As the seasons change in Boise, there are a few sure signs each year that winter is on its way. First, the leaves turn, which they did in spectacular, fiery fashion this year. Then, there’s the Ski Swap – and it’s arrived. This year is…
It's trick-or-treat time, and among those handing out the treats are Gov. Butch Otter and First Lady Lori Otter, who, dressed in real firefighter outfits, are dispensing candy, books and toothbrushes to costumed kids on the Statehouse steps. Otter recalled visiting Idaho firefighters on the…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The Idaho Department of Correction says a convicted forger who absconded from parole in north-central Idaho was arrested while doing laundry at a Moscow-area laundromat. Corrections officials say 25-year-old Stephen Andrew Edgeman of…
State Schools Supt. Tom Luna’s proposed 5.9 percent budget increase for public schools next year has dropped to 5.4 percent, Clark Corbin of Idaho EdNews reports, but not because Luna’s changed what he’s asking for. Instead, a recent decision by the PERSI board to hold…
Idaho's insurance exchange board backed new rules Wednesday meant to keep insiders from profiting inappropriately from ties to the Internet health care marketplace, the AP reports, in the wake of a now-canceled no-bid contract with a former board member. The board decided that members who…
Idaho Gov. Butch Otter says he wants a delay in the individual mandate to purchase health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, to allow Idaho's insurance exchange to get its own technology platform up and running, rather than piggybacking on the troubled federal…
Here’s a link to my full story at spokesman.com on study results released today showing that more than 40 percent of Idaho's prison beds are being taken up by returned probationers and parolees – helping explain why the state’s prison population has jumped by 10…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A lawyer hired to review how Idaho insurance exchange leaders awarded a no-bid, $375,000 contract to a board member says he'll be finished within a week. Fred Mack, a corporate governance specialist at…
After seven months of intensive study of Idaho’s criminal justice system, researchers from the Center for Justice and the Pew Charitable Trusts have found some surprising trends underlying Idaho’s high incarceration rate, though the state has one of the nation’s lowest crime rates: Fully 84…
A joint legislative committee today is hearing detailed presentations on the right and wrong ways to prevent recidivism, or reoffending by criminals; Ed Latessa, a professor in the School of Criminal Justice at the University of Cincinnati, shared the latest studies on what works and…
Here's a news item from the AP and the Idaho Statesman: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Conley Ward, a former member of the Idaho Public Utilities Commission and chairman of the state Democratic Party, has died. He was 66. Family members say Ward died Monday at…
Billboards bashing Idaho legislators for their votes on a state insurance exchange have begun popping up in their legislative districts. Idaho Freedom Foundation chief Wayne Hoffman says the signs are part of his group’s lobbying campaign to get Idaho’s exchange repealed in the legislative session…
An Idaho federal court official has been honored by the Judicial Council of the 9th Circuit for encouraging alternative ways of settling legal disputes, short of full-blown court trials. Susie Boring-Headlee, Alternative Dispute Resolution coordinator for the U.S. District Court in Idaho, has been awarded…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — After a three-year investigation into allegations of possible criminal civil rights violations at Idaho's largest private prison, the U.S. Department of Justice is declining to prosecute any current or former guards with Corrections…
Andrea Vogt, a former Idaho reporter now based in Italy, reports on a public records battle with Boise State University over the work of Professor Greg Hampikian, the head of the Idaho Innocence Project and a DNA expert who has played a key role in…
The hearing room at the state Capitol went silent this morning as the first scheduled speaker, Chairman Nathan Small of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, addressed the Federal Lands Interim Committee about the prospect of Idaho trying to take title to federal public lands within the state.…
Alan Johnson’s company lost 16.3 acres of prime property along U.S. 95 in North Idaho when the state seized it for a new interchange under eminent domain law. Now the shopping center developer stands to lose another $1.1 million, which is how much the state…
Former Idaho House Speaker Lawerence Denney, whose pension benefits would soar by more than seven times if he wins his bid for Secretary of State, personally killed legislation last year designed to end the costly special treatment for longtime legislators who land high-paying government posts…
Gov. Butch Otter and First Lady Lori Otter plan to host their fourth annual "Trick or Treat at the Capitol" next Thursday, when the costumed governor and first lady hand out treats along with toothbrushes, floss and children's books to costumed kids who come to…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: LEWISTON, Idaho (AP) — A General Electric Co. subsidiary has given up its legal fight to haul the second of two huge loads of water purification equipment through the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest and will find another…
If former House Speaker Lawerence Denney were to serve one four-year term as Secretary of State after his many years of legislative service, his state retirement pension, for life, would rise from roughly $500 a month to more than $3,600 a month. That’s because the…
After Idaho Sen. Russ Fulcher told Eye on Boise this week that he’s not “on the same page” as Gov. Butch Otter on education, Idaho EdNews reporter Kevin Richert analyzed Fulcher’s legislative record on the issue – and found that it mirrored Otter’s position nearly…
A federal appeals court has rejected an appeal from Edgar Steele, the self-proclaimed “attorney for the damned” from North Idaho, who was sentenced to 50 years in prison for the attempted murder-for-hire of his wife. Steele claimed improper jury instructions and other errors in his…
Former House Speaker Lawerence Denney, now a GOP state representative from Midvale, is flying around the state today in a neighbor’s Cessna 182, making stops to announce his run for Idaho Secretary of State in Idaho Falls, Boise and Coeur d’Alene. But he sent no…
House Majority Leader Mike Moyle, who was among those attending former House Speaker Lawerence Denney’s statehouse campaign kickoff today for his bid for Idaho secretary of state, said he’s backing Denney in his run. “It’s my understanding that (current GOP Secretary of State Ben) Ysursa…