Fish & Game commissioners have approved a resolution to call for an appeal of the federal court decision putting wolves back on the endangered species list; calling for working with the governor and Idaho's congressional delegation on legislation addressing the issue; pursuing all available management…
Robin Thorson, regional director of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, closed her presentation to Idaho's Fish & Game Commission on wolves today with this comment: "It's not just words. We are in this with you, until you're back to delisting - you earned it."
Here's a news item from The Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Three Idaho residents are asking a state judge to block the first wave of oversized shipments of oil equipment planned along scenic U.S. Highway 12 in northern Idaho. The lawsuit filed Monday seeks…
F&G Commission Randy Budge of Pocatello asked, "How did the Fish & Wildlife Service get so crosswise with Wyoming?" and asked "what we plan to do to get Wyoming to come along, and what we can do to change that situation." Robin Thorson, regional director…
Idaho Fish & Game Commission Chairman Wayne Wright said on wolves, "Idaho's plan didn't fail, but yet the process did fail us." He questioned whether the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service bore some "responsibility" or "culpability" for that. Robin Thorson, FWS regional director, said the…
Idaho Fish & Game Commissioner Tony McDermott of Sagle said he's been hearing from "frustrated sportsmen," and he told Fish & Wildlife Service Regional Director Robin Thorson, "I'm not sure your federal rule failed, I think it was maybe the federal justice system and one…
Robin Thorson, regional director of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, says the federal service is "standing ready to receive Idaho's proposal to control wolves" in portions of its population due to impacts on elk. "Once we receive it, we'll turn it around in no…
Idaho's Fish & Game Commission was supposed to meet today to set wolf-hunting seasons, but since a federal judge re-listed wolves on the endangered species list, that's off the table; instead, the commission's agenda at its Idaho Falls meeting today includes a proposal to kill…
A scenic Idaho river canyon dotted with campgrounds, hiking trails and historic sites is the target for hundreds of mammoth truck shipments of Korean-built equipment for the Alberta oil sands project in Canada, a prospect that's raising an outcry from residents, recreationists and tourist businesses…
The Idaho Fish & Game Department is working on a plan to kill 70 to 80 of the 100 or so wolves in the Lolo elk management zone, and keep that zone's wolf population at just 20 to 30 for the next five years; with…
Stan Olson, the Democratic challenger to GOP state schools Superintendent Tom Luna, is criticizing Luna's move to do away with a standardized test on science as a graduation requirement in Idaho, a move approved yesterday by the state Board of Education. “Given the critical need…
U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo has called a meeting at Lake Lowell on Saturday on the future of boating and other recreation at the lake, a national wildlife refuge. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is in the process of creating a new comprehensive management plan…
Idaho high school students would no longer have to pass a standardized test in science to graduate from high school, under a rule change pushed by state Superintendent of Schools Tom Luna and approved by the state Board of Education yesterday; lawmakers still must sign…
The head of a Salt Lake City-based real estate investment group that's now trying to buy bankrupt Tamarack Resort in Idaho lost his own $5 million private jet and $450,000 Mercedes sports car to bankruptcy, the AP reports; JT Bramlette told reporter John Miller, "If…
The Idaho Statesman is reporting that Catholic Charities of Idaho has called off a scheduled Sept. 10 roast of the four major-party candidates for governor and the 1st CD because of a threat from independent candidate for governor Jana Kemp, who suggested the charity could…
The Idaho Association of Realtors has announced its endorsement of the re-election bids of Idaho Congressmen Walt Minnick and Mike Simpson and Sen. Mike Crapo. Julie DeLorenzo, the group's president, said, "Our congressional delegation has consistently demonstrated their pro-business, pro-private property rights beliefs in Congress.…
The National Federation of Independent Business announced today that it's endorsing Idaho's senior center, Mike Crapo, in his re-election bid, noting that it's rated Crapo as a "Guardian of Small Business" since his first term in Congress for his voting record on the group's issues,…
There's more speculation nationally about whether or not the Republicans see Idaho's 1st Congressional District as winnable or not, with the New York Times suggesting in a recent story that they don't, and a CQ Politics story today disputing that. The district, in which freshman…
A lawsuit challenging the "don't ask, don't tell" law regarding gays in the military has been filed in federal court in Boise, seeking a temporary restraining order to keep a decorated Iraq veteran from being discharged from the military, and asking to declare the law…
A Salt Lake City real estate investment company that's had issues of its own over an eastern Idaho real estate development says it's put in an offer to buy the bankrupt Tamarack Resort, the AP reports. Pelorus Group owner JT Bramlette told the AP he…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — U.S. Rep. Walt Minnick is donating his frequent flyer miles to the widow of Medal of Honor recipient Vernon Baker so she can attend his burial at Arlington National Cemetery. Baker, who belatedly…
Former Coeur d'Alene restaurant owner Tom Sullivan, now an eastern Idaho resident and a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, will return to his former establishment in North Idaho on Friday for a free campaign benefit concert featuring Too Slim and the Taildraggers. The former…
Idaho Republican Party Executive Director Jonathan Parker says he thinks Rep. Walt Minnick's flier to voters about new voter I.D. requirements crosses the line into a campaign mailing, but Minnick strongly disagrees and notes that House rules for franking, or taxpayer-funded mailings, specifically permit mailings…
The Idaho Republican Party is criticizing Democratic Congressman Walt Minnick for sending 100,000 fliers to Idaho voters Aug. 3 to inform them about Idaho's new voter I.D. law, which now requires voters to show photo I.D. at the polls when they go to vote; the…
Despite high-profile boosts for incumbent Rep. Walt Minnick in the past week, from an Associated General Contractors endorsement to being the first Democrat since 2006 named a "Taxpayer Hero" by the Citizens Against Government Waste, Minnick's underfunded GOP challenger, Raul Labrador, is confident. "It's a…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
