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The Treasure Valley Education Partnership this week released what it calls a baseline report card. The coalition of schools, businesses and nonprofits wants to “advance a world class education system” for the area’s children. Jake Alger with the United Way says before the group launched any projects it wanted to know what it was up against.

If you use solar panels or wind turbines to generate your own power, you can sell the electricity you don’t use back to your utility. But one Northwest power company wants to stop sending checks to customers who are big energy producers.

Idaho Power awards a credit against customers’ utility bills for the solar and wind power they put onto the grid. If they still have unused credits when the year ends, Idaho Power sends them a check.

Idaho’s Education Improvement Task Force finished a statewide listening tour Thursday night in Boise. The group was created to recommend ways to improve the state’s schools after voters repealed an education overhaul last November.

Thursday night’s public meeting was well attended compared to some past meetings. About 200 people squeezed into the state capital building’s Lincoln Auditorium and 37 spoke. It lasted more than two and a half hours.

Today marks the next step in a 1,000 mile proposed power line that would cross most of southern Idaho.  Idaho Power and Rocky Mountain Power want to build the Gateway West Transmission Line to add power capacity.

More than half of Idaho’s land is considered public. These are lands that are managed by federal agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service.  We ride horses, hike, camp and play on these lands. It’s part of what makes Idaho a great place to live.

The head of Alaska Airlines has choice words for the air traffic controller furloughs that started Sunday. Alaska Air Group C-E-O Brad Tilden today called the travel impact of automatic federal budget cuts "unfathomable."

Sister carriers Alaska and Horizon Air say delays and cancelations have been most noticeable on flights to Los Angeles this week.

NPR has been bringing you stories about coffee this week.

We’ve learned about coffee habits in Scandinavia, how growers in Central America are going green, and how coffee consumption has changed world history. Now, we learn a little bit about coffee here in Idaho.

Updated at 11:04 a.m.

An Idaho alternative energy company beset by lawsuits faces another one, this time from a bike race that says it hasn't been paid millions in promised sponsorship money.

Exergy Development Group of Boise and its owner, James Carkulis, were sued in Colorado by Classic Bicycle Racing, owner of Colorado's USA Pro Challenge race.

John Moore, Classic's general counsel, said Wednesday company owners were forced to make additional capital contributions when Exergy failed to meet its contractual obligations.

Idaho’s Task Force for Improving Education wraps up a series of public meetings Thursday in Boise. The task force’s final public listening meeting will start at 6:30 p.m. at the state capital. 

It has been traveling Idaho for two weeks. The group’s goal is to put together recommendations for overhauling the state’s education system that can find broad support.

Tax-free shopping on the Internet could come to an end under a bill making its way through the U-S Senate.

The bill would allow states to require online retailers to collect state and local sales taxes for purchases made over the Internet. The sales taxes would be sent to the states where a shopper lives.

Dam removal on the Elwha River in Washington has been temporarily halted because massive amounts of sediment released from above the dams have clogged one of the city’s water treatment facilities.

One of the two dams on the Elwha has been completely removed. That’s released about 20 percent of the 34 million cubic yards of sediment stored up behind both dams.

But the muck, silt and debris been clogging the intake system at the Elwha Water Facility. The facility provides drinking water to Port Angeles as well as two nearby fish hatcheries and the nearby paper producer.

A coalition of tribal leaders and politicians gathered in Seattle Monday to announce the formation of a new group that opposes coal exports in the Northwest.

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and State Representative Reuven Carlyle were among a group of Washington politicians and tribal leaders who announced the creation of the Leadership Alliance Against Coal. The group says it will work to “raise awareness about the damaging economic, cultural and health impacts of coal trains and coal exports”.

Last week, Rough and Ready lumber started shutting down its sawmill in the Southern Oregon town of Cave Junction. It’s a story that’s repeated itself in timber towns across the northwest. In 1980 there were 390 mills operating in Oregon. Today there are 103. 

Last week, the employees of Rough and Ready Lumber were called in to a staff meeting. Most of them walked out without their jobs.  But the mill isn’t shuttered quite yet. There are tall stacks of sugar pine lumber and six inch timbers to take care of. A dozen workers sort the wood and load it on to carts.

Boise’s Treefort Music Fest made some big strides in its second year. A month after the festival wrapped up, organizers say the festival grew more than was previously thought.

An ordinance to ban discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people failed in the city council of Pocatello Thursday night. The close vote was a setback for gay rights advocates.

Pocatello Mayor Brian Blad cast the deciding no vote, making it four against, three in favor. The ordinance would have made it a misdemeanor to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Those voting no said they didn't reach their decision easily.

In a case that’s garnered national attention, a gay couple is suing their once favorite florist in southeast Washington. The case filed Thursday, is in addition to the anti-discrimination lawsuit filed by the state Attorney General last week.

Curt Freed and Robert Ingersoll, both professionals in the Tri-Cities, have been a couple for almost nine years. The ACLU is bringing their case agains Arlene’s Flowers. The shop refused to sell flowers to the couple for their September wedding. Doug Honig with the ACLU says that violates the Washington’s anti-discrimination law.

The deadly explosion at a fertilizer facility in West, Texas Wednesday, has put a spotlight on the industry.  According to NPR, 12 people died and 200 were injured.