An Eagle man who admitted poaching a young wolf in 2009 has been sentenced to $1,064 in fines and costs; six months in jail with five months and 28 days suspended and the option for 40 hours of community service instead of jail; one year…
A North Idaho legislator has filed a lawsuit against the state over secret tax deals that allegedly allowed some wealthy and politically connected taxpayers to get millions in breaks. Those deals violated the Idaho Constitution, said Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow, which requires taxing to be…
Idaho's seasonally adjusted unemployment dropped for the third straight month in May, after 31 straight monthly rate increases going all the way back to August of 2007. May's rate was down a tenth of a percentage point to 9 percent, which compares favorably to the…
GOP challenger Raul Labrador has issued a response to 1st District Rep. Walt Minnick's modified line-item bill being picked up by the Obama Administration and used as a model for a new administration bill. "I recognize the public relations value of Mr. Minnick's claims, particularly…
Gov. Butch Otter is touting a national fiscal survey of states as proof that this year's legislative budget-setting decisions for 2011, including deep cuts to schools and other state programs, were the right ones, as other states are facing large shortfalls. "We are doing our…
Legislation proposed by freshman Idaho Congressman Walt Minnick to make it easier for the president to push Congress to slice specific items out of big spending bills has been latched onto by the Obama Administration, which last week introduced its own bill modeled after Minnick’s.…
Idaho Secretary of State Ben Ysursa has announced fines against two groups that launched last-minute campaign attacks against an Idaho Supreme Court candidate without following the disclosure requirements of the state's Sunshine Law. "Idaho Citizens for Justice" is being fined $1,300, and "Idaho Citizens for…
Here's a news item from The Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The ACLU has reached a settlement with the Idaho Department of Correction in a potentially class-action lawsuit over violence at a privately run prison near Boise. Under the agreement, the Idaho Department of…
The Boise Weekly reports today that violent assaults on inmates at Idaho's privately-run Idaho Correctional Center increased in April and May after a drop in March, with six incidents in April and 11 in May through the 26th of the month. The Weekly obtained the…
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Keith Allred stood by his pickup truck - a Ford F-250 "SuperDuty" 4x4 - today to make a case that he's the "fiscal conservative" in the race because, through his work at the nonpartisan citizen group The Common Interest, he helped defeat…
Just because a road easement was granted years ago along someone's lakefront property doesn't mean the property owner has given up the right to build a dock on the lake, the Idaho Supreme Court ruled today. The high court's clear ruling puts an end to…
Idaho is on track for an economic recovery in 2011, according to the state's latest official forecast - though state lawmakers and the governor set a pessimistic budget for 2011 that requires historic cuts in education. The newest state forecast, issued in May, says, "Idaho's…
The Idaho Republican Party is hiring two full-time staffers to spearhead a "parallel campaign" on behalf of newly nominated GOP congressional candidate Raul Labrador, who's challenging 1st District Democratic Congressman Walt Minnick. Jonathan Parker, state GOP executive director, said he requested the funds for the…
Jana Kemp, independent candidate for governor, says she was surprised to hear from some supporters that they were disappointed they couldn't find her name on the May primary election ballot. "They said things like this: 'I looked for you on the ballot and you weren't…
The Idaho Supreme Court has ruled that an Idaho state law authorized a state magistrate judge to order random drug tests of the parents of a youngster who was placed on juvenile probation for two counts of petit theft, but that the requirement violated the…
Here's a news item from The Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The state is fining private prison company Correction Corp. of America more than $40,000 and ordering it to fix problems with drug and alcohol treatment and medical care at the Idaho Correctional Center.…
As the political gears shift after last week's primary election, the 1st District congressional race is now Walt Minnick vs. Raul Labrador, while other big races, like Gov. Butch Otter vs. Democratic challenger Keith Allred, are following a more expected course. Click below to read…
In two races in which the incumbents won handily this week - state Controller Donna Jones by 56.5 percent to challenger Todd Hatfield's 43.5 percent, and Idaho Supreme Court Justice Roger Burdick by 58.4 percent to challenger John Bradbury's 41.6 percent - a look at…
The Washington Post, in its "The Fix" political column today, calls Idaho 1st Congressional District GOP nominee Raul Labrador "the latest insurgent candidate to beat back the establishment and then be faced with joining forces with it," and reports that Labrador is "going with wholesale…
People who access court documents electronically from federal district courts through the PACER system pay 8 cents a page for the privilege, but until this spring, they got the first $10 worth of copies in a year without charge. Now, the Judicial Conference of the…
Here's a news item from The Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The spokesman for AAA Idaho says the reason a gallon of gas in the state has been at least 20 cents higher than the national average for most of the spring is because…
An inspector general's audit says the U.S. Department of Energy is spending an extra $25 million because it didn't ship certain radioactive wastes from Hanford to Idaho for processing, in part because Hanford workers protested that the move would shift jobs to Idaho; click below…
P. Tom Sullivan, a former Coeur d'Alene restaurant owner and now a businessman in Tetonia, Idaho, won the Democratic primary on Tuesday for a chance to challenge U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo in the fall. The day before the election, Sullivan issued a press release acknowledging…
A major portion of an Idaho prison-conditions lawsuit that stretches back nearly three decades could be closed, as a federal judge weighs whether changing conditions and procedures at the Idaho State Correctional Institution have done away with rampant violence, near-routine brutal rapes of newly arrived…
The one county whose election results took the longest to determine - the same county where a prominent longtime state senator was defeated by his GOP primary challenger on Tuesday - had an 11 p.m. machine malfunction that led to a technician driving from Kootenai…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
