Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

House adjourns ‘til Mon., GOP heads into caucus

The House has adjourned until Monday; House Republicans headed into a closed-door caucus for half an hour. Afterward, House Majority Caucus Chairman Ken Roberts, R-Donnelly, said the discussion focused mostly on the public school budget, which will be set in JFAC on Monday.

Not taken up: Unlocking the doors to the House members' office areas in the basement of the Capitol, which have been locked down since House Speaker Lawerence Denney ordered it in January amid hearings on the bill to evict the Occupy Boise encampment from its spot across the street from the Capitol. Since then, a federal judge has upheld the new law's camping ban, but ruled the 1st Amendment bars the states from booting out the tents as a symbolic vigil. Roberts said the caucus didn't even discuss the lockdown today. "They still have tents, across the street," he said. Asked if the lockdown would be reconsidered, he said, "Not through the end of this session, I don't think, unless something dramatic changes across the street."
 



Betsy Z. Russell
Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

Follow Betsy online: