Gov. Butch Otter has signed HB 343, the wolf disaster emergency bill, into law despite concerns he expressed in a two-page letter about the bill. "My concerns with the legislation are not whether it is an appropriate response to the devastation that wolves have caused,"…
Syringa Networks is appealing to the Idaho Supreme Court the dismissal of its lawsuit against the state of Idaho over the award of a multimillion-dollar contract for the Idaho Education Network. The firm contends that its bid would have cost the state less than the…
When new state Tax Commission Chairman Bob Geddes was appointed, he was in Boise serving as a ninth-term state senator; two years earlier, he'd sold his house in Soda Springs and bought a home in Meridian, but he was still renting a home in Soda…
Though the Idaho Land Board voted in December to offer cabin owners on state land at Priest and Payette lakes new 10-year leases at a rental rate of 4 percent of the land's value per year, rather than the current 2.5 percent, that hasn't happened…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press and KIFI-TV: AMMON, Idaho (AP) — Stop me if you've heard this one: A goat walks into a music store. It sounds like the start of a bad joke, but that's exactly what happened at the Piano…
It's been a good year so far for Idaho's permanent endowment fund, with earnings on investments through March 31 at 23.1 percent, Larry Johnson, manager of investments, reported to the state Land Board this morning. That's since the start of the fiscal year on July…
With no discussion or debate, the state Oil & Gas Conservation Commission, which consists of the governor, the attorney general, the secretary of state, the state superintendent of public instruction and the state controller, has voted unanimously to adopt as-is a proposed temporary rule on…
Justin Hayes of the Idaho Conservation League told state officials, "What we don't want is to have a problem develop because it wasn't being closely regulated, because, as we've heard time and time again, you can't clean up an aquifer once you've fouled it up."…
State Lands Department staffer Eric Wilson said it would be a broad restriction to ban the use of carcinogenic compounds from being injected into groundwater in "fracking" fluids. "I think even Twinkies could be carcinogenic if you eat enough of them," Wilson said. He said…
Justin Hayes of the Idaho Conservation League has proposed several amendments to the temporary rule on "fracking," or hydraulic fracturing, that's pending before the state Oil & Gas Conservation Commission. They include banning the injection of carcinogenic or toxic compounds into groundwater; banning horizontal well…
There's a full house this morning as the Idaho Land Board meets as the state Oil & Gas Conservation Commission, to hear items including a recommendation from a hearing officer with regard to a spacing order requested by Bridge Energy, and a temporary rule regarding…
A Montana judge has halted work on highway upgrades to allow giant megaloads of oil equipment to travel through the state from Idaho to Canada, but he will allow the "test module" that ExxonMobil currently is running across U.S. Highway 12 in north-central idaho to…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
