IDAHO FALLS — Two eastern Idaho men have been sentenced in their respective cases dealing with child porn According to a news release from Idaho’s Attorney General each plead guilty to two counts of possession of child porn Reed was originally charged with 10 counts of possession of child porn he took a plea agreement that dismissed eight of the counts RELATED | Three Idaho men arrested in 24 hours, including one from Bannock County, for possession of child porn The new release states that District Judge Robert Naftz sentenced the 25-year-old in Bannock County to a two-and-a-half-year fixed sentence and seven and a half years indeterminate a detective from the Boise Police Department called the Pocatello Police Department about an investigation into Reed The detective informed PPD that Reed had been using the social media apps Discord and Kik to download child porn when he was in the two cities Reed confirmed the usernames he used on social media admitted he was “addicted to pornography,” and had transitioned from adult pornography to child porn The 25-year-old also told PPD that he used another social media app Telegram to view the child porn The news release states phones used by Reed had numerous files of child porn depicting children being raped The 23-year-old was sentenced in Bonneville County to two counts of possession of child porn RELATED | Man charged with downloading child pornography on Snapchat He was originally charged with five felony counts but three were dismissed through a plea agreement District Judge Michael Whyte sentenced Tanaka to three years fixed and seven years indeterminate meaning Tanaka will complete a rider treatment program in prison for one year Whyte will determine whether to send Tanaka to probation or continue with his prison sentence a cybertip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children from Snapchat reported multiple files containing child porn from an account in Idaho Falls seizing the 23-year-old electronic devices The documents state the man’s phone contained multiple nude photos of female children between the ages of 11 to 14 Tanaka confirmed the Snapchat account was his but was shut down as he was using it to look at child porn SUBMIT A CORRECTION We hope you appreciated this story.  A small team of local journalists runs EastIdahoNews.com – not a big business or corporation Our stories are produced to inform and serve the public We don't have a paywall or require a subscription to use EastIdahoNews.com but there is a cost associated with bringing you stories every day Please consider supporting us just once for $1 or contribute a little more monthly or annually We sincerely appreciate your consideration © 2015 - 2025 EastIdahoNews.com LLC RENTON, WASH. – Seattle Sounders FC today announced that the club is partnering with Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF) to invest in local nonprofit organizations dedicated to protecting the Salish Sea’s unique ecosystem through the recovery and conservation of orca and salmon habitats BEF is a national nonprofit that empowers businesses to be in balance with the environment through a full suite of environmental products as well as educational and community engagement programs Through this partnership, Sounders FC reinforces its continued commitment to Protect Our Planet – a core tenet of the club’s impact commitments – by providing funding to: “We are honored to join forces with Bonneville Environmental Foundation to affirm our commitment to Protect our Planet and be good stewards of the Salish Sea,” said Ashley Fosberg Sounders FC Chief Impact and Fan Engagement Officer and RAVE Foundation Executive Director “We owe each of these incredible organizations a debt of gratitude for keeping the Salish Sea waters and its inhabitants healthy and thriving.” Through this partnership, Sounders FC aims to honor the interconnectedness of our region's people and environment, creating a legacy that uplifts communities and inspires stewardship of the Salish Sea Bonneville is a national nonprofit organization that empowers businesses to be in balance with the environment through a full suite of environmental products educational and community engagement programs as well as custom solutions that help their partners address their unavoidable energy aligning their partners’ goals with their extensive industry expertise to achieve immediate results today while helping solve tomorrow’s biggest environmental challenges they thrive on bringing game-changing ideas to market including helping to start the voluntary renewable energy credit (REC) market creating the first voluntary water restoration product (WRC) helping launch the first community-funded solar project in the nation co-creating the Change the Course water sustainability campaign as well as building the nation’s most comprehensive K-12 renewable energy STEM education program Learn more about Bonneville’s impact on the community HERE. Donations to help rebuild habitat to feed the orcas are also welcome HERE Join Sounders FC for an unforgettable year Unlock exclusive perks and be part of the action as we enter a new era The biggest club soccer event in history is coming to Seattle With a Sounders FC Flex Membership you select which matches you want in the seats (or suites!) of your choosing Enjoy the view from our elevated Club seats for one match and then for your next one sit close pitch to catch all the action - all with preferred member pricing Triumph Originals pits eight international builders against each other Many products featured on this site were editorially chosen Motorcycle Cruiser may receive financial compensation for products purchased through this site Copyright © 2025 Motorcycle Cruiser. An Octane Media, LLC Publication Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited It is time for my weekly spring Chinook Salmon update (April 29 fish counts at Bonneville Dam picked up considerably (see figure below) We need these counts to continue to climb to achieve or exceed our preseason forecasts The tangle net test fishery near the mouth of Columbia River has shown a steady increase in catch rates for the past three weeks which indicates counts at Bonneville Dam should continue to climb When you compare this year’s counts (red line) to the 10-year average (dotted black line) there have been some poor salmon returns in the last 10 years We want better than the 10-year average.  One of my favorite ways to evaluate the Chinook Salmon return at Bonneville Dam is to look at the counts accumulated daily what cumulative counts show is the total number of fish that have been counted up to a given date and that is because after May 31 the fish destined for Idaho’s spring Chinook Salmon fisheries will have almost all passed over Bonneville Dam almost all the fish passing over Bonneville Dam will be summer run fish you can see counts this year (red line) are better than eight of the previous 10 years It wouldn’t surprise me if this year’s spring return will end up somewhere between what occurred last year last year (dashed black line) and 2016 (dotted green line) let’s look at what the PIT tag detections at Bonneville Dam tell us about how many of these fish are destined for Idaho and what we are projecting for harvest shares for each of our spring Chinook Salmon fisheries I have updated the table below I shared with you in my last update so it now captures the most recent data (through 4/28/25) This table shows that the Clearwater River return’s harvest share is projected to be 4,354 adult fish (darker peach row) which is down from what I reported in my last update (6,209 fish) The Rapid River return (darker blue row) is projected to have a harvest share of 1,506 which is down slightly from my last update (1,774 fish) the Hells Canyon fishery (green row) is projected to have a harvest share of 831 fish which is also down slightly from my last update (912 fish) It is important to realize that these projected harvest shares assume that the return has an average run timing (about 25% complete) if the actual return is later than average I do what to bring to your attention that if the harvest shares listed above are fairly accurate, we may want to adjust the seasons for the Clearwater River return fishery. If you read my first update (Chinook update 4/23/2025) you may recall that I presented “harvest matrixes” for each of the fisheries that describes the seasons and limits anglers want us to apply based on the harvest share The harvest matrix for the Clearwater River return fishery indicates that if the harvest share is greater than 2,000 adult fish we are projecting the Clearwater River Return fishery will have a harvest share of 4,354 fish The projected harvest share did drop considerably from the previous week so we will want it to stabilize before we recommend any changes to the season Last weekend the spring Chinook Salmon fishery opened We observed only a few anglers fishing in the lower Clearwater and none of the people we interviewed reported catching a fish This is not surprising seeing only 51 adult Chinook Salmon passed over Lower Granite Dam over the weekend daily counts at Lower Granite Dam could start to exceed 100 fish/day but they are high enough that the first fish of the year may be caught this week Buy Licenses Hunt Planner Hunter Ed Fishing Planner IFWF Hunt Report Report Wildlife Crime Volunteer! Report Roadkill 2025 5:09 p.m.The Bonneville Power Administration is attempting to rehire the staff it fired last month after weeks of public outcry against the Trump administration’s cuts to the self-funded federal agency FILE - Power lines from Bonneville Dam in North Bonneville Roughly 120 employees were fired from BPA last month by the Trump administration More than five people familiar with internal operations at BPA confirmed that 89 staff who’d been fired are receiving emails or letters asking them to return to work. About 35 were already hired back in mid-February A spokesperson for BPA declined to comment But insiders confirmed that offers to return to work went out Thursday Those staff asked not to be named out of fear of retaliation Some staff being asked to return work in civil rights the agency is still down hundreds of positions after 240 resigned in exchange for a buyout offer and 90 people who received job offers had those offers canceled Related: Dams, power lines and statistics: What the Bonneville Power Administration is and does BPA operates 75% of the Northwest’s power grid distributes hydropower from 31 federal dams and plays a key role in ensuring reliable access to electricity for millions of people in the Northwest It covers its expenses from revenue its operations generate and makes annual payments to the federal government OPB broke the news that job cuts could affect a significant share of BPA’s workforce on Feb prompting a public outcry from utility experts and federal officials concerned that the cuts could affect the reliability of the Northwest power grid Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek on Tuesday sent a letter to federal cabinet secretaries decrying the cuts substation operators and power dispatchers and multiple entities across the Pacific Northwest are raising real alarm about grid instability and power outages due to a shortage of staff who know how to manage grid events,” Kotek wrote Ongoing workforce reductions by definition will not impact federal spending but they do create instability for power availability and rates in the region.” The people who are being asked to come back to BPA after being fired were all in their first year or two on the job and so still in probationary status with fewer civil service protections Those cuts have raised concerns about wildfire preparedness in the Northwest Many of the firings have been challenged in court. On Wednesday, a federal judge ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture to bring back nearly 6,000 workers at that agency Tags: Science & Environment, Bonneville Power Administration, Trump Stand with OPB and protect independent journalism for everyone Listen to the OPB News live stream (opens new window)Streaming Now Courtney Sherwood is editor of OPB's climate and environment reporting team She began contributing to OPB special projects and contributing to the digital team starting in 2012 and served as managing editor for digital content from 2022 through January 2024 Courtney spent a number of years specializing in data journalism Her byline has appeared on the front page of the New York Times the Chicago Tribune and the Portland Business Journal She previously served as the business and features editor for The Columbian and editor-in-chief for The Lund Report She is a past recipient of a Wharton Business Journalists Fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania BPA’s draft decision sets the stage for having two intertwined day-ahead markets across the West with complex seams between them The BPA’s decision will have a major effect on market development in the West It sells wholesale power from federal hydroelectric dams in the Northwest The federal power marketer also operates about 15,000 circuit miles of high-voltage transmission across the Northwest The BPA mainly sells its power to cooperative and municipal utilities In its draft decision, BPA rejected calls to wait for the West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative to complete its effort to establish an independent governance framework for EDAM While a bill — SB 540 — was introduced in the California Legislature last month to implement the Pathways’ second phase it “limits the availability of full operational administrative independence by requiring that the market be operated by the ISO,” BPA said “Bonneville sees the legislation confirming California's continued policy influence over market design and outcomes.” BPA said production cost modeling showed that joining EDAM may provide the power marketer more financial benefits than joining Markets+ the decision on which market to join was never a purely quantitative decision “We have really significant beliefs about the importance of governance the importance of an open stakeholder process those are qualitative elements that we hold as very high priorities they will result in positive quantitative benefits,” Dibble said The competition between the backers of Markets+ and EDAM created better results for both market frameworks That competition would have been reduced if BPA had waited for the Pathways initiative to fully play out the Pathways framework doesn’t go far enough “We’re comparing [Pathways] to the ideal model which we believe we have already created in Markets+ Earlier this year, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission conditionally approved Markets+ which SPP expects will begin operating in 2027 Tucson Electric Power and UniSource Energy Services are among utilities planning to join Markets+ There is limited transmission connectivity between the Northwest but the Markets+ supporters hope it will increase over time Markets+ offers a range of benefits, PSCo told the Colorado Public Service Commission in an application for permission to join the market Markets+ will have “a fully impartial and independent market operator providing confidence that all market operator actions will be for the benefit of all participants and stakeholders,” PSCo said The utility expects near-term cost savings for its customers will be “moderate,” but they could grow possibly by building additional transmission the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power the Balancing Authority of Northern California and Portland General Electric plan to join EDAM of New Mexico are leaning towards joining the CAISO-run market Disputed issues include transmission rights and how congestion revenue would be handled Advanced Energy United is disappointed by BPA failing to pause its decision-making process as called for by members of Congress and others a director for the clean energy trade group more balkanized market undermines the very affordability and reliability of clean energy resources that the region depends on,” Turner said BPA risks hitching its wagon to the wrong horse.” BPA’s decision will lead toward a bifurcated Western market that will be intermeshed with costly seams running all over the region the West could be an energy powerhouse for the nation but this decision threatens to put that vision out of reach,” he said The Public Power Council supports Bonneville’s decision “Markets+ also offers a cooperative and transparent framework ensuring that BPA and its customers have a strong voice in shaping market operations.” Get the free daily newsletter read by industry experts The White House has not directed the commission to bolster coal-fired generation and the agency is eyeing reorganization possibilities The scheme would incentivize new gas and other “dispatchable” generation at the expense of renewables and batteries which constitute the vast majority of recent capacity additions in ERCOT The free newsletter covering the top industry headlines WASHINGTON TERRACE — March included two big coaching changes at Bonneville High School with the departures of boys basketball coach Kyle Bullinger and football coach Jantz Afuvai The school filled its hoops need promoting Jacob Lower an assistant to Bullinger over the past three seasons It’ll be Lower’s first-ever head coaching project in the very same Region 5 as Bullinger who jumped for Box Elder after 10 seasons coaching the Lakers Lower’s been a fan of Bullinger since his college days; Lower joined Bullinger’s staff in 2022 after eyeing Lower grew an appreciation for Bullinger and his approach to the game “The biggest thing I took