The Joint Legislative Oversight Committee has released a new report today on the Idaho Behavioral Health Plan, including the three-year, $300 million contract with Optum Idaho. The performance evaluation report found that the move to the contract with Optum succeeded in switching to a managed-care...
The Senate Resources Committee only got through the new pollution discharge elimination system rules this afternoon; it’ll take up controversial new water quality rules on Wednesday. Melissa Davlin of Idaho Public TV has a look at the issues here, and reports, “The state’s most powerful…
For an administrative rules hearing on a holiday, this afternoon’s Senate Resources Committee hearing has drawn a rather large crowd of more than 40. Up for consideration are rules from the state Department of Environmental Quality on water quality standards, ground water quality, and the…
Keynote speaker Keith Anderson recalled as a child, a paper boy, hearing the news of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s death. From a crowd that gathered on multiple levels of the Capitol rotunda, he drew applause when he recalled King’s words that children, black or white, should be “judged by who they are and not what they are.” That was not the...
Idaho Lt. Gov. Brad Little told the big crowd assembled in the Capitol rotunda, “Welcome to your Capitol.” He said, “This morning, as our Senate chaplain opened up our session upstairs, he quoted from Roosevelt’s poem about being in the arena. And congratulations to all…
Sign-carrying marchers rallied on the Capitol steps after marching from BSU today, in advance of the state’s official commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr./Idaho Human Rights Day. The ceremony, which runs from noon to 1, will feature a proclamation from Lt. Gov. Brad Little; a…
Today is a state holiday – Martin Luther King Jr./Idaho Human Rights Day – but the Legislature doesn’t take holidays, so it’s still in session; it’ll be in session on President’s Day, too. Still, there’s lots going on in the Capitol today on this day…
Four Idaho children are now taking the drug Epidiolex under an “expanded access” program permitted under federal law and authorized by Gov. Butch Otter through an executive order, state Public Health Division Director Elke Shaw-Tulloch told lawmakers this morning. Epidiolex is a purified oil made...
Idaho Health & Welfare Director Dick Armstrong is kicking off a week of health and human services budget hearings this morning, with an overview of the department’s budget issues. The overall budget proposed by Gov. Butch Otter for next year reflects a 6.2 percent increase…
Idahoans who want to change their party affiliation before this spring’s primary elections will have to act quickly, under legislation introduced this morning at the request of the Idaho Secretary of State’s office. The bill, presented to the Senate State Affairs Committee by Chief Deputy…
Big news over the weekend, as Boise Pastor Saeed Abedini was released from an Iranian prison after three years, as part of a prisoner swap that also released four other Americans, including Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian. Idaho’s congressional delegation issued statements Saturday welcoming Abedini’s...