The Idaho Transportation Board has named Brian W. Ness, an administrator with the Michigan Department of Transportation, as its new director. Current acting director Scott Stokes will return to his position of deputy director in early January as Ness takes over. Click below to read…
Idaho's unemployment rate has notched up again, this time by a tenth of a percentage point to 9 percent, the highest since June of 1983. The U.S. Department of Labor today revised Idaho's October rate up from the Nov. 6 forecast, based on additional data;…
While strolling across downtown Boise in the crisp fall sunshine a few minutes ago, I ran into none other than former Idaho Congressman Bill Sali. Of course, I had to ask him: Is he running again for his old seat in Idaho's 1st District? "Stay…
Gov. Butch Otter, in his keynote luncheon speech to the Associated Taxpayers of Idaho today, spoke out strongly on the value of education, and how it's a central mission of the state per the Idaho Constitution. He shared how he was the first among nine…
Two local government officials, Bannock County Commissioner Steve Hadley and Coeur d'Alene City Councilman Mike Kennedy, are sharing their communities' budget challenges with the Associated Taxpayers conference. Kennedy said Coeur d'Alene's budget outlook is a difficult one, but there is one revenue source - income…
In fiscal year 2009, Idaho's state general fund revenue was down by 15.3 percent from the year before, exceeding the 2002 drop of 14.3 percent. Wayne Hammon, Gov. Butch Otter's budget director, told ATI that the forecast for the current year, fiscal year 2010, calls…
Rep. James Ruchti, D-Pocatello, the House assistant minority leader, said tax cuts in recent years have helped put the state in the revenue crunch it's in right now. "There's millions of tax revenue dollars that we don't have now that we desperately need," Ruchti told…
Sen. Russ Fulcher, R-Meridian, the Senate majority caucus chairman, told the ATI conference just now that lawmakers this year will be looking at difficult budget cuts in the very areas where people most don't want them - education and health services. "Everything is on the…
Hundreds of business people, government employees, legislators and more are gathered in Boise this morning for the Associated Taxpayers of Idaho annual conference, which is traditionally something of a warm-up for the legislative session that kicks off in January. The program opened with a national…
Idaho's state Land Board approved a land swap with Avista Corp. today that'll give the utility land at Trestle Creek near Hope, which it'll use for a bull trout restoration project, in exchange for some easier-to-log rolling timberland a few miles away that the state…
Idaho Congressman Walt Minnick today unveiled job-training legislation he said he's been crafting for the past eight months. The measure, H.R. 4072, entitled the American Manufacturing Efficiency and Retraining Investment Collaboration (AMERICA) Works Act, would route federal workforce training funds toward programs that provide "nationally…
Idaho's first-ever female transportation director was fired, in part, simply for being a woman, a lawsuit filed today charges. Pam Lowe, who last week filed a "whistleblower" complaint against the state alleging that she was fired for resisting political pressure to favor a big campaign…
It's hard to think of a regular event in the state Capitol that's more chaotic than the annual Buy Idaho day, when purveyors of Idaho products annually fill all four floors of the Capitol rotunda with 100 or more booths, handing out samples of pork-n-seeds,…
When the remains of 13 veterans were interred at the Idaho State Veterans Cemetery last Friday, with full military honors and a formal flag-folding ceremony, it was just the latest sign that the Missing In America Project is accomplishing its goal in Idaho - to…
Former GOP legislative candidate Kevin McGowan, who was GOP congressional candidate Ken Roberts' campaign manager until he recently resigned, said, "I wish Ken and his family the best. He's a good person." Asked why he decided to leave the campaign, McGowan said, "It was obvious…
Here's a link to my full story at spokesman.com on the developments in the 1st District congressional race today, in which Ken Roberts has dropped out, Raul Labrador says he's jumping in, and Vaughn Ward is powering ahead. All this activity is on the GOP…
Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Eagle, says he's planning to jump into the 1st District GOP primary race, which already includes Iraq war veteran Vaughn Ward and retired Boise physician Allan Salzberg, but no longer includes House Assistant Majority Leader Ken Roberts, R-Donnelly. "I am making preparations…
Idaho state Rep. Ken Roberts, R-Donnelly, who's running for the 1st District congressional seat, has gotten off to a rather slow start in his campaign, lagging far behind fellow GOP hopeful Vaughn Ward in fundraising eight months out from the primary election. As of the…
Washington, D.C. lobbying firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck is touting its newest addition of "top tier talent to its growing government relations group," namely former Idaho Congressman Larry LaRocco. LaRocco, who previously had his own public affairs and lobbying firm, LaRocco & Associates, will be…
Idaho's elections last week were all officially non-partisan city races, but there's growing debate in the state about what role - if any - political parties should play in those contests. In Idaho Falls, where the county GOP central committee endorsed a candidate in the…
Fired Idaho Transportation Director Pam Lowe is suing the state, after it never responded to her wrongful firing tort claim alleging sex discrimination, political cronyism and more. Her legal complaint includes explosive new allegations about political pressure, which the head of the Idaho Transportation Board…
The Medicaid shortfall that Idaho could face next year could require cutting as much as $500 million out of the state's Medicaid program, Idaho Health & Welfare Director Dick Armstrong told the Legislature's health care task force today, including $130 million in state funds. There…
Coeur d'Alene city attorney Mike Gridley says the campaign finance law that Sen. Mike Jorgenson may have violated when he ran a $1,090 ad for Coeur d'Alene city council challenger Jim Brannon is a state law, not a city ordinance. Idaho Code 67-6610A limits contributions…
Sen. Mike Jorgenson, R-Hayden Lake, says he didn't mean to violate campaign finance laws when he placed an ad for Coeur d'Alene City Council challenger Jim Brannon, and he's working with Coeur d'Alene City Clerk Susan Weathers to clear the matter up. "I was just…
The Idaho League of Women Voters has endorsed an initiative petition to let Idahoans request permanent absentee ballot status, rather than have to request an absentee ballot every time there's an election, a change that's been supported in the past by the state's county clerks…