away from Kyle is the details,” Lower said but by understanding that being able to put his players in the best positions possible to be successful – that’s something I hope to continue and expand on from a scouting standpoint.” The emerging Lower staff includes the likes of Brock Randall a former head coach at Ogden from 2018 to 2022 and previously an assistant for multiple Northern Utah programs Lower sees defense as the pillar of any basketball program The newly appointed head coach also believes it’s where the Lakers can gain an edge Bonneville grabbed more than 70% of its 27.0 rebounds per game on the defensive end including a first-round lost to Viewmont in the 5A postseason “If we can control and dictate what another team is doing to take them out of what they do and take the ball out of their best player’s hand more often than not it also allows us to be at our best… We were in the top 10 in 5A for defense this year with a freshman a senior all-league player and a bunch of tough “It goes to show that putting defense first you’re going to have a chance to win games.” Joseph Catholic High School announced Adam Jones as its next head boys basketball coach last week via social media who compiled an 8-33 record since beginning with the Jayhawks in 2023 Jones played collegiate basketball in Canada and enjoyed a brief career professionally in Europe “Adam comes to Saint Joseph with a wide variety of basketball coaching experience ranging from youth development and administration to high school boys and girls,” the school said via Instagram Clearfield High celebrated the signings of four girls volleyball players – Bailey Hoover (Lane Community College Savannah Boatwright (Southwestern Oregon Community College) and Liv Ena (Western Wyoming) – during a signing ceremony over the weekend “We are so proud of these four and can’t wait to see what great things they accomplish while playing college volleyball It’s no surprise that four (of our) six seniors this year are going on to play at the next level… These girls truly are amazing and we will miss them so much,” the team said via Instagram Box Elder senior Brooklyn Hadfield signed to play soccer at Utah State University Eastern during a signing ceremony last week Hadfield achieved Standard-Examiner All-Area Honorable Mention in December and logged one assist before the end of her senior season Ogden High boys volleyball senior Case Crowther received the UHSAA’s Athlete of the Week honors after finishing last week’s 6-1 run with 43 assists The Tigers play the first of their final three regular-season matches vs Connect with sports reporter Conner Becker via email at cbecker@standard.net and X @ctbecker LLC | www.standard.net | 332 Standard Way Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee issued the following statement in response to reports that the Trump administration began firing Washington state workers at the Hanford site and the Bonneville Power Administration The Trump administration has ordered mass firings of federal workers who are on their “probationary” period—meaning workers who were hired or promoted within the past 1-2 years the Trump administration began indiscriminately laying off Hanford workers in Washington state as well as hundreds of workers at the Bonneville Power Administration who deliver clean and reliable energy to families across the Pacific Northwest over a dozen people were laid off—including safety engineers people who monitor and respond to urgent safety issues folks who make sure Hanford workers’ rights are protected and others who are absolutely critical to the Hanford cleanup mission and the safety of the workers there These reckless firings will slow down critical cleanup work and make workers less safe—trying to run Hanford with a skeleton crew is a recipe for disaster that could have irreversible impacts An adequate federal workforce is essential for oversight of the work executed by nearly 12,000 contractor workers at the Hanford site and their families across Eastern Washington the Trump administration has also needlessly laid off a handful of employees at PNNL—workers who power cutting-edge research and groundbreaking innovations on everything from energy storage to nuclear security “And I have heard the Bonneville Power Administration will be losing more than 600 highly-skilled workers across the Northwest—this includes everyone from electricians and engineers These are literally the people who help keep the lights on—and now they’re being fired on a whim because Trump and Elon Musk don’t have a clue about what they do and why it’s important They don’t seem to even understand that these are positions funded by ratepayers—by all of us in the Northwest—not from federal funding “The callousness of this administration is breathtaking—these mass layoffs pose a serious threat to our energy security and the health and safety of people across our state not to mention the livelihoods of so many hardworking families who have done nothing wrong and whose work is sorely needed These firings will raise energy costs for Washington ratepayers and jeopardize the reliability of the grid in the Northwest—a genuinely life-or-death concern for millions I will keep doing everything I can to raise the voices of the people harmed by this administration’s indefensible policies and fight back.” Sign up to receive Senator Murray’s newsletter and get updates on the workshe’s doing on behalf of Washington state IDAHO FALLS – Bonneville’s Kadance Leonard signed this week to play volleyball at Independence Community College in Kansas Leonard was a second-team All-Conference selection for the Bees at Outside/Right side hitter She was second on the team with 2.7 kills per set and second with 2.8 digs per set Her 57 aces led the team and she was second in receptions with 588 Independence Community College competes in NJCAA Division I and is a member of the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference SUBMIT A CORRECTION We hope you appreciated this story.  A small team of local journalists runs EastIdahoNews.com – not a big business or corporation. Our stories are produced to inform and serve the public. We don't have a paywall or require a subscription to use EastIdahoNews.com, but there is a cost associated with bringing you stories every day. Please consider supporting us just once for $1 or, if you're able, contribute a little more monthly or annually. We sincerely appreciate your consideration. 2025 8:25 p.m.FILE - Transmission towers at Bonneville Power Administration’s Earl D The Bonneville Power Administration is bringing back 30 employees it fired last week according to multiple sources familiar with the agency’s operations Roughly 130 of BPA’s more than 3,000 employees were told they’d been dismissed last week as part of large-scale job cuts initiated by the Trump administration The cuts have largely targeted federal workers in their first year or two on the job when they are still in probationary status and have fewer civil service protections But the 30 probationary workers who have now been asked to leave were later deemed critical to BPA’s core work to manage power across the Pacific Northwest strengthen the electrical grid and keep the lights on according to staff who asked not to be named out of fear of retaliation but whose identities OPB has verified through public records the agency is eliminating about 430 total positions – the 100 probationary employees who are still being fired the 240 who resigned in exchange for a buyout and the 90 people who received job offers that were then canceled BPA distributes hydropower from 31 federal dams and operates 75% of the Northwest’s power grid ensuring reliable access to electricity for millions of people in the Northwest Related: Are you a federal worker in the Pacific Northwest? OPB wants to hear from you A spokesperson for BPA declined to comment on the cuts But multiple people who are either still on staff or have recently been fired confirmed the latest staffing figures to OPB One source familiar with BPA internal operations said there could be another wave of reductions in the next week The Northwest & Intermountain Power Producers Coalition which represents private power companies that purchase electricity and transmission services from BPA condemned the cuts and raised alarms about their consequences “NIPPC supports making the federal government more efficient but is deeply concerned that the announced level and type of workforce reductions at BPA to date will make the electric grid in the Northwest less reliable and a worse platform for economic growth,” executive director Spencer Gray wrote in a letter to U.S the combination of deferred resignations and early retirements may thwart efforts to accommodate new industrial load such as data centers and semiconductor manufacturing both key sectors in the nation’s economic prospects,” Gray wrote The cuts at BPAs are part of a larger push by the Trump administration to reduce the size of the federal government by encouraging workers to quit Many of those jobs have been eliminated in the name of cutting federal spending, but ideology has also played a part. A small Bonneville Power Administration team dedicated to diversity, equity and inclusion was eliminated, according to two current employees, as part of a broader government-wide move to eliminate or sharply limit DEI programs Related: Former leaders of Bonneville Power say federal staffing cuts threaten stability and safety of NW power grid As former BPA administrator Randall Hardy previously told OPB cutting positions at the power agency will not affect federal budgets paying for its staff and programs with power and transmission sales While one person familiar with BPA operations said that the 30 probationary workers whose work will continue are engaged in “mission critical” work, other people knowledgeable with the agency said that other key positions are now vacant, after hundreds of people accepted an offer to resign now and continue to accept paychecks until fall The 240 employees who took that buyout include people who work on power lines substation operators and power dispatchers — positions that take years of apprenticeship to learn “This blanket purge of federal jobs by the current administration is a fool’s errand,” said Thomas Girouard who retired from BPA four years ago after working as an electrical lineman there for a dozen years Workers whose positions have been eliminated play a key role in repairing and maintaining the electrical grid in Oregon Tags: Science & Environment, Bonneville Power Administration, Government Spending WASHINGTON TERRACE — Trailing Roy 21-12 in the fourth set Bonneville had the Royals right where it wanted them in a boys volleyball match Tuesday night The Lakers had already rallied from behind to win set one aided by seven straight service points by Tyler Cole and turned things over to the second-year senior again Cole and company responded with an 11-0 run and Bonneville closed out the match in extra time Bonneville swept the season series against the Royals with a 3-1 (25-22 16-25 27-25) victory in a Region 5 thriller “Don’t give up because the game’s never over ’til it’s over,” Cole said “On the first three (serves) I was just working on getting the ball over the net so I peppered him every single time and it worked out for me today.” Cole just picked up a volleyball last year and has adapted quickly His serves were lasers which barely cleared the net and gave the Royals fits “I’m a football guy; it’s a mental game for me it’s stay out of my head and work on technique,” Cole said Practice kicked in in a big way from the onset as Bonneville was down 22-18 late in the first set when Cole served the Lakers to the 25-22 triumph I practice a little side-to-side movement to get the ball to move,” Cole said Bonneville senior outside hitter Semisi Christensen spiked four consecutive kills for the first set win Talon Rocha checked in with eight kills and Jase Musgrave set up 42 assists “Everyone’s role is pretty much the same; we’re all a huge part of the team,” Cole said “My role specifically is trying to keep the energy up it looked to be a three-set sweep from the Lakers but the Royals didn’t like that script dominating the third set and rolling to the huge advantage in that fourth before Bonneville bounced back you have to fight really hard to get it back,” Bonneville coach Kirt Williams said 3-8) also defeated Roy 3-1 last month but Williams doesn’t think the Lakers have Roy’s number They came to battle us and weren’t going to quit We showed a lot of heart and were able to steal the last one from them I’m proud of the kids for that,” Williams said “It’s been our theme this year — try to give games away as much as we can — and we did it again tonight But we got it done and I’m happy about that.” 2-9) coach Brad Hulse wanted to put Tuesday’s loss behind him as soon as possible “Give them credit; they did some good things and we couldn’t break their momentum streak,” Hulse said “There’s nothing we can do about this one but learn from it and move on to the next one Keep working on getting better and get ready for state.” Both teams are well out of the region race so seeding and the playoffs are the next objectives on the radar “We’re more seasoned than we were at the first of the year we lost some games 3-0 we felt we should have been a part of,” Williams said we’re going to start picking it up towards our goal of making a deep run.” IDAHO FALLS — The Bonneville County commissioners have passed a moratorium on processing applications for mining operations for water recharge projects, the county announced Monday afternoon Residents had expressed their concerns to the commissioners on April 1 when the moratorium was taken under advisement The moratorium went into effect on April 7 RELATED | ‘Learning process’: Local commissioners hear testimony over proposed mining operation moratorium The moratorium will put an 182-day long pause until a new ordinance is created to address the lack of a regional permitting process to protect landowners The moratorium can end early by a roll-call vote RELATED | Teenager involved in crash on US 26 dies at hospital the state of Idaho has pursued water recharge projects across the Eastern Snake River Plain Aquifer to restore the vital resource RELATED | $30 million water infrastructure bill advances in Idaho Legislature The recharge projects on Idaho Highway 26 have been recharge basins that take diverted water from canals and store it while recharging the aquifer The 40-acre Southfork Recharge Basin along State Highway 26 is expected to recharge 240 acre-feet of water per day into the aquifer Commissioner Michelle Mallard said part of the issue with the water studies done by the state only focused on the hydrology aspect of the locations and not other effects the current recharge projects and their associated mining operations have “been found to be causing adverse effects on the public health and traffic safety concerns over the vehicles used on the roadways Homeowners Dana and Darla Miller spoke with EastIdahoNews.com in March about how the Enterprize recharge project on the corner of 55th East and Idaho Highway 26 has affected their home and water tank RELATED | ‘We never envisioned this’: Recharge basins drain neighbors the issues these projects have caused ranged from damage to roads and the director of the Bonneville County Planning and Zoning Committee was caused by the hauling of materials off-site from a recharge project near Ririe that damaged the road Bonneville County director of public works said in the meeting that one semi-truck hauling a load of material is equivalent to a million passenger cars driving on the road Mallard said the Idaho Water Resource Board had assured that from now on it would require county permits before moving forward with any new projects for the aquifer recharge “The problems that we’ve experienced and brought to their attention with the Progressive and Enterprize recharge basins on (Idaho) Highway 26,” Mallard said “These problems have been a nuisance for everyone in this room I do believe that everyone has learned from that process,” Mallard said SUBMIT A CORRECTION 2025 6:17 a.m.The lost talent means the agency will have a harder time responding to weather emergencies and planning for future power growth according to those who study the region’s power grid.Bonneville Power Administration’s Oregon City Substation in Oregon City For decades, employment experts have warned of the pitfalls of big staff cuts: companies may save money in the short term, but it’s often at the expense of efficiency and employee trust And in the long term, research shows the workplace environment after cuts could lead to a voluntary exodus by overworked employees who take special skills and knowledge with them Related: Bonneville Power Administration reverses 30 job cuts, continues with plans to eliminate 430 positions Employees leaving the agency include linemen, engineers, and substation operators — people with years of required training to respond to power outages and intense weather events that could damage the electric grid “The Trump administration’s slogan is ‘Unleash American Energy,’” said Hal T associate professor and director of the energy policy and management graduate certificate program at Portland State University it’s likely to unleash American blackouts.” Nelson and other experts who closely watch Bonneville Power Administration point out the agency is self-funded: it covers costs by selling wholesale power generated at federally-owned dams to utilities BPA’s workforce was already considered lean “They’re not a heavy bureaucracy,” Nelson said “They’re not overly well staffed