BLACK BAY VISIONS

By BRIAN WALKER

Cash scratch fever

By DEVIN WEEKS

Winding around Boise waterways

Neighborhood of the Week hits the road

Neighborhood of the Week: July 25

Idaho a gauntlet for interstate cannabis traffic

When state police in southern Idaho last January seized a semi-truck containing 6,700 pounds of hemp valued at $1.3 million, confiscated the industrial product and moved to prosecute the drivers and sell the truck, it was reflective of the state’s stringent marijuana rules.

Behind the scenes

Delivering great bottles of wine to our customers is our job. It is our goal now, and has been for the last 11 plus years that the dinner party has been around. It is incredibly rewarding to hear your feedback on the quality of the wine and the service to go with it that we provide. What doesn’t often get noticed though, is the work that goes on behind the scenes by our great crew of local distributors. Everyone that we do business with here in North Idaho, and they literally span the state, are great at what they do — from assembling broad and deep portfolios of wine to choose from, to getting all delivered on time they make the system run. They rarely get the wonderful feedback that we do — knowing we have done a good job for you, the wine consumer.

I'm still predicting all-time record snows by 2019-20

Weather Gems

Since Jeff Selle's "Snowy Sunday" article in the Press on Tuesday, I've had numerous phone calls and e-mails concerning my March 2014 prediction of a record smashing 200-inch plus winter season at the end of this decade into the early 2020s.

If we see a new chilly 'La Nina,' it could mean a snowy winter ahead

As we promised last week, this 'Gems' column will feature updates by my Harris-Mann Climatology partner, Randy Mann, concerning the latest sea-surface temperatures, plus a color map and a current sunspot forecast.

El Nino should be with us through at least the fall

Weather Gems

Most of us have heard of this new El Nino, the warmer than normal sea-surface temperature event in the south-central Pacific Ocean. This phenomenon began in March and continues to strengthen as we head into the summer season. As of mid June, it appears we have a "moderate" event, but may become a very strong El Nino later this summer or fall.

More Icelandic volcanic eruptions could cripple Europe

Weather Gems

Nearly three years ago in mid April of 2010, the volcano beneath the Eyjafjallajokull Glacier in Iceland had a prolonged series of dusty eruptions that nearly crippled the European airline industry for a full week.

Lt. Gov: Ready for less federal funds

Little says Idaho Legislature will have to weigh its options

COEUR d'ALENE - Idaho needs to steel itself, Lt. Governor Brad Little says.

California residents slack on water cutbacks

Weather Gems

I'm getting numerous phone calls and emails concerning California's worst drought in modern times. According to the latest figures from the U.S. Drought Monitor, "100 percent of the Golden State is currently experiencing drought conditions."

Feel fine dating online

By DEVIN HEILMAN

Optimism for 2013

One doesn't have to look far to see a lot of positive news about the housing market. Interest rates are low, sales of homes are up and home prices are gradually increasing, helping some who lost so much equity in the post-boom decline.

Ahlquist offers new approach to old issues

Republican gubernatorial candidate Tommy Ahlquist talked about the importance of quality education, health care and small businesses Tuesday afternoon at the Kroc Center.

Idaho rents outpace wages

Rents exceed wages in a majority of Idaho cities and counties, a new report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition found Tuesday.

Op-Ed: McGeachin shows how to botch ‘good’ news

Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin catches an endorsement from former President Trump — the biggest fish in the ocean — and she makes that bombshell announcement through a press release.

A beautiful white Christmas to follow December thaw

Weather Gems

In answering a Press subscriber's question concerning the chances of a WHITE CHRISTMAS for a given year since the inception of regular weather-record keeping in 1895 in Coeur d'Alene, there have been a whopping 79 times that the Lake City has had at least an inch or more of snow on the ground as of Dec. 25. This is a very healthy average of 69 percent of the time.

Our trip to wine country

Mary and I frequently get asked questions like what is our favorite wine? Tough to answer — there is never just one. Or, when you go to wine country, who do you go visit? This one is easier to answer. Ironically, we don’t get to go all that often and there are clearly favorite spots of ours to visit. We are headed to Northern California this coming fall for a celebratory vacation and have started making reservations. Here are some of the “stops” on our list.

NOAA closes 600 poorly-sited weather stations

I did a study of the thousands of weather stations here in the U.S. and around the inhabited world in 2000. The results were 'surprising' to say the least.

Millions of acres in Canada will go unplanted

Weather Gems

Not only have we received near-record rains since El Nino died in the waters of the Pacific Ocean early this past spring, but millions of acres of crops in the western half of Canada won't be planted this cool, soggy 2010 season. June 20 marked the 'point of no return' for seeding operations.