This spotted frog was caught in a small lake north of Priest Lake on Wednesday, September 4 by ID Department of Fish and Game technician Andy Gygli . The frog is part of multi-species baseline initiative study in the Idaho Panhandle. SR photo essay by…
The House Ethics Committee has released its agenda for its Thursday meeting regarding Rep. Phil Hart, R-Athol; you can see it here. Hart is scheduled to testify. More here/Betsy Russell, Eye on Boise
The one county whose election results took the longest to determine - the same county where a prominent longtime state senator, Gary Schroeder, was defeated by his GOP primary challenger - had an 11 p.m. machine malfunction that led to a technician driving from Kootenai…
Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden has reached a settlement with two prescription drug manufacturers that requires them to pay Idaho more than $1.2 million in a dispute over how much they charged Idaho Medicaid for drugs based on published average wholesale prices. “Where published prices…
GOP gubernatorial candidate Rex Rammell, the former elk rancher and militia movement backer whose campaign trademark this year was a giant inflatable T-Rex he towed behind his brightly decorated campaign RV, took 26 percent of the vote to incumbent Gov. Butch Otter’s 54.6 percent in…
Lucas Baumbach, the Boise Republican legislative candidate who created the widely circulated video mash-up juxtaposing phrases from speeches by Vaughn Ward and Barack Obama, calls himself a "RINO hunter" and a "Tea Party activist" and is blunt about why he created the mash-up: Because he…
1st District GOP congressional nominee Raul Labrador, asked by Eye on Boise about the impact of the video mash-up of speeches by opponent Vaughn Ward and Barack Obama that circulated widely online for the last few days before the election and was featured on the…
Here's a link to the final, unofficial statewide results from the Secretary of State. Of interest: Six legislative incumbents lost to their challengers in the GOP primary: Sen. Mike Jorgenson, R-Hayden Lake; Sen. Lee Heinrich, R-Cascade; Rep. Steve Kren, R-Nampa; Rep. Rich Jarvis, R-Meridian, who…
State Rep. Raul Labrador issued this statement this morning after his upset victory late last night in the GOP primary for the 1st CD. Unofficial final results show Labrador winning with 47.6 percent of the vote to 38.9 percent for Vaughn Ward. “I’ve received a…
Idaho's got bipartisan legislation in the works to ban texting while driving, a move roughly two dozen states already have made. Sen. Les Bock, D-Boise, proposed similar legislation this year, but now he's got a high-profile co-sponsor on board: House Transportation Chairwoman JoAn Wood, R-Rigby.…
Freshman Idaho Sen. Jim Risch is the 13th wealthiest member of Congress, according to a new analysis by Roll Call newspaper, and is richer than the late Ted Kennedy, Sen. John McCain or House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Roll Call pegged Risch's minimum net worth at…
Which is worse: Having steep tax hikes hit Idaho employers during a recession, or having rates remain high when times are good? Right now, Idaho employers who are paying a 70 percent increase in unemployment tax rates this year are facing bigger hikes next year,…
Here's an odd one: A former BSU football player who was charged with two counts having sexual contact with a female inmate while working as an officer at a state prison has pleaded guilty to a reduced charge - burglary. Timothy Ryan Gilligan will not…
Idaho's Fish & Game Commission will hold a meeting, via conference call, tomorrow morning to authorize "special wolf tags" that would be auctioned off as a fundraiser for wolf management and conservation. "The way we look at it here, it's a chance for folks to…
Vaughn Ward, the decorated Iraq war veteran and former McCain-Palin campaign official, and Ken Roberts, the Idaho House majority caucus chairman from Donnelly, are announcing dueling endorsements in their face-off for a shot at challenging 1st District Congressman Walt Minnick, with Ward announcing the endorsement…
Starting tomorrow, the Idaho State Police will have extra officers working "the high crash areas in the Coeur d'Alene-Post Falls area" as part of a statewide program to reduce crashes involving commercial trucks. The target: Any aggressive drivers around commercial trucks, whether they're in cars…
Boise State University has confirmed its first swine flu case, in a student living in the dorms. They've got a long way to go, of course, to catch up to WSU at Pullman, which has the biggest campus outbreak in the nation with 2,500 cases/More…
Idaho's had another uptick in its seasonally adjusted unemployment rate, but the bad news is actually good news for workers who've exhausted their federal and state unemployment benefits; it means they could qualify for some additional payments, for another three to seven weeks after regular…
Item: City won't name names on salaries/CdA PressMore info: Coeur d'Alene city officials are refusing to disclose the full identities of city employees, after an Idaho Public Records Act request from the Idaho Freedom Foundation, a non-profit, non-partisan group that's in the process of developing…
Item: 5-year-old's stolen puppy shaved but safe/AP, The Spokesman-ReviewMore info: A 5-year-old girl was at a park in Chubbuck, Idaho with her 11-week-old Pomeranian puppy when a woman asked if she could hold the puppy - but once she got it, she fled. Little Sadie…
Here’s a group that’s certainly not bashing U.S. Rep. Walt Minnick’s upcoming “economic blitz” during the congressional summer break (as is a GOP hopeful for his seat): Idaho businesses who are planning to participate. “Congressman Minnick’s ‘blitz’ is being received positively by my contractor members,”…
GOP congressional hopeful Vaughn Ward issued a sharply critical statement today in response to Democratic Congressman Walt Minnick's announcement of an "economic blitz" across the 1st Congressional District during the Congress' summer break, in which Minnick will host four events to connect Idaho companies and…
Here's Gov. Butch Otter's response to the news that Idaho Democrats have launched a candidate recruitment committee aimed mainly at the 2010 governor's race. "Well, you know, I applaud them," he said. But, he added, "It would be unfortunate if they had to talk somebody…
One of my favorite Idaho reporting anecdotes is the time I called then-Gov. Phil Batt's press secretary, Amy Kleiner, and a voice that clearly wasn't Amy's answered, saying, "Amy Kleiner's office." It was Gov. Batt. Well, it just happened again. I put in a call...
The Idaho Democratic Party is launching a "special candidate recruitment committee for the 2010 elections," at a time when, with the 2010 primary 10 months away, the party has had no major candidate step forward to challenge sitting GOP Gov. Butch Otter. State party Chairman...