to begin with It’s hard to hire for the federal government Replacing folks and competing against Google and Facebook and the private sector it’s really hard for them to recruit talented people And this is going to make that even more difficult.” The job cuts from the Trump Administration could immediately slow down the agency’s ability to respond to outages the loss of talent will almost certainly hurt the agency’s ability to plan for the region’s future energy needs at a time when electricity demand is skyrocketing — both for a growing economy and for the tens of thousands of new houses Oregon hopes to build in the coming years Related: Bonneville Power staff departures under President Trump raise concerns about Northwest electrical grid BPA manages around 15,000 miles of high voltage transmission lines that help feed power to more than 3 million people in the Northwest transmission lines have two major problems: 1) Because transmission lines are expensive and time-consuming to build there aren’t enough of them — especially as power-hungry data centers and the push to electrify everything drive up power demand 2) The transmission lines that do exist are aging and have less of a chance of surviving intense weather events increasing wildfires — those are affecting the operation of the electrical grid to a profound degree,” Nelson said “And that is happening really quickly in terms of the scale of the electrical grid The grid’s been around for 50 to a hundred years in places but never has it had to deal with these kinds of extreme weather events.” Nelson is particularly concerned about the 90 rescinded job offers a move he called “dangerous.” It means the agency is not just losing long-term experience from people taking buyouts it’s missing out on new talent tasked with planning for intensifying weather and increasing power demand Related: Wyden, Merkley urge Trump to reconsider ‘ludicrous’ job cuts at Bonneville Power BPA may be just one Department of Energy agency but a similar story could be playing out across federal agencies It’s a stark reversal from the previously held belief that a job with the federal government was one of the most secure Thomas Girouard spent more than 12 years as a lineman for BPA before retiring in 2021 Because it was with the federal government when he took the job at BPA he expected to spend the rest of his career there “I never really felt like there was any kind of job insecurity,” Girourd said the uncertain employment environment could mean more employees will jump ship — further jeopardizing BPA’s ability to meet future power needs while maintaining current lines “It would be naive to think that if you’re going to inject a lot of uncertainty on people who have very specialized skills — skills that we need at BPA — and you’re going to tell them that you may or may not be fired at any point why wouldn’t they consider working for an institution that’s not gonna have that uncertainty?” said Greg Dotson University of Oregon associate law professor who previously held senior energy and environmental staff positions in Congress Wildfire season is rapidly approaching — a time when BPA employees carefully maintain and watch transmission lines that could spark fires The federal utility has long helped respond to electrical equipment damaged in blazes Dotson is concerned that Oregonians could feel the impact of the job cuts sooner rather than later as someone who uses the electricity system in Oregon and has some familiarity with energy policy,” he said “that we could end up really regretting what’s happened with employment at BPA in the coming months.” Tags: Bonneville Power Administration, Energy, Pacific Northwest, Trump Stand with OPB and protect independent journalism for everyone. 19Power lines from Bonneville Dam head in all directions in North Bonneville Note: The following transcript was transcribed digitally and validated for accuracy readability and formatting by an OPB volunteer Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB We start today with the Bonneville Power Administration It’s one of dozens of federal agencies being targeted by Elon Musk with the president’s support Department of Energy but is not funded by taxpayers It sells power to utilities and municipalities that’s generated at 31 dams and other sources It also operates about 75% of the region’s high voltage transmission lines hundreds of the agency’s skilled and specialized workers have taken early retirement or accepted the so-called “fork in the road” buyout offer Additional staff has been let go without notice last week industry watchers and former BPA leaders all sounding the alarm about the potential catastrophic impacts on the Northwest’s power grid and the millions of people who rely on it Miller: I gave the really short version of what the BPA does What’s the fuller version of this hugely important Bonneville markets power from the federal dams and other dams on the Columbia and Snake Rivers The dams themselves are operated by the Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation But Bonneville has the responsibility for marketing the power from the dams and running the Northwest Transmission Grid So about a third of the power that the Northwest consumes is marketed as hydropower and nuclear power the Bonneville owns 75% of the high voltage transmission When you’re running a transmission grid for the whole region you have to balance resources and load every four seconds It requires very specialized people with usually 20-25 years of training to do that They’re among the most highly trained and skilled people in the organization is that we’ve lost a number of those people but they took early retirement or the “early out” program the Trump administration offered Miller: What does it mean in practice to operate the high voltage grid it entails monitoring what your loads are at any given time throughout the region as well as how much generation you have coming in you have various positions and lots of data flowing in on a second by second basis And you’ve got to constantly adjust the transmission system You have to signal to the Corps and the Bureau for Coulee and the other dams how much water to release when like Portland General Electric and PacifiCorp so that you keep the entire system in balance on a four second by four second basis Miller: This has been a moving target in recent days the raw number or the percentage of total BPA employees who are no longer there through the combination of early retirement we’ve heard that some subset of the people who were fired were quickly offered their jobs back what’s your best sense for the actual percentage of employees that we’re talking about when the judge released his hold on the early out program that the administration had offered With everybody that was going to take that at Bonneville two separate parallel but similar programs that was about 230 employees that had already sent their applications in They were residing in the Office of Personnel Management in Washington D.C You had another 90 people for which Bonneville had offers out of jobs that they were required to rescind Miller: And that was because of the hiring freeze that’s because of the hiring freeze that’s part of this whole effort … they were withdrawn And then you had another 400 what are called probationary employees which are the first year of your employment in a federal service meaning you do not have the normal protections of full-fledged civil service employees in the federal government The theory of that is you’re evaluated during that first year and if you measure up you become permanent the Trump administration just decreed that all those folks should be fired as of Wednesday or early Thursday of last week and the outcry associated with the reliability damages that would occur in a variety of other problems that that would produce the administration made a couple of changes we’re essentially at 420 positions that Bonneville is down that’s a 14% reduction rate in their staff They were able to get 300 roughly of the 400 probationary employees restored you end up with essentially a loss of 420 employees – a 14% reduction Miller: So the percentage is dramatic: 14% Our team at OPB talked to a few people at BPA who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of reprisal One said this: “While the number of people leaving is a concern We have several mission critical employees with decades of institutional knowledge who’ve accepted the offer Every day is an emotional roller coaster.” Do you know right now if the kinds of mission critical roles that you were talking about earlier are still now unfilled Let me give you two groupings which are particularly critical you have power dispatchers and hydro schedulers that operate the system on the four second by four second basis Several of those dispatchers and schedulers have taken the early out program Those folks are not immediately replaceable you can shift lesser qualified staff over to cover But you are increasing the reliability risk of the system Bonneville operates to less than 0.1% of unplanned outages This will increase that percentage substantially And it isn’t even the 0.1% that we’re used to That is an unacceptable increase in reliability risk Miller: Let me make sure … It’s the grid itself so that regardless of your utility  – because of the work done in that office – if less experienced people are doing it you’re saying parts of the grid will just shut down Hardy: I’m saying parts of the grid may shut down if you have an unusual weather event the people you have replacing are doing their best But they may not recognize individual anomalies in the system until it’s too late I put the lights out in California when I was administrator for a whole day We were exporting much of our hydro to California And one of our 230 kV lines sagged unexpectedly into a filbert tree in Eastern Oregon And that triggered other lines starting to to relay out and our dispatchers weren’t able to react fast enough to that that meant we were short all over the Northwest the system automatically when something like that happens and the lights went out in California for virtually everybody It took us a whole day to figure out what went wrong and to restore power That’s the kind of risk you don’t want to be exposed to but that’s the kind of risk we now are exposed to Miller: The current BPA administrator John Hairston said that the Trump administration had “made it clear that it’s a national priority to increase the abundance of affordable reliable and secure energy to strengthen the grid and to enable the projects that will improve people’s lives.” What’s your response those expectations are going in exactly the wrong direction but Bonneville has $5 billion of planned transmission upgrades that it is proceeding with over the next probably five to 10 years Those upgrades are needed to both meet the rising demand – particularly from data centers in Hillsboro and throughout the Northwest east of the Cascades – as well as to enable utilities like Portland General Electric and Puget Sound Energy to meet their 80% clean energy goals by 2030 So you have a lot of additional transmission that needs to be built We haven’t built new transmission for 30 years in this region We’ve been fortunate in that loads have grown all the aluminum companies went out of business in the early 2000s and we just reallocated that power to serve the load growth So we didn’t have to build additional transmission but it can’t execute that program effectively unless it has somewhat more staff You probably need to increase slightly from 3,100 to 3,200 to be able to build that transmission and interconnect to all parts of the 13 western states so you can directly access not just California power but you can directly access the desert Southwest power in Nevada and Arizona what that will enable Bonneville to do is access whatever the cheapest resource is that’s operating anywhere in the western states more or less immediately they would back that transmission construction program because you’re much better interconnected to all of the resources in the 13 western states crammed down kind of approach to get a result that as I think Senator Wyden and/or Merkley have called it because Bonneville is funded through electricity rates that you pay Miller: We talked with another one of the probationary employees at BPA who was fired but he did raise an issue I haven’t seen too much in reporting: The provider of choice process that is underway now which sets out long-term contracts with the agency’s customers mainly publicly-owned utilities which have preferential access to Bonneville hydropower But that’s an important decision for them to make you’re cutting staff so that they can’t provide the services that those publicly-owned utilities Some of them may opt to try to go their own way and purchase power from the open market which is for them a much riskier proposition than simply relying on Bonneville That’s the decision they’ll face over the next couple of years Miller: I mentioned a couple folks that we’ve talked to who wanted to stay anonymous fear of digital surveillance as some specific concerns I’m curious what you’ve heard from current employees or people who’ve talked to them – I imagine you have a lot of contacts – in terms of morale at this agency This is governance by fear and intimidation That’s what the Trump administration is offering here it’s hard for Bonneville to even describe what the impacts are because you’re immediately perceived as being disloyal by the White House or the Department of Energy and you’re subject to getting fired immediately Even the current people in the Department of Energy can’t fully understand what’s going on because it’s hard for Bonneville to communicate this in any public sense without being accused of being disloyal to the Trump administration or the Department of Energy when they’re simply saying “this cut is going to produce that problem.” The line between what is an honest discussion of real world impacts that the agency has to address And where it’s drawn is highly dependent upon whoever’s hearing it And this administration doesn’t want to hear bad news even when they’re the ones that created it If you’re an employee and you’re faced with that kind of attitude from your superiors and it’s a method of governance problem that’s certainly not unique to Bonneville But as an operating agency which is responsible to keep the lights on in the Northwest it has a particularly severe and risky impact Miller: Randy Hardy is the former BPA administrator He joined us to talk about the impacts of staff resignations and terminations at the Bonneville Power Administration If you’d like to comment on any of the topics in this show or suggest a topic of your own, please get in touch with us on Facebook, send an email to thinkoutloud@opb.org or you can leave a voicemail for us at 503-293-1983 The call-in phone number during the noon hour is 888-665-5865 Tags: Think Out Loud She’s happiest telling solutions journalism stories and talking to interesting people in the Pacific Northwest who are up to stuff — especially those contributing to a healthy and vibrant civil society. Allison’s past OPB lives included stints as announcer, web producer, local magazine host and managing editor. Before OPB, she served as executive director of community radio station KFCF in Fresno, California, anchored “All Things Considered” at Cap Radio in Sacramento, and taught English as a second language. Allison holds a degree in speech communication from California State University, Fresno, and a masters in journalism and communication from the University of Oregon. engineers among hundreds of staff to leave Bonneville Power Administration as Trump trims workforceThe Bonneville Power Administration could lose nearly 20% of its workforce because of President Donald Trump’s efforts to shrink the federal government according to agency figures released Thursday and interviews with staff That’s raising concerns among current and former employees about the agency’s ability to ensure the reliability of the region’s electrical grid Related: Are you a federal worker in the Pacific Northwest? OPB wants to hear from you About 200 of the agency’s more than 3,000 employees have accepted the Trump administration’s offer to resign and receive eight months of severance pay which the administration sent via an email with the subject line “Fork in the Road.” BPA administrator John Hairston announced that number Thursday during the agency’s quarterly outlook presentation An additional 90 job offers at BPA were rescinded as a result of the administration’s freeze on federal hiring Chief financial officer is among the open positions held up by the hiring freeze administrator of the Bonneville Power Administration Current and former BPA staff anticipate another 350 to 400 probationary employees could be cut — though one current employee said agency leadership have fought to keep that number below 150. E&E News reported Thursday that the Department of Energy planned to lay off most or all of its probationary employees The employees taking the buyout include linemen “I can’t overemphasize the fact that this is a serious an energy consultant and former administrator of BPA “The reliability impacts of this could be very serious Losing a large chunk of its highly trained workforce will hinder the agency’s ability to perform core functions Those functions include distributing hydropower from 31 federal dams and operating 75% of the Northwest’s power grid ensuring reliable electricity for millions in the Northwest OPB also spoke about the staff losses with three BPA employees who requested anonymity out of fear of reprisal OPB verified their identities using a variety of publicly available records “While the number of people leaving is a concern the real problem is who is leaving,” one BPA employee said “We have several mission critical employees with decades of institutional knowledge who have accepted the offer.” FILE - Bonneville Power Administration transmission infrastructure During Thursday’s quarterly outlook presentation Hairston said BPA leadership was working closely with the Department of Energy to carry out the president’s directions “I want to express my appreciation to Bonneville’s workforce for navigating these changes with professionalism maintaining focus on BPA’s critical mission and advancing our strategic initiatives,” Hairston said adding that the Trump administration had “made it clear that it’s a national priority to increase the abundance of affordable and secure energy to strengthen the grid and to enable the projects that will improve people’s lives.” BPA officials did not respond to emailed questions about how the reduction in its workforce would affect efforts to strengthen the grid and provide affordable and reliable energy how many transmission-related employees were leaving the agency or whether ongoing transmission upgrades would be slowed because of the loss of staff The BPA employees OPB spoke to said it would be unlikely the agency could strengthen and expand the grid as promised.