June 1, 2026
Pocatello–Tonight at their weekly meeting, the group “Patriots for Liberty & Constitution” will continue discussing Charles Murray’s book, By the People. This week’s discussion will conclude chapter 10 of the book, and will begin chapter 11 if time permits.
Patriots for Liberty & Constitution meets at Mountain Valley Baptist Church, 202 S. 7th Avenue in Pocatello, every Monday evening at 6:30.
(Bannock County Press Release, May 29, 2026; Cover Photo Credit: Bannock County)
Bannock County Commissioners Meetings, June 1-5, 2026
Monday, June 1, 2026:
Tuesday, June 2, 2026:
Wednesday, June 3, 2026:
Thursday, June 4, 2026:
Friday, June 5, 2026:
(The information packets for the business meeting and work session can be found at http://www.bannockcounty.gov. Scroll down and click on “Agendas and Minutes” then click on the information packet for the meeting that you are interested in.)
About BOCC Meetings
The Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) is comprised of the three elected County Commissioners: Ernie Moser (District 1, Chair), Jeff Hough (District 2), and Ken Bullock (District 3).
The BOCC generally meets twice a week: regular business meetings are on Tuesdays at 9:00 a.m. and work sessions are on Thursdays at 9:00 a.m. Meetings are generally held in the Commissioner’s Chambers at 624 E Center, Room 212, Pocatello, Idaho, unless otherwise noted. Times subject to change within 15 minutes of stated time.
During these meetings, the BOCC may: approve contracts, expend funds, hear testimony, make decisions on land use cases and take care of other County matters, and are open to the public.
(City of Pocatello Press Release, May 29, 2026; Cover image: City of Pocatello)
The City of Pocatello Parks & Recreation Department is announcing a temporary closure for maintenance of the Portneuf Greenway paved trail at the Abraszewski Trail and parking lot beginning Sunday, June 7, 2026.
To accommodate seal coating work, the Abraszewski Trail parking lot and path will be closed to the public Sunday, June 7 through Thursday, June 11, 2026. We kindly ask that all users avoid the area during this time to allow crews to complete the work safely and efficiently.
This maintenance project is designed to protect and extend the life of the pathway while ensuring a safe and enjoyable experience for trail users and is part of the City’s continued efforts to provide safe and enjoyable recreational opportunities for the community. The project also supports the goals and strategies identified in the Pocatello Comprehensive Plan 2040, particularly within the Outdoor vision element.
Comprehensive Plan 2040: Vision Element – Outdoor Oriented
For more information, please contact the City of Pocatello Parks & Recreation Department at 208-234-6232.
May 27, 2026
Blaine County Is the Proof of Concept Idaho Republicans Can No Longer Ignore
By: Heather Lauer
For years, concerns about Democrat crossover voting in Idaho Republican primaries have been dismissed as overblown paranoia or the complaints of candidates who lost close races. Blaine County proves otherwise.
Anyone involved in politics in the Wood River Valley knows exactly what I am talking about. The idea that Democrats register as Republicans in order to influence Republican primary outcomes is not some closely guarded secret. It is openly discussed, appears in social media posts, comes up in political conversations, and is often treated as perfectly normal behavior. People joke about it. Some brag about it. This is not a matter of one or two isolated examples. It is a behavior pattern that many Republicans in Blaine County have observed for years.
A couple recent examples made me laugh. A Democrat precinct committeewoman in my own neighborhood, someone whose political views are hardly a mystery given the anti-Trump displays and upside-down American flags visible from the road, appeared on our Republican voter list. She is not alone. Indivisible organizers and regular attendees at No Kings rallies also appear on the list. These are not people who have undergone an ideological conversion. They are exactly the types of voters one would expect to find participating in Democratic political activity.
These examples are hardly surprising. Over the years, Republican volunteers have repeatedly encountered voters who appear in Republican voter files but immediately announce that they are Democrats the moment someone knocks on their door. Some are offended that anyone would mistake them for Republicans, yet they remain registered as Republicans. The obvious question is why. Most of us already know the answer.
The anecdotes are interesting, but anecdotes alone do not prove anything. That is why we turned to the data.
Our working Blaine County “Demcross” list was built from multiple sources, including individuals who have publicly acknowledged crossover voting or encouraged others to do so, voters identified through years of canvassing and voter contact, and Republicans with documented participation in one or more Democratic primaries during the last four election cycles.
Using that methodology, 792 of Blaine County’s 4,614 registered Republicans, roughly 17 percent of the Republican electorate, appear on our list.
