On water issues, Gov. Butch Otter is calling for $12 million in funding for aquifer recharge next year - $10 million in a one-time transfer, plus $2 million a year in ongoing funding. “Mr. Speaker, Senator Bair and Chairman Chase of the Idaho Water Resource…
Gov. Butch Otter has just referred briefly to his new $30 million health proposal to address those who fall into the coverage “gap,” the 78,000 Idahoans who make too much to qualify for Idaho’s limited Medicaid program, but not enough to qualify for subsidized insurance...
“I’m recommending that in the coming year we follow through on our plan for providing more physician training to meet Idaho’s needs,” Gov. Butch Otter told lawmakers today. “Adding five more seats to our medical school partnership with the University of Washington will reach the…
Gov. Butch Otter is proposing $5 million in start-up funding for a new community college in eastern Idaho – if voters there agree to turn Eastern Idaho Technical College into a community college. That would mean local voters would agree to partially support the college…
Idaho college students would see a new “tuition lock” program, under Gov. Butch Otter’s proposed budget for next year, designed to guarantee that if they finish college in four years and maintain acceptable grades, their tuition won’t go up from its freshman-year level. “That brings…
Gov. Butch Otter is calling for a $12 million investment in STEM education next year, science, technology, engineering and math. That includes $10 million in one-time funds for starting up new STEM programs, plus a $2 million ongoing appropriation for operating the state’s new STEM...
Among Gov. Butch Otter’s education proposals that he’s highlighting in his State of the State message today: $38.9 million for the next phase in the “career ladder” that lawmakers started on last year, in a move to increase teacher pay; $5 million for college and…
Gov. Butch Otter is focusing on education, as he gives his State of the State message to a joint session of the Legislature today. “We are entrusted with the singular constitutional responsibility of providing for a ‘general, uniform and thorough system of public, free common…
Gov. Butch Otter has begun his State of the State message, joking first, “For those who wouldn’t shake my hand as I was coming down the aisle, I am coming down with something, I don’t know what it is.” But Otter said he had doused…
The House and Senate have convened, and the House has welcomed a temporary member, Howard G. “J.R.” Van Tassel, who is filling in for Rep. John Rusche, D-Lewiston, while Rusche’s wife, Kay, is undergoing cancer treatment. Rusche expects to be gone for at least two…
Gov. Butch Otter will give his State of the State and budget address to a joint session of the Idaho Legislature starting at 1 p.m. today to lay out his agenda for the legislative session, speaking in the House chambers. I'll be live-blogging; check back...
Idaho law enforcement, refugee resettlement and faith leaders have scheduled a competing session for Thursday from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Capitol entitled, “Meet Your Neighborhood Refugee,” at the same time that two anti-Islamic speakers, Shahram Hadian and Christopher Holton, will be speaking in…
The Idaho Republican Party’s central committee, at its winter meeting over the weekend, voted to do away with a 2011 party rule that required all candidates to vow compliance with every plank of the party platform, and required the party chairman to monitor that compliance…
When the Idaho Legislature convenes Monday, it will face a push-pull between two competing goals for the session: a desire for a quick, “all business” session that wraps up well before the May primary election, versus a desire to roll out hot-button issues on which…
State Labor Director Ken Edmunds’ remarks to a legislative committee last week that Idaho is losing half its college graduates within four years after graduation – likely due to low pay – are explored in my Sunday column, along with the hiring of Idaho’s new…
During the Idaho legislative session, one thing keeps me sane: Skiing on the weekends up at Bogus Basin. So what better way to prepare for the upcoming State of the State than a weekend on the slopes? There was a Saturday of superb conditions, on-trail...
Tonight’s “Idaho Reports” tackles public land management and the disputes that that led to the armed takeover of a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon, in a discussion featuring co-host Melissa Davlin, Rebecca Boone of the Associated Press, Frankie Barnhill of Boise State Public Radio and…
Texas Tech University President M. Duane Nellis will step down this month but remain on the faculty. The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal in December reported that Nellis told students, faculty and staff at the school that working in a chancellor-led system was "more challenging" than he thought...
Lawmakers on the joint Economic Outlook & Revenue Assessment Committee are meeting all day today in the Lincoln Auditorium, hearing reports on various sectors of Idaho’s economy as they examine revenues available for the state budget in the coming year. Jon Ness, CEO of Kootenai...
Expo Idaho, home of the Western Idaho Fair in Ada County, has put a moratorium on gun shows, the Idaho Statesman reports today, after two accidental firearm discharges at gun shows there in the past three years. This weekend’s Lewis Clark Trader gun show will...
An Uzbek refugee authorities say intended to kill personnel at a military base or civilians at crowded Fourth of July celebrations in downtown Boise, Idaho, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison. Fazliddin Kurbanov received the sentence Thursday; he will also face deportation proceedings…
Rep. Neil Anderson, R-Blackfoot, has wrapped up the state worker pay hearing this afternoon after extended comments from former state Sen. Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, now the director of the state Department of Insurance; Cameron said his agency struggles to keep key workers and fill positions....
More than 30 state employees have submitted written testimony to the joint legislative committee on Change in Employee Compensation; that’s in addition to a half-dozen or so who have signed up to testify in person this afternoon. First up today was Stacy Pearson, vice president...
After hearing various presentations about state employee compensation today, the joint legislative committee on Change in Employee Compensation is running about 10 minutes late; it's just gone on a 10-minute break, and then when it returns, will begin taking public testimony. A new state report…
The Legislature’s Economic Outlook & Revenue Assessment Committee heard a rather startling statistic this afternoon from state Department of Labor Director Ken Edmunds: Idaho is losing half of its college graduates within four years of their graduation. “We’re only retaining 50 percent of our college...
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