Ann Wheeler, a longtime GOP activist and Republican Party state committee woman from Power County, has sent out an op-ed piece to Idaho newspapers decrying the tactics of the tea party wing of the Idaho Republican Party, saying longtime GOP stalwarts like herself are wrongly…
Idaho Education News surveyed the four GOP candidates for state Superintendent of Public Instruction on whether they favor boosting annual payments to schools from the state’s permanent endowment fund; two of the four said yes. “Recent history shows that the reserve fund has been adequate…
Peter Rickards, a Twin Falls podiatrist and anti-nuclear activist who received 3.2 percent of the vote running as an independent for governor in 1998, has reached an agreement to plead guilty to one charge of manufacturing marijuana, the Twin Falls Times-News reports. The deal includes…
Here’s a news item from the Associated Press: TWIN FALLS, Idaho (AP) — The Idaho Department of Water Resources has delayed an order to shut off water to south-central Idaho groundwater pumpers. The Times-News reports (http://bit.ly/1iCYc5w) that the curtailment set for Monday is now delayed…
With just three weeks left before Idaho’s primary election, GOP gubernatorial challenger Russ Fulcher has launched his first statewide campaign commercial and posted billboards around the state – but incumbent Gov. Butch Otter hasn’t. “We have not put any TV up yet, no,” said Jayson…
Here’s a news item from the Associated Press: MERIDIAN, Idaho (AP) — A southwest Idaho school bus driver has been charged with misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter following a crash that killed an 11-year-old boy in December. The Canyon County Prosecutor's Office filed the charges Tuesday against…
“Add the Words” protesters returned to the Idaho state Capitol today, where roughly 180 were arrested during the course of this year’s legislative session pressing unsuccessfully for a hearing on legislation to add the words “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the Idaho Human Rights…
The numbers are in from the YourHealthIdaho insurance exchange open enrollment period, and it turns out that 76,061 Idahoans signed up for health insurance plans through the exchange. The federal government’s expectation for Idaho was 40,000 during the six-month open enrollment period. “We have significantly…
On tonight’s “Idaho Reports” program on Idaho Public Television, I join Jim Weatherby and co-hosts Melissa Davlin and Aaron Kunz for a discussion of current events and election politics. Also, the show features a report on the GOP primary race in District 30 between 3rd-term…
Here’s a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A 74-year-old Boise woman wants to overturn a constitutional amendment that says Idaho doesn't recognize same-sex marriage after learning the Idaho State Veterans Cemetery won't allow her to be buried with her partner's…
This year’s high-profile rift in Idaho’s dominant political party, the Idaho GOP, extends down to the party’s grass roots, Idaho Statesman reporter Dan Popkey writes today, with battles in the May 20 primary election for precinct committee seats around the state – including the one…
Here’s a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — State corrections officials say an inmate was found dead in his cell at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution south of Boise. Idaho Department of Correction spokesman Jeff Ray says the death of 38-year-old…
The Idaho State Police can’t be sued for detaining and fruitlessly searching a motorist with Colorado plates for marijuana in a case of alleged “license-plate profiling,” the state of Idaho argues, because it’s protected by the state’s sovereign immunity. In the state’s initial response to…
Wranglers in the West who have for decades cashed in on the allure of getting on a horse and setting out on an open trail say they have had to add bigger horses to their stables to help carry larger tourists over the rugged terrain,…
Canyon County GOP legislative candidate Greg Chaney announced Wednesday that he’ll suspend his campaign, after news surfaced that the candidate, unopposed in the primary, hadn’t revealed his past domestic violence and multiple-bankruptcy record. An initially defensive Chaney said he’d reformed, found God, and he and…
Gov. Butch Otter seemed a bit surprised this morning that he’d already received a public records request for documents related to his move to create a public records ombudsman position in his office. “Did you hear about that?” he asked reporters before his press conference,…
Idaho Gov. Butch Otter today signed an executive order creating an Idaho public records ombudsman’s office under his office, charged with collecting information and compiling concerns and complaints about state agencies’ compliance with Idaho laws requiring disclosure of public records, and working with the governor,…
Here’s a news item from the Associated Press: LEWISTON, Idaho (AP) — Idaho County commissioners have sent a letter to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management asking for guidance concerning a protest planned by suction dredgers upset with federal regulations. "The parties involved wish to…
Gov. Butch Otter issued this statement on the impending retirement of state Parks Director Nancy Merrill: “Besides being a great friend, Nancy has been a skilled and energetic director at Parks and Recreation. She brought enthusiasm, experience and a hard-nosed business approach to managing the…
Nancy Merrill, director of Idaho’s Department of Parks and Recreation, will retire in mid-July, and the state is launching a national search for her replacement. “We’re reaching out to every resource available,” said parks spokeswoman Jennifer Okerlund. Merrill has been the head of Idaho’s state…
A district court judge in Twin Falls is ordering Google to identify the sender of an email that threatened College of Southern Idaho Vice President Edit Szanto, from a Gmail account created to falsely appear that the sender was former CSI President Jerry Beck, the…
Senate President Pro-Tem Brent Hill, R-Rexburg, has a guest opinion in the Idaho Falls Post Register today lauding Idaho’s decision to establish a state health insurance exchange. Under the headline “Going our own way,” Hill writes, “The choice last year was never between a state-run…
Here’s a link to my full story at spokesman.com on Idaho having the highest interest rates in the nation for payday loans, at 582 percent, and how payday loan reform legislation passed by this year’s Legislature won’t change that. Washington’s average percentage rate for payday…
A Nampa man has been sentenced to nine months in prison for stealing rocks from BLM land, and not just any rocks. Brian Kirkpatrick, 46, pleaded guilty to stealing more than 9,800 pounds of sandstone from federal BLM property to sell commercially for use in…
Idaho House Speaker Scott Bedke was among 50 politicians from nine states who gathered at the Utah state Capitol on Friday to discuss ways states can take over management of federal lands, reporter Kevin Richert of Idaho Education News reports. “It’s time the states in…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
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