My Page: Jill Kuraitis

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Climate Change

Three critters in the Northern Rockies are featured on a new list of species most at risk of extinction because of a changing climate that affects habitat, breeding cycles and food supplies. Salmon, Canada lynx and grizzly bears are singled out in the report “America’s Hottest Species,” released by the Endangered Species Coalition.

Leda Huta, the group’s executive director, says although grizzlies have been touted as a success story in endangered species recovery, warmer winters are creating ideal conditions for diseases that are decimating white bark pines, a grizzly food staple. And, shifting seasons mean more run-ins with humans - which can be dangerous to people and bears.

“Having them den later, overlapping more with hunters who shoot them for self-defense or mistaken identity reasons, can be another problem for grizzly bears.”

The Canada lynx also have specific climate requirements to stay healthy - they need a solid season of deep snows. When snowpack is low, Huta explains, bigger and more aggressive species, like coyotes, edge the lynx out of hunting territories.

Idaho Life

Dear owners of Pengilly’s Saloon in Boise,

My friends and I often spend an evening of music at Pengilly’s. It’s a wonderful place and we thank you for keeping it as it has been for more than a century. In fact, we remember when you could choke in there from the smoke of a thousand Democrats. Thanks for clearing that up.

[more]

National Journal Online for NewWest.Net

Lawmakers are back in their districts for the week, but the healthcare debate rages on during the recess.

In a memorandum to members, Senate Democratic leaders suggested this is a prime time to frame the debate because momentum is growing after Saturday night’s vote to start debate on the measure. “Americans are serious about reforming health insurance and for the first time in 60 years, Congress is primed to act,” the memo says.

The memo plays down a dispute between moderate Democrats who threaten to scuttle the language due to opposition to the public option with a state opt-out and liberals who say they might balk if that measure is dropped.

“The differences between Democrats are small, and we all believe now is the time to make quality, stable, affordable health insurance accessible for every single American,” it says. The talking points say the bill “saves lives and saves money,” cuts the deficit and protects Medicare.”

Talking points prepared by the Senate Republican Conference repeat GOP claims that the measure will cost $2.5 trillion when fully implemented and highlight the measure’s 2,074 pages. The talking points say the bill will generate higher premiums, higher taxes and Medicare cuts.

Congress

Saturday, Idaho Senator Mike Crapo delivered a national address on the health care legislation expected to be considered by the U.S. Senate Saturday evening.  Crapo was chosen by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell to offer the Republican response to the President’s weekly radio address. 

A vote in the Senate on whether or not to allow debate on the bill is expected Saturday night.

Congress

It can be scary for adults to change careers, but the recession has handed many American workers no choice. Enrollment at trade schools, community colleges and specialized private colleges has increased all over the U.S.  But whether or not graduates of these programs find work in their new area of competence varies based on the quality of the training, the choice of skills to learn, and whether or not the training suits an industry with hiring needs.

Rep. Walt Minnick, D-ID, has announced his new bill, H.R. 4072 or the American Manufacturing Efficiency and Retraining Investment Collaboration (AMERICA) Works Act. Minnick has spent eight months developing and writing the bill, which is co-sponsored by three Democratic House Members: Frank Kratovil of Maryland, Debbie Halvorson of Illinois, and Bobby Bright of Alabama.

“Thanks to the diverse coalition behind the bill, there will be more co-sponsors of both parties signing on,” said John Foster, Minnick’s spokesperson. That coalition includes the National Association of Manufacturers, Northwest Carpenters, and community colleges and trade organizations.

“American workers are the best in the world,” said Minnick. “They are resilient, innovative and hardworking, as is made so clear by the success of many great companies in my home state of Idaho. We need to make sure that those American workers, many of whom are retraining, are given every opportunity to achieve certifications, degrees and qualifications for the jobs American industry needs to fill.”

Essay: A week in our national town

Washington, D.C. is a town where an arcane government and a logical street grid are muddled by overlap and diagonal lines. But the reverent preservation and displays of America’s history have a clear and tangible path.

In a town where the ghosts of American history wait for you to discover them, your hosts are cabdrivers, waiters, and doormen from Eritrea, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Somalia. They are a twenty-year wave of immigrants just as the Irish, Italians, and Eastern Europeans who are the backbone of the Eastern seaboard were at the turn of the 20th century, and by working as hard as their role models they remind you why America exists.

In a place where federal buildings are so baffling that in looking for the “Anteroom” you run across a door marked “Not the Anteroom” you can still simply have your bag scanned and then walk straight to your congressman’s office and state your plea.

Column: Politics

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina has announced she’s running for Senate in California, hoping to unseat Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer.

Long one of Boise’s biggest employers, HP is part of Idaho culture. It didn’t take long for the Fiorina chatter to show up on Idaho blogs, including Tom von Alten’s Fort Boise. von Alten, a mechanical engineer who worked at HP for twenty years and still holds stock in the company, wrote, “Her campaign slogan will presumably not be ‘Let me do to the country what I did to HP,’ but I have no doubt she will put a positive spin on every aspect of her career to date.”

As a longtime resident of Boise with friends who worked at HP, I’ve sat at many a dinner party where people told tales of how, instead of “bringing people together,” she repeatedly did the opposite. Notorious for egotistical, divisive and manipulatory tactics, one of her biographers, Michael Malone, said Fiorina “created a pestilential culture” and “a poisonous stew.”

There are numerous reports of employees literally cheering and dancing in the aisles the day her “resignation” was announced.

Opinion: Elections

Refusing to vote, declining to vote, or not being informed enough to vote is a serious wrong.

Ever since our high school civics teachers pounded our heads about the right to vote, we all should know this. But apparently we don’t.

The turnout in today’s election is estimated at 20 to 30 percent. We’ll see how it turns out – Boise in particular has a hot city council race centered around support of a downtown trolley system – but based on history, that’s probably right.

“If you don’t vote, you can’t complain” is a fundamental concept of democracy and fairness. If you don’t help to plant the seed, pull the weeds, harvest the wheat and bake the bread, no soup for you.

The response that there is nobody you want to vote for is acceptable only if you plan to keep your mouth shut about any civic issue that could have been addressed by electing someone else. And if there was nobody else who came close to your views, you can always run for office yourself.

When you fail to participate in a democracy, you are turning your vote over to people who don’t have your values and issues in mind – they have their own.

No child left inside

The classic American sound of the baseball playoffs on television reminds me of something our family used to do this time of year. 

According to the research done by the Children and Nature Network – and dozens of other organizations – “Children are smarter, cooperative, happier and healthier when they have frequent and varied opportunities for free and unstructured play in the out-of-doors.”

In other words, go hit a rock with a stick for awhile, kid.  Good for ya.

In the 90s, when my two kids were school-age, we’d have a yearly party called “Catalapa Leaf-Whomping Day.” Two eight-stories-high catalpa trees grow in our streamside backyard - those monsters with dinner-plate-sized leaves and two-foot seed pods that look like dried green beans on crack (perfect for whacking your little sister).

When the leaves fall from these godzillas, holy smokes! - it’s a mess. The kids and their friends would go door-to-door organizing the neighbors on a Saturday afternoon for a raking party, which, after some mighty raking, produced a leaf pile the size of an SUV.

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