In a special meeting this afternoon, the state Board of Education granted unanimous approval to a state request for flexibility from some aspects of federal education laws. Superintendent of Public Instruction Sherri Ybarra presented the request, a one-year waiver from elements of the Elementary and…
Fifty-four F15E Strike Eagle jets from Mountain Home Air Force Base are being temporarily relocated to Gowen Field in Boise while the Mountain Home base’s runway gets scheduled maintenance, the Idaho National Guard announced today. Here, Col. Jefferson O’Donnell, vice commander of the 366th Fighter…
Idaho Gov. Butch Otter has named Linda Clark, superintendent of the state’s largest school district, West Ada, to the state Board of Education to replace three-term board member Rod Lewis of Eagle, whose term expired June 30. Otter said he selected Clark from “an outstanding…
During World War II, North Idaho College in Coeur d’Alene trained hundreds of pilots, aircraft mechanics and aviation technicians as part of the nation’s war effort. By 1947 NIC had the nation’s only combination watchmaking and aviation instrument repair program, operating at Weeks Field, now…
Along with everything else that’s going on in Boise right now – Jaialdi and more – we are in the midst of what looks to be a four-day stretch of near-perfect conditions for early-morning windsports on Lucky Peak Lake. Windsurfers and kitesailers have been loving…
The Boulder-White Clouds wilderness bill went to mark-up in the Senate Resources Committee today and won committee approval by unanimous consent; the measure, authored by 2nd District Rep. Mike Simpson, already has passed the House without objection. Idaho Sen. Jim Risch is sponsoring the bill...
Idaho will pay $12.1 million to the vendors who have struggled to grade the state’s new standardized student test, reports Idaho Education News. The vendor group, headed by American Institutes for Research, has released statewide test results, but district-by-district scores will not be released until…
A Payette County woman in her 40s is now Idaho’s second case of human West Nile Virus cases this season, and she’s suffering from the more dangerous, neuroinvasive form of the virus. Southwest District Health reports that the woman is hospitalized; her symptoms began around…
The Idaho Democratic Party announced today that its state central committee will elect its next party chairman this Saturday, at simultaneous meetings in three locations around the state in Lewiston, Pocatello and Boise. “It’s hard for people to all get to Boise,” said acting Chair…
In a startling bit of news for the Idaho newspaper industry, the Post Company announced today that it’s negotiating a deal to sell the business and all its assets – including the Idaho Falls Post Register. The family- and employee-owned newspaper has served Idaho Falls…
University of Idaho President Chuck Staben has purchased a home in the east end of Boise, the Moscow-Pullman Daily News reports, but the university says there’s no change in his residency or plans for him to spend more time in the state capital. Instead, the…
After the unexpected death of state Public Utilities Commissioner Mack Redford last month, Gov. Butch Otter announced today that longtime former Commissioner Marsha Smith, who had retired, will rejoin the three-member commission on an interim basis to replace Redford. “I wish to extend my sincere…
A special legislative committee studying broadband access in Idaho is seeking input from vendors who provide broadband services who’d like to address the committee. “We both definitely see the value in having the testimony of those who know the industry and who are innovating new…
Idaho National Guard members are preparing to trek to Fort Irwin, Calif. for a large-scale training exercise at the National Training Center, a 20-day exercise in August that is the 116th Cavalry Brigade Combat Team’s first since 1998 and the first of its kind for...
When I described the Republican Liberty Caucus of Idaho as being affiliated with the Idaho Republican Party in my Phil Hart article on Sunday, I wasn’t aware that an Idaho GOP resolution officially recognizing and welcoming the Republican Liberty Caucus to the state had expired.…
Iñigo Urkullu, president of the Basque Country, met with Gov. Butch Otter and other state officials today to discuss collaboration between Idaho and the Basque Country, as Urkullu kicked off a five-day visit to Boise for Jaialdi, an international Basque festival that’s drawn thousands of…
Idaho now has its first human case of West Nile Virus infection for the year, a woman in her 60s who lives in Washington County. Southwest District Health reports that the woman was not hospitalized and is still recovering; her symptoms began at the end…
Gov. Butch Otter has appointed former state Rep. Pete Black, D-Pocatello, to a vacant position on the Idaho Parks and Recreation Board. Black was House assistant minority leader from 1986 to 1996; he’ll represent District 5, replacing former board member Jean McDevitt. The parks board,…
The first sockeye salmon of the season has returned to the Sawtooth Basin near Stanley, Idaho Fish & Game reports, arriving yesterday evening. Though it’s the only one so far, Idaho Fish & Game spokesman Roger Phillips says they’re not anticipating another “Lonesome Larry” situation,...
Former Idaho House speaker Tom Boyd died Monday at age 86; he was speaker of the House for three terms before retiring from the Legislature in 1992. A Republican who was known as a “peacemaker” and a “consensus-builder,” the Lewiston Tribune reports that at the…
Idaho Butch Otter has created a task force intended to strengthen the state's protections against computer hackers, announcing Monday announced that he signed an executive order creating the Idaho Cybersecurity Cabinet Task Force to develop policies, programs and strategies to find vulnerabilities and prevent attacks...
Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson’s Boulder-White Clouds wilderness bill passed the House without objection today. “Today’s action by the U.S. House of Representatives is a great accomplishment for the thousands of Idahoans working to solve the Boulder White Clouds land management issue,” Simpson in a statement....
The number of Idaho adults who are overweight or obese is rising, the Idaho Department of Health & Welfare reports, though Idaho’s obesity rate still remains close to the national average. The latest Idaho Behavioral Risk Factors report, which has 2013 data and came out…
More than a quarter million sockeye salmon returning from the ocean to spawn are either dead or dying in the Columbia River and its tributaries due to warming water temperatures, the AP reports; federal and state fisheries biologists say the warm water is lethal for…
Tax-protesting former Idaho state Rep. Phil Hart has settled his long-running delinquent taxes case with the IRS, agreeing to let the feds auction off his Athol home for back taxes - the same home he built partly with logs he illegally cut from state school…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
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