“No way we’ll be in damage control and literally trying to keep the lights on,” one transmission employee said While employees are already dealing with limited resources and increasingly extreme weather wildfires and rapid increases in electricity demand “Having one hand tied behind our back means putting the communities we serve at risk.” executive director of the Public Power Council said the personnel losses were very concerning and that the council would be sending letters and seeking meetings with the Trump administration to express the critical role of BPA’s functions for Northwest energy “It’s a huge duty and it’s extremely important and so we’ve got safety as an issue,” Simms said “You’ve got mission critical aspects in terms of dam operations in terms of you’re making sure that those wires are safe so we wanna make sure that those folks who are highly trained remain in those jobs.” The Department of Energy did not respond to a request for comment The staff reduction at BPA is part of Trump’s vow to make substantial cuts across the federal workforce Trump signed an executive order earlier this week requiring federal agencies to work with the Department of Government Efficiency the operation led by billionaire Elon Musk The order installs at each federal agency a “DOGE Team Lead” who has oversight over hiring said he considered the Bonneville staff reductions to be ironic because the agency is self-funded It receives no money from taxpayers and funds all of its staff and programs with its power and transmission sales “So the administration isn’t saving a thing with these,” Hardy said “It doesn’t save one penny towards reducing the Federal deficit.” Tags: Science & Environment, Politics, Bonneville Power Administration ","type":"text"},{"_id":"GVS4RFHVTJGFHOVQR5OU523AIQ","additional_properties":{},"content":"The employees taking the buyout include linemen ","type":"text"},{"_id":"EDN4POPWMRG6HOQ5E7734XSSVA","additional_properties":{},"content":"“I can’t overemphasize the fact that this is a serious Unplanned outages.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"3TJDSMAJ6JEYLIJBDBSY2XIFRA","additional_properties":{},"content":"Losing a large chunk of its highly trained workforce will hinder the agency’s ability to perform core functions ","type":"text"},{"_id":"QKXRMRGJMBHZPJDNW2SIU3O37A","additional_properties":{},"content":"OPB also spoke about the staff losses with three BPA employees who requested anonymity out of fear of reprisal OPB verified their identities using a variety of publicly available records.","type":"text"},{"_id":"OA6FRHIG5ZAN7C66PKHRYPMJZU","additional_properties":{},"content":"“While the number of people leaving is a concern “We have several mission critical employees with decades of institutional knowledge who have accepted the offer.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"DBBREPCJVNFPZJEM7O7YUTLHUA","additional_properties":{},"content":"“I’m sighing a lot,” the person added ","type":"text"},{"_id":"3JZPFJP23BDGPEYQSD5PXGF3IY","additional_properties":{},"content":"“I want to express my appreciation to Bonneville’s workforce for navigating these changes with professionalism and secure energy to strengthen the grid and to enable the projects that will improve people’s lives.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"HMD3JRL5CNHG7AWY46WUIVOBV4","additional_properties":{},"content":"BPA officials did not respond to emailed questions about how the reduction in its workforce would affect efforts to strengthen the grid and provide affordable and reliable energy or whether ongoing transmission upgrades would be slowed because of the loss of staff.","type":"text"},{"_id":"RYG67FJIKVGOHFEUGC2RLYEZQA","additional_properties":{},"content":"The BPA employees OPB spoke to said it would be unlikely the agency could strengthen and expand the grid as promised.“No way “Having one hand tied behind our back means putting the communities we serve at risk.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"55IXI57VRFBOZJJOE3SR7M37QM","additional_properties":{},"content":"Scott Simms ","type":"text"},{"_id":"WJ2VW3MRH5DWDFDMASNPZKFCFM","additional_properties":{},"content":"“It’s a huge duty and it’s extremely important and so we’ve got safety as an issue,” Simms said so we wanna make sure that those folks who are highly trained remain in those jobs.”","type":"text"},{"_id":"OOTUHGZ42RGCTL46D54K5P45FI","additional_properties":{},"content":"The Department of Energy did not respond to a request for comment ","type":"text"},{"_id":"AFK5LF5T7BH4DI3XJRCZRFQVDI","additional_properties":{},"content":"The staff reduction at BPA is part of Trump’s vow to make substantial cuts across the federal workforce ","type":"text"},{"_id":"33CT7RCHRFBX5ONCPVBTDNR5FY","additional_properties":{},"content":"Trump signed an executive order earlier this week requiring federal agencies to work with the Department of Government Efficiency The order installs at each federal agency a “DOGE Team Lead” who has oversight over hiring.","type":"text"},{"_id":"TSXL3CVOJFGBXJPH5QURTIQ24A","additional_properties":{},"content":"Hardy It receives no money from taxpayers and funds all of its staff and programs with its power and transmission sales.","type":"text"},{"_id":"FNXQYUQJDBB7BBKFBQG4OYDZVU","additional_properties":{},"content":"“So the administration isn’t saving a thing with these,” Hardy said Tony previously worked as the web editor for Investigative Reporters and Editors He has worked as a freelance reporter and researcher since 2007 He has undergraduate degrees in journalism and sociology from Gonzaga University where he spent enough time after hours in the student newsroom that he and his wife named their dog after the building’s beloved overnight custodian He received his master's degree in journalism from the University of Missouri.  To send a secure message to Courtney via Signal, reach her at this link Courtney Sherwood is editor of OPB's climate and environment reporting team. She began contributing to OPB special projects, filling in as a radio editor, and contributing to the digital team starting in 2012, and served as managing editor for digital content from 2022 through January 2024. Courtney spent a number of years specializing in data journalism, with a focus on business, banking and health care reporting. Her byline has appeared on the front page of the New York Times, as well as on stories for Reuters, Vice, Science magazine, the Seattle Times, the Chicago Tribune and the Portland Business Journal. She previously served as the business and features editor for The Columbian and editor-in-chief for The Lund Report. She is a past recipient of a Wharton Business Journalists Fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania, and is a graduate of Grinnell College. 2025 10:06 p.m.FILE - Construction of Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River was completed in 1938 It's now one 31 federal dams whose hydropower is marketed by BPA The Bonneville Power Administration was born out of the New Deal, an era of large-scale public works projects that created infrastructure and jobs as the U.S. recovered from the Great Depression. It started to market electricity from the Bonneville and Grand Coulee hydroelectric dams in the 1930s and ’40s a third of all power consumed in the Pacific Northwest comes from BPA which owns 75% of the region’s electrical transmission lines Eighty-eight years after its creation by an act of Congress Bonneville Power is widely viewed as both an engine of prosperity in the Northwest and - at times - an obstacle to environmental goals and economic growth FILE - Transmission towers at Bonneville Power Administration’s Earl D BPA owns 75% of the region’s electrical transmission lines The salmon viewing area at the Bonneville Lock and Dam FILE - PDX Community Solar in Northeast Portland Solar and wind energy are a growing part of the Pacific Northwest energy mix that BPA helps manage Transmission towers at Bonneville Power Administration’s Earl D Tags: Science & Environment, Bonneville Dam, Bonneville Power Administration, Electricity, Pacific Northwest, Salmon, Environment market manipulation by the company Enron contributed to a power shortage that drove wholesale prices for electricity up significantly rates never returned to the lows of BPA’s first half century aimed at helping lower helping energy bills for low-income qualified Cully neighborhood residents Once completed the solar project could power up to 150 homes 2024.","auth":{"1":"031d20bdda4067f5626c9c4ed72a14d6a8afcfdd24d09f4d3c39a25105f95e94"},"caption":"FILE - PDX Community Solar in Northeast Portland Her work has covered how communities in Southern Oregon continue to recover from wildfires as well as the decades of groundwater pollution in Eastern Oregon and its impacts to the communities She's also closely examined how urban planning in Portland makes heat domes particularly deadly for marginalized communities she’s been covering the renewable energy transition the human impacts of climate change and environmental justice Monica was an on-call general assignment reporter at KQED in San Francisco where she attended the University of Technology Sydney to finish her degree she was able to get her first taste of radio while producing and hosting for 2SER Monica holds a bachelor's degree in broadcast and electronic communication arts from San Francisco State University Monica likes to spend time with her family and friends and travel to the world LAYTON — Layton High’s Austin Pritchett outdueled Davis High’s Sam Sevy and made a 3-1 lead after one inning stand up to give the Lancers a region baseball win Wednesday creating a three-way tie atop Region 1 between the two and Fremont Pritchett spread six hits across seven innings striking out three and walking four in a complete game for Layton (7-10 Caleb Jackson and Tanner Neil each drove in one run striking out six and walking one in the tough loss for Davis (12-6 The Darts had six players with one hit apiece with Kaleb Weaver and Jaxon Marble each hitting a double PLEASANT VIEW — Fremont took Game 2 of the region series at Weber by taking a 5-0 lead in the first and scoring six more in the sixth creating a three-way tie with Davis and Layton atop Region 1 Owen Simkins tripled twice and drove in three runs for Fremont (13-5 Jace Hadley drove in two and scored two from the leadoff spot allowing three earned runs on six hits over 5 2/3 innings Ridge Torman hit 2 for 3 with a solo homer for Weber (2-14 BOUNTIFUL — Hudson Taylor pitched a complete-game three-hitter with seven strikeouts to pitch Bonneville to a win at Viewmont one RBI and one run scored in the leadoff spot as Bonneville (8-11 2-6 Region 5) scored twice in the first inning LAYTON — Roy rapped 16 singles and 19 total hits on the way to a five-inning victory at Northridge and its first region win Logan Vorwaller and Connor Robinson each drove in three runs for Roy (8-9 James Cochran and Cache Summers each had three hits Parker Skidmore shook off a four-run first inning in which he gave up four consecutive doubles and spread six hits and two runs across the final four innings Isaac Anderson and Parker Jeppson hit those doubles in the first for Northridge (12-7 Olsen finished 3 for 3 with a home run and two RBIs SYRACUSE — Calder Millard pitched a complete game allowing two earned runs on six hits while striking out four Burkon Beus and Colsten Thomas each hit two singles and drove in one run for Syracuse (5-10 TAYLOR — West Field crushed Logan with 11 runs in the first inning on the way to a five-inning run-rule victory Brady Penland was the only multi-hit batter for West Field (12-9 going 2 for 3 with two doubles and two RBIs The Longhorns drew seven walks and Logan committed six errors Grady Garrett and Kason Taylor each drove in two runs Caymen Kap spread six hits and six walks across five innings striking out four and allowing one run for the win GARLAND — Holden Potter pitched a two-hit shutout to lead Bear River in a region win Dallin Rice hit 2 for 3 with two RBIs for Bear River (15-7 Michael Sanchez and Jackson Barfuss each hit 2 for 3 with one RBI WOODS CROSS — Boston Steacie took the hard-luck loss at first-place Woods Cross allowing two runs on two hits and striking out five over six innings for Box Elder Bryson Wight hit 2 for 2 for Box Elder (4-12 Greyson Burt and Easton Green each hit singles Heston White needed 89 pitches in a four-hit shutout for Woods Cross (12-7 BOUNTIFUL — Clearfield led 3-0 in the third and Taven Swartz took a shutout into the fifth when Bountiful scored all six of its runs in one frame Logan Fenn hit 2 for 3 with a double and two RBIs for Clearfield (9-10 Colt Chambers hit a double and drove in the other run Swartz allowed two earned runs on six hits GARLAND — Ella Miller struck out 16 to win a duel with Kate Wilson and lead Bountiful (17-2) to a tight win over Bear River in a bout of 5A and 4A powers Wilson allowed two earned runs on four hits Bella Douglas doubled and scored on a Luci Roche single Bear River’s losses this season are to 6A Riverton and 5A Bountiful BOUNTIFUL — Both teams tallie seven hits but Northridge committed seven errors and surrendered just one earned run in a road region loss Berklee Larsen and Braylynn McClellan each hit one double for Northridge (9-11 OGDEN — Ailin Gonzalez singled to give Ben Lomond (0-11 0-10 Region 13) its only baserunner in a three-inning home loss to Grantsville doubled and drove in three but Roy lost at Sky View Brynlee Pearl drove in two runs for the Royals (0-15) SYRACUSE — After a 1-1 draw through regulation and extra time Boston Smith blocked three kicks during a shootout to help Weber to a 5-4 penalty shootout win over Syracuse Luke Pack scored in the first half for Weber (11-3 scored in the first half for Syracuse (7-7 KAYSVILLE — Kyle Livermore scored in the second half and assisted Parker Anderson to lift Davis (8-4 5-2 Region 1) to a region win over Farmington (4-6 PLAIN CITY — Kyle Lemburg scored in the second half Gibbs got the shutout in goal for Layton (6-6 LAYTON — Fremont took a match Tuesday at Layton (17-25 Carter Green totaled 16 kills and Manase Tuatagaloa had 11 for Fremont (6-13 Korver Lewis totaled 18 digs and John Suka 16 1-6) with 19 kills and Bryce Gardner had 14 kills with 17 digs ICYMI: Senator Murray on Trump Indiscriminately Firing Workers at Hanford and Bonneville Power Administration Threatening Energy Security in Washington State ***VIDEO FROM PRESS CALL HERE*** ***NEW FACT SHEET: Impact in Washington State of Trump and Musk’s Reckless Mass Layoffs*** Murray was joined for the press call by Gregg Bafundo Forest Service’s Okanogan Wenatchee National Forest and a former U.S Marine who lives in Okanogan County; Raphael Garcia a veteran and former Management Analyst for the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) who has served as the only management analyst for the Veterans Benefits Administration’s Disability Rating Activity Site at the Seattle Regional Office for the past 7.5 months; and Liz Klumpp former Washington Constituent Account Executive at the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) who retired from BPA in 2023 and resides in Olympia Both Gregg and Raphael were let go last week as part of the Trump administration’s mass firings of federal workers and his co-President Elon Musk are breaking American government They are firing workers left and right—with no plan and no concern for who gets hurt,” said Senator Murray.