Idaho Matters is a wonderful way to stay up to date, meet people and understand there’s much more to this great state. Hosted by Gemma Gaudette on Boise State Public Radio News, it features arts and politics, growth and education, and the interesting stories that make Idaho unique. Send us your questions, comments or story ideas by emailing idahomatters@boisestate.edu or sending us a voicemail using the “Talk To Us” feature on the free Boise State Public Radio app.
Idaho Matters Doctors Roundtable: August 31, 2022
Aug 31, 2022
Show notes(Photo by Steven Cornfield on Unsplash)
Just hours ago, the first major upgrade to the current COVID-19 vaccine got approved by the FDA. ABC News is reporting they could be available by next week.
And just after students started going back to school COVID-19 cases are on the rise in Idaho. Concerns about Covid, Monkeypox and Polio are on the minds of many of our listeners, just as flu season approaches.
Joining Idaho Matters to talk more about this and answer your questions is Dr. David Pate, former CEO of St. Luke's Health System and a current member of the Idaho Coronavirus Task Force.
Boise Entrepreneur Week Returns
Aug 31, 2022
Show notes
Boise Entrepreneur Week is fast approaching. If you're not familiar, it's the largest entrepreneurial event in our state and one of the largest in the west.
And the goal is simple and straightforward - to celebrate and build Idaho's entrepreneurial ecosystem. Nick Crabbs and Tiam Rastegar, co-chairs of this year's event, joined Idaho Matters to tell us more.
Idaho StoryCorps: Finding hope in the kindness of a stranger in Boise
Aug 31, 2022
Show notesMarisela Pesina and Lisa Sanchez.(StoryCorps)
"How ... how is this happening to me?"
That’s what ran through Lisa Sanchez’s mind as she rummaged through her purse looking for change to buy enough gas to get to work. She had a good job, a house, a car … but she didn’t have enough money to get by, let alone buy some gas.
It was the Great Recession and times were tough for a lot of people.
“I’m happy to say I survived,” Lisa told her friend Marisela Pesina.
And she wasn’t afraid to talk about surviving, especially when she started her campaign for a seat on the Boise City Council in 2017.
“I talked about things that you're not supposed to talk about in polite company. I talked about having to sell my blood at the Biomat on Overland Road to purchase food and to put gas in the car. I talked about dumpster diving at a fruit stand after hours to get food. Because I was working at the State of Idaho. I was working as a civil rights investigator with the Human Rights Commission here in Idaho. And so even though I, on the surface, I looked like I had it all together, when it came down to it, no, I was struggling,” she remembered.
“I'd say one of the lowest moments for me at that period of time was I remember driving to work and I looked at the gas gauge and it was on fumes and I thought, I'm going to have to pull over and just put in what I've got in my purse,” she told Marisela.
She says as people struggled during the recession, desperate people were “gassing and dashing,” filling up their gas tank and driving away without paying, so gas stations started requiring customers to walk inside and put their cash on the counter before they could start pumping.
“So I remember going inside and I knew I didn't have any folding money in my wallet and I just dumped all this change out on the counter. And I'm like however much change that is, that's how much gas I'm putting in, because it was expensive, kind of like it's been recently.
“And I remember seeing this little hand reach over and put about three bucks on top of my pile of change. And it was a skater kid. And he looks at me and he goes, 'Gas is expensive, Miss. That's why I ride a skateboard. God bless.'
"How ... how is this happening to me?" Lisa asked herself.
“I have a college degree. I speak two languages. I work for the State of Idaho. I own a home, I have a car. But what I don't have is $5 for one gallon of gas,” she said.
But...
"Thank goodness it's happening to me in a place like Boise, Idaho, where there is a family that has raised a young person to be observant enough and conscientious enough and generous enough and gracious enough to see that somebody in their midst needs help. And then they offer that help, and they do it in such a way that leaves the person feeling uplifted and not pitied.”
Because I think about what the young man said to me, "gas is expensive, Miss. That's why I ride a skateboard."
And what he was saying to me in phrasing it that way is ... this is about the circumstance and not about you. You didn't do anything wrong. This is just the situation we're all in and here I'm going to help you.
In 2017, Lisa decided to become the first Latina to run for a seat on the Boise City Council.
“That was my first campaign speech, me sharing that with people. And that's how I believe I was able to win my first race because I was willing, I think, to tell the truth about my lived experience.”
Being that open and honest, she said, “that's something that - despite the fact that the majority of people who live in Boise, Idaho, are white - they still found something that they could relate to with me, a short, fat, Mexican American renter,” she told Maricela as they both laughed.
