Stories from Wednesday, January 9, 2013

July Animal control officials struggled to deal with complaints from local residents about number of cats running loose within city limits. City code prohibits pet owners from allowing their cats and dogs to roam freely outside their property lines without a leash and limits people to no more than three dogs or cats before they have to register for a kennel license...

Michael and Samantha Hobgood were hoping to have a baby born during the winter months. With two sons celebrating birthdays just two weeks apart each August, it was a chance for the couple to make the holiday season a little more special. They just didn't realize how special their next child's birth would become...

Gov. Butch Otter formally proposed Monday that the state eliminate the personal property tax -- a move that would save businesses, farmers and ranchers in Elmore County nearly $3.8 million a year in tax breaks. But those savings would come at the price of massive dislocations in the revenue stream for local governments, with some losing more than 40 percent of the revenue they rely on to provide services expected by the citizens...

Dear editor: The United States did not become the greatest nation on earth through a course of haphazard events. She became the greatest nation on earth because she did specific things and embodied specific values. In the beginning, she slapped down the hand of abusive, suffocating power and raised the hand of individual liberty victorious. Over time, a unique culture emerged that made incarnate the underpinnings of the American spirit: Faith, self-reliance and individual responsibility...

Dear editor: Your editorial concerning limits on guns contained one fairly significant error. You stated that "the NRA's solution (armed police in schools) wouldn't work in Idaho because it's against the law to carry guns onto a school ground. So, Idaho legislators have already taken a stand in opposition to the NRA...

Dear editor: Kelly Everitt's editorial, "More Political Theater" was biased as normal, but also included a couple of glaring errors. 1) Payroll taxes are going up from 4.2% to 6.2% but that is where they were two years ago-not before the Bush tax cuts as stated in the editorial. ...