Latest news with #Boiseans
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
‘Thanks for 20 years': Chain's first Idaho restaurant closes in Boise
A Boise chain restaurant that shuttered temporarily at the start of 2025 has served its final late-night burrito. Del Taco, 1306 S. Broadway Ave., has closed. The street sign now reads, 'Thanks for 20 years' on one side and 'See you at Vista I-84' on the other. The Del Taco logos on the building have been removed. A familiar sight near Boise State, Del Taco went dark in late January after a fire. It then reopened in February. That Del Taco location was the first in the state of Idaho, its general manager told the Idaho Statesman at the time. Boiseans craving an Epic Burrito still have plenty of options. Del Taco restaurants continue to operate in Boise — including at 3205 S. Vista Ave., the store mentioned on the marquee — plus in Meridian, Nampa, Caldwell and Kuna, according to the chain's website.
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Idaho lawmakers have ‘targeted' Boise, mayor says. She's pushing back
At a Monday-night Bernie Sanders rally in Nampa, the crowd roared its approval when a speaker alluded to Boise Mayor Lauren McLean's decision to keep flying an LGBTQ+ Pride flag outside of City Hall — despite a new state law banning the display of non-'official' flags. But McLean's move prompted a letter of rebuke from the state's attorney general and an influx of complaints to the Ada County Sheriff's Office. McLean told the Idaho Statesman that the city would not take down the Pride flag because the law's lack of an enforcement provision meant that flying it 'is not a crime.' 'That flag, we've flown for nearly a decade. It has not been an issue in Boise,' McLean told the Statesman on Thursday. 'In fact, it is beloved in Boise, because it is a symbol of how we put people first, and everyone in this community matters.' Days after the law took effect, the city also hung a second unofficial — and therefore illegal — flag at City Hall in honor of organ donation month, displaying the flags prominently on social media. McLean acknowledged that the city had received letters from Attorney General Raul Labrador and Sheriff Matt Clifford. Clifford's admonished lawmakers for passing a bill without 'clear direction' for enforcement and said his staff was struggling to handle the volume of residents' complaints about the flag. 'We're taking (the letters) into consideration and analysis,' McLean said. But 'at the end of the day, they, too, were clear that this law isn't enforceable, and it's not a crime.' The flags have become a flashpoint amid the longstanding tension between the heavily Democratic city and overwhelmingly Republican state Legislature. Labrador told McLean in his letter that lawmakers were already discussing adding enforcement provisions to the law next year. McLean has also pushed back, to varying degrees, against other bills this year that, she said, specifically targeted Boise. After Gov. Brad Little signed into law a bill to ban homeless encampments in large Idaho cities, McLean's office released a statement repeatedly referring to it as 'the Galloway law,' referring to sponsor Sen. Codi Galloway, R-Boise. On Thursday, McLean used the same language, seeking to distance the city from the law, which will require Boise police to double down on patrolling homeless encampments rather than focusing on the other initiatives, such as ticketing speeding drivers, that Boise residents have sought, she said. 'I want to be clear on that one,' she said. 'Boiseans have demonstrated time and time again that we're not going to make the mistakes of other cities. We're going to collaborate, we're going to innovate, we're going to partner to come up with long-term solutions to prevent and end homelessness. This bill doesn't help us do that.' Lawmakers for years have been at odds with Boise leaders over the city's approach to homelessness, affordable housing and transit, among other issues. Though lawmakers often express support for the idea of 'local control,' they have increasingly sought to curtail local governments' powers, limiting local increases to property taxes or minimum wages, and blocking cities from banning plastic bags, the Idaho Capital Sun reported. On Tuesday, Jamie Heinzerling, the director of the city clerk's office, offered to speed up a presentation she was giving to Boise's City Council about the effects of a new state law moving responsibility for child care licensing in the state's hands. Boise, along with several other Idaho cities, does its own licensing and has held city day cares to a more stringent standard than what the state requires. McLean urged Heinzerling to take her time explaining the implications of the law, including laying out the locally popular initiatives to increase child care access that it would end. 'Oh, you don't need to talk fast,' McLean said, to laughter. 'The public needs to understand.' She told the Statesman that 'it's very important that we're transparent about the good work we are doing to deliver for our residents, particularly when that is taken away by new bills in the Legislature.' 'I don't want Boiseans to think that Boise doesn't care about licensing and we're just giving it up,' she added. 'I want to be clear that this is not our decision.' Boise is still flying Pride flag. Citing new law, Idaho AG sends warning letter 'It's a dire time': Bernie Sanders, AOC draw 12,000-plus to Idaho rally 'Trapped here in hell': Boiseans, officials say camping-ban bill won't help homelessness
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
‘Hard to overstate the value': Harris family donates geothermal water rights to city
