More than 80 people gathered in McCall on Monday for an open meetings/public records seminar led by Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden and put on by Idahoans for Openness in Government; they ranged from city, county and fire district officials to clerks, reporters, citizen watchdogs…
As Idaho moves into the realm of mastery-based education, the state is getting unpaid help from a prominent education reform group founded by Jeb Bush, reports Kevin Richert of Idaho EdNews. Bush, the presidential candidate and former Florida governor, founded the Foundation for Excellence in…
Gov. Butch Otter and all four members of Idaho's all-GOP congressional delegation were sharply critical today of federal land-management plans that accompanied the announcement that the feds won't protect the sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act, though all had been working to stave off such a listing...
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell was joined by the governors of Colorado, Nevada, Montana and Wyoming, along with the heads of the federal Fish & Wildlife Service, the BLM, the Forest Service, the National Resource Conservation Service and the U.S. Geological Survey, for...
Members of Idaho's Public Defense Commission say that without more authority, there's not much reason to keep working on statewide recommendations, the AP reports. Lawmakers created the commission in 2014, asking members to come up with quality standards to improve Idaho's problematic public defense system.…
Former Canyon County prosecutor and gubernatorial candidate John Bujak has resigned from the Idaho State Bar, ending proceedings in which the bar was attempting to have him disbarred on ethical grounds. "This should mark the end of my five-year battle with the state and federal…
Idaho house prices are going up, so the maximum homeowner’s exemption from property taxes for 2016 will rise 5.77 percent to $94,745, a third year of increases after four straight years of decreases. The exemption currently tops out at $89,580. Idaho allows homeowners to exempt...
A formal announcement is scheduled later this morning in Colorado, but the U.S. Interior Department has decided federal protections for the greater sage grouse are “not warranted” at this time, following costly efforts to reverse the species’ decline without reshaping the region’s economy. In a...
Despite repeated requests, Idaho has never granted exclusive access for private hunting operations on state lands. Now another application is on its way. State officials aren’t inclined to go along, but the issue has prompted review of just how Idaho handles recreation on state lands that Idahoans cherish...
The public is invited to attend any of three upcoming free workshops on Idaho’s key open government laws – the Idaho Open Meeting Law and the Idaho Public Records Law – in McCall, Boise and Nampa, led by Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden. It’s a...
As the two-day hearing for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl wrapped up today in Texas, top military officials testified that the Hailey man said he walked away from his post as part of a plan to contact a general at a forward operating base roughly 19 miles…
Here’s a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The first batch of production records from a natural gas well in Idaho have been made public following a new rule approved by lawmakers. State officials earlier this week released the monthly records…
Idaho state prisons chief Kevin Kempf has immediately halted all “therapeutic community” programs in Idaho prisons, after an assessment by the Council of State Governments Justice Center found that offenders who go through the programs actually are slightly more likely to re-offend, the AP reports.…
As Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s hearing in San Antonio, Texas enters its second day today, the defense has begun presenting its case. Yesterday’s prosecution testimony focused on the difficulties of the search for the sergeant, after he left his post in Afghanistan and was captured...
Here’s a link to my full story at spokesman.com on new research by two Boise State University professors that has identified major gender imbalance in the state’s appointed boards and commissions, showing not only that 70 percent of appointees are men, but that women are...
Here’s a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho is eliminating one prison treatment program and will be revamping several others after an in-depth assessment showed that some were ineffective and many relied on outdated research. Idaho Department of Correction Director…
Patrick Hodges, deputy director of the Idaho Department of Lands, has been named administrator of the Idaho state Controller's division of statewide accounting; he’ll start his new post Sept. 28. State Controller Brandon Woolf announced the appointment; Hodges started his state government career in the…
When the Idaho Republican Party holds its presidential primary election on March 8, it’ll determine how the state’s 32 delegates to the Republican National Convention are apportioned, and it’s not as simple as just proportional or winner-take-all. That’s because national GOP rules require that if...
A new BSU study of state, county and city board appointments shows that only about a third of the appointees are women, while two-thirds are men. The study, which examined nearly 5,000 appointments in Idaho, was presented at last week’s Andrus Center for Public Policy…
Twenty-one Idaho libraries now have been equipped with 3D printers, thanks to funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and more than two dozen Idaho librarians gathered in Boise this week to learn how to operate, maintain and troubleshoot the high-tech devices. They’re…
The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals today upheld a federal district court ruling that an anti-union law passed by the Idaho Legislature in 2011 was invalid, as it was pre-empted by the federal National Labor Relations Act. The law, which was immediately enjoined and...
Land managers, including the BLM, Shoshone-Paiute Tribes and Owyhee County, are asking residents and visitors to avoid the area burned in the recent Soda Fire while recovery efforts are under way after the fire. “We are asking recreationists and other public land users to work…
As we hit the top months when drivers are mostly likely to hit deer on Idaho roads – November, September and October, in that order – State Farm Insurance, which analyzes claims data and government statistics each year, reports that Idaho drivers were nearly 17…
Idaho’s new Cybersecurity Cabinet Task Force holds its first meeting this afternoon, chaired by Lt. Gov. Brad Little, who says the group will take “a pro-active approach to gathering all of the information needed to keep Idaho’s infrastructure safe from opportunists looking to hack and…
The Idaho Democratic Party has released its delegate selection plan for the 2016 presidential election; Idaho Democrats will elect 384 delegates to their state convention at county caucuses around the state on March 22, based on their presidential preference, and then the state convention in...
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
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