Idaho’s state Land Board voted 5-0 today to boost the state's wildfire protection budget by 10 percent for the 2016 fire season, following one of the state's worst fire seasons on record in 2015. The additional $917,022 supplemental appropriation request, which also includes adding the…
Idaho’s graduation rate tied for 41st in the nation in 2013-14, according to new numbers released Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Education. Idaho EdNews reporter Kevin Richert writes that the report challenges the longtime conventional wisdom that Idaho boasts one of the nation’s highest…
Here’s a news item from the Associated Press: KETCHUM, Idaho (AP) — Officials say a skier was badly injured when he was caught in an avalanche in central Idaho on Monday afternoon. Sawtooth Avalanche Center Director Scott Savage says the man was skiing on U.S.…
The Legislature’s Tax Working Group has wrapped up its work with no definitive outcome. “At least the members of the committee got an education on some of the history and why tax policy is the way it is,” said Sen. Steve Vick, R-Dalton Gardens. “I...
The Legislature’s Tax Working Group is back in session, to discuss four proposed tax-cut bills. “These are just drafts. We’re not here to finalize a piece of legislation,” said Co-Chair Rep. Gary Collins, R-Nampa. “We’re not here to take any votes, per se, on anything....
The Legislature's Tax Working Group has concluded public testimony this morning on four tax-cut proposals, and is taking a 15-minute break; when it returns at 10 a.m. MT, it'll begin discussion of how it wants to proceed on legislation.
John Watts of the Idaho Chamber Alliance told the Legislature’s Tax Working Group his organization has supported an array of tax-cut proposals over the years. But rather than a short-term, incremental step of lowering top income tax rates, he said the group would favor a…
Donna Yule, executive director of the Idaho Public Employees Association, raised concerns about the proposed bill to cut the top personal and corporate income tax rates. “Even Gov. Otter recently warned against using tax cuts to starve government,” she said. “Some people will argue if…
Lauren Necochea, director of the Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy, told lawmakers on the Tax Working Group this morning that the proposed cut to the top personal income tax rate from 7.4 percent to 7.3 percent would benefit wealthier Idahoans. “Not surprisingly, the benefits are...
First to testify this morning at the hearing on tax-cut bills was Darcy James of the Idaho Interfaith Roundtable Against Hunger. She addressed the proposed bill to remove the sales tax from groceries while eliminating the grocery tax credit, and she pointed to its effective…
There’s a very light turnout for today’s Tax Working Group hearing on four tax-cut bills; there are only about a dozen people in the audience at the Lincoln Auditorium. “We thought we might have a little bit bigger crowd today, but I’m sure there are...
The Idaho Legislature’s Tax Working Group meets today at 8:30 in the Lincoln Auditorium, where it will take public testimony starting at 8:45 on four proposed tax-cut bills, lowering the corporate and top personal income tax rate by a tenth of a percent; increasing the...
Changes have been made at Boise State Public Radio, after two reporters complained to managers in February, citing concerns “that undue influence from Boise State University threatens to compromise our journalistic ethics,” the Idaho Statesman reports. The university’s vice president for campus operations and general…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
