The Senate has voted 33-1 in favor of HB 1, to designate the Idaho giant salamander as the official state amphibian. The vote sends the House-passed bill to the governor’s desk, and marks a big victory in a five-year effort by Boise 8^th grader Ilah Hickman, who drew support for her bill from school children and experts around the state. “She has become a role model to kids around the state,” Sen. Janie Ward-Engelking, D-Boise, told the Senate. “This young lady is just amazing.” The new state symbol would join others including the state bird, the mountain bluebird; the state insect, the monarch butterfly; and the state fruit, the huckleberry/Betsy Russell, Eye on Boise.

Question: Only one state senator, Curt McKenzie, voted against this bill. Mebbe it was professional jealousy?