“We know Trump’s firing spree isn’t about merit because they are targeting new employees people who have been recognized for outstanding performance and people who were recently promoted—who are now getting fired from their newly earned jobs some of our best performers—and fresh blood in the federal workforce We know Trump’s mass firings aren’t about saving money there would be no reason for them to fire hundreds of workers at the Bonneville Power Administration these positions are funded by ratepayers—by all of us in the Northwest—not from federal funding And these are people who literally help keep the lights on But no matter—they’re being fired on a whim because two billionaires don’t have a clue about what they do “I swore an oath to serve our country—first in the U.S Army and then at the VA—only to be abruptly terminated by the very institution that promised to care for those who have served,” said Raphael Garcia of Seattle who was laid off through no fault of his own and with zero justification from the VA last week “My termination isn’t just a personal tragedy; it’s a stark reminder that our federal government is dismantling essential support systems for Veterans and vulnerable communities When cost-cutting means sacrificing dedicated disabled service members and committed federal employees it isn’t about efficiency—it’s about eroding the trust and dignity that our nation owes to those who answer the call to serve.” “For 18 years I have faithfully served the American People—eight as a US Marine and ten as a Wilderness Ranger I have always put myself between the danger and my fellow citizens and now I have been cast aside as the parasite class or some kind of fraud These heartless and gutless firings will lead to loss of lives and property,” said Gregg Bafundo of Okanogan County who was laid off through no fault of his own and with zero justification from the Forest Service last week “Bonneville is the source of nearly 50 percent of the electrical power that is consumed in the State of Washington and owns and maintains over 15,000 circuit miles of high voltage transmission from Montana Bonneville has over a dozen new transmission projects in the planning stages—which its customers are asking for—to serve the increasing demand for electricity and to interconnect new power generators being built Bonneville is self-funded by selling transmission service or selling electrical power No federal tax revenues fund its work or its employees Cutting its employees does not save the federal tax payer a dime,” said Liz Klumpp who worked at BPA for 15 years before retiring in 2023 and resides in Olympia “These arbitrary lay-offs and hiring freezes will make it increasingly harder for the remaining employees to do their jobs and do them safely its customers are asking Bonneville to expand its transmission system Bonneville helps keep the lights on in the Northwest Senator Murray’s full remarks, as delivered on today’s press call, are below and video is HERE: “And we know there is no plan because they fired hundreds of people in charge of ensuring the security of our nuclear arsenal—only to desperately turn around and try to hire them back And these other firings are just as senseless and reckless “In the middle of the bird flu threat—they are firing public health experts “Weeks after the deadliest plane crash in years—they are firing FAA workers “After the devastating wildfires recently—they are firing members of the Forest Service and we’ll hear from one of them in a minute “They are firing people who work in law enforcement “I’ve spent years trying to get the Hanford cleanup the resources it needs We’ve made so much progress—but it has still been understaffed even before these pointless layoffs last week cut it down to a skeleton crew “We know Trump’s firing spree isn’t about merit because they are targeting new employees and people who were recently promoted—who are now are getting fired from their newly earned jobs some of our best performers—the fresh blood in the federal workforce “We know Trump’s mass firings aren’t about saving money there would be no reason for them to fire hundreds of workers at Bonneville Power “But no matter—they’re being fired on a whim because two billionaires don’t have a clue about what they do “And Trump is not tossing workers out on the street to make government more efficient “VA researchers are being fired as well—VA Puget Sound workers are being fired despite doing lifesaving research to prevent veteran suicide “That is not just a betrayal of these public workers—it is a betrayal of our women and men in uniform who trust we will take care of them when they come home “Especially considering they have laid off many veterans as well—people who served their country and wanted to keep serving their country And that really underscores an important point about exactly who Trump is firing “These are people who love their country and love their communities And I’m so grateful to be joined by some of them today who will speak about what they have been through “And I’d like to say to them all—thank you for the work you’ve done for our country You deserve so much better than how you’ve been treated “What Elon and Trump are doing is going to set our country back But we are not powerless—and your decision to share your stories today is proof of that and we can all speak out for a government that works for middle-class families regular people—not just billionaires who will never need to call about their Social Security benefits or file a disability claim at VA “So I want to thank everyone for joining this call today—and now I’ll turn it over to Gregg.” IDAHO FALLS- The Bonneville County Transfer Station will be closed from May 12 to May 16 The closure is due to maintenance needed on the “trench” where waste is gathered The metal floor of the trench will be repaired during the closure The transfer station will still accept tires used motor oil (up to 5 gallons) and lead acid batteries during the closure Municipal and household waste will be diverted to the Peterson Hill Landfill Its operating hours are Monday through Saturday do so at the Bonneville County Hatch Pit at 3690 Recycle Road in Idaho Falls The Hatch Pit is open Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m For live updates and information about the closure, visit the Bonneville County website SUBMIT A CORRECTION Share on FacebookShare on X (formerly Twitter)Share on PinterestShare on LinkedInPORTLAND Ore (KPTV) - All of the workers who were terminated from the Bonneville Power Administration as part of federal job cuts will be re-hired We spoke to one worker who wants to remain anonymous They tell us probationary employees were let go last month We’re told some workers will return as early as Friday re-hired employees will also be getting back pay and the BPA is now exempt from any future reductions in force We reached out to BPA for comment and a spokesperson confirmed the process to re-hire all terminated workers has begun but they were not able to provide any other details WASHINGTON TERRACE — Sophomore catcher Samantha Mills batted 4 for 4 with two home runs and six RBIs for Bonneville High softball on the way to a 14-4 five-inning home victory over Roy on Thursday Kaylee McAfee and Madilynn DeGroot each batted 3 for 4 and drove in one Peyton Johnson had two hits and three RBIs and got the win with six hits The Lakers scored 8 runs in the second inning to take a 10-1 lead 0-9) got home runs from Quincy Johnson and Lundyn Hearell Johnson batted 2 for 3 and scored two runs PLEASANT VIEW — Davis scored six runs before Weber batted in a region road win Hadlee Isaacs batted 3 for 3 with a home run and four RBIs for Davis (10-6 Norah Sunderland batted 2 for 3 with a triple Jewel Korth went 3 for 4 with a double and an RBI Adelyn Turpin had two hits and drove in one Serena Roth got the win with three hits and five strikeouts Gabby Montgomery and Kaitlyn Tolman each had a hit SMITHFIELD — Layton out-hit Mountain Crest 9-4 but came up short on the scoreboard in a road loss Wednesday Serenity Overton batted 2 for 4 with one RBI for Layton (0-9) Emma Huven and Nora Morrow each hit an RBI single Megan Child and Olivia Woodall had one hit apiece PLAIN CITY — Brant Koford batted 3 for 4 with two home runs and six RBIs and pitched 6 2/3 innings with six hits and two strikeouts to lead Fremont to a region win over Davis on Wednesday Owen Simkins went 3 for 4 and drove in two for Fremont (11-5 Kasen Pearson hit an RBI single while Cole Sanders and Kurt Dahl each got a hit Owen Talbot batted 2 for 3 with a home run Carter Garrett went 2 for 4 with a double and an RBI Mitch Ossmen and Cayman Sanchez each hit a single MORGAN — Camron Talbot pitched a three-hitter with one earned run and three strikeouts to lead Morgan past South Summit (5-12 Tyson Talbot and Lincoln Gilson each batted 2 for 4 with an RBI for Morgan (13-5 Camron Talbot and Kanyon Leonelli each hit a single PARK CITY — Bear River scored two runs in the eighth inning to grab a road win at Park City Ethan Higgs hit a two-run home run for Bear River (11-7) Nick Oliverson batted 3 for 5 with a double and two RBIs Holden Potter and Dallin Rice each had one hit Garrison Davis got the win in one inning of relief GRANTSVILLE — Ogden trailed 9-4 after one inning but could get no closer in a region loss at Grantsville (9-7 Rodrigo Torres batted 2 for 3 with a double and an RBI for Ogden (2-17 Lucas Bushell and Kash Thompson each hit a single ROOSEVELT — Ben Lomond took a five-inning loss at Union (16-4 Kaysen Reeves hit an RBI double for Ben Lomond (1-13 Kai Langston hit a single and scored a run while Nathan Huerta added a single GARLAND — Bear River scored two runs in the fourth inning to take a 4-2 lead then added six runs in the fifth for a Wednesday win over Sky View (5-12 Ethan Higgs and Holden Potter each batted 2 for 4 with a double for Bear River (10-7 Thomas Summers and Kolten Summers each hit two singles and Kolten Summers drove in two Jackson Barfuss hit a single and drove in three Potter got the win with two hits and 10 strikeouts WASHINGTON TERRACE — Bonneville scored four runs in the fifth inning to cut the Woods Cross (9-7 4-1 Region 5) lead to 7-5 but could get no closer in a home loss Wednesday Hudson Taylor batted 3 for 3 and drove in two for Bonneville (7-9 Jaygen Noble hit an RBI double and Paden Toula also doubled KAYSVILLE — Layton netted the golden goal in the first session of extra time to hand Davis its first region loss Wednesday Crew Hawley and Cameron Whitesides each scored for Layton (5-5 Rudy Jensen and Liam Kuerth assisted one goal apiece Braxton Passey and Ben Smith scored one goal apiece for Davis (7-3 PLAIN CITY — Syracuse grabbed a straight-sets win at Fremont Ian Sprague had 13 digs and Talon Morris dished out 31 assists the Pontiac Bonneville and Catalina hardly ever get mentioned this is because they were the shortest-lived of these B-cars offered only from 1977 until the summer of 1981 When sales tanked thanks to the OPEC oil crisis in 1979 and a recession a year earlier but his future vision for Pontiac lay with cars like the Fiero Even fans of 1970s Pontiacs would usually rather discuss the Firebird the excitement brand’s biggest winners (and legends) of that decade and the relative scarcity of the Bonneville and Catalina has led to the perception that these Pontiacs weren’t all that successful Full-size Pontiac sales rose in 1977 and actually went up again in 1979 anything like the much-venerated late-1960s Pontiacs which might be why collectors don’t talk much about them today Growing up where everybody drove big Detroit iron when these cars were fairly new—Chicago and then the Bronx—I’ve always been fascinated by the Bonneville’s clean lines, bold colors, and fender skirts. It seemed the most distinctive “Project 77” car to me, and like the Buick LeSabre coupe, oddly similar to Paulo Martin’s Fiat 130 Coupe But no marque history or fan forum has ever really delved into how they were created or whatever happened to them—until now lead designer Terry Henline told me all about it this is the story of the Bonneville and the Catalina,” Henline started “but it’s really the story of how a Chevrolet became a Pontiac.” If you recognize Henline’s name, it’s probably because he played a key role in dozens of famous GM designs, even if he isn’t much interested in the limelight. He came up through the Fisher Body Craftsman’s guild and his list of hits stretches from the original 1970 Chevrolet Monte Carlo to the 1988 Pontiac Grand Prix as well as the Chevy Avalanche and Hummer H2 Shortly after the Monte Carlo went into production Henline was transferred to the Chevrolet Advanced Studio which was more about ideas than production cars “We never knew why we were moved around; that was something only VPs understood,” Henline told me [Design boss] Bill Mitchell hated facing [Chevrolet head] John DeLorean so he’d only come around when DeLorean wasn’t around and said ‘Kid’—he always called me kid—‘Over in Italy they’re doing this real sheer Put something like this together and show me what you can do.’” “Like the Fiat 130 Coupe?” I asked Henline “This may sound shocking but I can’t say I was truly paying attention to Italian cars then though the renderings I did were influenced by the roof of the Fiat 124 Coupe.” Henline soon produced two large airbrushed renderings of a spare muscular coupe with sheer sides and an airy greenhouse “Nobody at the design center had been doing anything like that He’d challenged us to figure out how to build a Chevy that captured that sheer planar look.” With fellow advanced designers Jerry Brochstein and Hank Cramer Henline then created a full-size clay model of the shape which wowed Mitchell and the other design leaders I think that’s it,’” and that look from Henline’s team set the direction for the 1977 Caprice and Impala I’m as proud of that illustration as anything I’ve ever done.” Chevy’s production studio designers then took the clay and concepts to flesh out the production cars they tended to get promoted.” Right after the success of the blue rendering and the clay “Somebody decided to promote me to lead Pontiac Studio One and re-interpret the car I’d just done for Chevrolet as a Pontiac.” For what it’s worth Henline was not a person who actually drove traditional big GM cars Around the time he started working on the Bonneville and Catalina he and his wife both drove Austin-Healey 3000s The promotion made one half of the team that would shape the two decades of Pontiacs While Schinella’s group handled specialty machines like Firebirds and Fieros Henline’s team worked on bread-and-butter models like the Bonneville so what was going on in Pontiac One was a secret to the rest of the building and it helped to set high standards and differentiate the cars Pontiac struggled mightily to reconcile its 1960s performance image with falling power outputs and the increasing customer focus on luxury or the appearance thereof The decade also coincided with constantly shifting leadership at the division with four general managers in less than 10 years each of whom had little history with Pontiac and struggled with the fast-evolving market challenges of the time They and Pontiac dealers wanted to sell cars that were in tune with the times so the shape that Henline’s team crafted wasn’t meant to be overtly muscular “We wanted to create a glamorous full-size sedan that had distinct Pontiac overtones I look back on it and I’m not 100% sure we were successful there but we did our best and we liked the car.” Many of its traits were also longtime Pontiac tropes from older Bonnevilles wasn’t necessarily a big fan of fender skirts “but what I was really doing was just trying to give the Pontiacs a more unique flair You’ll remember it had to share some panels with other cars We were also asked by marketing to do some things that we might otherwise not have done.” The Catalina which were more similar to Henline’s original concept Although Henline didn’t consider them perfect the designs were finished in a compressed time frame and they came out well GM dealers and executives fretted over the downsizing decision where big cars had been struggling as Oldsmobile swiped sales in the era of the Brougham sales rose from 137,216 big Ponchos in 1976 to 207,920 in ’77 with Catalina sales declining while Bonneville and flashier Bonneville Broughams boomed a few Catalinas used Buick’s 3.8-liter V-6 and a few (now highly prized) models got Pontiac 350 or 400 V-8s Oldsmobile’s burly 403 sometimes subbed in torque-surfing cruisers in an era of iffy quality They sold about as well as the Buick LeSabre GM updated the big cars again with formal-looking but more aerodynamic shapes while also shuffling around the engines The update had been planned from the start and work on the 1980 models had begun right around the time the ’77s had gone on sale They launched right into the teeth of the 1979 OPEC oil crisis and then a double-dip recession that did not abate until 1982 Sales of all traditional full-size cars cratered and the big Pontiacs had their worst year since 1942 though the drop was most pronounced on the Catalina GM’s archival photos show that a slightly more dramatic look was considered for the 1980 Pontiacs but they were essentially just evolutions of the ’77 Henline didn’t think it had anything to do with the styling there would have been no way of predicting that “One of the problems you have as a designer is that you finish your work and the car doesn’t come out for three years Most designers are not marketers; they focus on the next big idea.” Henline’s later Pontiac works would spin lots of money and positive press for Pontiac Around the time the Bonneville and Catalina were dropped his team was beginning work on what became the formal-roofed 1985 Grand Am Demand for it immediately outstripped supply and it soon became Pontiac’s biggest seller.  