Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — An automobile group says Idaho should consider banning cell phone use by drivers 18 and under, on grounds it will make the state's roads safer. AAA of Idaho's Dave Carlson made the pitch…
Lawmakers are getting a look at equipment and personnel from the Idaho National Guard and the Idaho Bureau of Homeland Security, at displays today from 11-2:30 in the second-floor rotunda of the Capitol and outside on the Statehouse steps. Those represented also include the Civil…
StateImpact Idaho is doing some analysis of state Tax Commission data on the personal property tax on business equipment, the $141 million a year tax that the state's largest businesses are pushing hard to repeal. Among the points: Among the 53,227 Idaho companies that paid…
Fifteen people have now died of flu in Idaho since Oct. 1, the state Department of Health & Welfare reports, all of them over age 50. “Our hearts go out to the families who have lost loved ones because of complications from the flu,” said…
Idaho has only one psychiatrist per 20,000 people in the state, Jeralyn Jones of the University of Washington Psychiatric Residency, a four-year program, told legislative budget writers this morning. At the same time, in 2012, more U.S. veterans died from suicide than died in combat,…
University of Idaho President Duane Nellis told JFAC this morning that his top priority is to boost faculty pay to avoid losing top professors to competing universities.However, Gov. Butch Otter hasn’t recommended any funding for that effort next year. UI’s faculty pay is less than…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho's two-time Olympic gold medalist cyclist Kristin Armstrong is due to be honored by the state Legislature. Armstrong is coming off a big win in the time trial in the 2012 London Olympics…
The first questions from JFAC members for UI President Duane Nellis this morning were about the law school program in Boise, which has had two 30-student classes of third-year law students go through. “The focus here has been on business law, corporate law, intellectual property,…
University of Idaho President Duane Nellis is making his budget presentation to lawmakers in the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee this morning, and in the 4th floor rotunda, UI displays and a legislative breakfast are drawing crowds. Nellis told JFAC, “The University of Idaho is a nationally…
After state Department of Administration Director Teresa Luna showed a video to the House State Affairs Committee this morning of an armed man rifling through lawmakers’ desks and trash cans on the floor of the House – and noted that the man had attended an…
Lawmakers brought up a longtime sore spot during North Idaho College’s budget hearing at the state Legislature this morning: Why does the Coeur d’Alene community college get so much of its funding from property tax, compared to the state's other two community colleges, and why…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Attorneys for inmates at Idaho's largest private prison say Corrections Corporation of America is falsifying staff logs to hide chronic understaffing. The allegation was raised Friday in an amended federal lawsuit. Attorneys for…
Former Idaho state Rep. Jim Clark of Hayden is back in the halls of the Statehouse, this time as a lobbyist, the Associated Press reports; AP reporter John Miller reports that Clark’s been hired by Frontier Communications, a Minnesota-based phone company, to help push for…
No controversy in this one: The House Transportation Committee introduced a bill this afternoon at the request of the state Department of Parks & Recreation having to do with cross-country skiing, but it actually doesn’t do anything. The department, as part of its “zero-based budgeting”…
Sen. Lee Heider, R-Twin Falls, is planning to introduce legislation to regulate payday loan companies, the Twin Falls Times-News reports. Heider joined members of the Idaho Community Action Network for a press conference yesterday to announce the push, which would cap loan interest rates at…
It is a chilly 10 degrees out in Boise, and Idaho Fish & Game reports that the heat is out at its headquarters on Walnut Street. As a result, they’ve closed their license desk for the day and are encouraging customers to visit vendors instead,…
Idaho’s public school students shouldn’t lose the ability to read cursive, warns Rep. Linden Bateman, R- Idaho Falls, a retired history teacher. “What will that do to historical research?” he asked. “Family research? Geneology? Our Constitution, our Declaration of Independence – kids will not be…
Jerry Beck, president of the College of Southern Idaho, told legislative budget writers this morning that community college enrollment in Idaho is running six times ahead of the overall growth in the state. He also noted that the state general fund spends $1,915 per full-time…
The House State Affairs Committee has voted unanimously in favor of one of the three dockets of rules, the one regarding the interior of the buildings in the Capitol Mall, but that wasn’t the controversial one. The other two dockets, regarding use of the exterior…
Rep. Gayle Batt, R-Wilder, who is chairing the House State Affairs Committee’s hearing on Capitol grounds use this morning, asked whether the committee should even be having this conversation about proposed new rules, when there’s a pending lawsuit in federal court on the same topic.…
At this morning’s hearing on proposed new Capitol grounds use rules, former Boise City Councilwoman Anne Hausrath told the House State Affairs Committee, “I have a great deal of respect for the work that you do here. … We Idahoans really care about government, we…
The first member of the public to testify at this morning’s House State Affairs hearing on rules for use of the Capitol grounds was Gene Bray, a 25-year resident of Meridian. He said the way he reads the sound amplification section, “My hearing aids may…
So far this morning, House State Affairs members have had a series of questions about the new rules. Among them: Rep. John Gannon, D-Boise, asked how lay people will understand the complicated and lengthy new rules. Department of Administration Director Teresa Luna said the rules…
State Department of Administration Director Teresa Luna showed two video clips to the House State Affairs Committee this morning, one of a man dressed in white and openly carrying a sidearm rifling through lawmakers’ desks on the House floor during a public tour on Jan.…
This morning, the House State Affairs Committee is holding a public hearing on proposed new rules for use of the Capitol grounds, including for gatherings and protests; the Senate State Affairs Committee earlier approved the rules but rejected some of their main portions, with limits…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
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