KUOI News

KUOI News: KUID-TV Upgrade

Thank you for listening to KUOI News, I’m Beau Baker.

After nine-months of renovation, the University of Idaho’s television station KUID is ready for the digital age.

Since January, the station has been under construction.

A digital network and high-definition television equipment have replaced analog systems and old technology.

The project was undertaken to comply with the Federal Communications Commission mandate on all-digital broadcasts by Feb 17, 2009.

Boise-based Idaho Public Television funded the upgrade with allocations from the Idaho Legislature.

KUID-TV was founded in 1965 and has provided students with hands-on experience in the field of television.

Denise Bennett, a senior instructor in tv, video and digital media production, says the new technology gives UI students an early advance in their careers.

“I think the benefits to students are they get experience with top-of-the-line equipment and I would say other than the public television station in Boise, there’s probably no other station in the state that has this gear. So it should make them more marketable in terms of getting a job when they graduate.”

The School of Journalism and Mass Media will usher in the station’s upgrade with speakers and refreshments on Friday Oct. 10, at 11 a.m.

For KUOI News, I’m Beau Baker.

KUOI News: Walt Minnick

Thank you for listening to KUOI News, I’m Beau Baker.

Idaho Democratic candidate for Congress Walt Minnick was on the University of Idaho campus Thursday campaigning and talking to students in the classroom. I got the chance to sit down with Mr. Minnick for a quick interview.

(Audio)

For this edition of KUOI News, I’m Beau Baker

KUOI News: Hawkins Deal, WWAMI

Thank you for listening to KUOI News, I’m Beau Baker.

Water dealings between Moscow and Hawkins Companies have halted.

The City Council voted unanimously Monday night to stick to a proposed water rate of 225 percent for a planned Hawkins shopping center in Whitman County.

County Commissioners had considered the rate too high.

The vote effectively ends the Hawkins deal, which originally set to provide city water to new commercial development over the state line.

After Moscow pursued business with Hawkins earlier this year, the Idaho Department of Water Resources stepped in.

An intergovernmental agreement was required before groundwater could be sold by a city to a private company out of state.

The Moscow Council held strong on their nonnegotiable water rate for the sake of generating revenue for the city.

With the deal dead, Hawkins will manage its water infrastructure independently and continues to drill wells on site.

WWAMI, the medical education program for students across the northwest, is encountering discontent in the Idaho capital.

Governor C.L. Butch Otter expressed disappointment in the program’s returns Monday, pointing out that many students trained in Idaho don’t stay to practice.

Otter also had concerns over meeting the needs of a growing Idaho populous.

WWAMI accommodates 20 Idaho students annually, providing medical education at in-state tuition rates.

Andrew Turner, Director of the WWAMI program at the University of Idaho and Washington State University, says the schools do what they can with what they have.

Turner agrees the WWAMI program should grow, but maintains progress is contingent on state education resources.

A medical education subcommittee will conduct reviews of the program in Boise next week.

For this edition of KUOI News, I’m Beau Baker.