The Gem State Brief

Curated by Locus Lectorum

April 24, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes

Activist replaces pride flag at City Hall with Appeal to Heaven Flag on Easter Sunday

Boise City Hall | April 20 | Idaho Dispatch on X, Idaho Dispatch on X

A conservative activist covered the LGBT flag flying at Boise City Hall and flew an Appeal to Heaven flag early Easter morning. Later in the day, Boise Mayor Lauren McLean personally helped to cut down this flag and uncover the LGBT flag.

Idaho Attorney General responds to Boise flag controversy

Boise City Hall | April 21 | X

Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador responds to calls for the AG's office to take criminal action against the City of Boise, saying the lack of criminal enforcement mechanism in the law prevents his office from taking criminal action against Mayor McLean

Canadian miner seeks to reopen silver mine near Silver City

Silver City | April 17 | Integra Resources

Integra Resources formally submitted an updated mine plan of operations to the BLM as they seek to restart a silver mine that last operated in the late 1800s.

11 Idahoans sentenced in fentanyl trafficking bust

Boise | April 16 | KTVB

The multi-agency task force seized 48,000 fentanyl pills during their operation, primarily being trafficked across the Mexican border.

Meridian Planning and Zoning Commission denies In-N-Out application for new location on 10 Mile and Chinden

Meridian | April 17 | KBOI

After significant public commentary against the planned expansion, the Meridian Planning and Zoning Commission has denied In-N-Out's application for a new restaurant in Meridian, citing concerns with the significant traffic burden the location would create.

Vehicle crashes through apartment complex in Boise

Boise | April 21 | KBOI

16 people were displaced after a vehicle drove through their apartment building on Monday.

Highlights & Insights

✍️ Articles by Locus Lectorum Members

📖 Other Recommended Read

"Andrew Jackson’s 1832 Bank Veto Speech" - In 1832, prior to re-election, Andrew Jackson risked his political career to veto a bill that would have renewed the charter of the Bank of the United States (the then central bank of the US). This powerful speech captures the inherent danger of central banking, and much of it remains relevant today.

🏛️ Apologetics Fact

The Kalam Argument: Everything that begins to exist has a cause, the universe began to exist, therefore the universe has a cause. The argument was originally posited in the middle ages, and it was expounded on in detail by William Lane Craig in his 1979 book The Kalām Cosmological Argument.

🗣️ Quote

"Distinctions in society will always exist under every just government. Equality of talents, of education, or of wealth cannot be produced by human institutions... If government would confine itself to equal protection and, as Heaven does its rains, shower its favor alike on the high and the low, the rich and the poor, it would be an unqualified blessing"– Andrew Jackson (1832 Bank Veto Speech)

🏅 Person: Darrell Watt (1949–)

One of the most effective officers in the Rhodesian SAS during the bush war, for several years Watt led small strike teams that tracked and eliminated larger enemy units, cut supply lines, and generally disrupt enemy operations. His teams would frequently go for weeks without resupply or any external support. Despite nearly daily combat action, Watt only lost a single soldier under his command during the war.

📕 A Handful of Hard Men

An insightful account of the exploits of the Rhodesian SAS during the War for Rhodesia. Despite tremendous numerical odds, the SAS executed some of the most successful military operations in modern history, in some cases eliminating 1,000s of enemies while suffering only single digit casualties. Ultimately their exploits would be for naught as politics, not guns, would decide Rhodesia's fate