Mitt Romney's presidential campaign ended in failure, but there are plenty of reasons for him to feel proud about finishing among the top three GOP contenders.

It didn't take long after Romney bowed out of the race that pundits started talking about him as a possible vice presidential candidate. Romney's conservative credentials would help sure up John McCain's presidential run, if the Arizona senator wins the GOP nomination as expected.

It's clear some of those on the far right of the Republican Party have misgivings about a McCain presidency because he's seen as a moderate on many issues.

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In its zeal to be on the cutting edge of the anti-war movement, the city government of Berkeley, Calif., is taking on the Marine Corps.

Last week the Berkeley City Council pass a resolution telling the Marines that their Berkeley recruiting station "is not welcome in the city, and if recruiters choose to stay, they do so as uninvited and unwelcome intruders."

In a separate resolution the council voted to support the women's anti-war group Code Pink by reserving it a free parking space once per week in front of the Marine recruiting station so the protesters can more easily picket the facility. The resolution also gives Code Pink a sound permit so protesters won't be accused of violating any noise ordinances.



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Sen. Larry Craig won't go away—no matter how much many Idahoans would like to see him leave office and become a fading memory.

Late night TV hosts have not yet finished mining the comedic mother lode that Craig's restroom arrest for soliciting sex from an undercover cop has yielded.

Every time Jay Leno lets loose with a Craig joke, Idahoans laugh but also cringe.

After all, Craig is our senator and his fall from grace has put a negative spotlight on not just him, but our state.



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Perhaps the most exciting retail news in recent Pocatello history is happening right now.

The Washington state-based Costco is on the verge of announcing it will open a new store on Yellowstone Avenue, near the Chili's restaurant. Mayor Roger Chase says the big box retailer will present its store plans to the city on Feb. 21.

Costco has actually been eying Pocatello for many years. The city's status as a retail hub and large population make it an attractive location for national retailers, as evidenced by the chains already here.



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Usually when authorities euthanize a wild animal, the last folks to exhibit outrage are hunters.

But in the wake of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game ordering that three orphaned mountain lion kittens be killed, a segment of the local hunting community is among the most upset.

The hunters don't agree with the Fish and Game explanation that the kittens needed to be put down because they were malnourished and becoming friendly toward humans.



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Fearful that any student with psychological problems could snap, higher education is beginning to take a hard line when it comes to mental illness.

Many U.S. colleges and universities are giving students who exhibit mental issues two choices—take medical leave or be kicked out of school. Some experts fear such a stance will simply cause mentally ill students to not seek help for their problems.

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The presidential primary system has been chided in the past for narrowing the field of candidates too quickly.

Some say the early primary states, specifically Iowa and New Hampshire, have too much power in that they prematurely select our presidential nominees before the vast majority of Americans have voted.

In previous years it's seemed that once these early states had cast their ballots, the presidential election need not wait till November.



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Local police have been criticized lately on how they've handled incidents involving youths armed with replica firearms.

These guns fire BBs and pellets, but they look very much like the military style weapons they're modeled after.

These replicas look so real that local folks have dialed 911 when they've spotted a youth walking up the street armed with one.



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Bear Lake Memorial Hospital's gracious act of fiscal kindness toward Bear Lake County fits right in with this being the Christmas season.

But it's also one of those things that most of us will likely never see again. And that's a shame.

Bear Lake Memorial is giving back the entire $110,000 annual contribution that it receives from Bear Lake County. And the hospital says future financial assistance from the county will not be needed.



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The assassination of Pakistani political icon Benazir Bhutto has terrifying implications for her nation and the world.

Her death has already thrown Pakistan into a state of near total unrest. More than 30 people have died in riots throughout the country, vandals are burning everything from cars to banks to factories, gun battles between police and protesters are raging, and the Pakistani army is sending thousands of troops into the fray to quell the anarchy.



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Poor attendance at Idaho State University sporting events has been an issue of concern for years.

ISU sports teams, especially the big ticket football and men's basketball programs, have had their fair share of losing seasons.
And teams with losing records typically don't attract a large fan base.

In the past, ISU gave away free tickets to attract folks to games. That policy is no longer in place and some fear it did nothing but devalue ISU tickets and in the long run hurt sporting event attendance.



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Just a few months back, Republicans and Democrats alike seemed to be in agreement that former first lady Hillary Clinton would win her party's nomination for president.

The Democratic senator from New York had big leads in all the polls and her campaign was considered a juggernaut that would not stop until it reached the White House.

Fast forward to today and the story has changed.



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In his Christmas radio address, President Bush heaped heavy praise on our men and women of the armed forces.

Many of those who are defending our freedom will be spending this holiday season in foreign lands.

They're in hostile places like Iraq and Afghanistan, putting themselves at risk so the rest of us don't have to.

Some of those who've served will never be home again. They've made the ultimate sacrifice.



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"Don't tase me, bro" is this year's top quote, according to the editor of the Yale Book of Quotations.

Those words, shouted by a Florida college student who was then tasered by police at a Sen. John Kerry speech, show that these shock-inflicting stun guns have become part of our national lexicon.

It seems that every couple of weeks video of a cop tasering a disruptive individual finds its way onto the Internet. Some of these videos are almost humorous, unless the person tasered suffers injuries.



