Federal officials on Monday released an ambitious wildfire-fighting and restoration plan to protect a wide swath of sagebrush country in much of the West that supports cattle ranching and is home to an imperiled bird. The 139-page plan is a how-to guide that follows Interior Secretary Sally Jewell's five-page secretarial order in early 2015...
Rep. Mark Nye, D-Pocatello, is running for the Senate, now that Democratic Sen. Roy Lacey has retired, and the GOP opponent who’s listed on the ballot as running against Nye is Tom Katsilometes. But that’s not the Tom Katsilometes who’s currently an Idaho state tax commissioner, a Democrat, and who was long a county commissioner...
One of the two candidates for the Idaho Supreme Court acknowledged in a televised debate Friday night that he’s never argued a case before either the Idaho Supreme Court or the Idaho Court of Appeals. Curt McKenzie said, “My experience has been in front of...
From my Sunday column: Idaho Gov. Butch Otter raises a legal concern about HJR 5, the constitutional amendment on the November ballot; and Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall discusses harassment allegations ahead of the election...
Political donors have anted up more than $107,000 since September to support the state's only constitutional amendment on the November ballot, HJR 5, the AP reports, with the money coming almost exclusively from GOP lawmakers and lobbying groups...
Here’s a rundown from the Associated Press of some of Idaho’s competitive legislative races around the state, from District 1 up north to District 15 in Boise, and from Lewiston’s District 6 to Blaine, Camas, Gooding and Lincoln counties’ District 26...
In Idaho’s northernmost legislative district, the legislator who made headlines when she displayed the Confederate battle flag at a local parade and visited occupiers of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge standoff in Oregon is fighting for re-election in a race that’s drawing attention across the state. Controversial Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard...
North Idaho’s Legislative District 2 is among the most conservative in the state, and GOP incumbents Vito Barbieri and Eric Redman are hoping to keep it that way. Both face Democratic challengers in November, with longtime area teacher Kathy Kahn challenging Barbieri, and Richard Kohles,…
A dozen years ago, two of the three state lawmakers from Coeur d’Alene were Democrats. Now District 4, like the rest of the North Idaho Panhandle, is an all-GOP legislative stronghold. Local school board member and longtime resident Tom Hearn is hoping to change that…
Republican Sen. Curt McKenzie downplayed his partisan ties and defended his resume as a qualified candidate for an open seat on the Idaho Supreme Court, while Rupert attorney Robyn Brody pointed to her 20 years of working in a variety of court rooms during their first and only televised debate Friday...
Idaho Supreme Court candidates Robyn Brody and Curt McKenzie will face off on statewide television at 8 p.m. tonight in the "Idaho Debates." The hour-long debate is co-sponsored by the Idaho Press Club, Idaho Public Television and the League of Women Voters of Idaho, along…
The Idaho Democratic Party has filed a complaint with the Secretary of State's office claiming that an official inside the Idaho Republican Party violated the state's campaign laws. According to the complaint submitted Friday, Idaho Republican Party Executive Director David Johnston coordinated with GOP candidate Mike Kingsley's campaign...
James Piotrowski, the Democratic challenger to 1st District GOP Rep. Raul Labrador, is airing a hard-hitting new TV ad that takes Labrador to task on everything from his voting record to his two paid cars, courtesy of his congressional office and his campaign. The commercial,...
Idaho 1st District GOP Rep. Raul Labrador has launched his second TV ad of the campaign, replacing the earlier one that focused on his personal life story. The new ad, which is running throughout the district including on pay TV in North Idaho but not…
The two attorneys facing off for an open Idaho Supreme Court seat have taken decidedly different approaches to their campaigns. Here's my full story as rivals Robyn Brody and Curt McKenzie face off tonight in an 8 p.m. debate on Idaho Public Television.
Idaho Supreme Court candidate Robyn Brody has launched a statewide TV ad, running in every Idaho market including Boise, Idaho Falls, Pocatello, Lewiston, and on cable in North Idaho; it touts her legal experience and high ratings in the recent Idaho State Bar survey on…
Changes in how dams on the Snake and Columbia rivers are operated are needed to improve migratory conditions for protected runs of Snake River chinook salmon and steelhead, federal officials say; a proposed recovery plan from the National Marine Fisheries Service also said habitat needs to be improved in tributaries where fish spawn and...
Both House Speaker Scott Bedke and Senate Majority Leader Bart Davis say they disagree with Gov. Butch Otter’s interpretation of the “in whole or in part” clause in the proposed Idaho constitutional amendment, HJR 5, but a University of Idaho law professor says the clause...
Idaho Gov. Butch Otter is urging a “no” vote on HJR 5, the constitutional amendment on the November ballot, and he’s added a new twist to the debate: Otter says a clause in the amendment that says “in whole or in part” actually would vastly…
Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall says he referred the case of alleged harassment of a Democratic Party field organizer by supporters of Rep. Heather Scott to the Idaho Attorney General’s office because of a possible conflict of interest for his office in looking into the...
A federal judge in Idaho has ruled against a challenge to the state’s Right to Work law, but the case now likely will be appealed to the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. Senior U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge, in a ruling this week, found...
House Minority Leader John Rusche's campaign sent out political mailers boasting that a free-market think tank ranked him as one of the most conservative Democratic lawmakers in the state, but not mentioning that the Idaho Freedom Foundation gave Rusche an F- this year. "Is it misleading? It is what it is," Rusche told the AP...
Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo’s latest campaign commercial features an Idaho veteran, Dan Pugmire of Caldwell, and talks about how Crapo’s office helped him get needed care from the Veterans Administration. “This comes from a plain-spoken Idahoan, obviously not a script written by a PR firm,”…
The Idaho State Bar has released the results of its survey of state bar members about the qualifications of the two candidates vying for an open seat on the Idaho Supreme Court, and Robyn Brody has been rated nearly twice as highly by attorneys around...
A federal judge has approved a preliminary settlement between developmentally disabled Idaho residents and the state Department of Health and Welfare, the ACLU-Idaho announced Monday. The settlement requires the state to develop a new tool for determining some Medicaid benefits, to give participants more information about budget changes...