The United States has helped create the current worldwide refugee crisis, former Idaho Supreme Court Justice Jim Jones said Monday, and it needs to step up to help solve it. “I think we have a lot of soul searching to do,” Jones told the 34th annual Frank Church Conference on public affairs at Boise State University; my full story...
Montana’s campaign contribution limits, which had been overturned by a federal judge in May of 2016, are justified, the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled today. Montana Gov. Steve Bullock welcomed the ruling, saying the lawsuit “sought to open the floodgates of money in…
The judge deciding Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's punishment said Monday he is concerned that President Donald Trump's comments about the case could impact the public's perception of the military justice system. Sentencing was set to begin Monday for Bergdahl on charges that he endangered comrades by walking off his post in Afghanistan in 2009, but...
Health advocates who have been stymied by Idaho's Republican-dominant Legislature to expand Medicaid have filed paperwork for a ballot initiative. Deputy Secretary of State Tim Hurst said Monday that the state elections office received the ballot initiative proposal last week. The initiative must now be vetted by the Attorney General's office...
Among other comments from panelists at today’s Frank Church Conference at Boise State University, which is focusing on refugees, migration and national security: Jennifer Sime, senior vice president for U.S. programs for the International Rescue Committee, said in the years since the U.S. refugee resettlement…
Jan Reeves, director of the Idaho Office of Refugees, said Idaho’s refugee resettlement program, like those in many states, started with the fall of Saigon more than 40 years ago. “A very, very small minority of refugees worldwide ever have an opportunity to be resettled…
Former Idaho Supreme Court Chief Justice Jim Jones, speaking on a panel at the Frank Church Conference at Boise State University today, said he’s concerned that the nation is “turning inward as a country, taking away the welcome mat for immigrants and refugees.” He said…
Michael Young, senior advisor to Mercy Corps, told the Frank Church Conference at Boise State University today that the worldwide refugee crisis is being driven by an intense increase in conflict over the past decade. Yet, the number and scope of wars between countries has…
The world is seeing a surge in civilian casualties of war, from deaths and injuries to tens of millions of displaced civilians, Steven Feldstein, Frank and Bethine Church Chair of Public Affairs at BSU and a former deputy assistant secretary of state, told the opening…
Anne Helen Petersen, the senior culture writer for BuzzFeed, Idahoan and former professor at Whitman College, has a lengthy report out today on Republican politics in Kootenai County. The piece, headlined “Wackadoodles, Establishment Hacks, And The Big, Ugly, Local Battle For The Heart Of The...
North Idaho Sen. Bob Nonini, asked why he decided to join the now five-way race for lieutenant governor in 2018, went directly after one of the four Republicans already in the race. “I look at the candidates that are in the race, and there are no real strong conservatives, although Janice says she is,” Nonini said, referring to rival...
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
