Officials at the University of Idaho say the school’s four vice presidents will now have to approve all new hires as part of a plan to make sure the school is spending money wisely.

The school’s Vice President of Finance and Administration says the change in policy will help the university make better choices and become more efficient.

Interim President Steven Daley-Laursen announced the change Wednesday during a speech to faculty and staff.

The change will mean some positions might not be filled if it’s determined the money could be better used elsewhere in the university. UI administrators say the university is not short of cash, and that the change in the hiring process is to make sure all employees help the university achieve a variety of goals. (AP)

Lewis-Clark State College has set an all-time enrollment mark with a record 3,940 students enrolled for the 2008 fall semester.

LCSC’s enrollment is a 9.1 percent increase over last year’s record of 3,612 students enrolled in the fall and also marked a 16.1 percent growth in the past two years. The college also broke its record for full-time equivalency at 2,804.4, compared to 2,649.67 a year ago.

The college continues to show strong growth and set numerous enrollment records this fall, including highs for freshmen direct out of high school, freshmen overall, residents, concurrent enrollment, and minority students.

The director of customer services and relations at Potlatch has been appointed to fill a vacant spot on the Lewiston School Board.

Gary Arndt is a member of the Lewis-Clark State College Foundation and has lived in Lewiston for 16 years. He is a native of Salt Lake City with a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Utah, and he’s worked at Potlatch for 21 years.

Arndt will fill the slot vacated by Neal Clinger and be seated at a Sept. 22 work session.

Also interviewed for the position were Andrew Dahlquist, an associate professor of math and physics at Lewis-Clark State College and Mark Havens, executive director of Gritman Medical Center Foundation.

Public library leaders in Nampa, responding to the threat of a lawsuit, have reversed a decision banning two sex education books.

In June, the library board voted 3-2 to permanently remove “The New Joy of Sex” and “The Joy of Gay Sex” from its public shelves, and ordered them to be stored instead in the library director’s office, available only upon request. But last week, the American Civil Liberties Union of Idaho sent a letter threatening to sue the board, contending the ban violated the constitutional right to free and open access to information.

During an emergency meeting last week, the board reversed course, citing financial concerns of defending a First Amendment case in federal court. During the meeting, the Nampa City Attorney suggested the case could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to fight.

The decision also reverses the board’s June vote to amend library policy to restrict minors’ access to any future library acquisitions that have graphic sexual illustrations that meet the definition of “harmful to minors” under state law. (AP)

The Lewis-Clark State College volleyball program will conduct “Little Spikers” volleyball clinics on four Saturdays this fall for boys and girls ages 5-12 at the LCSC Activity Center.  Warrior head volleyball coach Jen Greeny says the clinics are designed to inaugurate area youngsters into the ever-growing sport.

Warrior head volleyball coach Jen Greeny comments

While coaches coordinate the clinics, the players themselves take on the main roles of instructors.

Greeny continues

The clinics will run from 9am to 10am on September 13, October 4, October 25, and November 1. The total fee for the four clinics is $25, which along with free admission to all home volleyball matches, includes a T-shirt.

Pre-registration is encouraged but parents and guardians can also register kids at the door beginning at 8:30am September 13.  For more information or to pre-register, contact the LCSC volleyball office at (208) 792-2258.

Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna could be in for a fight after earmarking a portion of his yearly budget proposal for a plan that will reward teachers based on their performance.
Luna submitted a proposed $1.5 billion budget to the governor’s office late Tuesday to operate and improve public schools in 2009 and 2010. The budget is to go before Idaho lawmakers in January and includes $27 million for teacher raises and a pay-for-performance plan.
The proposed merit-based pay system is similar to a measure Idaho lawmakers voted to kill in February.
The public schools budget the school’s chief proposes is about $77 million more than the $1.46 billion he requested in January to fund the current school year and covers everything from teacher salaries and efforts to boost student test scores in reading, to classroom supplies and a program to let high school juniors and seniors earn college credits.
Most of the $27 million for teacher raises is designated for an $18 million pay-for-performance plan. Since at least the early 1980s, Republican lawmakers have sought to break up the existing compensation system, based on classroom experience, arguing that it rewards good teachers the same as the bad. Read the rest of this entry »

The Idaho Department of Education plans to ask state lawmakers for about $1.5 billion next year to operate and enhance public schools.
Public schools superintendent Tom Luna released his yearly budget proposal on Tuesday. Luna’s proposed budget is about 5% more than last year, when he asked state lawmakers for $1.38 billion.
In a statement, Luna called his request “responsible” and says that he recognizes the state is operating on a tight budget. Like he did last year, Luna will ask for more than $5 million for classroom supplies.
Luna has also earmarked money in his budget for teacher raises and a pay-for-performance plan, an approach that died in the 2008 Legislature.
Earlier this year, lawmakers ditched Luna’s proposal for merit-based pay increases and opted to approve $23.8 million in teacher raises, including a plan to boost the minimum Idaho teacher salary by 3%. (AP)

Researchers at Boise State University say they have used emerging nanotechnology techniques to devise a way to kill cancer cells while leaving normal cells healthy.

Biology professors say that many cancer drugs target rapidly dividing cells, but can leave people sick because the dose is also toxic to other cells in the body. But the group says its research has found that zinc-oxide nanoparticles can selectively kill cancer cells without harming normal cells.

The group described its work in a paper published in July in the journal Nanotechnology. The paper has become one of the most popular in the 58 journals published by the Institute of Physics, being downloaded more than 250 times in the first month of its publication. (AP)