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Tuesday, June 25, 2024

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WA workers who help schools run call for higher wages; U.S. Surgeon General declares gun violence a public health crisis; Group aims to get music therapy licensure in Wyoming; BLM releases final conservation plan for NW California public lands.

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Charges against fake electors in Nevada are dismissed, Milwaukee officials get ready to expect the unexpected at the RNC convention, and the Justice Department says Alaska is violating the Americans with Disabilities Act.

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A Minnesota town claims the oldest rural Pride Festival while rural educators say they need support to teach kids social issues, rural businesses can suffer when dollar stores come to town and prairie states like South Dakota are getting help to protect grasslands.

ID recreation economy in focus during Great Outdoors Month

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Monday, June 17, 2024   

June is Great Outdoors Month, which underscores the importance of outdoor recreation in Idaho.

As temperatures warm up, people are enjoying nature. Five years ago, Congress designated June Great Outdoors Month to highlight the trove of outside opportunities across the nation. With a half dozen national parks and monuments and also state parks, Idaho has a plethora of places for people to get outside.

Whitney Potter Schwartz, senior vice president of the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable, said businesses help support such opportunities.

"Many outdoor recreation businesses are small businesses that are really the cornerstones of communities across the country," Potter Schwartz pointed out. "Rural communities especially."

Outdoor recreation generates $3.4 billion in Idaho, according to the roundtable, and supports 36,000 jobs. Nationally, outdoor recreation accounts for 2.2% of the country's GDP.

Potter Schwartz emphasized getting outdoors is proven to be good for people's health and her organization wants to ensure everyone has access.

"There's so many benefits," Potter Schwartz asserted. "Whether that's health benefits, economic benefits, to being outside that we really, truly believe everyone should have that opportunity, regardless of your background or ability, to really experience it and enjoy nature."

The month recognizing the outdoors started as Great Outdoors Week under President Bill Clinton in 1998.


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Of the 17 states that have enacted music therapy legislation, 11 have placed the law in its own statute chapter, and others have grouped it with other forms of therapy. (Adobe Stock)

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