Week in review

TUESDAY

Legislators in Washington and Idaho last year passed laws allowing tires with retractable studs for all-season driving, but no such tires by Q Tires Inc., the Greenville, S.C.-based startup that pushed for the legislation, have hit store shelves or Inland Northwest pavement.

“Sales of previously owned homes nudged up in November, but that didn’t improve the broader picture of a feeble housing market racked by record-high foreclosures and harder-to-get credit.

“The price of electricity in Eastern Idaho is getting more expensive. Starting last week, power rates for customers of Rocky Mountain Power will increase by an average of 6.4 percent.

THURSDAY

Idaho’s Department of Insurance is objecting to a Toyota ad campaign that shows people destroying their old cars so they can buy new Toyotas. The ads encourage insurance fraud, the department contends, and the scenes depict criminal behavior.

“Construction spending edged up slightly in November as a continued steep slump in housing was offset by record spending on government and business projects.

“With oil at the once unfathomable price of $100 a barrel, consumers can expect the cost of filling their gas tanks, heating their homes – in fact, the price of almost everything – to also keep rising. Still, analysts don’t expect record-high prices by themselves to send the economy into recession.

“Idaho and six other states launched a standardized and mandatory process to more thoroughly license and track tens of thousands of mortgage brokers. The effort could be expanded by congressional Democrats.

FRIDAY

The airline industry’s on-time performance through the first 11 months of this year was the second worst on record, but delays in November fell compared with a year ago and from the previous month.

“Idaho Power Co. officials are asking state regulators to let the company invest in wind power, using money earned by curbing air pollution.