Local: NeighborWorks is looking to purchase the long-vacant Bonneville Elementary School
A building that was integral in molding the minds of hundreds of children for decades and has been an eyesore in the center of a neighborhood for more than 16 years could soon become the future home for 18 families. Though conversations are ongoing and no purchase agreement has been signed, NeighborWorks Pocatello has tentatively agreed to acquire the vacant Bonneville Elementary School, level it and build approximately 18 new properties. In its non-binding proposal to Pocatello-Chubbuck School District 25, NeighborWorks Pocatello has offered to buy the vacant elementary school for a total cost of $260,000 with $10,000 in earnest money, according to School District 25 documents.
Courtesy of Shelbie Harris of the Idaho State Journal
https://bit.ly/333bqbg
Regional: Chubbuck Animal Control is trying to increase its community outreach
Chubbuck Police Department’s animal control facility is working hard to connect community members with adoptable cats and dogs. They launched a new Facebook page, “City of Chubbuck Animal Control,” where they can post information about animals that have been found or put up for adoption. They started the page in early August and already have nearly 850 followers. Chubbuck Animal Control has posted information about animals that have been brought into the shelter and are in need of homes, animals that have been reunited with their owners after becoming lost, and multiple stories of successful adoptions. They also plan to break ground on a new animal control facility in the next couple of years as part of the city improvements, which includes a new city hall, that is taking place.
Courtesy of Kendra Evensen
https://bit.ly/2OOB1kq
Statewide: Higher Education presidents have formed a council to improve Idaho’s go-on rate
Idaho’s community college and university presidents have formed a council to advance the state’s goal to get more teens to continue their education after high school. The Presidents’ Leadership Council began meeting in August to consider ways to improve Idaho’s low and stagnate college go-on rate and other career-readiness initiatives. The effort stems from the State Board of Education’s call for higher education institutions to work together on the issue. Idaho’s go-on rate has remained flat at 45 percent over the last three years, despite an ongoing, multimillion-dollar state investment to get more kids to continue their education. The presidents have heard the State Board’s call and will meet monthly as a council to find “the most impactful ways” coordination might benefit Idaho students, said Idaho State University President Kevin Satterlee, who chairs the 10-member council.
Courtesy of Devin Bodkin of Idahoednews.org
https://bit.ly/2pp1OsS
National: Christopher Columbus statues were vandalized over the holiday
Statues of Christopher Columbus were vandalized amid continued calls to change the name of the federal holiday honoring the Italian explorer. Red paint, along with messages about genocide, were sprayed on landmarks in both San Francisco and Providence, Rhode Island, on Sunday. A sign that read “Stop celebrating genocide” was placed at the foot of the Columbus statue, located in the Elmwood neighborhood of Providence. The statue was covered with red paint. The statue was also vandalized in 2010 and 2017. In San Francisco, a Columbus statue near Coit Tower was also sprayed with red paint. Graffiti at the bottom read, “Destroy all monuments of genocide and kill all colonizers.” Supervisors in the city voted to change the holiday to Indigenous Peoples Day in January 2018.
Courtesy of Matt Zarrell of ABC News
https://abcn.ws/33AAo1J
International: North Korean fishers were thrown overboard after their boat collided with a Japanese patrol ship
A large North Korean fishing trawler collided with a Japanese patrol ship within Japan’s exclusive economic zone on Oct. 7, throwing dozens of North Korean crew members overboard and drawing renewed warnings from Tokyo about illegal fishing in its waters. About 60 members of the fishing crew were rescued, the Japanese Coast Guard said, adding that all of the North Koreans were believed to be accounted for. The fishing ship sank about 15 minutes after the collision. The episode came less than a week after North Korea launched a missile that landed off Japan’s coast, also in its exclusive economic zone. Japan has tried to engage North Korea in talks on its nuclear program, but has so far been rebuffed. When asked if the North Korean vessel hit the Japanese patrol ship on purpose, Naoki Okada, the deputy chief cabinet secretary, told reporters that the cause of the crash was still uncertain.
Courtesy of Motoko Rich of the New York Times
https://nyti.ms/2oqwnOH
