2 / R / August 13, 2026
DEAR READERS, The week in random review By Ben Olson Reader Staff
lost days of summer
The air quality index reached into the purple “very unhealthy” zone last week, according to airnow.gov, forcing many of us indoors to gaze out of our curtains at the smoke like cave trolls. With the AQI reaching mid-200s, we were advised to avoid strenuous outdoor activities, keep outdoor activities short and to consider moving physical activities indoors. As a result, the Festival at Sandpoint was forced to cancel the last two nights of their summer concert series. As bad as it has been, we’re fortunate we weren’t in Wenatchee, Wash. last weekend, as their AQI reached a staggering 650 on the chart. Anything above 300 is considered “hazardous,” with everyone advised to stay indoors instead of risking lung damage from particulate matter in the air. There is something unsettling about looking up at Baldy Mountain, or across the lake at where Gold Hill should be, and just seeing smoke. Also, those strange, cool mornings and twilight that persists throughout the day make this feel like a lucid dream. I’m always amazed to see life continuing unabated during these annual smoke episodes. Even when we’re in the purple and can smell the smoke in the air, I’m flabbergasted to see someone out jogging like it’s a normal summer day. I’m not here to tell anyone how to live their lives, but going for a run when the air quality index is above 150 isn’t the best choice. I know we all want to squeeze as much out of the summer as possible, and kudos for exercising, but at some point you have to do what’s right for your health. Smoky skies are a part of our summers in North Idaho now, and they’ll likely always be. Decades ago, climate change scientists began talking about a future of extreme weather events, smoky skies due to increasing wildfires and warming temperatures. I was fortunate to work on the production crew for the documentary film An Inconvenient Truth 20 years ago and it seemed plain as day then what the future would be like if we don’t start to tackle climate change. Twenty years later, we’re seeing that future, and it’s not going to go away or get any better without action. I suppose we could wish for a strong wind to blow the smoke from our communities, but there isn’t a gale strong enough to dismast the fools, grifters and malignant narcissists who seemingly just want to watch the world burn so they can make an extra few bucks off the flames.
quotable
“We are the first generation to feel the effect of climate change and the last generation who can do something about it.” — Barack Obama, 44th U.S. President “It’s not climate change that needs to be tackled. It is the political power of the fossil fuel industry.” — Richard Dennis, Chief Economist, The Australian Institute
We’re speeding through the summer at a good clip. There are only a couple of weeks left until Labor Day weekend, which usually denotes the end of the heightened tourist season. After weeks of no rain, it’s nice to see a chance in the coming weeks, even if it’s a low percentage. Also coming up in about a month is the annual Sand Creek Regatta, which usually happens the week after Labor Day weekend. Every year, a handful of locals in hand-built rafts made of scraps paddle their hearts out to earn a trophy and bragging rights. Many spectators I talk to on race day ask if I would remind them to build their boats during the summer, so I’m doing my duty. If anyone has any questions about guidelines for the boat building, feel free to contact me at the email address in the masthead to the right. In the meantime, be well and have fun out there.
– Ben Olson, publisher
READER 111 Cedar Street, Suite 9 Sandpoint, ID 83864 208-946-4368 sandpointreader.com
Publisher: Ben Olson ben@sandpointreader.com Editorial: Zach Hagadone (Editor) zach@sandpointreader.com Soncirey Mitchell (Senior Writer) soncirey@sandpointreader.com Editors Emeriti: Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey Cameron Rasmusson John Reuter Advertising: Ben Olson ben@sandpointreader.com Contributing Artists: Ben Olson (cover design), Cheri Berger Guinn, Racheal Baker, Cameron Barnes, Bill Borders Contributing Writers: Zach Hagadone, Ben Olson, Soncirey Mitchell, Lorraine H. Marie, Brenden Bobby, Laura Guido, Emily Erickson, Rep. Monica Church Submit Stories To: stories@sandpointreader.com Printed Weekly At: Tribune Publishing Co. Lewiston, ID Subscription Price: $200 per year Website Designed By: Keokee The Sandpoint Reader is a weekly publication owned by Ben Olson, Zach Hagadone and Soncirey Mitchell. It is devoted to the arts, entertainment, bluster, politics and lifestyle in and around Sandpoint, Idaho. We hope to provide a quality alternative by offering honest, in-depth reporting that reflects the intelligence and interests of our diverse and growing community. The Reader is printed on recycled paper using soy-based ink. Leftover copies are collected and recycled weekly, or burned in bonfires to appease the gods of journalism. For back issues, contact the publisher. Free to all, limit two per person, please. Letter to the Editor Policy: We welcome letters to the editor on all relevant topics. Please, no more than 200 words, no excessive profanity or libelous statements and no trolls. Please elevate the discussion and stay on topic. Letters will be edited to comply with the above requirements. Opinons expressed in these pages are those of the writers, not necessarily the publisher. Send to: letters@sandpointreader.com About the Cover: This week’s cover will hopefully get our readers excited for the annual Montana Shakespeare in the Parks shows (see Page 19)
August 13, 2026 / R / 3
NEWS
School district refutes accusations by LPOHS Coalition By Soncirey Mitchell Reader Staff Following a tumultuous July meeting, the Lake Pend Oreille School District Board of Trustees held its monthly meeting Aug. 11, where Superintendent Becky Meyer presented legal findings refuting allegations made by the Concerned Citizens for LPOHS Coalition. The group previously submitted a 31-page formal grievance and 8-page conditional settlement offer in an attempt to stop the relocation of Lake Pend Oreille High School from its historic campus. The school board unanimously voted July 14 to relocate the alternative school from its 117-year-old building at 1005 North Boyer Ave. to the portables behind Sandpoint Middle School, citing rising maintenance and renovation costs, declining enrollment and potential student benefits. LPOHS will remain at its current location for the coming year, but as the school no longer offers electives, students will either bus to Sandpoint High School and the new Career Technical Education Building or attend online classes for anything outside of the core curriculum. Following improvements to the portables, students will move to the new campus for the 2027-’28 school year and maintain the same arrangement for electives. The coalition opposed the move, demanding that the district cease all relocation efforts, and leveling allegations of misuse of public funds, attendance and graduation data fraud, and violations of Idaho Code and Idaho Administrative Procedure Act rules, among other complaints. The group further submitted official complaints to the Idaho Department of Education, the Bonner County Prosecutor’s Office and the Idaho Attorney General’s Office. “There are real-world consequences to believing and sharing misinformation,” stated Community Relations Coordinator Shelby Struhs in 4 / R / August 13, 2026
an official letter posted to the district’s Facebook page Aug. 11. “In this instance, false legal allegations have contributed to division within our community and required the expenditure of taxpayer resources to respond to claims that ultimately lacked legal support.” In her regular Superintendent Report Aug. 11, Meyer presented legal findings from the various governmental entities, as well as responses from the district, that addressed and contradicted the coalition’s claims, beginning with allegations of Idaho Open Meeting Law violations. The coalition argued that by utilizing “unitemized, bulk consent agenda attachments,” the district had intentionally hidden personnel changes, school calendar approvals and decisions regarding LPOHS’s future relocation from public scrutiny. After multiple investigations, Bonner County Civil Deputy Attorney Robert Abel concluded that the district had not violated open meeting law. “Both allegations arising from Meeting #814 fail on the merits,” stated Abel in his findings. “The agenda was timely posted, the action item was properly identified, and the resolution text was publicly available well within the 48hour window. “No cognizable Open Meeting Law violation is established. ...” he continued. “This office has twice investigated OML complaints arising from this dispute and found no actionable violation in either instance. Absent new evidence of a procedural defect not addressed herein, this office considers the matter concluded.” Further, LPOSD Clerk Kelly Fisher compiled and published records of each calendar vote from 2022 to 2026, showing that they were not approved via consent agenda. The coalition also cited Idaho Code 33-511, which outlines school boards’ powers over the maintenance of schools, arguing that the district was required to hold a public hearing — not simply a
regular public meeting — before voting to relocate LPOHS. “Our attorney has also gone through this [code]. There is no mention of a statutory public hearing,” said Meyer. “This is why I’m saying either it’s incompetence for not going through and looking at the code, or there is blatant lying and accusing the school board and district administration for things that are not true,” she later added. The grievance also references I.C. 33-1002 and IDAPA 08.02.03.110, claiming that the district violated “the separate-site mandates” by locating the new LPOHS facilities next to Sandpoint High School, and so students will no longer qualify for the alternative school attendance divisor. For secondary education, the state awards funding based on units, which are 18.5 students per instructor; however, alternative schools are based on a 12-1 divisor, meaning they receive the same amount of funding with fewer students. Neither code cited makes mention of “separate-site mandates,” Meyer said. “In fact, when you talk to the Idaho Department of Education, there are several districts that do not even have enough students to be able to have a separate site [for the alternative school] ... Oftentimes they have to be on the campus and share the site,” she added. The coalition further drew on IDAPA’s mandated “designated differences,” which require that alternative schools “include course offerings, teacher/pupil ratios and evidence of teaching strategies that are clearly designed to serve at-risk youth.” Because of this, the group claimed that relocating LPOHS and giving students the option to take electives at SHS demoted the school to an alternative program, reduced funding and violated at-risk students’ Individualized Education Programs. “Our teachers care so much about students that they automatically differentiate and figure out what strategies work for
all kids,” said Meyer. “There’s not just at-risk kids at LPOHS. There’s at-risk kids throughout our entire district, K-12. ... “As long as 50% of their classes are not beyond Lake Pend Oreille High School, then they’re funded as at-risk students,” she later added. IDE dismissed the coalition’s claims, further finding that moving the school did not violate the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. “We have been through audits and our attendance has been through audits, and according to the Idaho Department of Education we’re following the letter of the law and IDAPA language for how to get funded for at-risk students,” said Meyer. A large portion of the original grievance centered on allegations that the school district artificially inflates daily attendance and graduation rates in order to secure additional state funding. The school district utilizes Flex Fridays — days when students with a C average or higher can work from home. The coalition alleged that schools automatically mark students present on those days, regardless of the reality; however, the district maintains that students who do not contact their teachers during class are marked absent. Multiple districts throughout the state utilize the system, which is allowed under I.C. 33-1619. The grievance also claims that the district transfers failing students from SHS to LPOHS directly before graduation to maintain SHS’s graduation rate. Citing I.C. 33-1001, Meyer clarified that the district “can’t just transfer students because they’re not on track to graduate.” To qualify as at-risk, students must meet multiple criteria, including having repeated a grade, having “documented substance abuse,” being a teenage parent or having “personal, emotional or medical issues” that necessitate the transfer to an alternative school. “LPOHS’s graduation rate has gone up from about 50% up to 80%. That wouldn’t
happen if we were just putting students there that couldn’t graduate,” added Meyer. The grievance further states that LPOHS “students are routinely directed or coerced by administration to sign an undated, standardized state ‘Intent to Homeschool’ withdrawal form to be held on file.” This, according to the coalition, inflates graduation rates by mislabeling dropouts. “Often when alternative families — when they would leave, we had trouble locating them ... so we did have a paper form that said, ‘If Johnny was to leave, how would you continue their education?’” said Meyer. “It was only on file if a family was unable to be located and had said they were going to homeschool,” she later added. “Otherwise, there were dropouts, there were GEDs, there were people going to the military and other places.” Though the form has been approved by the state, given the allegations, Meyer stated that it might not have “the best public perception,” and will discontinue the practice in the coming year. Meyer refuted additional allegations outlined in the grievance, including claims that the district had participated in an unsanctioned reduction of force, that it had improperly combined LPOHS’s principal and counselor positions and that it had improperly used money from the School Modernization Facility Fund to renovate the alternative high school’s future location. For a comprehensive breakdown of the grievance, the district’s findings and the relocation, see lp.lposd.org under the “Relocation Information” tab. “I know at this new location, with the leadership of Chris Davis and her staff, they’re going to create something very special and magical with students’ voices,” said Meyer. “And I know, if people could just trust and wait, this is going to be very great for kids and for our community for the future.”