Simmering water courses underneath the Boise Foothills. Millions of gallons are piped downtown to heat buildings, warm pools and melt snow on the sidewalks. And now, thanks to a donation from a prominent local family, the city is set to quadruple its geothermal capacity. The Harris family, known for its land ownership in the Barber Valley area, particularly the Harris Ranch development, and for its contributions to the community, donated its geothermal water rights to the city — a donation the city says is priceless. Boise has the nation's largest geothermal system, and one of the oldest systems in the world. It provides renewable energy to about 100 buildings in downtown Boise. Geothermal refers to heat generated by the earth. As radioactive material beneath the surface decays, it gives off heat that can warm water below the surface to high temperatures. Some of that water rises up naturally as hot springs, but it can also be brought up with pumps and used to heat buildings. City leaders see the natural ground reserves as a key component in Boise's shift away from nonrenewable energy. 'This gift ensures that more Boiseans will have access to this incredible renewable energy source that cleanly warms our buildings,' Mayor Lauren McLean said in a news release. The city has the rights to pump 385 million gallons per year. The donation from the Harris family brings that capacity to over 1.5 billion gallons. The family donated 7.2 cubic feet per second of geothermal water rights to the city and kept 0.2 cubic feet per second for itself to potentially use in the future, Doug Fowler, president of Barber Valley Development, told the Idaho Statesman. Fowler said the water rights were obtained in the late 1970s and never used to their potential. 'It is purely a gift for Boise's future,' Fowler said by email. He said it will have no financial benefit to the Harris family. 'The city of Boise has the expertise and infrastructure to maximize the benefit of the geothermal rights for both the community and the environment.' Steve Burgos, the city's public works director, said the city plans to use the water rights to expand its geothermal system into other areas of the city and to bring buildings that already sit along the geothermal lines onto the system. The city's system, which heats City Hall, the Ada County Courthouse, the Treasure Valley YMCA, Jack's Urban Meeting Place (also known as JUMP) and dozens of other buildings, is among four main geothermal systems downtown and in East Boise. The water rights have no monetary value, Burgos told the Idaho Statesman. 'It'd be hard to say, like, this is worth X amount of money, what they donated,' he said. 'It is hard to overstate the value, though, to us and the community, the donation is so significant.' The city's system covers 6.5 million square feet. The water comes from a fault line along the edge of the Boise Foothills, where water below the surface is 177 degrees. Boise uses deep wells at the Military Reserve to pipe the water out. It arrives at buildings downtown at about 170 degrees. 'It's hard to overstate the value of what's being donated,' Burgos said. 'It'll allow us to keep adding buildings onto the system without skipping a beat.' In line to join the system is a proposed apartment building with up to 40 stories across from Simplot's headquarters on Front Street. The transfer of water rights from the Harris family to the city still has to be approved by the state Department of Water Resources, according to Burgos. The Boise City Council gave its approval at a work session on March 4. The state has a separate system that heats the Idaho Capitol, the only statehouse in the nation to use geothermal. The Veterans Administration has its own small system that it uses to heat the Boise VA Medical Center. The oldest of the four systems, the Warm Springs Water District's system, heats many of the homes along Warm Springs Avenue in East Boise. Founded in 1892, it is the world's first geothermal heating system. Was weather history just made in Boise? City saw hot March temperatures Wednesday Overwhelmed by Treefort Music Fest, Boise? Here are 20 recommended acts — some shows free Kroger countersues Albertsons, says incoming CEO 'secretly communicated' with divestiture buyer
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Weather whiplash? Boise could see warmest March day ever this week, followed by storms
Winter is finally over! Potentially record-breaking temperatures are headed for the Treasure Valley this week, but Boiseans should enjoy the mild weather while they can because it won't last long. Boise is expected to see highs of 74 degrees Tuesday and 79 degrees Wednesday, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Wasyl Hewko. The temperature could end up even higher, however, putting Wednesday in the running for the warmest March day in Boise's recorded history. The hottest March temperature ever recorded in the city was an 82-degree day on March 26, 1877, according to the weather service. That record is followed by an 80-degree day that took place more than a century later on March 29, 1978, and an 80-degree day on March 19, 1997. 'Our normal temperatures for this time of year are highs in the 58s and lows in the 37s,' Hewko told the Idaho Statesman by phone. 'So we're definitely going to be above normal.' Sunny skies will prevail until late Tuesday or Wednesday morning, when clouds are forecast to begin moving into the area from the west, bringing colder, damper weather, Hewko said. The high temperature likely will drop to 69 degrees on Thursday and could dip as low as 58 degrees on Friday and Saturday. 'We're going to transition from a warm air mass to a colder one,' Hewko said. '… Behind the cold front is obviously a colder air mass. It tends to be more unstable. And when the sun heats up, it causes some mixing.' That cold front is expected to begin creating thunderstorms in Oregon on Wednesday, which are forecast to make their way to the Treasure Valley by late Wednesday and last until Thursday or Friday, according to Hewko. The meteorologist said the front will also bring breezes that could get up to 25-28 miles per hour on Wednesday, with the potential for stronger winds Thursday. 'Once the system pushes through Wednesday, as we get into Thursday, we're going to have winds changing direction,' Hewko said. 'They're going to become more southwesterly and westerly, and they are definitely going to be increasing to 30 mph.' The winds are expected to taper off Friday, dropping to about 15 miles per hour. Highs over the weekend are predicted to stay between 58 and 61 degrees, Hewko said.
