Tax breaks: Cashing inonahybridcanbc confiisinf*
Pa&D4
The Times-News
Inside
Sunday, Octobcr 16,V20U.S
Scction D
Briefly in Money
Best Western hosts chamber event
JEROME—The Best Western Sawtooth Inn & Sultcs and Canyonslde Rcaity Inc. will host (his momh'$ Business Aftcr Hours cvcnt sponsored by (hc Jcromc Chamber of Commcrcc.
The evcn( will be hcld from 5 to 7 p.m. Wedncsday at (hc Best Western Sawtooth Inn. 2653 S. Lincoln.
Refreshmcnts and a no-host bar will be ovallable. Partie!-pants will be ablc to nerwork with each other. The flrst bev-crage is compllmentary.
CSI plans career plannlng workshop
TWIN FALLS — A Technical-Profcssionol Career Plannlng Workshop Is bclng olTcrcd by the Center for New Dlrcctłons at the College of Southern Idaho.
The class Is for thosc who arc Intcrestcd ln entertng a techni-cal-professlonal program. Porticlpants will icarn about a technical career. labor market and wago potcntial. Thcy also will leam to idcniify tltclr inter-ests. lnvestigate different technical carcers and make a plan for succcss.
The coursc will be held in two parts — from 10 a.m. to noon Wedncsday and Frlday— at the Center for New Dlrcc-tions. Admlsslon Ls frec; career tests arc Incłudcd.
Deadllne to register ls Hics-day.To sign up. cali 732-6680 or (800) 680-0274. cxt. 6680.
Spanlsh dasses offered for ag, retafl industry
TW1N FALLS - The CoUcge of Southern Idaho is offering two zero-crcdit dasses for those ln olthcr the agricultural or rctail Industry who want to leam how to communlcate morę efTcctlvely with co-work-crs or customcrs.
• "Survival Spanlsh: Rctail* \vłll assist students ln thclr cvcryday rcsponsibllitics to help them bcticr rcach the His-panie market. Toplcs indude rctail words and phrases. By the conclusion of the dass. stu-dents will speak cnough Spanlsh to do salcs. prlccs. slzcs. colors, back orders and names of items. Just to men* tlon a fcw. Thcy also will Icarn the Hispanic customs of the sale. Class will tncet from 6 to 8 p.m. Mondays, Oct. 31 through Dec. 5. In Shlclds 105. Cosi is S65.
• “Survlval Spanlsh II for Farmcrs. Dalrymcn and Agrl-culturc" ls a continuation of Survival Spanlsh I and is rcc-ommended for the morę adeaneed speaker. Students will be spcalung. llstcnlngand watching morc Spanlsh and worklng on class situations whcrc thcy will be speaking only Spanlsh. The Instructor will designate assignments in the communlty to practicc and apply the longuagc skills learncd In class. The class will mect from 6 to 0 p.m. Wcdncsdays. Nov. 2 through Dec. 7. In Aspen 143. The fce is S65.
Lupę Cisneros-Corbln will tcach both dasses.
For morc Information or to register, cali 732-6290 or 732-62B8.
AdvertisJng FederatJon plans Oct 27 gathering
TW1N FALLS — The Magie Vallcy Advcrtlslng Fcdcratlon will mect Oct. 27 at the Shjlo Inn, 1586 Blue Lokcs Blvd. N.
Jan Rogcrs, executive dlrcc -tor of tne Southern Idaho Economlc DcvcJopmcnt Orga-nizaOon will givc a rccap of the past ycars economlc dcwlop-ment ln the region and somc inslght into what may be Corning ln the ncor futurę.
Keglstratlon will be at 11:30 a.m.. with 'lunch at noon catctcd by lohruty Carinos llal-lan Rcstaurant. Cosi ls S10 for members, $15 for member guests and $25 for nonntem-bers. Pleosc RSVP to Dcbblc Currler at 736-0823 or via c-mall at DebbleCurri-cri?mvuf.org by Oct 24.
- compM from st^T nports
Biometrics industry poised to grow
By Richard J. Dalton ir.
Nowaday_
Four ycars ago. Mark Basllcs hoiisc kcv brokc ln his door lock. and nis son. 5 at the timc. mcntloncd an Idea Basilc had toyed with: an clcctronic door lock sccurcd by a fingerprint.
"Hc sald. 'Dad. u you had one of your flngcr thlngs. we could go rlgltt Into the Itousc," sald Baslle. 16. of Jcricho: N.Y.
The ncxt year. the former bankruptcy and commcrcial litigation lawycr fountlcd Blo-
METRX Inc. which mak es eon-sumer dcviccs that employ biometrics. Blomctric dcyiccs mainly rcad fingerprints and Irlscs to Idcniify peopte.
