing complaints about secret tax deals at the state Tax Commission, but Hill told Eye on Boise today that wasn’t his intent at all. “I didn’t mean to indicate that everything was fine,” he said. Hill said in his view, two questions need to be addressed: Did the tax commissioners do anything illegal, and should there be changes at the commission, as suggested in whistleblower Stan Howland’s report? Hill said he agrees with the commissioners’ approach of settling some tax cases to avoid litigation. “If … the commissioners have acted contrary to Idaho law, then I’m committed to trying to change Idaho law,” he said. “The commissioners need to have leeway to use their good judgment – that’s what we’re paying them for.” But, he added, “I think some of his (Howland’s) suggestions do have some merit.”

Among them: “Any settlements, I think we should have those as open as possible.” Hill said he wasn’t convinced by a brief statement from tax commissioners that they must keep settlements secret or they can’t share information with the IRS. “I would like chapter and verse on that,” he said. “What is dictating that? … I think we could structure it in such a way that we could make it more accessible so that the public and others could judge whether these settlements are appropriate or not, so I agree with him on that count. I think we should definitely look into that.”

Hill said of Howland, “I see a very dedicated auditor whose job is to go in and collect the most tax that the law provides. And then a lot of frustration, because the commissioners are taking what he’s put his blood, sweat and tears into to come up with and giving part of that away.” Hill said he sees the role of tax commissioners differently than Howland does. In Hill’s memo to Gov. Butch Otter, he wrote that Idaho’s “taxpayer bill of rights,” passed in 1993, altered the role of commissioners, so that auditors represent the state’s interest in collecting taxes, while “the commissioners must represent everyone’s interests from the government to the taxpayer. This difference in roles will always generate conflict between the commissioners and audit personnel.”

Idaho Senate Tax Chairman Brent Hill, R-Rexburg, is calling on Gov. Butch Otter to launch an independent investigation of some of the allegations raised in a whistleblower's report charging that the state Tax Commission cut secret deals to excuse multistate corporations from paying millions in state taxes. In a five-page recommendation sent to Otter today, Hill said if Otter doesn't launch an independent investigation, he'll call a special meeting this summer of his Senate committee to look into the issues. Hill said he doubts laws were broken, but said that call is up to Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, who is investigating that question. Hill, a CPA, said he thought that settling cases rather than litigating them often is in the public interest, and if what the commissioners have done in the cases he’s examined is illegal, then Idaho laws should be changed to legalize it. But he said he’s concerned about the secrecy of the deals and making sure that tax decisions and procedures are fair. Below is Hill’s memo.

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State tax auditor Stan Howland, whose 17-page whistleblower report charging that the state Tax Commission has cut secret deals with large multistate corporations to excuse them from millions in state taxes, sent a letter to Gov. Butch Otter today calling on him to initiate a thorough investigation of the Tax Commission including examination of the resolution of all multistate audits for the past several years, and all internal procedures of the Tax Commission. Earlier, at Otter’s request, state tax commissioners had issued a formal response to Howland’s report. In that response, the tax commissioners defended the practices, denied any wrongdoing, and said the secrecy of the deals is appropriate. Below is Howland’s letter; here’s a link to the point-by-point response Howland has provided to the Tax Commission’s defense of its practices.

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Former Idaho Govs. Phil Batt and Cecil Andrus joined current Gov. Butch Otter and state and federal officials today to announce a long-awaited agreement for the federal government to remove buried waste from the Idaho National Laboratory in eastern Idaho. The agreement resolves six years of litigation between the feds and the state that followed a federal assertion that the 1995 agreement Batt reached with them didn’t require them to remove waste that was buried below-ground. Batt called the new agreement, which implements a 2006 federal court order, “a very good agreement,” and said, “Thank you, Governor Butch.” He added, “We beat ‘em a couple of times. I think we could beat ‘em again, but I don’t think it’d be in our interest … because we have a very good agreement here to get it done.” Any further delays would just mean more chance that nuclear waste, stored underground in deteriorating barrels, could leak into Idaho’s Snake Plain aquifer, Batt said.

