Idaho

Whistleblowers and Reformers Required to Rejuvenate Ravaged Agencies

In response to President-elect Obama’s decision to name rancher Ken Salazar Secretary of the Interior, a selection widely celebrated by extractive industry groups and current Bush Interior head Dirk Kempthorne, grass-roots wildlife, public land, and animal rights activists continue to scratch their heads with dismay.  It’s a bitter pill.

Despite Salazar’s abysmal record, Ralph (and many perhaps wiser than myself) have expressed the need for patience and continued effort pointing to the fact that the transition team’s choices regarding Salazar’s under-secretaries/agency-heads will likely be more important indications of Obama’s actual intent for Change of an Interior Department despoiled by corruption, greed, and extractive industries’ uninhibited will.

Public Employees For Environmental Responsibility has released a list of suggestions to fill these important positions for the transition-team to mull over - a list of “whistleblowers and reformers”, many whose integrity and real ability previously cost them their jobs.

PEER’s Press Release :

Contact:  Luke Eshleman (202) 265-7337

INTERIOR DEPARTMENT NEEDS NEW BROOMS TO SWEEP IT CLEAN
Whistleblowers and Reformers Required to Rejuvenate Ravaged Agencies

Washington, DC - The Obama transition should reach out to reformers and whistleblowers to transform the scandal-wracked U.S.

(Read the full post about ‘PEER: Interior Department needs new brooms to sweep it clean’…)

Most violence over private property and those who try to enforce the law-

This is according to USA Today. By Emily Bazar.

28-year drift toward “disastrous . . . consensus decision-making” on public lands-

“We need Interior decorating.” By Brian Horejsi. Colorado Springs Independent.

My view is that consensus decision-making, bargaining over what the rules and law are, destroys respect for the law and makes the country lawless, as we have seen with the Bush Administration where law and the Constitution are no barrier to what friends want to do.

(Read the full post about ‘We need Interior decorating (Not Salazar, nor Kemmis)’…)

Every well pad disrupts from 5 to 20 acres-

Leaking gas is a potent climate changer. Disrupted soil does not sequester carbon. Native vegetation at the well site is almost impossible to restore. Coalbed methane wells produce huge amounts of saline (generally unreusuable water).

Story by Matthew Brown. Plan approved for gas wells. AP

PORTLAND, Ore. — Forecasters warned of avalanche danger in backcountry areas below 7,000 feet throughout the Northwest, including in the Cascades, due to this week’s rainfall.

Avalanche dangers in Cascades

The rain created a dense snow pack over a very weak underlying layer of snow, creating conditions just right for an avalanche, although most highways and ski areas remained safe, hydrologists said.

The Northwest Avalanche Center said high winds from Mount Rainier to the Central Oregon Cascades could also contribute to slide danger.

State officials said the dangers particularly applied to those who planned on recreating in snow “off the beaten path,” including snowshoers, cross-country skiers and snowmobilers.

(Read the full post about ‘Rainfall makes for ripe avalanche conditions in Cascades’…)

Click links below for more details

SLIDESHOW > See dogs seized

VIDEO > Dogs seized near Billings, Mont.

BALLANTINE, Mont., - The Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Office animal rescue team was called to Shady Lane Kennell’s to rescue more than 300 dogs believed to be victim’s of cruelty.

CBS

Yellowstone County Sheriff’s Deputies served dog breeder and property owner Linda Kapsa with a search warrant, which gave the county permission to seize all of the dogs.

More than 60 volunteers assisted in the rescue effort.

(Read the full post about ‘More than 300 dogs seized from Montana woman’…)

SALEM, Ore. — Jail documents show police believe a 19-year-old Salem woman killed her baby by shaking him to death.

Carrie Noe is being held without bail at Marion County jail after her arraignment Tuesday. Police arrested Noe and charged her with murder after being called to her home Friday regarding an unconscious infant.

Police say 2-month-old Ian Noe was already dead by the time medics arrived.

According to a probable cause statement filed by Salem police, Noe told investigators she shook the baby three times when he wouldn’t stop crying.

After the shaking, the baby went limp with labored breathing after being placed in his crib.

(Read the full post about ‘Oregon mom shook baby to death, police say’…)

TROUTDALE, Ore. — An 88-year-old Troutdale woman sent a man fleeing in pain after he entered her home naked and shoved her face into a chair early Tuesday morning.

Suspect Michael Dick as shown in a police mug shot.

She told police she reached behind her and grabbed the man by the groin, "giving him a good squeeze” until he “tore free and ran back out the way he had come in,” according to Deputy Paul McRedmond with the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office.

The intruder apparently entered the home on SE 287th Avenue through an unlocked sliding door. The woman said he backed her into her living room in her bathrobe but never said a thing.

(Read the full post about ‘88-year-old woman grabs naked attacker in the groin’…)

UPDATED BELOW I & II

Idaho is no place to be sick and poor. Forbes published an article citing two studies disclosing the worst places in America to access Medicaid. Medicaid and “the quality of care, what patients need to do to get coverage and what the plans will pay for all vary wildly from state to state.”

Medicaid is the primary medical insurance for 55 million Americans. Another 47 million are uninsured and finding ways to cover these people is expected to be a big point of focus for the administration of President-elect Barack Obama.

But what you get varies widely depending on where you are.

(Read the full post about ‘Idaho Medicaid Ranks Near the Bottom’…)

With subtitles in honor of Zeb Bell and his buddies.