he U.S. Forest Service is holding public meetings on a proposed open-pit molybdenum mine a Canadian company wants to build in the Boise National Forest in central Idaho. The agency will hold meetings on Dec. 5 in Boise, Dec. 6 in Idaho City and Dec. 7 in Garden Valley...
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is appealing a federal court ruling preventing the sterilizing of a herd of wild horses in southwestern Idaho that opponents of the plan fear could set a precedent. The notice filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Idaho challenges a ruling in September ordering the BLM to revise its 2015 plan. The plan calls...
Anti-deficit activists Alan Simpson, the former GOP senator from Wyoming, and Erskine Bowles, the former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, spoke out today against the GOP tax plan that’s now under consideration in the Senate, warning, “Real tax reform can provide a boost…
A newly appointed state senator in eastern Idaho is in the middle of bankruptcy proceedings. The Post Register reports that Republican Sen. Tony Potts of Idaho Falls filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in March. According to his bankruptcy filing, Potts has roughly $250,000 in debts, including $16,000 in unpaid taxes...
FreedomWorks, a national advocacy and campaign group associated with the tea party movement, has announced its endorsement of Russ Fulcher in the race for Idaho’s open 1st District congressional seat in 2018. Fulcher, a former GOP state senator from Meridian, is facing a crowded GOP…
Longtime Idaho Judge Larry Boyle, who served as a U.S. magistrate judge, an Idaho Supreme Court justice and a state district judge, has died at the age of 74 of complications from Parkinson’s disease; he died on Thanksgiving Day. His full obituary is online here,…
Idaho wants the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to take over regulating underground injection wells needed by the state's oil and natural gas industry to dispose of wastewater. The federal agency in a notice Monday says it will take public comments through Jan. 11 on the plan...
Gov. Butch Otter today appointed longtime Idaho Falls defense attorney and former prosecutor Stevan Thompson as a district judge; Thompson will succeed 7th District Judge Alan Stephens of Rigby when he retires in March. Thompson, 61, has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Idaho…
Idaho Sen. Jim Risch, who chairs the Senate Small Business Committee, spoke out in favor of the Senate GOP tax bill this morning at a D.C. press conference he hosted that featured Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, SBA Administrator Linda McMahon, several GOP members of...
It’s time for Idaho to end its distinction as one of just two states with no personal financial disclosure requirements at all for its elected officials, a panel of state lawmakers agreed unanimously on Monday; the panel also is backing a slate of increased campaign finance reporting requirements; my full story...
Republican U.S. House candidate Russ Fulcher has won the endorsement of the conservative national group Club for Growth. The endorsement, tweeted by the group Monday, is a boost for Fulcher as he attempts to stand out in crowded field of GOP candidates. The open 1st Congressional District seat has attracted a wide...
Female state legislators are calling for mandatory sexual harassment training inside the Idaho Statehouse. Rep. Caroline Nilsson Troy said Monday the recent wave of sexual harassment allegations surfacing in governments and businesses around the country inspired her to reach out to legislative leaders...
Idaho Department of Commerce Director Megan Ronk is stepping down to take a job with Idaho Power after nearly two years of leading the commerce department. Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter announced Monday that the department's chief operating officer, Bobbi-Jo Meuleman, will take the director's role when Ronk leaves...
After much discussion, lawmakers on the Legislature’s interim working group on campaign finance reform have agreed to explore legislation to ban campaign contributions from lobbyists or PACs during the legislation session – both to incumbent lawmakers and to candidates for the Legislature. The proposal stirred…
The Legislature’s campaign finance reform working group has voted unanimously in favor of legislation proposed by Rep. Tom Loertscher, R-Iona, to impose the state’s first-ever personal financial disclosure requirements on all candidates for elective office at the state, legislative, county or city level...
Idaho’s $10 fee to register as a lobbyist came in for scrutiny by lawmakers today, after Senate Minority Leader Michelle Stennett, D-Ketchum, asked how long it had been since the fee had been raised. “It hasn’t changed since 1974 when it became law,” responded Chief...
As the Legislature’s campaign finance reform working group works its way through a 28-page draft bill this morning, it came to the part about requiring those who conduct independent expenditure campaigns in Idaho in the final 16 days before a primary or general election to…
A bipartisan working group of Idaho lawmakers has convened at the state Capitol this morning to continue working on proposed changes in the state’s Sunshine Law to require more frequent and more detailed campaign finance disclosures, including adding new reporting in local races and requiring…
When Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, who attended a mid-November Republican Attorneys General Association meeting in Florida that included a reception and dinner Mar-a-Lago, President Trump’s golf club and retreat, was asked how he liked Mar-a-Lago, Wasden said, “It was gaudy.” Wasden said he and a group of other GOP attorneys general...
Even as Idaho politicians continue to call for tax cuts, a new state study shows Idaho’s overall taxes are the lowest in the region and rank 48th in the nation. The annual Tax Burden Study, which the Idaho State Tax Commission has prepared each year since the 1970s, shows that Idaho’s total state and local tax burden...
The U.S. Forest Service is rethinking protection plans for sage grouse in six Western states after a U.S. court agreed with mining companies and others that the agency illegally created some safeguards in Nevada. The agency announced that it's working with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which also is reviewing its plans for the struggling...
Seven regional ski resorts either are already open for the season or planning to open around Thanksgiving weekend, the AP reports. According to the Idaho Ski Areas Association, Sun Valley's Bald and Dollar mountains are scheduled to open Thursday. Meanwhile, Sandpoint's Schweitzer Mountain will reopen Friday after opening Nov. 17, the earliest...
State officials have approved auctioning 10 commercial properties, including one with a $1 million price drop. The Idaho Land Board voted 4-1 on Tuesday to sell the properties as part of a plan...
A federal court has blocked thousands of domestic sheep from being released to graze in eastern Idaho where environmental groups say they jeopardize a small herd of bighorn sheep with deadly viruses. U.S. Magistrate Judge Candy Dale on Monday granted the temporary restraining order...
A 22-year-old Boise man has been sentenced to a year of probation for violating the Clean Water Act by dumping dangerous and corrosive materials leftover from uranium extraction down the sink in his rented West Boise apartment and into the city sewage system. The discharges...
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