Some interesting crime statistics: Of the 12,996 homicides in the United States in 2011, just 21 were in Idaho, 21 in Montana, and 8 in Wyoming. More populous Oregon and Washington had 78 and 151 homicides respectively, but the vast majority of those were west of the Cascade mountain range (outside of the American Redoubt.) For comparison: In 2011 there were 515 homicides in New York City, and in just the first nine months of 2012, there have already been 391 homicides in the City of Chicago. (They are expecting around 500 by the end of the year, a 25% increase from 2011.) Compare the homicides in Louisiana to Idaho. Where would you rather live? (Although I must point out that some eastern states like Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire also rank very low, as well. Also note that these statistics include justified self defense killings, not just murders.) OBTW, the Neighborhood Scout crime rate map tool might be useful in evaluating places to live.
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Reader Mal V. wrote to send a map link with a note that said humorously: “It looks like even botnet infections are less common in the Redoubt.”
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Carl in Big Fork sent a link to this: Montana Demographics
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File Under Department of Double Standards: New rules of the game for Idaho businesses. Note that these rules only affect towers with guy wires. So this exempts most cell phone towers, since they are self-supporting. The FAA and FCC already regulate radio towers, so why should a state’s Department of Transportation? (Thanks to R.B.S. for sending the link.)
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Some bad news, from Billings, Montana: Grenade burns sleeping girl as SWAT team raids Billings home. JWR Asks: Why would they throw a flash-bang or any sort of pyrotechnic into a suspected meth lab? (Since those places tend to have explosive fumes at any given time.)