Boise News | New West Network

from the new west blog: citizen rights

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a law last week which will protect journalism teachers against retaliation when they defend their students’ rights to free speech.

"While this law makes the workplace safer for teachers, the real beneficiaries are California's students, who no longer must fear that honest reporting on school events will get their favorite teacher fired," Student Press Law Center Executive Director Frank D. LoMonte said in a press release. "Governor Schwarzenegger and the California legislature should be commended for sending a message to school officials -- in California and across the nation -- that teachers are not to be used as pawns to intimidate kids into avoiding legitimate topics of discussion."

No longer will public school or college instructors face possible firing, suspension, discipline, reassignment, transfer or other forms of retaliation when they defend a student’s right to report the news as freely as any reporter under the First Amendment.

"Teachers losing their jobs for refusing to censor their students' news reporting is a real and pervasive problem, and it is going on all too commonly in America's schools," LoMonte said.  [more]

Real Estate and Development in the Northern Rockies

Preserving agricultural lands and open space in the face of rapid growth is something most people in the Northern Rockies consider vitally important. It's not always clear how to make that happen - but innovative farmers, ranchers and community planners are finding a variety of new approaches.

At the New West conference next week, the session on this topic will feature Bob Quinn, an organic farmer from Big Sandy, who will discuss how he's built a business based on agricultural strategies and product development that are nothing less than revolutionary; Jim Hagenbarth, whose ranching operations span the Montana - Idaho border near Dillon, who will talk about how he's making it work in an era when many ranchers feel they have no choice but to sell out; Paul Hubbard, who will show how the Community Food and Agriculture Coalition is supporting local food and farming in Missoula; and Jennifer Zung, a planner from Driggs, Idaho, who will talk about how development and open space can in fact be compatible.

The conference, Real Estate and Development in the Northern Rockies, takes place next week, Oct. 23-24 in Missoula. The two-day event will examine a host of issues associated with real estate, land use and growth and change in the region. It's our third annual event, and it promises to be bigger and better than ever. Check out all the details at www.newwest.net/realestate08.   [more]

The artifact landscape has changed. Hunting for arrowheads, Indian tools, and old-time treasures is not only politically incorrect but often illegal. Time was when a fairly casual stroll along a river or on a beach or through the forest could produce all kinds of finds which people didn't think twice about pocketing.

But now, relic hunting is pretty much a no-no. Many people are simply unaware of the laws. Others are fully aware, but artifact looting is their business. There's an active, legal trade in artifacts, but there is also a large illegal trade that is difficult to police. According to some law enforcement folks, one of the things that's been driving the thefts in recent years is methamphetamine.  [more]

Western Writers

Kim Barnes is a Moscow, Idaho-based novelist and memoirist who teaches at the University of Idaho. Her first memoir, In the Wilderness: Coming of Age in Unknown Country, was a finalist for the 1997 Pulitzer Prize. Barnes recently published her second novel, A Country Called Home, and I spoke to her over the phone about her inspiration for the book, how some of the events of her life have informed the novel, and whether or not it's possible for women to be hermits. Barnes will discuss her book on October 15 at the Tattered Cover (Colfax, 7:30 p.m.) and at the Montana Festival of the Book on October 25 (Wilma Theater, 7:30 p.m.). Check back tomorrow for part two of the interview.

New West: How did the idea for A Country Called Home first come to you?

Kim Barnes: I was in between books, which is always a very dangerous time for a writer. I had been working on my first novel, Finding Caruso, and had gotten all the edits done and shipped it off to the publisher. After months and often years in the writing process of being so obsessed with this one project, suddenly it's just gone. For that kind of post-partum depression there's only one cure, which is you have to start writing another book.   [more]

From The New West Blog

It's been 10 years since Matthew Shepard, a gay college student at the University of Wyoming, ran into two young men at a bar in Laramie who robbed him, drove him to the edge of town, tied him to a wooden fence and struck him 18 times in the head with a .357-caliber Magnum handgun before leaving him to die.

