Presidential Politics: Idaho
Idaho Superdelegates United for Obama
Idaho State Democratic Chair Keith Roark, who is a superdelegate to the Democratic convention, announced today he will vote for Senator Barack Obama.
Roark said, “The unprecedented enthusiasm Senator Obama has generated here in Idaho is unlike anything I have seen in my 31 years of active political participation in this State. He has captured the imagination and mint fresh optimism of young voters from Coeur d’Alene to Caldwell, from Murphy to Montpelier, from Twin Falls to Idaho Falls. I firmly believe that the critical process of rebuilding the Idaho Democratic Party will receive a once in a lifetime boost from Senator Obama’s candidacy.”
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Column "Agricultural" television
What Real Farmers Think of “Farmer Wants a Wife”
More farm, not so many huge tracts of land.
That's the consensus of the real farmers who are watching "Farmer Wants a Wife," the most recent variant of the so-called reality shows that pit a number of potential mates against each other while the searcher gradually winnows them out based on a series of tests.
At least, among those real farmers who have a satellite dish or time to watch tv during spring planting season. "Do we *have* to look at the girls?" complained one.
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LET'S GET OUR WORDS STRAIGHT
Wilderness is Multiple Use
Have you ever heard somebody say they prefer "multiple use" over Wilderness? I have what seems like a thousand times, and every time I hear it, I say to myself, wrong!
So, it seems like a good time to say it out loud because the words, "multiple use" have been lost in the Wilderness.
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Column: Idaho Congressional Race
Minnick Holds Cheap Gas Event
Idaho Democratic candidate for Congress Walt Minnick held a sale on gasoline today, and over 350 cars showed up.
The posted price at a Boise Chevron station was $3.59 a gallon, but for an hour this morning customers paid $2.26 a gallon, with the price difference of $1.33 paid by the Minnick campaign. 3,230 gallons were sold in 90 minutes. Minnick said $2.26 was the price of gas when Sali took office.
Minnick’s Republican opponent is incumbent Rep. Bill Sali.
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Diary of a Mad Voter: Joan McCarter
Living In A Privatized Idaho
One of the slogans that resonated most strongly throughout the 2006 campaign season in Idaho was Jerry Brady's "Idaho is Not for Sale." Two years after his defeat, someone observing recent political news from the state has to wonder if a chunk or two of it hasn't been sold.
First there's the news, broken by New West's Jill Kuraitis, that Idaho was the intended recipient of 6,700 tons of highly contaminated--and potentially highly dangerous--Kuwaiti sand. First, let's just consider the insanity of actually shipping 6,700 tons of contaminated anything the thousands of miles from it's current home in Kuwait to Owyhee County, Idaho.
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Follow the Money, Follow the Attitude: Column
LaRocco to Otter, Risch: No Contaminated Sand to IdahoOn Monday, U.S. Senate candidate Larry LaRocco asked Gov. C.L. (Butch) Otter and Lt. Gov. Jim Risch to stop 150 rail cars loaded with radioactive sand from entering Idaho. His staff hand delivered letters to each office.
In Idaho, the story of the shipment was first published here on NewWest.Net/Boise.
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CLASS ACTION SUITS TO BE FILED TUESDAY IN ARIZONA, COLORADO
Public Land Owners Taking RAT, Forest Service to Civil Court
Enough is enough, say the owners of our national forests. And they may have finally found a way to spike the Recreation Access Tax or RAT.
After years of working through cumbersome administrative channels and several rounds in criminal court, people interested in reasonable and free access to their public land have dragged the Forest Service (FS) into civil court. In addition to asking for injunctions against collecting "illegal" fees while the case is being litigated and if successful the fee program terminated, the plaintiffs in the class action complaints--to be filed tomorrow morning in Arizona and Colorado--want all fee collection signs removed and all fees collected through the years under the program returned to the people who shouldn't have had to pay them.
Suffice to say, it's panic time in the FS offices back in Washington, D.C.
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Valuable Items Ignored
Break-In at LaRocco for Senate OfficeSomebody kicked in the locked door at LaRocco for Senate campaign headquarters on Saturday and did a “couple of hundred dollars” in damages, according to LaRocco’s communications director Dean Ferguson.
Since the intruder didn’t take anything of value – like expensive computers and equipment - “We will not know whether this was a politically motivated break-in or just a random act of senseless violence until the Boise police conclude their investigation,” said Bob Stout, campaign manager for LaRocco for Senate. UPDATED 5:15 p.m. after the jump
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Another Harbinger of The Crunch
Idaho’s Village Green Development Files for Bankruptcy
The Village Green at the Valley Club, a new high-end subdivision and golf course development in Ketchum, Idaho, filed last week for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, owing more than $24 million to its creditors.
The development plan includes 43 custom homes -- valued at about $3 million each -- and a nine-hole Tom Fazio golf course, but so far only 13 homes have been completed and only seven of those have been sold, according to developer Henry Dean.
"We expected to do a lot better," Dean said. "We just fell off of our pro forma."
It's the latest in a string of bankruptcies among developments in the West, from Tamarack Resort in Idaho to Promontory Club in Utah, further evidence that the high-end real estate market in the West has been deeply affected by the credit crunch.
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Best of 2007
Kuraitis, NewWest.Net Boise Win Idaho Press Awards
Jill Kuraitis, Idaho Editor and columnist at NewWest.Net won 3rd place for specialty column and NewWest.Net/Boise was honored with 2nd place in the Web site general excellence category in the Idaho Press Club's Best of 2007 Annual Awards this weekend.
The Idaho Statesman took first in Web site general excellence and the Wood River Journal and the Idaho State Journal tied for third. The Statesman also won daily newspaper general excellence and Dan Popkey won for watchdog journalism with his investigation into the now infamous Larry Craig story, the main headline being: "Men's room arrest reopens questions about Craig." Popkey also won reporter of the year.
For more awards from the Idaho Press Club, click here. And congratulations to Jill! Recognition well-deserved.
