The creative process of author V.E. Schwab
Apr 24, 2024
(Jenna Maurice / Tor Books)
Vampires, magic, faustian bargains ... author Victoria Schwab has written about it all. She's penned over 20 books and has an incredible following of readers.
She joined Idaho Matters to talk more about her creative process and what readers can expect to see from her next.
How are climate change and an aging infrastructure affecting wildfire risk?
Apr 23, 2024
(Katherine Blunt)
It has been close to 9 months since the deadly fire in Maui destroyed the town of Lahaina and it’s been five years since a fire decimated the town of Paradise, California. Could an aging utility infrastructure, along with wildfire risk, be a major culprit behind these disasters?
Wall Street Journal reporter and author of the book “California Burning" Katherine Blunt joined Idaho Matters to talk more about these fires.
'Once Persuaded, Twice Shy:' An author interview with Melodie Edwards
Apr 23, 2024
( Berkley)
Jane Austen's classic second change romance novel, "Persuasion" is getting a modern twist in author Melodie Edwards new novel, "Once Persuaded, Twice Shy."
She joined Idaho Matters to talk more about her latest release.
'HBCU Made:' A conversation with Ayesha Rascoe
Apr 23, 2024
( Algonquin Books)
This episode of Idaho Matters originally aired on February 6, 2024.
You may know Ayesha Rascoe from her ten years of reporting for Reuters News Agency or from her time as a White House correspondent covering three different presidents, or maybe she wakes you up on Sundays as the host of NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday.
It’s a collection of essays from everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Branford Marsalis to Stacey Abrams who write about how attending a historically black university helped shape who they are today. Rascoe joined Idaho Matters to talk more about her new book.
'Spinning Tea Cups:' An author interview with Alexandra Teague
Apr 23, 2024
( OSU Press)
This episode of Idaho Matters originally aired on November 28, 2023.
University of Idaho professor Alexandra Teague is out with her latest work and this time it's a very personal look at what some would say was a quirky childhood.
The memoir "Spinning Teacups" takes us across America from Florida to Idaho and many stops in between. Teague joined Idaho Matters to talk more.
Supreme Court to weigh in on abortion care in Idaho
Apr 22, 2024
( Canva)
The U.S. Supreme Court will take up an Idaho case on Wednesday that could have widespread implications around the country.
It involves an Idaho abortion law and a lawsuit filed by the Biden Administration, which argued hospitals that receive Medicare funds are required by federal law to provide emergency care, which could potentially include abortion, no matter if there's a state law banning abortion.
Idaho code allows physicians to perform abortions to prevent the death of a patient. But Boise OBGYN Dr. Sara Thomson said doctors have an ethical duty to intervene before their patients’ health deteriorates to a life-threatening emergency.
The question before SCOTUS is whether EMTALA openly and directly conflicts with a portion of Idaho's abortion law. Idaho's law has limited exceptions to providing abortions and physicians feel they cannot provide "stabilizing care" when a person needs it.
Defining what stabilizing care is is going to be a large part of the argument, but the other part is whether or not the federal government has reached too far in regards to EMTALA.
"Did the federal agency that is responsible for enforcing EMTALA go too far by making this argument that EMTALA means required abortion care? I think that the conservative justices are really going to be interested in that kind of question," said McKay Cunningham, the director of the On-Campus Experiential Learning at the College of Idaho.
EMTALA was enacted in 1986 by Congress to ensure public access to emergency services regardless of ability to pay.
"A patient who is pregnant and has an emergency medical condition, the doctors are going to look at her say 'Okay, if we do not address this emergency medical condition and it may require termination, we are not going to be able to save potential bodily functions," said Peg Dougherty, the Deputy General Counsel for St. Luke's Health System. "We are not going to be able to save her reproductive organs. Those are health matters that would be able to preserve the patient's health if our doctors were able to do that."
The Idahoans United for Women and Families coalition said their poll of about 600 residents shows three out of five Idahoans believe abortions should be legal in some or almost all cases. Spokesperson Melanie Folwell said 12% believe abortions should never be legal.