Ncxt montlt. HGTV will fen-turc the company s first dcvicc: a garage door opener. Thls weck. the network fiimcd 9-ycar-old Samantha Portillo uslng lite BloMETRX garage door opener. wbirh lite Portillo famlly ls tcstlng. The segment of "1 Want That!" will air In the first or sccond wcek of Nowm-ber.
Baslle has his finger on the pulse of nn Industry iluit inny olossom (his dccadc. as finger-iirlnt rcaders arc no longcr limlteii to corporations and top-seeret govcrnnicnt agon-clćs. I.ower prices for componcnis. lmnrovemcnts ln tcchnology and incrensłng ac-ceptancc mnong the publlc wili bnng morc biometric tlevices to consutners during the next decade. expens and industry cxccutives said.
"Tłte śensors haw hecume cheaper. and the software has
gotten feoslble to tun on a Iow-cost chip." sald Jon Louis, chief exccutlve of Bionopoly. a Mountain View. Callf.. company ihm targets the consumcr biometrics market. “The other reason is that the son of. Big Rroihcr aspect of ii has quickly faded." • •
lite overall biometrics In-duslry. inostly govcmment and cnrporate npplicatlons. will genemte a projected SI-5 bił-iion In revenue worldwidc tlils year and noarly S5.3 billion an-Piease see BIOMETRICS. Page 06
Monitoring motorists
An aloctronle slgn at 1-35 and Johnaon Drive In Shiwnaa, Kart., ilerta motorlits to trafflc problems aho4d. Tha ilgn ls part ol tho KC Scout ayatom that uias camarat and road sensor* to monitor trafflc. Missouri ls looklng Into a State wlde celi phono system to do the aame thtng.
Celi phones can be tracked for real-time traffic data
By David A. Uab Aasoclatod Prc«» wrtter_
JEFFERSON CITY. Mo. — Driving to work. you notice the trafik heginning to slow. And because you havc your celi phdnc on. the govermnent senses the delay. too.
A congestion alert ls Issucd. automatically updatlng ciec* tronie road signs and Web sltes and dispatchlng tcxt messages to mobile phones and auto dashboards.
In what would be Ute largest projcct of its kind. tlić Missouri Dcnartmcnt of Thmsponation Ls unalizing a contract to monitor thousands of cdi phones. uslng thdr movcincnis to map rcol-dmc traffic condltions statewidc on oll 5,500 mlles of major roads.
lis just one of a number of lnJdativcs to morc intclligcntly manage traffic flow through wircless data collection.
Ofilcłals say theres no Big Brother agenda ln the Missouri projcct — the data will rcmoln anonyntous, leasing no possl-bllJty to track spedfle peoplc from thclr drivcway to thclr dcsiination.
But privacy advocates arc uneasy nonctncless.
“Evcn though its anony-
Celi phone slgnals to map real-time trafflc
The Missouri Doparimont ol Transportation is noryotiatmg with pnvoto contraciors lo map rool-nme traffic conditions statowklo through tho monitoring ol thousands of coli phonos.
Monitoring trafflc patterna through cali phonas
A cali phona elgnal
ls monltorod lo dolormmo tho limo >t lakos to pass Irom ono towor to tho next
Tho data is thon put on a map to show tho traff.c pallorns
U.S. monthly trade
Tho U.S. trado deficit in goods and sorvicos:
1170 bifl oo
125
120
IIS
110
105
100
os
Export»
$1082
btibon
SONOJ FM A 2004
MJ JA 2005
•10
•20
•30
•50
•60
•70
Trąd* baianco
-S59.0 biKion
iOuRCE 0#pafifr>#ni of Convn«fco AP
UJS. trade deflcit hits new highs
The Associated Press
Oflicials say tho data romalna anonymoua loavlng no posubility lo track spectfic poopio lo thoir doslmation
&
AP
RaaMlma trafflc raporta
may men bo transmlttod to motorists through eloctronic road signs. onboard navlgatlon systoms. coli phonos. or modlą rush-hour traffic roporis
mous, its stlll ominous * sald Daniel Solow. a prit-acy law professor at George Washington UnivT?rsity and auihor of "The Digital Person." "lt trou-blcs mc. because lt does show
tlils tnovement to\%*ard uslng a technology to track pcople."
