Kathy Plonka/Spokesman-Review

Skyway Elementary 3rd grader Braden Farrar worked his was through the second day of ISAT testing at the school in Coeur d'Alene on Tuesday. The state board cut the testing requirement for second graders and ditched the winter round of testing for grades 3-9 here.

1. Idahoans who own the homes in which they live will get up to a $100,938 tax exemption for 2008. The Idaho Tax Commission released the number Wednesday, though it won't go into effect until next year. The rate is based on home values increasing around the state here.

2. The Idaho State Board of Education will meet Wednesday and is likely to approve proposed 2008 legislation, including a measure that would allow community colleges to double their tuition limit to $2,500 annually to cover the rising cost of education here.

3. Online Poll: 51% of 833 respondents to an Idaho Statesman poll say that U.S. Sen. Larry Craig shouldn't have returned to the Senate Tuesday here.

4. News Roundup: Boise family may have been bitten by rabid bat here; Craig surprises Senate colleagues with return here; BLM OKs $23M to restore landscape charred by Murphy fire here; Spirit Lake looks forward to new bank here; and Private prisons possible in Idaho here.

5. Blogosphere: Free In Idaho, Idaho senators support amnesty; Adam's Blog, Class warfare and firefighting; Mountain Goat Report, Sali vote, 9/18/07; IdaBlue, A shocker: Otter's court pick; and Fort Boise, Huckabee's the one.

6. IMHO-Idaho: Marty Trillhaase/Idaho Falls Post Register, (A grizzly food train; Tom Henderson/Lewiston Tribune, Hats off? Over my dead body; Idaho Statesman, Idaho needs to be proactive with new area code; Steve Crump/Twin Falls Times-News, Will you be 208? Or something else?; and Desire Aguirre/North Idaho College Sentinel, Age with style and grace.

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