Batt, who took lots of heat as governor for negotiating the 1995 agreement, said today is “an important day for me. At my age, I’m a little afraid I’m going to be buried before the waste got dug up.”

Andrus said he first received assurances from the federal government when he was governor that the waste would be “cleaned up by the end of that decade” – and that was in 1972. He also praised Otter for achieving a level of “trust” with federal officials that he said was lacking in his time. But he added that his message to the feds is, “Yes, I trust you, but I’m going to live to be 100 and I’m going to be watching you every step of the way.”

Otter called today “one of the most momentous days of my administration thus far.” Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden praised the agreement, as did EPA Regional Administrator Elin Miller. The removal of the buried waste from INL, plus cleanup and stabilization at the site to protect the aquifer, will cost between $1.3 billion and $1.7 billion. Waste removal will be completed by 2020, and the full project by 2027. Congress will have to appropriate the funds each year for the project, but U.S. Department of Energy Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management James Rispoli said it’ll be a top priority. Protecting the aquifer, he said, “ranks up there with some of the most significant risks that we deal with.”

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Larry LaRocco today released the results of a poll that showed that in a head-to-head contest, 500 likely Idaho voters chose Republican Jim Risch over LaRocco 43 percent to 28 percent, with independent Rex Rammell getting 6 percent, “other” at 6 percent and 18 percent undecided. It doesn’t seem like that sounds so great for LaRocco. But when respondents to the 500-person poll “heard about Risch and LaRocco’s stances on the issues and were asked to vote again, LaRocco had 40 percent, Risch 37 percent, Rammell 5 percent, other 5 percent and undecideds dropped to 13 percent,” the LaRocco campaign said in a press release, saying, “Voters choose LaRocco when they know the issues.”

Among the issues discussed: Energy, G.I. bill enhancements, LaRocco’s opposition to NAFTA, the many jobs LaRocco has taken for a day each across the state as part of his campaign, the Risch property tax relief plan from his seven months as governor, which lowered property taxes while raising the sales tax, and the importation of radioactive sand from Kuwait to Idaho.

The poll also found 54 percent of respondents holding an unfavorable view of President George W. Bush, in a state where Bush long has been considerably more popular than he was elsewhere in the country; Bush took 68.4 percent of the vote in Idaho in 2004.

The LaRocco campaign said the poll also found that Risch “is neither well-known nor well-liked.” It was conducted by Democratic pollster Celinda Lake from May 20-25 and has a margin of error of 4.5 percent. Campaign spokesman Dean Ferguson said, “We like it, because it shows that Jim Risch is weak and probably a lot weaker than people think.” Risch is the state’s current lieutenant governor and served briefly as governor when then-Gov. Dirk Kempthorne was appointed secretary of the Interior. LaRocco is a former two-term 1st District congressman.

High gas prices could mean lower insurance rates for drivers who respond by changing their driving habits, according to Idaho state insurance chief Bill Deal.

“Commuters who no longer drive to work may be eligible for an insurance rate reduction,” said Deal, director of the Idaho Department of Insurance. Vehicles rated for “pleasure” use rather than for driving to business or school could qualify for lower rates, he said, with savings averaging 10 to 15 percent.

The state insurance department said with soaring gas prices, “Many people have started carpooling or using alternate means of transportation such as mass transit, scooters, bikes or even walking.” But Deal said people may not realize that such changes could bring them insurance savings. Those savings will vary by insurer, and people should check with their agents, he said. Deal was a longtime insurance agent and former president of the Independent Insurance Agents of Idaho before being named state insurance director last year. He’s also a former Republican state legislator from Nampa who served eight terms. You can read my full story here at spokesmanreview.com.