After that came the 1988 Grand Prix and the 1990 Trans Sport minivan the former of which Henline is particularly proud of because it combined the artistic act of taking the Grand Prix in an entirely new direction with hundreds of hours of wind-tunnel testing to make it functional It then won loads of accolades and looked great on both the road and the track “I have an autographed poster from Rusty Wallace from when he was driving that Grand Prix I think everyone at GM Design Center was jealous of Schinella and me because of the work we were doing and all the racing events we got to go to.” Henline continued designing until 2001 and still drives GM cars today but I also have a 2013 Mini Cooper S that I love who spent only 18 months on the job before heading to Opel Pontiac’s popular Firebird and Grand Prix had not overcome the lack of direction from all those managers and Stempel had aimed to reconstitute Pontiac as the “small car” division even though more than 80,000 Bonnevilles were sold in 1980 The only product Pontiac had for this market in 1982 was the “Bonneville G,” a renamed lightly restyled version of the former LeMans sedan and wagon with the once-popular LeMans name and coupe axed product planner John Middlebrook explained to author Thomas Bonsall that the 1970s had been full of reactive decisions for previous managers “Why is Olds selling all those Cutlass Supremes I saw those years as trying to be all things to all people.” whom Henline describes as a dedicated manager had a long history with Pontiac dating back to 1964 and understood the brand he organized the “Pontiac Image Conference,” in which execs from all over the division brainstormed how to get the division back on track Euro-look models of the 1980s that began with the Firebird and 6000 and a new advertising slogan: “We Build Excitement.” Hoglund did not entirely forget about traditional customers Pontiac’s large Canadian dealer body refused to let go of the B-body and continued building their version of the car in Oshawa Midwestern Pontiac dealers liked Hoglund’s new direction but also pleaded for B-body models to sell as memories of the fuel crisis faded It was popular enough to justify having the 1980 Bonneville’s rear styling grafted back on for 1985–86 It was then replaced by the futuristic-looking That car distilled the new direction of the division into a totally fresh large car still sporting almost the same styling it had in 1977 carried on as the last vestige of the rear-drive big Pontiac faded away in 1989 when the Trans Sport arrived The burgundy ’78 Bonneville you see here is owned by Washingtonian Steve Marchese Meeting him at a local cars and coffee is what reignited my curiosity about these Bonnevilles Marchese is a big fan of Henline’s designs having bought the Bonneville because he missed his old 1977 Chevy Impala As we cruised up the Kitsap Peninsula en route to our photo spot it was easy to appreciate the car’s merits Marchese bought the car from its second owner and among the few things he did to it afterward was fitting the “turbine” original hubcaps Marchese’s fascination started early in NYC “I’m from Queens and I was a kid when these were new and you’d see all the neighborhood guys in Regals and Cutlasses and Coupe DeVilles “GM still knew how to make a big V-8 rear-drive car then one that was spacious and wouldn’t bankrupt you either at the gas pump or the mechanic’s shop I think they got a lot of things right with these cars at a time when many things were going wrong People often speak dismissively about Malaise Era cars but you have to remember the challenges they were facing.” and while Pontiac did bring back the B-body Parisienne in 1983 1980 was the beginning of the end for big two-doors It’s not as luxurious as a Buick Electra or something but it has lots of nice design details that my Chevy didn’t have You’d hardly know that the hardware is basically the same as the Impala’s you can tell a Pontiac of this era from an Olds I always loved these Pontiac coupes for their details,” he adds this was exactly the result Henline’s team hoped for In 1977 it was now the right size and you could still get a 400 Pontiac V8 not an Olds or Chevy I also like the model in the black and white photo directly under that in the article My family has owned nearly a dozen of the next-gen of these and being in Canada quite a few of them were Parisiennes I’ve always preferred the more base trim ones for looks plus the lower trims on these held the salt badly That blue rendering would built excitement today if made into a production model without ruining the proportions of it Would love to see more historical design photos from 71 to 76 with the sportier b body styles Compare these Ponchos with the (at best) bland or (at worst) downright ugly vehicles on the road today the price of these cars would have been very affordable today The glory days of the automobile are sadly over – guess I’m stating the obvious Nostalgia is one heck of a drug… I’d argue that cars today look the best they have in decades I think we get stuck in “the good old days” mentality and forget to look at things objectively they were either gorgeous or had the same style as a dog’s backside or the same way that the 90s-00s jelly bean era looks decent at the right angle I guess growing up in the 1970s was better than I realized at the time These cars used to make good winter beaters but now they’re too old to be reliable enough for that Put a 200r4 (no electronics needed other than a clutch converter lock up) in it Add fuel injection and you have a reliable efficient cruiser These cars are basically bullet proof and you can do brake upgrades and suspension if you want to for a lot less than the down payment on a new 30,000 new car “The story of how a Chevrolet became a Pontiac” Much of the reason why we no longer have Pontiac Buick (don’t even mention those ridiculous SUVs with Buick badges) at least the Chevy version: my Dad drove a Caprice wagon for years These B and C bodies were absolutely bulletproof and soundly engineered cars I only remember that the paint jobs were crap I still own a derivative (1994 Fleetwood) which I will never part with Too bad that the B bodies from this era got caught up in the badge-engineering sickness that others did Although the B body Pontiac was a nice looking car and you could get a Pontiac engine (in the early versions they were difficult to distinguish from their B Body cousins in 1977 and beyond Dad and his neighbor each bought new ’77 Catalina 4-doors Dad’s came with a 301 cid Pontiac engine and Mike’s came with a 305 cid Chevy engine Didn’t some of the Bonnies have an optional 455 V-8 which had the disastrous Aluminum timing gear like GM’s V-6 All of the BOP 455’s were gone after 1976 The best that you could have had after 1976 was a 403 Olds I believe most of the gm’s had them I had one go out on my ’69 GTO at around 40,000 miles It was a non interference motor so all that happend was it didn’t run No problem for a gear head to fix and back then parts were cheap less then 50 bucks to fix and back on the road in less than a day We bought a one year old 1978 Bonneville as our first 4 door car so we could get our daughter in and out of her car seat It was our first car with power windows and air conditioning (we did not have ac in our house!) and we drove it for over 100,000 miles the only problem we had was that living in upstate NY the aluminum support frame for the rear bumper corroded away but since that was part of the 5mph bumper system it was replaced under a recall the “full size” sedans were even smaller so we had to reluctantly switch to a minivan to hold our family of five I bought a 1973 Pontiac Grandville Convertible a year ago and I love the car it’s red with with white interior and a white top thinking of bringing it to some car shows soon 👍☺️ You don’t happen to live in Tustin do you Someone on my walking route has one fitting that description that appeared about a year ago and I’d love to get a closer look https://photos.app.goo.gl/zfYMceG4hj5DhCrT6 https://photos.app.goo.gl/fYRxkUHxrRLyCrF7A https://photos.app.goo.gl/7uVAxQfJaBYL96vW7 Enjoyed the article — is a reminder of what was a more positive era of automobiles than I remembered and website in this browser for the next time I comment Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" Sign up to receive our Daily Driver newsletter Please select what you would like included for printing: Copy the text below and then paste that into your favorite email application 2024 at Harrington Hospital in Southbridge after a brief illness and Lisa Pappoe (Rudy); two granddaughters son of Raymond and Anna (Belanger) Bonneville Enter your phone number above to have directions sent via text This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply Service map data © OpenStreetMap contributors IDAHO FALLS – Bonneville’s Ava Daniel signed to run at Salt Lake Community College Daniel will compete in track and cross country for the Bruins She ran the 1,600 and 3,200 at last week’s Rigby Physical Therapy Invitational and finished fifth in both races Her time of 5:31.17 in the 1,600 was a personal best She’s also clocked a personal best in the 3,200 this season Daniel finished 18th at the 5A state cross country championship in November SUBMIT A CORRECTION IDAHO FALLS – Bonneville’s Alyssa Trane signed to play volleyball at Independence Community College in Kansas listed as an outside hitter/defensive specialist/middle blocker She was tabbed All-Conference honorable mention as a outside/right side hitter SUBMIT A CORRECTION Print Berkeley — It’s astonishing what a good director can do The best among them can turn the disparate elements of theater into something seamlessly whole artistic director of Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington pulls off this feat in “Uncle Vanya,” a production at Berkeley Repertory Theatre that has one foot in the 21st century and another at the turn of the 20th Irish playwright Conor McPherson has adapted Anton Chekhov’s 1897 drama and the result is a conversational English version without any of the starchiness that attaches to the more self-consciously “classical” translations setting the play in 1900 central Ukraine and elucidating the psychology where Chekhov was a tad more ambiguous He also gives these Chekhovian wobblers more spine while curtailing some of the excesses that threaten to turn character into caricature led by Hugh Bonneville (“Downton Abbey”) in the title role smoothly delivers the dialogue as though it were one of McPherson’s original plays There isn’t even any awkwardness about the clash of accents mocks the plummy British sound of Bonneville’s Vanya the fourth wall of Godwin’s production is breached But this momentary interruption in the normal order hardly matters because the ensemble is so comfortably aligned in the theatrical universe that Godwin has created The staging has an aesthetic unity that’s helped along by the airy graceful scenic design of Robert Brill and the pastiche costumes of Susan Hilferty and Heather C Freedman that balance the play’s era and our own provides musical accompaniment that lends the human comedy an indisputable gravity this production has a stylistic sure-footedness equally at home with Chekhov’s realism and buoyant theatricality “Uncle Vanya,” in short, isn’t a television drama, much as contemporary actors trained for the camera might barrel forward in a mumbling Netflix fashion. Godwin attends to the spatial patterns of the play, the movement of character across the stage in clean formal patterns that might suggest a dance piece titled “Exits and Entrances” were Chekhov’s artistic hand not so discreet. But it’s the characterizations that distinguish this production. Bonneville, resembling a canceled journalist wallowing in sarcasm with a bottle of booze, lends Vanya a flailing, self-deprecating levity. Vanya doesn’t need anyone to tell him that he’s a miscast romantic, too goofy to have his heartbreak taken seriously. It’s a credit to Bonneville’s performance that we feel the character’s disappointment in love and in life all the more acutely. The object of Vanya’s mad infatuation is Yelena (Ito Aghayere), the much younger wife of the retired professor, Alexandre (Tom Nelis), who was married to Vanya’s late sister. Alexandre and Yelena’s arrival at the country estate managed by Vanya and Sonya, the professor’s put-upon daughter, has thrown the household into chaos. Vanya can think only of Yelena while Sonya is in the throes of love for Ástrov (John Benjamin Hickey), who has become smitten with Yelena while attending to the hypochondriac professor and drinking with his old buddy Vanya. Aghayere’s distinctive Yelena is too much a frustrated human being to come across, as she often does in revivals, as an aloof siren. Her dissatisfaction with her crabby old husband drives her into the same state of amorous turmoil that Vanya and Sonya find themselves in. Great beauty turns out to be no defense against the longings of the heart. Aghayere’s Yelena represents an evolution of Chekhov’s character. It’s no wonder that, as she plays the piano despite her husband’s demand for silence (a McPherson twist ), everyone falls under the spell of her seductive defiance. Field’s somber, clear-eyed Sonya has ardent desires but few illusions. If it weren’t for Yelena’s meddling, she’d let the dream of a life with Ástrov pass her by without a murmur. The sorrow she feels is crushing but not new to her. Field’s Sonya looks as if she has been holding back tears ever since her mother died. Her stoicism is all the more ennobling, given how much it costs her. Hickey never loses sight of the doctor’s dual nature. The idealism that makes Ástrov so appealing — he’s a passionate environmentalist and a medical humanitarian — doesn’t negate the casual self-destruction and dismissive carelessness that lead him to guzzle vodka and ignore the tumult his visits engender. Nelis renders the professor a pompous and pedantic twit but not a heartless one. He isn’t allowed to become the play’s villain despite his selfish plan to sell the estate out from under his family. Sharon Lockwood’s Maríya, Vanya’s mother, is similarly endowed with redeeming qualities. She still drives her son insane with the way she worships the professor, but she’s not as infuriatingly unreasonable as Chekhov permits her to be. McPherson extends Chekhov’s soulful generosity throughout the cast. Craig Wallace’s Telégin, known as “Waffles” for his pockmarked skin, is an amiable fumbler yet suffused with kindness and possessing an implacable decency. Nancy Robinette as Marína, the elderly nanny who comforts those she has long served with maternal acceptance, maintains the long view in a household caught up in short-term squabbles. The ending of “Uncle Vanya,” a theatrical oil painting of human endurance, is exquisitely executed. As Bonneville’s Vanya and Field’s Sonya take shelter from the devastation of their dreams in the daily grind of their work, an image of life as it is authentically experienced is renewed onstage. Chekhov may not falsely console, but he dignifies the human struggle in a secular parable that lives again through the magic of ensemble brio and a director at the top of his game. Charles McNulty is the theater critic of the Los Angeles Times. He received his doctorate in dramaturgy and dramatic criticism from the Yale School of Drama. World & Nation Entertainment & Arts Television Hollywood Inc. Music Subscribe for unlimited accessSite Map Chaos over the Trump administration’s firing of federal government workers has even permeated a little-known agency at the center of the Pacific Northwest’s largest source of electricity This is already a challenging time for the Bonneville Power Administration which markets power from Columbia Basin hydropower dams to utilities responsible for powering homes Utilities are scrambling to transition away from fossil fuels and climate change is altering every aspect of the equation And now the Trump administration has forced hundreds of people out at Bonneville thrusting the hydropower giant into a rut of uncertainty Blackouts and rate increases are now on the table Major transmission projects could take twice as long to finish throwing a wrench into the region’s plans to transition toward renewable energy firings and retirements looms large.  “This whole exercise would be ludicrous if it weren’t so serious,” said Randy Hardy “Cuts to this kind of thing plays with fire.”  Bonneville supplies about a third of the Pacific Northwest’s electricity selling the power from dozens of federally operated dams across the region Generally the administration employs more than 3,000 people including line workers Since President Donald Trump took office in January Bonneville has lost about 14% of its workforce in a round of firings and slew of retirements A hiring freeze across the federal government forced the administration to rescind about 90 job offers meant to backfill empty positions. Another 130 probationary employees (which can include recently promoted workers) were fired and more than 200 others decided to retire, including those swayed by the now-infamous “fork in the road” payout offers Apparently many of those firings were indiscriminate and poorly planned because federal officials had to offer jobs back to about 30 employees that had been fired Officials with the Trump administration did not respond to requests for comment but have said publicly that the ongoing firings are meant to save money and reduce the federal deficit operating entirely on the money it raises from selling electricity who worked there as an economist and analyst in the 1990s “This isn’t going to save the federal government a penny,” said Miller who is now executive director of the Northwest Public Power Association is increase the risk profile for the entire agency And with the electrical grid the potential for disaster can be high when a transmission line failure led to 13 turbines failing at the McNary Dam north of Portland triggering blackouts all the way into Southern California “That’s what I’m worried about,” Hardy said A stressed and overworked staff can make mistakes energy dispatchers might not even recognize there’s a problem until it’s too late the probability of an unplanned outage is perhaps a tenth of a percentage point But stretching Bonneville’s workforce thinner that probability just rose several percentage points “Which is absolutely unacceptable,” he said Bonneville representatives declined to comment Plus climate change is warming our atmosphere Increasingly winter snow instead falls as rain troubling the region’s historically reliable hydropower plants Warmer seasons also mean an increased electrical demand for utilities This is already a tumultuous time for Bonneville and other utilities Layoffs and mass retirements can only worsen the conditions.  