Idaho News (Boise, Caldwell, Rupert: campsites, gardens, painter)

[banjomike]

Originally Posted by Syringaloid

Harsh winter takes heavy toll on Treasure Valley vines | Idaho Statesman

Good article.

The most valuable item in it was that cooperation floats all boats. Vintners all expect to have weather related problems throughout the northwest that can affect the quality and/or quantity of their wine, but when they cooperate and share their grapes when one area is hit much harder than another, they all can get through a bad year with their investments and lives intact.
And as importantly, the wine remains very good. Regional competition is better than local competition out here, it turns out.
Losing one winery is more of a blow to them all than an opportunity to sell more wine for the others who survived.

Purchasers who discover northwest wine will naturally experiment after they try their first bottle, to discover if another wine is as good as the first they tried. Lots of wine fanciers have their favorites, but even they like to try others from other wineries from time to time.

Sharing the good fruit might make everyone extra dimes, not dollars, in one bad weather year, but the dimes can really add up when the region makes superior product year after year after year, despite weather or whatever nature brings. That's the real payoff of regional cooperation.

Some of southern Idaho's cities have adopted regional cooperation similarly; Twin Falls, Pocatello and Idaho Falls are in a regional group now, each promoting their own city, but when there is some inquiry that might not fit one city, another in the group is promoted by the first as a better possible choice for the industry, or whatever.
This builds up each city on its strengths that are already present, and helps the overall growth of them all. And every new business that decides to move here helps the entire state as well.

Good lessons to learn.

[Syringaloid]

Chobani sues Alex Jones, InfoWars over Idaho refugee sex assault | Idaho Statesman

Chobani, the Greek yogurt maker, is suing Alex Jones, the right-wing conspiracy theorist who says the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting was a hoax, 9/11 was an inside job by the U.S. government and Chobani imports migrant rapists to Twin Falls.

[banjomike]

Originally Posted by Syringaloid

Chobani sues Alex Jones, InfoWars over Idaho refugee sex assault | Idaho Statesman

Chobani, the Greek yogurt maker, is suing Alex Jones, the right-wing conspiracy theorist who says the Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting was a hoax, 9/11 was an inside job by the U.S. government and Chobani imports migrant rapists to Twin Falls.

Yeah. I think the timing of the lawsuit is a coincidence, coming at the same time as his custody battles, but Jones bit off more than he can chew with this one.

Chobani is the most popular Greek yogurt brand in the nation, and the founder is a very proud Turkish-American who is extremely patriotic.

He's very popular in the Magic Valley, for sure; his new factory was constructed to be very environmentally friendly, and went far beyond the water purification state laws in the way the water is recycled and cleaned before it goes back into the Snake River. The Greek yogurt process uses a lot more water than the other ways to make yogurt, and the other makers have created local water pollution problems in the other states where their factories are located.

In addition, the base wages Cobani pays are some of the highest in Idaho, and has caused the wages throughout the Magic Valley to rise. Chobani's commitment to Idaho was very deep, and has created a real prosperity in a small town area that is now envied by a lot of small towns across our country. The factory was close to a $Billion dollar investment here.

Given all that, I don't think Jones has a chance of winning the lawsuit. He didn't do himself any favors by attacking a potential advertiser, that's for sure.

[banjomike]

There are some interesting issues that arose from the last legislative session that have risen lately.

One is Gov. Otter's veto of the sales tax repeal on groceries. The tax was repealed by both houses on the last day of the session, and Otter vetoed the bill after the session was declared over for the year. A couple of SE Idaho's most conservative Representatives have taken this to the State Supreme Court to have the veto over-ridden.

The argument is over the time of the veto. The Gov has 5 days after the end of session to sign or veto laws. Otter claims that time does not count over the weekends- that it's 5 working days. The state Constitution simply states that once a bill passes in both houses, its then law from that moment until the Governor signs it or vetoes it. That's the "plain reading" of the constitution. So, according to the guys who are challenging, Otter waited too long, so the veto is not legal.

For newcomers, a note may be helpful here... the grocery sales tax was not part of the original sales tax law when it was passed. Groceries were exempt from sales tax until 2006, when the state lurched into a potential deficit. By our constitution, Idaho cannot have a deficit.
At that time, Dirk Kempthorne was the Governor, and he had just been appointed Secretary of Interior by George Bush, replacing the first Interior Secretary, who had resigned. The next Gubernatorial election was only a few months away, coming that November.

At that time, Otter had already announced his intentions of running for Governor. He was a Representative in Congress then, and the Lieutenant Governor at the time was Jim Risch, who became our Senator in 2009. At the time of Kempthorne's appointment, Risch was thought to be just a place-holder in the Governor's office until the election decided our next Governor.

Risch called an emergency summer session of the legislature to deal with the shortfall. This session was extremely unusual and very controversial, as so many farmers are state legislators. The middle of the summer when harvest is fast approaching was a bad time to hold a session, and the Legislature felt they were being held hostage by Risch, who had created a sweeping tax change proposal that was very unpopular in parts.
One part was the grocery tax. Another was the shifting of the sales tax, which was originally created to fund our schools only, into the general fund, where it could be used anywhere.