Celi phone monitoring ;il-ready ls lic Ing uscd by imnsponation officials in Baltimore. tłiougli not yet lo rolny
iraflic (.‘oiKiilłons to Ute public. Siniilitr projccts are getiing un-tlerway in Norfolk, Va„ and a sirctch of Interstate 75 bctwccn Atlanta and Mucon. (la.
lim the Missouri projcct is by far tlić musi aggress|ve — irariung wircless phones across Ute whole State, induding mral arcas willi lower iraflic eounts. and for the exj>lirit purposc of relaying the Information to oilter lr.ivekrv In fact. il would be the biggesi system of Its kind In the world. sald Richard Mudgc. a vicc president at Ddcan Corp.. lite Canadian company that won Ute Missouri bid.
lite contract is expcc(cd to be tompleted wfthin scvcral weeks, and a celi phone monitoring system tested and implcincntcd within slx monihs after that. The celi phone prueider for Missouri iron*! hccn discloscd. hut Dcl-c;ut uses data from Cingular Wircless LLC jihones ln the Baltimore projcct C.overnments ltavc had Ute abllity to measurc traflic vol-unieś and speeds for ycars. I liey can embed sensors łn |Kivemcnt. or mount scanncrs and camems along die road. Hut those monitoring methods P.ease see MOTORISTS. Page D6
WASHINGTON — The na-tions oil bill surged to a rccord in August and so did goods im-
Gurtcd from Cliina. puddng Uie
15. trade defieit to the Utird-highest lcvcl evcr. And it ls bound to get worse because hunicune-relaicd inercoses for oil are stlll ohead.
The dcficlt rosę to $59 billion. nboulSl.k bulkin morę dian the preeious month. lite Com-merce Department annuunced. There was a big incrcasc bi ex-port salcs of commerdał ietllners. but that was swamped by forcign oll bnports.
The number of pcople put out of work by hurricanes Katri-na and Rita dJmbed by 75.000. the Labor Department repon-cdi The sbt-wcek taljy sińce Katrina slammed ashure stands at 438.000 hurricane-reiated claims.
In an encoumdng sign. joh-less doims ouiside of tlie rcgion afiectcd by Uie hurricanes have slayed Iow. Tutal jolilcss claims last week fell by 2.000 to 389.000.
Claims from Uie hurricanes should dedine in Uie comlng weeks. but Uie economlc fallout will lingcr because Uie storms foreed inc shutdown of refiner-i es and oll platforms along ihc Gulf Coost. fhc lost producUon has pushed cnergy prices to rccord levcls. worsening infla-tion. stidlng most consumer spending and driving up Uie trade defidt.
“Rccord crude prices usually mean rccord trade gaps. No-body sccs rcficf on Uie energy front any time soon.' sald Oscar Gonzalcz. senior economLst at John Hancock Einancial Ser-vices in Boston.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industriul average was baslcafly unchanged. dipplng a sliglit 032 point to close at 10.216.59
Please see TRADE. Page D7
Lake’s whitefish surge driyes Montana business
By Susan Oallajher A»oclit»d Prt!! wrttsr_
HELENA. Mont. — No need for a cottagc bt Ron Mohns cot-tage Inaustry. The great outdoors will do.
Supcrobundont whitefish bt northwestem Montanas Hat-head Lakę, State oflidais liappy to have them caught and rc-tlrccs who lkkc to flsh havc hclpcd Mohr. build Mountain Lakę Flshcries, a purvcyor of flsh fillcts and roc
A platoon of Łshcrmcn begon casting UtU monUt bi Uie com-pan/s 14th annual fali harvcst. on cxcepUon to a statc law that normalfy forblds caking gamę flsh for commcrcial use. For thcsc flsh, Ute doiły Umlt per
flshcrman ls 100.
"Theres a lot of cnma-raderie" sald Dick WIJ son. a retircd college professor who ls in the corps of anglcrs. "As somebody sald. 'It's hard work. but somconciias to do ii.",
Moim markcis the fillcis as ’wild Montana fish. cauglit by rod and red, espedaliy for you and sclls them largdy to restau-rants. with Glaclcr National Ihtrk^s maln concessionabe his biggest clicnt. Hc .touts his Goldcn Whitefish Cavlar as “nonfishy* slighdy cninchy and apricot in color. a huc “reminis-ccnt of a Rocky Mountain sunrlsc.“ Most of the ca\iar clients atc wholesalcrs and rcstauranis.
The lakę włiitcflsh that Mohn
harvests were iransplanted around 1900 to MaUicacl iitke. a shimmering lxxly of water 27 mlles long and 15.5 mlles wide. Uie largest natura], freshwaler lakę lii the western United States.
“At the timc. it waslhoughi to improve the fisiierics." saki Mark Dclamy. a fisheries hitilo-gist for Uie Montana Dcnartmcnt of Fisli. Wiklllfc and l*arks. *Couservation of na-Uvc fish was not Uie Issue Uicn Uiat it ls now“
Today, introduced fish spedes accouni for morc than lialf of Uie 25 spccies most com-inonly found bi Ule Flathead Riccr-llaUiead Lakcccosystem. N'atlve spedes Uiat haw dc-
Ptease see WHITEFISH. Page D7
ChtriU DsyIs, 78. of Btgfoik, Mont., unhooki a WMtoflih as flshlng , pirtnar Jim Rlley, 71. of Columbia Fslls, Morrt., reals In anothar aa tha two fHh on tha Flathaad RIyot naar Spruce Park In Kall*pall.
4