NEWS
Structural faults found in Priest River’s Merritt Bridge By Soncirey Mitchell Reader Staff The Bonner County Board of Commissioners declared an emergency loss of access for Merritt Bridge in Priest River on Aug. 11, following the discovery of “a significant infrastructure failure” in two of its pilings. Weight restrictions are in place, and it is unknown whether the bridge, which extends Wisconsin Street across the Pend Oreille River from Priest River to Dufort Road, will shut down during repairs. The newly cataloged damage may have been caused by construction or manufacturing defects, or “it may have been impacted,” according to Bonner County Road and Bridge Director Jason Topp. “Two support pilings are compromised. One is completely sheared through; the other has some cracks in it,” said Topp at the Aug. 11
BOCC meeting. “The failure will necessitate either a significant reduction in access or closure of the Wisconsin Street Merritt bridge.” The Idaho Transportation Department enlists a dive team to conduct inspections on the underwater pilings every five years, in addition to Bonner County’s above-water inspections every other year. Engineers previously identified a cracked pile, which they drilled into and filled with additional concrete to prevent the cracks from spreading. Road and Bridge received a 2023 federal-aid bridge grant to coat the pilings in an epoxy seal wrap and apply an epoxy driving surface treatment to fix the issue; however, this was before the discovery of the shorn pile. Broader bridge renovations are still in the design phase, with construction scheduled for 2027, but the county will move forward with immediate repairs
to the shorn pile. Following ITD’s instructions, Road and Bridge has instituted a weight restriction of 105,500 lbs per vehicle and is conducting weekly inspections to monitor the bridge’s deterioration until the necessary materials arrive for the repairs, approximately two weeks from
Aug. 11. Workers will then dig approximately four feet below the river bed to install and weld a jacket around the base before filling it with “an aggregate or concrete.” Engineers from Boise-based Marine Solutions are currently assessing the bridge and will determine the need for future
The Merritt Bridge in Priest River in winter. Photo by Cheri Berger Guinn restrictions or closure in the coming days. Repairs will take an estimated two weeks. For future updates, visit bonnercountyid.gov/ departments/roadbridge/current-news.
Legislators, anti-abortion group promote data that says ID hasn’t lost OB-GYNs. Doctors push back State says number of active OB-GYN licenses doesn’t reliably reflect how many doctors are actively practicing maternal healthcare in Idaho
By Laura Guido Idaho Capital Sun
Dr. Kylie Cooper, a maternal-fetal medicine physician, practices in Minnesota after she left Idaho in the spring of 2023, shortly after Idaho’s criminal abortion ban went into effect. Although it has been nearly three years since she left, Cooper retained her Idaho medical license, she said. “I have a sliver of hope that maybe things will get better in the future,” Cooper said. Cooper’s license, as well as every other active medical OB-GYN license in the state, would have shown up in data recently shared by the Idaho
Family Policy Center — a Christian advocacy group that lobbied for Idaho’s criminal abortion ban and helped author a 2022 law allowing family members of a fetus aborted after six weeks to the sue the abortion provider for a minimum of $20,000. As campaigns for and against Proposition 1 — a citizen-led ballot initiative that would repeal the state’s strict abortion ban and provide protections for contraception and in vitro fertilization, ramp up for the Nov. 3 general election — the abortion law’s effect on the number of practicing OBGYNs in Idaho has become a talking point. But determining the true number of doctors providing obstetrician-gynecologist care in the state isn’t easy.
The state has said the number of active licenses do not reliably reflect how many OBGYNs are currently practicing in Idaho. The Idaho Family Policy Center has underscored the licensing data to question, and file a lawsuit over, a 2025 Boise State University study that found Idaho had lost 35% of its OB-GYNs since 2022, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and Idaho’s criminal abortion law went into effect. The policy center on Aug. 3 posted a graph on Facebook showing the number of active licenses increasing from 2022 to 2025, writing “Pro-abortion advocates are lying to you.” “The number of actively licensed OB/GYNs in Idaho
has actually increased since our pro-life laws went into effect, according to data from the Idaho Board of Medicine,” the post said. The center’s posts about the licensure numbers have been shared by Idaho state legislators, such as Twin Falls Republican Rep. Clint Hostetler and Middleton Republican Rep. Tammy Nichols. Idaho medical board says it has no ‘reliable way’ to count active physicians The Idaho Board of Medicine, which is under the state Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses, shows the number of active OB-GYN licenses in Idaho going from around 280 in 2022 to just un-
der 340 in 2024, according to the policy center’s graph. Bob McLaughlin, spokesperson at the Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses, known as DOPL, told the Idaho Capital Sun that there are limitations to the state’s data to try and determine how many doctors are practicing in the state. “1. It’s a two year license,” McLaughlin said in an email. “The number of licenses could fluctuate since the licensee is required to renew on their birthdate every two years and not annually. 2. Physician specialty information is self-reported and is not required as part of licen-
< see OB-GYN, Page 7 > August 13, 2026 / R / 5
NEWS
Crews work to contain local wildfires
By Ben Olson Reader Staff Firefighting crews continue to make progress on the 3,547-acre Upper Smith Fire burning 20 miles northwest of Bonners Ferry. The lightning-caused fire, burning since July 8, is listed at 30% containment, with crews working along Westside Road to reduce fuel loading. Containment efforts may be hampered by a Red Flag Warning that went into effect Aug. 12 from 11 a.m.11 p.m., signaling possible thunderstorms, abundant lightning strikes and gusty outflow winds of up to 40 mph. Along with the hazardous fire conditions, the system may bring scattered rain showers to the region, with slightly cooler temperatures expected Aug. 13 along with a 30% chance of rain. Closures remain in place for Smith Creek Road, Long Canyon Trail and Parker Ridge Trail, with the public strongly encouraged to avoid the entire Smith Creek drainage area. A smaller wildfire in the Porcupine Creek drainage two miles east of Porcupine Lake is still listed at 0% containment, burning only 110 acres thus far thanks to strategic aviation support. The lightning-caused fire has been burning since July 24. Current suppression efforts are focused on keeping the fire from crossing over the ridge and establishing on the southeast face, but steep terrain and limited access continue to present difficulties for firefighting personnel. The Spokane Complex Fires, which 6 / R / August 13, 2026
Smoke columns rise from the Porcupine Fire on Aug. 11 burning east of Hope. Photo courtesy of USFS include the Old Trails, Fairview and Autumn Lanes fires in Spokane and Stevens counties, Wash., have destroyed or damaged over 900 structures. The human-caused fires have burned a total of 10,546 acres, with containment listed at 83%, 97% and 89% for Old Trails, Fairview and Autumn Lanes, respectively. Arson suspect Aaron F. Farinacci, who told police he started the Old Trails Fire and also claimed responsibility for 25 other fires over the last year, has been arrested and faces multiple arson charges for incidents dating back to 2025. The Innovia Foundation reported Aug. 12 that businesses, organizations and private donors have donated over $4 million to a recovery fund aimed to address the needs of residents impacted by the fires. Over 3,500 individual contributors have donated to the fund as of press time. “Thanks to the generosity of donors, 100% of contributions to wildfire funds at Innovia support affected individuals and families,” the foundation announced. The air quality index has improved slightly from the previous week, but still lingers in the orange “unhealthy for sensitive groups” category, with the primary pollutant level hovering around 125. Smoke-filled skies continue to reduce visibility greatly. To keep informed about regional fire activity, visit inciweb.wildfire.gov.
Bits ’n’ Pieces From east, west and beyond Numerous media say Iran has demands for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, including reparations for damages and no more insults or threatening language from the U.S. Talking to Axios, President Donald Trump said we’re “low-keying it,” only semi-negotiating, and relying on Iran’s economic problems to cause a shift. Some commentators say inadequate U.S. munitions are curtailing Trump’s actions. Trump seems to be walking away without a nuclear deal, the Wall Street Journal says. The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft told CNN there is “no escalatory path out of this war,” the U.S. has been weakened by more military action, and there needs to be “full dedication” to diplomacy. Depletion of U.S. munitions due to the Iran war makes it more likely Russian will try to disrupt the North Atlantic Treaty Organization by attacking a NATO country within the next few years, the Wall Street Journal says. Military experts are accusing the Dept. of Defense of management malpractice. Trump signed an executive order Aug. 10 to change the childhood vaccine schedules. A Reuters/Ipsos poll shows that only 1 in 4 people believe the administration’s vaccine stance is based on science. A 2024 CDC study found that for those born from 1994 to 2023, routine vaccinations prevented about 508 million cases of illness, 32 million hospitalizations and 1,129,000 deaths. After progressive candidate Abdul El-Sayed recently won Michigan’s senate democratic primary, the corporate-backed think tank, Third Way, said they will spend $15 million to fight Democratic Socialists. El-Sayed’s opponent, with $60 million, easily outspent him and lost. Third Way says they want to warn about socialists’ “risky” beliefs, like instituting a 32-hour work week, scrutinizing the Dept. of War and giving reparations to descendants of enslaved peoples. A major veterans’ bill in the Senate faces division: a top Democrat on the Veterans’ Affairs Committee told Newsweek he opposes the proposed funding structure presented, and thinks veterans “should never be handed an invoice when the costs of war come due.” The U.S. Senate adjourned until Sept. 14, and did so without passing Trump’s coveted SAVE Act.
By Lorraine H. Marie Reader Contributor
Initially, the Food and Drug Administration balked at approving a Moderna mRNA flu vaccine, but public outcry led to the FDA reversing course. As the New York Times noted, flu kills over 300,000 people worldwide annually, and the 2024-2025 season saw an estimated 45,000 deaths in the U.S. Independent research for Congress shows 17 of the 50 largest Fortune 500 companies were among the top 25 employers of food benefit users in at least two states — 70% work full time, the Lever wrote. Taxpayers spend about $2 billion annually on Medicaid for Amazon and Walmart employees. Elon Musk says he plans to spend at least $100 million on behalf of Republicans on the midterm elections, the New York Times reported. Though 80,000 new jobs were expected for July, the U.S. shed 23,000 jobs: The Dept. of Labor. Headlines for brevity: “Senate approves funding bill to avoid a shutdown”; “Greenland issues ‘strong warning’ as Trump-linked firm prepares to drill” (without authorization); “Todd Blanche narrowly confirmed as Trump’s attorney general in an overnight Senate vote”; “Trump signs executive orders targeting birthright citizenship”; “Rest assured, the new CDC director thinks ‘abortion surveillance’ is essential”; “Airlines push back against ICE enforcement at airports”; and “Millions of U.S. children could lose free school meals this fall due to SNAP changes, experts say.” Blast from the past: U.S. Senate candidate Rep. James Talarico, D-Texas, has been making the 1971 “Powell Memo” a campaign issue. Talarico states the “affordability crisis” has been 50 years in the making, ever since the Powell Memo outlined a strategy for uniting corporate interests, such as appointing corporate-sympathetic judges and buying big-money-friendly politicians. The memo was intended to reverse the gains of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal and President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society, which sought a more fair life for the less-than-rich. Lewis Powell was a corporate lawyer who, months after writing the memo and gifting it to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, was appointed by Republican Richard Nixon to the U.S. Supreme Court.
