Over the years you have trusted us with your heart attacks, strokes, insect bites and the marble in your kid’s nose. We have always been grateful for the opportunity to help you in your time of need. We give advice about backcountry safety and avoiding blindness during a total eclipse of the…
While we’re all sheltered in place and socially distanced, nervously monitoring the daily rise in coronavirus cases and hoping for the best, even the busiest among us will have some additional time. That’s what happens when you can’t run errands, when there are no sports practices or piano l…
Today, the Idaho Mountain Express and Guide’s staff hit its 17th day in a row of pushing out news and information about the invasion of the COVID-19 virus. Staffers rose to the threat by doing the job of getting the facts out.
On March 13, the South Central Public Health District revealed that we had our first confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Blaine County. While this news may have surprised some of you, most of us working in the medical field have understood that this virus has likely been present in our community …
Communities across the country and the globe are facing the profound and ongoing impact of the COVID-19 virus.
The nonprofit industry is the third largest in America. In Blaine County, nonprofit organizations employ hundreds of people and serve thousands. They provide food for the hungry, safety for the abused, care for our seniors and shelter for stray pets. They also provide the community with ente…
Blaine County is Idaho’s canary in the coal mine. Yet, Gov. Brad Little is downplaying the threat of the COVID-19 coronavirus and is stuffing his ears against the sound of the lessons learned in recent weeks in our hard-hit county.
Here’s an idea for the wealthier among us to make a real difference during this time of crisis to help out the retailers, restaurants and hospitality providers in the Wood River Valley whose businesses are suffering: Buy a bunch of gift cards! I would suggest several thousand dollars’ worth …
Thank you to Tom Iselin and Sara Donnart Gorham, whose letters in this space on March 18 lifted my heart! We all need to come from a place of utter kindness and compassion through the coming months.
What a wonderful gift at this time of anxieties! The BCRD has continued grooming their North Valley trails and they are in great shape. Not only can the pass holders enjoy these last days of outdoor activity but the BCRD opened the trails to everyone who enjoys skiing or snowshoeing. Is that…
I am astounded by the hesitancy of our local and state leaders not to immediately close Blaine County to anyone coming in from other areas who does not have a primary residence here. Each day people come in by plane and car from San Francisco, Seattle and other outlying states. Action needs …
The coronavirus is inside my body right now, trying to kill me.
Video of penguins waddling about the empty Shedd Aquarium rotunda lit up the internet this week, giving Chicagoans and people across the country a brief respite from news of the worsening coronavirus pandemic.
As our lifestyle in the Wood River Valley has changed for the foreseeable future, our community stands together, as always, supporting one another during times of need. While the community is responding appropriately and we strive to keep Blaine County at the peak of its resilience, there ar…
Americans love Westerns. Taciturn loners face down danger to save others, operating by their own moral code, alone. Time to put that myth away. Americans, isolated by the COVID-19 health crisis, should adopt a #WeNotMe attitude in the face of the economic fallout that will follow.
Movement has begun, albeit late, to slow the spread of COVID-19, a highly contagious coronavirus, in Blaine County and the rest of Idaho. The hope is that “better late than never” will save lives, but more must be done quickly.
Being a neighbor is geographic, but acting “neighborly” is rooted in genuine care, generosity and friendliness. Now is the time for us to act neighborly and extend our generosity of time and energy to help the most vulnerable across the street or down the block. The seniors you see walking t…
It is despicable that the coronavirus outbreak is being weaponized and politicalized against President Trump. Trump responded quickly to stop people from China and other countries from coming into the U.S. The corona outbreak began at Wuhan, China. Trump loves America and is not a globalist.…
There are many ways to respond to the current coronavirus situation. Fear and anxiety are perhaps the easiest, but certainly not the most productive. Here are some other suggestions:
We are experiencing unprecedented times as COVID-19 impacts our community. The city of Ketchum has taken numerous actions to address the pandemic, but we have two requests of our community: Slow it down and Do your part.
Local action to stem coronavirus speeded up after the first confirmed local case was announced today, Saturday.
For every complex problem there is an answer that is simple, clear and wrong. When voters fall for that H.L. Mencken truism, someone wins an election. Someone else always pays a price. Voters should remember that equation.
