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News >  ID Government

Candidates flock to race for open Idaho congressional seat

Sun., May 6, 2018

An open seat in Congress, as current Rep. Raul Labrador steps down to run for governor, has drawn a whopping 10 candidates to the primary election ballot – and poses a big challenge for Idaho voters to sort through as they prepare to make their picks on May 15.

Opinion >  Column

Eye on Boise: When political debates also include comic relief…

Sun., May 6, 2018

When six GOP candidates for Idaho’s open 1st District congressional seat faced off in the “Idaho Debates” last week, much of the fireworks – and the humor – came at the end, in the closing statements.

News >  ID Government

Sandpoint High alumnus Luke Mayville led Medicaid initiative effort

UPDATED: Fri., May 4, 2018

Luke Mayville was a junior at Sandpoint High School when the 9/11 attacks happened in September of 2001, and his English teacher, Marianne Love, encouraged the quiet, high-performing student to read his essay on the attacks in front of a school assembly just a few days later.

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News >  ID Government

Idaho lawmakers celebrate ‘fire borrowing’ fix – though not all voted for the bill

UPDATED: Wed., May 2, 2018

After years of gathering annually at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise to decry “fire borrowing” – the situation in which the Forest Service, each year, shifts millions from other programs when the costs to fight the West’s escalating wildfires balloons, thereby cutting prevention efforts meant to reduce that trend – a bipartisan group of congressmen and top agency officials had a different tone when they gathered at NIFC on Wednesday: celebration.

News >  ID Government

Kathy Sims vows to fight removal from Idaho ballot

UPDATED: Wed., May 2, 2018

Former Idaho Rep. Kathy Sims is vowing to fight her removal from the ballot for failing to be a registered voter in her new district for a year before the election; but for now, she's off – unless she gets a judge to rule otherwise.

News >  ID Government

Ahlquist wins endorsement from prominent young Trump backers Candace Owens and Charlie Kirk

UPDATED: Mon., April 30, 2018

Tommy Ahlquist, a GOP candidate for governor of Idaho, was endorsed by two prominent millennial Trump supporters on Monday – Charlie Kirk, who was the millennial director of the Trump campaign, and Candace Owens, a conservative commentator and YouTube star who rails against the Black Lives Matter movement.

News >  ID Government

Former Idaho Rep. Kathy Sims booted from May primary ballot

UPDATED: Mon., April 30, 2018

Former state Rep. Kathy Sims, R-Coeur d’Alene, is being removed from the ballot in her bid for a comeback in a Post Falls district, after the Idaho Secretary of State’s office determined that she had just registered in her new district in February.

News >  ID Government

Medicaid expansion in Idaho moves closer to making November ballot

UPDATED: Mon., April 30, 2018

Backers of the Medicaid expansion initiative announced Monday that they have more than enough signatures to get the measure on the November ballot in Idaho.

News >  ID Government

Idahoans face big decisions in governor’s race on May 15

Sun., April 29, 2018

The stakes are huge – an open seat for governor of Idaho for the first time in 12 years. The competition is hot in both parties, with seven Republicans and three Democrats on the ballot, including big names who are duking it out for their party’s nominations. And the five front-runners – three Republicans and two Democrats – offer very different choices for Idahoans who will cast ballots on May 15.

Opinion >  Column

Eye on Boise: Voter figures so far show just a small crossover in primary

Sun., April 29, 2018

How might crossover voting – people switching parties to vote in a different party’s primary election – affect Idaho’s upcoming high-stakes May 15 primary, with positions up for grabs including an open governor’s seat? There are some numbers available, but so far they don’t show a huge shift.

News >  ID Government

Former Rep. Phil Hart ruled ineligible for Idaho’s May ballot

UPDATED: Fri., April 27, 2018

Tax-protesting state lawmaker Phil Hart’s comeback bid is in doubt, as the Idaho secretary of state’s office has ruled Hart ineligible for the ballot in his bid to challenge Rep. Paul Shepherd, R-Riggins, in District 7 in the May GOP primary.

News >  ID Government

Idaho Rep. Labrador opens door to overturning Medicaid expansion initiative if voters pass it

UPDATED: Thu., April 26, 2018

Idaho Rep. Raul Labrador said Thursday that if the state’s voters both elect him governor and pass the initiative to expand Medicaid in Idaho, he’d consider working to overturn the voter-passed initiative.