Even if that figure is imperfect and some voters are misclassified, a number that large cannot simply be dismissed as statistical noise. The relevant question is whether enough crossover voters potentially exist to influence Republican primary elections. In 2022, Lyle Johnstone lost to Jack Nelsen by 559 votes districtwide. In 2024, he again lost to Nelsen, this time by just 169 votes.
Any election outcome is shaped by many factors, including candidate performance, campaign strategy, and voter turnout. The point is not that crossover voting explains the entire result. The point is that the identified crossover-voter universe is large enough that it cannot simply be ignored when evaluating close races. That is particularly true in a community where Democratic support for Nelsen over Johnstone was openly discussed and hardly a secret.
At the same time, 2024 introduced a competing incentive. Unlike 2022, Democratic voters had a highly contested sheriff’s primary of their own. Many of the voters most likely to have an interest in the Republican primary suddenly had a meaningful Democratic contest competing for their attention. Whether that dynamic affected the outcome is impossible to know with certainty, but it is difficult to ignore.
Nobody has to prove how every crossover voter cast a ballot. The relevant question is whether a population of crossover voters exists that is large enough to influence the outcome of close Republican primaries. In Blaine County, the answer appears to be yes.
The significance of this issue extends far beyond the Wood River Valley. In much of Idaho, Republican primaries effectively determine who will hold office. As those primaries become more consequential, voters who are not Republicans have every incentive to influence them.
For years, many Republicans have comforted themselves with the belief that crossover voting is either rare or insignificant. The evidence suggests otherwise. Organized crossover participation can exist, can become normalized, and can reach levels that are potentially large enough to affect close elections. What makes Blaine County noteworthy is not that it is uniquely susceptible to the practice, but that people here are unusually open about it.
For Idaho Republicans, the question is no longer whether crossover voting exists. The question is whether Republicans are comfortable allowing Republican nominees to be selected by an electorate that includes voters with a demonstrated history of participating in Democratic political contests.
The evidence from Blaine County should serve as a warning. The rest of Idaho should pay attention, because what is openly discussed here today may become commonplace elsewhere tomorrow.
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared on HonorIdaho.com, and is republished here with permission.
(U.S. Department of Education Press Release, May 28, 2026)
The U.S. Department of Education and CBS announced today that the 1776 PRESIDENTIAL AWARD special will be broadcast Tuesday, June 30, (8:00-9:30PM ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network, and available to stream the next day on Paramount+.
The national finals mark the conclusion of the first-ever Presidential 1776 Award competition, a nationwide civics challenge created to celebrate America’s top high school students and their knowledge of our nation’s founding principles. The Presidential 1776 Award National Finals will bring the top performers from each region to the nation’s capital for a live, in-person competition, testing their knowledge of the Constitution, America’s founding principles, and defining moments in U.S. history. Finalists will compete for scholarships of up to $150,000.
After a rigorous online qualifying exam and in‑person semifinal competitions, 20 students are advancing to the Finals from an original pool of over 8,000 students across all 50 states and territories.
The Presidential 1776 Award is a nationwide civics competition recognizing exceptional student knowledge of the American founding. The program establishes a national scholarship competition designed to promote civic literacy and celebrate academic excellence.
The Presidential 1776 Award competition is comprised of three stages:
Multiple-choice and oral examinations for all three rounds were developed independently by the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation.
The following students have qualified for the Presidential 1776 Award National Finals:
Background
The Presidential 1776 Award is one of the Department’s initiatives to celebrate America’s 250th birthday. The Department has also launched the History Rocks! Trail to Independence Tour in partnership with Freedom 250 and in coordination with the America 250 Civics Education Coalition – a national partnership that includes the America First Policy Institute, Turning Point USA, Hillsdale College, and more than 50 national and state organizations. This coalition is dedicated to advancing civic education and expanding opportunities for students to learn about the ideas, individuals, and events that define the American story.
(Office of the Second Lady Press Release, May 29, 2026)
On Friday, May 29, 2026, Second Lady Usha Vance, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), announced the winners of the Bookmark Design Challenge: Celebrating America’s 250th, a nationwide opportunity for students in grades K–8 to create original artwork reflecting what America means to them.
Selected from submissions across the United States, the winning designs—one from each grade band—demonstrated exceptional creativity, artistic skill, and thoughtful engagement with the theme of America’s past, present, and future. The winners are:
“It was so special to participate in this year’s bookmark design challenge as we celebrate America’s 250th anniversary,” said Second Lady Usha Vance. “Art plays such an important role in our nation’s history and inspires our young people’s imagination, creativity, and patriotism. Each submission beautifully reflected America’s history through the eyes of our youngest citizens and artists. Congratulations to our winners, and thank you to everyone who helped celebrate this special anniversary by sharing your talents with the entire country!”
