Idaho News (Boise, Sandpoint, Council: closing, income, train)

[Clark Fork Fantast]

It doesn't look like Idaho will get clear skies tonight, but if you do, especially up north, take a look at the northern skies--you might see northern lights, aurora borealis, resulting from the big solar storm today.

[Clark Fork Fantast]

Just read about the legislative redistricting of Idaho--and it sounds totally idiotic to me: Bonner CT is split between District 1 and 7, and Clark Fork residents south of the river are in the same district as Riggins etc!

Breaking up (Idaho) is hard to do - Bonner County Daily Bee: Local News: sandpoint, priest river, clark fork, bonner county, boundary county

Can somebody explain the rationale to me? Here's the reason, but it still seems ridiculously impractical:

The commission admitted in its revised findings and conclusions that District 7 will be large and less than ideal.
However, it will meet the one person/one vote requirement.

[Clark Fork Fantast]

This was just posted on the Dog forum:

Michael Markarian: Animals & Politics: Canine Craziness in Idaho

It's one thing to be against the reintroduction of wolves--but this measure is beyond belief--if indeed it is true.

[elousv]

Puppies no, but there are a whole bunch of people I would like to use as live bait.

[Clark Fork Fantast]

The bill is being heard today in Boise...

[mtngirlatheart]

Originally Posted by elousv

Puppies no, but there are a whole bunch of people I would like to use as live bait.

That's a fact!

[Clark Fork Fantast]

Here's the bill sponsor, Siddoway, being interviewed. "Joking"? Fat and happy?

Beastly bingo: Bills allowing wolf killing, defining dangerous dogs and establishing felony animal cruelty offense introduced | Voices.IdahoStatesman.com

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Jeff Siddoway, a Republican sheep rancher from Terreton, authored the bill that would make it easier for a rancher to kill wolves after an attack on his flock.
Siddoway began by declaring a conflict of interest, citing losses of $30,000 to $50,000 in the last three years to wolf kills of his sheep.
"This bill is a direct result of those losses," Siddoway said. He said the $100,000 available to compensate ranchers paid 32 cents on the dollar for claims last year because claims exceeded the fund's ability to pay.
Siddoway's bill would give ranchers 36 hours to hunt wolves after a livestock kill.
"You can basically go after them by any means available," Siddoway said. "And when I say 'get 'em' I mean kill 'em."
The bill would allow aerial hunting, use of any weapon, including artificial light night scopes on rifles. Live bait also would be permitted to lure wolves to traps. In Siddoway's case, the bait would be several of his sheep, corralled behind a temporary fence. Others might use dogs as bait, he said.
"It's not a cruelty deal, so I hope we don't get drug into that," Siddoway joked. "You'd what to keep that dog nice and fat and happy so he would bark and draw those wolves in."

But wait--it gets weirder:

Wolf bill could backfire on Idaho | Idaho Legislature | Idahostatesman.com

Siddoway used his wife’s dog Sophie as an example of how a dog might be used as bait to lure wolves in.
He said he would place Sophie on a 20- to 30-foot chain and then set up in a blind with a rifle some distance away. Then he would turn on an electronic wolf howl.
“You try to get Sophie to chime in with the wolves,” Siddoway explained. “If they come down you just start shooting,” he said.

His wife's dog Sophie? Is he out of his mind? And his wife is okay with that?

[MILRETIRED]

“You try to get Sophie to chime in with the wolves,” Siddoway explained. “If they come down you just start shooting,” he said.

While he's "Just Shooting" he gets the right one.

[Clark Fork Fantast]

Originally Posted by MILRETIRED

“You try to get Sophie to chime in with the wolves,” Siddoway explained. “If they come down you just start shooting,” he said.

While he's "Just Shooting" he gets the right one.

He withdrew the bill. Maybe he had a talk with his wife?

[Clark Fork Fantast]

The Dirty Dance: Export Plan Puts North Idaho in the Middle of a New Coal Rush | Plans to bring coal trains across the Northwest raise big questions | Features | Boise Weekly

...Should the coastal terminals open and coal shipments ramp up to meet an export market of 110 million tons per year, estimates cited in the WORC analysis suggest that rail traffic would need to increase by about 40 unit trains--some more than a mile-and-a-half long--traveling to or from the ports every day.
Along with that traffic would almost certainly come increased diesel emissions, wear and tear on the rail infrastructure and congestion, though officials with BNSF maintain the line through Sandpoint and Spokane has more than enough capacity to handle the traffic.
What really has environmental groups worried, though, are threats to air and water quality from the loads themselves. Some studies, including the WORC analysis, estimate that each coal car loses as much as 500 pounds of coal and dust, amounting to more than 30 tons per train, during each trip.
In the case of North Idaho, where the BNSF tracks run for miles along the northeastern shore of Lake Pend Oreille, that potentiality alone is starting to raise a ruckus....