The coalition is campaigning to introduce an initiative regarding the legality of abortion on the 2026 ballot. To do so, the coalition will have to gather signatures representing at least 6% of eligible voters in the most recent election, coming from at least 18 of Idaho's 35 legislative districts.
Cunningham and Dougherty joined Idaho Matters to help break down the law and the arguments coming up in the Supreme Court.
Editor's note (correction): We did reach out to the Idaho Attorney General’s Office about the EMTALA case, once in January and in April but our emails got lost in the Spam folder and were never received. We spoke with the AG’s Office after this story aired, the issue has been fixed, and we’ve extended a new invitation to come on Idaho Matters and break down the arguments on Idaho’s side of this case.
Idaho Matters Reporter Roundtable: April 19, 2024
Apr 19, 2024
U.S. Supreme Court building(Ian Hutchinson / Unsplash)
Idaho’s law banning gender-affirming care for youth has gone into effect, big staffing cuts have been made in the Idaho Falls school district, SCOTUS is set to take up another case involving the Gem State and we take a look at some sad news from the legislature.
It’s Friday, which means it's time for our Reporter Roundtable when Idaho Matters gets you up to date on all the news that made headlines this past week.
Idaho Gives works to support local nonprofits
Apr 19, 2024
( Idaho Gives)
Every year, the Idaho Nonprofit Center organizes what's known as Idaho Gives. It's a chance for people to come together to support the more than 9,000 groups in Idaho.
Kevin Bailey is the CEO at the center and he sat down to talk with Morning Edition host George Prentice about this years Idaho Gives.
Kevin Bacon returns to Payson High for a special farewell
Apr 19, 2024
Kevin Bacon(Silva. S / Flickr)
A high school in our region will get some Hollywood glitz for prom day this month. Kevin Bacon is coming to Utah's Payson High, where part of Footloose was filmed.
This is the movie's 40th anniversary and the school building will be torn down next year. So students and faculty have been working for months to bring home the bacon.
KUER's Ciara Hulet was at Payson High when the news went public, and has this report for the Mountain West News Bureau.
The Declaration of Independence: The history and legacy
Apr 18, 2024
A replica of the Declaration of Independence showing how the document looked the day it was signed, as part of the National Archives exhibit, in Washington, D.C. (Robert Miller / Flickr)
The Declaration of Independence is a defining document in the birth of the United States.
But how much do we really know about it? Was this historical document seen primarily as a celebration of a new country or more of a divorce decree?
At issue were two laws passed last year that said student IDs could no longer be used to register to vote and that students without an Idaho drivers license would have to get an Idaho ID card or other accepted form of identification.
BABE VOTE and the League of Women Voters sued over the laws, and in a five-to-zero decision, the justices decided that the legislature has the power to set reasonable conditions on the right to vote.
Kendal Shaber, a board member of the League of Women Voters, and Olivia Luna, a BABE VOTE volunteer and student at Boise State, joined Idaho Matters to talk more about this issue.
What to Watch: A drama, a biopic and a new series
Apr 18, 2024
FILE - In this Feb. 16, 2007 file photo, British singer Amy Winehouse poses for photographs after being interviewed by The Associated Press at a studio in north London. Friday, July 23, 2021 marks the 10th anniversary of the death of the iconic British pop singer, who died at her home in Camden. Her death was attributed to accidental alcohol poisoning. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)(Matt Dunham/AP / AP)
If you're looking for something to watch this weekend, we have a variety of choices for you! From the #1 Box Office movie "Civil War" to a biopic about Amy Winehouse to a retrospective of Conan O'Brien, we have something for everyone!
Our resident movie critic, George Prentice, joined Idaho Matters to help us figure out What to Watch.
Idaho Matters Doctors Roundtable: April 17, 2024
Apr 17, 2024
(AP Images)
A disease caused by rats is on the rise and when is the best time to get the latest COVID vaccine?
Dr. David Pate, former CEO of St. Luke's Health System, joined Idaho Matters to talk more about all of this.
Nonprofit encourages cultural exchange through art
Apr 17, 2024
Two people shake hands.(webgirltj / Flickr)
Next week, a new exhibit will be coming to Idaho, sharing images and stories from around the world in an effort to connect communities and encourage cultural exchanges among our future leaders.
