Mysterious masked teens prompting a recent SWAT team sweep aside, Boulder High School is among the top 200 Best Public High Schools in the nation, according to this year’s Challenge Index published in Newsweek. Boulder High is second-best public high school in Colorado according to the annual report, landing at 168th of the nation's 1,200 schools evaluated; JeffCo’s Lakewood High School edged out Boulder, as it has the past two years, coming in at 146th. In all, 23 Colorado public high schools made this year's top 1200 list, three of which hail from the Boulder Valley School District (Boulder at 168; Fairview High School at 242; Monarch High School at 632). For Boulder High, this year's marks the first time it has broken the top-200 mark. (This year, Colorado also carries the distinct honor of coming in last: Bear Creek High School in Lakewood secured the number 1200 spot on the national list.) [more]

Voucher War

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff has come out swinging on the hotly debated private school voucher issue, telling the Utah State Board of Education to implement the voucher program immediately. That is according to The Salt Lake Tribune. Despite widespread, public opposition to the state’s recently passed school voucher legislation, Shurtleff wants to rip off the band-aid, and quick. [more]

Boise's Trial of the 20th Century: Big Bill Haywood

The eyes of the nation were on Boise when “Big Bill” Haywood was tried for the murder of former Gov. Frank Steunenberg. Steunenberg was killed by a bomb just outside his Caldwell home in December 1905, purportedly at the direction of the Western Federation of Miners.

Local historian and former Supreme Court Justice Byron Johnson will speak on “The Trial of Big Bill Haywood in Boise, 1907: The Trial of the Century,” at the May 3 Fettuccine Forum, co-sponsored by Boise State University. The free lecture series is in the Rose Room in the historic Union Block, 718 W. Idaho Street in Boise. Doors open at 5 p.m. and the presentation begins at 5:30 p.m. [more]

6degrees AstroBlog with Irwin Horowitz

Children have a tremendous sense of wonder. They have a never-ending supply of excitement in learning about the natural world in which we live. Or do they? Certainly, their exuberance is practically infectious, but what happens in a few years, when they leave the joy of childhood behind and face the landmines of being a teenager? What happens to that excitement?

Last Friday, two members of the Boise Astronomical Society joined me for an education star party at Jackson Elementary School in Boise. Third grade teachers Sandy Stivison and Maggie Wilson, along with about 30 students and their parents, joined us at sunset under clear skies and [more]

Utah Blog Pick of the Week: From Rob Miller at The Utah Amicus

Chairman Wayne Holland Jr. just made a great point about the voucher referendum petition while being interviewed by The Deseret News.

If Parents for Choice truly believes that a majority of Utahns support vouchers based on their slanted poll, then they should be assisting Utahns for Public Schools to put the issue before the people of Utah, and allow Utahns to put this issue to bed once and for all. Instead it seems that they would rather continue to use Utah as an ongoing laboratory for right wing think tanks.

Unfortunately their rhetoric does not match reality. They claim Utahns support their issue, but at the same time they seem to fear bringing Utah citizens to the ballot box.

For more - jump on over to The Utah Amicus.

Education in Boulder

When Rep. Michael Merrifield resigned from his post as the chairman of the House Education Committee last week, it may have seemed just another boneheaded maneuver by a politician who doesn't know better than to keep his real views buttoned up even in a "private" email.

In a message to State Sen. Sen. Sue Windels, referring to the ongoing battle over creating new charter schools in Colorado, Merrifield was impolitic enough to write, "There must be a special place in Hell for these Privatizers, Charterizers and Voucherizers!"

Apologizing for his unfortunate remark and citing his struggle with throat cancer, Merrifield stepped down from his statehouse leadership on education. The subtext to this tale, though, is that almost a decade-and-a-half after the charter-school movement caught wind in this country, there remains a deep pool of mistrust and opposition regarding these private-style, state-funded schools.
[more]

COLLEGE GRADUATION

Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. signed into law yesterday the graduation of Utah Valley State College into Utah Valley University, amidst fanfare.

The move, as reported by the Salt Lake Tribune, marks a much-needed transformation for the school, which has grown rapidly to accommodate a booming population in and around Orem. Enrollment has increased by 4 percent a year, and is expected to hit 24,000 students in a decade.

The legislation creating the Tier II university also comes with $8 million, most of which will be used to hire more permanent professors. Many now are adjunct.

Drop it!

A federal lawsuit to keep guns off the University of Utah campus has been dismissed. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that U.S. District Judge Dale A. Kimball ruled on the case Wednesday after both the U and the Utah Attorney General’s office requested the litigation be sacked. [more]

State of the Statehouse

Un comité del Senado de Idaho hoy votó para hacer el inglés el idioma oficial del estado.

(A committee of the Idaho Senate today voted to make English the state's official language.)

El voto era seis a tres. El Senador Republicano Joe Stegner y los Demócratas Edgar Malapei y Clint Stennett votaron el No.

(The vote was six to three. Republican Senator Joe Stegner and Democrats Edgar Malapei and Clint Stennett voted No.)
[more]

bring nature alive on the page

Eileen Garvin is this year’s Beargrass coordinator. She lives, plays, and writes in the Columbia Gorge.

Beargrass Writers Workshop 2007 - Voices From Nature

We are pleased to present the Beargrass Writers Workshop at the Northwest Service Academy Mt. Adams Center in Trout Lake, Wash., from March 30 to April 1, 2007. Located just 20 miles north of Hood River, Ore., Trout Lake sits under the majestic gaze of the Northwest’s second highest peak.

This year marks the revival of the Beargrass Writers Workshop, which has been dormant for several years. The workshop takes its name from the hardy native grass, Xerophyllum tenax, which thrives in the alpine forests of Mt. Adams. Like the dramatic flowering stalk of the Beargrass itself, we are pushing out strands of new growth and energy.

Beargrass 2007 brings together a host of talented regional and local writers whose craft is informed by the voice of nature. Following our welcome session and readings on Friday night, workshop attendees will participate in three different sessions on Saturday. Saturday evening will take us to the Trout Lake Country Inn for an evening of reading, performance and celebration.

Featured writers will include the Columbia Gorge’s own Bill Weiler and Leigh Hancock.

Stick around on Sunday morning for a choice of different nature hikes (weather permitting) or a bonus workshop on how to combine art and poetry... [more]