“As we approach this historic milestone, the National Endowment for the Arts is proud to celebrate the voices and visions of young artists,” said NEA chairman Mary Anne Carter. “These students remind us of the vital role creativity plays in helping us understand our history, our communities, and our shared future. We congratulate the winners and thank all the participants who contributed their imagination and creativity to this national celebration.”
The Bookmark Design Challenge encouraged students to create hand-drawn bookmarks exploring themes such as American history and traditions, symbols of unity and democracy, community, and hopes for the nation’s future.
The winning students will be recognized at a special event at the Great American State Fair, taking place June 25 through July 10, 2026.
(Idaho Fish and Game Press Release, May 18, 2026)
The dog days of summer are upon us. As the mercury skyrockets and the sun broils us 15 hours a day, few things are more attractive than leaving town and heading into the mountains to dunk a line (and maybe some sweaty feet) into a newfound creek or stream.
For anglers looking to escape the hustle and bustle of town, or potentially crowded lakes and reservoirs, mountain streams are a gateway to peace and quiet. Idaho is full of long, meandering river systems like the Boise, Big Wood, Salmon, Clearwater, and St. Joe that provide hundreds of easy, accessible fishing sites.
What’s often overlooked are the headwaters and tributaries of those famous trout streams. They’re typically teeming with trout, less crowded and provide an opportunity for solitude in the mountains. Naming names would defeat the purpose of discovering backcountry streams. It usually doesn’t matter what its name is, or how narrow it is, chances are good there are fish to be caught and memories to be made.
If you’re new to the concept of finding mountain streams to fish, here are some pointers to help find the perfect creekside fishing camp this summer.
A few aisles over and you’ll be hit with an almost endless selection of lures, spoons, spinners and bait to choose from. Remember, keep it simple. Tying on a barrel swivel that connects to a spoon or spinner is a great way to get a fish’s attention. Add a piece of worm to sweeten the deal. And keep in mind, alpine river fish like trout and whitefish aren’t used to seeing the angler’s same bag of tricks as say a 16-inch rainbow down at Arrowrock Reservoir. Dangle a little flashy lure or maybe a chunk of worm in front of their nose and they’ll hit it like Conor McGregor.
Hot Tip: If fishing with young ones, let their budding fascination with bugs run wild. Letting your kids connect with nature by way of both fish and bait is a great way to instill outdoorsmanship in a young mind. If your little fishing buddy manages to capture a grasshopper or cricket, use it as bait to better your odds at attracting hungry fish.
Fly rods also provide a fun and challenging lesson in stream fishing. In general, a 7– to 9-foot-long fly rod spooled with 3- to 5-weight line is a good fit for alpine streams and creeks. Attach some 4X or 5X tapered leader to the end of your line, about 9 to 12 feet worth.
Then, decide on whether you want to use dry flies or subsurface flies (nymphs or streamers). Fish in alpine waters can be picky at times, but if you find the right pool at the right time of day (generally early mornings or late afternoons) you might catch them while they’re active.
Watching a fish go after a fly or lure is one of the most exciting moments in an angler’s life. Keep it simple and keep moving. If you don’t catch anything in one spot, move up or downstream. A good strategy is to pick a stretch of water, say a half mile or so, and try to get a lure or fly into every spot that looks “fishy.”
Mountain streams and creeks also offer new and experienced anglers and their families abundant opportunities to “fish from camp.”
For families in particular, this is an added benefit. With a streamside camp, children are safe from the road and can roam to their heart’s extent flipping over rocks, collecting treasures, observing wildlife and maybe even sniff out some insects for bait.
It’s no secret that Idaho boasts one of the greatest camping opportunities in the country. There’s no shortage of public lands, designated campgrounds, dispersed campsites and roadside pullouts to get yourself front-row fishing access right out your camp’s backdoor.
When you’re researching places to go, look for rivers, streams and creeks that follow along forest roads. Once you ballpark a location, turn on the satellite image feature and zoom in to look for natural access sites. Roadside pullouts, large meadows, trails, gentle sloping banks and designated campgrounds can all be seen from the air and can be a great place to start.
To take your backcountry adventure to the next level, try combining a day of fishing with a night out camping. Pick a spot along a mountain road that feels safe and accessible to the river. That basalt cliff might provide a sweet view at sundown, but it’s going to be nearly impossible (and unsafe) to reach the river. Oftentimes you can find cozy little cutouts with a rock fire ring and ample trees for shade. Once you establish home base for the night, it’s time to park the car and rig up the poles.