< OB-GYN, con’t from Page 5 > sure. DOPL does not have a reliable way to determine how many licensed physicians are actively practicing in Idaho. 3. Our records reflect licensure status, and an active license does not necessarily mean an individual is currently practicing.” Family policy center President Blaine Conzatti wrote on the organization’s website, noting that the data from the Board of Medicine is “admittedly imperfect,” citing many of the same limitations McLaughlin named, including that not all physicians practice in states where their license is active and that specialties are self-reported. “Even still, it’s the best data available,” Conzatti wrote. “And it clearly shows that the number of Idaho OB/ GYNs hasn’t been decreasing at the rate that JAMA article researchers – and their boosters in the media – have been telling you.” The 2025 study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that Idaho experienced a net loss of 94 out of 264 OBGYN physicians between August 2022 and December 2024. Those numbers were compiled from “from publicly available credentialing files and sources, licensing boards, physician websites, Idaho’s American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists registry, Idaho Medical Association database, local knowledge of the practices, and direct physician confirmation,” the study’s abstract said. The researchers tracked relocations, those who stopped practicing obstetrics, died or retired, and counted newly credentialed doctors, the study said. It did not include temporary physicians or family medicine doctors who also practice obstetrics. “The unique thing about that JAMA Open study was that it was an actual count of actual individuals in Idaho,” said Susie Keller, CEO of the Idaho Medical Association. “It wasn’t an extrapolation. It wasn’t based on estimates. So it was very unique and went through many, many layers of scrutiny before being published.” Keller said physicians left in that time period for a variety of reasons, some of which included Idaho’s abortion laws but others were personal, such as to be closer to family. “There are a lot of factors that play into our physician shortage,” Keller said. “And for this particular subset, I think the study did a good job of explaining those different reasons.”
A spokesperson from St. Luke’s, which has hospital clinic locations across southwest Idaho and Twin Falls, told the Idaho Capital Sun there were limitations to using licensing data to try and quantify how many doctors there are practicing. “While we cannot speak for statewide physician licensing trends, our experience is that licensing figures alone do not necessarily reflect the number of physicians actively providing obstetrical care to Idaho patients or available for long-term practice in Idaho,” spokesperson Joy Prudek said in an email. She said that licenses may include those who “practice intermittently,” or temporary physicians who fill in gaps, or those who retain licenses from multiple states.” Conzatti told the Sun in an email, that while he knows there are limitations to the licensing data, he questions the JAMA study data. “We’ve acknowledged from the beginning that the data on actively licensed physicians doesn’t tell the whole story,” he said. “... That being said, we’re willing to bet that the state board data is reliable for our purposes here than the JAMA report for a handful of reasons.” He said one of reasons is the data from the study provided to the policy center from the records request shows two counties with negative total OBGYNs. “That’s impossible—and errors in a data set skew the results,” Conzatti said of the negative doctor counts. “These errors also lead us to question the reliability of the other data relied upon in the report. Unfortunately, because BSU has not complied with our public record request to release the underlying data, communications, and review documents, we can’t thoroughly vet the JAMA report to determine if other data errors exist.” He also questioned the methodology used by the researchers to collect the data. “From what we can gather, the authors of the report determined whether a doctor had left based in part on internet searches and asking friends, neither of which are known as robustly scientific processes,” Conzatti said. “Unfortunately, because the authors have still not released their full report and have refused to release the documents we requested, we don’t have further insight into the usefulness of the method and the findings of the study.”
What are Idaho doctors saying? Cooper, the material-fetal medicine specialist, said she left Idaho because of the threat of prison time under Idaho’s criminal abortion ban and her fear she wouldn’t be able to provide the care she normally would. As a doctor focused on high-risk pregnancies, she said there were too many potential complications that could warrant an abortion that wouldn’t fall into the law’s exception to prevent the death of the mother or in cases of rape and incest within the first trimester, if there’s a police report filed. “It was a very difficult decision that we made,” Cooper said. “Thinking through a lot of scenarios, thinking through if I went to prison, what would happen to my husband and children? I mean, it’s just very insane conversations that I never anticipated ever having to have.” Idaho has had a shortage of doctors for years, said Keller of the Idaho Medical Association. The association has been part of an effort to try and increase physician training opportunities for more than 10 years. Keller said OB-GYNs have been the focus of tracking because the abortion ban very directly impacted that speciality. “This particular law that all of a sudden, made evidence-based practice that many of those OB-GYNs had been providing for their patients for many, many years ... one day in 2022, it became illegal,” Keller said. “And it very much changed their ability to practice in Idaho.” Dr. Brenna McCrummen is practicing as an OB-GYN in Coeur d‘Alene, and told the Sun on Monday she feels the pressure from the loss of other specialists in North Idaho. In 2023, Sandpoint’s Bonner General Health closed its labor and delivery unit, citing the political climate and staffing issues. Many women in the area now must travel for hours to seek care in Coeur d’Alene, McCrummen said. She said this can be especially problematic if a pregnant mom experiences unexpected complications. “Those problems can get much, much worse the farther out you are,” she said. “Those outcomes for baby and for mom are much worse, and I have definitely seen people arrive to our hospital much sicker than they should be, and that’s all due to the time that they have to travel.”
Prudek, of St. Luke’s, said the health system has made progress in attracting obstetricians and gynecologists, but challenges remain. “From St. Luke’s perspective, recruiting and retaining OB-GYN physicians remains a priority,” Prudek said. “We have had some success recruiting OB-GYN physicians, particularly by attracting physicians with ties to Idaho and graduates of regional medical education programs. At the same time, our need for OBGYN physicians continues to exceed the available workforce, and we have experienced limited success recruiting OB hospitalists.” Why is the family policy center suing BSU over the study? The policy center filed its lawsuit against Boise State University in Ada County District Court on July 24, Idaho EdNews reported. The advocacy group had sought records related to the 2025 study and its data. Its request returned only a two-page document with the raw data, showing a decline in OB-GYNs. Conzatti said in the family policy center post announcing the legal challenge that the biggest question for them remained unanswered, “Are OB/GYNs actually leaving the state, as the JAMA study claims? Or is the number of OB/GYNs practicing in Idaho actually increasing, as the data from the Idaho Board of Medicine seems to indicate?” “This lawsuit means that we’ll finally get the answers,” Conzatti wrote. “And with the upcoming abortion ballot initiative, the need for accurate information has never been more crucial.” The complaint alleges the university is withholding records, that the response came well after the 10-day deadline required by Idaho public records laws, and that it should not have charged the policy center $257.02 for legal review of the two-page document it received. Stephany Galbreaith, director of media relations at Boise State, told Idaho EdNews, “We do not comment on pending litigation.” This story was produced by Boise-based nonprofit news outlet the Idaho Capital Sun, which is part of the States Newsroom nationwide reporting project. For more information, visit idahocapitalsun.com.
August 13, 2026 / R / 7
‘I can’t breathe — can you?’...
Bouquets: • During these long, smoky weeks of summer, I’m reminded of how much I appreciate the work that wildland firefighters do. It’s hot, sweaty, labor-intensive work, not to mention dangerous. This Bouquet goes out to them. Barbs: • It’s time to share bicycle rules of the road, as I try to do 2-3 times every year. As someone who rides his bike to work most days and hears someone bellowing at me in traffic every month or two, it’s my mission to share biking rules with the general public: Ride on the right side, or with the flow of traffic; don’t ride on the sidewalk; ride single file, not two abreast; the “Idaho Stop” means at stop signs, bicyclists can slow and roll through as long as the way is clear; at red lights, bicyclist can stop and proceed through the red light only if the way is clear; use arm signals to let others know which way you are turning; and allow vehicles room to overtake you. Most important of all, be safe and allow everyone as much room as possible. Reminder to e-bike riders: you are still a bicycle and subject to the same laws. • I saw a bumper sticker recently that read, “Wilderness: Land of no use.” When passing, I couldn’t resist looking at the driver and wondering what kind of dolt drives around with that kind of message on their vehicle — especially in a place like North Idaho, which is basically all wilderness with some towns peppered in. To each their own, I guess. To me, wilderness means having the ability to escape the moronic opinions of ignorant people to experience a world untrampled. I find it very useful, however, when these people put bumper stickers on their cars, because it helps the rest of us know who to avoid in life. 8 / R / August 13, 2026
Dear editor, I was on “set” alert last summer for the Sagle fire, which came within a mile or so of my house, and was protected by local, state and federal firefighters, resources, and publicly funded alerts and warnings. When the state wildfire fund was depleted, and we had started to borrow money for fires, the governor asked the Legislature to approve 100 million dollars for the fund. Sixty million dollars had already been spent. The Legislature gave him $40 million. Dist. 1B Rep. Cornel Rasor voted “No” to fund the governor’s request. He won his primary in the spring, as did Jane Sauter (not to be confused with Mark Sauter, who lost to her) for Dist. 1A House and Scott Herndon for Senate. All pledged to support the Idaho Freedom Foundation platform, which opposes expanding state-funded wildfire and risk mitigation budgets. Breathe easier: vote for candidates in the Idaho Legislature who will spend our tax money protecting our homes and families. Vote Kathryn Larson and Karen Matthee for House, and Steve Johnson for Senate. Nancy Gerth Sagle
‘Let them eat cake’... Dear editor, Sandpoint City Council President Deb Ruehle’s comments regarding the kiosk chaos during the last city council meeting that county residents who have relatives who built houses and pay taxes are taking “advantage of” city residents is a little far-fetched. I’m trying to understand how that, and who’s “paying for toilet paper,” is relevant to the whole parking fiasco created by the city council. Suggesting that county residents should “park your car elsewhere and ride your bike into town and not worry about it.” How callous is that? Who are you, Marie “Let Them Eat Cake” Antoinette? Not every county resident has the physical capability to ride a bike. We experience inclement weather more months than not. I guess county residents should limit their purchases in
By Ben
Olson
town so they can safely ride a bike with their purchases supporting downtown businesses back to cars parked “elsewhere.” Suggesting county residents are taking advantage of city residents is ludicrous and insulting. Sandpoint is “our” town too. We may not pay the same taxes, but we are paying taxes that support the entire county, local libraries and the only hospital in the county, which so happens to be in Sandpoint. Good luck with that recall. Mary Fitzgerald Sagle
Skills and heart over self-interest and out-of-state money… Dear editor, Something I can’t understand is taking over my sensibilities. Maybe it’s smoke, noise, traffic, rude attitudes, parking meters or the lack of affordable housing. I’ll start with affordability and equality. It is becoming impossible for young people to live here. The jobs just don’t provide incomes for rent or mortgages. This isn’t new to us. I’m among the disappointed folks who once believed Idaho was great. Our politicians are aware of the problem, but I look to them to join hands to fix the imbalance. The “Idaho Way” that keeps them in office seems to cut taxes for the wealthy, cut basic services for those less fortunate and reap the profits in order to dismantle our vision of what’s civil and fair. We have lost doctors; our roads suffer; law enforcement needs help; our kids are leaving for many of these reasons. I want to see Herndon, Rasor and Jane Sauter, funded by the Freedom Foundation, replaced. They vote against taxes that fund basic principles. It’s time to vote for people who have the skills and heart to lead without self-interest and out-of-state money. Vote Kathryn Larsen, Karen Mathee and Steve Johnson. Vote! Your community is counting on you! A. Berliner Sandpoint
Democracy won’t work without your vote… Dear editor, My 45-year-old son doesn’t vote.
