IDAHO FALLS — Idaho Falls Retro X2 is returning for its second year to celebrate pop culture.

The two-day Comic Con-style and family-friendly event will take place May 3 and 4 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Idaho Falls Elks Lodge No. 1087, at 640 E. Elva Street. More than 70 vendors will be selling vintage and retro collectibles, toys, comics, video games and more.

“We have all kinds of different fandoms represented,” said Phillip Langston, who is co-creator of Retro X, along with Brandon Kimball.

The items for sale will range from ’80s toys — including “Star Wars,” “Transformers,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” “Masters of the Universe” and “GI Joe” — to more modern toys such as “Marvel Legends,” Funko Pop! and Plushies. Some vendors will be selling vintage video games, consoles and accessories from Nintendo and SEGA, as well as modern gaming systems.

There will be 3D-printed items, leather work, whimsical crafts, crocheted stuffies, sports and non-sports trading cards, LEGO, die-cast cars and a wide variety of anime collectibles.

“Last year, we had in an eight-hour show that was grass-roots marketing. We literally had four months to put it together. We ended up with 2,300 people,” Langston said of the event, which was first held at the Idaho Falls Rec Center. “It was packed.”

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This year, the convention will be in a new location and feature two celebrity guests who have never been to east Idaho — Kathy Garver and Stephanie Nadolny.

Langston said Garver has been in the movie industry since she was little and that people at the event will best know her for being the voice of Firestar in “Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends.” Nadolny voiced Goku and Gohan as well as other characters for the “Dragon Ball Z” T.V. series, video game and movies.

“(Nadolny) was rated in the top-10 best guests for anime because she also sings. So she’ll go up on stage and sing anime songs, and (it) gets people excited,” Langston said. “She is going to bring a lot of energy.”

Jeff Cox, “Garbage Pail Kids” sketch artist, will also be at the convention.

“He’s a really awesome artist,” Langston said. “He’ll be there signing ‘Garbage Pail Kids’ stuff.”

The event will have a tattoo artist, a panel room, the 501st Legion “Star Wars” costuming group, characters from Storybook Parties Idaho and food vendors.

A cosplay contest will also be held with over $2,000 in cash and prizes being given away. Those interested in participating in the cosplay contest are asked to sign up online for the contest. Three local professional cosplayers will be the judges of the contest.

“I hope (people) have a really good time and learn there’s all kinds of different things out there to enjoy,” Langston mentioned.

He hopes the community will continue to support this event, as they want to bring in a bigger celebrity next year but can only do so if they have the community’s support.

Tickets to the event are $10 per person (children 10 and under are free) or $20 daily for a family pass. You’ll receive $2 off your ticket if you bring a can of food with you to donate to the Idaho Falls Community Food Basket, or tickets can be bought online here.

This past week, the state of Idaho argued before the Supreme Court that it should be allowed to violate federal law. Specifically, the state contends that its laws criminalizing abortion care should supersede the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, which for decades has prohibited the inhumane practice of medical providers and hospitals turning away patients with acute, emergency medical needs.

Idaho’s laws technically permit doctors to perform abortions to save patients’ lives, but the difference between an assessment that a person’s life is at risk or not can shift in minutes, all under threat of prosecution if a medical provider picks “incorrectly.”

As with the ongoing case over efforts to ban the FDA-approved medication mifepristone, which is used in safe abortions, it’s clear that medical posturing notwithstanding, this isn’t really a case about the proper exercise of medicine but about ideological preference. It’s difficult to envision other medical procedures that the courts would even consider to be potentially outside the scope of federal emergency care requirements — imagine a case winding its way up the Supreme Court alleging that a state could criminalize the performance of appendectomies or dialysis. It wouldn’t happen because it shouldn’t happen; these are ridiculous questions on their face. But unfortunately, some of our nation’s esteemed jurists have decided to debase themselves by allowing this farce to continue.

It is ridiculous that state’s largest hospital system is having to airlift patients to other states to receive care that they are perfectly capable of providing themselves, were it not for the overhanging threat of prosecution. In forcing this situation, the state government is simultaneously forcing the waste of in-demand medical resources but decreasing the likelihood that life-saving interventions will be successful even in other states with more sensical laws. Every second counts in a medical emergency.

