The Idaho Association of Counties, made up of elected county officials from throughout the state, voted overwhelmingly today to back the “Healthy Idaho” plan proposed by Gov. Butch Otter’s task force, which calls for addressing the health insurance coverage gap by accepting Medicaid expansion funds,…
Last night’s West Ada school board meeting apparently was quite the barn-burner, with an upset crowd of 100 in attendance, multiple executive sessions and much discord, and a 4-1 vote to void a contract extension for Superintendent Linda Clark. Idaho Education News reporter Clark Corbin…
Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio on Wednesday selected Idaho State Controller Brandon Woolf to serve as state chairman for his campaign. Last week, Ohio Gov. John Kasich named Idaho Sen. Marv Hagedorn as his Idaho co-chair.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Ron Bush will become the chief magistrate judge for the District of Idaho on Oct. 1, the courts announced today, taking over from current Chief Magistrate Judge Candy Dale, who has served as chief since 2008. The chief position is a seven-year,…
Here’s a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The Idaho Attorney General's office says the Coeur d'Alene Tribe missed its deadline to collect attorney fees in their legal fight over instant horse racing terminals. Earlier this month, the Idaho Supreme Court...
Although the Idaho Freedom Foundation isn’t a party to the new lawsuit filed against Gov. Butch Otter, schools Supt. Sherri Ybarra and state Board of Education Chairman Don Soltman over Idaho’s version of Common Core student testing, the IFF is underwriting the lawsuit. “They are...
Brent Regan, chairman of the board of the Idaho Freedom Foundation, is the lead plaintiff in a new federal lawsuit filed against Gov. Butch Otter, state schools Superintendent Sherri Ybarra and state Board of Education President Don Soltman charging that the Idaho core standards for...
Idaho lawmakers say there will be no more secret meetings of a group working on state tax policy – all meetings from this point on will be open to the public and follow notice requirements of the Idaho Open Meeting Law. The panel, with 11…
Former Idaho Gov. Cecil Andrus filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Energy today under the federal Freedom of Information Act, seeking to force the agency to release documents about proposed shipments of commercial spent nuclear fuel to the Idaho National Laboratory. "It is...
It appears that the secrecy has ended: Notice has been officially posted on the Legislature’s website here of an upcoming Oct. 6 meeting of the Tax Working Group, and co-chairs Sen. Jeff Siddoway and Rep. Gary Collins have declared that from this point on, the...
An Idaho woman is headed to federal prison for defrauding dozens in California through her “Miracles Egg Donation” business. Prosecutors said instead of helping the would-be parents with surrogacy and egg donation, Allison Layton of Star used her clients’ money to support a lavish lifestyle,...
Federal officials say they'll release their final plan Wednesday to recover struggling bull trout in five Western states with the goal of lifting Endangered Species Act protections. The AP reports that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says the Bull Trout Recovery Plan outlines conservation…
One Priest Lake cabin site, an acre and a half of lakefront land with a rustic, A-frame cabin on it, drew bidding that drove the price 50 percent above the appraisal for the land, up to $760,000. Another saw bids push the price $33,000 higher…
Watchers of the Idaho Legislature are reeling over the news that a panel of state lawmakers from both houses – not listed among the official legislative interim committees or task forces that have been holding open public meetings streamed live on the internet – has…
A La Grande man is hoping to start a movement for parts of Eastern Oregon and eastern Washington to join Idaho, the East Oregonian newspaper reports. Residents in eastern Oregon and Washington have discussed breaking away from their more liberal neighbors to form a new…
Idaho Gov. Butch Otter and the state Legislature today filed a lawsuit over the Obama Administration’s sage grouse ruling, even though it found that endangered species protections for the sage grouse were “not warranted.” The lawsuit contends the process behind amendments to federal land-use plans…
Big news from Washington, D.C. today, as House Speaker John Boehner announces he’ll both step down as speaker and resign from Congress at the end of October. A Boehner aide told NBC News that the speaker "believes putting members through prolonged leadership turmoil would do...
The Constitution Party of Idaho says it’s hoping to have multiple candidates competing in Idaho’s March presidential primary, and already has seen one of its party’s hopefuls, the Rev. Scott Copeland of Weatherford, Texas, come to Idaho to campaign, making a swing from Coeur d’Alene…
Idaho’s child immunization rates vary greatly around the state, reports Idaho EdNews, but overall, 85.6 percent of the state’s kindergartners, first graders and seventh graders are adequately immunized. And when EdNews analyzed district-by-district figures, it found that some had reporting problems that caused their numbers…
Here’s a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho water officials say they want to expand cloud seeding efforts by taking an aerial approach to coax more snow from winter storms. The Idaho Water Resource Board has approved spending $200,000 for…
Previous auctions of state-owned cabin sites on Priest Lake in North Idaho have drawn little competitive bidding, as folks were reluctant to bid against cabin owners who’d built their cabins on the state lots and wanted to keep them. But this Saturday, nine lakefront Priest…
Makaela Zabel-Gravatt, a Boise cosmetologist, twice sought a protection order against a former client who was stalking her, according to news reports, but was rejected because Idaho law allows such orders only against a spouse, relative or current or former romantic partner. A week and…
With a civil rights complaint pending against the state of Idaho over charter school enrollment practices, a non-profit education group is sponsoring aworkshop in Boise Oct. 7 on access and equity in education, dubbed a “civil rights summit.” The...
The group StopTuitionHikes.com filed its proposed ballot initiative with the Idaho Secretary of State’s office yesterday, after making a series of changes to the proposal. It still would raise Idaho’s cigarette tax by $1.50 per pack and use most of the proceeds to lower public…
The Obama administration’s decision Tuesday that the greater sage grouse does not require Endangered Species Act protections walks a fine line with its assertion that economic development and preservation can coexist across the bird's 11-state range, the AP reports. But critics from each side of…
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