Friday, November 6, 2009
Idaho Read Your Detailed Power Bill, By the Hour
Posted by Nathaniel Hoffman on Fri, Nov 6, 2009 at 3:08 PM
We wrote this week about Idaho Power's digital smart meters, which most of Ada County residents now have outside their homes. The Idaho Business Review also reported on Idaho Power's federal stimulus grant, as well as other stimulus money coming to Idaho utilities.
We did promise ya'll in the article that we'd walk you through the process for analyzing your hourly power consumption, so here ya go, step by step. We'd love to hear from readers how you plan to use this glut of new information.
If you want to read your actual digital meter, the one outside your house, you can follow the detailed instructions in the Idaho Power video on this page.
- Log in to your Idaho Power account, you may need to register, if you have not done that before.
- Then click on the "Energy Usage for ..." drop down menu at the bottom of your billing information.
- Then choose "Detailed Meter Data" and click on the bar representing any month.
- And voila, you can see when your kid gets up in the middle of the night to visit the refrigerator, the extra processor use in the middle of the day when someone is surfing, or, seriously, all the appliances that suck juice just because, even when you are not using them.
health care / Walt Minnick Minnick to Vote No on House Health Care Bill
Posted by Nathaniel Hoffman on Fri, Nov 6, 2009 at 1:52 PM
Idaho Rep. Walt Minnick just released the following statement indicating he will vote against the House's Affordable Health Care for America Act:
“Over the last several months, I have met with thousands of constituents from all over Idaho’s First Congressional District. They are gravely concerned about the economy, about job security, and about the kinds of opportunities their children and grandchildren will have to make a better life.
“Like most of them, I believe that cutting down the cost of health care is one important step we can take in moving our economy forward. We need to reform the insurance industry by demanding accountability and increasing private-sector competition. We must reduce government spending on programs such as a Medicare, and look to Idaho for examples of ways to do just that. And we must reduce costs throughout the health-care system, so the long-term benefits of reform will truly help our economy to grow and our nation to prosper.
“Unfortunately, the new health-care bill in the House does not adequately meet those goals, so I will vote ‘no.’ However, I am encouraged by the work of the U.S. Senate, and am hopeful that the final bill I vote on will be one that all Idahoans can support.”
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
election results Bisterfeldt, Jordan, Thomson Win Boise Council Seats
Posted by Nathaniel Hoffman on Wed, Nov 4, 2009 at 12:39 AM
The Boise city clerk's office is reporting big wins for incumbents Vern Bisterfeldt and Maryanne Jordan and a comfortable victory for TJ Thomson, with all precincts reporting, just prior to midnight.
Bisterfeldt, who told KBOI radio tonight that this would probably be his last term, according to Statesman Opinion Editor Kevin Richert's blog, was the biggest vote getter of the evening. David Honey, who was doing the karaoke thing at the 44 Club tonight, according to Facebook, wished his opponent FB congratulations, though Vern will never see it. Vern does not even know what his own e-mail address is.
Dunham and his running partner, Lucas Baumbach pulled in 3,000-4,000 votes, illustrating the divide between old-school Republicans like Bisterfeldt and the intensely ideological splinter Republicans organized under the Tea Party phenomenon.
David Webb, who did very little campaigning, as far as we could tell, managed to earn 3,000 votes as well. Not sure where those came from ... we'll have to ask him tomorrow.
David Litster, in the highest profile race of the cycle, managed to win 43 percent against Thomson's 57 percent. Thomson ran for the better part of a year for the seat. It remains to be seen if fighting the streetcar is Litster's real passion or if it was mostly an electoral ploy, as Litster is still collecting signatures to put the streetcar up to a vote.
With less than 20 percent voter turnout, It's hard to say if this vote can be read as a referendum on the City Council, much less on Mayor Dave Bieter. But since the majority of candidates positioned themselves as challengers to the status quo, it is telling that the incumbents, and Thomson, who had the mayor's backing, won comfortably.
Here are the final, unofficial results:
City Council Seat #2
Vernon L. Bisterfeldt 13,236 71.37%
Daniel L. Dunham 3,281 17.69%
David A. Honey 2,029 10.94%
City Council Seat #4
David S. Litster 8,162 42.63%
TJ Thomson 10,984 57.37%
City Council Seat #6
Lucas Baumbach 4,096 22.08%
Maryanne Jordan 11,333 61.08%
David Webb 3,125 16.84%
Voter Turnout
Ballots Counted (based on precincts reported as of 11:56 pm) 19,464
Total Registered Voters (as of 11/02/09) 110,749
Voter Turnout (based on precincts reported as of 11:56 pm) 17.57%
PS We don't know too much about the Canyon County jail bond, but it's interesting that Canyon County residents appear to have voted for an ACLU law suit. They love the ACLU in Canyon County, right?
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
election results 11:10 p.m. and Finally Some Numbers
Posted by Nathaniel Hoffman on Tue, Nov 3, 2009 at 11:20 PM
With 29 of 81 Boise precincts reporting, Boise margins are holding fairly steady, though Litster has gained some ground on Thomson.
Boise Public Works spokesman Vince Trimboli, who is on scene at the Ada County Elections Office, which is running the city elections this year, just told citydesk that it took a while to get all the ballots from precincts, after polls closed at 8 p.m. But the ballots are all at the office on Benjamin Lane now and all seven optical scan machines are running.
Incidentally, the county is only counting Boise votes tonight; other Ada County cities have their own abicuses. Abici.
