Milk donations
The silent Congress
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Jerome schools ask for $26M bond RYAN BLAKE
rblake@magicvalley.com
JEROME — Voters will still decide on a $26 million bond to build a new school in Jerome. Many things about the May 19 primary election have changed, but the need for more space in Jerome School District remains the same, superintendent Dale Layne said. “Jerome is a growing community, and as we grow, we have more people, we have more houses, and we have more children,” he said. “As we have more students com-
ing into school, we need the facilities for those kids to attend.” The $26 million bond would cost residents $88 per $100,000 of assessed property value. Chris Bragg, a member of the Jerome Citizens for Better Schools Committee, said he understands it’s a challenge to ask for money during a pandemic that has had wide-ranging financial consequences for many families. But low interest rates, the state’s bond equalization program, and a plan to restructure district finances mean residents won’t pay
a higher annual rate by approving the measure. The need is not going away in Jerome, and now is the best time to act, Bragg said. “This period of time right now seems to be the most fiscally opportune to be able to build a new school at the lowest cost possible,” he said. “The longer we wait, the more expensive it’s going to get.” The $26 million would mostly pay for the construction of a new elementary school. Once built, the new school and the three existing elementary schools would each
host K-6 students. All seventhand eighth-graders would attend Jerome Middle School. Currently, the district’s elementary schools host different age ranges of students and the middle school hosts all sixththrough eighth-grade students. This means parents with multiple kids often send them to different schools spread across Jerome. Layne said the proposal would open up space at the middle school, which is overcrowded with more than 1,100 kids. It would also simplify the logistics
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Burley residents rally for store owner
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of getting kids to and from school. The proposed layout could save as much as an hour a day on bus routes. Some of the money would go to renovations at each of the elementary facilities to provide equity within the district. Layne said the district began preparing the request several months ago but acknowledged the timing is less than ideal due to several unexpected challenges caused by the pandemic.
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LAURIE WELCH
lwelch@magicvalley.com
ELAINE THOMPSON, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Public health nurse Jennifer Morgan, right, checks in via phone with a patient self-quarantined at home who had some risk of exposure to the coronavirus as University of Washington epidemiology student Erika Feutz observes on Feb. 13 at the public health agency for Seattle and King County. Washington state now has about 700 people focused on tracing contacts, with plans to expand the workforce to 1,500 by the second week of May.
States fall short on tracing CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY AND JASON DEAREN
Associated Press
ATLANTA — As more states push to reopen their economies, many are falling short on one of the federal government’s essential criteria for doing so — having an efficient system to track people who have been physically near a person infected with the coronavius. Meanwhile, the worldwide death toll has surpassed 200,000, according to a tally compiled Saturday by Johns Hopkins University from gov-
ernment figures. The death count was over 202,000. The actual death toll is believed to be far higher. An Associated Press review found a patchwork of systems around the country for so-called contact tracing, with many states unable to keep up with caseloads and scrambling to hire and train enough people to handle the task for the months ahead. The effort is far less than what public health experts say is needed to guard against a resurgence of the virus. The result is a wide array of strategies and little national co-
ordination. With few exceptions, most states reviewed by AP are going it alone. Many other countries dealing with the pandemic are taking a national approach to testing. As late as Friday, the website for the Centers for Disease Con-
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trol and Prevention said detailed guidance on contact tracing for states was “forthcoming.” “We’ll not ever control the whole country unless we have the same strategy,” said Dr. Cyrus
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OBITUARIES
BURLEY — The community is rallying around the owner of Darrell’s Dry Cleaners, who fell off the roof of his business April 18 and will be unable to work while he recovers from six broken ribs and a punctured lung. Kevin Butcher, 63, was released Monday from the hospital but went back to the hospital on Thursday after his lung collapsed again. A Facebook GoFundMe page has been set up and neighboring business Nostalgia Coffee & Cafe is holding a Facebook silent auction with business and personal donations up for bid. Though the dry cleaner’s business was experiencing an economic downturn due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Butcher had kept up regular hours for his customers — until Saturday when he missed the top step on the ladder as he came down from the roof, his step-daughter Jamie Walker said. “He hadn’t taken a day off in over 10 years so this is really hard on him,” Walker said. “He really puts his heart into the cleaning, and he personally does the pressing. He loves the business — it was his mom and dad’s business — and he feels like he has that reputation to uphold.” Butcher was on the roof getting the swamp cooler ready for the season, which is essential due to the nature of the business. “It is 100 degrees in there and we really need it when the weather gets warmer,” Walker said. Walker’s mother, Cindi Butcher, works alongside her husband in the business, but usually takes the weekends off to take care of chores at home. Out of the blue, she decided to go with him to the dry cleaners, Walker said. Cindi Butcher was there with him when he fell shortly after 1 p.m. Please see CLEANERS, Page A8
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