demoralized and inexperienced staff members remaining could make ill-informed business decisions which could result in higher costs for utilities and ratepayers Cuts at Bonneville sparked immediate pushback across the region All but one of Washington’s Democratic congressional delegation wrote an open letter to U.S calling for a more nuanced approach to terminations and furloughs He expressed concerns for the unintended consequences the region would see at the Hanford nuclear site the Pacific Northwest National Laboratories and Bonneville “While I agree that the federal workforce and related spending needs to be reduced we must ensure that positions critical to public safety and research should be maintained,” Newhouse said in a statement.  The Central Washington Republican has been one of the few willing to push back against Trump He also voted to impeach the president after the Jan Representatives for Baumgartner did not respond to a request for comment Nor did representatives for any other Republican members of Congress throughout the Pacific Northwest Staff reductions at Bonneville have long-lasting implications as well Delays for transmission projects are all but inevitable made worse by the explosion of power-hungry data centers across the West New wind and solar farms are only part of the battle there will be no way to transport that new electricity to customers Bonneville is handling many of those transmission upgrades that cost billions of dollars The wait time for these types of projects generally sits around five years hampering economic development in the region and exacerbating the risk for additional power outages Cuts at Bonneville and other power marketing administrations across the country have left utilities that rely on their electricity scrambling to assess the damage CEO and executive director of the Public Power Council said in an email the mass departures raise concerns for public health and safety alongside economic concerns and “frankly overall system value and continuity.” Not only is the Trump administration undercutting Bonneville right now it’s handicapping BPA for future generations.  And it’s not over yet. A Feb. 26 memo from the U.S. Office of Management and Budget asked federal agencies to submit reorganization plans within two weeks and prepare for additional “reductions in force.”  If Bonneville and other power marketing administrations aren’t exempted from these firings The opinions expressed in reader comments are those of the author only and do not reflect the opinions of The Seattle Times Stay secure and make sure you have the best reading experience possible by upgrading your browser Tamarit Motorcycles has used this experience to build a stacked catalog of bolt-on Triumph parts and a handful of made-to-order customs. But what they relish most are the opportunities to build one-off specials, like this vivid Triumph Bonneville scrambler Some details—like the mono-shock conversion and under-seat exhaust—were carried over from the previous project The idea was to give the bike a taurine stance (Tamarit emphasizes that this Bonneville was built for an individual The solo saddle wears luxurious upholstery with a kinetic stitching pattern. The back of the flat track-inspired tail bump is neatly finished with a pair of LED taillights Frenched into it the monocoque is begging to be replicated in kit form—but Tamarit is adamant about leaving it as a one-of-a-kind piece The only other bodywork is a number board-like headlight nacelle that’s merged with the custom fork covers Two headlights light the way; a projector mounted below the bottom fork yoke and a strip LED embedded in the front plate A Tamarit sump guard adds visual bulk to the bottom of the bike while protecting the polished motor’s underbelly The Bonneville now rolls on a gorgeous set of Sulby Star wheels built to spec by Canyon Motorcycles in the UK Measuring 18 inches up front and 17 inches out back they’re wrapped in Pirelli MT60RS dual-sport tires The brakes were upgraded with discs from Braking and new pads Just in front of the Bonneville’s engine you’ll spot a pair of finned oil cooler tubes that blend with the frame The bike also wears a custom-made stainless steel twin exhaust system terminating in a pair of shotgun mufflers under the tail it was laid down by Tamarit’s in-house painter they won’t let him retire.) The hard parts alternate between brass and the whole design feels as fresh as it does unapologetic Tamarit Motorcycles | Facebook | Instagram GET THE WORLD'S BEST CUSTOMS DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX COPYRIGHT © 2008-document.write(new Date().getFullYear()) | COLE PUBLISHING | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Officials are alarmed by the firing of 13% of the Bonneville Power Administration workforce since the PNW energy distributor receives no federal funds 2011 file photo shows the Columbia River flowing through the Bonneville Dam near Cascade Locks The Department of Energy sent layoff notices to 400 out of about 3,000 employees Department of Energy picked roughly 400 people to lay off at the Bonneville Power Administration which masterminds how 28% of the Pacific Northwest’s electricity is distributed to homes How did the Department of Energy choose which employees to terminate and how will the 13% cut affect the BPA?  The feds in the Northwest are not allowed to talk about which types of employees lost their jobs Not even to Washington’s congressional delegation “They are creating complete chaos across many regions and are not being responsive to Congress,” Murray said at a virtual press conference Wednesday laid-off BPA maintenance and program analyst Katie Emerson said her supervisor told her after 5 p.m 13 that she would learn later that evening if she would be laid off She learned that she would be terminated about 8 p.m It’s been an emotional rollercoaster,” she said Emerson’s former job coordinated support for crews maintaining and fixing power lines.”I supported the people who kept the lights on,” she said.  She did not have a backup person for her slot Emerson has worked for the BPA for 11 years but has spent only 10 months of the one-year probationary period for her last posting The Trump administration targeted probationary employees She received high marks on her performance reviews.   The BPA’s office in Vancouver when contacted last week said it could not talk with the press about the layoffs and passed Cascade PBS’ questions to the U.S Department of Energy’s headquarters in Washington The DOE is in charge of the BPA and similar agencies across the nation Cascade PBS also sent questions directly to the DOE which did not reply to either set of Cascade PBS questions Another big unanswered question: Why lay off 400 of the BPA’s roughly 3,100 employees Consumers of the BPA’s electricity pay their salaries so the Trump administration is not trimming the federal budget with these layoffs “Northwest ratepayers ensure that BPA is able to remain self-funded The Bonneville Power Administration does not receive funding from taxpayers,” said a Feb 19 letter from Washington’s two senators and seven of its 10 representatives to new Secretary of Energy Chris Wright Marie Gluesenkamp Perez in WA-3 and Republican U.S Newhouse and Gluesenkamp Perez told Cascade PBS they have concerns over the Department of Energy’s layoff processes “There should be a more nuanced approach to terminations and furloughs I have concerns that the unintended consequences of these workforce reductions will have long-lasting implications at Hanford … and BPA,” Newhouse said in an email to Cascade PBS.  Gluesenkamp Perez said the broad cut without any study is a poor approach “Good policy comes from boots on the ground and a strategy built for long-term value not an election cycle,” she said in an email Baumgartner’s press office did not reply to Cascade PBS’s request for comment The congressional delegation’s Feb 19 letter asked Wright for a reply by Tuesday On Wednesday,  Murray said Wright has not replied yet energy experts question why the cuts at Bonneville Power Administration were needed at all.  “These reductions are ridiculous because Bonneville is self-funding … So the whole point of this [reduction] is irrelevant,” said Randy Hardy “The termination of any BPA employee does not save taxpayers a dollar.”         the 87-year-old BPA sends any surplus revenue money to the federal government an association of consumer-owned utilities serving the Columbia River Basin Simms acknowledged that this scenario is likely: People in Washington who are unfamiliar with the BPA’s organization and the Northwest’s power picture arbitrarily cut a major chunk of the BPA’s 3,100-person workforce without studying precisely what could be safely trimmed without harming the electrical and environmental needs of residents of six states including the federal and state legal obligations.  “It’s clear that the administration has no knowledge of the impacts on Bonneville “They are being fired on a whim because two billionaires don’t have a clue about what they are doing and don’t care to learn,” Murray said.  The BPA coordinates electricity accumulated from 31 dams in Washington Nevada and Wyoming — plus the Columbia Generating Station reactor north of Richland It sells and transfers that power through this region and also to states outside its coverage area It serves 13 million people and maintains more than 15,000 miles of power lines over rivers which makes up about 75% of the power transmission capability in the Northwest — all while dealing with environmental issues the flow of the Columbia River and its tributaries Work across the BPA is specialized and complicated Power traders tackling short-term and long-term contracts Coordinators with numerous agencies and interests “You cannot apply simplification [in lay-offs] to something this complex,” Hardy said The BPA is currently short on power dispatchers who need at least 20 years of experience elsewhere in the agency before dispatching electricity through a complex grid where the conditions can change second by second “You don’t hire someone off the street to be a power dispatcher,” he said Simms and Hardy are also concerned about a shortage of line maintenance workers the people who go out in bad weather to fix power lines Hardy said the shortage in maintenance workers could stretch a two-hour unplanned outage to two days He said the BPA has lost almost all its line crew in Kalispell which means workers from Spokane will have to drive over to take care of power outages in that area Another worry is that the BPA will have to expand its power sources and transmission lines because the Northwest’s population is growing more power-sucking data centers will be needed to deal with the expansion of the artificial intelligence industry Trimming planners and analysts will delay those needed expansions The feds reinstated roughly 30 of the 400 laid-off BPA workers after realizing they had eliminated too many with hard-to-replace skills Trump’s executive order “also calls for further large-scale Reductions in Force (RIFs) There may also be further firings of probational employees the [order] requires the hiring of ‘no more than one employee for every four employees that depart.’ BPA cannot afford to follow through on such directives,” said the congressional members’ Feb The Trump administration has especially targeted probationary employees They include employees who are promoted to supervisory positions Highly experienced workers who join the BPA after working in other jobs are also classified as probationary a mass termination of probationary employees could also cut experienced workers “There’s a non-existence of morale at this point,” Emerson said about a dozen of the DOE’s roughly 300 employees at the Hanford nuclear reservation have also been laid off the DOE’s Hanford headquarters referred questions to the DOE’s headquarters in Washington which did not reply to Cascade PBS’s request for information.  workers wearing protective clothing and footwear inspect a valve at the “C” tank farm on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation near Richland Workers were recently cut from the Hanford Nuclear facility in Central Washington in recent firings ordered by the Trump administration the 580-square-mile Hanford site is a huge collection of dead plutonium-producing reactors massive underground tanks filled with radioactive wastes closed contaminated chemical processing plants and numerous other sources of radioactive and chemical contamination It is arguably the most radioactive spot in the Western Hemisphere.  The DOE employees there supervise about 10,000 contracted workers who are still a few decades away from cleaning up Hanford to federal and state standards.  Project 2025 is a 900-page blueprint published in 2023 by The Heritage Foundation While during the 2024 presidential campaign Trump denied being influenced by it his tidal wave of executive orders that have swamped the country over the past month follows the Project 2025 plan many of the report’s authors served in the president’s first administration Without offering any details, Project 2025 described the Washington Department of Ecology and its legal cleanup agreements with the DOE as slowing the federal government’s cleanup of Hanford The document proposed reclassifying the nuclear waste as less hazardous to expedite the cleanup the state’s legal pressure has pushed a foot-dragging DOE to keep to the cleanup schedule and environmental remediation standards the Trump administration has not issued any executive orders pertaining to Hanford’s cleanup We rely on donations from readers like you to sustain Cascade PBS's in-depth reporting on issues crticial to the PNW John Stang is a freelance writer who often covers state government and the environment. He can be reached on email at johnstang_8@hotmail.com and on Twitter at @johnstang_8 As Republican legislators opt for ballot harvesting, Democrats lean into town halls in predominantly red districts to engage new or reluctant voters. OGDEN — The Ogden School District is set to cross off a major milestone at the end of the 2024-25 school year. Bonneville Elementary School will close to students for the final time, capping a nearly two-decade effort by the Ogden School District to modernize the elementary school experience for children in the district. Jer Bates, director of communications for the Ogden School District, confirmed the closing to the Standard-Examiner in an email. “Bonneville is the last of currently operating old elementary schools, built in the previous century, that has never had significant renovations or safety upgrades,” he said. “The closure of Bonneville will complete a roughly 20-year effort to move all of our elementary students into schools that are newer or have had extensive renovations.” Bonneville Elementary, which opened in 1965, has around 45 students at the moment. “With intended boundary adjustments, we expect the enrollment at the new Hillcrest to be closer to 550 to 600 students,” Bates said. “This will help with optimizing enrollment across each of our elementary schools in the northern part of Ogden.” He said that this program of replacement and renovation is important for the district’s goals. Ogden School District Superintendent Luke Rasmussen said he’s happy to see this major accomplishment for the district checked off. “We are thrilled that all of our elementary schools have undergone renovations or rebuilds in recent years, ensuring equitable learning opportunities for every student, no matter where they live in Ogden,” he said. “We deeply appreciate the support of our community in making this possible and look forward to completing our final elementary project for the foreseeable future.” Bates did not have any information on what may happen with the Bonneville building once it is vacated. Copyright © 2025 Ogden Newspapers of Utah, LLC | www.standard.net | 332 Standard Way, Ogden, UT 84404 ROY — After the crowd at the boys volleyball match between Bonneville and Roy stood for the playing of the national anthem, they applauded enthusiastically and returned to their seats. But fans didn’t need a special invitation to return to their feet the rest of the night, cheering and clapping often throughout an exhilarating contest Thursday. Bonneville gained its first Region 5 win, gutting out a 3-1 (25-22, 27-29, 25-19, 25-15), hard-fought victory over the hometown Royals. “Anything can happen in rivalry games. Complements to them for how hard they pushed us,” Bonneville coach Kirt Williams said. “It’s a big relief, finally getting that monkey off our shoulders; we battled really hard. We’ve been in matches this year we could have gotten, but we got this one tonight and we’re happy about that.” The Lakers trailed 20-18 but closed with a 7-2 run to take the first set. “Volleyball is a mental game; very momentous. Once you get it, you have to run with it and I think that’s what we did and why we won,” Bonneville outside hitter Semisi Christensen said. Roy (2-4, 1-3 Region 5) knotted things at 1-1 with an extended overtime win in set two and was poised to go on a run of its own before the Lakers regained