Here's the latest numbers:
City Council Seat #2
Vernon L. Bisterfeldt 5,800 77.54%
Daniel L. Dunham 1,353 18.09%
David A. Honey 812 10.19%
City Council Seat #4
David S. Litster 3,275 39.73%
TJ Thomson 4,968 60.27%
City Council Seat #6
Lucas Baumbach 1,705 21.24%
Maryanne Jordan 5,064 63.07%
David Webb 1,260 15.69%
Confidence Vote for Streetcar in Cincinnati
Posted by Nathaniel Hoffman on Tue, Nov 3, 2009 at 10:16 PM
Cincinnati voters appear to have defeated a ballot measure that would have forced a vote on a downtown streetcar, essentially giving the city leadership a vote of confidence on the project.
According to cincinnati.com, the question is losing 56 to 44 percent, with most of the returns in.
In Charlotte, N.C., a Democrat and streetcar booster also won a narrow victory tonight.
Opposition candidates in Boise, led by David Litster, seized on a similar notion, circulating a petition to force a vote on a streetcar in some future election. It is too early to tell how that issue will affect returns here, with only one precinct reporting, though the anti-streetcar block lost big in absentee voting.
If you are just sitting around waiting for the results to come in, you may want to read our analysis, hot off the press, of a poll question on Boise's streetcar that the Idaho Statesman released on Saturday. The numbers are not what they seem.
Election Day Absentee Returns In
Posted by Nathaniel Hoffman on Tue, Nov 3, 2009 at 8:33 PM
Polls are closed and the city has posted absentee vote results ... 2,225 people voted absentee, greatly favoring incumbents Vern Bisterfeldt and Maryanne Jordan. And TJ Thomson in the open Seat 4 is up 1,000 votes at the start of the night. Here are the unofficial absentee returns as of soon after 8 p.m.
City Council Seat #2 - Four Year Term
Vernon L. Bisterfeldt 1,720 80.56%
Daniel L. Dunham 279 13.07%
David A. Honey 136 6.37%
City Council Seat #4 - Four Year Term
David S. Litster 591 27.05%
TJ Thomson 1,594 72.95%
City Council Seat #6 - Four Year Term
Lucas Baumbach 308 14.23%
Maryanne Jordan 1,626 75.10%
David Webb 231 10.67%
Election Day Slow Morning Turnout in Boise
Posted by Nathaniel Hoffman on Tue, Nov 3, 2009 at 2:05 PM
- Starr Thomsen, Holly Lockett and Eileen Wilson of Star and Molly Coonrod of Boise man the polling place at the First Congregational Chuch on Woolawn Ave.
When citydesk walked into the polling place for Precinct 36, the four women pictures above put down their books and prepared to take my vote. Then I took their picture. Fewer than 100 voters had voted here today, as of 1 p.m. Low turnout is being reported in other precincts as well.
Election Day Election Day: Vote First, Party Later
Posted by Nathaniel Hoffman on Tue, Nov 3, 2009 at 10:37 AM
Polls are open today in Boise and across the Valley for city elections. In Boise, polls remain open until 8 p.m.
Find your polling place here.
After the polls close, you have at least two options for parties.
David Litster, Dan Dunham and Lucas Baumbach will host a gathering at the Quiet Bar Lounge at the Double Tree Riverside, 2900 Chinden Boulevard. Other candidates may attend, according to the press release for the shindig.
TJ Thomson will watch returns at Bittercreek Ale House, 246 N. 8th Street. Both parties are open to the public and the press.
citydesk is messing around with his GIS and will either hit the town as a roving reporter or stay chained to his computer messing with data. Do not look in tomorrow's paper for our usual in-depth post-election analysis: BW goes to press too early this week to report on the returns. But we'll let you know what we know both on this blog and in the Nov. 11 paper.
Idaho Death Penalty Prosecutions Down
Posted by Nathaniel Hoffman on Tue, Nov 3, 2009 at 10:21 AM
Idaho prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in fewer cases since a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court decision that said juries, and not judges, must rule in capital cases, according to Patrick Orr's report in the Statesman this morning.
"And rather than take death penalty cases to juries, prosecutors across the state are opting not to pursue executions at all or are agreeing to plea deals that put killers in prison for life," Orr reports.
And since the U.S. Supreme Court in 2002 said that juries, not judges, must issue the death penalty, prosecutors around the state have been forced into a guessing game: Even if jurors believe the accused committed the crime, will they pass a death sentence?So far, only Ada and Canyon counties have asked juries to issue the death penalty, and less than half of those cases resulted in death sentences. Not one of Idaho's 42 other counties has taken a death penalty case to trial.
The subtext here, is that prosecutors in the "good old days" before 2003 had a better read on Idaho judges' feelings on the death penalty than they can now surmise from a jury of our peers.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Streetcars On and Off the Ballot
Posted by Nathaniel Hoffman on Mon, Nov 2, 2009 at 9:58 AM
Boise AP writer John Miller has a story today on streecars and tomorrow's election in Cincinnati, Charlotte and in Boise.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has been revising policies that had favored applications for projects that moved people further and faster, like rapid-transit buses, but downplayed attributes like economic development."The bottom line is, this administration wants more transit options for more people and that includes streetcars," LaHood told The Associated Press last week.
In Cincinnati, the streetcar is actually on Tuesday's ballot, while in Boise and Charlotte, N.C. the elections have focused on candidate's positions on transit.
Will Boise's election be seen as a referendum on the streetcar?
