Troy Oppie

Central District Health Tuesday improved the risk classification for multiple school districts in its area, moving the Boise, West Ada and Kuna school districts from the red, high risk category 3 to the yellow, moderate risk category 2.

The coronavirus pandemic has forced challenges and changes to almost every public-facing entity, including national parks. At Craters of the Moon National Park, tours of the lava caves were stopped in March. But another natural disaster may keep the caves closed even longer.

After initially saying no to Boise bar owners’ requests to reopen, the Central District Health board Thursday said yes.

The temporary payroll tax holiday President Trump issued last month went into effect September 1. It allows employers to pause payroll tax collection from employee paychecks, boosting take-home pay through the end of this year. But few — if any — employers in Idaho are participating.

Boise and Meridian residents have been filling special orange bags with hard-to-recycle plastics since 2018. Initially, the ‘Hefty EnergyBags’ were shipped to Renewlogy, a Utah company, where the plastic waste could be turned into fuel. But, that plant stalled more than a year ago to undergo upgrades to its sorting equipment.

College athletics across the country are in jeopardy. This week, the Pac 12, Big Ten and others have suspended football seasons, including Boise State. More could follow.

Wednesday, The Idaho High School Activities Association reaffirmed a previous decision to open the high school sports season statewide August 10. Treasure Valley Schools have decided to delay that one week, with games unlikely before September 8.

School Boards of Trustees for Boise and West Ada districts met Tuesday, deciding when and how to reopen schools to students this fall.

Idaho’s Land Trust Board Tuesday voted unanimously to explore taking surplus revenue from previous land sales and building a new state prison.

As people started spending more at restaurants during phases of reopening, credit card data appears to forecast an increase of new COVID-19 cases, and Idaho is at the top of that trend.

Many international college students in the United States panicked Monday, when the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency announced anyone in the country on a student visa would have to leave the county if their institutions were not holding in-person classes this fall.

It’s been three months since a 6.5 magnitude earthquake struck northwest of Stanley on March 31. Since then, Stanley residents have felt many more rumbles and geologists have deployed to central Idaho, investigating what happened and what it can tell us about Idaho’s seismic nature.

The American Academy of Pediatrics this week said schools should reopen as soon as possible. The group representing more than 67,000 pediatricians wrote that the effects of keeping schools closed is worse for kids than the risks of COVID-19. 

The Stanley-to-Redfish recreational trail has been years in the making. Taxpayers paid more than a half-million dollars to previous owners for access to the land, now a 4.5-mile easement across private property.

After five years of trying, Boise-based gorcery chain Albertsons is a publically traded company.   Cerberus Capital Management - the private equity firm which gobbled up majority ownership of Albertsons in two bites starting in 2006 - had hoped to offer its shares at $18-20. Instead, Thursday’s IPO landed at $16, and traders took another 3% bite out of the share price in its first full day of trading.