Former Idaho Republican Party Chairman Trent Clark, who is director of government and public affairs for Monsanto Corp., is the new chairman of the board of the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry, a major business lobbying group. Clark is known in journalism circles for making a controversial comment in an interview with an S-R reporter, then claiming it wasn’t what he said and suing the paper for libel. Clark lost, repeatedly, including when he appealed the case to the Idaho Supreme Court.

Here’s his comment: “You probably cannot find an African-American male on the street in Washington, D.C. that hasn’t been arrested or convicted of a crime.” After a public outcry over the comment, including concerns from members of his own party, Clark claimed in a written statement that he’d actually told the newspaper, “You probably cannot find an African-American male on the street in Washington, D.C. who that (sic) doesn’t have friends who have been arrested or convicted of a crime.” The courts didn’t buy it; the Idaho Supreme Court’s ruling was unanimous. Clark’s repeated appeals kept the case alive for six years past the original Feb. 2, 2001 article; the Supreme Court rejected the final appeal in May of 2007.

Someone won $200,000 in the Idaho lottery in January, but still hasn’t claimed the prize – and if he or she doesn’t come forward in the next three and a half weeks, it’ll be the third $200,000 Idaho lottery prize in three years to go unclaimed. State officials aren’t complaining too hard about the absent-minded prize winners – if the winnings are unclaimed, they’re divided between Idaho’s public schools and a fund for state buildings.

The currently unclaimed prize is for someone who purchased a “Match 5” ticket in Malad for the Jan. 26 Powerball draw. The player didn’t match the “Powerball” number, but matched all five of the other numbers in the drawing to win a $200,000 prize. That’s the same thing a Fish Haven, Idaho purchaser did back in back in 2005, and an Albertson’s customer in Caldwell did in April of 2006; neither ever claimed their winnings. “Some players think, ‘If I didn’t get the Powerball, I didn’t win,” Idaho Lottery Director Jeff Anderson said. He’s urging ticket purchasers to check again. Winners have six months to claim their prizes; the Malad purchaser has until July 23.

Most lottery winners claim their prizes within a few days, said Idaho Lottery spokesman David Workman. But a Rathdrum woman who won $600,000 in December waited until February to claim it, and a Pocatello man who won $2.78 million last June didn’t claim his prize until five weeks later, in August of 2007. You can read my full story here at spokesmanreview.com.

Kassie Cerami, the volunteer who together with T.J. Thomson created an unprecedented grass-roots movement in Idaho for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, has signed on with Larry LaRocco’s U.S. Senate campaign as his new state field director. Cerami said she’s a “true LaRoccObaman,” and said in a statement, “I’m putting all my passionate energy for change into Idaho’s Senate race because we need leaders who care about issues such as health care, jobs, and the environment. We need leaders like Larry LaRocco who understand the challenges facing families. We need leaders who won’t let us be rushed into war. We need leaders with the courage to say, “enough is enough,’ who will pull our soldiers out of Iraq.”

LaRocco, a former two-term Democratic congressman from Idaho’s 1st District, is seeking the U.S. Senate seat now held by longtime GOP Sen. Larry Craig, who is retiring. Lt. Gov. Jim Risch is the Republican candidate, and the race also includes two independents and one Libertarian.

This was as puzzling as could be. Just a week after the Idaho Transportation Board received a report on the Dover Bridge on Highway 2 in North Idaho, declared the 71-year-old bridge safe but still sorely in need of replacement, and bemoaned the fact that there’s no money to do it – the project isn’t in the ITD’s five-year plan at this point – I received a press release from the state DEQ calling for public comments on permits for wetlands filling “to construct a replacement bridge on U.S. Highway 2 near Dover.” Comments are due by July 25.

So is the bridge replacement happening? Did someone find the $25 million? What the heck? “I was surprised, because ITD had a sense of urgency with this, so we were really trying to get it out the door quickly for them,” said June Bergquist in the DEQ’s Coeur d’Alene Regional Office. “It’s called the Dover Bridge project,” she said.

