Idaho is no welfare state, legislators were assured Monday, even though 20 percent of the population now receives some form of public assistance. Idaho's benefits remain paltry compared to most states, and even after big jumps in the state's food stamp rolls through the recession,…
YourHealthIdaho.org, Idaho's state health insurance exchange, reports today that 19,922 Idahoans have now purchased health insurance plans through the exchange, 48,082 have completed applications, 40,205 have been determined eligible to buy insurance on the exchange, and 26,665 have been found eligible for federal financial assistance…
A Second Amendment rally on the Statehouse steps today drew more than 150 people, many of them with firearms at their sides or slung across their backs. “It’s a Second Amendment rally, so it’s kind of a given that you’re going to have guns here,”…
At peace talks in Paris today, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry presented Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov with a pair of hefty Idaho potatoes, prompting an oddly festive moment of diplomacy during otherwise grim talks. Kerry quickly sought to disavow any deep diplomatic meaning…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A Boise lawyer plans to run as a Democrat for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Republican Jim Risch. Nels Mitchell aims to announce his run Tuesday at Boise's historic train depot.…
An array of backers gathered in a packed state Capitol meeting room this morning to unveil legislation to launch a pilot program for pre-K education in Idaho schools. “This is about the future of this state,” declared Rep. Hy Kloc, D-Boise. “Idaho’s future will be…
Idaho H&W chief Dick Armstrong this morning highlighted three “important state initiatives” that are coming in the next year: Behavioral health community crisis centers for those with mental health or substance abuse disorders. Three are initially proposed around the state next year, with plans to…
The Idaho Department of Health & Welfare, the state’s biggest agency, is down 270 positions from the 3,119 employees it had in 2008, before the recession, Director Dick Armstrong told legislative budget writers this morning. Turnover is up, rising to 15 percent in fiscal year…
Six thousand people in 2,500 Idaho households were told they qualify for Medicaid when they went through Idaho’s health insurance exchange to attempt to buy insurance and access possible federal subsidies. But Idaho Health & Welfare Director Dick Armstrong said those eligibility determinations, which were…
A week of budget hearings on health and human services programs has kicked off this morning in the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee. Idaho Department of Health & Welfare Director Dick Armstrong told the lawmakers that the department budget for next year reflects only a 1.6 percent…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
