The first hunter to buy a wolf tag at Idaho's Fish & Game headquarters in Boise this morning, J.D. Dennis of Kuna, arrived 55 minutes before the sale started. "Fortunately, I was in the neighborhood," said Dennis, who stood at the head of a line…
Idaho’s capital city’s been rocked recently by horrifying crime news, from the first-degree murder arrests of the mother and mother’s boyfriend in the case of an 8-year-old boy, Robert Manwill, whose disappearance prompted an intensive community search, to the double life sentences handed down to…
Here's a link to my full story on the vote-by-mail initiative that's in the works, not for the 2010 election, but for the 2012 one. It's the first Idaho ballot initiative to launch a signature drive with such a long time frame. If enacted, it…
Idaho Fish & Game will start selling tags for the state's first wolf hunt on Monday at 10 a.m., but it does have a backup plan in case opponents win a court injunction to block the hunt: If an injunction comes through, tag-buyers who haven't…
Fired Idaho Transportation Department director Pamela Lowe is seeking damages from the state, alleging improper termination and gender discrimination, the AP reports. Among her claims: One board member said “no little girl would be able to run this department.” In documents obtained by The Associated…
Gov. Butch Otter has named 5th District Judge John Michael Melanson to the Idaho Court of Appeals, to fill the vacancy that will occur when Appeals Court Judge Darrel R. Perry retires on Sept. 30. Melanson, 61, has been a district judge in Minidoka County…
Backers of a voter initiative to let Idahoans put in permanent absentee ballot requests, rather than having to file a new request every election, are trying something unorthodox: Instead of shooting for the 2010 election, they want their measure on the ballot in 2012, three…
A landmark Boise timber products company is returning to the Idaho's capital city - kind of. A group of former executives of Trus Joist Corp., along with Atlas Holdings LLC, has purchased the commercial division of Trus Joist from Weyerhaeuser, its current owner, and will…
For nearly a decade, Idaho has offered to guarantee bonds issued by its local school districts to win them a better interest rate, save local property taxpayers a few dollars and make the bonds easier to pass. Now, the state Endowment Board has decided to…
A nonprofit group on Tuesday launched a new “government transparency” Web site designed to give anyone who’s interested details about state and local government spending in Idaho, from a mayor’s salary to an agency’s computer purchases. “Transparency is a non-partisan issue - it’s not Republican,…
Longtime state lawmaker Bruce Sweeney died today at age 77, after battling bone cancer, the Lewiston Tribune reports. Sweeney, a moderate Democrat from Lewiston whose legislative service spanned two decades, most recently served on the Idaho Transportation Board. You can read more here at spokesman.com.
In 2007, Idaho Gov. Butch Otter told cheering, camouflage-bedecked hunters at a snowy rally on the Statehouse steps, "I'm prepared to bid for that first ticket to shoot a wolf myself." But it turns out no bidding is necessary - for Idaho's first public wolf…
Gov. Butch Otter, through spokesman Jon Hanian, had this reaction to the Fish & Game Commission's decision today to have hunters go after 25 percent of Idaho's wolves: "We support the decision that was made by the commissioners today, and the governor has supreme and…
Panhandle region Fish & Game Commissioner Tony McDermott said wolves are not easy to hunt, and though the commission has set a quota allowing up to 220, or 25 percent, of Idaho's wolves to be shot by hunters starting in September, "We'll be lucky to…
Idaho will start selling tags next Monday for its first-ever public wolf hunt, to give hunters from both inside and outside the state a shot at up to 220 of Idaho's wolves, or about 25 percent. Idaho's Fish and Game Commission set the numbers for…
Idaho's Fish & Game Commission has voted 4-3 against its most aggressive option for the state's first public wolf hunt, which called for letting hunters kill 49 percent of the state's wolf population, or 430 wolves statewide. They're now debating a second option, for 25…
A bitter dispute between a crusading, reformist judge and Idaho’s judicial establishment is shining light on a little-noticed quirk: Idaho is the only state where, by law, the same person who chairs the council that disciplines judges presides over the Supreme Court’s review of that…
Rep. Ken Roberts, R-Donnelly, has brought on House Speaker Lawerence Denney as his campaign chairman in his bid for the 1st Congressional District seat, and says he's gearing up his campaign - though Roberts reported raising not a penny for the run as of June…
Here's a link to an interesting piece in CQ that leads with this slightly odd news: Club for Growth, the anti-tax group that was the major funder of former GOP Rep. Bill Sali's initial campaign for Congress in 2006, has given a perfect score to…
An Idaho legislative task force is now leaning heavily toward undoing an unpopular law passed this year to raid recreational trail funding in order to shift the money to road repairs. "We may need to give the gas tax back to the recreationists and look…
The legislative task force has begun taking public testimony, and there are 11 people signed up to testify. First up is Clark Collins, founder of the Blue Ribbon Coalition, who spoke in favor of what Sen. Jim Hammond, R-Post Falls, and Rep. Maxine Bell, R-Jerome,…
Among the ideas the state Parks Board threw out to fill the hole when their gas tax funding for trails goes away: Diverting sales taxes from sales of boats and off-road vehicles to trails; imposing a new tax on sporting goods to fund recreation; and…
Acting state Parks Director David Ricks reported to lawmakers that the state Parks Board is "adamant as far as opposing registration fees to replace fuel tax cutbacks." Here's why: Snowmobile, boat and ATV owners already have seen huge registration fee increases in the past four…
Col. Jerry Russell, chief of the Idaho State Police, just presented stats to lawmakers in response to questions last month about the ISP's staffing. When compared to the six surrounding states - Wyoming, Montana, Nevada, Utah, Washington, and Oregon - Idaho ranks dead last for…
As the legislative task force looking for money to replace gas taxes that now go to ISP and Parks & Rec broke for lunch, Eye on Boise asked Sen. Jim Hammond, R-Post Falls, what he thought of what he heard this morning. In answer, he…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
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