Idaho Gov. Butch Otter signed a tax incentive bill into law Wednesday for new hires that's winning bipartisan praise as a bright spot in addressing Idaho's biggest issue this year - job creation - but there were few others in this year's legislative session. "I don't think as long as you've got one person in the state of Idaho out of work, we're ever doing enough," said Otter, who noted that 74,000 Idahoans are now unemployed. "We're doing what we can." You can read my full story here at spokesman.com.

The bill, HB 297a, passed during the same legislative session in which lawmakers killed the state's major tax incentive for alternative energy development in a spat over neighbors' objections to wind turbines, and cut hundreds of public- and private-sector jobs through budget cuts in education and Medicaid. In this year's Boise State University public policy survey, Idahoans listed jobs as by far the most important issue facing the state.