Alas, it turns out that nothing has changed as far as the funding status for the project – it’s still not scheduled for funding. What’s happening is a federal environmental permit for the project that was issued back in 2005 is expiring, and needs renewing. “We want to be able to maintain a project on the shelf that we could pull down immediately if we have the funding,” said Barbara Babic, spokeswoman for the ITD’s district office in Coeur d’Alene. “So yeah, if the permit expires, we’re going after it just to keep it current. If $25 million fell into our lap and we could use it on the Dover Bridge, there would be no delays on the part of the design and being able to take it out to bid.”

Nicholle Braspennickx, regulatory project manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said, “That’s exactly what’s happening – they’re trying to make sure their authorizations stay current, so that should the money come around … because it is in bad shape, the Dover Bridge. They do need to replace that bridge.” The May issue of Popular Mechanics magazine included the Idaho span as one of the “10 pieces of U.S. infrastructure we must fix now,” a list that also included the Brooklyn Bridge, O’Hare International Airport in Chicago and the Sacramento River levies.

A pair of Christian activists are pleading poverty after failing to pay a $10,131 federal court judgment from their failed effort to return a Ten Commandments monument to a city park in Boise – and now the city has slapped a lien on “all real and personal property” owned by the two, the Rev. Bryan Fischer and Brandi Swindell. “This judgment will remain on your credit record until the debt is paid in full,” the city informed the two in a June 23 letter. “We urge you to contact us immediately to resolve this matter. If we do not hear from you by July 15, 2008, we will proceed against you to collect the amounts due, plus interest and costs.” Fischer posted an appeal for funds on his Idaho Values Alliance website today, complaining, “Ms. Swindell and I both work for small non-profit organizations and thus have limited means. The city of Boise, on the other hand, has an annual budget of $479 million, and thus is certainly in a position to waive this judgment.” U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge ordered the two to pay the $10,131 on April 8, 2004. The activists filed an appeal with the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, but the appeals court dismissed it on May 12, 2004.

Only seven states – none of them in the West – require registration of non-motorized boats. Yet Idaho Gov. Butch Otter is pushing for registration of canoes, kayaks and other non-motorized vessels in the Gem State. “There’s probably more activity in Idaho – we’ve got the longest stretches of whitewater in the United States,” Otter said. “We have enough activity, and I think enough use of the parking lots, the docks, the launching pads, that I think it warrants taking a look at it.” Otter has a task force, including jet boaters, whitewater paddlers, state officials and legislators, studying the issue now, and may propose legislation next year to start non-motorized boat registration.

If Idaho goes that route, it’ll actually be bucking a trend in the West. Two western states – Alaska and Arizona – had non-motorized boat registration, but eliminated it in the past eight years. Alaska boating safety administrator Jeff Johnson said, “The paddlers were complaining it was onerous and ridiculous. We almost lost the boating program over it.” You can read my full story here in today’s Spokesman-Review.

Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden has joined with attorneys general of 10 other states to announce a legal settlement in which Anheuser-Busch will stop making “alcohol energy” drinks that combine alcohol with high amounts of stimulants like caffeine. The attorneys general said the products, including “Tilt” and “Bud Extra,” were being heavily marketed to young people with slogans like, “You can sleep when you’re 30.”

“The stimulants in these beverages mask the effects of the alcohol,” Wasden said. “As a result, the consumer feels alert and, although impaired by alcohol, does not perceive that he or she is impaired. Obviously, this creates a highly dangerous situation. I appreciate Anheuser-Busch’s willingness to address our concerns directly and be a responsible leader in its marketing efforts.”

The company agreed to reformulate Tilt and Bud Extra without caffeine or other stimulants, and to stop marketing alcoholic energy drinks in all 50 states. The AG’s said such products taste and look like non-alcoholic energy drinks, and are popular with young people who incorrectly believe that the caffeine in the drinks will counteract the intoxicating effects of the alcohol. A recent study by Wake Forest University found heavier drinking and more sexual assault and injury among college students who mixed alcohol and energy drinks. The attorneys general called on other companies that manufacture similar products to follow Anheuser-Busch’s lead. Said Wasden, “The decision to stop marketing these beverages is a decision that demonstrates a concern for the public good.”

