Idaho in brief: Teen driving bill speeds through House
Legislation to impose more restrictions on new teen drivers sailed through the Idaho Senate on a 31-4 vote Friday.
The bill, SB 1119, is sponsored by Sens. Jim Hammond, R-Post Falls, and Mike Jorgenson, R-Hayden Lake. Its provisions include limiting passengers for young drivers during their first six months on the road and requiring more adult-supervised driving before teens are cleared to drive on their own.
The measure now moves to the House.
– Staff reports
Region
Northwest will miss lunar eclipse
The full moon may look a little shaded when it rises at sunset tonight, but that’s as close as Inland Northwest sky watchers will get to this afternoon’s total lunar eclipse, the first such eclipse in two and a half years.
Mary Singer of the Spokane Astronomical Society said the eclipse will show “virtually nothing” in this region, and an eclipse chart from NASA shows that the moon will rise here just as the eclipse ends. Views will be better to the east. The total phase begins at 2:44 p.m. on the West Coast.
Sky watchers should mark Aug. 28 on their calendars. That’s when another total lunar eclipse will be visible, and it will occur high in the sky during the early morning hours here. “We’ll catch the next one,” Singer said.
– Mike Prager
3 hospitals changing their blood supplier
In a move aimed at boosting security during times of trauma or disaster, three hospitals in the Palouse will switch to the Inland Northwest Blood Center as their sole supplier of blood and related products, officials said.
Starting April 1, hospitals in Colfax, Pullman and Moscow will receive about 1,500 units of blood a year from the Spokane center, instead of those in Boise or Salt Lake City, Utah. The hospitals include Whitman Hospital and Medical Center in Colfax, Pullman Regional Hospital and Gritman Medical Center in Moscow.
The Spokane blood center will spend about $250,000 over two years to hire five new employees and establish a blood collection center at one of the hospitals, said Judy Young, executive director.
The move makes blood supplies more stable, said Scott Adams, chief executive at Pullman Regional.
“The blood was available here, but it wasn’t as abundant or as readily available,” he said.
The three hospitals have treated trauma accidents where large supplies of blood were needed quickly. While the patients were treated well, it created tense moments for medical staff, Adams said.
Recent emphasis on preparing for natural or man-made disasters, as well as such potential problems as pandemic illness, also emphasized the need for a closer, more stable supply, officials said.
The blood center provides blood and services to more than 30 hospitals and medical centers in Eastern Washington and North Idaho.
– JoNel Aleccia