Opinion >  Column

Eye on Boise: Idaho state board picks a nonacademic to head Idaho State University

UPDATED: Sun., April 22, 2018

Idaho’s state Board of Education has named five finalists to be the next president of Boise State University, and all are academics with Ph.D. degrees. That might seem like a given, but the board’s recent pick to be the new president of Idaho State University in Pocatello doesn’t fit that description – Kevin Satterlee is an attorney, a graduate of the University of Idaho College of Law, who most recently has been chief operating officer, vice president and special counsel at BSU. He previously served as deputy attorney general for the Office of the State Board of Education.

News >  ID Government

Idaho governor hopefuls go on the attack as May 15 primary nears

UPDATED: Thu., April 19, 2018

Candidates for governor of Idaho have been filling the airwaves with campaign commercials, and as the May 15 Idaho primary election approaches, many have gone on the attack.

News >  ID Government

U of I tuition, fees to rise 5 percent next year

UPDATED: Wed., April 18, 2018

Tuition and fees will jump 5 percent for resident students at the University of Idaho next year, and 8 percent for nonresident students.

News >  ID Government

State treasurer hopeful asked to forfeit her county credit card over misuse allegations

UPDATED: Tue., April 17, 2018

The current Ada County treasurer – a county elected official who’s now running to be the state treasurer – was requested by the three county commissioners on Tuesday to surrender her county credit card amid allegations of misuse.

News >  ID Government

Idaho lieutenant governor hopeful drops out of crowded race

UPDATED: Mon., April 16, 2018

When the filing period for Idaho lieutenant governor arrived last month, five Republicans already were crowded into the race, and a sixth joined them as the filing period closed – current Ada County Highway District Commissioner Rebecca Arnold..

News >  ID Government

Idaho lawmakers focus on tax cuts, gun rights; leave health care unaddressed for another year

Sun., April 1, 2018

Idaho lawmakers have finished a jam-packed, 80-day legislative session that saw major tax cuts enacted and a $100 million boost to education funding, but also left unaddressed, for the sixth straight year, the state’s health coverage gap that’s leaving up to 62,000 Idahoans without options for care.

Opinion >  Column

Eye on Boise: Idaho legislators take turns wearing Barbieri’s colorful necktie

Sun., April 1, 2018

Fourth-term Rep. Vito Barbieri, R-Dalton Gardens, has tried to carry on a tradition passed down to him from former Rep. Jim Clark, R-Hayden Lake, of wearing a different tie each day of the legislative session, and never a repeat.

News >  Idaho

Huckleberry pie, Sharia law and CBD oil: proposals in the Idaho Legislature that had steam but went cold

Sun., April 1, 2018

Some legislative proposals made a big splash early in this year’s Idaho legislative session, only to quietly fade away later, and never become law.

News >  ID Government

‘Tireless’ North Idaho senator caps 22-year career as ‘consummate citizen-legislator’

UPDATED: Fri., March 30, 2018

The longest-serving female state senator in Idaho history closed out her final legislative session with pride in an array of specific accomplishments, but also with a key disappointment.

News >  ID Government

Otter touts education improvements, tax cuts as lawmakers depart

UPDATED: Thu., March 29, 2018

Idaho Gov. Butch Otter on Thursday put education improvements at the top of his list of accomplishments of this year’s just-concluded legislative session, the last one of his three terms as the state’s governor.

News >  ID Government

Idaho Legislature wraps up 80-day legislative session without overriding Otter’s vetoes

UPDATED: Wed., March 28, 2018

The Idaho Legislature wrapped up an 80-day legislative session on Wednesday, opting at the end not to try to override a veto from Gov. Butch Otter, though lawmakers had remained in session for five extra days just for that purpose.

News >  ID Government

Idaho House fails to override Otter’s veto of teacher-evaluation bill

UPDATED: Tue., March 27, 2018

Idaho lawmakers failed to override Gov. Butch Otter’s first veto of the year on Tuesday, failing to even rally a majority of the House – let alone the required two-thirds – to overturn the governor’s veto of a teacher-evaluation bill.

News >  ID Government

Otter signs 45 bills into law, vetoes one

UPDATED: Mon., March 26, 2018

Idaho Gov. Butch Otter signed 45 bills into law on Monday, including measures encouraging gun safety classes in Idaho schools; overhauling the state’s foster care laws; expanding suicide prevention education; and requiring ignition interlock devices for first-time DUI offenders.