Idaho’s four state tax commissioners have issued a formal response disputing a whistleblower’s report that accused them of cutting secret tax deals to excuse multistate corporations from paying millions in state taxes. “The Commission, and the individuals involved, reject as completely untrue any allegation that cases are illegally or inappropriately compromised,” the commissioners wrote.

Longtime state tax auditor Stan Howland, who has worked for the state Tax Commission for 28 years, three weeks ago sent a 17-page report detailing his claims to state lawmakers, the governor and the Idaho attorney general. Howland contended that the commissioners are routinely settling disputed tax cases with corporations, and that confidentiality laws prevent anyone from finding out about it.

Commissioners Royce Chigbrow, Sam Haws, Coleen Grant and Tom Katsilometes wrote in their response, “What Mr. Howland deplores as unjustifiable secrecy, others regard as laudable confidentiality designed to protect privacy.” They contended that tax law for multistate corporations is more complex than Howland suggested, and that confidential settlements therefore are often preferable to litigation or published, precedent-setting rulings. You can read my full story here at spokesmanreview.com, and the commissioners' full reponse here. Also, here's a link to Howland's report.

Asked what kind of reaction he’s getting so far to his “road show” pushing a big investment into transportation improvements, Gov. Butch Otter told Eye on Boise today, “We’re getting a lot of ‘hmmm’s.’ We’re getting a lot of this,” stroking his chin.

Otter said, “Last year’s resistance to it – mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa – I just assumed that everybody knew what I knew, that we were falling in disrepair and that every year we were falling further and further behind, and that we needed to have more revenues … It’s just gonna get worse, and then it’s gonna cost us a whole lot more.” The governor said he’s pleased with the DVD he made to make the case for addressing a $240 million-a-year road construction and maintenance shortfall; the video is being shown at meetings around the state, including a legislative briefing last week where it was unveiled, and an IACI conference yesterday at Tamarack Resort. “I think it presents a good case,” Otter said. In the video, Otter warns that Idaho’s deteriorating roads and bridges threaten both the state’s economy and public safety, and says, “I hope you come away as convinced as I am that the time is now for us to act to build roads, to build bridges, and most of all to build consensus.”

State Sen. Tom Gannon, R-Buhl, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, died today of cancer. He was 62. Gannon, a Twin Falls native and Buhl High School graduate, was a retired U.S. Navy commander who first was elected to the state Senate in 2002. He served three terms despite serious health problems, including his diagnosis with prostate cancer in September of 2003. During the 2008 session, his wife, Jeanne, finished the session for him when he was ill. Gannon, who also served on the Senate Education Committee, was known as an outspoken advocate of public schools. Gov. Butch Otter issued the following statement:

“Tom Gannon was a fine state senator, an able chairman and a dedicated public servant. He also was a rancher, a scholar, a patriot, a veteran, a community leader, and most importantly a husband, father and friend. We celebrate all that he was, and mourn all that we have lost.”

Idaho Gov. Butch Otter spoke at the annual conference of the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry this morning at Tamarack Resort, and he offered some budget warnings. “Now, don’t get me wrong: We are doing better than a lot of other states,” Otter said in remarks prepared for the event. “And it’s my goal to keep growing Idaho’s economy to the $60 billion level. But times have tightened up quite a bit over the past year, and especially since early this year. And for the next year or so the budget watchwords are going to have to be ‘CAUTION’ and ‘FRUGAL.’”