“And it says something about the communities that we live in, and I think the times that we're living in Maricela, that people are turning to people like us, people who have not traditionally been in these leadership roles. In the past, it's been Latino men, now it's Latinas like us.”
Lisa is the only person serving on the Boise City Council who rents her home. She told Maricela, “as the only person who is low-income serving on that council, I bring those challenges, those difficult moments, to my decision-making. I realize that there's a reason why I had to go through the challenges of the last recession ... so that I could relate to my constituents.
Boise City Council member Lisa Sanchez and her friend Marisela Pesina recorded their conversation at Storycorps, a national initiative to record and collect stories of everyday people.
Excerpts were selected and produced by Boise State Public Radio.
How to protect your catalytic converter from thieves
Aug 30, 2022
Show notes A catalytic converter(follettmotors_com / Flickr)
In the middle of the night a row of cars, including yours, sits parked along the street in a quiet residential neighborhood.
A criminal disappears underneath the first car and 30 seconds later crawls back out with a large chunk of metal. He’s just stolen your car’s catalytic converter and he moves quickly down the street sliding under cars stealing more converters, which can bring him hundreds or thousands of dollars when he resells them.
This crime is on the rise around the country and in the Treasure Valley and local law enforcement agencies are working to stop it.
Detective Dennis Peppley and Sargent Phillips with the Nampa Police Department joined Idaho Matters to tell us how we can help keep our cars safe from thefts.
How Ada County fights West Nile Virus
Aug 30, 2022
Show notes(Brian Valentine / Flickr)
Summer is a season known for outdoor activities; from picnics, camping, swimming and bike rides, to bug bites.
It's not uncommon, especially after a day out in the sun, to find a bite or two. And no surprise, the main culprit often turns out to be the mosquito. Mosquitos can be nasty pests that carry some not-so-fun diseases, like West Nile Virus.
Sit down for some of Grandpa’s Southern BBQ
Aug 30, 2022
Show notes Lloyd and Loretta Westbrook.( Anissa Winn Photography)
Tomorrow morning, pitmaster Lloyd Westbrook will fire up the smokers at Grandpa’s Southern BBQ in Idaho Falls. His wife, Loretta, will start mixing up cornbread and by 11:00 am people will start streaming in for baby back ribs, pulled pork, beef brisket, gumbo, red beans, rice and peach cobbler.
Producer and Podcaster Monica Gokey spent some time at Grandpa’s for the latest episode of Gravy a podcast production of the Southern Foodways Alliance, that tells stories about the changing American South.
Picturing alien life forms using science
Aug 30, 2022
Show notes Smaller than a penny, the flower-like rock artifact on the left was imaged by NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover using its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on the end of its robotic arm. The image was taken on Feb. 24, 2022, the 3,396th Martian day, or sol, of the mission.( NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)
Stop and think about all the aliens you’ve ever seen on tv and in the movies, from the Klingons on Star Trek to Jabba the Hutt in Star Wars, to the short little child-like beings in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Boise buys a mobile home park for affordable housing
Aug 29, 2022
Show notes(Joe Cawley / Flickr)
It's not a new story, an old mobile home park goes up for sale and residents face losing their homes.
We've heard this story a lot lately, as growth makes the land underneath these sites worth a lot of money. Last week the City of Boise bought the latest mobile home park in this situation, saying it is preserving affordable housing.
Senior Reporter with BoiseDev.com, Margaret Carmel has been following the sale of this Boise Bench property and joined Idaho Matters for an update.
Idaho’s affordable housing situation is ‘dire’
Aug 29, 2022
Show notes(Kent Kanouse / Flickr)
According to one group, Idaho has a shortage of over 24,000 affordable rental units. And they say housing insecurity can lead to depression, anxiety, and a greater chance of COVID-19. It's also creating a shortage of doctors and nurses.
Reporter Kelcie Moseley-Morris with the Idaho Capital Sun joined Idaho Matters to tell us more.
A look at the history and future of Idaho's rivers
Aug 29, 2022
Show notes
The debate over whether or not to breach the four lower Snake River dams is not a new one.
Over the last several months there has been renewed interest in the issue, from political discussion to conservation campaigns, to protests and now, an art exhibit. The Sun Valley Museum of Art is presenting a new exhibit, Dams: Reservoirs, Reclamation, Renewal, and it just opened.
The Curator of Visual Arts at the Sun Valley Museum of Art, Courtney Gilbert, and Boise-based artist, Rachel Tannalach joined Idaho Matters to talk more about the exhibit.
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