On the same day that Washington eliminated its tourism promotion funding and shut down its state tourism office, Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire, in her new role as chair of the Western Governors Association, announced that her initiative for the year will be a “Get Out…
Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire, in her new role as chair of the Western Governors Association, has announced that her initiative for the year will be a "Get Out West" campaign, promoting outdoor recreation, conservation, tourism and volunteerism. Ironically, the move comes just as her state…
Former Gov. Bill Ritter of Colorado told the Western Governors Association that states can set the tone for both private-sector and public-sector moves into industrial energy efficiency. He quoted from the association's newly published report on the topic: "A governor's leadership within a state is…
Among the panelists addressing industrial energy efficiency at the Western Governors Association today is Don Sturtevant, energy manager for Simplot Corp., the company where Idaho Gov. Butch Otter worked for 30 years. "When I was there, it took 27,000 BTUs to make one pound of…
Click below for an article from AP reporter Nick Geranios on this morning's discussion of wildfire and forest health at the Western Governors Association meeting in Coeur d'Alene; now, moving into its afternoon agenda, the governors are beginning a session in reducing energy demand by…
Jane Lubchenco, administrator of NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is at the Western Governors Association today to sign a memorandum of understanding on making crucial weather and climate science information more broadly available to the states and others in the west. "I think…
Idaho Gov. Butch Otter formally nominated Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire as the incoming chairman of the Western Governors Association, and the nomination was approved unanimously amid a round of applause. Otter then nominated Utah Gov. Gary Herbert to be vice-chairman of the group, and that…
Gary Doer, Canadian ambassador to the United States, told the Western Governors Association today that western premiers and governors "share a vision" of land management. "Our wildlife does not require 'Real ID' to get across our border," he said to chuckles. "You know that Canada…
Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber said there's long been a struggle to get funding for management efforts on federal lands like thinning and prescribed burns, and Washington, D.C. doesn't seem to recognize that spending up-front on management could save money on fighting devastating wildfires. Washington Congressman…
Idaho Gov. Butch Otter asked about addressing "checkerboard" land ownership among federal, state and private lands, and Washington Congressman Doc Hastings noted that changing that takes "literally an act of Congress" any time federal land is transferred, but said he's open to ways to streamline…
David Groeschl, administrator of the Idaho Forestry and Fire Division, described the "forest asset management program" that Idaho is following on its state trust lands that are part of the state's endowment to the Western Governors Association, and offered it as a model for forest…
Harris Sherman, undersecretary of agriculture for natural resources and the environment, said this is the wettest year in the last 117 years. Yet, he said, "We are having the driest period on record in many parts of the country, while we are having the greatest…
Washington Congressman Doc Hastings, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, told the Western Governors Association this morning that more timber harvesting is needed on federal lands, and states need more control. "I think if you have a greater opportunity to manage the land within…
Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber invited Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer to share an update on the wildfires in her state to open this morning's Western Governors Association panel on forest health. "We now have the largest fire in our history in the state of Arizona," Brewer…
Forest health is the first topic for the Western Governors Association this morning. "We have had some problems in being able to afford to do things that we need to do in order to have healthy forests and manage healthy forests," Idaho Gov. Butch Otter…
Western governors are interested in following Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire's lead to closely track National Guard members after they return from deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan, for everything from health to employment needs. Utah Gov. Gary Herbert said, "I want to go back and make…
A Montana judge has dismissed a portion of a lawsuit against a plan for hundreds of megaloads of oil equipment to travel through the state, on a constitutional issue, but not the rest of it, so the case will continue. Click below for a report…
Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire said when military veterans return home from deployment, "The transition has got to be seamless." She shared "a little issue that my state has come upon:" That returning vets may have learned valuable occupational skills, "but for whatever reason we've set…
David Brasuell, administrator of the Idaho Division of Veterans Services, said several programs in the state are gearing up to help returning veterans. Among them: The state Department of Transportation got a grant to work with the state Department of Labor to help returning vets…
Brigadier General Robert F. Hedelund, addressing how states can better help returning veterans, said, "This is a very, very important subject to the Marine Corps." He said the military can't promise veterans jobs outside the service, "but we can promise them, I think, opportunity ...…
Former U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson told the Western Governors Association this afternoon that more than 27 percent of returning veterans age 18-24 "do not have a job today - that's more than one out of four. So I think we can stipulate…
Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire is moderating the Western Governors Association session this afternoon on how states can better help returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. She said she pledged to visit her state's national guardsmen who were deployed to Iraq, and when she did so,…
BSU head football coach Chris Petersen told the Western Governors Association that for the past decade, he's been studying successful teams - not just athletic teams, but other groups, and what makes them successful. "It doesn't matter if it's sports, business, government, individual success, the…
Idaho Gov. Butch Otter has opened the annual meeting of the Western Governors Association, which opened with the singing of both the U.S. and Canadian national anthems by Aaron Baldwin, along with a flag ceremony. The governors in attendance so far are those of Idaho,…
As western governors, state and federal agency officials, lobbyists, industry people, lawmakers, reporters and others filter in for the soon-to-start Western Governors Association meeting, Idaho Gov. Butch Otter, the association's current chairman, buttonholed the Canadian ambassador, Gary Doer, here to talk about a water issue.
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
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