Here's a link to the live webcast of today's State Board of Education meeting in Moscow, at which the board is considering proposed student tuition and fee increases at Idaho's colleges and universities. Lewis-Clark State College, which is presenting now, is seeking a 7 percent…
Gov. Butch Otter has signed HB 343, the wolf disaster emergency bill, into law despite concerns he expressed in a two-page letter about the bill. "My concerns with the legislation are not whether it is an appropriate response to the devastation that wolves have caused,"…
Syringa Networks is appealing to the Idaho Supreme Court the dismissal of its lawsuit against the state of Idaho over the award of a multimillion-dollar contract for the Idaho Education Network. The firm contends that its bid would have cost the state less than the…
When new state Tax Commission Chairman Bob Geddes was appointed, he was in Boise serving as a ninth-term state senator; two years earlier, he'd sold his house in Soda Springs and bought a home in Meridian, but he was still renting a home in Soda…
Though the Idaho Land Board voted in December to offer cabin owners on state land at Priest and Payette lakes new 10-year leases at a rental rate of 4 percent of the land's value per year, rather than the current 2.5 percent, that hasn't happened…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press and KIFI-TV: AMMON, Idaho (AP) — Stop me if you've heard this one: A goat walks into a music store. It sounds like the start of a bad joke, but that's exactly what happened at the Piano…
It's been a good year so far for Idaho's permanent endowment fund, with earnings on investments through March 31 at 23.1 percent, Larry Johnson, manager of investments, reported to the state Land Board this morning. That's since the start of the fiscal year on July…
With no discussion or debate, the state Oil & Gas Conservation Commission, which consists of the governor, the attorney general, the secretary of state, the state superintendent of public instruction and the state controller, has voted unanimously to adopt as-is a proposed temporary rule on…
Justin Hayes of the Idaho Conservation League told state officials, "What we don't want is to have a problem develop because it wasn't being closely regulated, because, as we've heard time and time again, you can't clean up an aquifer once you've fouled it up."…
State Lands Department staffer Eric Wilson said it would be a broad restriction to ban the use of carcinogenic compounds from being injected into groundwater in "fracking" fluids. "I think even Twinkies could be carcinogenic if you eat enough of them," Wilson said. He said…
Justin Hayes of the Idaho Conservation League has proposed several amendments to the temporary rule on "fracking," or hydraulic fracturing, that's pending before the state Oil & Gas Conservation Commission. They include banning the injection of carcinogenic or toxic compounds into groundwater; banning horizontal well…
There's a full house this morning as the Idaho Land Board meets as the state Oil & Gas Conservation Commission, to hear items including a recommendation from a hearing officer with regard to a spacing order requested by Bridge Energy, and a temporary rule regarding…
A Montana judge has halted work on highway upgrades to allow giant megaloads of oil equipment to travel through the state from Idaho to Canada, but he will allow the "test module" that ExxonMobil currently is running across U.S. Highway 12 in north-central idaho to…
When lawmakers were considering the fate of Idaho's renewable energy sales tax rebate, a lobbyist for a major wind developer told them that without it, hundreds of millions worth of his company's projects in Idaho would be canceled. The rebate was killed by one vote…
The conclusion of this year's legislative session has prompted widely differing takes on how it went, from Gov. Butch Otter giving lawmakers a grade of "A" to Senate Democrats' pronouncement that the session was the "worst in memory." On tonight's “Idaho Reports” on Idaho Public…
"Idahoans for Responsible Education Reform" began collecting signatures today on referendum petitions to overturn this year's three major school reform bills, SB 1108 on teacher contracts, SB 1110 on teacher merit pay, and SB 1184 on funding shifts for technology. Mike Lanza, a Boise father…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Federal wildlife officials say they will take more than 1,300 gray wolves in the Northern Rockies off the endangered species list within 60 days. An attachment to the budget bill signed into law…
The president of the National Education Association, Dennis Van Roekel, spoke to the Idaho Education Association's delegate assembly today in Boise, and spoke out against the Idaho school reform bills pushed by state schools Superintendent Tom Luna. He likened the Luna legislation to moves against…
Idaho’s jobless rate held steady at 9.7 percent in March, the fourth straight month of record high rates, the Idaho Department of Labor reports. However, there may be a glimmer of good news in the report; according to preliminary estimates by the U.S. Bureau of…
Really interesting story from Dan Popkey in the Idaho Statesman this morning on "Gov. Otter's comeback kid," the new 30-year-old deputy chief of the Idaho Bureau of Prisons, Josh Tewalt, who rose to the $83,200-a-year position despite three DUI arrests and no college degree. Tewalt…
Gov. Butch Otter has signed into law historic changes in Idaho's election system, requiring, for the first time, that all Idahoans publicly declare their party affiliation to vote in the state's primary election. "I felt that that was a compromise effort between the House and…
The U.S. Senate has voted 81-19 in favor of H.R. 1493, the spending cuts bill that passed the House earlier today, sending the bill to President Obama. Among those 19 "no" votes: Both of Idaho's senators. Lindsay Nothern, press secretary for Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho,…
When the spending cuts bill passed the House today, Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, issued a statement lauding its passage and noting that it includes his language to remove wolves from endangered species protections and defund the Department of Interior's Wild Lands initiative. “Congress has the…
Gov. Butch Otter declared this year's legislative session "a very successful one," saying, "It was a successful legislative session for myself and my administration." He said if he had to give the session a grade, "I'd give em an A, I feel comfortable with that.…
Gov. Butch Otter has signed major legislation into law to impose party registration in Idaho and close the state's primary elections if parties choose to exclude anyone other than those registered as party members; he quietly signed HB 351 into law yesterday. Also, the same…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
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