His revelation triggered a deep discussion. Voting is our voice in a democracy, yet voter apathy is growing in the US. People don’t trust that their vote counts. Can you imagine living in a country where you had no voice? After our conversation, my son is now registered to vote. Encourage others to vote. Have the conversation. The topics we discussed were: • Vote for the person representing your values, not just a party ticket. • One candidate will feel better than the other, even if they are not perfect. • Get to know your local politicians. Some really good people want to work for the good of the community. Go to open houses, local debates, fairs, etc. Talk to them. • Vote the whole ballot: I’m amazed that many voters don’t vote all of the way down the ticket. Read the voter pamphlet that registered voters receive. • Registration is easy. Go to voteidaho.gov. Request an absentee ballot or vote early at the county office. And consider the independent movement: the candidates have no ties to the machine. Jane Hoover Priest River
‘Don’t bother telling Fulcher anything’… Dear editor, Regarding last week’s article by Rob Mason, “Tell Rep. Fulcher: Idaho’s public lands should not be sold or transferred,” I have a suggestion: Don’t bother telling Fulcher anything. Does he listen to his constituents? (Have you seen him at a town hall?) Instead, vote for Kaylee Peterson this November as your House Representative for Idaho’s District One Congressional Seat. Kaylee Peterson believes in keeping public lands public. Fulcher wants them to belong to an already overburdened Idaho State Budget. Do you want your taxes to go up? Do you want to be able to boat, fish, hunt or hike without hesitation? Support Kaylee Peterson this November. Fulcher’s grandnephew, Carter, is developing lands near the Owyhee Mountains. A closed, gated
“When you start eating healthy, you don’t need toilet paper. Animals in the wild have no residual stool on their anus. I could have a bowel movement behind a sheet at a dinner party in the corner of the room and nobody would know.”
luxury estate called Birmingham Estates. Fulcher is a real estate developer when he’s not in the House. Carter is one of three partners in the firm: Trump, Fulcher and Roxburgh Capital, Inc. Do you want Russ’s family developing land that used to be your favorite boat camping site? Ignore the survey. Vote for Kaylee Peterson in November. Look her up at KayleeforCongress.com. David Stroud Sagle
Smells of Orwell’s 1984… Dear editor, Regarding the “Perspectives” by Rep. John Gannon [“Data center costs should guarantee public benefits,” July 30, 2026], he is correct in his opinion of the negative financial impact of data centers on the taxpayer; however, he did not cover other aspects. One being the negative ecological impact on the community by way of power and water consumption. The other is the whole purpose of the data centers: Who is the data going to be kept on, what data and by whom? The United States has more data centers than any other country. Data centers coupled with Flock cameras smell of Orwell’s 1984 government spying prediction. I do not want my privacy invaded by pseudo-intellectuals who think they know what is best for me. We need to let our representatives know we do not want any data centers in our communities. John Weyant Priest River
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— Dr. Sean O’Mara, who developed a diet that gives “nearly orgasmic” poops, embraced by both Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy and Vice President JD Vance
PERSPECTIVES
Emily Articulated Coastal By Emily Erickson Reader Columnist
The overhead fan hums through my borrowed camper van, mixing with waves riding a Pacific wind. The air is cool and clean and thick with briny humidity. Sand and damp cling to my belongings, evidence of recent time spent outdoors. Throughout my life, I’ve found myself on the coast for many reasons, pulled toward its grandeur and its difference from my regular surroundings. Often, these trips are precipitated by impending changes, big decisions, bigger feelings or moments when clarity feels just beyond my grasp. Perhaps the gusts and gales batter against my unease with the full force of nature’s will. Perhaps I’m comforted by the fact that an ocean so tumultuous can also settle into a calm, placid sunset — peace embodied in birds flying against a gentle orange sky. I’ve headed far west during breakups, before big moves, when grief got too big for my body, before dropping out of college and before returning to it, during times of loss and times when I simply didn’t know what came next. The impulse to go was built, perhaps, from years of fleeing to tree perches and backyard hideouts when my parents’ shouting matches grew too loud to be blocked by a bedroom door — an impulse I’ve honed over decades of use. This time, I’ve returned to the ocean seeking refuge from smoky skies, their haze suffocating the inherent tranquility of our home. The smoke looms as a reminder of the uncertainty of our future; of
Emily Erickson. summers no longer unmarred by fire season, of tragedy and destruction close enough to hear its knock on a neighbor’s door, knowing that someday it may knock on ours, too. Our “go bags” are packed, symbols of all that we stand to lose and the smallness of what we’d keep if lightning struck our hillside; if the ill intentions of someone’s sick mind turned toward our forest, too. People and animals displaced weigh heavily on my tender heart, while donated pet toys and GoFundMe contributions feel an awful lot like “thoughts and prayers” against the chasm of destruction and loss. As the West burns, and smoke hangs like clouds between us and the mountains we can barely see, we’re forced to make peace with uncertainty. Or, if not peace, then an ambivalent cohabitation; a subtle acknowledgment; a silent plea to, at least sometimes, be left alone. When I was 15, I spent my first summer on the ocean in Friday Harbor, Wash., in the San Juan Islands, sharing a small camper with my sister. We watched An Inconvenient Truth at a budget theater, and I left feeling strangely sure that everything would be okay —
despite the impending doom. I was hopeful we’d take care of the planet I felt like I was seeing for the first time. If people knew orcas existed, knew they played in strands of kelp while seagulls soared overhead; if they watched otters hurl themselves down slick rocks like water slides; if they meandered through moss-covered glens and fern-laden forests so green they glowed — surely, they’d choose care over harm. Surely, they’d protect it. Twenty years later, I’m back on a nearby shore, with far less certainty and hope, searching for clarity in the wiles and whims of nature. I now know better than to believe that loving something guarantees we’ll save it. We can love forests and still watch them burn. We can know exactly what we stand to lose and continue living in ways that make the losing more likely. Knowledge, it turns out, is not the same thing as action. Neither is love. And yet, I’m not sure that makes the loving useless. I still come here. I still feel something loosen in me when the horizon becomes nothing but water and sky. I’m reminded that some storms calm, that waves crash on shores just to return to the ocean a little bit changed, but mostly the same as they were before. Not everything has order, not everything works out or happens for a reason. And yet, we’re still here — making sense of the nonsensical in whatever ways feel right to us. Maybe it’s ironic or insensitive to leave my home to cope with the reality of others losing theirs. But staying felt like living inside the loss, with the AQI climbing as the toll of destruction did, too. So, I
guess, this is simply permission to find reprieve, in whatever ways we can. To leave when we need to leave (and to be so grateful when we can). To stand beside an ocean when we need to feel small. To let the wind batter against what we can’t resolve. To accept, for a little while, that we don’t have to resolve it. The fires are still burning. Our go bags are still packed. There is no lesson waiting for me in the waves that will
make any of that less true. But this morning, the air is cool and clean. The Pacific keeps arriving at the shore and pulling away again. Somewhere beyond the camper window, birds are riding the wind. For now, that is enough. Certainly, uncertain. Emily Erickson is a writer and business owner with an affinity for black coffee and playing in the mountains. Connect with her online at www.bigbluehat.studio.
Retroactive
By BO
August 13, 2026 / R / 9
Mad about Science:
Brought to you by:
chalicotheriidae
By Brenden Bobby Reader Columnist Multicellular life has had about 1.6 billion years to experiment on Earth. In that time, it has created all manner of weird lifeforms that were, however briefly, perfectly suited to the environments in which they existed. To our eyes, these creatures seem alien — how on Earth was Hallucigenia, from the Cambrian epoch, perfectly suited for any environment? Some of the most unusual animals to ever dominate the Earth came from the family, Chalicotheriidae. These creatures were strange — almost like a cross between a horse, a gorilla and a sloth. They were odd-toed ungulates that didn’t possess hooves, but instead bore long, sharp claws similar to a sloth; the body structure of gorillas; and the heads and appetite of a horse. Though extinct as of about 1 million years ago — recent enough to have directly interacted with human progenitors including Homo erectus and Homo habilis — they are most closely related to present-day horses and rhinos. Chalicotheres inhabited virtually every continent except for Antarctica, becoming particularly prolific throughout much of Asia and North America. They began appearing in Asia around 48 million years ago, giving them a solid 47 million-year run. We don’t know why they started to go extinct, but it happened gradually over the course of about 10 million years as species began to disappear from North America and Europe until a handful of species remained in modern-day China. 10 / R / August 13, 2026
Despite their close relation to grass-grazing ungulates, it’s speculated that members of Chalicotheriidae were sustained mostly by trees. Their claws were large and powerful, and they were capable of standing upright to pull down branches. We know they were exclusively herbivorous, so their massive claws were adapted for a mix of self- defense and food acquisition. The largest of these impressive beasts measured more than 8.8 feet at the shoulder and weighed somewhere close to 2,000 pounds. It was likely that you wouldn’t want to tangle with one of these things — it wouldn’t eat you, but the claws could do some damage. While sloths are pretty cute, their claws are formidable, being less like our fingernails or even a horse’s hoof, but akin to a protrusion of bone. They’re very strong and can be very sharp. A friend of mine from high school worked with sloths in Costa Rica, and she always said that getting stitches from handling the sloths was like initiation at the facility. Chalicotheriidae claws weren’t nearly as long, but they had several hundreds of pounds of solid muscle attached to them. Imagine a gorilla with hunting knives duct-taped to its fingers, and there you have Chalicotherium. These creatures were huge and bulky, but they likely weren’t very fast. It’s hypothesized that they moved at the speed of a cow. They walked utilizing quadrupedal locomotion in the manner of the great apes, by folding their claws back into their palms and using the knuckles of their forelimbs to stride. Despite the fact that our ancestors may have interacted
with these animals, we have absolutely no idea what they sounded like. Given their size, they likely made low, resonant sounds similar to hippopotamuses or cows — if they made any vocalizations at all. Despite their long evolutionary run, Chalicotheres were outcompeted as Earth’s climate shifted over the past several million years. Temperatures fell and climates became drier, which meant there were fewer forests and more grasslands. Their entire evolutionary niche was built around pulling down limbs from trees, which were disappearing. Meanwhile, modern equines and bovids were rapidly evolving to exploit new savannah, pushing their strange cousins into the receding forests. While some species may have existed in or near Bonner County throughout their long evolutionary history, not a single member saw Lake Pend Oreille. The lake formed between 13,000 and 15,000 years ago, nearly 1 million years after the last of their kind went extinct in China. It is interesting to note that many of the features that made Chalicotheres go extinct were features that are still highly valued in animal species today. Many of the great apes still share their rough body shape and ability to walk on all fours using their knuckles. The biggest difference is that primates are much more adaptive when it comes to their diet. Primates can eat a huge variety of foods, while Chalicotheres could likely only sustain themselves on specific types of leaves. Their head shape is still utilized by bovids and equines, but those have adapted to eat
plentiful grasses to sustain their large body mass. The ultimate downfall of the Chalicotheres was their inability to adapt and consume other kinds of foods to sustain themselves. They were too large, with too many specialized evolutions to survive in a shifting world. This is ultimately the lesson of evolution: While hyperspecialized tools are striking, identifiable and great at
Life restoration of the chalicotheriine Anisodon grande, formerly Chalicotherium grande. Image courtesy of Wikipedia exploiting an environmental niche that can lead to tremendous gains and global proliferation, if that specialization is incapable of changing as the planet’s climates shift, it will all end in extinction. There’s a reason that sharks have been on the Earth longer than trees — they aren’t picky about what they eat, and they’re really good at eating. Stay curious, 7B.
Random Corner ators? Don’t know much about calcul We can help! • Before written numbers existed, humans had only their fingers and toes to use as counting devices. Because of those limitations, the abacus was invented to calculate sums. The origin of this counting tool is murky, but counting tables in one form or another date back about 2,000 years to the Greeks and Romans, though some historians believe the abacus originated in China. • The first adding machine was introduced in 1623. Called the “calculating clock,” inventor Wilhelm Schickard intended it to be a multiplying device, meant for recording intermediate results, and a six-digit decimal-adding device. • The first functional calculator was invented in 1773 and featured a set of 12 drums in a circular arrangement that could be activated by a crank located in the axis of the drums. • The first commercially produced mechanical calculator, called the “Arithmometer,” came in 1820 and was the first calculating machine to complete all four basic operations (addition, subtraction,
multiplication and division). When the Arithmometer began commercial production in 1851, it launched the mechanical calculator industry. • The IBM 608 was the first calculating machine to use solid-state transistors instead of vacuum tubes. When it was introduced in 1954, it was housed in several large cabinets and could be purchased for $83,210 (which is more than $1 million in today’s dollars) or rented for $1,760 per month (or $21,850 in today’s dollars). • The first desktop calculator, the Anita MK-8, came along in 1961, and the first handheld was introduced in 1967, called Cal-Tech by Texas Instruments. The Busicom LE-120A “Handy” was introduced in 1971 and became the first truly pocket-sized calculator to use an LED display. • By the 1980s, digital calculators were in every classroom. Today, any smartphone can run powerful math apps that can graph equations and solve algebra in seconds.
