Here’s Gov. Butch Otter’s statement on why he allowed HB 441a, the personal property tax bill, to become law without his signature: “I am a strong supporter of eliminating the inherently unfair personal property tax, and I remain committed to working with stakeholders to eliminate…
Gov. Butch Otter has issued his first veto of this year’s legislative session – on the very last bill. He invoked his line-item veto power to nix an $1,800 appropriation for next year for a 1.5 percent raise for the governor. “While I appreciate the…
As a 4:40 p.m. deadline ticks near, Gov. Butch Otter has signed 18 bills today and allowed one to become law without his signature, and now has just two left on his desk from this year’s legislative session: SB 1395a, and SB 1430. Those are…
As Idaho’s May 20 primary election approaches, 59 percent of Idaho’s registered voters remain unaffiliated, Secretary of State Ben Ysursa told a gathering of Idaho Republican Party members this morning at the party’s state headquarters. That means when those voters arrive at the polls, they’ll…
Sen. Rand Paul, who topped the latest CNN poll about GOP presidential contenders for 2016, will speak at the Idaho Republican Party’s state convention in Moscow on June 13, Idaho Statesman columnist Dan Popkey reports. Idaho GOP Chairman Barry Peterson told Popkey that Paul was…
Here's a news item from today's Spokesman-Review: A girl in the back of a Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office patrol car slipped off her handcuffs, crawled into the front seat and drove away in the car Thursday evening at the Huetter rest area on eastbound I-90…
It’s happened again – Bogus Basin is extending its closing date for another week, with daily operations now scheduled to run through April 13 due to good snow conditions, including 23 inches of new snow in the past week. “Spring skiing conditions couldn’t be better,”…
A plan to use big tax breaks to lure businesses to expand in Idaho won the governor's stamp of approval, the AP reports. Under the new law, HB 546a, which Gov. Butch Otter signed today, Idaho would refund up to 30 percent of state corporate…
Former Idaho Gov. Phil Batt has endorsed Phil McGrane in the four-way GOP primary for Idaho Secretary of State – a notable endorsement not just because Batt is a respected former governor of the state, but also because he’s a former highly successful chairman of…
State auditors say the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare misspent $2.5 million in federal welfare funding on salaries instead of using it to help pay for food, housing and other benefits provided to Idaho's poorest residents, the AP reports. But department officials say the…
The proportion of Idaho workers who are working just part-time because they can’t find full-time jobs dropped below the national average in 2013 for the first time in six years, the Idaho Department of Labor reports. The figures, from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics,…
Mike Lanza, the parent-turned-education activist who chaired the campaign that successfully overturned the “Students Come First” school reform laws, says he’s been booted from Idaho Gov. Butch Otter’s education improvement task force because he’s signed on with Otter’s Democratic opponent’s campaign. The 31-member task force…
Idaho’s average hourly wage slipped as a percentage of the national average in 2013, the Idaho Department of Labor reports, but the decline was less than the state saw in 2011 and 2012. According to estimates from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Idaho’s average…
Gov. Butch Otter is formally launching his re-election campaign today with a four-stop tour of the state. As campaign announcements go, it’s a bit anti-climactic; Otter filed for a third term on March 3, and first announced to supporters that he’d run for one at…
There are now three eggs in the Peregrine falcon nest high stop the One Capitol Center building in downtown Boise; you can watch on the Falconcam here. There could still be one or even two more to come. The Peregrine Fund says both parents will…
Idaho Secretary of State Ben Ysursa today threw his support to Phil McGrane in the four-way GOP race for the office Ysursa will be retiring from at the end of the year. “After 40 years in this office – three terms as secretary and 28…
The Idaho State Police has issued the following statement on the 'license-plate profiling' lawsuit filed against it by Darien Roseen: Idaho State Police to Review Allegations in Lawsuit Stemming From Traffic Stop in January 2013 MERIDIAN - The Idaho State Police has learned that the…
There are still about 30 bills left that lawmakers passed this year but Gov. Butch Otter has not yet taken action on; he has until Friday. Among them: SB 1395, the bill to raise top state elected officials’ salaries each year for the next four…
An Idaho man who pleaded guilty to firing an assault rifle at the White House in 2011, striking the executive mansion more than half a dozen times, was sentenced Monday to 25 years in prison, the AP reports. Prosecutors initially charged Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez of…