An endeavor that Global Ties Idaho has been supporting for more than a decade as they work to create lasting impact.
Carole Schroeder, the executive director of Global Ties Idaho, and Maya Duratovic, a Global Ties Idaho board member, joined Idaho Matters to talk more.
Classical guitarist Jack Sanders comes to Idaho
Apr 17, 2024
Jack Sanders( Craig Ferre)
For more than 30 years, the Piatigorsky Foundation has been providing communities across the country with unique access to classical music.
And Thursday, April 18, the organization will be here in Idaho for a special concert featuring classical guitarist Jack Sanders. He joined Idaho Matters to talk more about the importance of sharing this music.
The Boise Philharmonic welcomes a new executive director
Apr 17, 2024
Brandon VanWaeyenberghe and his dog Barley.( Zenith City Photography)
This May, one of Idaho's most beloved performing arts organizations, the Boise Philharmonic, will be welcoming a new executive director, Brandon Vanwaeyenberghe.
With more than ten years of experience in the world of orchestra, he is sure to bring something special to the Philharmonics next season of music. Vanwaeyenberghe joined Idaho Matters to talk more about his new role.
Supporting the mental health of Idaho youth with upstream prevention
Apr 16, 2024
(Ute Grabowsky / Photothek via Getty Images)
Across the United States, kids are struggling with their mental health and here in Idaho, we're seeing the same problem. One which was made even more stark after the suicide of four Boise students late last year.
Now as the community joins together in support of our kids, one group is working on a way to address the mental health struggles of our youth before they reach a crisis point.
Managing flooding on the Boise River Greenbelt
Apr 16, 2024
(James G. Edmondson2014 / Flickr)
As the weather warms up, snow is melting and water is filling up the Boise River, sometimes overflowing the river banks.
That can mean flooding on the Greenbelt, and Boise Parks and Recreation spends a lot of time each year managing closures and keeping the public up-to-date on what's closed and what's open.
And when the flooding is over, the department has a short window to repair and stabilize the river banks. Sara Arkle, parks resources superintendent, joined Idaho Matters to talk more about this work.
'The Weight of Nature:' An author interview with Clayton Page Aldern
Apr 16, 2024
The book cover of "The Weight of Nature" by Clayton Page Aldern.( Dutton)
The Earth's changing climate, from hotter days to more dangerous weather events, could be impacting our brains in ways we are only just learning about.
Solutions to increasing energy in the West
Apr 15, 2024
Wind turbines in the west.(Dennis Schroeder / National Renewable Energy Lab)
As the need for energy grows across the west and more focus is being shifted to low-carbon resources, people are asking important questions like: How do we bring this kind of energy online reliably? And how do we deliver that new energy safely to the communities that need it?
Peter Gower is the climate and renewable energy program director at The Nature Conservancy's Western U.S. and Canada division, and he'll be talking about these challenges at the Andrus Center Environmental Conference at Boise State on Tuesday, April 16, and he joined Idaho Matters for a preview.
Creating safe places for children with HOPE
Apr 15, 2024
(lori05871 / Flickr)
April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, and in an effort to bring more awareness to our community, we're taking a few minutes each week to focus on important work that's being done to help ensure healthy outcomes for Idaho kids.
'Kid Lightning' brings a unique story to the stage
Apr 15, 2024
The production of "Kid Lightning" will take to the stage on April 26th and the 27th. (LED )
Award-winning arts organization LED is back with two performances of Kid Lightning at Boise's Morrison Center. Lauren Edson, co-founder of LED, joined Idaho Matters to talk more about the upcoming production.
Why Idaho students are advocating for wolves in a new documentary
Apr 15, 2024
Wolves howl in a forest. (John Flesher / AP Images)
A new film being made in Idaho, "Children of the Wolves," features a group of Timberline High School students and a wolf pack from the Gem State.
Morning Edition host George Prentice sat down with executive producers Matthew Podolsky and Seth Randal, as well as film director Barb Kuensting, to talk more about the documentary.
