July 2024

Toni Rice’s Maine Coon cat suffered from two infected teeth and badly needed emergency dental care, but was unable to receive local care for two months due to a shortage of licensed veterinarians in Valley County.Rice takes her cat to the MCPAWS Veterinary Clinic in Donnelly, which has been struggling to hire veterinarians for more than a year now, Executive Director Cortney Bayuk said.Rice’s cat also needs regular appointments to fill an insulin prescription for diabetes, which means waiting for an appointment with one of several part-time veterinarians banding together to keep the clinic open.“I’m grateful there is a clinic and the staff is wonderful there,” said Rice, 69.The clinic currently has only one part-time veterinarian on staff with relief veterinarians filling in when available, said Katie Venable, who serves as medical practice manager and a veterinary technician at the clinic.Venable and other staff members are sympathetic to the struggle of pet owners like Rice, but unable to help many pets without a licensed veterinarian.“It is heartbreaking,” said Venable.

A proposal to build 121 storage units in 12 buildings on Idaho 55 was approved by the Valley County Planning and Zoning Commission.Paradigm Storage Condominiums, owned by Toby Bunce of McCall, was approved to develop the plan on a roughly 12-acre property on the west side of Idaho 55 about three miles south of McCall.The storage units will be sold to individual owners, and not rented.The development includes an office and restroom building, which will use a well and septic system.As part of the development’s rules, storage unit owners would be able to use their units as storage for a business, but not operate on site like an automotive shop.The storge unit proposal replaces a previous business venture approved for the property.On Nov.

Stage 1 fire restrictions go into effect tomorrow within the greater McCall, Donnelly, New Meadows and Council areas.Fire restrictions include the Payette National Forest, and land managed by the Bureau of Land Management, Idaho Department of Lands and the Southern Idaho Timber Protective Association.The restrictions do not apply to the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness or the Boise National Forest.The decision was made in response to rapidly increasing fire danger as hot and dry weather continue across the region.

The City of Cascade will have no dedicated police coverage next year, after the city council decided not to renew a contract with the Valley County Sheriff’s Office.Cascade has contracted policing services to the VCSO since 2017, when the city opted to disband its municipal police department.The most recent contract, which ends Sept.