PERSPECTIVES
Keep your eye on the rabbit, Idaho INL cannot permanently store nuclear waste
By Rep. Monica Church, D-Boise Reader Contributor There’s an old country expression my grandfather used to say: keep your eye on the rabbit, because a hunting dog that chases every rustle in the brush comes home empty. Right now, the rabbit is in plain sight — the incontestable threat to Idaho’s economic and environmental future posed by radioactive nuclear defense waste stored above the Snake River Aquifer. Let me be clear up front: The Idaho National Laboratory has been a good neighbor. It employs thousands of our friends and family, drives world-class research and has earned a legitimate place in Idaho’s story. And credit where it’s due — over the decades, an enormous amount of work has been completed to clean up and remediate contamination. This is not an argument against the lab, against nuclear science or against the good people who make their living in the desert. It is an argument for the aquifer beneath them, and for protecting Idahoans and finishing the job. The Snake River Aquifer is the beating heart of Idaho’s economy. The size of Lake Erie, it underlies roughly 10,000 square miles, supplies more than half the drinking water across its reach, and feeds the potatoes, sugar beets, barley, cattle and fisheries that nourish Idaho and the nation. When people talk about the “Idaho way of life,” they’re really talking about our water. And here’s what ought to keep every Idahoan up at night: that water sits directly beneath decades of radioactive, hazardous waste stored on the Snake River Plain. Not miles away — beneath. Once contamination reaches it, there is no undo button. You can’t apologize your way back to clean water. Today, protecting that water requires holding the Department of Energy and the Navy to their word by making sure that as shiny new opportunities are dangled in front of us, the federal government keeps complying with the cleanup and waste-disposal agreements Idaho and our tribal partners have already fought for and won. You see, for decades, acres of trenches were carved into the site for
Rep. Monica Church. File photo storing transuranic and other waste — much of it plutonium-contaminated material shipped by the trainload from Rocky Flats, Colo. Idaho was seen as dry, remote and unpopulated, so the waste was transported and buried, eventually seeping into our aquifer. That’s where four-time Democratic Governor Cecil Andrus drew a line: he demanded the DOE stop burying waste, pull it above ground and ship it out of Idaho for good. When Andrus blocked further shipments in the ’80s and ’90s, he wasn’t bluffing. As he told the New York Times in a 1991 interview, “I’ve got a state policeman and 15 of his friends, and all of them are prepared to do what is necessary if any truck makes it inside the borders of this state.” Proving a forceful Idaho leader could move Washington, the DOE finally opened the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant deep in the salt beds near Carlsbad, N.M., and today much of Idaho’s transuranic waste is permanently disposed of — away from the aquifer, where it belongs. Then there’s the spent fuel, and this is where we could lose the rabbit. For decades, Idaho has reprocessed used fuel from the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program and stored reactor fuel from across the nation, including damaged fuel from the Three Mile Island partial nuclear meltdown. Reprocessing generates enormous volumes of high-level liquid waste, which has been baked into dry — but fiercely radioactive — granules and stored in underground silos. When the Bush administration ended reprocessing, Andrus and tribal leaders again fought back, fearing more spent fuel rolling
into Idaho with nowhere to go would make Idaho the nation’s de facto permanent dump. So the state sued. That fight, carried from Andrus into Republican Governor Phil Batt’s term, again forced Washington to the table, producing the 1995 Idaho Settlement Agreement. The Batt Agreement, as it is called, is unique in the nation: a binding contract with real teeth, still under a federal court’s jurisdiction — handcuffs no other site must wear. It covers spent fuel, liquid and calcine waste, buried and transuranic waste and safe facility demolition, with hard deadlines, penalties and a mandate to remove the geologically unsuitable waste from Idaho. Critically, it bars any new shipments until a repository is built, away from our aquifer, something the feds have failed to do. As Batt put it in 2015 when he and Andrus again sued the federal government for not delivering on a permanent site, “You take an ounce of waste from the federal government, they want to give you 10,000 pounds.” The former Idaho governors argued that opening a permanent site is Washington’s job, not Idaho’s, and a deal is a deal: No new waste until the settlement agreement is met. So here’s the truth. This new chapter could be good for Idaho and the nation’s energy future, but the issue today is not how much revenue-generating research may or may not come from allowing the country’s AI tech and data center companies to test their reactors on Idaho soil. The issue today is that Idaho’s current leadership is looking the other way as Idaho’s National Laboratory becomes the de facto permanent disposal for the country’s dangerous forever-waste. Politics loves distraction, but we must stay on point. I’ll say it the way my grandfather would have: keep your eye on the rabbit, Idaho. Protect the aquifer, and hold Washington to every word of the Batt Agreement, because the federal government will never put Idaho first; only we can do that. Rep. Monica Church is running as incumbent Democratic legislator representing District 19A and currently serving as minority caucus chair. She is the granddaughter of former-Idaho Governor Cecil Andrus. August 13, 2026 / R / 11
Festival at Sandpoint edition
To submit a photo for a future edition, please send to ben@sandpointreader.com.
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All photos taken by Racheal Baker
OBITUARY Robert Rice “Bob” Eldred (March 13, 1940 - Aug. 4, 2026) Robert Rice “Bob” Eldred, 86, passed away on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2026, near Sandpoint, Idaho. Memorial services will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 15 at Lakeview Funeral Home at 301 South Olive Ave. in Sandpoint. Bob was born on March 13, 1940, in Pontiac, Michigan, to Bob and Mary Eldred. He grew up and attended school in Detroit before entering seminary to study for the priesthood. He later earned a master’s degree in liberal arts. In 1977, Bob moved to Sandpoint. He married Kathleen Owens on February 6, 1982, in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Together they owned and operated Emerald Bay Painting until Bob’s retirement in 2025. Bob never met a stranger.
Bob Eldred. Courtesy photo
He made friends easily, enjoyed visiting with people, and had a gift for bringing others together. An avid outdoorsman, he enjoyed golfing, hiking, biking, boating and relaxing in saunas. He also loved traveling the world, including climbing in the Tetons in Wyoming and trekking around Annapurna in
Nepal with his nephew, Michael Eldred. Bob is survived by his wife, Kathleen Eldred of Sandpoint; two stepchildren, Kimberly (Josh) Seitz of Coeur d’Alene and Forrest (Jessica) Brown of Kootenai; three grandchildren, Tony (Ashley), Avery and Brooke Brown; two great-grandchildren, Jackson and Aaliyah Brown; and his brother, Roger (Elenore) Eldred of Detroit. He was preceded in death by his parents and his brother, Richard Eldred. Lakeview Funeral Home in Sandpoint is handling the arrangements. Please visit Bob’s online memorial at lakeviewfuneral.com to share a memory and sign his guest book. Submitted by the family of Bob Eldred.
August 13, 2026 / R / 13
COMMUNITY SASi receives award of excellence Ready! for Kindergarten expands to Cocolalla Celebrate with the upcoming fundraiser, SASi Uncorked
By Reader Staff The nonprofit organization Sandpoint Area Seniors, Inc. has won the Panhandle Health District Award of Excellence for the third consecutive year in recognition of compliance with 56 rigorous food safety and operational standards. The award coincides with the annual SASi Uncorked fundraiser on Saturday, Aug. 15, from 3-5 p.m., which will showcase its celebrated food alongside wine flights. SASi and its volunteers have dedicated more than 50 years to serving Bonner County seniors by combatting food insecurity and reducing social isolation. Under the leadership of Head Chef Brenda Curtis, the nonprofit delivers approximately 1,600 healthy, delicious meals to seniors’ homes, reaching people as far as Oldtown. Additionally, the kitchen volunteers serve an average of 560 meals per month at the Sandpoint Senior Center. Meals and community
14 / R / August 13, 2026
activities are free, supported by volunteers, donations and fundraising efforts, such as the upcoming SASi Uncorked. The wine tasting will take place at SASi’s headquarters at 820 Main Street and include a selection of five wines — including a dessert wine finale — and an “upscale grazing table” of meats, cheeses and other classic wine pairings. Tickets are $60 with pre-registration or $75 at the door, though the event usually sells out in advance. Reserve a spot by calling 208263-6860, or learn more at sandpointareaseniors.org.
By Reader Staff After serving Sandpoint-area families for the past 18 years, Ready! for Kindergarten, a free family education program offered locally through Panhandle Alliance for Education, is expanding to Cocolalla. The workshops equip parents, grandparents and caregivers with practical strategies, take-home learning materials and simple everyday activities that help build early literacy, math, language and social-emotional skills before a
child enters school. There will be free child care on site for all participating families. The program feeds into the nonprofit’s wider goal of preparing and supporting Lake Pend Oreille School District students from kindergarten through high school graduation. “One of the greatest gifts we can give children is a strong start,” stated PAFE Representative Heather Lowman. “By bringing Ready! for Kindergarten to Cocolalla, we’re helping ensure that more families have access to the resources and support they
need to prepare their children for success long before the first day of school.” Space may be limited, so families are encouraged to register as early as possible. Classes take place on Saturdays and will be held at Farmin Stidwell Elementary School (1626 Spruce St., in Sandpoint) on Nov. 7, Jan. 30 and March 27, and at Southside Elementary School (1626 Spruce St., in Cocolalla) on Sept. 26, Jan. 23 and April 17. For more information or to register, visit panhandlealliance.org.
Push your bike to its limit during Aether’s Traverse By Reader Staff As part of Syringa Production’s Idaho Panhandle Gravel Series, a group of confident bikers will take on Aether’s Traverse on Saturday, Aug. 15: a 34mile ride ending at Sky House on the top of Schweitzer Mountain. The fundraiser begins at
8 a.m. at 10857 Baldy Mountain Rd. and proceeds benefit the Pend Oreille Pedalers nonprofit bicycle club and Panhandle Community Radio, KRFY 88.5 FM. Beginning outside of Sandpoint, the route takes riders westward toward Priest Lake before turning east up the Middle Fork of the East River and eventually climbing to the top of Schweitzer Mountain, gaining 6,359 feet of elevation. Participants will take in the scenic southern reaches of the Selkirk Mountains and the Priest River drainage basin, as well as views of Canada, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Lake Pend Oreille from the Sky House. Finishers will enjoy food and drink during the awards ceremony at the Sky House before riding the chair-
Courtesy photo lift down to Schweitzer Village. Registration is $150 for individuals or $225 for groups at panhandlegravel.com. Organizers are monitoring the Air Quality Index and will cancel the ride should the AQI hold steady at 150 or greater on the morning of Aug. 15. Entry fees cannot be refunded, but will be put toward future Idaho Panhandle Gravel Series events.