As of press time, Idaho was one of the few states that hasn’t registered a case of the COVID-19 virus, which is spreading around the world like wildfire. There is no safety in that. The only things that offer safety now include changes in personal hygiene and social habits.
Betty Bell, 95, died last week, which came as a shock to everyone who thought we would see her faithfully and stubbornly riding her bike up the hill into downtown Ketchum, well, forever.
A space study issued in 2016 put the new Ketchum fire station on Lewis Street.
The Blaine County School District board of trustees and our community partners brought businessman Jamie Vollmer to town last week because we are ready to engage our community in a Conversation (with a capital C) about our public schools. (Watch it here: livestream.com/comlib/vollmer, courte…
Regarding the KIC closing its doors (March 4), I would like to publicly thank the three executive directors of the KIC—Jon Duval, Kathleen Guylay and Christy Anna Gerber—and the scores of supporters and mentors who made the KIC successful over the past six years. The Ketchum Innovation Cente…
Despite opposition from 23,000 folks (out of 27,000 to comment), the Idaho Fish and Game Commission voted unanimously to increase trapping, snaring and killing of wolves year-round. They made the decision in a conference call on Feb. 20 to adopt all of the proposals. In other words, there wi…
Signs are piling up that polling problems may be widespread in the November presidential election. The Super Tuesday primary elections this week offered a taste of what could become a debacle if steps aren’t taken now to avert it.
Since the coronavirus outbreak began, I have followed the lead of every American with a Twitter account and become an expert virologist.
Presidential tweets, hyperbolic headlines and a jittery world make scientific warnings seem like just part of the noise. COVID-19 makes it critical that we pay attention to facts and get prepared.
A new federal report on dams and salmon in the Columbia and Snake Rivers has at least three major flaws.
Idaho’s prisons are overcrowded, and that’s costing us a lot of money. But it’s money that must be spent to protect the safety of every Idahoan. However, we’re also planning to invest in community programs to help keep former inmates out of prison. That can save us much more in the long run.
The Blaine County School District board of trustees is working to build a strong partnership with the entire Blaine County community so that together we can meet the obligation to prepare our children for the daunting challenges of the present and the future. Please join us for a conversatio…
I’m so glad Mountain Humane’s mission is still on track, despite budget cutbacks. For me, preventing pet overpopulation and helping as many homeless pets as possible matters most. In my 20 years of volunteering, through changes in management, staff, name and even location, those have always …
I think as a community we should recognize the great job Sun Valley has been doing with limited help from mother nature. At this point of year with the natural snow we have been getting we should all be sharpening our edges every night hoping to be able to carve a turn but that is not the ca…
In response to Idaho Fish and Game’s decision to increase wolf hunting tags in Idaho, a reminder to those hunter/ranchers in Idaho who wish to be viewed as “Old West.” Back in the day, when livestock were out on the range, cowboys or range riders were hired to watch over their charges, helpi…
Idaho voters have a unique opportunity on March 10. Their votes can actually affect the national Democratic presidential election.
There have been several letters regarding the new Ketchum Fire Station. I just read the letter titled, “Ketchum fire station must be an A+” by David Hurd. Since I live near that location I was not in favor of it, but for a different reason than any of the others that I have read. Not one art…
Wow. Optimistic, mesmerizing rhetoric in 5G FAST is attractive to many techies and, of course, celebrated by wireless broadband carriers.
The Idaho Presidential Primary is on Tuesday, March 10th. It’s time for us to make a choice about who is at the top of the ticket and will lead our country in a new direction.
While Sen. Bernie Sanders is now the front-runner in the Democratic presidential primary, there’s still ample confusion over which of the remaining candidates stands the best chance of beating President Donald Trump in November.
As Gov. Little’s salmon workgroup begins a second year, members search for clarity. Their challenges are genuine, coming from a conflict between the looming extinction of Idaho’s wild fish and the cultural and political attachment to four 50-year-old federal dams.
Lessons learned can be applied to students. Sometimes, lessons might apply to teachers and mere bystanders. In the case of the recent impeachment of President Donald Trump, choose all of the above.
The Idaho Legislature should put off the question of how to handle spiking property taxes in Ada County and the cities in the Treasure Valley until another day. It should not punish other counties with lower population pressures by imposing one-size-fits-all solutions that would harm them fo…
Impossible. One hundred percent renewable is impossible, by 2030 or any other date. It is simply impossible.
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