Gov. Dirk Kempthorne introduces Brigadier General Lawrence Frank Lafrenz, right. Adjutant General Jack Kane is at left.In the midst of the largest deployment of the Idaho National Guard in the state’s history, Idaho’s Guard is getting a new leader.Adjutant General Jack Kane will retire on…
At the organizational session of the Legislature today, members got the chance to pick the seats in the chambers that they’ll occupy for the next two years. Seat-picking goes in order of seniority, so new Rep. Phil Hart, R-Athol, was among the last to pick.…
Post Falls city finance director Shelly Enderud noted that cities in Idaho are facing tax-related problems, too."Citizens feel there is an ever-increasing tax burden with declining services," she told the Associated Taxpayers conference. "To a certain extent that's true - our revenue has not kept…
You might have thought the elections were over in Idaho, but in one Boise-area legislative race, the result’s been in question all this time. First-term Rep. Kathie Garrett, R-Boise, initially beat Democratic challenger Sean Spence by just nine votes, a super-thin margin that led to…
A year after he was nominated, former Idaho Attorney General Al Lance has, at long last, been confirmed by the Senate for an appointment to the U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims.Lance, who served two terms as attorney general, left office two years ago…
What will you be doing for Thanksgiving? Gov. Dirk Kempthorne will be serving up turkey to Idaho National Guard troops in Louisiana, where they’re preparing to begin deploying to Iraq the day after the holiday.To give the troops a proper send-off, Kempthorne also has arranged…
It usually doesn’t happen until December – and some years not much at all – but Boise’s inversion is back. For the past few days, the Boise valley has been shrouded under a thick, grayish fog, held in under an inversion that’s trapped cold, damp,…
As the dust settles from a busy election night, it appears that Idaho Democrats have lost three seats in the state House, dropping from 16 to 13 seats there, but kept even with seven seats in the state Senate.There could still be recounts in some…
For the last several weeks, what appear to be giant yellow ribbons have been tied in cheery bows around the four large columns at the front of the state Capitol. Gov. Dirk Kempthorne said he had them put up “for the 116th,” the Idaho National…
Idaho Secretary of State Ben Ysursa has upped his election turnout prediction to 72 percent of the state’s registered voters.“We are expecting a record turnout in numbers at around 530,000 ballots cast,” Ysursa said. “This is higher than the previous record set in 2000 of…
This just in: One of the ritziest towns in the state is looking into banning gated communities.In Ketchum, the Planning and Zoning Commission has voted unanimously to make it illegal to install a gate on any paved road or driveway that leads to more than…
The two candidates who are vying to represent North Idaho in Congress for the next two years had their one and only face-to-face debate last night, and it was televised statewide. But many missed it. Why? It was up against both the second game of…
Rep. Wayne Meyer, R-Rathdrum, lost to Phil Hart in the Republican primary, but now Meyer has filed as a write-in candidate against Hart in the general election.Meyer said he first got the idea when his dad told him he’d written in Meyer’s name on an…
Running as a Democratic write-in candidate for the U.S. Senate has proven both rewarding and challenging for Jerome engineer Scott McClure, who is running against the otherwise-unopposed GOP Sen. Mike Crapo. McClure said he’s been particularly struck by the difficulty a challenger faces in getting…
Here’s another sign that it’s election season in Idaho: The Republican campaign bus is on the road. The bus left Boise early this morning, headed toward North Idaho with stops on the way. Campaign volunteer Jack Raymond said this year’s is the fifth GOP campaign…
Legislative candidate Mike Jorgenson is unopposed in the general election, but his campaign finance report shows that he’s raised $4,347 since his victory in the three-way GOP primary contest for a Senate seat in District 3 – almost all of it from lobbyists or big…
Beyond the blue and red of the election season, Boise is beginning to see vivid shades of red, orange and gold, as the area heads into what promises to be a banner year for fall foliage. Already, the Boise National Forest has announced that this…
Idaho once led the nation in voter turnout, but no more. Now we’re down to near the middle of the pack.In 1960, Idaho was No. 1 in the nation in turnout among its voting-age population. In 1980, we were No. 2. But in 2000, according…
Fourteen Idaho counties still use punch-card ballots, just like those involved in the infamous “hanging chads” controversy in Florida four years ago. They include Ada County, the state’s most-populated, along with North Idaho’s Shoshone and Latah counties, north-central Idaho’s Clearwater and Nez Perce counties and…
The Idaho Supreme Court’s ruling in McGriff vs. McGriff paradoxically sets a major legal precedent by ruling that a parent can’t lose custody of his or her children simply because of the parent’s sexual orientation, but still affirms a lower court’s decision to end joint…
Want to know what you should, or shouldn’t, do if you’re stopped by the police? Or questioned by the FBI? Or detained at an airport? What rights you have, and what the consequences are if you don’t want to talk? The Idaho American Civil Liberties…
With 16 new state Department of Lands employees being introduced to the state Land Board on Tuesday, Gov. Dirk Kempthorne recalled his first job out of college – working for the state Lands Department – and remembered being brought to a Land Board meeting and…
There’s not much mourning going on in Boise for Richard Butler, the longtime Aryan Nations white supremacist leader who died in his sleep and was found Wednesday morning in Hayden. Butler’s racist group gave Idaho a public-relations black eye that lasted for decades, but it…
Both little-known third-party candidates have made the ballot in a majority of states, including Idaho and Washington. But a map on Peroutka’s site that shows which states includes a key noting that in the blue-shaded states, he’s “ON THE BALLET.”
A large crowd of appreciative state legislators and University of Idaho alumni marked the official opening of the Idaho Water Center, the last remaining piece of the UI’s failed University Place project in Boise. While the other planned buildings were canceled amid a whirlwind of…
News, happenings and more from the Idaho Legislature and the state capital.
