Erica Curless

A $60 million proposal to pay for school construction by raising the Idaho sales tax survived its first battle Wednesday, but lawmakers said the bill is doomed to fail. After attempts to kill the measure, the House Taxation and Revenue Committee agreed to debate Idaho School Superintendent Anne Fox's bill that would increase the sales tax by one-half of one percent.

A $1.5 million price tag for Head Start could strangle efforts to start the program for preschoolers across Idaho. As the Senate Education Committee agreed to debate the Head Start bill, House members killed a separate proposal that would have raised cash for the program.

Because child-care needs differ dramatically across Idaho, local communities are the key to improvement efforts, Sen. Gordon Crow told lawmakers Tuesday. Crow, R-Hayden, presented the House and Senate Health and Welfare committees with results from five North Idaho town hall meetings on child-care services held last fall. The meetings with child-care providers, parents and local leaders from the five northern-most counties highlighted the diverse needs of each community.

Rep. Roger Chase gladly sacrifices medical insurance, retirement benefits and lost wages to serve in the Idaho Legislature. However, the Pocatello Democrat refuses to let the J.R. Simplot Co. fire him for serving as a citizen legislator.

Only 64 percent of the 2-year-olds in the Panhandle are adequately immunized, a state health administrator told lawmakers Friday. "Our perspective is parents don't know the immunization status of their children," said Dick Schultz of the Department of Health and Welfare. The immunization record in the Panhandle Health District, which includes Benewah, Bonner, Boundary, Kootenai and Shoshone counties, is consistent with the state-wide average, Schultz said.

Idaho is unconstitutionally entangled in religion, Rep. Bill Sali told the House on Thursday, urging lawmakers to repeal a law that licenses pastoral counselors. Members voted 51-19 to revoke the 1997 law that provides state licensing and regulation of pastoral counselors. The measure now goes to the Senate.

A plastic baggy full of pills is the only thing that separates Allie from death. Thrusting the sack of white and pink capsules into the air, the Sandpoint wife and mother who has AIDS pleaded Wednesday for lawmakers to fund a program that pays drug costs for patients not eligible for Medicaid.

Disabled veterans deserve a property tax break, Rep. Jim Stoicheff, D-Sandpoint, told the House Revenue and Taxation Committee Wednesday. But several lawmakers argued that veterans receive too many "freebies."

The Panhandle Health District may slash services and reduce staff if counties refuse to dole out more cash. "It's not that we aren't asking, we just aren't receiving," said Jim Fenton, Panhandle Health District's financial officer and interim director. The state's seven public health districts asked lawmakers Tuesday for a $610,000 budget increase to maintain their programs, which provide home, physical and environmental health services statewide. Health districts test drinking water, inspect restaurants and manage immunization programs, among other services. That's 8 percent more than what Gov. Phil Batt recommends.

Perking up interest Rep. John Campbell, left, spends weekends back in Sandpoint, talking to constituents. "You may hear some pretty weird ideas, but sometimes they end up being good legislation," he said. Photo by Craig Buck/The Spokesman-Review

FOR THE RECORD (Idaho edition, January 31, 1998): Name misspelled: Fort Hall Indian Reservation Revenue Director Delbert Farmer's first name was misspelled in an article in Friday's paper.

Many Idaho fourth-graders can't read and lawmakers are frantically searching for a remedy. A report, authorized last fall by the Legislature, showed that 60 percent of Idaho fourth-graders can't read and comprehend books at their grade level. The statewide reading committee, which conducted the study of 1,000 fourth-graders, presented the dramatic findings Wednesday to members of a joint legislative education committee.

A House judiciary committee Wednesday passed a bill giving Idaho law enforcement officials more ways to take DNA samples from convicted violent offenders. Last year lawmakers passed a law requiring convicted violent criminals to supply a DNA sample for law officials to enter into a database - similar to how fingerprints are filed.

Idaho schools are losing teachers to states that offer higher wages, Idaho schools Superintendent Anne Fox said Tuesday. She's pushing for a 3 percent pay increase that would boost the salaries of teachers, administrators and classified staff. That's a $591-a-year increase for first-year teachers.

A bill that would allow charter schools in Idaho should satisfy most education groups that had initial concerns, lawmakers on a joint education panel said Monday. "We've worked with everyone and tried to accommodate their concerns," Sen. Gary Schroeder, R-Moscow, said.

The continued existence of white supremacists in Idaho would disappoint Martin Luther King Jr., a human rights activist told a crowd gathered in the state Capitol celebrating King's birthday Monday. "We still have work to do for justice in our land," said Bill Wassmuth, a leader of the Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harassment. "The journey is not over. The dream is not realized. Justice is not available for all."

Idaho Schools Superintendent Anne Fox doesn't cringe when lawmakers hint her key education bills are doomed, because she believes they would make Idaho schools No. 1 in the nation. "I don't get discouraged," Fox said when discussing the chances of her proposals making their way into law. "I'll get criticized. But I know, in my heart and my mind, what works." Asking Idaho's 112 school districts to build a solid educational foundation is her strategy.

Cleanup of Silver Valley's contaminated water is ahead of schedule and the Legislature is asking for more money to keep the job going.

In an effort to address the concerns of parents and schools trying to identify convicted sex offenders, a Senate committee agreed Friday to hear two bills strengthening the state's registry system. "People are frustrated because they can't get access to registry information," William von Tagen of the state attorney general's office told the Senate Judiciary and Rules Committee.

Sen. Gary Schroeder, R-Moscow, wants the state to set up an emergency fund for school districts before collapsing roofs or faulty electrical wiring kill children. The chairman of the Senate Education Committee is drafting a bill that would create an emergency fund to help school districts pay for crucial building repairs when bond levies fail and no other funding means are available.