Amy Dowd has accepted the job offer, and will be the executive director of Idaho’s new state-based health insurance exchange. “She’s accepted, she’s very excited, she’s eager and ready to go,” reported Stephen Weeg, interim exchange board president. “She’s happy to be back in Idaho,…
Amy Dowd, a health care consultant with Ernst & Young LLP in Portland, Ore., has been selected as executive director of Idaho’s new state-based health insurance exchange. The exchange board this morning voted unanimously to offer Dowd the job, which will pay in the range…
More than 200 people turned out for last night’s education stakeholders task force public forum in Idaho Falls; tonight, the task force heads to Pocatello. Reporter Clark Corbin of Idaho Education News reports that the new Common Core state standards were a big topic at…
Idaho Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch are co-sponsoring legislation ordering the FAA not to close small-city airport towers - like those in Idaho Falls, Lewiston, Hailey and Pocatello - under the sequestration budget cuts. The two GOP senators, who both supported the sequester legislation,…
The governor’s education stakeholders task force, dubbed the Task Force for Improving Education, is continuing its community forums around the state this week, with a forum in Idaho Falls scheduled this evening, Pocatello on Tuesday, and Boise on Thursday. Tonight’s Idaho Falls forum will be…
The 19 board members of Idaho’s new state-based health insurance exchange got a surprising welcome soon after they were appointed – anonymous calls to each of them, threatening that they’ll each individually be targets in a lawsuit. “I got a call from a guy who…
The board of Idaho’s new state-based health insurance exchange board opened its first meeting this morning in the Lincoln Auditorium in the state Capitol; it is being video streamed live online here. “We have a challenge ahead of us,” said interim exchange board chairman Stephen…
Five months after Idaho voters strongly rejected them, a series of laws limiting school teacher contract rights in the state is back on the books. Gov. Butch Otter has signed five controversial bills into law to revive parts of voter-rejected Proposition 1, on everything from…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: SANDPOINT, Idaho (AP) — Three lawsuits on behalf of 353 lease holders of cabin sites on Priest Lake in northern Idaho have been filed to prevent Idaho officials from increasing annual rent payments. The Bonner County Daily…
A divided Pocatello City Council has defeated a proposed anti-discrimination ordinance to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, with Mayor Brian Blad casting the tie-breaking vote at a tense, packed meeting last night, the Idaho State Journal reports. The council had split…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter and a delegation of business leaders are getting ready to head to Asia to peddle and promote some Idaho's top-ticket products. The Republican governor and crew leave Friday with…
The Atlantic has an interesting profile of Idaho 1stDistrict Rep. Raul Labrador this week, headlined, “Does the Fate of Immigration Reform Depend on This Idaho Congressman? Puerto Rican-born, Tea Party-purist, GOP-leadership-defying immigration attorney Raul Labrador has confounded expectations throughout his political career.” In the piece,…
The Pocatello City Council is scheduled to vote tonight on an ordinance to ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, reports Boise State Public Radio, and the vote is expected to be close. Other Idaho cities, including Sandpoint, Boise and Moscow, already have adopted…
Idaho's state Board of Education today approved tuition increases for the state's colleges and universities, but trimmed the requests from both the University of Idaho and Boise State University. The U of I was approved for a 5 percent increase, short of the 5.9 percent…
Gov. Butch Otter has appointed St. Maries attorney Richard S. Christensen to be a 1st District judge, filling a vacancy that will open May 1 when current 1st District Judge John Luster retires. Christensen, 57, is a former prosecutor and former deputy Idaho attorney general;…
Idaho Gov. Butch Otter has allowed a twice-amended bill to promote organ donation to become law without his signature. The bill, SB 1072aa, allows Idahoans to make a voluntary $2 contribution to an organ donation fund when they apply for or renew their driver’s licenses;…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: KETCHUM, Idaho (AP) — Ketchum officials have banned smoking in a long list of areas that include all city-owned facilities, parks, and indoor public places and places of employment, including hotel and motel rooms. The Idaho Mountain…
U.S. Rep. Raul Labrador has reintroduced a bill that would require congressional approval any time a president wanted to carve out new national monuments across the country, the Idaho Statesman reports today; click below for a full report from the Statesman and the Associated Press.…
The State Board of Education is meeting in Moscow on the University of Idaho campus today, and considering tuition and fee increase proposals for state colleges and universities. The U of I is requesting a 5.9 percent increase in tuition and fees next year; BSU,…
Former Sen. Tim Corder, R-Mountain Home, is blasting Senate Education Committee Chairman John Goedde, R-Coeur d’Alene, saying he displayed “wanton disregard for the public will” in helping reenact some of the anti-union measures in the voter-rejected “Students Come First,” the Idaho Statesman’s Dan Popkey reports.…
Ada County’s specialized domestic violence court has been selected by the U.S. Department of Justice as one of three “mentor” courts in the nation to serve as a model for other courts to follow; the other two courts are in Brooklyn, N.Y. and Dallas, Texas.…
Twenty-four people testified to the Task Force for Improving Education tonight in Coeur d’Alene, as the governor’s education stakeholder task force held its fourth public forum and its best-attended one yet. “It’s good to see a packed house,” said Richard Westerberg, task force chairman and…
The clock is ticking for state-owned cabin sites at Priest and Payette lakes; current lessees must apply by April 30 if they want to continue to lease the land under their cabins from the state of Idaho next year. That’s also the deadline for conflict…
Idaho Sen. Jim Risch, who serves on the Senate Intelligence Committee, was interviewed on Fox News today about the Boston Marathon bombings; Risch said he was in “a number of classified briefings today,” but instead of receiving classified information, the briefings were mostly “what we…
Idaho’s state Land Board approved a timber sale plan for 2014 today that calls for harvesting 249 million board feet from state endowment lands, the highest logging level in more than a decade. The state endowment land timber cut has been fixed at 247 million…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
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