POCATELLO — A massive crowd gathered on Saturday morning for the long-awaited groundbreaking for what will soon be The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Pocatello temple.

While most of the over 3,000 people in attendance of the event were members of the LDS church, representatives of several other religions were present and participated in the groundbreaking at the future site of the temple off Satterfield Drive on the city’s north side.

It was a historic day for Pocatello, a city many LDS church members say has been waiting for a temple for generations.×

Also in attendance at the groundbreaking ceremony was Gov. Brad Little, who acknowledged Pocatellans’ hunger for an LDS temple.

“I know that Pocatello was a little bit grumpy about Idaho Falls getting (a temple) way back years ago,” said Little in a Saturday interview. “So that’s good that this took place, even though it was a little delayed. Pocatello’s had a chip on their shoulder.”

Little, the first Idaho governor in recent memory to attend an LDS temple groundbreaking, was among the dozens of people who were given gold-colored shovels to participate in the event, held on a sunny March morning with a chill in the air.

Also holding shovels were religious leaders from several other Pocatello faiths, including Mohammad Safdar, president of the Pocatello Mosque; Dale Spencer, president of the Jewish Temple Emanuel; and Jacqualine “Big Momma” Thomas, the pastor of Praise Temple of God church.

Safdar said Saturday’s ceremony reminded him of the community effort to build the Pocatello Mosque a few years ago.

“We got so much support from the community,” Safdar said about the mosque effort. “So likewise, we are here today to support the community. Temples, mosques, synagogues, all of them are places that emit the light of love, the light of care, the light of friendship.”

Thomas said Pocatello is a strong community rooted in faith and tolerance as evidenced by the involvement of so many different faiths in Saturday’s temple groundbreaking — a first in the history of the LDS church.

“We are supposed to be children of the most high God,” Thomas said. “It should never be difficult to come together. It should be something very easy and natural to do.”

Numerous Pocatello police officers provided security for the groundbreaking, most of them wearing plainclothes, according to Deputy Police Chief Roger Schei.

Schei said the LDS church contacted local law enforcement about the need for security at the groundbreaking and several Pocatello police officers volunteered their time to help.

Though Schei said it is standard for local law enforcement to be present at any large event where many dignitaries will be present, he added that there was an elevated sense of tension among police during Saturday’s groundbreaking due to the mass shooting that resulted in 50 deaths at two mosques in New Zealand on Thursday.

Police said Saturday’s groundbreaking occurred without incident with the crowd of over 3,000 people being very well behaved.

During the event several LDS church members addressed the crowd. Among those who took the podium to speak was 8-year-old Braiden Wilde of McCammon.

According to local LDS church spokesman Larry Fisher, the 22 stakes that will be served by the Pocatello temple were each assigned a different part to play in the groundbreaking ceremony, and the McCammon stake was asked to assign one of its youth to speak at the event.

Wilde said it took him three days to write his speech, during which he expressed his love for the LDS church and his excitement for the new temple.

“It just came from my heart,” Wilde said after the groundbreaking. “I was excited and nervous. I was excited at first, but when I got up (to talk) I was scared.”

Taysom Hill, a Pocatello native who now plays football for the NFL’s New Orleans Saints, gave the opening prayer at the groundbreaking.

“It was an honor,” Hill said afterward. “I’m certainly aware of what a big deal this is and what it means to the city of Pocatello. To be able to be a part of it was a special experience.”

Wilford Andersen, the LDS church’s Idaho area president, gave the dedicatory prayer at the groundbreaking and thanked the representatives from Pocatello’s other religions for being a part of the ceremony.

“I think that it pleases God when we can support one another,” Andersen said to the religious leaders from the other faiths who attended the groundbreaking. “We’re touched and honored that you would be with us, and we want to reciprocate in the future as we work together, arm in arm, to accomplish our mutual goals of addressing human suffering and helping people turn to God.”

Spencer said the interfaith display at the groundbreaking was reminiscent of the Judaic principle “tikkun olam.”

