Spokesman.com blogs: Health care, teens and drugs

Looking for browsing materials? Check out these recent hand-picked links from Spokesman.com blogs. • Instead of kicking tens of thousands of people off health coverage, we’ll raise rates | Eye on Olympia One of the most budget items that gave lawmakers heartburn this year was the decision to trim the state’s Basic Health Plan — state-subsidized health insurance for the working poor — by 43 percent. • Teens and drug use | Are We There Yet? According to 2007 statistics from the Centers for Disease Control, nearly half of all teens drink alcohol. The same report noted that 26 percent of high school students binge drink and that 11 percent reported driving a car or other vehicle during the past 30 days when they had been drinking alcohol. • City of Coeur d’Alene dos, don’ts of watering | Huckleberries Online If your sprinklers are poorly adjusted and you are watering the street, you are paying for water without receiving any benefit. • HBO’s a.m. headlines | Huckleberries Online • WSU writer taking a hiatus in the East | Sportslink Not much in the way of links for you today, but we do have news about the next month. Read on. • Couple contacted SR about truck dispute before arrest | Sirens & Gavels The wife of the man accused of leaving a truck at a car dealership emailed The Spokesman-Review about the payment dispute a day before his arrest. • A catch in the session-ending transportation funding deal | Eye on Boise More than 30 years ago, Idaho’s boaters, snowmobilers, dirt-bikers and ATV riders made a deal: They’d give up their gas tax refunds for gas burned off-road if the state would direct that tax money to trails, boat launches and the like. • Monday video: Sunday talk | Spin Control If you slept in or went to church on Sunday, and missed the talking head news shows, here’s a chance to catch up from TalkingPointsMemo. • Bargain DVDs offer up some good deals | Movies and More What with the rising popularity of movie downloads, DVDs – especially regular DVDs – may soon go the way of 8-track tapes players and VCRs. But until they do, you can find some pretty good deals out there.