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Posts published in “Day: July 25, 2014”

Big news

idaho RANDY
STAPILUS
 
Idaho

Annually, newspapers around the country list the top local and regional news stories of the year, lists often begging the difference between “big news” and “actually important.” Sometimes the two overlap; often, they don't.

The Idaho Statesman at Boise, on occasion of its 150th anniversary since its first edition, has this year run a series of articles about the top stories in its pages during that century and a half. They've been good reading, useful for anyone who wants to understand a little more about the sweep of Idaho history. They only occasionally reflect what was perceived as big news at the time.

Mostly, you can't blame the paper for that. One article for example was about the opening of the first store Joe Albertson launched, at Boise, in 1939. Back in the day it made the paper in a brief notice on page 21 (about what the opening of a new grocery store might, were it lucky, get today). Who could have known what would blossom, decades later, from that one little store?

It's an example of why newspapers offer just a first draft of history; time makes many events look different in hindsight.

Or sometimes not, at least to many people. Last week the Statesman was promoting selections, made by its readers (not the editors), of choices for the biggest story in Idaho's (or, the Statesman's) history, and released the identity of the final four.

One, dating to 1890, is understandable both as an event and as a matter of significance: The achievement of statehood. Not a terrible choice; if you bundle that in with adoption of the state constitution (though I wouldn't), it was both a big deal at the time, much debated and much written about, and still significant with the passage of time.

Here are the other three:

The Teton Dam collapse in 1976.

The opening of the Boise Latter Day Saints temple in 1984.

Boise State University's win in the 2007 Fiesta bowl.

Really? True, they all generated big Statesman headlines at the time. But did any of them fundamentally change Idaho? The Teton Dam did great local damage, but repairs happened quickly, and the reverberations have been subtle. The opening of the Boise LDS temple was personally significant to the local church faithful, but it had little effect on others. And a Boise State football victory? Really? (more…)

On the front pages

news

Here’s what public affairs news made the front page of newspapers in the Northwest today, excluding local crime, features and sports stories. (Newspaper names contracted with location)

80 mph speed limit signs going up (Boise Statesman)
New Garden city library facilities added (Boise Statesman)
Otter opposes immigrant children in state (IF Post Register, Nampa Press Tribune, TF Times News, Lewiston Tribune, Pocatello Journal)
IF campus of ISU expanding (IF Post Register)
Costs in fire station replacement (IF Post Register)
Ballfield construction continues at Moscow (Lewiston Tribune)
Courthouse disputes over Canyon budhet (Nampa Press Tribune)
Sockeye recovery plan released (TF Times News)

Coburg filling business park (Eugene Register Guard)
Asbestos may be in remains of mill fire (Eugene Register Guard)
New US citizens sworn in (KF Herald & News)
New rule would ban smoking on all beaches (KF Herald & News)
Buckley and Bates at Ashland town hall (Ashland Tidings)
Medford seeing construction boom (Medford Tribune)
Jackson County working on pot siting rules (Medford Tribune)
Local officials review range for drones (Pendleton E Oregonian)
Firefighters prepare for more big fires (Pendleton E Oregonian)
What would pot tax generate? Estimate: $38.5m (Portland Oregonian)
Uber de facto taxis service up at Vancouver (Portland Oregonian)
Cool, wet weather easing fires (Salem Statesman Journal)

Kitsap assessor candidates face off (Bremerton Sun)
Unfair labor charged at Central Kitsap Fire (Bremerton Sun)
Train waiting times increase at Marysville (Everett Herald)
Everett coffee shop accepts bitcoins (Everett Herald)
Boeing hit with age discrimination charge (Everett Herald)
Budget increase for Hanford in Senate review (Kennewick Herald)
Free meals will be offered at Richland school (Kennewick Herald)
Longview city manager Gregory quits (Longview News)
Closure of Weyerhaeuser land irritates (Longview News)
Old Bellevie rail yard may become light rail (Seattle Times)
Declining numbers of marine birds in area (Seattle Times)
Parks funding plan draws political battle (Seattle Times)
United Grain labor battle increases (Vancouver Columbian)
Vancouver school chief gets pay raise (Vancouver Columbian)
Free meals for students at Yakima (Yakima Herald Republic)
Several Yakima-area school buildings progress (Yakima Herald Republic)