An Idaho seventh grader went toe-to-toe with the Senate’s majority leader on Friday – and won, reports Clark Corbin of Idaho Education News. Seventh-grader Ilah Hickman, who successfully got her bill introduced last year to make the Idaho Giant Salamander the official state amphibian but…
Rep. Holli Woodings, D-Boise, announced her candidacy for Idaho Secretary of State today, saying as a self-described “voting geek,” she’ll put her top emphasis on keeping Idaho’s election system open and fair, and “making sure that partisan interests do not have a place in that…
The Idaho House has voted unanimously, 62-0, in favor of HB 406, the measure from IACI to have the state take over primacy for wastewater permitting under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, or NPDES. Floor sponsor Rep. Jason Monks, R-Meridian, touted the “local control…
The House has voted 36-29 against legislation from Rep. Lynn Lyker, R-Boise, to ban the use of credit or debit cards in historical horse race betting machines. Luker said the machines already are set up for cash or cash-voucher use only, and state rules reinforce…
Rep. Lynn Luker’s bill to ban state lawmakers from holding any other local elected office, from highway district commission to irrigation board to city council, has been pulled from the House’s 3rd Reading calendar by unanimous consent, and sent instead to the House’s amending order.…
Five “Add the Words” supporters staged an impromptu musical flash mob in the garden level hallway of the state Capitol this morning, gathering with guitar, tambourine and music stand to sing in five-part harmony Nik Kershaw’s ‘80s song, “Wouldn’t it be good.” As the five…
Gov. Butch Otter’s proposal for $15 million in water projects next year, from $4 million to buy water rights from Simplot Corp. to guarantee water supply to Mountain Home Air Force Base, to millions for studies toward future dam projects including the Galloway and expansion…
Wyoming’s approval of a state lottery could cut into the Idaho Lottery’s sales next year, Idaho Lottery Director Jeff Anderson warned legislative budget writers this morning, though the impact is uncertain; he’s estimating it could be as much as $3 million, or as little as…
Idaho state liquor stores had an estimated $10 million in additional sales – 6 percent of their total sales – from Washington customers in 2013, the head of Idaho’s state liquor division told lawmakers this morning. That’s because when Washington privatized liquor sales in June…
Idaho Department of Water Resources' director Gary Spackman signed an order Wednesday telling 2,300 water-right holders they'll have to shut down irrigation if they can't reach a compromise with Rangen Inc, a Hagerman-based fish farm and feed producer, AP reporter Katie Terhune reports. The water…
Gov. Butch Otter has sent out a press release urging lawmakers to allocate $14.45 million to keep the Idaho Education Network functioning in the face of withheld federal funds. "The Governor’s request to the Legislature’s Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee would maintain funding for the IEN and…
Emotions ran high today as Optum Idaho, a contractor with the state Department of Health & Welfare that's managing outpatient behavioral health services under Medicaid, was called before both the House and Senate Health & Welfare committees to respond to major complaints from Idaho care…
An FCC spokesman told Eye on Boise this afternoon that the federal agency has been holding up millions in federal “e-rate” funds for the Idaho Education Network since March in light of last spring’s Idaho Supreme Court decision in the Syringa case, while the agency…
Here’s a link to my full story at spokesman.com on the unexpected $14.5 million hole in Idaho’s state budget, as lawmakers are being asked to dip into state funds to make up $14.5 million in missing federal payments to a group of vendors who are…
The Senate has voted unanimously, 34-0, in favor of SB 1245, the supplemental appropriation bill to spend $1.9 million during the current budget year to transition the troubled Idaho Correctional Center south of Boise from private to state operation on July 1; the bill now…
The Idaho Senate voted today, with no debate on any of them, to confirm the first five of 12 appointees to the state's health insurance exchange board, Your Health Idaho. Among those confirmed today were Chairman Stephen Weeg and former state Rep. Margaret Henbest. The…
Here's a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The Idaho official responsible for fixing a troubled school software system is leaving the state Department of Education. Roger Quarles, hired only in August as chief deputy superintendent, quit the agency earlier this…
Next year, the state will make its final payment on the bonds that paid for renovating the state Capitol; the $20.1 million annual payments for seven years are being covered by cigarette tax funds. “The $20 million bond payments will be ending in fiscal year…
The Legislature’s joint budget committee took a break after getting the bad news from the state Department of Administration that it’s requesting $14.45 million more for the Idaho Education Network, to keep broadband service to Idaho high schools going after millions in anticipated federal “e-rate”…
Sen. Dan Schmidt, D-Moscow, asked state Department of Administration Director Teresa Luna, “I heard you say that we don’t keep track of the federal money?” Lawmakers are now being asked to approve a $14.45 million supplemental appropriation for the IEN to replace federal e-rate funds…
Members of the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee appear much taken aback this morning at the request for $14.45 million to bail out the Idaho Education Network, the broadband service run by contractor Education Networks of America that provides broadband connections to every Idaho high school. The…
State Department of Administration Director Teresa Luna told JFAC this morning she was informed July 31 by Education Networks of America, the contractor for the Idaho Education Network that provides broadband connections to every Idaho high school, “that they had not been paid e-rate funds…
The $14.45 million problem with the Idaho Education Network, in which federal “e-rate” funding the state expected never came in, apparently is related to the Syringa Networks lawsuit over the award of the contract to run the IEN to Education Networks of America. Sen. Shawn…
State Department of Administration Director Teresa Luna is requesting a supplemental appropriation of $14.45 million for unexpected costs for the Idaho Education Network – about half of that for the current year, and half for next year – after the state failed to receive federal…
Idaho State Controller Brandon Woolf says the transparency website he launched last year, making large quantities of state data available online for free, has been popular. “Since launching the site, the volume of public records requests my office has received has gone down significantly,” Woolf…
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