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Betsy Z. Russell

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News >  Idaho

‘New Yardstick’ To Measure Nursing Homes State Worries 40 Percent Of Homes Could Be Declared Substandard Under New Rules

Forty percent of Idaho's nursing homes could be declared substandard and are at risk of losing their patients under federal regulations due to take effect July 1. Idaho has joined Washington, Oregon and Alaska in pleading with federal officials to delay the change. Gov. Phil Batt and all four members of the Idaho congressional delegation have written letters.
News >  Idaho

Boise Abounds With Wildlife, Including Students

Neighborhoods here are defined by their wildlife. In the city's historic North End, hundreds of squirrels chatter at you endlessly. They scamper back and forth across the telephone lines, harass neighborhood cats and swish their tails in defiance as they run off.
News >  Nation/World

Rules Hinder Kendrick Women From Selling Store

Rita Blewett meant to get out of the liquor business three years ago. The Kendrick, Idaho, woman thought the time was right to sell the tiny liquor store she runs under a contract with the state. Her kids were off to college. Her husband, Bill, was ready for a change.
News >  Nation/World

Local Term Limits Remain In Idaho, For Now

Idaho now has term limits for all state and local elected officials - but not for U.S. senators or congressmen. The U.S. Supreme Court ruling Monday that tossed out state limits on congressional terms left intact the rest of an initiative Idaho voters approved in November. That initiative, favored by nearly 60 percent of the voters, limited terms for everyone from U.S. senators down to local school board members.
News >  Idaho

Coffee’s An Indoor Experience In Boise

This town doesn't have drive-up espresso huts. That's right. Those handy little huts that seem to be on every corner up north are a rare curiosity in the capital city. In weeks of cruising most of Boise's major commercial and commuting routes, I've spotted only two.
News >  Idaho

Moscow Man Not Cowed By Land Board; Lease Renewed

Environmentalist Jon Marvel's recent attempts to outbid ranchers for state grazing leases prompted an outcry and a new law. But Mark Solomon has quietly held a grazing lease for close to a decade solely to keep cattle off the land. The Idaho Department of Lands told Solomon this year it wouldn't renew his lease, but the Moscow man successfully appealed to the state Land Board Friday and won another year.
News >  Idaho

Fox Reveals Plan To Get Schools Back To Basics

State Schools Superintendent Anne Fox said Thursday she's charging ahead with her plan to bring Idaho's schools back to the basics. "Our children know 26 endangered species, but they don't know who Abraham Lincoln was," she told an appreciative group at a People for the West meeting Thursday evening.
News >  Nation/World

Kootenai Tribe Moves Toward Self-Sufficiency

The tiny Kootenai Tribe has just had its first member graduate from college, and tribal leaders say the tribe is on track to achieve its biggest wish: selfsufficiency. Ron Abraham, a tribal council member, told the governor's Native American Issues Summit on Monday that the key to the 118-member tribe's comeback has been its recognition that it must govern itself, not rely on the federal government or anyone else.
News >  Idaho

Bills Toughening Juvie Laws Pass

Gov. Phil Batt on Friday got seven bills on juvenile justice, most toughening the laws used to deal with lawbreakers under the age of 18. The House approved the bills Friday afternoon, with just a scattering of opposition. Legislation creating a new state agency to deal with youthful lawbreakers, the Department of Juvenile Corrections, still pends.
News >  Idaho

Lawmakers Seek Solution For Kootenais

There must be some way the Kootenai Tribe can become financially self-sufficient without angering its neighbors in Boundary County, lawmakers said Wednesday. A Senate committee voted unanimously to send legislation to the full Senate to have a committee of tribal members, local officials and lawmakers study the issue over the summer.
News >  Idaho

Bill To Make School Bonds Easier To Pass

School districts would be able to pass bond issues to build schools with a 60 percent vote instead of the current two-thirds majority, under a bill that won initial approval Monday. But there's a catch: The districts would receive the easier standard only if they schedule bond elections on one of four designated dates - the same dates as other types of elections are held in Idaho.
News >  Nation/World

Chenoweth’s Charge Puzzles Federal Officials Her Contention That Agencies Using Armed Agents, Helicopters To Enforce Endangered Species Act Said To Be Just A Rumor

U.S. Rep. Helen Chenoweth's contention that federal agencies are using armed agents and helicopters to invade Idaho to enforce the Endangered Species Act has agency officials scratching their heads. "It wasn't us," said Rod Moxley, a special agent with the National Marine Fisheries Service, which enforces the act in the Columbia Basin.