In his luncheon keynote speech today at the Pacific Northwest Economic Region's big annual conference, Idaho Gov. Butch Otter said the best answers come from groups like PNWER, which brings together state and provincial officials from both the United States and Canada to address regional…
Legislators from both the U.S. and Canada will have a chance to learn all about current energy issues through a new Legislative Energy Horizon Institute launched today at the Pacific Northwest Economic Region summit meeting in Boise. Gov. Butch Otter joined University of Idaho President…
Idaho’s state Capitol has been closed to the public for renovation for more than two years, but workers now say it’ll definitely reopen in time for January’s legislative session. It's been on a tight schedule from the start, with completion set for mid-November, just in…
Idaho's state Department of Correction says it's brought back 188 inmates who were being housed in a private prison in Oklahoma, and that completes the job - Idaho now has no more inmates housed out of state due to overcrowding. It's been four years since…
Idaho's minimum wage, currently $6.55 per hour, will rise to $7.25 per hour on July 24, as part of a three-step increase in the federal minimum wage approved by Congress in 2007. Idaho ties its minimum wage to the federal one, rather than setting its…
The Idaho House speaker who single-handedly killed legislation this year to require personal financial disclosure from the state’s elected officials now says he won’t do it again. “In the upcoming session, if it comes back, I think we will try to make sure that it…
New University of Idaho President Duane Nellis - who is in his first week on the job, and is touring the state - said at a gathering at the Parma Research and Extension Center yesterday that perhaps industry can partner with the state to keep…
Gov. Butch Otter says a state rule requires State Board of Education approval for funding cuts at universities above $250,000. The fact that that didn't happen is part of the reason he and new UI President Duane Nellis have decided to indefinitely delay the decision…
Gov. Butch Otter told a crowd of at least 75 people, including lawmakers, university and ag officials, farmers and more, at the Parma Research and Extension Center today that any decision to close the center needs to go through both the president of the University…
Gov. Butch Otter and University of Idaho President M. Duane Nellis have jointly announced an indefinite delay in the proposed closure of the Parma Research and Extension Center, a closure that drew an outcry of protest from fruit growers and others in the area. "Given…
The Center for Public Integrity has come out with its latest ranking of states for their disclosure laws, and once again, Idaho has tied for last place - because it has no personal financial disclosure law at all for its elected officials. Washington, by contrast,…
Affordable housing projects planned or in construction across the country saw their financing threatened when the recession killed the market for low-income housing tax credits, which are the nation's main funding method for low-income housing development. Now, federal economic stimulus money is rolling in to…
Here's a news item from AP: BOISE, Idaho (AP) - The Federal Election Commission concluded its own staff failed to adequately assist then-U.S. Rep. Bill Sali file a 2008 campaign finance report. In a May 1 memo, FEC staff members wrote the "repeated failure on…
Crime is down in Idaho, continuing a multiyear trend, and it’s down even more in North Idaho. Both the number of serious crimes committed and the area’s crime rate in 2008 fell significantly from the previous year, according to the state’s latest statistics; that trend…
State Superintendent of Schools Tom Luna says he's always been an advocate of lowering the supermajority to pass school bonds, while also reducing the number of possible dates when bond elections can be held. The successful legislation this year to consolidate elections, which will reduce…
Rep. Jim Clark, R-Hayden Lake, is one of nine lawmakers named "Legislator of the Year" this year by the American Legislative Exchange Council, a national conservative group of legislators and business people that promotes "limited government, free markets and federalism." Clark, a seven-term lawmaker and…
Former GOP state Rep. Jana Kemp has filed to run for governor of Idaho in 2010 as an independent. Kemp, who served a single term in the state House from 2004 to 2006, was an active and outspoken lawmaker who staked out moderate positions. "A…
There was a time when then-Gov. Dirk Kempthorne told a joint session of the Legislature, in his State of the State speech, that he wanted them to pass a constitutional amendment to lower the two-thirds supermajority now required to pass a school construction bond -…
Former Democratic state Sen. David Langhorst of Boise has been appointed to the Idaho Tax Commission by Gov. Butch Otter, to replace Democratic Tax Commissioner Colleen Grant of Fruitland. Langhorst was assistant minority leader in the Senate in 2008 when he left the Legislature for…
Politico's Michael Falcone has an article out today on "Capitol Hell: The worst states to govern," which tags California first as the worst spot to be governor today, with its fiscal and political turmoil. New York, Arizona, New Jersey and Michigan also made the list,…
It might seem odd that during these tight times, the state Department of Education is announcing eight new staffers for a new division to oversee all statewide, federally mandated student testing and the GEAR UP program, a program to help low-income students work toward college.…
Idaho's "Project Filter" is now once again offering four weeks of free nicotine replacement therapy to smokers who want to quit, after the program was suspended in May and June due to lack of money. The start of the state's new budget year yesterday put…
After serving as the university's interim president, Steven Daley-Laursen takes on a new role today, University of Idaho President Duane Nellis announced, as a senior executive to the president with a focus on "special federal initiatives." It's a one-year appointment for the former dean of…
Rural Idaho residents have been staying put during the current recession, unlike during the previous recession, when they moved in large numbers to the state’s urban areas. “The length and depth of the current recession … has severely impeded the ability, and the rationale, for…
Gov. Butch Otter is out on a three-day trail ride along the Idaho-Nevada border, along with Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons, legislators and federal and state officials. It's an annual tradition for Otter, who started the rides as a congressman to discuss resource issues and see…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
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