Democratic gubernatorial candidate Keith Allred has launched his second TV ad of the campaign, focusing on this year's funding cuts to public schools; more on the ad tomorrow; you can watch it here. With TV ads playing such an important messaging role in Idaho's big campaigns, reporters like me work to check out the claims and put the ads in perspective, but it's not always an easy thing to do on deadline. That's why this year's Idaho Press Club fall conference couldn't be better timed: It will bring in the head of FactCheck.org to advise reporters here on skills and tools for effective fact-checking on deadline, and holding politicians accountable for their claims.

Also scheduled: Sessions on tapping social media and new media and the law. If you're an Idaho reporter or editor and haven't yet registered for the conference, do it now; there's info here. (Yes, I'm the president of the Idaho Press Club, but I can't claim any credit for this conference - it was organized by our Southwest Chapter board, which is ably headed by Todd Dvorak of the AP.) The conference, entitled "Behind the Lines: A reporter's path to the truth," is this Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.