The cost to the state of Idaho for fighting the wrongful-firing lawsuit from former ITD chief Pam Lowe: $540,479 and counting, reports Idaho Statesman reporter Cynthia Sewell today, who learned that figure by filing a public records request under the Idaho Public Records Law. That's the total as of March 31 for the taxpayers' tab for the private law firm the state hired to fight Lowe's lawsuit. You can read Sewell's full report here.

Meanwhile, I'm on vacation for much of this week (and the spring skiing up at Bogus Basin today was fabulous, absolutely fabulous!), but I did receive some info in response to a public records request of my own to ITD: The Connecting Idaho Partners contract, which Lowe contends she was fired for trying to trim back, has swelled to $82,929,461 - that's right, $82.9 million - as of the end of March 2012. The management contract with URS, formerly Washington Group, and CH2M Hill, was first envisioned at $50 million over 10 years; Lowe was trying to reduce it to less than $30 million.