Here’s a link to my Sunday story on how new Idaho GOP Chairman Steve Yates says his party has work to do to recover from its big split midway through an election campaign. After the party’s state convention in June failed to elect leaders amid a bitter intra-party divide, former Chairman Barry Peterson sued, claiming he still was chairman. A judge said no, prompting the election of Yates Aug. 2.

Yates, a former aide to then-Vice President Dick Cheney who moved to Idaho Falls in 2011, said, “I have a reasonable amount of experience dealing with things that can be hashed out in the situation room in the West Wing, or in territorial disputes abroad. I have to believe that whatever our disagreements may be within the party, less is at stake … and that we ought to be able to work out our differences.”

Idaho’s Republican Party currently dominates elective offices in the state, holding every statewide office, all four seats in the congressional delegation and more than 80 percent of the state Legislature. But the party’s disarray has created a potential opening for minority Democrats and third party candidates, who are campaigning hard this year in races including the one for governor.

Also from Sunday’s Spokesman-Review, here’s a link to my Sunday column on the politics surrounding the stalled wildfire disaster funding act in Congress and new demographic projections about Idaho’s school students.