The alt-weekly's request for documents regarding violations at a private psychiatric facility was set back yesterday, Boise Weekly reports. Late last year, the newspaper and the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare started looking into allegations against Intermountain Hospital and requested the relevant documents under the Idaho Open Records Act. Shortly thereafter, the facility won a temporary restraining order from District Judge Joel Horton that sealed all the records, which was upheld yesterday by Judge Michael McLaughlin. Publisher Sally Freeman says the paper is not yet sure if it will appeal the decision.
"Our bagels are like vaginas: What's not to love?," asks the notice for River City Bagels. (The ad mistakenly omitted a context-altering line noting that the restaurant is a sponsor of a local production of Vagina Monologues, according to owner Jodi Kummermehr.) Employees tell New West Boise that a few women have complained and some boys were supposedly suspended from school for talking about the ad in class, but foot traffic in the restaurant has increased significantly. "I think it's really funny," says River City manager Sri Galindo. "The only thing I'd feel bad about is if it really offended people, but they learned that word in health class!"
The AAN-member weekly is seeking the release of state inspection reports on Intermountain Hospital's troubled residential treatment center for teens, reports The Idaho Statesman. The records were sealed last week when a state court judge approved the privately owned psychiatric hospital's request for a temporary injunction preventing their release.
The local chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners named Sally Barnes one of the four contestants for Business Woman of the Year, according to the Idaho Statesman. The winner will be announced on Jan. 19.
Bill Moyers' recent PBS special on environmentalism among progressive Christians seems to have roots in a progressive newspaper. "Is God Green?" aired Oct. 12, the Boise Weekly notes, nearly 10 months after it ran an article under the same title. Therein Jill Kuraitis wrote about Boise's Vineyard Christian Fellowship and their "green" pastor, Tri Robertson, who was preaching the gospel of good earth stewardship. The paper was soon fielding calls from PBS about Robertson and his faith-based conservation. During the program, Moyers talked to Idaho Statesman reporter Rocky Barker, who gave credit where credit was due: "The Boise Weekly, which is this kind of liberal, alternative weekly, did the first story on it."
In the Aug. 2 issue of Boise Weekly, News Editor Shea Anderson reveals that Lindsay Lohan's next film, Georgia Rule, is set on a farm outside Idaho's capital -- and the production "may be using a certain newsweekly to add authenticity." Look for the Weekly onscreen in 2007, provided its scenes don't end up on the cutting room floor.
Boise Weekly writer Bill Cope addressed his June 28 column to his former boss Andy Hedden-Nicely, who founded the "United Party" in Idaho and is running as its candidate for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Cope praised Hedden-Nicely as an individual, but suggested that his third-party candidacy was a mistake in judgment. Hedden-Nicely's response in the paper's July 5 issue apes Cope's column structure. "I know you as a man of intelligence and integrity, and I'm confident that when you finally come to your senses and realize that the train has left the station -- that the Democrats are still hiding in the shadows trying to come up with a politically correct response -- you can jump on the United Party train," Hedden-Nicely writes.
