The Idaho Republican Party's first presidential straw poll tonight was won decisively by Ron Paul, with 173 votes of the 359 GOP members attending and paying $30 to cast a ballot at the party fundraiser at the Riverside Hotel in Boise. Mitt Romney came in…
Idaho Power Co. gained more lobbying might from inside government, as another of the governor's former chiefs of staff registered to become a paid lobbyist for the state's biggest utility, reports AP reporter John Miller. Jason Kreizenbeck, who quit as Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter's top…
The University of Idaho, the Idaho Wheat Commission and Limagrain Cereal Seeds have announced a new $2 million effort to boost wheat research at the university, including two faculty research endowments. The project will allow restoration of five research-related positions in Moscow, Aberdeen and Lewiston…
Tamarack Resort - which unlike Bogus Basin is open for skiing, thanks in part to snowmaking - is joining Brundage Mountain in offering discounts to out-of-luck Bogus Basin season passholders. The resort has announced it'll charge $25 on Thursdays with a Bogus pass, down from…
A 42-year-old homeless man has been charged with a federal crime of willful injury to government property, after he allegedly spray-painted "FU 1867 I'm not a terrorist" on windows on four different sides of the James A. McClure Federal Building and Courthouse in Boise on…
A coalition of 25 organizations, from the American Lung Association in Idaho to the Idaho Association of Counties, is backing a $1.25 per pack increase in Idaho's cigarette tax, Heidi Low, coalition spokeswoman, told the Legislature's Health Care Task Force today. "We don't yet have…
The Legislature's Health Care Task Force has voted 11-1 to endorse the draft legislation for an Idaho health insurance exchange, and to "send it to a germane committee to let them determine whether it's best for the state or not," in the words of Sen.…
State Insurance Director Bill Deal said the proposed health insurance exchange legislation would set up a "state-operated, market-driven health insurance exchange." Part of what that means has to do with a Dec. 16 bulletin from HHS that said states can decide the "benchmark plan" or…
Idaho State Insurance Director Bill Deal is presenting the draft legislation for a state health insurance exchange to the Legislature's joint Health Care Task Force; the room's about a third full, with lots of lobbyists in attendance. The nine-page bill includes an emergency clause, making…
The Legislature's joint Economic Outlook & Revenue Assessment Committee continues meeting this morning; you can watch live online here. So far today, the panel has heard from Micron Technology, which reported that Micron's 2010 sales revenue came 70 percent from Asia, 21 percent from the…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