Mumsie of Whittier and Park Avenue Does the lady in the photo look like New York City high society? A Mrs. Astor, a Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, Roosevelt? No? More like, say, hardscrabble Whittier, Calif. low society who worked her way through college, then taught first grade in California’s San Berdoo Mountains (“This old man, he played one, he played knick knack on my thumb...”) before magically landing in the Big Apple? Had dementia not ravaged, then stolen, Jackie (Mumsie) two months ago, she would have celebrated 69 years of blissful matrimony on August 10. But wait — blissful might be a stretch; her best pal for 70 years gave Mumsie inadequate credit in her recent Reader obituary. While the tribute acknowledged her deep love of nature, friends, family, animals, insects, tennis, volunteerism, PBS, horses, little kids, dogs and life’s underdogs, it failed to cite a decades-long partnership with him among New York’s top-tier corporate players. Not that he was one. He wasn’t; but he worked for some who were, like Charles L. “Charlie” Brown, CEO of the original AT&T. In those heady days (1980s), AT&T stood for American Telephone and Telegraph (no relation to the current one, which stands for AT&T), and when led by Brown, had nearly a million employees, three million shareowners and was parent company of the Bell Telephone System — “The Biggest Company On Earth” according
to Sonny Kleinfeld of The New York Times. It was once said that behind every good man there’s a good woman (today, fortunately, it’s often the reverse). Such was the case with self-made collegian and teacher Mumsie (who also taught school in Indiana and New Jersey) aka Jacquelynn from the unimpressive side of the Whittier, Calif. tracks. Several happy, adventuresome decades later, CEO Charlie Brown made certain that Mumsie was always invited to his corporate high society black-tie galas in NYC. During the Henney’s 1972-76 test drive with the international powerhouse Deere & Co. in Moline, Ill., president Elwood “Woody” Curtis felt similarly. He and wife Helen considered Jackie almost essential at executive dining room banquets for bigshot political, editorial and industrial guests. Talking to her husband about Jackie, Helen always referred to her as “your daughter.” Mumsie was modest, not given to social airs or to those who were. She didn’t play bridge, gossip or shop for shoes — or for much else. She arrived in New York on a Trans World Airlines flight in July, 1957 with $20. Zipping along the Long Island Expressway in the pint-sized Brit roadster her husband had driven from California, he inquired about the $400 she had promised to bring. Mumsie said she gave it to her dad. At that, her driver considered pulling a U-turn on the freeway and sending
Jacquelynn “Mumsie” Henney, left, and “Bistro Buffoon buddy” Rex Cosgrove at breakfast in downtown Sandpoint. Photo courtesy of Tim Henney her back to LAX. But love prevailed. The fact that his cramped, bohemian Greenwich Village pad had no kitchen didn’t bother Mumsie; cooking was as low on her priority list as frivolous shopping. Even though their 13 later homes had kitchens, she reared her family essentially on TV dinners on tin trays. Fortunately, her husband was a specialist with delicacies like mac and cheese. Jackie loved horses, family and friends. Among the latter, before dementia, she cherished her association with the fraternity of aged merry pranksters who meet mornings at Sandpoint’s Marigold Bistro to tell lame jokes, compete in
describing personal medical misadventures and solve the world’s critical problems. Some locals refer to them affectionately as the Boisterous Bistro Buffoons — others simply as The Noisy Guys. Prior to falling ill, Jackie was their equivalent of the Sweetheart of Sigma Chi. In a photo with Bell System boss Charlie Brown at an unrelaxed New York City party, she appears somewhat flustered — not so in the photo on this page with Bistro Buffoon buddy Rex Cosgrove at breakfast downtown. Mumsie was a lover, was much loved by many, and would have loved to have made it to August 10, 2026 to remember with me in cherished Sandpoint our
simple wedding, attended by five happy pals on Block Island, off the Connecticut coast that sweet summer of 1957. Well, that’s it for now, Mumsie. Because music was so essential in our 70-year romance, let’s close this tribute humming Irving Berlin’s incomparable “I’ll Be Loving You, Always.” — Tim Henney The foregoing is published as a paid ad because this newspaper, so essential to Sandpoint’s culture, charm and collegiality, exists on reader contributions — including advertisements. — Tim Henney, Sandpoint Hello Jusman!
August 13, 2026 / R / 15
COMMUNITY BoCo Fair brings old-fashioned country fun to Sandpoint By Reader Staff The annual Bonner County Fair will take over the fairgrounds (4203 North Boyer Rd.) from Tuesday, Aug. 18 to Saturday, Aug. 22 with myriad booths, animals and activities for classic entertainment you won’t find anywhere else. The festivities will run from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, and 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. The free, community get-together includes family-friendly entertainment of all kinds, like bounce houses, hay bale mazes, caricatures, educational booths, vendors, food and several public events like the tractor-driving and ice cream-eating competitions and the beard, mustache and mullet contest. All the while, local 4-H members and area farmers will be presenting and selling their animals, which range from cows and pigs to chickens and rabbits. Panhandle Community Radio, KRFY 88.5 FM, will be broadcasting live from the fairgrounds, announcing competition winners and chatting with fairgoers.
Anyone can attend the three free main events, beginning Aug. 18 at 6 p.m. with the Stock Dog Fun Day, where ranch dogs will show off their speed, smarts and camaraderie as they herd livestock. Wednesday, Aug. 19 features competitive barrel racing, where riders will guide their horses around a series of obstacles beginning at 7 p.m. The final free main event, ranch sorting, sees riders moving cattle into pens while on horseback, beginning at 5:30 p.m. on
Thursday, Aug. 20. Friday, Aug. 21’s ticketed show is Ranch Bronc Riding, a rodeo staple beginning at 7 p.m. where participants try to stay on bucking broncos, bulls or — for the youngest riders — sheep. Finally, the fair ends with the Bonner County Brawl Demolition Derby at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 22. Tickets for both shows are $26 each at bonnercountyfair.com.
Ponderay Rotary hosts Beach Bash By Reader Staff Local humanitarian organization Ponderay Rotary will hold its first annual Beach Bash at Sandpoint City Beach on Saturday, Aug. 15 from noon to 6 p.m. The afternoon will include free games and a 21+ beverage garden, with proceeds benefiting Rotary’s community programs. Anyone is welcome to stop by, swim or join in a game of cornhole. Attendees can also sign up on play-
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Photo by Cameron Barnes
timescheduler.com for round-robin sessions of pickleball with Panhandle Pickleball Club, which will take place from 1-3 p.m. and 3:30-5:30 p.m. Truck’N Delicious will provide the comfort food alongside the Tervan Tavern’s bar. Each drink purchase raises funds for Rotary’s educational and community outreach programs, including secondary education scholarships for local students and the installation of AED units in public spaces around Bonner County. Visit ponderayrotaryclub.com for more information.
FEATURE
What your license plate says about you By Ben Olson Reader Staff Idaho’s license plates have changed many times over the years. Since 1928, the standard phrase on plates has been “Famous Potatoes,” and the default design is the red, white and blue with silhouettes of mountains and trees, which we used to see on most vehicles. In recent years, however, it’s common to see ten vehicles pass by, each with a different design on the plate. There now seems to be a license plate for every occasion, with many designs dedicating user fees to various organizations and causes. After a brief search, it appears there are now over 40 unique designs to pick from. What follows is a completely subjective view of what some of these plate designs might say about the driver sporting them. Default “Scenic Idaho” design This person doesn’t care what plate is on their bumper and thinks spending an extra dime on vanity or specialized plates is crazy town. World Famous Potatoes This driver really likes potatoes. Baked, fried, scalloped... doesn’t matter, as long as there’s a potato. Agriculture The “Harvest the Future” plate looks nothing like any Idaho plates of yore. This driver probably has more tractors than trucks, and they get more done before noon than most of us accomplish in a day. An Appeal to Heaven This political plate references a treatise by John Locke, which essentially states that when a government fails us and takes our rights away, we can rebel because those rights are given to us by God. It’s ironic,
however, that these drivers who have lost faith in the government are purchasing a plate from the government (for an extra fee) to tell everyone about it. I’ll bet a spark plug that they voted for Trump, too, which is another layer of irony I don’t care to expound upon.
Ski Idaho The driver of this vehicle wants to let you know that they’re just here for the powder days, man. What was the question again?
Don’t Tread on Me Usually seen on a giant Ram truck spewing black exhaust, the “Don’t Tread on Me” plate is performative and, frankly, a little cringey. Chill out. Nobody wants to tread on you, bud. It does seem odd, however, that these drivers usually tread on everyone and everything they can if they feel slighted in the least possible way. This driver is most likely open carrying a firearm and probably rubs it longingly while driving to make them feel better about life. Just ignore them and move on with your day.
Timber This green and blue design has “Forests Forever” and “Manage, Harvest, Plant, Repeat” emblazoned on the plate. This driver cares about our forests, sure, but I wonder if they still voted for people like Rep. Russ Fulcher, who is one of the leading voices urging us all to forget about our public lands and just let the billionaires have at them.
Black-and-White Famous Potatoes This high-contrast design is basic, stark and minimalistic. This driver probably has a car without a single piece of trash inside. They might also ask passengers to remove their footwear before stepping inside. They probably burn wet wood, to quote our editor-in-chief’s daughter. White-and-Teal Famous Potatoes Another high-contrast design, with a livery of teal mountains and a simple background. There is a retro feel to this plate that suggests the driver probably has a North Face backpack older than most people reading this. Pet-Friendly With a goofy dog and slightly perturbed-looking cat to the left of the numbers, this design appeals to those who value animals over humans. These drivers are harmless and feel bad every time they see a bug squashed on their windshield. They aren’t the droids you’re looking for.
Medal of Honor This driver has seen more, done more and accomplished more than you. Get the hell out of their way. Bluebird The mountain bluebird alights on a branch in this lavender-colored plate that identifies the driver as a birder. They’ve got an Audubon Society bird book in the glove compartment and are constantly pointing out magpies to their passengers. Old Timer If you’re seeing this plate, you’re probably stuck behind a Model T going 15 miles per hour, since these are only allowed on vehicles manufactured before 1943. The driver really wants to tell you all about when they had gout a couple of years ago. White and Black You can’t get more basic than this plate, which has a white background, black letters and a thin black border. This driver’s favorite flavor of ice cream is vanilla and their favorite food is unsweetened applesauce with cottage cheese on the side.
Heritage (America 250) With a blue background and a flag-festooned right side, this “America 250” plate identifies a driver who no longer wants to talk about the Reflecting Pool damage in Washington, D.C. Fly Idaho A small yellow plane flies next to the numbers on this specialty plate, and “Fly Idaho” adorns the top. The vehicle that has these plates often has a bumper sticker nearby that reads, “My other car is a Cessna.” They make more money than you do. Appaloosa A spirited horse trots across this plate design, and proceeds from the sale of this one fund education and programming related to horses in Idaho. This driver watches old Westerns on TV when they stay in hotels and, dollars to doughnuts, they have a ponytail longer than a yardstick. Mountain Biking The owner of this plate design usually has a bike poking over the tailgate and eats their body weight in trail mix every year. The line, “Preserve Our Trails,” festoons the bottom of this design for good reason; funds from this plate design are used to preserve, maintain and expand mountain biking trails in Idaho. They also drink IPA and look terrific in spandex shorts, even if their friends call them “grape smugglers” behind their backs. In addition to usual registration charges, specialty license plates have an initial fee, followed by a slightly lower renewal charge, with funds supporting the various organizations and causes indicated by the plate. If you have a few extra bucks burning a hole in your pocket, visit itd. idaho.gov to search for a design that sets you apart from all the rest.
