Here’s a link to the fourth week of Idaho’s legislative session in pictures, as a slide show. Let your cursor hover over the bottom part of the picture frame, and the captions will appear as the slide show plays. Tonight, on Idaho Public Television’s “Idaho…
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Keith Allred slammed GOP Gov. Butch Otter today for what he called his "irrational pessimism and recklessness," saying that in two weeks of travel around the state, he's heard concerns from people across the political spectrum over Otter's proposed budget cuts to…
Here's a link to my full story at spokesman.com on Idaho's prison budget situation: Lawmakers were warned today that the only way to cut more deeply into the state prison budget than Gov. Butch Otter already has proposed is to begin releasing prisoners. Budget cuts…
Nancy Merrill, Idaho state parks director, told the House Resources Committee today, "We are in a transition period and we have much to do." She noted that the new business plan the department has worked up - aimed at working toward weaning the department from…
Sen. Mike Jorgenson, R-Hayden Lake, chairman of the Idaho Indian Affairs Council, has put out a guest opinion on the flap over proposed legislation from the Coeur d'Alene Tribe regarding cross-deputization, after a three-year dispute between the tribe and the Benewah County Sheriff. "The purpose…
Rep. Shirley Ringo, D-Moscow, is back at work in the Legislature, after missing two days for surgery for peripheral artery disease in her legs. The procedure was a follow-up to more major surgery she had in October for the disease, which if left untreated would…
Questions from JFAC members for state Corrections Director Brent Reinke included whether it'd be helpful if Idaho set up some kind of early-release mechanism for prisoners now. Reinke said the department has been evaluating "what good time might look like in Idaho," referring to time…
If Idaho had to cut another $5 million from its state prisons budget, state Corrections Director Brent Reinke told JFAC this morning, it'd have to release about 250 inmates. Legally, the department can't do that on its own, he noted; it'd take direction from the…