My Page: Jill Kuraitis

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Column

How much time do you spend in front of your computer, using your smartphone, and watching television?

No, really; how much?

Those of us who are sometimes too tethered to technology know we should knock it off, but it’s easy to convince ourselves that it’s necessary. 

Like children who need to be in touch with nature to be healthy, we adults can suffer if we don’t keep up real-time alliances, friendships, and experiences just being among people. But so much is done in front of a computer that time with people can feel unusual.

This Thursday and Friday, June 3 and 4, NewWest.Net is producing and hosting our second annual Planning in the West conference in Boise that promises time with inspiring leaders and innovators who are designers, developers, architects, transportation and urban and rural planners.

At our New West Conferences, we take special care to provide a place and time where talking about a shared sense of purpose with each other is not only real and human, but practical and productive. The downright delightful setting - the spectacular Stueckle Sky Center on the campus of Boise State University, in a sky-high glass room with beautiful views – makes the experience even better.

Column: Election 2010

The money horse in Idaho’s 1st Congressional District Republican primary, Vaughn Ward, needed pickup men in the ring when he lost to state representative Raul Labrador on Tuesday.

Ward had more money, more connections, and a head start on latecomer Labrador, but his suicide grip on the reins – a series of blunders and some obvious plagiarism – threw him off.

It was an undignified landing. After the polls closed, Jay Leno sent in the clowns by showing side-by-side video of Ward and President Obama delivering, it seems, the same speech. Only Obama delivered it first in 2004 at the Democratic National Convention.

Anyhow, it hadn’t been shaping up to be a good day for Ward when a national publication headlined, “Vaughn Ward: Worst Candidate Ever?”

Column

Husband and I carry on a 28-year-long mock competition about...everything. Some people think we are serious, and get squirmy in our presence when we indulge. But we’re not serious.

Okay, sometimes we are.

Things nearly came to a blow that one time when he challenged me to put oil in the car properly (thanks for the lesson, Dad) and I challenged him to sew a straight line, which came out more crooked than Goldman Sachs. But we lived to muscle through a thousand more of these episodes, and not only are we still married, we both work at home and like it that way.

Election 2010

With 18 states now part of a federal health care lawsuit, Idaho Democratic candidate for governor Keith Allred says the state should instead use a section of the new federal law to opt out of the requirements of the Health Care Reform Act.

A federal lawsuit which was filed March 23 by Florida’s Attorney General cites the states’ rights language in the 10th amendment to the Constitution. Indiana, North Dakota, Mississippi, Nevada and Arizona just joined the suit, following Alabama, Colorado, Idaho, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Washington. Virginia is suing separately under different criteria.

“We could spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a lawsuit that has a very low chance of success,” said Allred. “Governor Otter’s focus on lawsuits overlooks an important provision in the federal legislation. States can get a waiver from the federal requirements if they establish alternative programs that control costs and increase access better than the federal legislation itself. I’m here today to tell that when I’m elected governor, I’ll work to do just that,” Allred said.

Idahoans in D.C.

Idahoan Bruce Reed has been appointed as executive director of President Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.

Reed, who is the son of longtime Democratic state senator Mary Lou Reed of Coeur d’Alene and environmental attorney Scott Reed, was director of President Clinton’s Domestic Policy Council for eight years. Since then he’s been CEO of the Democratic Leadership Council, a centrist organization.

Reed’s most public achievement under Clinton was heading up a welfare reform initiative which was unpopular with liberal Democrats, and his other moderate views have sometimes put him at odds with that wing of the party. 

Congress and Elections 2010

It took less than five minutes Sunday night after Congress passed the health care reform bill for the press releases to fly - a sure sign they were written well in advance. No surprise there.

Neither is it surprising that Idaho elected officials and candidates for those offices are unhappy with national health reform; they’ve been clear and consistent about it for months.

Election 2010

Former Idaho Rep. Bill Sali announced today he will not run in the Republican primary to regain his old seat, but instead will support state representative Raul Labrador in the primary.

Others who have filed in the Republican primary for Idaho’s First Congressional District include Harley D. Brown, Michael L. Chadwick, Allan M. Salzberg, and Vaughn Ward. The winner will face incumbent Democrat Rep. Walt Minnick.

At a press conference in the state capitol rotunda, Sali said he is supporting Labrador as the “right sort of person” to send to Washington, D.C., someone “with the backbone to make a tough vote.”

“The things I’ve seen him do helped me make a decision,” Sali said. He said he admires Labrador for independent thinking.

Labrador said it was “a surprise but an honor to have former representative Bill Sali’s support.”

Election 2010

Idaho State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Republican Tom Luna, has filed the papers which formally declared he is a candidate for re-election. He is finishing his first term, and will face Democratic challenger Stan Olson, who is now the Boise Superintendent of Schools.

Superintendent Luna said, “We have made great progress thanks to talented teachers, dedicated parents and hard-working students. We are heading in the right direction, but clearly we can never be satisfied until all of Idaho’s students are performing well. We are on the right path, and we must continue this momentum.”

Luna graduated from Thomas Edison State College. Before becoming Idaho’s Superintendent of Public Instruction in January 2007, Luna was a businessman. He first got involved in the state’s education system by serving on the Nampa School Board for seven years, including three years as chairman.

Full disclosure: Stan Olson and his wife Connie are my next-door neighbors.

Election 2010

Boise’s Superintendent of Schools, Stan Olson, Ed.D. plans to announce Thursday that he’ll run for State Superintendent as a Democrat, challenging Republican incumbent Tom Luna.

“I have an almost 40-year track-record of partnership and accomplishment in education at every level,” said Olson. “Given the challenges Idaho’s students face today, we need a person who understands real education leadership now more than ever.”

Olson holds a BA in History from Central Michigan University, an MA in Community Education from Eastern Michigan University, an Ed.S. from the same, and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from Western Michigan University. In his 37 years in education, Olson has been a classroom teacher, adjunct professor, school consultant and facilitator in the fields of educational leadership and school community relations, as well as a superintendent.

At his announcement, Olson will be joined by Boise School Board President AJ Balukoff, Mayor Dave Bieter and former Governor Cecil Andrus. The event will be held at Grace Jordan Elementary School, 6411 West Fairfield Ave. in Boise.

Species Conservation

Land birds found throughout the Rocky Mountain West need human help.

Dr. David Pashley, Vice President of American Bird Conservancy – the nation’s leading bird conservation organization – cautioned today that as climate change impacts are increasingly felt throughout the United States and beyond, conservation efforts affecting birds will take on a doubly important role in protecting not only birds that are already threatened, but more common birds as well.

Dr. Pashley made his comments in connection with Thursday’s release of State of the Birds 2010, the first comprehensive vulnerability assessment of bird species to climate change across the United States. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced the report’s release at a press conference in Texas, along with several environmental organizations including American Bird Conservancy that had collaborated on the publication.  Dr. Pashley was one of the authors of the report.

“Our findings tell us that birds of conservation concern today will be in even greater peril in the future as a result of climate change, and many bird species that are now doing well may soon become conservation priorities as global warming progresses,” Dr. Pashley said.

The report identified common Rocky Mountain West bird species such as the common nighthawk and northern pintail that are likely to become species of conservation concern as a result of climate change. 

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