There’s one final element to backcountry stream fishing that can cap off the perfect outdoor experience: eating your catch. (Just double check the Idaho Fish and Seasons and Rules booklet to makes sure harvest is allowed on your stream.)
The day is finally winding down and you start to feel the sun’s heat give way to the evening mountain shadows. Your skin is cooked and your feet are sore. For those anglers who pleased the fishing gods and walked away with a fish or two for the cooler, the reward for hard work and patience is minutes away from sizzling in a skillet.
Hot Tip: If you’re steering more towards a camping trip, be sure to pack a few essentials in case you do haul in a few fish. A good cast-iron skillet with butter and herbs is a choice way to cook up some trout. Alternatively, you can stuff the fish with lemon and butter, then wrap it in a couple layers of aluminum foil to set over a low fire.
There’s nothing quite like the taste of a wild-caught fish from mountain waters. Sure, they’re not the whopper that’s going to land you in the state record books, but they will surely fill up space in your scrap book. What they lack in size they make up for in flavor and memories.
So next time you’re sitting around your streamside campsite wondering how to cure the boredom blues, be sure to include a fishing rod, some basic tackle, lures or flies and a few kitchen fixins to connect with nature in a fun, new (and delicious) way.
To learn more and to check fishing regulations and rules, check out the 2025-2027 Idaho Fishing Seasons and Rules booklet available online, at license vendors or any Fish and Game offices.
May 31, 2026
Daylight Savings Time: Should Congress Act?
By: Art da Rosa, PE, MPA, CFM | Rigby, ID
The House Energy and Commerce Committee just voted 48-1 to advance the Sunshine Protection Act — a bill that would make Daylight Saving Time permanent in the United States. Before we applaud and move on, we should ask a simple question: Does the government have any business telling us what time it is in the first place? The first duty of any government official is to stay within the boundaries the people have set. This issue is an example of what happens when they don’t.
IT STARTED WITH THE SUN
For most of human history, noon meant one thing: the sun at its highest point in the sky. Not a number on a clock decreed by Congress — the actual sun, overhead, visible to every person equally. The ancient Egyptians, the Romans, and every civilization that came before us anchored their days to that observable reality. Sunrise. Solar noon. Sunset. Midnight. These were not conventions. They were facts written into the created order of the natural world.
“Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven… for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years.” — Genesis 1:14
Days are the first and most fundamental unit of time — preceding seasons and years in Scripture itself. And they were given to us by the lights in the sky, not by legislative vote.
THE CONSTITUTIONAL PROBLEM
The federal government justifies its authority over timekeeping through the Commerce Clause. But the Founders never envisioned Washington setting the nation’s clocks. The Tenth Amendment reserves powers not delegated to the federal government to the states and the people. Notably, states can opt out of Daylight-Saving Time — Arizona and Hawaii do —, but they cannot adopt permanent DST without an act of Congress. The federal government has made itself the gatekeeper of what time it is. That should give us pause.
WHEN THE GOVERNMENT OVERREACHES, IT TENDS TO MAKE THINGS WORSE
There is a pattern worth naming here. When the federal government ventures beyond its proper constitutional lane, it rarely improves on the natural order it displaces. It substitutes the judgment of legislators and lobbyists for the accumulated wisdom of centuries — and the results are typically a tangle of unintended consequences that take generations to undo.
Daylight Saving Time is a perfect case study. It was introduced during World War I as a wartime energy measure, then repealed, then reinstated during World War II, then left to a chaotic patchwork of local decisions until the federal government stepped in with the Uniform Time Act of 1966 to impose uniformity. Each intervention was sold as a fix for the problems created by the previous one. Sound familiar?
The original justification — that shifting the clocks would save energy — turned out to be largely false. Decades of studies failed to confirm meaningful savings; some found that energy use actually increased, as people drove more in the extra evening light and ran air conditioning longer into the warm evenings. The government had confidently solved a problem that either didn’t exist or that it made worse. And yet the policy not only survived — it is now being made permanent.
The government didn’t gain us an extra hour of sunlight. It just moved the label — and called it progress.
This is the signature move of government overreach: identify a real frustration (clock-switching is genuinely disruptive), propose a solution that exceeds proper authority, watch the solution fail or backfire, then double down rather than retreat. Permanent DST is the doubling down.
THE MORAL PROBLEM
This may be the most overlooked argument. Permanent DST means that in most of the country, the sun will reach its peak in the sky at 1:00 p.m. by the clock. We are not gaining daylight. We are relabeling it. The sun does not move because Congress votes. Calling 1:00 p.m. “noon” is, at its core, an institutional untruth — a false standard dressed up as policy.
