State officials say the plan to supply the first laptop computers of a multi-year phase-in aimed at getting one to every Idaho high school student is on track for fall, despite hitting a snag last month when the state canceled bidding for insufficient response and…
Sharon Harrigfeld, director of the Idaho Department of Juvenile Corrections, has released a statement in the wake of a whistleblower lawsuit charging abuses at a Nampa juvenile center run by the department, saying, "I believe in our programs and I believe in our staff." The…
The Idaho Transportation Department and law enforcement agencies across the state are partnering up for an anti-aggressive driving push - including intensive patrols on popular routes focusing on speeding and other aggressive driving behaviors - from Aug. 1-13. The reason: Idaho has higher rates of…
So just how much of a boost did Washington's liquor-privatization move give Idaho's state liquor stores along the Idaho-Washington border? A nice bump, but not anything they're counting on lasting. The reason: Though Washington liquor prices went up, waves of discounting - not allowed at…
Here's a link to my full story at spokesman.com on today's discussions in the Legislature's Health Care Task Force, at which state Insurance Director Bill Deal told lawmakers it may already be too late for Idaho to set up a state-run health insurance exchange in…
Idaho has reported its first human case of West Nile Virus this year, a Twin Falls County woman in her 40s who had recently traveled to Valley County; it's not clear in which county she contracted the disease, which is spread by infected mosquitoes. The…
The Idaho Court of Appeals has rejected an appeal from a Kootenai County man who said a state law removing his commercial driver's license for life after his second, off-the-job DUI constituted double jeopardy and excessive, cruel and unusual punishment. Steven Leslie Williams sued the…
Idaho's catastrophic health care fund, which covers care for indigent patients with no other coverage and is run through Idaho's counties, which each pay $11,000 per case before the fund kicks in, is starting to climb in costs again, CAT fund board Chairman Roger Christensen,…
One question that's come up several times today at the Legislature's Health Care Task Force: Could the governor implement a particular type of health insurance exchange by executive order, without legislative action? When lawmakers posed that question to Deputy Attorney General Brian Kane, he said,…
Idaho Health & Welfare Director Dick Armstrong said the governor's working group that he chairs, on the issues surrounding whether or not to expand Medicaid under the national health care reform law, will be reviewing extensive data on where those patients are now getting their…
Sen. Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, asked state Insurance Director Bill Deal about the "partnership" option on a health insurance exchange. "I think most Idahoans would prefer that the federal government not be in their insurance buying decisions," said Cameron. "So as I try to analyze, it…
The next deadline for Idaho to apply for a federal grant to fund work on a health insurance exchange falls in mid-August, state Insurance Director Bill Deal told lawmakers this morning, but Idaho still hasn't decided whether it wants a state-run exchange, a federally-run one,…
Some provisions of the federal Affordable Care Act already have taken effect in Idaho, state Department of Insurance Director Bill Deal reported to lawmakers on the Health Care Task Force this morning. "Most of them took place in September 2010," he said, including banning pre-existing…
Federal officials are currently anticipating they'll have to run health insurance exchanges for lots of states - "as high as 30," Joy Wilson of the National Conference of State Legislatures told Idaho lawmakers this morning. "And that means that there won't be much customization. So…
Among the insights from Joy Wilson of the National Conference of State Legislatures into the health care choices facing states like Idaho: "The Medicaid expansion affects every state differently. ... Most states are in the process of running numbers to try to determine what the…
There's a crowd of about 50 in the audience for today's legislative Health Care Task Force meeting, which runs all day in room EW 42 of the state capitol. There's particularly high interest, as the state ponders its next steps in the wake of the…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press/Moscow-Pullman Daily News: MOSCOW, Idaho (AP) ― A 2nd District Court Judge in northern Idaho is scheduled on Wednesday to hear arguments concerning a request by the University of Idaho and Idaho State Board of Education to dismiss…
A proposal for a fourth dam and new reservoir on the Bear River in eastern Idaho - on the last free-flowing stretch of the river that's accessible to the public - has been rejected by the Idaho Department of Water Resources. The dam proposal, first…
Idaho Department of Commerce Director Jeff Sayer is crowing about company expansions and recruitments that are running far ahead of expectations, just a month into the state's new fiscal year. "We have probably 10 projects, all in different regions of the state, that will bring…
Here's a news item from the Association Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) ― A group of Idaho Department of Juvenile Corrections employees have revised their lawsuit against the agency, alleging that some staffers at a juvenile detention center in Nampa had sex with the youth incarcerated…
Idaho has seen two major drug raids in the last 24 hours, as federal authorities raided 11 locations in Twin Falls County in a crackdown on selling "spice," or synthetic marijuana; and Idaho State Police detectives, along with aerial support, raided 12 marijuana grow sites…
Gov. Butch Otter's health insurance exchange working group, chaired by Idaho Insurance Director Bill Deal, has announced it'll hold its first meeting next Thursday, Aug. 2, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the west conference room of the J.R. Williams Building, 700 W. State…
1st District Democratic challenger Jimmy Farris has a "buoyant" 60-second TV ad filmed and ready to go, but doesn't have the cash yet to actually run it, reports Idaho Statesman columnist Dan Popkey. Popkey reports that Farris, a former NFL football player and Lewiston native,…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) ― An Idaho man who was able to escape a fiery car crash suffered non-life threatening injuries when he was struck by a semitrailer as he tried to flag down help. The Idaho State…
Idaho multimillionaire and big-money Republican donor Frank Vandersloot is the target of two new federal audits, the Associated Press reports, one by the Internal Revenue Service and the other by the U.S. Department of Labor. Vandersloot, the founder and CEO of Idaho Falls-based health care…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
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