Bacon sizzles, boycott fizzles. Eagle apartments proposed. 10 stories to catch up on
The top 10 Idaho business stories of the week:
1. Business has been brisk as usual at Bacon, despite a state lawmaker’s call for a boycott last weekend, says chef John Berryhill. He’s considering putting up a sign to let customers know that he does not want open carry in his restaurant. A brief interaction he had with a small group of patrons about their guns resulted in a social media firestorm.
2. You can find hemp products like seeds, oil and protein powder on Idaho store shelves. Boise Co-op customers want the store to carry CBD, a component of marijuana and hemp called cannabidiol. But the State Police seizure of a semitrailer whose owners say was filled with legal hemp, not illegal marijuana, casts light on the convoluted state law governing both.
3. A 20-minute conference during a break in an Eagle City Council meeting allowed a developer and city officials to come to terms on a proposed downtown townhouse-and-apartment complex. Greg McVay’s Molinari Park would have 307 homes. Residents raised objections, but the council ultimately passed it unanimously.
4. A Boise police officer spent most of the day Feb. 28 at the Sykes Enterprises call center on the former Hewlett-Packard campus in northwest Boise. Two people who contacted the Statesman said the business was laying off some workers. Sykes did not respond to requests for comment.
5. To make way for the proposed new Downtown library, the Boise City Council has voted to move The Cabin, the 1940 log cabin used for literary readings and programs, to the northeast corner of Julia Davis Park. That’s a defeat for historic preservationists, who argued that part of the cabin’s historical significance is tied to its location.
6. A top leader in the Idaho House has introduced a bill that could force a public vote on whether to build a Boise sports stadium and possibly the new Downtown library. Majority Leader Mike Moyle, R-Star, would prohibit the use of urban-renewal money for either type of project unless 55 percent of voters approve.
7. Idaho Power wants to end its planned community solar project in Southeast Boise because not enough people signed up to participate. The utility launched the project in June 2016, saying it wanted to help customers who wished to get on the solar bandwagon but were unable to install rooftop panels, or lived in apartments or condominiums.
8. An Idaho House panel voted to hold a public hearing on a bill to place limits on Medicaid expansion. Among other things, the bill would add a work requirement to the health insurance program, with an exemption for parents.
9. Javier Andrade plans to build a larger Mexican restaurant at 4620 W. Overland Road to replace his existing Andrade’s restaurant nearby. “People come and don’t find a spot in my parking lot and leave,” he says.
10. The American Bar Association has fully accredited the Concordia University School of Law in Downtown Boise. Concordia opened in 2012, and a bar decision in 2014 to delay accreditation prompted 55 second- and third-year students to leave Concordia for the University of Idaho Law School, which has a Downtown campus too.
Statesman reporters Michael Deeds, Cynthia Sewell, Kate Talerico, John Sowell and Katy Moeller, and The Associated Press, contributed.
This story was originally published March 5, 2019 at 2:12 PM.