Idaho Matters Reporter Roundtable: April 12, 2024
Apr 12, 2024
(Emilie Ritter Saunders / Boise State Public Radio)
It’s Friday, which means it's time for our Reporter Roundtable when Idaho Matters gets you up to date on all the news that made headlines this past week.
Kevin Richert, senior reporter and blogger with Idaho Ed News
How do you solve a problem like a new production of The Sound of Music? Look at it through a modern lens
Apr 12, 2024
The creative team behind The Sound of Music, produced by Boise State, include Darrin Purdy, Gordon Reinhart and Caitlin Burke.
A crisis of faith. The struggle of single parenthood. And a growing threat of racist demagoguery. Any one of these themes could be the foundation for 21st century drama. But together they were the pillars of a 1959 Broadway show which, in turn, became one of, if not the most, loved films of all time: The Sound of Music.
“Whether it’s Shakespeare or Rogers and Hammerstein or a brand new play, I can draw a line from the text to my current life and what I’m seeing in the world,” said Gordon Reinhart, director of the new production. “It feels similar to our current moment in the world.”
Reinhart joined Darrin Purdy, director of Boise State’s theatre and costume design and Caitlin Burke, who plays Mother Abbess, to visit with Morning Edition host George Prentice to preview their production.
Find reporter George Prentice on Twitter @georgepren
Copyright 2024 Boise State Public Radio
From Yellowstone to the Bundys, this new book reconsiders the toxicity of our modern myths
Apr 11, 2024
Betsy Gaines Quammen is the author of True West, Myth and Mending on the Far Side of America.( Torrey House Press, Betsy Gaines Quammen)
Betsy Gaines Quammen, who chronicled the infamy of the Bundy family in the bestselling American Zion, says that experience inspired her to further examine the truths and myths of modern American western culture. The result is her new book, True West.
“The onslaught of misinformation has attached itself to the Western myth in the last few years, leaving outright lies embedded in Western legends,” said Quammen. “And people have built their own versions of the truth on altars, disregarding limits of land, vulnerable people and unique cultures.”
In anticipation of her return to Idaho, as a guest of the Frank Church Institute, Quammen visited with Morning Edition host George Prentice to talk about her personal and professional inspirations, and why she says she now feels more hopeful since finishing True West.
Read the full transcript below:
GEORGE PRENTICE: It's Morning Edition. G-od morning, I'm George Prentice. You may not have yet heard of the new must-read book True West. Don't worry. You will. Its author is Dr Betsy Gaines Quammen, who gave us the bestseller American Zion, which chronicled the infamy of Cliven Bundy and his acolytes. She will be the guest of the Frank Church Institute at the Boise State Special Events Center come April 10th. And this morning, we're excited that she can spend some time with us. Dr. Betsy Gaines Quammen, good morning.
DR. BETSY GAINES QUAMMEN: Good morning George. It's great to be here.
PRENTICE: I'm going to ask a favor of you to read a passage of your book's introduction, beginning with the words, “The West is a place of diverse stories….” Could you read that for us?
QUAMMEN: Of course:
"The West is a place of diverse stories, symbols and signals and inescapable myths. There is a perception of profuse liberty, copious machismo, untrammeled wilderness, rugged individualism discovered and free lands, cowboy heroics, blank slates, conquered spaces, reliable rain that follows the plow tilling into arid lands, and enduring frontier. These myths continue to wind through ways of seeing this place and its peoples, creating hurdles and caring for the environment and communities…further gumming up the works. The onslaught of misinformation has attached itself to Western myth in the last few years, leaving outright lies embedded in Western legends. People have built their own versions of the truth on altars… disregarding the limits of land, vulnerable people, and unique cultures and the essentiality of relationships. Right now, there is too much being asked of the West. It sits between history and expectation, a place saddled with hopes it can't fulfill."
PRENTICE: I can't get over your title. True West. Can I assume that it may be a play on words, because the modern West, quite frankly, has a complicated relationship with the truth.
QUAMMEN: Yeah, that's a great question. Of course, it was Sam Shepard's play, True West. But I also really thought it was interesting in the sense that so many people have their own version of a “true” West. What is a true West? And this book… this exploration is really going around and talking to people from different cultures, from different political points of view, from communities that have different sources of information and finding out what they see as the “true” West. Soit's a play on words, but it's also our situation… that so many of us have versions of our own true West.
