Wild Card/Monday -- 1.4.2016 6
As much as I like you guys, it was hard to come back this morning after a wonderful week in Portland and at the Oregon Coast. I missed the snow coming and going. And caught sunshine on the coast for 2 days. Mrs. O &...
MONDAY, JAN. 4, 2016
Parting Shot -- 1.4.2016 1
Work began today to remove J.R. Simplot’s mansion from a hill west of Bogus Basin Road in Boise, said Ken Dey, spokesman for the Simplot family. Most of the work should be done in about 10 days, Dey said in a news release. A giant American flag atop the hill, recently removed, will be replaced once the project is done.
Finish This Sentence ... 6
In 2016, I resolve to ...
Oregon ranchers report for prison 1
Father-and-son ranchers convicted of setting fire to federal grazing land reported to prison Monday as the armed anti-government activists who have taken up their cause maintained the occupation of a remote Oregon wildlife preserve. Federal authorities made no immediate attempt to retake the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
Cutline Contest -- Time2Vote 12
The Cutline Contest today features a sparrow munching on a French fry outside Dick's Hamburgers in Spokane.
PM Scanner Traffic -- 1.4.2016
PM Scanner Traffic for Monday (17 items & counting + link to AM Scanner Traffic with 14 more items) includes PFPD Swing Shift report for Sunday in which a PFPD officer narrowly missed a head-on crash while investigating an accident caused by ruts on an icy road ...
Obama moving ahead on gun regs 6
President Barack Obama is moving ahead on plans to require background checks for guns purchased from dealers even if they're bought online or at gun shows. The White House is coming out with a series of long-awaited executive steps aimed at curbing gun violence despite opposition in Congress to new gun laws.
Idaho 3%ers make Oregon stand 19
Reporting for Hate Watch, of the Southern Poverty Law Center, former SR staffer Bill Morlin provides this photo and his report from two days coverage of the Burns, Ore., wildlife refuge standoff. Morlin reports: "Townsfolk who watched the rally said they didn’t see any Burns residents participating in the rally.
Holidays
The holidays have come and gone swiftly, per usual. As we prepare to tackle 2016, The Bard of Sherman Avenue has some last thoughts about Christmas/New Year's in his first rhyme of the year.
Idaho school levy bill inches up 3
State education funding has finally inched above pre-recession levels — but still, more school districts are relying on extra help from local taxpayers. This year, 94 of Idaho’s 115 school districts will collect supplemental property tax levies totaling more than $186.6 million. Kevin Richert/Idaho Education News provides the report.
Idaho growth exceeds USA rate 4
Idaho’s population growth outpaced the national rate from mid-2014 to mid-2015, the Idaho Department of Labor reports today, though it’s still well below the 2 percent-plus rates from the mid-2000s. The latest U.S. Census data shows that Idaho’s population grew 1.2 percent during the time period, well ahead of the national rate of 0.8 percent.
Blogos: Stunning start to New Year 2
In the daily roundup from the Huckleberries Online blog roll, Marianne Love/Slight Detour launches the new year with stunning photos from the New Year's Weekend ...
8 precincts face boundary changes 3
The Kootenai County Clerk's Office has introduce proposed changes to boundaries of 8 precincts -- Nos. 38, 39, 40, 42, 43, 44, 45, and 51. The proposed changes would reduce the number of individuals in each precinct from 628 to 1,999 to 883 to 1,573.
When Obama speaks, gun sales soar 2
In his Idaho Politics Weekly column, Chuck Malloy points out that the NRA should be pleased with a possible Hillary Clinton presidency. Guns flew off the shelves like toys during the Christmas holidays, as a result of gun-control statements made by President Obama. The same will occur in a Hillary Clinton presidency, Malloy says.
Armed activists take over refuge 105
An unpredictable new chapter in the wars over federal land use in the West unfolded Sunday after a group of armed activists split off from an earlier protest march and occupied part of a national wildlife refuge in remote southeastern Oregon. (Question: What should be done to address this situation?)
Taking the plunge 2
SR photog Jesse Tinsley provides 3 photos of the brave souls who jumped into Lake Coeur d'Alene for a momentary dip in the lake Friday at the annual Polar Bear Plunge on Sanders Beach in Coeur d'Alene. Despite temperatures in the low 20s, several hundred braved the cold water in the annual New Years tradition.
Poll: Gummint is #1 problem 6
Americans say their own government was the nation’s biggest problem in 2015, according to Gallup, though the number giving that response has dropped slightly. About 16 percent say some aspect of government — including President Obama, Congress and partisanship — was the nation's biggest problem last year, according to a Gallup survey.
AM Scanner Traffic -- 1.4.2016
AM Scanner Traffic for Monday (14 items & counting) includes a hit-and-run, wrong-way driver who sideswiped another driver @ H95/Garwood Road.
HucksOnline celebrates record year 3
Huckleberries Online celebrated a record year in 2015, finishing with 2,789,768 page-view and 1,817,202 unique views. The page-view mark beat the previous HucksOnline record, set in 2014, by 162,000 page-views.
AM: House of Charity figure retires 2
AM Headlines features the retirement of long-time House of Charity director Ed McCarron. Also: Daanens gets new owners/PressPost Falls PD welcomes canine cop/Press,Kootenai County explores jail expansion/Press,Giant US flag missing from Simplot hill/EOBoise,Top Landers' Outdoors blog posts for 2015/Outdoors + more ...
Renfro to face death penalty 9
The Kootenai County Prosecutor’s Office will seek the death penalty for Jonathan Renfro, the man accused of killing a Coeur d’Alene police sergeant last year, if he is convicted of first-degree murder. Prosecutors filed a notice in 1st District Court on Thursday, the last day of the year, to try the slaying of Sgt. Greg Moore as a capital crime.
State workers lose ground on pay 12
Though Idaho lawmakers agreed to raise state employee pay this year by an average of 3 percent, state worker salaries have fallen even further behind market rates. An annual state report shows that Idaho classified state employee pay now lags 22.6 percent below market rates, compared to 19.87 percent at this point last year.
Jeers & Cheers -- Year-end edition 3
In his final Cheers & Jeers column of 2015, Opinion Editor Marty Trillhaase of the Lewiston Tribune begins by offering JEERS to Idaho Gov. Butch Otter. He also has JEERS for North Idaho representatives Sen. Sheryl Nuxoll and Rep. Shannon McMillan. Do you have a CHEER or a JEER for the performance by a political figure in 2015?
Press: Top stories of 2015 1
The slaying of Coeur d’Alene Police Sgt. Greg Moore didn’t make international headlines or set every readership record for cdapress.com. But the tragedy left the community reeling, then slowly healing like few other events in our region’s history.That profound local impact is why the death of Sgt. Moore is the Story of the Year for The Press.
CdA takes (Polar Bear) plunge 4
Once again, hundreds of local residents gathered on Sanders Beach to begin the New Year by taking the Polar Bear Plunge. Question: How did you start the New Year?
D.F. Oliveria started Huckleberries Online on Feb. 16, 2004. Oliveria's Sunday print Huckleberries is a past winner of the national Herb Caen Memorial Column contest.