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events
August 13-20, 2026
Send event listings to calendar@sandpointreader.com Live jazz w/ Bright Moments 6-8pm @ The District Live Music w/ Ian Newbill 5-8pm @ Pearls (Beyond Hope)
THURSDAY, august 13
Sandpoint Summer Music Series: The Jauntee 6pm @ Farmin Park A free, outdoor concert with Colorado band The Jauntee, presented by Mattox Farm Productions. Food trucks on site and drinks by Eichardt’s Pub
Live Music w/ Hillfolk Noir w/ Josiah 5:30-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority Live Music w/ Double Shot Band 5pm @ Connie’s Lounge Live Music w/ Liam McCoy Band 5:30-8:30pm @ Smokesmith BBQ Live Music w/ Nobody Famous 5-8pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery Live Music w/ Marcus Stevens 6-9pm @ Barrel 33
Live Music w/ Jon Dejong 6pm @ Connie’s Lounge Live Music w/ Matt Lome 6-9pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall Live Music w/ Cody Bartels Band 9pm-midnight @ 219 Lounge Live Music w/ Pamela Benton 5-8pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery Live Music w/ Chris Lynch 6-9pm @ Barrel 33 Live Music w/ Mason Van Stone 6-8pm @ Baxters on Cedar
FriDAY, august 14
Live Music w/ Dani-Rae Clark 6-9pm @ Blue Heron Cafe Live Music w/ Austin Miller 7pm (doors open) @ The Hive Line dancing lessons 7:30, show 8:30 Live Music w/ Kim with the Buds 6:30-9:30pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall
Live Music w/ Mason Van Stone 6-8pm @ Baxters on Cedar
Monday Night Blues Jam w/ John Firshi 7pm @ Eichardt’s Pub Live trivia w/ Toshi 7pm @ Connie’s Lounge Trivia w/ Hannah 6-8pm @ Idaho Pour Authority Little Live Radio Hour: (FREE) Hannah Meehan and Ezra Pitcher 7pm @ The Hive (listen at 88.5FM) Fresh off her opening set at the Festival, Meehan will play this live show Beginner Argentine tango class 6pm @ Embody Center, 823 Main St. No partner needed. $15 Sandpoint Farmers’ Market 3-5:30pm @ Farmin Park Family Night, live music w/ John Firshi 5-7:30pm @ Matchwood Brewing Co. Live Music w/ Liam McCoy and Friends 7pm @ Eichardt’s Pub
SATURDAY, august 15
Rock Out Community Cancer 4-9pm @ Matchwood Brewing Co. Live music with proceeds going to Community Cancer Services
Historic walking tours 11am @ Cedar Street Bridge $10/$5 for a 75-min. tour featuring a local historian sharing stories
Live Music w/ Kerry Leigh and Bill Krutz 6-8pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall 18 / R / August 13, 2026
SunDAY, august 16
The District anniversary, wine tasting 6-8pm @ The District With live jazz by Bright Moments
monDAY, august 17
Outdoor Experience group run 6pm @ Outdoor Experience 3-5 miles, all levels welcome
tuesDAY, august 18
Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana 7-8pm @ Panida Theater North Idaho Philharmonia joins forces with Bel Canto Opera, hosted by MCS Live piano w/ Rich and Jenny 5-7pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery
wednesDAY, august 19
Second Harvest Mobile Food Distribution 11am-1pm @ LDS Church Drive-through event for local families Benny on the Deck 5:30-8:30pm @ Connie’s Lounge
ThursDAY, august 20
Open jam night 5:30pm @ Connie’s Lounge
Paint and Sip w/ Nicole Black 5:30-7:30pm @ Barrel 33
Live Music w/ Benny Baker 6-8pm @ MickDuff’s Beer Hall Aladdin KIDS (Musical/play) 4pm and 6pm @ Panida Theater A condensed version of the Disney story with students ages 8-17 Movies on the Mountain (free) 8:01pm @ Crow’s Bench (Schweitzer) Free outdoor screening of a mystery movie! Rated PG. Food/drinks available
Live Music w/ Robert Henry and the Repeaters 8-11pm @ 219 Lounge
Live jazz w/ Bright Moments 6-8pm @ Arlo’s Ristorante Live Music w/ Nic Allen Live Music w/ Jay Snow & the Tone Keepers 5-7pm @ Pend Oreille Shores Resort 5:30-8:30pm @ Smokesmith BBQ Sandpoint Chess Club 9am @ Evans Brothers Coffee Magic with Star Alexander 5-8pm @ Jalapeño’s
Live Music w/ Liam McCoy and Friends 7pm @ Eichardt’s Pub
SASi Uncorked (wine tasting, raffle) 3-5pm @ Sandpoint Senior Center Sip, savor and support meals for seniors Sandpoint Farmers’ Market 9am-1pm @ Farmin Park Produce, live music, artisan crafts, more Ponderay Rotary Beach Bash Noon-6pm @ Sandpoint City Beach Cornhole and pickleball, food trucks and 21+ beverage garden
Live Music w/ Celtic Folk Jam 3-6pm @ Idaho Pour Authority
Kaniksu Folk School: Spoon carving Noon @ Sled Barn (11735 W. Pine St.) $35 includes all tools and instruction Live Music w/ Kip McMillan 2-5pm @ Barrel 33
East Coast swing lessons ($15) 7pm @ DanceWorks Studio
Open mic / open jam 6-?pm @ Idaho Pour Authority Sandpoint Cuban Salsa Social 5:30-7:30pm @ Sandpoint Community Hall Instructors Alejandro and Denis Alemany give beginner salsa lessons. No experience or partner needed
Native Plant Bingo 5:30-7:30pm @ Aster Garden Center Laugh and learn about native plants Live piano w/ Owen Macaulay 5-7pm @ Pend d’Oreille Winery Bonner Co. Fair: Barrel Racing 7pm @ Bonner County Fairgrounds Montana Shakespeare in the Parks: The Merchant of Venice 5m @ Lakeview Park A free outdoor performance. This annual event is a town favorite
STAGE & SCREEN 54th season of Montana Shakespeare in the Parks returns to Sandpoint Performances include Ado About Nothing and The Merchant of Venice
By Ben Olson Reader Staff The annual return of the beloved Montana Shakespeare in the Parks troupe continues to stand as one of the best cultural offerings in Sandpoint. The free outdoor performances of William Shakespeare’s plays always draw a large crowd and leave those in the audience feeling like they just experienced one of the reasons why it’s great to live in the West. This year, MSIP will perform two of the Bard’s plays in Sandpoint: The Merchant of Venice from 5-7 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 20 and Much Ado About Nothing from 5-7 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 22. Both performances will take place at Lakeview Park (801 Ontario St.). The Merchant of Venice explores justice, mercy, prejudice and the longing to belong in a divided world. As Bassanio seeks Portia’s hand and Antonio enters a dangerous bond with Shylock, the young Jessica risks everything to leave her father’s house in
search of love and freedom. Through romance and courtroom drama, Shakespeare examines the cost of exclusion and the transformative power of mercy. “The Merchant of Venice is one of the most complete plays in Shakespeare’s canon,” says Director Kevin Asselin. “It offers so much for audiences: the young people in the play have a fascinating journey, but it’s the deeper questions that Shylock, Antonio and Portia navigate on a truly human level that I find most compelling as a director.” Much Ado About Nothing speaks to the joy and uncertainty of love, reputation and the ways that community shapes our understanding of one another. This lively comedy unfolds in the aftermath of war, where returning soldiers and welcoming hosts find themselves drawn into courtship, clever schemes and shifting perceptions. Among a vibrant cast of characters, Shakespeare explores how easily we can be misled, and how resilience, honesty and grace can restore both trust and connection.
“In a moment when many communities feel polarized or fatigued, Much Ado About Nothing insists on laughter, music and communal celebration,” says Director Johamy Morales. “The play ends not in division, but in dance. That theatrical act, gathering together, witnessing conflict and choosing reconciliation models a kind of collective resilience.” MSIP performs in 64 communities across five states, bringing the works of Shakespeare for free to 20,000 audience members every year. Attendees are encouraged to come early, bring a picnic and a comfortable chair, and enjoy an evening together among friends and neighbors. Tall chairs are requested to be placed further back to allow those on blankets and short chairs to see the stage. In case of rain or smoky skies, performances will be moved to the Sandpoint High School auditorium, 410 S. Division Ave. Attendees can download a free app to listen to the audio from the show on their own personal device. Download
the AudioFetch app and, once at the performance, connect to the Wi-Fi network: Shakespeare! (no password required). Be sure to bring your own headphones. Special thanks to local hosts Dan and Lori Meulen-
Courtesy photo berg, Family Health Center, Pend Oreille Arts Council and Jim and Geraldine Lewis. For more information, please visit shakespeareintheparks.org.
MCS announces production of Disney’s Aladdin KIDS By Reader Staff Fresh off the heels of its sold-out performances of Disney’s Frozen Jr. in June, the Music Conservatory of Sandpoint presents Disney’s Aladdin KIDS, with performances at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 14 at the Panida Theater (300 North 1st Ave., in Sandpoint). Based on the 1992 Disney film, this family-friendly musical is specially adapted for young performers and audiences, making it an engaging show for all ages. Students performing the play are currently enrolled in the Music Conservatory’s Music Matters! Summer Academy, led by
Director Janice Wall. Over the course of the two-week musical theater camp, the cast has stayed busy with auditions, set design and rehearsals in preparation for the final showcase. “The process from start to finish is always fun,” said Wall. “It’s rewarding to meet kids that you’ve never met before, get to watch their talent emerge, and experience their excitement as they perform in front of people they don’t know. “Right now, these kids are budding stars,” Wall continued. “They are developing their skills and ultimately learning how to communicate their message to the audience.”
A couple of Aladdin KIDS stand-out elements will be the choreography and costumes, which are a mix of pieces from MCS’ collection and local thrift shops like Bizarre Bazaar and Sanctuary Seconds. “They let us borrow anything we find,” Wall said. “It’s amazing how the community comes together to support us.” Audiences will enjoy the stage adaptation of the legendary tale of the thief with the heart of gold. All are invited to join Aladdin, Jasmine and the fast-talking, wisecracking Genie as they discover mystical caves, take magic carpet rides and outwit the evil sorcerer Jafar. The show includes musical favorites such
as “Friend Like Me,” “A Whole New World” and “Prince Ali.” Tickets are $17.50 for adults, $6.50 for seniors and students, and free for children 6 and under. For more information and to purchase tickets online, visit panida.org. Tickets will also be available at the door on a first-come, first-served basis and are likely to sell out. This show was made possible thanks to the Idaho
Commission on the Arts, Innovia Foundation and Idaho Community Foundation. August 13, 2026 / R / 19
COMMUNITY
Chamber accepting applications for 2026-28 Leadership Sandpoint program By Reader Staff The Greater Sandpoint Chamber of Commerce is now accepting applications for the 2026-’28 Leadership Sandpoint program, which will begin Wednesday, Sept. 16. Interested candidates must apply by Friday, Aug. 28 to be considered for enrollment. “Leadership is critical to our community and economic vitality,” stated organizers in a recent release. “Your participation in Leadership Sandpoint will not only benefit you and your employer, but our community as well.” Leadership Sandpoint’s mission is to recruit identified local leaders and help them understand the roles and responsibilities of a citizen-leader in our multifaceted community. Participants take classes on local history, resources and key issues facing Sandpoint
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and our surrounding communities. Leadership Sandpoint also offers an opportunity to build a strong local network with leaders across all sectors of our community. Class size is limited to 20 participants. This two-year program requires that students commit to attending nine monthly all-day sessions, work on a fundraising project benefiting a local nonprofit during the first year
and facilitate at least two sessions during the second year. The program fee is $450 for Chamber members and $500 for non-members, not including the mandatory $25 deposit that must be submitted along with the application. Those interested may call the Chamber of Commerce at 208263-2161 or email info@sandpointchamber.com to obtain an application.
MUSIC MCS’ North Idaho Philharmonia to perform Carmina Burana By Reader Staff The Music Conservatory of Sandpoint and the North Idaho Philharmonia are diving into some of the world’s most recognizable classical music with a double performance of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana. The concerts will take place over two evenings at the Panida Theater (300 North 1st Ave., in Sandpoint): Tuesday, Aug. 18 and Wednesday, Aug. 19 with performances both nights starting at 7 p.m. Carmina Burana is a famous 13th-century manuscript of 254 bawdy, satirical and secular poems written mostly by wandering scholars and clergy, called goliards. It is best known today through German composer Carl Orff’s dramatic 1936 cantata. “With a monumental ensemble of orchestra, chorus and acclaimed soloists, this is music on an epic scale,” stated organizers in a press release. The orchestra will be led
by Maestro Yevgeniy Grechko, a conductor and cellist with broad international experience and a deep commitment to both orchestral and choral music. In collaboration with the Music Conservatory of Coeur d’Alene, choral training was led by Emily Sana. Carmina Burana will feature soloists including MCS alumna and soprano Zoë Miller, tenor Logan Shevalier and baritone Max Mendez. In addition, the MCS Summer Academy second session Orchestra and Choir students will gain the experience of performing in this major stage production. Kent Kimball, whose expansive career in conducting has included numerous musical concerts in
Spokane, Coeur d’Alene and Europe, has led the students’ training during their two-week orchestra intensive study. “Audiences will not want to miss our epic, one hundred-piece combined orchestral and choral experience,” said MCS Director of Development Kathi Samuels. “From its thunderous opening with ‘O Fortuna’ to its soaring, unforgettable finale, this iconic masterpiece will fill the beautiful theater with a wall of sound that is both exhilarating and deeply moving. “These performers represent the best of our region, many of whom have participated in Handel’s Messiah, local schools and symphonies, and the Coeur d’Alene and Pend
(L-R): Maestro Yevgeniy Grechko, Emily Sana, Zoë Miller, Logan Shevalier and Max Mendez. Courtesy photos Oreille Chorales,” Samuels continued. “We are thrilled to welcome players and singers from Bonners Ferry to Spokane for such a definitive performance. We hope soon to be recognized as the premier community orchestra of the North Idaho Panhandle.” Tickets to the event are $28 for adults and $17.50 for students 12 and under and seniors 62 and over, thanks to the Avista Foundation’s sponsorship. Tickets may be purchased at panida.org or at the door the night of the show. Visit sandpointconservatory.org for more information.
