Dozens of Idaho state employees lost their jobs in the past month as a result of midyear state budget holdbacks imposed in late September, and more cuts are coming. Gov. Butch Otter’s decision to impose varying budget cuts at different agencies meant some were hit…
Yesterday was a day of sharp contrasts for me, when I went from photographing Idaho's maximum security prison - likely the least accessible of all our public buildings in the state - to the state Capitol, which traditionally has been the most accessible, but has…
Idaho Lt. Gov. Brad Little launched his re-election campaign today under a fine drizzle in Capitol Park in Boise; now, he's off to Idaho Falls and Coeur d'Alene for additional announcements. "Government should only be there to protect and create opportunity for individuals and businesses,…
Idaho’s maximum security prison marked its 20th anniversary on Thursday, with two of its units sitting vacant. It’s not that Idaho doesn’t have enough prisoners — it’s short on money. Inmates have been shifted to the cheapest beds available, like those down the road at…
When Idaho's senior senator, Mike Crapo, last sought re-election, he made history by drawing no challenger on the ballot, just a write-in. This time, Crapo has drawn a Democratic challenger well in advance of Idaho's May 2010 primary election - but it's a lawyer from…
Idaho's Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial in Boise has been selected as one of 11 locations to receive a sapling grafted from the chestnut tree that grew outside the secret annex in Amsterdam where Anne Frank hid from the Nazis, which Anne frequently wrote about…
When Idaho boaters register their boats for the next boating season, they’ll no longer have to purchase a separate invasive species sticker – it’ll all be combined into a single registration sticker. “It saves a tremendous amount of money,” said Rep. Eric Anderson, R-Priest Lake,…
South-Central Idaho's Hispanic population has grown by 85 percent since 2000, according to a new University of Idaho study, paralleling the dramatic increase in the dairy industry in the region, which employs a large Hispanic workforce. The two-year UI study, funded in part by the…
Gov. Butch Otter has released his letter responding to House and Senate Democrats who formally requested him to delay a sharp increase in health insurance premiums for part-time state employees. In it, Otter maintains the state will see higher savings than initial estimates have shown…
Gov. Butch Otter is defending a move to sharply increase health insurance costs for part-time state employees, even though some will face premiums that exceed their take-home pay. "This is the same thing the city of Boise does, the University of Idaho does, every company…
Idaho Reports, the weekly legislative program on Idaho Public Television, will be a full hour this year, which is good news for a show that happens to be the longest-running legislative program in the West. Click here for a cool history of the show, which…
When Paul Kjellander, head of the Idaho Office of Energy Resources, briefed a legislative interim committee this morning about the wide-ranging work on options for Idaho's energy future being done out of his office by the Strategic Energy Alliance, an effort launched by the governor…
Well, that was pretty awful. I don't know if the H1N1 is really worse than seasonal flu, because I've gotten a flu shot every year for at least the past 10 and haven't had the seasonal flu. But I sure don't remember anything quite this…
Idaho's state budget news is bleak, lawmakers heard as they gathered today for the interim meeting of the Legislature's joint budget committee: One in five Idaho school districts has declared a financial emergency. State prisons are managing 500 more offenders than a year ago, with…
Based on estimates of federal funding levels for Medicaid once the federal economic stimulus boost is gone, Idaho's Medicaid program is looking at having to cut costs by $387 million - about 23 percent of the Medicaid program. Various savings efforts already are under way.…
The first report to the feds on Idaho's federal stimulus money spending is out, and it shows that the money spent so far, $12.8 million, has created or preserved 492.58 jobs, Gov. Butch Otter's budget director, Wayne Hammon, informed lawmakers this morning. That means it…
The Idaho Legislature's joint budget committee has begun its interim meeting this morning at the Stueckle Sky Center at BSU, starting with an update from legislative budget director Cathy Holland-Smith on the state of the general fund. Overall: Not so good. The state faces a…
Thousands of Idaho college students who were scheduled to receive $500 "Promise Scholarships" this year will get just $400 instead, under a plan that's up for final approval Thursday by the state Board of Education. The same tough times that have driven the state to…
State schools Supt. Tom Luna says Idaho's public schools need a 9.2 percent increase in state general funds next year, just to keep even and fund student growth. In a budget request for fiscal year 2011 that Luna's scheduled to present to the state Board…
The $54 million transportation funding compromise that ended Idaho's second-longest legislative session this year has now shrunk to about $28 million, far less than Gov. Butch Otter said was needed right away to keep Idaho's roads up to par. First, a joint legislative task force…
More than 100 people gathered in the crisp fall coolness of sun-dappled Municipal Park in Boise this afternoon, to remember Chuck Oxley, the 46-year-old longtime Idaho journalist who died in a car accident last weekend. Chuck, who'd been a reporter for various newspapers and the…
October is Hunger Awareness Month, and the state marked the occasion this morning when Lt. Gov. Brad Little joined a wide array of religious leaders, anti-hunger activists and children from the Boise Urban Garden School to make it official. The children presented a basket of…
Fine-particulate air pollution in Boise bars that permit smoking is 36 times worse than outdoor pollution levels in the valley, according to a new study by the Roswell Park Cancer Institute released today by the Coalition for a Healthy Idaho, and four times the EPA's…
Rep. Maxine Bell's motion to delay the shift of gas tax funding away from the Idaho State Police for a year has passed unanimously, winning the 8-0 support of the joint legislative task force. Rep. Rich Wills, R-Glenns Ferry, a retired state trooper, said, "I…
The Idaho State Police used to get 6 percent of the state highway user fund revenue, which mainly comes from the gas tax. Then, in 1992 it went to 5.4 percent, and in 2000, it went to 5 percent. Some lawmakers questioned whether perhaps the…