The governor also made a strong pitch for his transportation plan, which, though still being refined, calls for addressing a $240 million-a-year backlog in road construction and maintenance. “The importance of caution and frugality becomes even more apparent when you consider what we MUST spend more money on,” Otter said. “First among those priorities is transportation – our roads, highways, and bridges throughout Idaho. … It is affecting how and where you do business. And it truly is a statewide issue. We have to cowboy up and muster the political will to act now.”

State Treasurer Ron Crane has returned from the annual rating and sale of Idaho’s state tax anticipation notes, and reports that not only did the state maintain the top rating available for short-term debt from the three largest New York rating agencies, its financial health also was upgraded from “stable” to “positive.” “This is huge,” Crane said. “This reflects the state’s multi-year additions to budgetary reserves such as the budget stabilization account, the rainy day fund and other savings accounts which the governor and legislature have worked so hard to preserve.” Crane said Idaho has 14 percent of its general fund revenues, or $400 million, in reserve accounts.

Idaho sold $600 million in tax anticipation notes last week, with an interest rate of 1.72 percent.

It’s now been two months since convicted multiple murderer Joseph Duncan’s death sentence hearings were put on hold to determine Duncan’s mental competence, after he sought to jettison his legal defense team and instead act as his own attorney in the proceedings. Now, there’s another delay for at least two more (and likely three) weeks. First, a local clinical psychologist was brought in to evaluate the defendant’s competency; his report was filed under seal with the court the first week of May. Then, the judge, on May 13, ordered an additional mental competency evaluation, further suspending the hearings, which had been just a week into jury selection when they halted. The pool of more than 300 potential jurors – the largest ever called in federal court in Idaho – was advised to call in yesterday after 5 p.m. for further instructions.

What they were told: Call back on July 7. The court entered an order this morning reflecting that. “Potential jurors are free to go about their business or vacations, so long as they notify the Jury Administrator if they will be out of the area for more than two weeks,” the order states. It also orders prospective jurors to notify the administrator if they’ll be out of the area for more than two weeks beginning on or after July 1, which suggests July 14 is likely the earliest date the proceedings will start up again.

It’s tough to know what’s going on in the case, because nearly everything in it – including practically all recent court filings – has been sealed by the court. But it appears that both sides continue to wrangle over issues relating to Duncan’s competency. One recent filing regards government objections to a defense motion to restrict use of the competency information and to redact portions of the second evaluation report.

For the hundreds of prospective jurors, the situation means they’re still ordered to avoid all news reports about the case, an order that’s been in effect since they first were called for jury duty in April.

Duncan, 44, is a convicted child molester from Tacoma who spent much of his adult life in Washington state prisons. He was on the run from a child molesting charge in Minnesota when he spotted two North Idaho children, Shasta and Dylan Groene, playing outside their home in May of 2005. Duncan killed the children’s older brother, mother, and her fiancée in a bloody attack at the family’s home in order to kidnap the two youngsters, whom he molested repeatedly before killing 9-year-old Dylan. Only Shasta, then 8, survived the seven-week ordeal. The current federal sentencing hearings are to allow a jury to decide if he should get the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole for his crimes against the two children. He still faces a possible death sentence on state charges for the murders at the Groene family home, and is a suspect in three other child murders in California and Washington.

A year ago, Idaho Gov. Butch Otter issued an executive order calling for an inventory of greenhouse gas emissions in Idaho, plus recommendations on how to reduce them. Now, the first report is out from the state DEQ, and it contains a somewhat startling finding: Though Idaho is a low emitter of the greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming compared to most states, the state’s emissions grew twice as fast as the nation’s from 1990 to 2005, 31 percent vs. the national rate of 16 percent. The top culprits: Cars and trucks were No. 1, responsible for 27 percent of Idaho’s emissions, and coming in second at 25 percent was, surprisingly, agriculture. Methane gas from cattle at mega-dairies and other large animal operations was found to be one of Idaho’s major sources of greenhouse gas emissions. You can read the full report here, read about the DEQ’s efforts here and see S-R environmental reporter Becky Kramer’s full article here in The Spokesman-Review.