This weekend National Public Radio looks back on how the murder turned Laramie into "the country's newest symbol of hate," and also how it deeply affected the journalists who covered it.  [more]

Real Estate and Development in the Northern Rockies

When we launched Real Estate and Development in the Northern Rockies two years ago, markets around the region were booming and the big questions on many peoples' minds were about how to control runaway growth. Today the environment is very different – but we think the insights you'll gain into the economy, the real estate market, and land use issues at this year's Real Estate and Development in the Northern Rockies conference, taking place Oct. 23-24 in Missoula, will be more valuable than ever.

With an historic election just weeks away and financial markets continuing to gyrate in unpredictable ways, the timing of this event is in some ways fortuitous. On Thursday, Oct 23, we'll have four of the top journalists in the region assessing the political climate, the election, and how that might impact growth and change in the Northern Rockies. We're also inviting elected officials to be our special guests at the Thursday reception, and they'll undoubtedly have a lot of insight into the political dynamics as well. [more]

Guest opinion: presidential race

Since the early 1980s profits from the financial service industry rose from 10 percent of total corporate profits to 40 percent today. It's high time to close America's financial casinos, and I for one would not trust a McCain/Palin administration, recent converts to regulation, to stop this disastrous game of making money out of money without sufficient regulation. Read the full version.

All year long John McCain has repeated, at least 17 times, George Bush's mantra: "The fundamentals of the American economy are strong."

The last time he said it was September 15, right after Lehman Brothers folded, Merrill Lynch was bought by Bank of America, and American International Group, the world's largest financial insurer, was on the edge of collapse.

McCain has admitted that he knows very little about economics, and this gaffe proved that in spades. McCain thought that as president he could fire the chairman of the Security and Exchange Commission (no way, Senator), and his running mate Sarah Palin was blithely unaware that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were semi-private companies.

McCain once said that there has been "great economic progress" under Bush, but, less than 24 hours later, he stated that "Americans are not better off than they were eight years ago." As far as America's working people are concerned, the economy tanked long ago.
[more]

from the new west blog: economy

Less demand for flash memory technology which led to a worldwide glut of the chips means they’re now so cheap that it costs more to make them than they’re worth.

Boise’s Micron Technology will stop producing NAND chips, and the company will lay off 15 percent of its workers worldwide. The Boise plant will lose 1500 of those jobs.

The company employs an estimated 9,000 to 10,000 workers in Boise and about 19,000 worldwide. A 15 percent cut worldwide would be about 2,850 workers.

The job cuts come more than a year after Micron shed about 1,100 jobs in Boise. The company has lost money for seven straight quarters as the brutally cyclical computer-memory market suffers an extended downturn.

The new job cuts will begin with a voluntary program, Micron said.

Gov. Butch Otter released this statement: “Our thoughts and our best efforts are with those individuals and families who will be experiencing this difficult period firsthand. I met with [Micron CEO] Steve Appleton and assured him that state agencies stand ready to assist with job placement services and other help. I asked Department of Labor Director Roger Madsen to increase staffing at all area Job Service offices to operate during extended hours and on Saturdays. I also asked Department of Commerce Director Don Dietrich to identify businesses with the potential for adding on some of these highly qualified workers. [Otter's statement continues after the jump] [more]

BorderWest

Dear Presidential Candidates:

You were asked a serious question -- what sacrifice individuals could make to restore the American dream and one of you answered we need to cut earmarks and the other that we need to switch off the lights and drive less. You missed it. You missed a defining moment.

See, we think the times are pretty serious, that the problems are pretty big, bigger than slashing a few budgets and skipping a trip or two for ice cream. We think the problems will require the effort and sacrifice of the individual, not just the maneuverings of government. When you had a chance to cast a grand vision, a vision that strikes at what it means to be in a democracy, of what it means to value the contributions of the individual, you both balked, as if you are not sure our individual actions matter in the face of large problems. [more]