“It means to heal the world,” Spencer said. “And when you heal the world, you do that by doing things as a community and recognizing that we’re much more the same than we are different.”

S. Gifford Nielsen, a member of the LDS church’s Quorum of the Seventy, said at the groundbreaking, “We’re grateful for the relationship that has been established between The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and our friends of other faiths.”

Arlo Luke, a Pocatello community leader and LDS church member who attended the groundbreaking, said the LDS church has been making an increased effort to include other faiths in its ceremonies and practices.

“Our understanding is that we’re all children of our Heavenly Father,” Luke said. “We’re here to bless each other.”

LDS church officials said the temple will take two to three years to build. Construction is expected to start this week.

The temple has a valuation of $62 million and cost the LDS church about $395,000 in fees paid to the city of Pocatello.

Article and photo originally published by Idaho State Journal

By Brady Halbleib

POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK) – Idaho Power could be among the first energy company to go to completely clean in the U.S.

By 2045, the company says it will phase out coal plants and begin generating energy from solar and wind sources.

Idaho Power has already reduced its carbon emission by almost 50 percent since 2005. Today, they are nearly 70 % clean energy.

“It’s an exciting time here at Idaho Power,” Idaho Power Energy Advisor Dave Spillet said. “Clean energy is non-CO2 emitting. Some non-CO2 emitting we have is our hyrdo, our wind, our solar, geothermal and biomass. That’s some of the clean energy we have in our resources.”

Among their hydro resources is Power County. The American Falls Dam is one of 17 dams throughout the state that is helping the Idaho Power go completely clean energy.”

It is primarily used for irrigation but It has three generators, producing more than 92,000 kilowatts of energy.

In addition to the dams, solar energy has become another clean energy source. Idaho Power has recently purchased land, providing 120 megawatts of solar power.

“That’s really exciting, especially for the deal we were able to get,” Spillett said. “We got that for $21.75 per megawatt hour. And that’s the lowest price we know of on a publically recorded contract.”

This initiative is called “Clean Today, Cleaner Tomorrow.” Idaho Power says it will be better for the environment but also better on your wallet. The first step, however, is phasing out of coal plants.

The company has already agreed to end partnerships with two coal plants and is expecting to end a third very soon.

“That’s a big step to becoming clean is to get out of those coal plants and to move towards something else like this solar farm,” Spillett said.

Article and photo originally published by Fox News

Earlier this month the City of Chubbuck unveiled the plans for its new city hall. But the city isn’t the only one benefiting from the change. “It’s super exciting, but I’ll tell you what, to see the excitement of our police side on what’s going to happen for them, it’s wonderful it really is,” said Chubbuck Mayor Kevin England at the announcement on March 8th. With the city moving out, the Chubbuck Police Department will take over the space left behind. “There’s some excitement, but at the same time we still know and understand that we’re still a couple years away from it all coming to fruition,” said Chubbuck Police Chief Bill Guiberson.  While the department knows they’re staying put until the new city hall is built, just having light at the end of their very narrow tunnels is enough. “The police department that we’re sitting in right now was built in 1983, the other half of the building was built even prior to that. When the police department took over this portion of the building we had a bout a dozen employees, now we’ve got 35 employees operating in the same area,” said Guiberson.  Many of the offices you’ll find in the department’s building support two people. The hallways on the other hand, aren’t wide enough for two people to walk down at the same time, and that’s without all of the gear officers wear. The interview room shares a wall with the city’s break room, so serious questioning can be interrupted by laughter and casual conversation. And most of all, they’re beginning to have a storage shortage. So with the shift to the current city hall building, the hope is to provide more space, more efficiency, and more pride. “We do scout tours on occasion, and getting a bunch of scouts through a narrow hallway isn’t real conducive. But it’ll be nice to have an area where we can show the public, and the public can be proud of the building as well as our employees,” said Guiberson. There will be remodeling done to better fit the needs of the police department, which will come directly out of the city’s budget.

Article originally published by KPVI news.

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