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Jackson Hole News&Guide
Unemployment rate high
Posted: January 6th, 2009
Teton County in November had the highest rate of unemployment in Wyoming, according to figures from the state.
Foundation raises $11M for Yellowstone in 2008
Posted: January 6th, 2009
The Yellowstone Park Foundation gave more than $11 million in grants to Yellowstone National Park in 2008, a record for the nonprofit.
Snowpack at average; snowfall looking good
Posted: January 6th, 2009
Snowpack in Jackson Hole and the surrounding areas is about average for this time of year and total snowfall is slightly above the norm.
NewWest.net 
Bozeman's Story Mill Falls Victim to Yellowstone Club Debacle
Posted: January 5th, 2009
A highly touted mixed-use development slated for the historic Story Mill site in Bozeman appears to be dead - the latest victim of the rolling financial fiasco that has engulfed the Yellowstone Club and its owner, Edra Blixseth.
The Story Mill project, which would have been among the first large urban infill projects in the region and promised to set new standards for sustainable development, was led by Matthew Crocker, the son of Edra Blixseth. Crocker and Blixseth signed personal guarantees for a $13 million loan from a Colorado real estate finance company last summer, the proceeds of which went to Blue Sky Development, Go Build and several related entities. Story Mill was the primary project being undertaken by those companies, and the Colorado firm, Western Capital Partners, sued Blixseth and Crocker for repayment last month, alleging that no payments had been made on the loan since July.
Multiple sources associated with Story Mill confirmed that activity had been at a standstill for some time, and that Go Build laid off all its employees and closed its Bozeman office in December.
Story Mill is one of a number of entities that are reeling in the wake of the Yellowstone Club bankruptcy.
Plum Creek Backs Off Road Easements in Montana
Posted: January 5th, 2009
Plum Creek CEO Rick Holley told Missoula County Commissioners in a letter sent today that the timber company is backing off a controversial proposal to allow logging roads on public lands to be used for any purpose, including development.
The letter comes just after Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey vowed to push the easements through before Barack Obama, who said he would oppose the proposal, takes office January 20. In the letter, Holley writes, "Although we continue to believe that the easement amendment would be beneficial to the general public, given the the lack of receptivity, we have decided not to go forward with the amendment."
Missoula County had been very vocal in its opposition to the easement amendment and the letter was welcome news to Deputy Missoula County Attorney James McCubbin who called the move, "commendable."
"We appreciate that they're reacting to the public input they've received," McCubbin said.
Click here for a PDF of the letter and stay tuned as we update the story.
The easement amendment was privately negotiated between Plum Creek and the Forest Service to clarify the decades-old easements and ensure Plum Creek access across Forest Service for purposes besides resource extraction, namely to access residences. Residential development has become a big part of Plum Creek's business as the timber industry flounders from the effects of the housing downturn. In October, the Government Accountability Office announced it was investigating the deal. Still this last weekend, the Washington Post reported Rey was ready to go forward with the plan.
Kempthorne Spent $235K Remodeling Bathroom
Posted: January 5th, 2009
The Washington Post has a report today about outgoing Interior Secretary andformer Idaho Gov. and Senator Dirk Kempthorne spending about $235K to renovate his office bathroom.
If Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) is confirmed this month as interior secretary, he'll have a snappy, scarcely used bathroom in his fifth-floor office, thanks to Dirk Kempthorne, the outgoing secretary.
Seems Kempthorne spent about $235,000 in taxpayer funds renovating the bathroom a few months ago, which included installing a new shower, a refrigerator and a freezer and buying monogrammed towels, department officials told our colleague Derek Kravitz.
UI Athletics Gets Big Breaks in Financial Crises
Posted: January 5th, 2009
If any academic program had a record as poor as the University of Idaho football and men's basketball teams, it would be eliminated or at least reduced in its mission. But since 1999 state funding for UI athletics went from $1.78 million to $3.04 million, a 71 percent increase. By comparison general education budgets for Idaho higher education have increased only 46 percent during the same period. Something is terribly wrong with this picture.
´The Islands of Divine Music´ a Magical Mystery Tour
Posted: January 5th, 2009
The Islands of Divine Music
by John Addiego
Unbridled Books
241 pages, $24.95
Whenever a book starts with the diagram of a family tree, you know you're in for a lot of characters. Instead of trying to figure out how everyone connects, it's best to dive into the charm of The Islands of Divine Music.
This isn't a jaunt into tropical magical realism, like the title suggests, but it does borrow from it and it lands there at the end. We travel with the Verbicaro family through cholera epidemics in Southern Italy, the big earthquake in San Francisco, Cold War paranoia, after-effects of the Vietnam War, Native American protests at Alcatraz, migratory farm worker life in the Western United States, and end with religious fervor in Mexico. Somehow, this works seamlessly in author John Addiego's capable hands.
Corvallis, Ore., resident Addiego is the author of numerous stories and poems, and is the former poetry editor at the Northwest Review. The Islands of Divine Music is his first novel. It is one of those books you have to read to experience the nuanced details, the deft language, and the intriguing characters. Addiego's poetry background is felt in every page. Fortunately, he also has a novelist's knowledge of his characters. Even though The Islands of Divine Music is only 241 pages, it's a large story, but the scope of its characters is intimate.
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