It looks like a sweeping campaign finance reform initiative may fall short of the number of verified signatures needed to make the November ballot – even though backers collected roughly 79,000 signatures, when just 47,623 valid ones were required. We likely won’t have the final…
Boise is the fifth-safest driving city in the nation, according to a report from Allstate Insurance, which has been compiling its rankings annually for the past 12 years based on claims data and collisions. Boise has ranked in the top 10 every year for the…
Officials say mosquitoes in the cities of Nampa and Payette have tested positive for West Nile virus. The Idaho Press-Tribune reports that the infected mosquitoes in Nampa were from a trap collected Tuesday south of Lake Lowell in the Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge area. The Payette mosquitoes were collected Monday in the Willow Creek...
Idaho Education News crunched the numbers after the first year of Idaho’s new teacher “career ladder,” which phases in performance-based pay improvements for Idaho teachers over five years. The results? Idaho’s average teacher salary went up 2.1 percent under the first year of the program,…
A grizzly bear attacked a mountain biker just outside Glacier National Park yesterday, knocked the 38-year-old cyclist off his bike and killed him, the AP reports. The rider, Brad Treat, was a law enforcement officer with the U.S. Forest Service. The last bear-related death at Glacier was in 1998...
This is an early and unpleasant reminder of what summer can bring in Boise: After a 101-degree day, still-warm temperatures and lightning overnight, Boise’s skies filled with smoke this morning. According to KBOI2 News, fireworks were the cause of a 1,500-acre wildfire near Table Rock...
Idaho Lt. Gov. Brad Little says he’s filing the paperwork today to form a campaign committee to run for governor in 2018. Little, the first candidate officially in the race – current Gov. Butch Otter isn’t running again after his third term – told the...
Voters in Harney County, Ore. have overwhelmingly rejected an attempt to recall the county’s top elected official, County Judge Steve Grasty, in a special election today, Oregon Public Broadcasting reports. Grasty was an outspoken critic of the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.…
Starting Friday, Idaho will become the eighth state in the nation to allow most residents age 21 or older to carry concealed guns without a permit – even inside cities, in bars and in government buildings. The new law is the latest result of decades of efforts to liberalize gun laws in Idaho, a gun-loving state that already had some of the most...
U.S. Attorney for Idaho Wendy Olson issued this statement today: “Many in the press, public and online bloggers are misinterpreting the statement I issued on Friday, June 24, 2016, in support of the five-year-old victim of an assault in Twin Falls, Idaho, and in support…
The latest round of SAT scores places Idaho above the national averages across the board, Idaho EdNews reports, and the State Board of Education is encouraged. “Overall, this is a positive for Idaho and the work being done in our schools,” state board Executive Director…
Idahoans who own certain models of Volkswagens and Audis from model years 2009 through 2015 are eligible for cash payments of $5,100 apiece and having their cars either purchased from them, or modified to fix emission problems. It’s part of a 43-state settlement announced today…
Idaho 1st District Congressman Raul Labrador and his Democratic challenger, James Piotrowski, had sharply differing reactions to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling today in a Texas case, which the Washington Post called the court’s most important decision on abortion-related issues in 25 years. Labrador said...
Officials at Idaho’s state Bureau of Homeland Security were downright tired of folks confusing them with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. So effective this Friday, the state agency’s official name will change to the Idaho Office of Emergency Management. It actually took a new...
A 1.7-acre slice of North Idaho lakefront heaven on Priest Lake – with just a rustic, one-bedroom cabin on it – drew the only contested bidding at a weekend auction in which the state of Idaho sold off 39 lakefront cabin sites. The cabin owners, a Seattle couple, ere outbid by a Coeur d’Alene physician who was willing to pay $1.107 million...
With temperatures headed toward the triple digits this week, Boise’s favorite way to cool off – floating the Boise River – has been off limits thus far due to high water and dangerous conditions, but Ada County has announced that the river will open for...
In Burns, Ore., the armed occupation of a federal wildlife refuge is over, but aftershocks remain, the AP reports, with activists organizing a recall election on Tuesday against a top county official for blocking Ammon Bundy from using a county building for a public meeting....
Here’s a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Five of the top executives at the six Idaho companies that trade on major stock exchanges took home multimillion-dollar compensation packages in their companies' latest fiscal years. The Idaho Statesman reports (https://is.gd/s3JHLr )…
From my Sunday column: Idaho's court system has a new director after a two-year wait, Sara Thomas; Supreme Court hopeful Robyn Brody's fundraising edge; and what the latest campaign finance reports show in North Idaho legislative races, including top fundraiser (Sen. Shawn Keough) and biggest debt (former Rep. Thyra Stevenson)...
An Uzbek refugee sentenced to 25 years in prison after being convicted of a plan to kill military personnel or civilians in Idaho has dropped an appeal of his conviction and sentence in exchange for dismissal of bomb-making charges in Utah...
Idaho U.S. Attorney Wendy Olson has issued a statement about the June 2 sexual assault of a 5-year-old girl involving three other children at a low-income apartment complex in Twin Falls that led to false stories, circulated nationally on the internet, about a supposed knifepoint...
The reward offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons who illegally killed wolf pups after removing them from a northern Idaho den is up to $15,000. The Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society Wildlife Land Trust on Thursday added $5,000 to the award...
The Idaho Statesman has named a new editor and vice president: Rhonda Prast, assistant managing editor for digital at the Kansas City Star. Prast replaces Vicki Gowler, who retired in March. Debra Leithauser, Statesman publisher, said, “She knows where our industry is going, where our…
The Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation is reminding paddleboard users that the increasingly popular crafts are considered vessels when operated outside of marked swimming areas and are required to have safety equipment. The state agency says a U.S. Coast Guard approved life jacket must be on board as well as...
Idaho's Republican presidential primary election cost taxpayers $1.9 million this year, coming in just slightly under what state officials originally estimated. Idaho lawmakers agreed to move the GOP presidential primary from May to March in 2015. The conservative-dominated Statehouse argued that doing so would allow the Gem State to play...