PRENTICE: Your book lands in the eye of a 2024 hurricane, which is to say, this year's session of the Idaho Legislature; plus the recent ugliness in North Idaho; plus there isn't a day that goes by that somebody doesn't either think about or update the Bundy story. And goodness knows that The Idaho Freedom Foundation ends up on many front pages. I have to assume that you worked on this for years, but it is landing at a very particular moment, especially in Idaho's history.
QUAMMEN: There's a lot of Idaho in this book. In fact, I think I talk about Idaho more than any other Western state, and I have been working on it for a while. I did my dissertation on the settlement by :Latter Day Saints of the West, and looking at how some of the foundational ideas in early Mormon church theology informed the Bundys. So that was my dissertation. My first book was on the Bundys and “the cowboy myth,” as well as this idea of Mormon values that went into their fight. And I should say that the Mormon Church has not condoned this. The Church of Latter Day Saints has not condoned this. So, the Bundys, however, are informed by that. And I took that this was kind of a companion piece, True West, to some of those ideas, looking at how other mythologies inform what's happening right now in the West. And it does look at the Bundy battle of Bunkerville, which was the event that happened in 2014. And in 2015, I went and visited the family and talked to them about :Latter Day Saint ideas that inform their land use war. As you might recall, there was an armed standoff in Nevada, and a lot of what happened there was foundational to ongoing extremism in this country. And I trace what happened there to the January 6th Insurrection… and look at the Western roots of that. So that's one piece of the book that I had been working on for quite a while.
PRENTICE: American Zion took that deep dive into Cliven Bundy and his acolytes. Did that kick the door open for you? Did that then prompt your decision to open up more of the West with this book?
QUAMMEN: Yeah, absolutely. It really did. I'm not sure if you recall, during the Oregon trial, and this was a year after I visited the family, Ryan and Ammon Bundy went and were part of a takeover of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge. And during that trial, Ammon wanted to dress up like a cowboy. He really felt like presenting himself as a cowboy would somehow appeal to the jury at the time, and it got me thinking about how prominently this cowboy mythology continues to configure in our imaginations. And with the show Yellowstone, that completely changed my community. Yellowstone being the show with Kevin Costner, really romanticizing the West, tapping into Western mythology. And I had this idea when I began to think about cowboy mythology, the Bundys and the West, and how Hollywood continues with iteration after iteration in perpetuating cowboy mythology and what it was doing to the West. And I think that during COVID and again, these are all the things I layer in the book - the extremism, the polarization and pandemic - and what it was doing in terms of making Western mythology become ever more prominent in American culture. And because many Americans were living through situations where they had to shelter in place, they weren't able to get out. Yellowstone really loomed large. I mean, this was a show of sweeping landscapes, and it was a show of this sort of hyper freedom, again, cowboy mythology. And so, I looked at that kind of pop culture, I looked at the Bundys, and then I looked at all the things that the West was conjuring in the American imagination and what that was doing to our communities.
PRENTICE: Do you think about where he might be? To be sure, there are bench warrants out [Ammon Bundy’s] arrest. Is it your sense that he is hiding in plain sight somewhere?
QUAMMEN: Well, ve found him in Utah, according to this latest piece that came out a day or two ago, that they have found him in Utah.
PRENTICE: Your home is in Montana.
QUAMMEN: Yes, yes, I live in Bozeman, Montana.
PRENTICE: What is it like when your neighbors know who you are, what you do, and what you've written?
