The AP reports that with the $180 million contract now signed for laptop computers for Idaho's high schools, lawmakers are suffering from sticker shock. In 2011, when lawmakers were considering the laptop plan, chief proponent and state schools Supt. Tom Luna and his staff estimated…
The Idaho Education Association has sent a response to the Idaho Secretary of State's office's demand that it disclose its contributors, since it made in-kind contributions to the "No on Props 1,2,3" campaign of more than $180,000. In the letter from its attorney, the IEA…
U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor stopped in Boise tonight to raise funds for Idaho GOP Rep. Raul Labrador's re-election campaign and urge Idahoans to send the freshman back to Washington for another term. "I believe in Raul," Cantor declared. "He has come in and…
Here's the answer from state Department of Education spokeswoman Melissa McGrath as to how soon the $14.2 million "buyout" clause kicks in in the state's $180 million laptop contract, requiring the state to pay the contractor if it cancels the contract: "The buyout would not…
The state of Idaho today filed for a temporary restraining order against a secretive group that underwrote more than $200,000 in campaign ads in support of three school-reform ballot reform measures and has refused to disclose its funding source, and a judge set a hearing…
I still have not received a copy of the $180 million contract the state of Idaho signed yesterday with Hewlett-Packard Corp. and partners for laptop computers for Idaho high schools, but the State Department of Education just sent me this cost breakdown. It shows that…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) ― Eastern Idaho businessman Frank VanderSloot is employing Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney to criticize unions and promote Tom Luna's education overhaul at the ballot box on Nov. 6. VanderSloot, an overhaul supporter, is…
I've heard a lot of questions today about the numbers behind the $180 million contract Idaho signed yesterday with Hewlett-Packard and partners to supply laptops to every Idaho high school student and teacher for the next eight years, under the "Students Come First" reform laws…
Idaho Statesman columnist Dan Popkey has a column today entitled "Don't mess with Big Ben," in which he notes that backers of Propositions 1, 2 and 3 are taking on the state's most popular Republican official by defying his call to disclose their donors for…
Gas prices across the nation have just posted their biggest one-week decline since 2008, AAA Idaho reports, but Idaho hasn't yet felt it. In the Gem State, gas prices are averaging $3.82 a gallon, 19 cents higher than the U.S. average and down just a…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
