Families needed for budget story
Mortgage, heat, car payments, medical co-pays – the cost of everything seems to be going up. Or is it?
The Spokesman-Review is working on a package of stories and graphics that will look at how much things cost and how families budget their money to buy what they need and want.
We’re looking for two families to profile. Would you like to nominate your family? If so, you must be willing to talk about your household income and where it goes each month.
If that’s OK with you, please send us an e-mail at risingcosts@spokesman.com and give us your name and contact information.
– Staff reports
Boise
Plates to keep potato slogan
The Senate Transportation Committee voted for potatoes Thursday – and against a bill that would have let drivers delete the phrase “Famous Potatoes” from their standard-issue license plates.
“It’s funny how deep this question has become,” Sen. David Langhorst said after the committee heard impassioned testimony about Idaho potatoes not only from the leading potato lobbyists but also from a representative for the region’s onion growers.
“What Idaho should be recognized for is a really huge question; that’s the kind of thing that develops over decades or generations,” said Langhorst, D-Boise. “I’m not sure that’s a decision we want to start making today.”
Idaho’s standard red, white and blue license plates now include the phrases “Famous Potatoes” and “Scenic Idaho.” Drivers can also elect to pay extra for various specialty plate designs – including one that bears the image of a baked potato with a pat of butter. But if they don’t spring for a specialty plate, they end up with “Famous Potatoes.”
– Associated Press
UI lab explosion hurts researcher
A University of Idaho researcher was briefly hospitalized Thursday morning after being injured in a chemistry lab accident.
A post-doctoral fellow, whom the university would not identify, had combined chemicals into a compound that caused the beaker he was working with to explode in a lab in Renfrow Hall, said Joni Kirk, UI spokeswoman.
The researcher was treated and released at Gritman Medical Center in Moscow after the incident at about 9:20 a.m.
– Shawn Vestal