Sarah Palin’s shocking resignation shakes up the political world going into the July 4 weekend. I know less than many what her long term intentions are but I predict she will move her family to the lower 48 states no matter what her plans are.

The trip to Alaska is six hours one way and the traveling alone makes having a career and a family life challenging. Palin has countless opportunities financially and politically but Alaska is a tough geographical base from which to jump.

Idahoans may be resorting to “staycations” to fit into their recession-racked budgets but Sun Valley is expecting its usual deluge of power brokers, celebrities and high rollers next week at the 27th annual Allen and Co. retreat.

Idaho’s farm lobby is largely neutral on the proposed climate change bill that passed the House Friday.

They know it will raise farm costs for energy and overall energy costs. But it also will provide rural Idaho new revenue streams in alternative energy and carbon sequestration.

But here’s a big issue that is key to keeping Idaho’s agriculture community from fighting the legislation tooth and nail: It won’t force regulation of methane emissions from cows.

Canadian scientist David Welch has moderated his conclusions about the effects of eight dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers on migrating Idaho salmon.

But he still thinks the evidence shows the problems for Idaho’s fish lie in the ocean, not the rivers. Welch has a

It’s hard to jump back into real life after a week on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River.

The Middle Fork’s 100 miles of 100 class 3 and class 4 rapids running through the middle of Idaho’s wild heart in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness is the classic western river trip. I have done it four times now but no trip was better than last week’s high water trip with the guides of Rocky Mountain River Tours .

You gotta see this video of Ben Stookesberry of Shasta, Calif running Lower Mesa Falls on the Henrys Fork of the Snake River at WallStreetJournal.com

This guy has it down but as I prepare for a river trip it gives me the willies! Really kids, don’t try this at home.

Lower Mesa Falls is in eastern Idaho near the boundary with Yellowstone National Park. You might remember that the Idaho Statesman picked the area as the best place for a new national monument.

Idaho Rep. Walt Minnick continues to attract praise in Congress from across the isle.

Minnick testified before the House Resources Committee Wednesday about the impact of bark beetle infestations on Idaho forests.

The former timber industry executive and environmental group board member told the committee:“We all love our forests, regardless of our party or our ideology.”

In response Wyoming Republican Cynthia Lummis urged Minnick to take a leading role in management of our nation’s forests.

The alpha male of the celebrity wolf pack, the Phantom Hill Pack, was hit by a car and killed last weekend the Mountain Express reports.

The pack which this spring wandered through Elkhorn neighborhoods and killed elk in people’s back yards, became one of the state’s best known wolf packs two years ago. It’s movements were followed closely by wolf lovers, Idaho Department of Fish and Game officials and ranchers alike.

Tim Blixseth told me he was going to become a part of Idaho.

He and his wife Edra moved into a penthouse next door to J.R. Simplot atop the Grove Hotel. He promised thousands to help then Gov. Dirk Kempthorne remodel Simplot’s hilltop estate into the governor’s mansion.

In 2006 Blixseth, the former Oregon pauper who had risen to timber mogul, was on top of the world. He had just bought 178,000 acres of forestlands that only a couple of years earlier had been Boise Cascades.

Two of the energy companies that Idaho is pinning its hopes on are hunting for more money.

The most dire is Hoku Manufacturing, which is building a polysilicon plant in Pocatello for solar panels. It’s President and CEO Dustin Shindo said revenue is up but it is still short of money according to the Pacific Business Journal.