Idaho’s attorney, Joshua Turner, leaned on using vague and sanitized language to describe the impact of the state’s position, so let’s be clear about it here: pregnant people will get sepsis and uncontrolled hemorrhage, they’ll have hysterectomies and permanent infertility, some will die. Obviously, dying along with them would be any chance that the fetuses they carry could ever come to term. This stance helps no one and accomplishes nothing but threatening doctors for doing their jobs and putting Idahoans at risk.

Not that public popularity should be necessary to guarantee rights, but it’s also clear that anti-choice politicians are well out of step with the preferences of the majority of Americans, who have consistently voted to reject choice-restricting measures and rejected candidates who made that a central platform. In Arizona this week, enough GOP legislators in the House broke ranks to allow passage of a bill repealing the state’s 160-year-old total abortion ban. It appears that there’s sufficient support in the State Senate to do the same, and a Democratic governor stands ready to sign the bill.

In an era of dwindling bipartisan agreement, and with an issue as traditionally party-line divisive as abortion, this signals the extent to which the consensus is near-total. Attempts at heavy-handed or total abortion restrictions are antiquated and cruel, and have no real place in contemporary America, no matter what an ever-smaller minority of political elites in statehouses or courtrooms believe.

(Idaho Capital Sun) — As cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza spread across U.S. cattle, Idaho officials say their biggest concern is the virus’ impact on Idaho’s economy. 

The illness, also coined the bird flu, has sickened cattle across at least eight states, with the first case detected in Texas cattle in late March, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

On April 1, the Idaho State Department of Agriculture reported its first case of the bird flu in cattle in Cassia County. The cattle infected had been recently imported from Texas, Sydney Kennedy, the spokesperson for the department of agriculture told the Idaho Capital Sun. 

And on Monday, the department confirmed a second herd in Cassia County is positive for the bird flu.

Kennedy said the state is well-prepared with financial resources and trained staff to respond to animal diseases. The Idaho facilities with infected cattle have been placed under a quarantine to limit the movement of cattle, she said.

“Idaho is a major livestock state, and we cannot forget about what this truly means to the dairymen,” she said. “The outbreak in dairy herds primarily affects lactating cows, reducing milk production, this leaves the greatest amount of financial impact on the dairymen. Idaho’s dairy industry contributes significant economic value ($3.5 billion) to our state.”

What is the highly pathogenic avian influenza — aka bird flu? 

The bird flu spreads naturally among wild aquatic birds worldwide, and it can infect domestic poultry and other species, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While the virus emerged through birds, it has been detected in cattle, which is unusual, according to University of Idaho veterinary medicine assistant professor Lauren Christensen.

“This is not something that we’re typically looking for in mammals because the virus typically is only able to infect other poultry or other birds,” she told the Idaho Capital Sun. “We usually don’t see the virus able to switch over to mammals.”

The virus is mostly seen in wild flocks of geese or ducks that are migrating, Christensen said. Like with the flu, she said it’s virus particles coming from one infected animal or person going to another — usually in close contact.

Christensen said the virus causes significant disease and even death among chickens. But so far, no cows across the country have died from it. 

Christensen said the main symptoms of the virus in cows include decrease in milk production and loss in appetite. Other symptoms may include a low-grade fever, color changes in milk, or thickened milk.

Pasteurized dairy products are safe, experts say

Christensen said milk bought at the grocery store is safe for human consumption because it’s been pasteurized, or heated to a high temperature to kill harmful bacteria.

“Wash your hands, drink pasteurized milk, and you’ll be fine,” Christensen said.

While the bird flu does not normally infect humans, some human infections have occurred, according to the CDC. Earlier this month, federal officials identified the first human case of the illness in a Texas dairy worker, Politico reported. The symptoms are mild and the worker is expected to recover. 

Rick Naerebout, the CEO of the Idaho Dairymen’s Association, told the Sun the biggest concern for Idaho is its financial impact on the dairy industry.

Naerebout said Idaho dairy workers are encouraged to follow biosecurity measures such as wearing personal protective equipment such as gloves, aprons and glasses. Dairy workers are also encouraged to separate their work clothes and everyday clothes, he said. 

“What we’re hearing coming out of the Southwest is you can lose up to 20% of your milk production, and our dairymen are coming off over a year of negative margin,” he said. “That’s just really stressful on the finances and trying to be able to continue to wander through the storm that we’re in.”

To learn more about detections of the virus, visit the U.S. Department of Agriculture website. For updates about detected reports in Idaho, visit the Idaho State Department of Agriculture website. To learn more about the virus and how to prevent it, visit the CDC website.