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Good news in Iraq has been a rarity since the war began.

But there are some signs that battlefield Iraq is headed toward recovery and perhaps peace.

First, British forces formally handed over responsibility to the Iraqi government for the last region in the country under U.K. control.

As of Sunday, oil-rich and Shiite-dominated Basra is under the authority of Iraq's Shiite-led government. Basra joins eight other Iraqi provinces that are being ruled by the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.



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Add raping one of their own to the list of allegations facing Halliburton/KBR's employees.

A U.S. House panel is looking into the alleged rape of one of the government contractor's female employees, Jamie Leigh Jones of California, by her male co-workers in Baghdad.

After the sexual assault, Jones says Halliburton/KBR did not detain any of the accused, but instead held her in a shipping container in Iraq for 24 hours. During this time her attackers threatened her not to contact the authorities.



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What makes a young man walk into a crowded shopping mall and start mowing down innocent people with an assault rifle?
What can we do to prevent such individuals from snapping and inflicting tragedies on our nation that make us and the rest of the world think there's something terribly wrong with our society?
In the wake of last week's mall shooting in Omaha, Neb., that left nine people dead, including 19-year-old gunman Robert Hawkins, we as a country are once again left wondering what can go so wrong in someone's life that they would inflict such suffering.

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Fearful that his campaign for president is faltering, Mitt Romney explained Thursday why his Mormon faith should not keep Americans from voting for him.

He pointed out the similarities and positive attributes of many of the world's religions, including Islam, and said he and his family have the same values and beliefs as Americans in general, regardless of faith.

Romney's words were reminiscent of John F. Kennedy's famous speech in which he said, "I am not the Catholic candidate for president. I am the Democratic Party's candidate for president who also happens to be a Catholic. I do not speak for my church on public matters — and the church does not speak for me."



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The shooting of a canine by a Teton County Sheriff's Department deputy is causing outrage among folks in Idaho and beyond.

Deputy Joseph Gutierrez shot a Felt family's dog three times —twice in the neck and once in the head. Somehow the animal survived.

The dog's owner, Leonel Barboza, plans to sue Teton County over the incident. Many Idahoans have already rushed to judgement that Deputy Gutierrez acted with the utmost cruelty on Nov. 12 when he tied the dog up and then fired away.



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Pocatello's Old Town has been through good times and bad.
Nowadays, the Gate City's downtown is experiencing a steady and visible upturn.
It's a noticeable change from back in the 1970s and 1980s, when more than a third of Old Town's storefronts were vacant. Property owners stopped taking care of their buildings and locals began avoiding what had once been the heart of Pocatello.
But then a group of residents and merchants began a grassroots effort to bring back the Old Town that many Pocatellans remembered so fondly.

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When David Allen gave the impression at last week's Rotary luncheon that the city's airport is in trouble, he was speaking the truth.
Allen, the airport manager, has been on the job for less than six months. But he sees the writing on the wall.
Pocatello Regional Airport's passenger numbers are on the decline, from 47,000 in 2002 to 35,000 last year. Allen says we can expect 2007 to be even worse, since both Big Sky and Horizon airlines have pulled out of the airport.
Pocatello Regional has only one airline left, SkyWest, which provides flights to only one city, Salt Lake.

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The Amtrak train that once picked up passengers in Pocatello and took them to Seattle, Chicago and points in between could be resurrected.

A U.S. Senate bill would require Amtrak to re-evaluate the Pioneer train to determine if there's enough passenger demand to reinstate all or parts of the route that was discontinued 10 years ago.

The legislation, Senate Bill 294, was unanimously approved by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation earlier this year and is awaiting a vote by the full Senate. The bill will then go to the House for deliberation.



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It is difficult to come to grips with a tragedy that rocks an entire community.
Last year's brutal murder of Pocatello High School student Cassie Jo Stoddart by two of her classmates was such a trauma for not just the families of those involved, but for everyone who calls this mountain valley home.
It was clear in the wake of this brutal crime that the entire Pocatello area had to stop and take a hard look at itself.
The Gate City is not the kind of place where heinous crimes like the Stoddart murder are known to happen. Our community boasts a low crime rate and compassionate people who epitomize the Golden Rule. Such qualities are what attracted many of us here to begin with.

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How far should our government go to prevent another large-scale terrorist attack against our citizens?

Should torture be one of the tactics allowed in our effort to prevent another 9/11?

The United States has long been critical of nations that have used torture. But now, in the all-important quest to prevent terrorism on our shores, it appears some elements in our government are trying to bend the rules a bit so that extreme methods of interrogation can be used.

Proponents of these methods call them "severe interrogations." Opponents obviously call them "torture."



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Larry Craig might think he's somehow saving his legacy by vowing to finish his Senate term in defiance of Thursday's court decision upholding his guilty plea in a men's room sex sting.

But Craig's decision to stay in office will hurt many, including Craig himself, especially his fellow Republicans and maybe politicians of all parties.

Craig's legacy will never recover from his arrest in the restroom of a Minneapolis airport. The police interrogation tape of Craig, explaining unpersuasively how he wasn't really soliciting gay sex from an undercover cop, is difficult to forget or discount.

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