Radiation Exposure Compensation Renewal
I am writing to urge Idaho's state legislators and congressional representatives to vote for the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA). This 34-year-old federal program expires on June 7th, removing a lifeline to communities, including in Idaho, that have suffered for generations from the health effects of nuclear testing. This effort has bipartisan support and will directly help communities right here. Please help pass this bill.
Samuel Padden, Garden City
Wind farms are part of our future
Change is hard. When oil rigs first rose across the Western landscape, it stirred up mixed emotions depending on who benefited and whose landscapes were ruined.
Today we face a similar conflict: when a wind farm is proposed, local communities need to have a say about the impacts to wildlife, aesthetics and cultural values, but costly delays only prolong the inevitable.
Modern wind turbines cause bird mortality to a small fraction of other causes, and mitigation measures continue to improve. Something as simple as painting a single turbine blade black increases visibility and reduces bird mortality by over 70%. DynoTails blades capture wind energy more effectively, reducing noise and reducing bird and bat mortality.
Intercropping and managed agriculture allow wind farms and agriculture to coexist: farmers who lease marginal land contribute electricity to the grid and reap the economic benefits.
Wind power is essential to utility energy mixes — not because it's trendy, but because it's necessary. As battery technology improves, renewable energy will become more and more important. All methods of producing energy — hydro, oil, wind — have environmental costs. But unless we're ready to return to an 1890s way of life, let's encourage clean energy as the technology matures.
The sight of wind turbines standing on a hill in the countryside is heroic to me. Let's make them work for us.
Mary Dupree, Moscow
Alito is out of line.
You'd think a conservative Supreme Court justice would have strong opinions about flying the American flag upside down in one's home. Justice Alito's house is not a shipwreck, but metaphorically it might be. I'm not convinced that flying the flag upside down was a rational response for an educated Republican family to a neighbor's anti-Republican yard sign.
Fred J. Frahm, Boise
Small businesses need to have a say in AI regulation
Experts predict that artificial intelligence (AI) will reinvent and revolutionize the economy. Congress is currently considering how to regulate AI and is holding hearings to learn from industry leaders. But while big tech companies are taking part in the discussions, small and medium-sized businesses are being left out of this important discussion.
Small businesses drive innovation and jobs in Idaho and across the country, and we have unique needs and concerns that are worth listening to.
To celebrate National Small Business Month and address these concerns, I traveled to Washington, DC to meet with policymakers and share how AI will impact small businesses. I advocated for Congress to include small businesses in this discussion. Without our perspective, laws could favor corporations, stifle innovation, and allow profits to drive AI deployment, causing our country to fall behind other countries. More importantly, the lives of Idahoans, other Americans, and our data could be put at risk.
Ensure a rational approach to regulation and let the right voices, including small and medium-sized enterprises, lead the discussion on how we can best provide safeguards and foster ingenuity.
Joe Rice, Meridian
Is everyone awake?
Society has completely lost its collective sanity on many issues, and what really pisses me off is the fact that no one has a voice outside of the woke.
When I was growing up, we were always told, “He/She has a right to his/her opinion.” Not anymore!
The left and woke have demonized anything that doesn't go their way. When someone expresses an opinion, everyone screams for them to be fired simply because they don't like what they've said.
For example, if an NFL player expresses his opinion at a graduation ceremony, people call for his head. But it's OK to kill an unborn child, and it's OK to protest (violently) in favor of eradicating an entire culture. Live your life!
People came to this country to live free from the unilateral dictates of communists and dictators who impose their views on their people. They can be jailed and their bank accounts seized for their political views, but not if they are in power. It's time for people to wake up and see what's going on.
Leah Shaw, Boise