QUAMMEN: Oh my gosh. I've had the same neighbors for a very long time, and, uh, and, they're wonderful and they're very supportive. I think that people… they wonder why I'm so interested in this. I do have a lot of people ask, you know, if I feel safe and I think I'd be miserable if I wasn't going out and learning about it. I feel much better knowing where we are and what's happening to our communities and what's happening to our neighbors. One of the reasons why I was so eager to write this book is I really wanted to see what, again….what these truths are. And if there was an opportunity for reconciliation, if there was an opportunity for relationship building. And I have to say that I ended up feeling more hopeful after I finished this book than I did going into it. I am the kind of person that really needs to understand where we are and be talking to people, and I really felt like after doing this, that was going to be part of the remedy that that in engaging with other people, even with very different ideas, that that that was going to move us forward and, and again, I should say not talking to everybody. There are definitely bad guys out there. And I write about that in, in the book. But I did find that there are people right now being inundated by disinformation and by polarization. And in the process of engaging them in conversation, I had people say to me, ”If I if I hadn't talked to you, I would have been afraid of you.” And that was ever more motivating to me to continue with this dialog and with this conversation. So in terms of how people have perceived me or have asked, you know, “Do you feel afraid?” I felt less afraid after I finished this book.
PRENTICE: Do you think the West could survive without its myths? Because one person's myth is another person's lie. And my sense is many of these myths are just baked-in to the modern West.
QUAMMEN: Yeah, I think so. You know, it's something I've thought about a lot because white people foisted our myths onto the West. And, and I do think that indigenous populations would feel a lot better without white Western mythology. And yet, I think with settler colonialism and with the white population, uh, settling the West, they did bring with them these myths and, and some of them were, um, biblical. Some of them were, you know, I mean, manifest Destiny has, has biblical, uh, layers to it. And I think that when we began to, to perpetuate these things, we did bake them into this geography. And it's for better or for worse. And I think that it's very important for us to understand these myths in order for them to not grow ever more toxic. And I think that, you know, when I look at the dangers of these myths, in addition to the awful consequences of, um, settler colonialism, but I also look at this idea of ongoing abundance that that, you know, we have this expectation that the West will continue to provide. And, you know, we do know that there are limits to the West. But these myths, without fully examining them, continue to be toxic.
PRENTICE: From the Bundys to the Idaho Freedom Foundation, to the very contemporary references to North Idaho's troubled past and how it reignites to this very day… It's all here. Dr. Betsy Gaines, Quammen is the author, and the book is True West and circle, April 10th on your calendar. She's at the Boise State Special Events Center, a guest of the Frank Church Institute. Dr Quammen, congratulations on this blow-the-door-off- the-hinges book. I can't wait to talk to more people as they read it. And for now, thanks for giving me some time this morning.
QUAMMEN: It's been my pleasure. Thank you so much, George.
Find reporter George Prentice on Twitter @georgepren
Copyright 2024 Boise State Public Radio
How some groups are using indigenous science to restore ecosystems
Apr 11, 2024
(Dave Kimble/USFWS Mountain-Prairie / Flickr)
In 2015, the Soda Fire burned 280,000 acres of mostly sage grouse habitat in southwest Idaho.
Immediately after the wildfire was out, officials went to work trying to restore the landscape using thousands of pounds of seeds, herbicides and millions of dollars to keep out invasive plants and provide food and shelter to sage grouses, pygmy rabbits, golden eagles and the other animals that live there.
But many scientists are finding that some landscapes can come back on their own or with much less invasive help from people, and there are more and more examples of this kind of restoration popping up around the West.
Local book service offers new way for Idahoans to explore the world of literature
Apr 11, 2024
An Idaho Talking Book Service device. (Idaho Talking Book Service / Idaho Commission for Libraries)
The world of literature can take you many places, from a cell in the prison of Château d'If to the halls of Netherfield and the skies of Neverland.
Books open different realities, and that's something everyone should have access to too. Which is why resources like the Idaho Talking Book Service are so important.
The audiobook library provides hundreds of hours of free narration to Idahoans who are unable to read standard print. Rachel Welker, the Idaho Talking Book Service program specialist, joined Idaho Matters to talk more about this service.
How one small instrument has inspired generations of Idahoans
Apr 11, 2024
(Robert Bales / Flickr)
Every year, one small instrument draws hundreds of people together in Yellow Pine, Idaho.
For more than 30 years, the harmonica has played an important role in this mountain community, bringing people together to celebrate not just music but a unique history with the Yellow Pine Harmonica Festival.
And in anticipation of this event organizers are hosting a fundraiser to help support it.
Longtime supporters of the festival Brent Palmatier, Jason Stephens and TeJay Rogers joined Idaho Matters to talk more about this effort.