Breakout Idaho gubernatorial candidate faces uphill race
She's the first woman to win her party's nomination for governor of a state that hasn't elected a Democrat to the top seat in almost 30 years. And if she pulls off the upset against Lt.
Category Archives: Idaho Government
Idaho Weekly Briefing – July 2
This is a summary of a few items in the Idaho Weekly Briefing for July 2. Interested in subscribing? Send us a note at stapilus@ridenbaugh.com . The two political parties in Idaho held their conventions - the Republicans in Pocatello and Democrats at Caldwell - and both generated some headlines.
Top Idaho GOP candidates square off in debate
Dave Leroy, former attorney general and former lieutenant governor, at microphone, gives his opening remarks during the first televised GOP debate for Idaho's open 1st Congressional District seat in Meridian, Idaho, Saturday, April 14, 2018. Leroy debated against four other Republican opponents.
Trump era transportation project more focused on rural areas
In the Trump administration, a popular $500 million transportation grant program is focused more on projects in rural areas that turned out for Donald Trump in the 2016 election. That means more road and rail projects in GOP strongholds such as Idaho, North Dakota, and Oklahoma, and fewer "greenways," ''complete streets" and bike lanes.
Joe Biden video chats with cancer-stricken Idaho teen
And he recently made one particular cancer patient's day by giving her some words of encouragement via video call to her hospital bed in Idaho. Cierra Shaffer is a 17-year-old battling leukemia at St. Luke's Children's Hospital in Boise.
Idaho businesses line up against non-compete law; ‘lie of the year'”…
More than 100 Idaho business leaders, ranging from high-tech CEOs to small-business owners to engineers, marketers and manufacturers, have signed a letter to Gov. Butch Otter and the Idaho Legislature calling for the repeal of a 2016 noncompete law that sharply limits the rights of employees who move to new firms. The law , which passed both houses by divided votes amid much controversy, took effect July 1, 2016.
Idaho candidate launches gubernatorial attack website
Boise businessman Tommy Ahlquist has quietly launched an attack website criticizing his Republican gubernatorial opponents as sad choices for Idahoans. Ahlquist, who is running for political office for the first time, faces Lt.
Ahlquist announces plan to cut opioid deaths in half in 4 years if elected governor
Working as an emergency room doctor for more than 18 years, Tommy Ahlquist says he saw first-hand the "devastating effects" of opioid overdoses and deaths. But traveling around the state this year while campaigning for governor , Ahlquist said his conversations with police, first responders and health care professionals were "very eye-opening for me."
Idaho Briefing – Sept 25
This is a summary of a few items in the Idaho Weekly Briefing for July 17. Interested in subscribing? Send us a note at stapilus@ridenbaugh.com . Idaho picked up a large-scale wheat deal with China this week, as good economic news generally continued to roll.
Idaho gubernatorial candidate kicks off 44-county tour
Republican gubernatorial candidate Tommy Ahlquist laid out his political agenda to hundreds of supporters while kicking off his statewide tour to visit all of Idaho's 44 counties in 44 days. Ahlquist , a Boise businessman who is running for political office for the first time, held the campaign rally Thursday in Meridian at the candle company Scentsy headquarters.
Otter’s higher ed task force backs a dozen recommendations, on 12 unanimous votes
Gov. Butch Otter's higher education task force today adopted 12 recommendations in a series of 12 unanimous votes, Idaho EdNews reports. Among them: Rewriting and resetting the "60 percent goal," extending it out for another five years in an effort to be more realistic and effective in the move to get more Idahoans into higher education; an increased emphasis on internships, apprenticeships and workplace-campus co-op programs that partner with industry; a statewide "digital campus" that task force members view as a "game-changer;" and more money for college scholarships.
AP analysis indicates Idaho district lines favor Republicans – Sun, 25 Jun 2017 PST
Republicans have controlled the Idaho Legislature for nearly six decades, but a national Associated Press analysis shows that the state GOP may have gained even more control last fall with the help of Republican-friendly districts. The AP used a new mathematical formula to scrutinize roughly 4,700 state House and Assembly seats up for election last year and found a decided advantage for Republicans in numerous states, including Idaho.
Grocery tax repeal veto prompts debate in Idaho over powers of…
After Idaho Gov. Butch Otter vetoed a popular bill to remove the state's 6 percent sales tax from groceries, North Idaho Sen. Steve Vick is renewing his push to change the Idaho Constitution to allow lawmakers to reconvene to override a veto that's issued after they adjourn for the year. "It's not uncommon, it's not some sort of strange idea," said Vick, R-Dalton Gardens.
School budget set, reflects 6.3% increase in state funding
Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls, led a group of legislative budget writers who crafted the public school budget that won approval in the Idaho Legislature's joint budget committee on Monday morning, Feb. 27, 2017, With no disagreement on the final divisions of the public school budget, the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee has now set the public schools budget for next year at $2.041 billion, a 6.3 percent increase in state general funds. Gov. Butch Otter had called for a 6.4 percent increase.
Western States Remember Internment 75 Years on
States in the American West are marking the 75th anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066 by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt that forced 120,000 Japanese immigrants and Japanese-Americans into internment camps. Adults, including the elderly, and children could only bring what they could carry and were transported by bus and train, often with blacked-out windows, They were sent, ostensibly to avoid sabotage and spying, to camps in California, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona and other states as far away as Arkansas.
Otter for interior secretary? The speculation continues…
Might Idaho Gov. Butch Otter be considered for interior secretary in a Trump administration? Idaho Statesman reporter Rocky Barker explored the possibilities in a column over the holiday; you can read it here . Two previous Idaho governors were appointed secretary of the interior Cecil Andrus under President Jimmy Carter, and Dirk Kempthorne under President George W. Bush.