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Idaho made headlines this week when Bonner General Health announced it would discontinue labor and delivery care. The hospital came to this decision because their providers are leaving our state as “the Idaho Legislature continues to introduce and pass bills that criminalize physicians for m…

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The Idaho Republican Party Chairwoman Dorothy Moon recently distributed an opinion piece through the state GOP email, falsely claiming Idaho is trying to turn blue. This is a petty talking point to pander to a small group of people and divide the GOP. Her statistics regarding Senate Joint Me…

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I first met Mary Austin Crofts in the fall of 1992. I knew of Mary, of course, and the incredible work she had achieved as executive director of the Blaine County Recreation District to create the Wood River Trail bike/pedestrian pathway. So, when I was approached by Andy Munter to join Bob …

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Idaho libraries are currently fighting three bills recently presented in the House and Senate. We are fighting not because we don’t believe in protecting children from age inappropriate materials but because the bills are unnecessary and the consequences of any becoming law would radically a…

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The return of wolves to the West has always been contentious, and the deaths last fall of more than 40 cattle in western Colorado alarmed ranchers. But here’s the true story: Wolves did not kill those cattle found dead near Meeker.

  • 7

It’s easy sport for politicians to complain about Washington, D.C. After all, D.C. is where so many ill-advised ideas are dreamt up and put into federal law, regulation or judicial opinion. It’s much more difficult to find examples of federal overreach that everyone can agree on. The Lava Ri…

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Even from a distance it’s clear that an oil and gas well called “State Senate #2” in New Mexico has seen better days. The pumpjack sits idle, tumbleweeds surround the once-moving parts, and the earth smells of crude saturating the soil.

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March 1 is the beginning of Women’s History Month. And it matters to me—a middle-aged, college-educated, white man, raised in upper middle-class suburbs, and thereby a possible card-carrying member of the privileged patriarchy. That means I shouldn’t tell you anything about Amelia Earhart or…

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Last November, the Great Salt Lake, iconic landmark of the Great Basin Desert, fell to its lowest surface elevation ever recorded. The lake had lost 73% of its water and 60% of its area. More than 800 square miles of lakebed sediments were laid bare to become dust sources laden with heavy metals.

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Each month, many contentious issues fill our Blaine County School District board meeting agenda. Few are as contentious as changing the school calendar. We are currently engaged in this process and have received hundreds of emails detailing the concerns of parents, many on the topic of a pot…

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When I worked as a prosecutor handling domestic violence cases, I was often asked the same question: “Why does she stay with him?” The answers are as simple as they are complex. Imagine being hit or verbally assaulted on a first date. If that were the case, there would be no second date and …

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Access to the courts and fair legal representation is the backbone of the American justice system. Unfortunately, as the legal community in Idaho well knows, our state is facing a federal judicial crisis caused by an overburdened court system that threatens access to justice.

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People told me something I’ve never heard before as I was knocking on doors last year: “Stop the crazy!” Voters are concerned about increased extremism and inflammatory rhetoric in the Idaho Legislature: a fear-mongering alphabet soup of acronyms (CRT, SEL, DEI, ESG, etc.), witch hunt task f…

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Small towns are an endangered species. As urban sprawl spreads, communities shift from a quaint home town into something that resembles a metropolis. In order to ensure our towns here in Blaine County are on the path towards sustainable growth, we must work together and communicate as a community.

  • 7

High on a mesa where everyone can see it, a trophy house is going up in the northern Colorado valley where I live. Some of my neighbors hear that the house will be as big as 15,000 square feet. Others say it will take three years to complete. Whether that is valley gossip or truth, the house…

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Weldon Angelos was a low-level pot dealer in Utah when he was arrested for selling marijuana while carrying (but not using) a firearm. The charges carried a heavy mandatory minimum sentence: 55 years. The federal judge who had to impose the sentence for two drug transactions called it “unjus…

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Good news for taxpayers, or at least some of you: Statehouses across the country are continuing to cut taxes in a movement that shows no sign of slowing down. By year-end, nearly half of all states will have cut their income-tax rates within a three-year period. The good results so far confi…

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The allegations made against school officials in the recent Richneck Elementary School shooting in Virginia are potentially, if proven to be true, simply outrageous. Yet a clear pattern has emerged in this and other recent school shootings. Simply put, the pattern is one of official incompet…

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In Idaho, we value our quality of life. One way we maintain it is through local services, including public safety, emergency response, and parks. These services and more are funded by property taxes. Our challenge is that homeowners are shouldering an increasing, unsustainable share of the p…

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We have a lot of reasons to be thankful right now if you rely on water for your livelihood, your community or for recreation in Idaho, no matter whether you’re a farmer, rancher, water manager, angler, river rafter, power boater and more.

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It will be up to the two special counsels to investigate and weigh the handling of secret documents by President Biden and former President Donald Trump. But the current questions should not obscure an enormous problem that has been festering for decades and threatens national security, demo…

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Some people have become so alarmed by what children might read in school or in libraries that they want books they don’t like removed—immediately. The targeted books include scenes of sexual awakening, gender identity, racism or violence.

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As the new year and a new Congress begin, we have an opportunity to set our nation on a course toward energy independence and future prosperity. During my time in Congress, I have grown deeply concerned about the fact that the United States is far too reliant on unfriendly foreign nations fo…