The state of Idaho has gotten out of two investment funds dating from the 2008-2010 financial crisis at a cost to state agencies of nearly $9 million, the Idaho Statesman reports; it’s the same loss cited in a critical state audit that state Treasurer Ron…
Inmates at a prison near Boise were frequently housed in so-called "dry cells" without running water or mattresses except for a handful of days when a court-appointed examiner visited the facility, according to documents. The AP reports that the records detailing the use of the…
The Idaho Transportation Department, in a statement today about its second $50,000-plus fine in a year for demolishing an asbestos-laden building without taking any of the required precautions, said, “We share the EPA’s concern regarding workers, supervisors and public at large in terms of health…
The Idaho Transportation Department has agreed to pay a $52,000 fine after demolishing an asbestos-containing building in northern Idaho and potentially exposing the public to the cancer-causing fibers. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the agreement Thursday involving the November demolition...
Idaho has another new state senator, as Gov. Butch Otter today appointed Soda Springs rancher Mark Harris to the Senate to replace former Sen. John Tippets, R-Montpelier, who is now head of the state Department of Environmental Quality. Otter picked Harris from a list of...
Idaho needs a coordinated push to get more students to choose careers in science, technology, engineering and math and become well-prepared job-seekers, the board of Idaho’s new STEM Action Center agreed as they held their first meeting on Wednesday. Idaho lawmakers approved setting aside nearly…
Unlike neighboring states, Idaho’s not planning any fishing restrictions or closures due to warm water, state Fish & Game officials said today. “In many streams, what we’re seeing this year with water temperatures happens every year, we’re just seeing it sooner than normal,” said Jim…
Here’s a new item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Attorneys representing Idaho inmates in a class action lawsuit over prison health care told a federal judge Wednesday that prison officials intentionally misled a court-appointed examiner and the department should be punished by…
The 9th Circuit U. S. Court of Appeals has ruled against the Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s bid to offer Texas Hold ‘Em poker at its reservation casino in Worley, finding that poker is “explicitly prohibited by Idaho law.” The tribe contended that Texas Hold ‘Em is...
The Idaho Supreme Court has agreed to allow former Idaho Attorney General David Leroy, attorney for Coeur d’Alene Racing, operator of the Greyhound Park Event Center in Post Falls, to participate in oral arguments in the instant racing case on Aug. 11. Previously, the court…
An appraisal of 10 acres of Boise land acquired by the College of Western Idaho for a Boise campus in April came in at $8.97 million, slightly above the college’s purchase price of $8.8 million, the Idaho Press-Tribune reports. Guy Hurlbutt, vice chairman of the…
Here’s a link to my full story at spokesman.com on today’s all-day legislative hearing on Idaho high school broadband, post-Idaho Education Network. The joint legislative committee will meet again in August, and members said they want to hear more about how other states handle the…
Private timberland owners are urging state officials to consider closing some public land due to extreme fire danger, the AP reports. Private forest land owners who normally keep their land open to the public for hunting and other recreation told the state Land Board this…
A few really odd details have emerged this afternoon at the Legislature’s Broadband Access Study Committee hearing, as Senate Majority Leader Bart Davis, R-Idaho Falls, repeatedly questioned Greg Zickau, chief technology officer for the state Department of Administration, about the now-void contract for the Idaho…
Greg Zickau, chief technology officer for the Idaho Department of Administration, after recounting the history of the now-defunct Idaho Education Network, told lawmakers, “There are a few things I would do differently if we were doing this over again.” Among them: The focus on a...
Former Senate President Pro-Tem Bob Geddes, now director of the state Department of Administration, told the Legislature’s school broadband access study committee today that the Legislature’s vision over the years went beyond a network providing broadband service to schools with the Idaho Education Network. “We…
The Legislature’s Broadband Access Study Committee is currently getting a primer on the federal e-rate program. E-rate is the largest federal technology funding program, and was initiated in 1998 by the Federal Communications Commission. It supports technology infrastructure for schools and libraries to the tune…
Idaho's state Land Board has voted to modify a northern Idaho timber sale to include helicopter logging, after a federal court blocked road access over nearby private property within a Wild & Scenic River corridor...
Camille Wood, who has been technology director for the Idaho Falls School District for the past 13 years, said her district contracted with Syringa Networks for broadband service after the Idaho Education Network went dark. “We are better off than we were during the IEN…
David Roberts, technology program administrator for the Boise School District, said according to national standards, his district should have 26 gig of bandwidth for 2017. “And right now, going into this year, we have 1.5,” he said. “You can see that we are far from...
When the Coeur d’Alene School District went out for broadband service to replace the defunct Idaho Education Network, it got four bids, and local firm Ednetics had the lowest bid, district Technology Director Seth Deniston told lawmakers today. “They were the lowest by quite a...
Alan Dunn, superintendent of the Sugar-Salem School District, is giving the first of four school district presentations to lawmakers as part of today’s legislative hearing on school broadband service. Dunn said his is a small district, with 1,550 students, in a rural farming community north…
Schools now rely on broadband service for everything from telephones to classroom instruction and materials. “Without the internet, education just stops,” Will Goodman, president of the Idaho Education Technology Association, told lawmakers who are holding a day-long hearing today on school broadband. He said some...
When Idaho schools made the switch from the Idaho Education Network to local district contracts with vendors for high school broadband, “No students loss classes due to a loss of internet, and no seniors were unable to graduate due to a loss of internet,” Idaho…
Out of the $3.64 million that the state Legislature sent out to school districts this year to cover their own local contracts with vendors to provide high school broadband service after courts overturned the $60 million state contract for the Idaho Education Network, only $2,265,800...
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
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