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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. 

Idaho public university students can expect a higher price tag on their tuition bills next fall.

The state Board of Education voted Wednesday to hike tuition at all four public universities — though not all university presidents got exactly what they requested.

Trustees approved a 6.9 percent hike at Boise State University and increases between 4 and 5 percent for the University of Idaho, Idaho State University and Lewis-Clark State College.

The Senate has rejected a bipartisan effort to expand federal background checks to more firearms buyers in a crucial showdown over gun control. 

Idaho's Republican Senators Jim Risch and Mike Crapo voted against the measure. Just four Republicans voted in favor of the expanded background check amendment.

The Idaho running community will celebrate the 36th annual Race to Robie Creek this Saturday. But the half marathon has taken on new meaning for racers since two bombs went off near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

Brian Rencher has helped plan this weekend's race. He says organizers have been talking with the Boise Police Department and the Boise County Sheriff’s office about Monday’s bombing. 

American Rivers has named three Northwest streams among the most endangered in the United States this year. Two are remote creeks in Southwest Oregon. The conservation group says exploration for nickel could harm the creeks.

Rough and Ready Creek and Baldface creek flow through the Rogue River Siskiyou National Forest.

River guide Zach Collier knows both creeks well. He says they are unusually clear and clean. And they flow through a part of Oregon known for its rare native plants.

Thursday, the city council in Pocatello is expected to vote on whether to make it illegal to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. It’s one of several cities in Idaho that have taken up the cause of gay rights – an issue the Idaho Legislature has so far resisted. But even some gay rights supporters wonder if the local ordinance would change anything.

A group of runners and their friends got together in Moscow Monday night to show solidarity with their fellow runners and those impacted by events at the Boston Marathon.

They came to Friendship Square in their running shoes and their running gear, feeling they had to do something following the explosions in Boston, and so they gathered, they said, as amateur athletes and as human beings. Jim Ekins is a member of the University of Idaho Extension faculty.

The family of a silver miner killed in north Idaho has filed a lawsuit against the Hecla Mining Company. The suit claims the mine managers’ attempt to extract more silver caused the cave-in that killed Larry Marek  exactly two years ago Monday.

Spring is a time when road construction projects kick off in earnest.  The Idaho Transportation Department is asking Idaho drivers to slow down and use caution around highway construction zones. 

This is National Work Zone Awareness Week, a time set aside to draw attention to safety around construction zones.   

Nationwide in 2010, 576 people died in work zone crashes.   

At least 90 Idaho runners were signed up for today’s Boston Marathon, a race that ended with two deadly explosions.

Boise State University director of trademark licensing Rachael Bickerton finished the race about 40 minutes before the explosions occurred. She is safe, along with another Boise State employee, Casey Jones. Bickerton says she's contacted about a dozen fellow Idaho marathon runners, who are all safe.