Authorities say a 14-year-old girl died in a rollover crash after an argument between her father and stepmother escalated into throwing punches as they drove the teen to school. KTVB-TV reports that police arrested 46-year-old James Barnes and 25-year-old Jordan Jamison on Tuesday. They are each facing charges of felony...
Officials with the U.S. Department of Education say an Idaho school district violated federal law when it segregated elementary students into single-sex classrooms. Several years ago, Middleton Heights Elementary was among the dozens of public schools targeted by the American Civil Liberties Union over whether single-sex learning...
Gov. Butch Otter said today that education, and the continuation of a five-year plan to improve it in Idaho, will be his top priority in the upcoming 2017 legislative session. “I’m not taking my focus off of education,” Otter told an audience of more than…
Residential property owners are now paying 65 percent of the property taxes collected in Idaho, while commercial property owners are paying 27 percent, according to figures presented by Ada County Assessor Bob McQuade at the ATI conference today. That’s a shift from back in 1996,…
A businessman addressing the Associated Taxpayers of Idaho had a surprising recommendation today: Lower the two-thirds supermajority requirement for general-obligation bonds, which school districts and local governments now must get to invest in major infrastructure like new buildings. “Please don’t throw anything at me, don’t...
Jared Walczak, a policy analyst with the Tax Foundation, said a lot of states have been looking at “significant sales tax base broadening,” while Idaho hasn’t. That’s left Idaho with a relatively high sales tax rate, but “not collecting a lot,” he said. “There’s an…
Idaho Lt. Gov. Brad Little told hundreds of legislators, lobbyists, state and local government officials and others are gathered at the annual conference of the Associated Taxpayers of Idaho today that he believes the nation is at a turning point. “The American public has spoken....
A series of open-house-style public hearings on plans to save endangered wild salmon and steelhead in the Columbia and Snake Rivers in the Pacific Northwest comes to Boise today, set for 4-7 p.m. at the Grove Hotel. The hearings are being held by the Bonneville…
Idaho's state Capitol is being dressed in its holiday finery, with the traditional poinsettias, garlands and wreaths adorning the rotunda...
Idaho Fish & Game has resumed online sales of hunting and fishing licenses and tags, after a months-long halt that followed the hacking of a vendor. Users now will have to establish a user name and password to use the system, as part of added…
Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and Grand Targhee Resort in northwest Wyoming will open for the season on Thursday. The announcements follow a weekend that saw 22 inches of snow fall on the Teton Range between Saturday and early Monday morning...
Idaho high school students haven’t been required to pass the ISAT, the Idaho Standards Achievement Test, to graduate from high school for the past two years, and the state Board of Education decided today they shouldn’t have to pass it this year, either, or in the future...
Gov. Butch Otter and First Lady Lori Otter are inviting the public to the state Capitol today at 5 p.m. for a holiday season celebration including the ceremonial lighting of the Capitol Christmas Tree. The 25th Army Band will begin playing at 5, and there…
The Idaho Racing Commission is scrambling to avoid a funding crisis after its primary revenue source evaporated earlier this year with the closing of the largest horse racing track in the state. By law, a portion of the money bet on horse racing in Idaho is diverted to the commission, which relies on that money, as well as revenue from license...
Idaho’s 18 newest legislators are at the Capitol today for orientation, four of them new senators and 14 of them new representatives. Among the 18, just two have served in the Legislature before, new Sen. Mark Nye, D-Pocatello, as a representative; and Rep. Thyra Stevenson,…
A draft management plan for two recently created central Idaho wilderness areas prohibits campfires at high elevations to protect whitebark pine and eliminates horses and other recreational stock in some areas to protect alpine soils. The U.S. Forest Service...
Here’s a link to my full story at spokesman.com on how Idaho state Treasurer Ron Crane isn’t saying why a state committee he chairs that’s charged with enhancing Idaho’s state credit rating hasn’t met in six years, and this year, when its annual report for…
Might Idaho Gov. Butch Otter be considered for interior secretary in a Trump administration? Idaho Statesman reporter Rocky Barker explored the possibilities in a column over the holiday; you can read it here. Two previous Idaho governors were appointed secretary of the interior – Cecil…
Federal officials are proposing one of the largest ever projects to remove juniper trees to protect habitat for imperiled sage grouse and might also benefit cattle ranchers. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management on Monday announced it's taking public comments through Jan. 3 on the plan to eliminate the trees from 940 square miles in Owyhee County...
Idaho Gov. Butch Otter has named a new state appellate public defender: Eric Fredericksen, who current serves as the chief of the SAPD’s appellate unit. Fredericksen, who holds a law degree from the University of Idaho, first joined the office in 2002; left in 2012…
When the Idaho Department of Lands auctions off nine state endowment-owned commercial properties in Boise and Idaho Falls on Dec. 1, state agencies won’t be bidding, even though some were interested in the properties as office space. “None have spending authority,” said Idaho Department of…
With a unanimous vote, the Legislature’s working group on the health coverage gap has approved its final report to the Legislature, declaring firmly that the 2017 Legislature must act, but staying vague on exactly how. “A policy to provide health care of some kind to...
After much discussion, lawmakers on the Legislature’s interim working group on alternatives for closing the state’s health coverage gap have decided their report to the Legislature shouldn’t include specifics, and instead should focus broadly on alternatives. “If we go down the road of getting granular…
Among the ideas members of the Legislature’s working group on the health coverage gap have thrown out this morning for possible inclusion in their final report to the Legislature: Expanding the current, traditional Medicaid program, at the existing 70-30 federal match, to include additional populations,…
The Legislature’s working group on alternatives for covering the 78,000 Idahoan who fall into a health coverage gap has convened its final meeting this morning. First, staffer Elizabeth Bowen reported on public comments that have been received. From July 21 to yesterday, the panel has...
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
| Dec. 2016 | Nov. 2016 | Oct. 2016 | Sept. 2016 |
| Aug. 2016 | July 2016 | June 2016 | May 2016 |
| April 2016 | March 2016 | Feb. 2016 | Jan. 2016 |