Rock Out Community Concert fundraiser benefits local cancer patients By Reader Staff Since 2002, the nonprofit organization Community Cancer Services has made it its mission to provide information, resources and support to cancer patients and their families in Bonner and
Boundary counties. As one of their major fundraisers, CCS will host the Rock Out Community Concert from 4-9 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 15 at Matchwood Brewing Co. There will be live music by The Real McCoy from 4-6 p.m. and Arie
VanDenBerg from 6-9 p.m., as well as a large raffle with multiple local items offered. “This specific fundraiser event is one we do with One Change Group,” CCS Executive Director Lexie McIntire told the Reader. “They support the counseling part of what
CCS does, including telehealth.” Food and drinks will be offered from Matchwood’s regular menu, and attendees are asked for a $20 donation to help raise funds. Learn more at communitycancerservices.com.
A snapshot of notable live music coming up in Sandpoint Robert Henry and The Repeaters, 219 Lounge, Aug. 14 Portland, Ore.-based Robert Henry started out as a heavy metal high-school thrasher, but soon found that his voice was much better suited to country. It turned out his sensibilities were, too, being drawn to the genre because of its uniquely American history. Influenced by Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, George Jones and Johnny Paycheck, Henry and
his band The Repeaters are today a pitch-perfect example of real-deal honky-tonk with shades of outlaw country and the raw emotion of the blues. That’s how you do a Friday night at the Niner. — Zach Hagadone 8 p.m., 21+, FREE. 219 Lounge, 219 N. First Ave., 208263-5673, 219lounge.com. Listen at roberthenrymusic.com.
Dani-Rae Clark, The Blue Heron Cafe, August 14 Inspired by country music pioneers like Kitty Wells and Patsy Cline, Dani-Rae Clark is a once-in-a-generation talent who pours out introspective, lovelorn and vintage-inspired tunes that feel like they come from an old six-string on a dusty back road. That’s probably because they do. Clark has spent their life like a troubadour traveling between Canada, Idaho and Arizona — with plenty of stops in between — observing and writing about
the world with unique clarity. Now based in Nashville, Clark continues to explore traditional country roots while centering stories of queer love and pushing back against the music scene’s heteronormativity and patriarchal ideals. — Soncirey Mitchell
This week’s RLW by Zach Hagadone
READ
Argentine author Agustina Bazterrica’s The Unworthy is a chilling rumination on religious extremism and feminism. Published in 2023 and translated into English in 2025, it’s a post-apocalyptic tale set in a sisterhood cult where deformity and ritual mutilation are markers of low and high status. Told through the daily writings of an anonymous “unworthy,” it’s a haunting, though addictive, read. Find it where you find books.
LISTEN
I haven’t had the chance to do a deep dive into the new podcast Reconstruction: The Unfinished Promise, but it’s high on my list. Needless to say, its bona fides are stellar, bringing together renowned author and thinker Malcolm Gladwell and former-President Barack Obama in an eight-part conversation about the fraught history of the post-Civil War era. Find it on Audible or other pod streaming sites.
WATCH
Crime shows are pretty rote, but Furious breaks the mold in a number of critical ways. For one thing, the serial killer at the center of the story is a female hunting her way through the high-dollar sex trafficking world, but her motivations present personal and moral conflicts and confrontations for the traumatized FBI agents on her trail. Universally acclaimed (and not for the squeamish), catch new episodes Mondays on Hulu.
6-9 p.m., $17.64 for adults, $7 for kids. The Blue Heron Cafe, 486260 U.S. 95, 208-263-1146, blueheronsamuels.com. Listen at daniraeclark.com. August 13, 2026 / R / 21
BACK OF THE BOOK
Bring on the AI backlash By Zach Hagadone Reader Staff
From Northern Idaho News, August 11, 1914
BAND OF MISCREANTS USE GASOLINE IN ATTEMPT AT INCENDIARISM A dastardly attempt at incendiarism, having as its object the burning of the Spear’s Furniture Co. building and the Pacific Transfer company’s office also, was narrowly foiled this morning and then only by accident. Frank Brown, who rooms upstairs, was returning at about 2 a.m. He noticed the smell of gasoline and reported to Officer Matt Benson. Together the two started to investigate when the fire alarm blew. Benson went to find out where it was, leaving Brown on guard. While Benson was away a man came to the window on the north side of the Spears Furniture company building. Brown at the time was upstairs on the roof of the lean-to in the rear. He yelled at the man, who ran back of the buildings and disappeared in a hurry. His stocking prints were plainly visible this morning. Investigation disclosed that from this window there was a trail of cloth composed of a shirt and an overcoat saturated with gasoline and leading to a lounger against the wall also saturated with gasoline. Puddles of gasoline were on the floor for a distance of 15 feet. The rear door of the transfer office was also open, torn newspapers scattered all over the floor in the rear room saturated with gasoline, and gasoline in puddles as in the furniture store. Over the furniture store something like 12 people were asleep upstairs at the time and it is doubtful if one of these could have been rescued from a fiery grave had the miscreant seen by Brown have carried out his intention of touching a match to the inflammable mass. The police are keeping a close mouth over the occurrence, but it is understood that they have evidence implicating a number of local parties and arrests may be looked for as soon as missing links are cleared up. 22 / R / August 13, 2026
The high-tech backlash seems to be building — if not already upon us — and I’m here to report for duty. No less that Pope Leo XIV devoted his first encyclical to “upholding justice and curbing the distorting effects of technological power,” specifically targeting artificial intelligence and the “technocratic paradigm” that concentrates “dominance” in the hands of a few and must be “disarmed.” Of course there’s a lot more to the message, but I still never thought I’d see the day when I would nod along so enthusiastically to the words of any pope. That said, I’ve always been more than a little atavistic. I used a rotary dial phone all through college, refusing to buy a cellphone until I was approaching 30 (it was a Nokia flip phone that I promptly dropped in the lake and didn’t replace). I had to be forced into buying my first smartphone at age 33 because of work. I’ve always preferred a typewriter for what I consider “serious” writing and I’ve only read three “ebooks” in my life — all in graduate school, because I didn’t want to pay $100 for a text that I’d probably only read once. All that said, I’m on a computer or some other device for the vast majority of my day, and use social media, doomscroll on my phone, watch YouTube videos, and stream hours upon hours of movies and TV shows, just like other people. That doesn’t mean I’m particularly happy about it, and as AI and other “smart” technologies are being forced into every aspect of modern existence, I’m getting more and more strident in
my already established Luddism. It’s coming out in little ways, too, like when my wife and I got our first-ever brand new car last year. It’s a great car and we’re grateful to have it, but it took us at least a few weeks to fully turn off as many of the “driver assist features” as we could. My favorite was when the car would judder, reduce speed and otherwise freak out whenever I had to cross the center line to avoid hitting a cyclist, then yell at me for being a “distracted driver”... because it had distracted me. This is not uncommon. The Wall Street Journal published a piece on July 30 profiling a handful of drivers who have been “taking extreme measures to avoid new car technology,” and asking if they are “curmudgeonly roadblocks or the last beacons of sanity?” I’d say the latter. When I got my newest phone last summer, I similarly spent about a week disabling as many AI elements as possible, and only just managed to shut off almost all the AI-assisted writing B.S. that now comes intrusively standard with Google Docs (it turns that there are some elements that just “can’t” be done away with). If anyone can tell me how to nuke the “AI Overview” that tops the Google search page, I’ll buy them a beer. No wonder that futurism.com reported in mid-July that “terrified tech execs are traveling with armed bodyguards as AI backlash grows.” I’m not naive, though. I know that people throughout history have complained about “the way things are these days.” I can’t even imagine what kind of “curmudgeonly roadblock” my great-great-great grandfather Justus Hagadorn must have been. That guy
was born in upstate New York in 1806 and died there in 1907, meaning he came into this world during Thomas Jefferson’s presidency and left it during Theodore Roosevelt’s. Talk about some change. Regardless, this is different. I don’t give an ounce of credence to the AI boosters’ claims that our current techno state of affairs is analogous to the era of the printing press, radio and TV. Those were methods of transmitting information created by humans; none of them were “generative.” No one ever asked a printing press to write an “adult dystopian romance novel,” then sat back and watched it spit out reams of perfectly set pages based on all the other books it had already chewed up and absorbed (looking at you, Daggermouth). This is different from nostalgia, and I concur with the pope that it presents an existential threat to creative authenticity and overall human dignity. But I’d be lying if there wasn’t a little nostalgia buried in this unease. I was reminded of that when I caught one of comedian Kareem Rahma’s “Subway Takes” on Facebook (yes, I realize the irony). His guest on the train that episode bemoaned the “loss” of the TV remote, meaning she missed the process of flipping through channels of programming that hadn’t been formatted to her specific tastes (an experience that those of us over a certain age can well remember). “I had to fight for my sense of taste,” she said, adding that, these days, “we are spoon fed. The algorithm makes us lazy and it feeds us ‘taste.’ ... I think we need autonomy when it comes to curation and creating taste.” To borrow a phrase from the pope, “Amen.”
STR8TS Solution
Sudoku Solution
Crossword Solution
By Bill Borders
CROSSWORD
Copyright www.mirroreyes.com
Laughing Matters
Solution on page 22
Solution on page 22
ACROSS
saccade /sa-KAHD/
Woorf tdhe Week
[noun] 1. a quick movement of the eyes when changing focus from one point to another
“Her eyeballs showed continuous, involuntary, random saccades in all directions.”
I think in one of my previous lives I was a mighty king, because I like people to do what I say. Corrections: Nothing to report this week, party people. Thanks for playing.
1. French for “Head” 5. Devil 10. Lamented 14. Leave out 15. Aircraft 16. Sole 17. Product of metabolism 19. Speak 20. Chapter in history 21. Bless with oil 22. Throb 23. Combined effort 25. Go-between 27. Fish eggs 28. Some city bus riders 31. Reject 34. Bungling 35. Blame 36. Cuts off 37. Suns 38. Plateau 39. Addition 40. Spectacles 41. Broaden 42. Small European songbird 44. Greek god of flocks 45. Fragrance 46. Restrained 50. Basin for washing anal area 52. Fables 54. Frozen water 55. Nile bird 56. Amateurish
Solution on page 22 58. Cans 59. Occurrence 60. Small ball with a hole 61. Jittery 62. Destitute 63. Combines
DOWN 1. Weighty books 2. File 3. Moon of Saturn 4. Estimated time of arrival 5. Cadge 6. Laneway 7. Follow 8. Aardvarks
9. Born, in bios 10. Plump 11. Unchanged 12. Anagram of “Sell” 13. Weir 18. Nobleman 22. Confined 24. Makes a mistake 26. Empty spaces 28. Light informal meal 29. Lack of difficulty 30. Bridge 31. Large number 32. Game on horseback 33. Transferring a computer file
34. Repetitious 37. Junk E-mail 38. Intellect 40. Coin opening 41. Midsection 43. Fancy 44. Comely 46. Mix 47. Delineated 48. Outward 49. Accomplishments 50. Nosh 51. Footnote note 53. Away from the wind 56. Lair 57. Goat hair fabric
August 13, 2026 / R / 23