traction. “I told my kids, don’t mess around with these guys because they want it as bad as we do,” Williams said. “We gotta get after them.” Led by senior setter Jase Musgrave, the Lakers righted their ship on a Christensen kill to take the third set and comfortably cruised to the win in the final frame. “It was great competition … very back and forth. My team did very well and came back from a lot of downs,” Christensen said. “We were overplaying back and forth; we just needed to execute.” Stats posted following the game showed Christensen with 21 kills and senior Talon Rocha with 10, while Musgrave totaled an amazing 45 assists. Williams praised his seniors for their numbers as well as their leadership on the court. Christensen is a senior and a veteran, as far as boys volleyball goes, in its second year as a sanctioned high school sport in Utah. “I’ve been coached very well since my ninth-grade year,” Christensen said. “I try to be as consistent as I can, as smart as I can. Switch it up, and do some tips and stuff like that.” Williams is in his first year as Bonneville’s head coach and can see growth in his team since the start of the year. “Players are more seasoned; they’ve had more time to play,” Williams said. “There was a lot of teaching during the offseason. We had a late start for open gyms and have learned a lot.” Roy coach Brad Hulse is also a first-timer as head man for the Royals and enjoyed Thursday’s memorable match. “I thought it was fun … both teams played well. Give them credit; they’ve got some guys. Christensen is really good for them, and Rocha and their setter (Musgrave), but I’m proud of the way our kids fought,” Hulse said. “There’s so many things that we’re getting better at every day. I see improvement every time they step on the court. It’s not about now, it’s about getting better for state.” Roy did not have statistics available but seniors Ethan Casper, Finn Nakasone, Kael Miller and Cole Bellus appeared to have impressive games, especially in the second-set win. Bonneville (6-8, 1-3) has a lot of volleyball under its belt this season, having played two early season tournaments to get ready for region. “The (tournaments) got us some confidence and a chance to play together in competitive matches. That’s what we needed today,” Williams said. 2025 5:43 p.m.The Democratic senators called the president’s actions “not only reckless but also financially ludicrous.”00:00 / 04:13Oregon U.S Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley are urging President Donald Trump to reconsider a dramatic reduction in the workforce at the Bonneville Power Administration a hiring freeze and the termination of probationary employees coming as part of Trump’s efforts to shrink the federal government “These cuts are not only reckless but also financially ludicrous,” the senators wrote a self-funded division of the Department of Energy That transmission infrastructure ensures power flows to homes and businesses across Oregon “We do not believe there is an energy emergency,” the letter states “but your actions certainly appear to be creating one through these cuts that actively jeopardize the stability of our energy infrastructure The senators’ letter says that losing experienced linemen engineers and dispatchers “poses a direct and immediate threat to the reliability of the electrical grid that serves millions of American families and businesses in the Pacific Northwest.” The Department of Energy did not immediately respond to a request for comment Energy experts balked at the proposed cuts this week given BPA’s self-sufficiency as an agency and the Northwest’s growing demand for electricity and infrastructure to support both residents and a booming data center industry Some estimates show the Pacific Northwest could need as much as 30% more electricity over the next decade to meet demand Employees of BPA who spoke to OPB this week worried about long term effects of staff cuts Tags: Energy, Bonneville Power Administration, Trump, Wyden, Merkley ","type":"text"},{"_id":"K74G6367E5BJFEDDW75H2MX64Q","additional_properties":{},"content":"Employees of BPA who spoke to OPB this week worried about long term effects of staff cuts WASHINGTON TERRACE — Bonneville High School has its second offseason coaching change of March as Jantz Afuvai plans to step down as head football coach at the end of the school year Afuvai’s departure follows the recent exit of head boys basketball coach Kyle Bullinger set to take over the boys program at Box Elder this summer Bonneville now adds football to its list of head coaching vacancies Afuvai informed Bonneville athletic director Rick Corbridge of his decision earlier this month citing family decisions and looming retirement from teaching Afuvai will advise Bonneville’s active search committee for the program’s next head coach it’s time.’ You can’t fight against that when you’ve done as well as he has We just thank him for his time and everything he’s done.” The Lakers fared 52-74 during 12 seasons under Afuvai’s command managing four winning seasons during that era Bonneville’s most recent campaign ended 3-8 as the sixth-place program in Region 5 (3-4) despite opening the non-region schedule 0-3 Bonneville joins Ben Lomond (Ty Smith) and Ogden (Terry Larson) as Weber County schools set to debut new head football coaches this fall (Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Bonneville Shoreline Trail at Hyde Park Canyon on Friday Cache County • A crucial missing section of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail in northern Utah will be built this summer after Cache County announced last month that it secured more than a half-million dollars for the project Trail enthusiast and naturalist Jack Greene has long hoped for a better trail system in Cache Valley with the county’s plan to construct two miles of the trail from Hyde Park to his home in Smithfield “with 50 miles of trails running through its metro area We finally made it to the appreciation and actual support for putting in a good trail system here in our valley.” Cache County’s Trails Division has been working with North Logan Hyde Park and Smithfield to plan more than seven miles of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail to connect Green Canyon to Smithfield Canyon — a project that has been divided into three phases The first phase will add approximately two miles of trail from Hyde Park to Smithfield’s Dry Canyon and will be funded by a $570,000 grant from the Utah Division of Outdoor Recreation The county expects the new section to be open by fall Officials are actively seeking funding for the remaining two phases “Dry Canyon is one of my favorites,” Greene said “and to be able to access it without having to drive The effort to expand the trail was supported by a $50,000 feasibility study completed in December The study outlined trail alignments and estimated construction costs (Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune) Wenger said extending and better connecting the Bonneville Shoreline Trail has been a top priority for decades The end goal is to have about 65 miles of the trail running through the county is one of my favorite places to go,” Wenger said adding more connections off of it and tying Green Canyon to Smithfield Canyon where you could park at one of those canyons and be in all of them Without coordination efforts between the three cities this project could have taken up to a decade to complete according to a county statement on the expansion the full seven-mile connection is on track to be fully funded and potentially completed in three to five years The Bonneville Shoreline Trail’s full route is proposed to stretch from the Idaho state line down to Nephi, more than 280 miles. (Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Bonneville Shoreline Trail at Hyde Park Canyon on Friday, March 7, 2025. For e-edition questions or comments, contact customer support 801-237-2900 or email subscribe@sltrib.com sltrib.com © 1996-2025 The Salt Lake Tribune “There’s been a tweet.” Uh-oh. Those are the words that start the dominos falling for journalist Douglas (Hugh Bonneville) in the British series Douglas Is Cancelled, from Steven Moffat a tweet about Bonneville’s character alleges he made a sexist joke at a wedding That goes viral — his wife Sheila (Kingston) is not pleased when Madeline (Gillan) his co-host on a popular current affairs show – retweets to her over two million followers Douglas middle-aged and highly respected.) That tweet tears Douglas’ life apart and he tries to save his career with help from Sheila “I was a little drunk,” Douglas who says he doesn’t remember the joke we’re never there,” Toby argues “Having opinions about things we didn’t witness is the entire point of our existence.” Douglas says he can’t tell the truth “because I work in television.” So is he truly guilty or a victim of cancel culture That and how Madeline is caught in it in all — “It wasn’t a joke and the story you told them was about me,” she says at the end of the trailer — are the questions for the timely series about gender politics and trial by social media Joining creator Moffat as executive producers on the show are director Ben Palmer and Sue Vertue Sign Up the Bonneville Shoreline Trail provides miles of recreational access for biking and hiking Along the terrain of Traverse Mountain in Lehi to “Y Mountain” in Provo and points beyond lawmakers — through a new bill — are pushing for expanded preservation and to have it named a nationally recognized landmark John Curtis and Mike Lee introduced the Bonneville Shoreline Trail Feasibility Study Act to explore whether or not it would qualify to be named as a National Scenic Trail or another designation under the National Trails System The study marks the first formal step to unlocking statutory authorities for preservation, maintenance and public access under the designation, according to a press release In a post on X Curtis said Utahns love the Bonneville Shoreline Trail and the bill with Lee is a proactive measure to ensure the trail’s completion “The Bonneville Shoreline Trail provides recreational access to over 80% of Utah’s population living along the Wasatch Front,” Curtis said as part of the release The trail system started in 1990 and connects areas across Utah running along the shoreline of Lake Bonneville through Cache While many segments of the trail are complete and utilized the entire route is expected to span approximately 280 miles from the Utah-Idaho border to Nephi The Bonneville Shoreline Feasibility Study is supported by Trust for Public Land Bonneville Shoreline Trail Committee and Trails Utah Mountain West Region Vice President for Trust for Public Land Jim Petterson said the trail is a treasured resource “National Scenic Trail designation would elevate its status ensuring its protection for future generations and expanding opportunities for people to experience the beauty of the Wasatch Front,” Patterson said “This is an exciting moment for Utah’s outdoor heritage and we commend Sens Curtis and Lee for their leadership on this bill.” federal law requires a feasibility study to be conducted first to evaluate geographic location public accessibility and long-term sustainability The study also identifies gaps in the trail system potential developmental resolutions and needed infrastructure If the Bonneville Trail System were to qualify it would become eligible for federal funding for planning and maintenance as well as have priority status for environmental protection and land-acquisition tools “This bill is a common-sense step toward recognizing the value the Bonneville Shoreline Trail already holds for so many Utahns,” Lee said “Conducting a feasibility study affirms what locals have known for years — this trail is worth understanding and preserving.” According to the National Park Service there are currently 11 National Scenic Trails throughout the United States LLC | www.heraldextra.com | 1200 Towne Centre Blvd ***FACT SHEET: Impact in Washington State of Trump and Musk’s Reckless Mass Layoffs*** “Pursuant to President Trump’s Executive Order (EO) 14210 department-wide reductions in the workforce these have been nothing short of devastating totaling nearly 20 percent of BPA’s total headcount These public servants literally helped keep the lights on for tens of millions of Americans Beyond harming BPA’s ability to address existing and future needs these cuts immediately jeopardize the reliability of the Pacific Northwest’s electrical grid and severely hamper economic development in the region Such significant reductions in BPA’s workforce will result in increased costs to consumers and delays to further economic investments in the Northwest,” the Members wrote BPA provides 28 percent of the Pacific Northwest’s electric power ensuring affordable electricity for more than 13 million people across Washington BPA owns and operates 75 percent of the Northwest’s high voltage electrical transmission system amounting to over 15,000 miles of transmission lines—the services BPA provides support the entire Northwest BPA does not receive federal funding—Northwest ratepayers ensure that BPA is able to remain self-funded Last week, Senator Murray raised the alarm immediately after hearing about mass firings at BPA—between employees who were fired and those who took the “Fork in the Road offer,” we estimate that BPA is losing between 450 and 600 skilled workers as a result of Trump and Elon Musk’s attempts to gut the federal workforce This includes everyone from electricians and engineers to dispatchers and so many other people who help keep the lights on in the Northwest hundreds of BPA employees opted in to OPM’s so-called ‘deferred resignation’ program which will leave critical positions open without the ability to backfill easily Both workers and ratepayers are now left without certainty on what funding will be used or when payments under this legally dubious program will begin Encouraging resignation of these highly specialized workers alone risks grid reliability and stable rates in the region draining BPA’s institutional knowledge with no solution to account for these additional vacancies,” the Members continued “The EO also calls for further large-scale Reductions in Force (RIFs) the EO requires the hiring of ‘no more than one employee for every four employees that depart.’ BPA cannot afford to follow through on such directives The EO states that workforce reductions ‘shall not apply to functions related to public safety’—ensuring the reliable provision of electricity is clearly a matter of public safety we call on you to continue to swiftly rescind the terminations of staff and reverse rescinded job offers at BPA in acknowledgement of the critical role that these employees play ensuring grid reliability in the Northwest It cannot be stated more plainly: this is a matter of life-and-death for millions of Americans,” the Members wrote The Members concluded by asking Secretary Wright to rescind the terminations of BPA employees and “explain why BPA employees were not deemed necessary to meet public safety responsibilities and exempted from last weeks’ workforce reductions in the first place.” A PDF of the full letter is available HERE An official website of the United States government Open Search  Mobile Menu The BLM’s mission and authorities require us to use the latest scientific research data and findings to ensure lands and resources in our care are managed for generations to come This is the next installment in a series of stories and videos spotlighting how the agency uses science to improve decision making.  it seems incongruous to worry about processes that have endured for millennia But the Bureau of Land Management has an obligation to take the long view of the Bonneville Salt Flats.  That’s why a unique coalition of BLM employees and racing organizations came together to better understand this desolate landscape and the processes that continue to shape and influence it.  The Flats feature a roughly 40 square mile salt crust as flat as a pool table uninterrupted space has drawn speed enthusiasts for more than a century The first land speed record was set here in 1914 And those brave enough to step into vehicles powered by enormous conventional and jet engines continue to pursue world records.  This legacy of speed led to the area’s inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places And it’s spurred intense interest in preserving the Flats Though several feet thick at its deepest point the crust is only a few inches thick at the edges studies show the crust is getting thinner in areas where racing is held leading the Bureau to shrink the area allowed for racing and prompting worries that it could be restricted entirely in the future.  BLM worked with the Bonneville racing community – represented by the "Save the Salt" Foundation – to reverse potential deterioration of the Bonneville Salt Flats through cooperative agreements with an adjacent mining operation run by Intrepid Potash The Salt Laydown Project pumps brine remaining from potash mining back onto the flats in hopes that it will bolster the naturally occurring salt crystals The Bureau also funded multiple studies designed to understand the natural processes driving change at the Bonneville Salt Flats.  The video linked above provides a glimpse into this unique landscape and the effort to conserve it. Learn the more about the Bonneville Salt Flats This story is part of the “Unleashing the Science” series showcasing how bureaus within the Department of the Interior produce and apply science to ensure responsible management decisions for our planet now and for the future An official website of the Department of the Interior