Risch's session became a stand-off, but after 6 weeks, he got his way. 2 years later, he was elected to Congress, and Otter became Governor, the job he always wanted. There was much talk of collusion between them, but it never affected their elections that followed. The old collusion issue raised its head along with the veto dispute; the veto looks like Otter was living up to his part of the old deal with Risch to some people.

Another dispute arose after a SE Representative, Janet Trujillo, Idaho Falls, quietly married another Legislator, Mike Moyle, from Star. By law, the legislators who live less than 20 miles from the Statehouse get much less per-diem pay than the others.
Star is less than 20 miles away. Moyle gets $49 a day per-diem, while Trujillo got $129 a day, as her official address is in Idaho Falls.
There was a dispute before the session began if Trujillo even qualified any more, as she's living with her new husband in Star, but she was allowed to keep her seat in the session. Now some Republicans are wanting her to pay back most of the $6,400 she claimed as a resident of Idaho Falls, as Moyer's home in Boise is now also legally hers as his wife.

The complaint allows her to claim the $49 a day Moyers gets, so the amount they want her to repay is less than the total of the per-diem amount.

At present, it remains unknown whether Trujillo will resign her seat or not. She was just re-elected to it in 2016, and has been very cagey as to exactly when she and Moyle were married.

Moyle divorced his former wife in 2016, if I recall rightly; Trujillo divorced her former husband slightly earlier, in late 2015 or a little later. She was still married to Trujillo when she ran into some trouble that hit the news in 2014.

[Syringaloid]

Idaho's Borah Peak: Meet the fastest climbers | Idaho Statesman

Climbing Idaho's Borah Peak | tips for your first trip | Idaho Statesman

[Syringaloid]

The next time a misinformed/naïve person posts in the Idaho forum about this topic we can refer them to this article.

Portland's liberal image tempered by history as 'Skinhead City' - CNN.com

[banjomike]

Originally Posted by Syringaloid

The next time a misinformed/naïve person posts in the Idaho forum about this topic we can refer them to this article.

Portland's liberal image tempered by history as 'Skinhead City' - CNN.com

Well, you know how it is these days... if it didn't happen in the last 5 minutes, it never happened at all.

The article was factual, though. Both of my sons moved to Portland in the late 90s, and the skinhead gangs were still very much alive then. They both told me many stories of the gangs and all the confrontations they observed after they arrived.
The article mentioned the fact that there are a lot of different skinheads in Portland, something both my boys found very surprising.
Some groups are not racist at all, and have members from all races in them, while others are totally white supremacists. Some are 'straight edge', denouncing all drug use except for alcohol, especially among the supremacists, who believe drugs are the black man's tool for conquering whites, while others are more like motorcycle gangs- the more drugs, the better.

So all the fights that start tend to be multi-dimensional. When they aren't in battle with the progressives, they fight each other.

It's all made worse by all the people who are moving to Portland. My younger son said they were coming in at around 1,000 a month. Jobs are very hard to find there, and housing is even harder to find. Rural Oregon is having tough times of its own, so a lot of those newcomers are coming from the remote expanses in the east side of the state to the big city, and they're bringing their rural conservatism with them.

It's nothing new for the city, though. It's always been a political hotbed ever since the last great immigration of a century ago. Like San Francisco and Seattle, Portland's skid row saw many head-busting battles between all sides that were very violent back then, and Portland has always had a reputation for being a town full of toughs ever since.

We just don't remember our history. But our history remembers us, so we re-live everything over and over.

[Syringaloid]

https://www.boiseweekly.com/boise/ha...nt?oid=5461531

Exploring how Boise transforms and is transformed by refugees.

[banjomike]

Whoo, boy!
All of S. Idaho just went through a week of severe, screwy weather.
High winds, flood watches, tornadoes, hail the size of quarters, and sudden snow storms higher up. If it wasn't one thing it was another for a full week, and it all kept circulating around in a big loop, all the way up to Salmon and beyond, extending over the divide to Montana and Wyoming, and reaching all the way west to Twin Falls and the Oregon line.

Today is the first that hasn't been any of that, or unseasonably cold, like it was yesterday, but it's still unsettled.

I sure hope this stuff doesn't persist. The week before, we were hitting 90º days, and two days ago, the high was 48º. After last winter, I sure hope summer settles down and is just summer, with no drama attached.

I want to get my house painted before the next snowfall. I was counting on having plenty of time to do it, but was damn glad I hadn't started just yet. I've been all ready to go for 2 weeks.

[EvilEyeFleegle]

She was one of most talented women I ever met--her laugh could light up a room and her music spoke to millions. Many in Idaho did not know Rosalie--I hope they become aware of the treasure she was, through the music she left for all of us. My favorite will always be her recording of Utah Phillip's music--Americana/folk in the finest traditions.

Godspeed Rose----




The Difficult, Adventurous, Happy Life Of Rosalie Sorrels : The Record : NPR


Beloved Idaho folksinger Rosalie Sorrel dies | Idaho Statesman