Medicaid makes up more than 80 percent of the budget of the state Department of Health & Welfare, the state’s largest agency. This morning, legislative budget writers are holding their budget hearing on Medicaid, the state-federal program that covers health care for disabled and poor...
After much debate, lawmakers last year agreed to move food stamp distribution in Idaho from all happening on the first of the month to being staggered over 10 days, but it hasn’t happened yet. “Although legislation was passed last year, funding was not,” Lori Wolff,…
One in three Idahoans received state services through the Division of Welfare, which handles eligibility for state programs including food stamps, Medicaid, welfare, child support orders, home energy assistance and more. Lori Wolff, division administrator, told legislative budget writers this morning that after seeing the...
Here’s a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Agency officials tasked with taking care of Idaho's poor and disabled say people are still struggling despite the state's low unemployment rate and improving economy. Department of Health and Welfare Director Richard Armstrong...
Idaho state schools Superintendent Sherri Ybarra, who is from Mountain Home, has hired Kelly Everitt, who was managing editor of the Mountain Home News for the past 26 years, as her communications specialist, Idaho Education News reports. Reporter Kevin Richert writes that Everitt had announced in a newspaper column last...
Hundreds of people filled the Capitol rotunda on three floors for today’s Martin Luther King Jr./Idaho Human Rights Day commemoration. Lt. Gov. Brad Little, reading an official proclamation, declared, “The celebration of Dr. King's birthday is intended as a time for all Americans to reaffirm…
Here’s a news item from the Associated Press: Northern Idaho police have launched a criminal investigation probing the legality of slot-like machines known as instant horse racing terminals, which are slowly gaining popularity across the state. Post Falls Police Chief Scot Haug says detectives are...
In what’s become an annual Idaho tradition, more than 300 people marched from Boise State University to the Capitol today in commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr./Idaho Human Rights Day, and are currently holding a rally on the Capitol steps. Changing, “2-4-6-8, Idaho’s too great...
North Idaho lawmakers concerned about “federal overreach” helped kill a bill today that’s been pushed for the past five years by a determined 8th grader who wants to designate the Idaho Giant Salamander as the official state amphibian. Although an Idaho attorney general’s opinion advised…
As lawmakers questioned state Health & Welfare Director Dick Armstrong this morning about his overview of the department’s budget request for next year, Sen. Roy Lacey, D-Pocatello, asked if Armstrong’s proposal about a new medical-homes system would replace the state’s Catastrophic Health Care Fund. Armstrong…
Idaho’s state health insurance exchange, Your Health Idaho, has made the transition to full state operation of its marketplace, state Health & Welfare Director Dick Armstrong told JFAC this morning, and is operating at less than half the cost of most states. “Other states have…
Idaho Health & Welfare Director Dick Armstrong is giving an overview of the giant H&W budget this morning to lawmakers; among the topics he addressed is a replacing the work that Health & Welfare has been doing since 2008 to improve Idaho’s current medical indigency program with a new medical-homes initiative.
President Barack Obama is coming to Boise, for the first time since he appeared here as a candidate in 2008; he’ll speak at Boise State University on Wednesday. His remarks are free and open to the public, but limited tickets are required. They’ll be distributed...
There are festivities to mark the official state Martin Luther King Jr./Idaho Human Rights Day holiday on tap today, but the Legislature doesn’t take holidays, so there’s also a full day of legislative activities on the schedule. Among the most high-profile: 8th grader Ilah Hickman…
More than 1,000 people rallied at the state Capitol on Saturday for the “Add the Words” bill, to add the words “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the Idaho Human Rights Act and outlaw discrimination on those bases in housing, employment and public accommodations. Among…
On tonight’s “Idaho Reports,” I join Jim Weatherby, Clark Corbin, and co-hosts Aaron Kunz and Melissa Davlin to discuss the events of the first week of the legislative session, from school funding to revenue to state worker pay. The show also includes an interview with…
The U.S. Supreme Court today agreed to take up the same-sex marriage issue in a series of cases from the 6th Circuit, opening the door to possible settlement of the issue for all 50 states. You can read the high court’s order here. Idaho Gov....
In a final vote at the Legislature’s joint Change in Employee Compensation Committee, lawmakers have agreed to go along with Gov. Butch Otter’s proposal to fully cover the cost of an increase in health insurance costs for state workers next year, saving state employees from…
Sen. John Tippets, R-Montpelier, has proposed that all state workers who are at just 68 percent of the policy-level pay for their position be moved up to 70 percent, with the exception of pay grade D, which is those at minimum wage or $7.25 per…
Sen. Dan Schmidt’s motion on state worker pay, for 3 percent merit raises plus setting a minimum pay level for state employees of $9.25 per hour, has been defeated on a 2-14 vote, with just Schmidt and Sen. Janie Ward-Engelking, D-Boise, supporting it. Then, Rep.…
Three motions are pending at the joint Change in Employee Compensation Committee this afternoon on state worker pay: Sen. Fred Martin, R-Boise, moved to grant 3 percent in merit-based raises to state workers, with discretion to agency directors. Sen. Dan Schmidt, D-Moscow, offered a motion…
Here’s a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A U.S. citizen who said he was wrongly arrested when the government rounded up Muslim men after the 9/11 terrorist attacks has settled his lawsuit against the FBI. The American Civil Liberties Union,...
HB 1, the bill to designate the Idaho Giant Salamander as the official state amphibian, will get a hearing Monday morning at 9 in the House State Affairs Committee, sponsors Sen. Janie Ward-Engelking and Rep. Ilana Rubel announced today. The bill’s author and chief sponsor…
The Humane Society of the United States has ranked Idaho 49th out of the 52 (the 50 states plus D.C. and Puerto Rico) for its animal cruelty and animal welfare laws, ahead of only Mississippi and Puerto Rico. The advocacy group noted that Idaho was…
Here's some good news for skiers: Almost five inches of new snow has fallen at Bogus Basin, as of 9:15 this morning. It was needed; things were getting a little thin up there. Brundage is reporting 7 inches of new snow; Tamarack is reporting 5…