“A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight.” — Proverbs 11:1
The principle of honest measurement runs deep — in Scripture, in natural law, in simple integrity. When a government shifts the clock and calls it progress, it is asking 330 million people to agree that the sun is wrong.
WHAT SHOULD ACTUALLY HAPPEN
The one thing proponents get right is that changing the clocks twice a year should end. The disruption is real and harmful — with documented spikes in heart attacks, strokes, and car crashes in the days following each clock change. But the answer is permanent standard time — the time that aligns with the sun, with our biology, and with the honest definition of noon. Most sleep scientists and chronobiologists agree. Morning light regulates our circadian rhythms. Children walking to school in darkness under permanent DST is not a feature. It is a consequence.
The federal government did not create the day. It cannot improve on it. The most honest thing Congress could do is admit the experiment failed, restore standard time permanently, and let the sun do what it has always done — tell us exactly what time it is.
Government works best when it stays in its lane. This is a good place to start.
Art da Rosa, PE, MPA, CFM
Rigby, ID
(Idaho Fish and Game Press Release, May 15, 2026)
The monarch butterfly is an iconic species. Their migrations span thousands of miles, taking upwards of three generations of monarchs to complete the journey. Currently, however, their populations are in dire straits due to a wide variety of factors, including drought, pesticides, winter habitat loss, and more.
But abundant, healthy summer milkweed habitat, of which caterpillars are 100% reliant, is where Idaho can make the largest contribution to restore monarch butterfly populations.
That’s where you come in.
Idaho Fish and Game needs your help to adopt milkweed patches across the Gem State and monitor milkweed throughout the summer. This will be the second season of the Statewide Milkweed & Monarch Survey and will build on a successful first season in 2025.
Of the 1,000 patches selected to be surveyed as part of this project, over 400 received surveys last year. And that does not include the hundreds of additional patches surveyed that were previously unknown to Fish and Game. Our goal this year is to reach 1,000 patches surveyed, and we need your help.
The survey kicks off July 1 and goes through Aug. 15. Volunteer community scientists will need to check their sites 1-3 times during this timeframe in order to document crucial information, like stem counts, health of the patch itself, and count butterflies.
Fish and Game manages a very broad range of wildlife, and monarch butterflies are not exempt from these efforts. The information you collect will help our agency in any future assessments of milkweed and monarchs for any ESA listing decision.
Fish and Game will be hosting a virtual training webinar on June 2 from 6-8 p.m. PDT (7-9 p.m. MDT). This is a great opportunity to hear more about the project and to see if volunteering as a community scientist is a good fit for you. Getting signed up is super easy! There is also a slew of online training videos and documents to review at your leisure.
For more information, visit Idaho Fish and Game’s Statewide Milkweed & Monarch Survey webpage, or contact Joel Sauder, Casey McCormack, and Tempe Regan at milkweedcommunityscience@idfg.idaho.gov.
(Bannock County Press Release, May 15, 2026)
BANNOCK COUNTY, Idaho – Starting June 1, 2026, the City of Pocatello and Bannock County will implement a mandatory ban on certain types of fires to mitigate increasing wildfire risks.
This year’s ban comes earlier than prior years due to lower snowpack and moisture levels than what we normally average. Coupled with a recent stretch of unseasonably high temperatures, local vegetation has dried out much faster than usual, creating volatile fuel conditions across the region.
Ban Details
Prohibited: No open burning, recreational fires, or fireworks are allowed within the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) areas of Pocatello and Bannock County.
Exemptions: Commercial gas fire pits and food-preparation appliances (such as gas grills or charcoal briquettes) remain permitted when used strictly according to manufacturer instructions.
Fireworks: Only non-aerial fireworks are permitted in non-WUI areas. Per Idaho State Code, aerial fireworks are strictly prohibited everywhere except for approved professional displays.
“The lack of winter moisture followed by the warmer temperatures has dried out the vegetation weeks ahead of schedule,” said Pocatello Fire Marshal Dean Bullock. “Our hills and benches are covered in dry cheatgrass and sagebrush that are ready to ignite at the slightest spark. We are asking residents to be extra vigilant. One small mistake could quickly escalate into a fast-moving wildfire that threatens our entire community.”
The ban will remain in place until October 1, 2026, or until significant moisture returns and conditions allow for the ban to be safely lifted.
Residents with questions regarding the burn ban, specific boundaries of the Wildland-Urban Interface, or fireworks safety are encouraged to contact the Pocatello Fire Department at 208-234-6201.
Residents with questions about the burn ban or fireworks are encouraged to contact their local fire department or district.
