Tidbits... things that make you say "hhhhmmmm..."

We get a ton of emails, letters, magazines and such and I try to read as much as I can while still keeping up with my work and my "honey-do" lists around home.

Recently, I ran across some information that I thought was very interesting, some puzzling and some that makes you want to just wonder how we got were we are today:

1. An article in the Dec issue of State Legislatures regarding smoking rates. "Although smoking rates have declined over the last several years, 20% of Americans still smoke. And smoking is still the leading cause of premature death in America. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the estimated costs of smoking-related medical expenses and loss of productivity exceed $167 Billion annually. The 10 states with the lowest rates of adult smoking are: Utah (9.8%, California (14.9%), Idaho (16.8%), Connecticut (17%), Washington (17.1%), Hawaii (17.5%), Maryland (17.7%), Massachusetts (17.8%), Colorado (17.9%) and Texas (17.9%)."

Good for Idaho! Ranked #3 in the nation for the lowest number of smokers. People know it's bad for them, why do they continue to put themselves at risk of being a statistic of "premature death in America"?

2. A very interesting article in the University of Idaho's College of Agricultural & Live Sciences Winter 2008 Programs & People magazine (you might want to consider the title of the magazine as an article in itself!). This article covered an issue that too many Idahoans are just not aware enough of, Poverty in Idaho. The U of I has some excellent programs helping at risk kids and families to "make it" out there on their own. From Bovill to Boise, they have their hands reaching out to help needy families through programs like "Horizons" managed by the UI Extension service.

In Idaho, the poverty rate is determined to be a gross income of $26,856 per year for a family of 4 (130% of the established poverty level). 2004 figures show that Shoshone county has some of the highest poverty rates at 16.3%, Madison at 15.6%, Owyhee at 15.4%, Clark at 15.1% and Cassia county at 14.7% of the population. Ada county has a 9.1% poverty rate or 30,644 people are eligible for assistance.

Good for U of I for stepping up and taking some very positive steps to help out families in need. We all need to work to break the cycle of poverty and it's good to see the state stepping up here.

3. The Department of Health and Welfare's 2007 budget (counting State and Federal Dollars) was in the range of $2.9 Billion (yes that's more than the State's revenue). The population of Idaho being in the generous range of 1.4 million people, that comes to a spending rate of ~ $2070 per man, woman and child in our state. When you read above that the U of I is spending education bandwidth/funds on it's programs as well, one has to ask what is the total cost we are spending to take care of the less fortunate and are we getting our money's worth?

... things that make you say "hhhmmmmmm......."

Your thoughts?